HAPPY 24TH BIRTHDAY LOUIS TOMLINSON. IT IS YOUR GOLDEN BIRTHDAY. CELEBRATE WISELY. AND WITH PROFESSING YOUR LOVE (TO YOU KNOW WHO).

Here’s what I knew about One Direction last week:

• They are a British boy band, except one of them is Irish.
• They sing that song I hate (What Makes You Beautiful. Still don’t like it.)
• Also, I knew Drag Me Down but thought it was by Maroon 5? I don’t know, you guys.
• I thought it was beautifully shady how the chorus of Perfect sounded a lot like Style.
• And I knew who the two cute ones are.
• Don’t play. You know exactly who I’m talking about.

What with their new album and a new press-generated controversy every day, One Direction was the perfect candidate for the Things I’m Willing To Believe About series – except, with my scant background knowledge,  I had to hit the books. Yeah. I took that hit for you, internet. My research included:

• Watching like 4-5 interviews on YouTube.
• Googling photos of the members both now and in 2010.
• Listening to the new album. It’s a really good, solid pop album to be honest.
• Tumblr. Enough said.

The result? I either just became a Directioner – and a Larry? Is that how you do it? – or went through puberty again. Anyway, based on admittedly not that much info, here are some totally not-true “facts” I’m willing to believe about my new favorite British-except-one-Irish-guy boy band:

Liam

• The Irish One?
• Once hand wrote his favorite poem for a girl he is into.
• The poem was by Shel Silverstein.
• Most likely to be subject of a Paul Is Dead-style rumor that he died in 2011 and was replaced by a sort-of lookalike.
• Because  you don’t just grow a kidney like that. Or change faces like this:

• Decided to try out online dating. Didn’t believe the other boys when they told him that a fake mustache wasn’t an awesome, foolproof disguise.
• Favorite literary character: Gallant of the Goofus and Gallant series:

• After a show, he makes the boys watch tape to improve next time.
• His favorite t.v. show is the Tim Allen classic Home Improvement.
• Instituted a chore wheel on tour. Said it would be fun. Believed it.
• But the chore Liam doesn’t know about? Taking away his twitter after he’s said something dumb. The others trade whose turn it is to change his password.
• They also hid his hair straightener a few years ago. It was for his own good.
• Liam has invested in gold bars.
• He loves knock knock jokes.
• And “why did the chicken cross the road” jokes.
• An old lady once hit Liam in the face with her purse. He had been chasing her for half a block to give her back a single coin that she dropped.
• Liam snips apart those six-pack rings so they don’t get caught around birds’ heads.
• His MSN name: NotLiamPayne
• Has flown a kite for fun.
• Owns one of those sticks to pick up litter on the street. Uses it frequently.
• Liam once sealed the windows on a tour jet with shrink wrap when he read about the high costs of heating. Oh, bless.
• Has a binder full of handwritten translations and phonetic pronunciations of foreign words to use when traveling. Includes a British English to American English section.
• Flosses twice a day.
• Loves team-building exercises.
• Called Niall “Neil” for the first two weeks.
• Has a Homer Simpson-style collage, with the letters covered up by photos of Simon Cowell and 1D fans:

Niall

• No, the Irish one.
• Style inspiration: a my buddy doll.

• Is a cross between a dad and a beagle.
• Has clear braces.
• Is the kind of guy who would do pranks that involve shaving cream.
• Is contractually obligated to be “the blonde one.” Can’t wait to change management and finally be free of bleach burns.
• Was always the star of the feis with his 3-hand reel.
• But his hornpipe is CRAP.
• Has kind of a lot of tin whistles.
• Owns one of those sweaters your grandma would always buy you when she went to the Aran islands.

Irish-Americans, you know what I’m talking about.

• But he kind of, sort of really does believe that legend that if he wears his family’s pattern they’ll be able to identify him in a shipwreck.
• Has repurposed Irish oatmeal cans in his home.

You know what? Handy, frugal, and functional.

• Is named after Niall of the Nine Hostages.
• He lifts because he wants to be “built like Flatley.”
• Says his first crush was: the girls in the Corrs.
• Actual first crush was: that skanky Molly Malone statue in Dublin.

• Suggested the band name because it sounded like it was about frisky Hogwarts students.
• Life goal was to be “bigger than Jedward.”
• His first paid gig was modeling those gloves that are also sharks in a department store ad as a child.

Louis

• Acts chill if you pronounce it “Lewis,” but seethes for hours after.
• Hogwarts affiliation: Hot Slytherin.
• He says his personal style is “sophisticated rocker-casual.”
• But really, it is: small French girl with a secret.

• Has definitely been hunting with foxhounds.
• But just played with the dogs the whole time.
• On a yearly basis, his management has had to turn down offers for him to play a smarmy Edwardian man on Downton Abbey.
• His great-grandfather was the artist’s model for the Peter Pan statue in Kensington Gardens.

• No, that was a joke. Actually he is the Peter Pan statue from Kensington Gardens, cursed by an old witch to assume human form.
• Falls on the “cake” side of the Jaffa Cake debate.

Even though they are biscuits.

• Has a Youtube playlist of cheek and jawline toning exercises. They work.
• One time, a makeup artist applied light highlighter and contouring to his cheekbones. They literally could cut a man. It was proclaimed “too much.”
• Like Phoebe Buffay, insists that he receives 23 points instead of 3 in basketball “because I’m dainty.”
• When he calls Harry, the image that pops up representing Louis is a Google image result for “haughty cat”:

• Was forced to play Baby Jesus in four successive nativity plays because everyone agreed that you just sort of want to wrap him in a blanket and keep him safe from harm.

Harry

• When he has children, it’s because he will find a baby in a Moses basket in a woodland
• Was found in a Moses basket in a woodland himself, maybe?
• All I’m saying is that I’m willing to believe that he is a changeling:

File under: people who should be wrapped in swaddling clothes and lulled to sleep.

• Is a cross between a glam rocker, the most charismatic student at a 1920s boys’ boarding school, and an English Springer Spaniel.

• Hogwarts affiliation: Gryffindor, but “culturally Hufflepuff.”
• Has a climate-controlled room in his house for his nice blouses.
• Smells how you would expect Irish Spring soap to smell based on those commercials where wholesome yet sprightly men gallivant near a waterfall (not how the soap actually smells, which is like “clean uncle” if anything).

Oh. The spring is THERE, thanks.

• Whenever they’re in a new city, everyone ends up looking around asking “where’s Harry?” Inevitably, he has gone off to befriend an old lady or a small child.

• Has tree fort.
• Has secret password to get into tree fort.
• There is an elaborate secret handshakes as well.
• Harry is working with a publishing company to create an adult coloring book based on his tattoos.
• His house is scented with specially formulated candles that smell like exactly like autumn leaves and sunsets.
• Can knit.
• Over the course of a single ride to a venue, knit a pair of fingerless gloves for a tour driver whose handshake seemed a little cold.
• When his boots need repair, he just leaves them outside his door and it is taken care of:

• Has been described as a “little scamp” before, albeit less frequently than Louis.
• Opposes the term “man bun” because “nobody should tell it what kind of bun it should be.”
• Yeah, he has long hair, but you know what? Harry Styles cleans it out of the drain. Every time.
• Has a dog-eared copy of Indian In The Cupboard next to his bed.
• According to legend, a blind man and a deaf man used to walk together and help each other understand the world. They passed Harry Styles in the park. The blind man turned to the deaf, and solemnly said and signed “he prances.” “I know, I heard,” the deaf man replied.

 Zayn

• No. We are not doing this.