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
Thursday, February 5, 2009
Saturday, January 31, 2009
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.
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.
Thursday, January 29, 2009
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.
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.
Wednesday, January 28, 2009
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:
In the meantime, here is a picture of Dana Carvey, just for the hell of it:
Friday, September 5, 2008
dopplemania
So...my new stats professor looks like my boyfriend.
He is like the Russian version of Robert. I don't even really know what to say or think about this. I did, however, surreptitiously take pictures of him during class with my iPhone so that I could provide evidence to back up my doppleclaim.
He is like the Russian version of Robert. I don't even really know what to say or think about this. I did, however, surreptitiously take pictures of him during class with my iPhone so that I could provide evidence to back up my doppleclaim.
Friday, August 8, 2008
recognition
I just read on the Owl Farm Blog (http://owlfarmblog.com/) that "The Friends of the Library of Montgomery County System, in Maryland, have reclassified Hunter's work from Journalism/Politics to Classics."
That puts a smile on my face.
That puts a smile on my face.
Friday, July 18, 2008
Gonzo
I've been thinking about the film I saw last Friday, "Gonzo: The Life and Work of Dr. Hunter S. Thompson." Although I enjoyed watching it, something was bothering me about it and I couldn't quite put my finger on it. But after talking a little about it with friends, and after reading this short piece last night in New York Magazine (http://nymag.com/arts/books/features/48517/) about it and him, I think I know what it is.
The thesis of that bio was that Thompson let his own myth supercede him and eventually destroy him. I think that's generally true. Most people I've met who say they are fans of his are really fans of Duke, not Thompson. He himself said that he felt he was "in the way" of his own writing. But despite the film's recognition of the destructive influence of Hunter's myth, it still chose to FOCUS on that myth, rather than him as a man or him as a writer. It showed us Hunter as a Public Figure. That's why, as someone pointed out to me, they left out the Air Force, the Rum Diary, Puerto Rico and South America, the "major, personality-forming parts of his life." These were the times that shaped him as a writer. Inventing gonzo writing was a major achievement...or a piece of dumb luck, as I'm sure he'd admit...but interesting and important either way. But I think what is missed is that BEFORE gonzo, he was an incredible writer. The gonzo stuff is hilarious and biting, but truthfully, I am far more often awed at the pieces of straight journalism he wrote.The insight, the detail, and the rhythm of his words are unequalled in anything I've ever read.
So I think what was most disappointing about that film was that it did sort of leave Hunter out of it. His political influence was great at that time...but it neglected to point out why he even got interested in politics in the first place. It sort of touches on it with the Freak Power campaign but it made it sound less serious than I think it was for him based on what I've read. I think when people are focusing on the Myth of Hunter, they are missing out on understanding some really essential characteristics, namely, that he was really and truly a believer in freedom and in people's ability to make change for the better. Something I've read that he said often was that "politics is the art of controlling your environment." But then so much went wrong to show him that they really didn't have that control...they came close in Aspen, but no cigar. And then Vietnam, and Nixon, and McGovern, and so many failures to achieve what he saw as the vast possibilities of what this country could offer. So I think a far more important aspect of his life that could have been focused on in the film, rather than the Myth, rather than how many drinks and drugs he could gobble and still stand straight, is the sincere disappointment in his writing, and his constant struggle to understand and articulate What Went Wrong. For a long time I didn't understand that speech at the turning point in Fear and Loathing about the wave. In the middle of this drug-addled spree, here was this rare introspective moment that always jarred me. Now having read so much that he's written, especially his letters from that time, I think I understand it as much as anyone can who didn't live through it. That, to me, is a much more edifying thing to focus on, something we can learn from him. He was disappointed and dissatisfied with what was going on, and he, more than almost anyone I can think of, constantly lived his life trying to change it and come to grips with it and ultimately, just live on his own terms. I admire that so much about him, and I wish the bios would talk more about that.
Today's his birthday. Let's all have a toast tonight during our Friday revelry to the Good Doctor.
The thesis of that bio was that Thompson let his own myth supercede him and eventually destroy him. I think that's generally true. Most people I've met who say they are fans of his are really fans of Duke, not Thompson. He himself said that he felt he was "in the way" of his own writing. But despite the film's recognition of the destructive influence of Hunter's myth, it still chose to FOCUS on that myth, rather than him as a man or him as a writer. It showed us Hunter as a Public Figure. That's why, as someone pointed out to me, they left out the Air Force, the Rum Diary, Puerto Rico and South America, the "major, personality-forming parts of his life." These were the times that shaped him as a writer. Inventing gonzo writing was a major achievement...or a piece of dumb luck, as I'm sure he'd admit...but interesting and important either way. But I think what is missed is that BEFORE gonzo, he was an incredible writer. The gonzo stuff is hilarious and biting, but truthfully, I am far more often awed at the pieces of straight journalism he wrote.The insight, the detail, and the rhythm of his words are unequalled in anything I've ever read.
So I think what was most disappointing about that film was that it did sort of leave Hunter out of it. His political influence was great at that time...but it neglected to point out why he even got interested in politics in the first place. It sort of touches on it with the Freak Power campaign but it made it sound less serious than I think it was for him based on what I've read. I think when people are focusing on the Myth of Hunter, they are missing out on understanding some really essential characteristics, namely, that he was really and truly a believer in freedom and in people's ability to make change for the better. Something I've read that he said often was that "politics is the art of controlling your environment." But then so much went wrong to show him that they really didn't have that control...they came close in Aspen, but no cigar. And then Vietnam, and Nixon, and McGovern, and so many failures to achieve what he saw as the vast possibilities of what this country could offer. So I think a far more important aspect of his life that could have been focused on in the film, rather than the Myth, rather than how many drinks and drugs he could gobble and still stand straight, is the sincere disappointment in his writing, and his constant struggle to understand and articulate What Went Wrong. For a long time I didn't understand that speech at the turning point in Fear and Loathing about the wave. In the middle of this drug-addled spree, here was this rare introspective moment that always jarred me. Now having read so much that he's written, especially his letters from that time, I think I understand it as much as anyone can who didn't live through it. That, to me, is a much more edifying thing to focus on, something we can learn from him. He was disappointed and dissatisfied with what was going on, and he, more than almost anyone I can think of, constantly lived his life trying to change it and come to grips with it and ultimately, just live on his own terms. I admire that so much about him, and I wish the bios would talk more about that.
Today's his birthday. Let's all have a toast tonight during our Friday revelry to the Good Doctor.
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