Happy birthday Joe Mac!

This year, New Year's Eve is more to me than just the end of the year: its Joey McIntyre's birthday! I barely knew who he was a year ago today. Back then, New Kids On The Block was just a boy band, who had a few hits in the late 80s/early 90s and began the showbiz career of the actor who played Eric Matthews in the Saw films (Donnie Wahlberg). In the last twelve months, the New Kids have become pretty important to me, their songs have creeped onto my iPod and I've developed an admiration for them as people too. Anyway, let's get back to the subject of this post: Joey Joe's 39th birthday!

A few days ago, my mother asked me why Joey is my favourite New Kid. After all, I'm a shy, quiet teenager who finds it difficult to express myself. Momentarily lost for words, I mumbled something about him being a U2 fan. Since then, I've come up with a few more answers to this question:

1. His music - This year I've acquired Meet Joe Mac via amazon.co.uk and downloaded Here We Go Again EP and Come Home For Christmas on iTunes. From the poignant "Mrs. Callahan" to the funky, upbeat "NYC Girls", Meet Joe Mac is a brilliant album which I would whole-heartedly recommend. Here We Go Again also has some great tunes, especially "Outta Nothing At All", and Come Home For Christmas is a heartwarming festive treat!
2.  Five Brothers and a Million Sisters - A song for the fans, I love it! 
3. His way with words - Whether in tweets, blog posts or verbally, there is something about Joe's (often) wise words that I find rather refreshing. 
4. His humour
5. His attractiveness - Joe himself tweeted earlier that he thinks he "[looks] 29 instead of 39"... I guess "self-confidence" could be another point on this list!
6. His eyes - Yes, I believe his "swimming-pool blue" eyes warrant a separate point!
7. His voice(s) - Did I not mention this already?! I put "(s)" because there's no doubt his singing voice has altered somewhat over the years, while the Boston accent remains the same.

I could go on, but I think you get the idea...

Happy birthday Joey! I hope you have a great day and a terrific 2012!