The Jon-aquin.

My neighbor Jonathan clued me in to something the other day. He didn't even know of the existence of this blog at the time, but after he told me what I am about to share with you, I assured him that it was profoundly important that he immediately e-mail me photos so I could expose this new doppelgänger trick to the public. Please be warned, what you are about to see has me at a level of terror heretofore unexperienced in my short but eventful time in my service to the cause of Doppelmänia.

Here is Jonathan and his Jon-aquin:



Assessing how absolutely terrifyingly much it looks like him:



Tricking the Jon-aquin into thinking he loves it instead of fearing and loathing it:



You can see the malice in its stare:



So there it is. It's a whole new level now. They are toying with us. I don't know what the plan is here, or what's next, but I urge everyone to inspect every mannequin they come upon, to scan every single store window display for doppelqüins of people they know. We must be prepared for whatever they decide to spring on us next.

Holy Shit.

This is from a list of "10 Creepy Machines from Robot Hell" that I am reading, for reasons not entirely clear, at 9:09 am on this rainy Friday morning. The caption next to this video says:

"Geminoid: Designed as a realistic, robotic doppelganger for Hiroshi Ishiguro, a professor at Osaka University, the Geminoid can be remote controlled from anywhere—allowing the professor to, essentially, be in two places at once. [Wired]"

ROBOTIC DOPPELGÄNGER. Think about that. We have just entered a new level of terror.

Pathetic.

I know it's been a long time since I've posted, but it's not because I've been slacking off. Granted, it has been my Spring Break, which means I am still working but not attending school for a week and a half. But that isn't why there haven't been any postings. Simply stated, I haven't seen any dops. Maybe they have gotten wind of this site and are specifically avoiding me because they know I will expose them for the whole world (and by whole world, I mean the three of you who read this) to see.

I think this means that we all need to be extra-vigilant in the days to come. I fear there is a dopstorm a' brewin'.

Dop Search

First of all, I should say that I didn't find any dops in the D. R. I did get a tan, and about 50 bruises...so it looks like I've been fighting dops all week long.

But today I want to talk about an important new tool in searching out doppelgängers. There is a Facebook group devoted to it!

FIND YOUR LOOK-ALIKE IN THE WORLD: http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=66706361078&ref=share

At first I thought this must be a trap for the doppelgängers to find us. They do have a history of infiltrating some of the most popular entertainment spheres. However, after thinking about it for, oh I don't know, 30 seconds, I decided to risk it and join anyway. Maybe my vacation and subsequent breakdown upon my return have given me a new, less cautious outlook on life. Maybe if we all join we can get to know our doppelgängers and neutralize this war between us. Maybe getting to know our doppelgängers and forming a peaceful existence with them is essential to our evolution as humans, like on BSG with the cylons. Or, maybe someone will get mad about someone else's dopplegänger killing their stupid ugly wife and the whole fragile truce will end in a flaming inferno of gunfire and blood.

I guess we'll see what happens.

Dominican Doppublic

The day after tomorrow, I will be leaving for my vacation in the Dominican Republic. Before you become outraged at the abandonment of my post for a week of sun and alcohol, and begin desperately gibbering about who will save you from the doppelgängers while I tan, pleasure read, ride horses on the beach, engage in non-motorized water sports and eat and drink as much as I want as per the all-inclusive package I have purchased, please be calm. No matter what else I am doing, I am ALWAYS on the lookout for doppelgängers. Don't you think they exist in other countries?? And with the high rate of emigration from the Dominican Republic to the U.S., your Dominican Doppelgänger could be preparing to move here as we speak!! Think about it: you are pale, run down, disgusted and depressed from the long, cold winter. Your muscles are atrophied from months of hiding under blankets. You are in a weakened state that your doppelgänger is just waiting to prey on! If he or she has been living in the Dominican Republic all this time, growing strong playing baseball in the life-giving rays of sunshine and bathing in the warm, calm waters of the Caribbean, you are at a major disadvantage and in much danger!!!!

That is why I am going on this trip. Relaxation? Yes. But also, reconnaissance. In my absence, I urge you all to be vigilant, but rest assured: I will find these doppelgängers and expose them before they can come to our country and hunt you down. My powers of observation will be at their sharpest with no work or school to distract me. For example, I was reading the Wikipedia page about the Dominican Republic during my pre-trip research and I noticed a very important clue: their currency, the Dominican Peso, is abbreviated "DOP".

More American Doppels

We all know that doppelgängers are tricksy. But I didn't realize until recently just how tricksy. I thought it was a fairly bold move when they placed one of their own on the most popular show on TV, but now I have discovered that one was hiding there in the open all this time!

Randy Jackson, as you may or may not know, played with Journey for a short time back in the day. During that time, he looked just like the dude from the future in "Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure". Since then, Jackson has changed his style drastically, shaving off the signature flattop hair and putting on a couple hundred pounds. Do you see the lengths that people will go to escape their doppelgängers?!



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doppelsübmission

Apparently I tapped into something pretty intense in my friend Corey with this blog. Last week I received this doppelsübmission from him:


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Although I can see a vague resemblance, I don't really think the Sun Maid is my doppelgänger, especially given that she is a cartoon character created to shill raisins. Nonetheless, I appreciate the heads up. We should all be on guard for any and all possibilities of doppelgängers. It could be that while the Sun Maid herself is not one, she may be based on a doppelgänger of mine that is acquainted with someone in the SunMaid advertising department! Another lesson that we should take from this is that it can very difficult to spot your own dopp; lacking objectivity about your own appearance can cause you to focus on differences, not resemblances, and this could put you in danger. It is good to have friends who are on constant alert for your dops. You should have their backs as well.

Also, despite my questioning of Corey's first submission, I truly admire his commitment to the doppelcause. I'd like to share an excerpt from his e-mail to me:

"Clearly your work is an important first step, but there are so many out there undiscovered. Additionally, there are fundamental questions whose answers elude us. Are we all dopplegangers? Do tracing dopplegangers teach us about our beginnings?...I will make regular submissions. Is it possible that the CIA is also dopplestudying? The environment is taxed, nations are bankrupt and food is scarce. In order to simultaneously survive and maintain genetic diversity we need to eliminate redundity. Only one among a doppleset is doppleworthy and the other(s) is just a drag. So the government has to pick one dopplesurvivor and then allow the rest to doppledie. We need to identify our dopplegangers and be more worthy than them before they get us. But I fear some will choose the doppledarkside and resort to murder to eliminate their doppletition."

These are questions that I urge to you all consider today.

Sad story.

Today I want to take some time out from the important work of exposing doppelgängers to remind us all of a sad anniversary: it was four years ago today that Dr. Hunter S. Thompson chose to leave us.

The Good Doctor had no doppelgänger; he was one of a kind.

American Doppel

The Doppelgängers have found the most effective way to infiltrate the public: American Idol. They have planted one of their own as a contestant on the most popular show on television. His name is Danny Gokey, and last night he won his way into the Top 12. He seems to have a good voice, but what he also has is Robert Downey, Jr.'s face


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Arrested Doppvelopment?

Ever since I started watching "Arrested Development" and saw the new, more mature-looking Jason Bateman, I have thought that he looks very similar to the lead singer of one of my favorite bands, Neil Finn of Crowded House.


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They could have had Neil come on the show for the last episode to sing "Don't Dream It's Over," one of his band's two American hit singles (they are much more popular in Australia and Finn's home, New Zealand).

And assuming that Bateman's development is not arrested, we can see what he will look like in 10 years. The future doppelgängers are the most telling.

new and improved

I got at an account at this I Can Has Cheezburger? site (thanks, again, go to Sandy for telling me about it) and they have a Totally Looks Like page which is hilarious and awesome (I added a link to it on the side under "These People"). I made my first doppelcreation with their Look Alike Builder. This will be a powerful weapon in the war against the Doppelgängers.


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doppelking!

I think, thanks to my friend Lorenz, we may now have a clue to the identity of Queen Doppelpoplous's consort, the Doppelking!

He has been masquerading as the Burger King!



But he's really...Kevin Kline!!!

our first submission!

Today I received my first submission for Doppelmänia from my friend Zane. She saw this man on the street and asked him to take his picture because he is another Robert doppelgänger. Obviously Queen Doppelpoplous has been mustering her minions in preparation for a strike.

doppelpüps

I have to thank my friend Sandy for reminding me of this site she showed me earlier this year. It is destructive. The one that kills me the most is the hotdog dogs.

http://mfrost.typepad.com/cute_overload/2008/09/matchingks-dppe.html

moderate success

I delivered on my promise to try to get some surreptitious class pictures of my Dana Carvey dop professor. The pictures are not great because it was very difficult to find a moment when he wasn't looking--the class has grown from 10 people to 20 but that's still not very large.

At first I was a little nervous about not only him seeing me, but the two girls sitting next to me. At one point one of them whispered, "What are you doing?" Not being able to quickly think of a more reasonable answer for what I was doing, I decided to go with the truth and replied, "I think he looks like Dana Carvey and I want to show people." She quietly laughed and agreed with me.

I wish that I had been able to capture him making a particular face with raised eyebrows and shrugged shoulders that I really feel exhibits the most Dana Carveyness, but I had to work with what I could. Hopefully the endorsement of my fellow Research Methods classmate and these photos are good enough.

new direction

Due to my ambivalence about this blog and one (1) request, I have decided to take it in a new direction. My last two dopplemania blogs have been enjoyable to me and have inspired me to make the entire thing about the amazing phenomenon of some people looking like other people.

As Robert has pointed out to me (and ridiculed me for) several times, I seem to have an affinity for finding similarities in people's appearances. Often when we are watching TV or movies, I say, "Doesn't that guy look just like so-and-so?" Most of the time he disagrees with me, even when it ACTUALLY IS THAT PERSON who we know in real life and happens to have landed a small role in that week's episode of Gossip Girl.

So, with the creation of this blog I will now have an outlet for my talent. Whenever I see someone who I think looks like someone else, I will do my best to obtain pictures of both and post them here for the evaluation of whoever is reading this. Also, if you think you have spotted a doppelgänger, please feel free to share your discovery--don't save it for Queen Dopplepoplous.

dopplemania revisted

My new professor looks somewhat like Dana Carvey. There are only 10 people in the class, of which apparently I am the only one who wants to respond to his questions, so surreptitious picture taking will be difficult. But I will try.

In the meantime, here is a picture of Dana Carvey, just for the hell of it: