Winnie The Who?

      Last week, the NYT had a piece on the actress Danica McKellar that somehow I missed until now.   I remember-- or, about as much as I remember anything anymore-- the crush I used to have on her years and years ago, when she was on The Wonder Years, a show I used to find unbearably schmaltzy, but which I watched mainly for her.   In adulthood, though, the only impression she really made was in her guest stints on The West Wing, her adorable quirkiness put to good use as the sister of Joshua Malina. (And further proof, for me, anyway, that the Aaron Sorkin days of The West Wing were truly a Golden Age of writing for women, because Sorkin knew how to make his women both smart and sexy, the latter more a result of the former than the other way around.)   Turns out, though, that Ms McKellar had made a kind of name for herself in the world of mathematics, which for some reason surprises and impresses me, perhaps because it allays my concern that most of the people we see on our screens are little more than empty-headed personae.   Reminds me, for example, that Carroll O'Connor, aka Archie Bunker, had a Master's in English, and that Kris Kristofferson (!) has a Ph.D. in same.   (O'Connor, however, could act; Kristofferson couldn't.)   It's also surprising, I guess, because so many of those "Where Are They Now?" cases tend to prove pitiable rather than admirable. Key quote from the NYT piece: "I love continuous functions and proving if functions are continuous or not."   Cute, very cute.

      POST-SCRIPT: Yes, that picture I included seems ot show her as having primate arms.   Those more lecherous among you (er, us), may want to check out the pics from the current Stuff magazine.    Consider this update a performance of this blog's continuous functions.