It's a happy birthday to Carmen Electra, né Tara Leigh Patrick, who turns 35 today. Quick question, though: does Electra do anything other than pose for photos? I mean, I guess she's an actress, in the most nominal sense, picking up paychecks to appear in stuff like Scary Movie 4, Date Movie and the like, and even doing some occasional (and presumably breathy) voicework on animated series like King of the Hill and American Dad.



But it's almost harder to not find a picture online of Electra than to find one. I think even if you Google search, like, "Tupperware, Holocaust," a good three dozen shots of her somehow show up.

I've never really completely understood the fascination with Electra. One time, I was on the set of Baywatch (don't ask, really), and she ended up lounging on the beach about 15 feet from me, and I was struck by not only her dimunutive size (she's charitably listed at 5'3"), but also just how kind the camera is to her. Oh sure, I'd throw her one, but I wasn't completely blown away, I guess I'm saying.

I mean, I get that she's really personable, and as a product of all those photo shoots, the potential aloof bitchy vibe around her has evaporated. She's also stayed in good shape (via those stripper-cise aerobic videos, I guess), and made a nice career out of branded name commercial work and parodying the image of parodying the image of parodying the image of the blithe bombshell that's been established by the performances of others, but never really Electra herself. Actually, nevermind... I totally get her appeal now that I've ruminated on it for 45 seconds. Well played, Carmen, well played...