Ryan Malcolm is on my fridge.

Back in the late 1990s, I was a Backstreet Boys fan. They were cool, their music was catchy and easy, and they were (to the outside world, at least) nice boys. It didn't hurt that they could, for the most part, sing well. Each group member had a distinct personality too. I think I even remember their names: Nick, the blonde one with the brother who's also a performer; Kevin, the dark-haired, tall one; Brian, Kevin's shorter, fairer cousin; Howie, the one with the longer hair; and AJ, the one with the best voice... but not the best face. Ha! I remembered.

One day, when BSB was going strong---they were a real phenomenon, after all, the first boyband of their kind in years---along came what I bitterly termed the "copycat boyband." I was unimpressed with 'Nsync (or however one's supposed to spell that). They were clearly just riding on BSB's coattails. They weren't original. Plus, their five members weren't as good-looking as BSB's, and, I thought confidently, they didn't sing as well.

But, what? Pretty soon, Justin Timberlake and crew were more popular than the other fivesome! How could this be? I felt sorry for the Boys. But, I had to admit, if a little grudgingly at first, that JT and co. were pretty nifty. They danced well, their songs were oh-so-singable, and rumour had it that the frosted-haired front-man was dating Britney! Pop royalty, for sure.

During these boyband-loving (but usually only secretly-loving) years, I could expect an embarrassing CD from my mom as a X-mas present. (I was, and still am, difficult to shop for, I'm told.) This is how I came to acquire several BSB CDs, and at least one 'Nsync album too. I would groan every year, but, well, they were kinda fun to have, even if I rarely listened to them... or anything else, for that matter.

I remembered this string of embarrassing CD presents last night. AG and EC were over for dinner and some TV-watching (TEE-vee, says EC, as opposed to tee-VEE, which is how the rest of us say it). Some Canadian Idol show was on during dinner, and Ryan Malcolm's name came up. He was the first Canadian Idol. "Whatever happened to Ryan Malcolm?," someone asked. Oh, this was my cue. Because, you see, the last embarrassing CD my mom ever bought me was, you guessed it, Ryan Malcolm's debut (one-and-only?) album. That, I think, was the most embarrassing of them all. Yet, I admit, the CD 'aint half-bad. It has no pretensions, and most of it is catchy and singable. Nothing wrong with that, I say.

And so I fetched the CD from my room. We all laughed. Especially when EC discovered that the liner notes opened up into (on one side) a small-but-still-poster-sized glamour shot of Canada's idol himself! Later that evening, AG decided we needed Ryan on display. And so there he is: Ryan Malcolm is on my fridge.