Lookalikes and so forth

Phil Donahue looks like the dad from Family Circus. There, I said it.

Donald Trump, are you the father of Owen Wilson? Seriously, look at those two.

Emile Hirsch, do you want to be Jack Black?

I am that guy who looks at you and thinks of someone else you look like. My wife will almost always disagree. Like, you look like this other person...not a carbon copy. I could say anyone looks like any other person on earth and it would be accurate: head, shoulders, knees, toes, eyes, ears, mouth, and nose. If I said someone looked like a different creature, there might be more of a stretch...but I would obviously be dealing in caricature. (Yes, Whoopi Goldberg looks like the Predator.)

This is always related to celebrities. Rarely do I see someone and think, you look like my cousin Bill (who is a good looking guy...and there was that one guy I was in a play with once that looked like my cousin Bill, but that was one person in the history of my life). I think of the small and big screens. With this comes the problem of growing up and not being completely aware of who is who...or knowing that actors exist beyond their characters.

Number one celebrity confusion for me was Patrick Swayze and Kurt Russell. I'm lead to believe this is fairly common. I could not tell them apart. Number two would be Robert DeNiro and Al Pacino, not that they look alike...but their names tripped me up. I heard their names all of the time, but I think the only movie I saw with either of them growing up was Dick Tracy (my favorite movie as a kid) with Al Pacino as "Big Boy" Caprice.

Which leads me to: Shirley MacLaine and Shari Lewis.

Give a kid a break!

Anyway, I just had to put that out there. I would love to know of any lookalikes or confusing pairs that others might have had (or have). It might make me feel a bit more...sane.

An Unlikely Trio

Last week Rachel and I went to this mountain resort type town called Idyllwild here nearby. I was told it was like Park City. That’s a rough simile. Park City is, well, a city. Idyllwild is a forest with a few buildings here and there. Rachel and I tried to find as many fun little shops as we could. I believe she ended up buying a couple little things, but it was otherwise uneventful and cold. Despite the uneventfulness, I still wrote about it. Mostly as an excuse to post the picture of some “collectible” items we saw in one store. Wilma, riddle me this: Did I do that?

SHUFFLE UP AND WRITE

Let's do something fun, and by “let's” I mean me. And really I can only hope that it is fun. It could be the opposite of fun, or un-fun. I am going to put an iTunes playlist of over 1300 songs (1301 to be exact) on shuffle and write about five songs it plays. However, because I titled this “Shuffle Up and Write,” I am going to take a Texas hold 'em approach. The song playing right now (Spitting Games by Snow Patrol) is a burn song. The next three are the flop. The next is another burn. Then the turn. Burn. River (or fifth street, according to Wikipedia). Let's see what happens.

THE FLOP Best for Last – Adele: I bought this album for Rachel a little while ago. I haven't listened to it that much, but I dig her voice. I'm going to cheat on the first card and tell a tangential tale. On this album Adele covers Bob Dylan's “Make You Feel My Love.” I decided that I should learn to play that song on the piano and sing it for Rachel for our anniversary. The only problem being that I can't play the piano. I can read music, but can't play the piano...no coordination. I worked on it for a while, got the left hand down, but I have another problem...no rhythm. And I frequently misspell the word “rhythm.” Anyway, anniversary arrived and I tried, but got nervous and messed up. So, Rachel sat next to me at the piano and played the right hand while I sang. It was cute. Time's up...next song.

Lose Yourself – Eminem: Well, this is definitely shuffle. Okay, again, Rachel. She loves Eminem and I believe she has this song memorized. I will try to quote it at times, but Rachel has to correct me because I don't know it. Eminem is a genius. The rhythm and rhyme of his lyrics are mind-boggling. I never saw 8 Mile, but I'm guessing I would not appreciate his acting as much as his rapping. For anyone terribly concerned about the present song, it is an edited version...if that makes anyone feel better. Eminem's voice is incredibly unique. It seems like it could be an annoying type of voice, but really it's perfect. Eminem just told me that I “can do anything [I] set [my] mind to, man.” That would be positive vibes coming from Eminem right there.

Sin Wagon – Dixie Chicks: Why is this song in this playlist? It was very comical going from Eminem into this honky-tonk Dixie Chicks song. Unfortunately, I have nothing to say about this song. In high school, a few of my choir friends were the Dixie Chicks for a talent show or musical performance. Three very nice, super talented girls. Mouth harp! Wow, this song is amazing. This song is WAY more inappropriate then Eminem. I thought this song was over, but there's a minute left. If you haven't noticed, I'm writing while the song is playing...so I only have the amount of time that the song plays. During the burn songs I will just wait. Here's another thing about my difficulties with writing. I always want to put two spaces after a period, but am trying to only do one. So I'm probably really inconsistent.

BURN Lace and Leather – Britney Spears

TURN Overprotected (The Darkchild Remix) – Britney Spears: I have to admit I am glad I get to write about a Britney song after missing the last one; however I am really baffled at the music on this playlist. Where's all my “nerd rock”? So, Britney. Rachel and I saw Britney on her most recent tour, Circus. It was really awesome. I know her hits from the radio from before my mission, and then I lost her at Toxic. I don't know her music very well, but I think she is a crazy person that has really fun music. Not for everybody or for always, but for me on certain days it's great.

BURN Your Star – The All-American Rejects

RIVER (or Fifth Street) Single Ladies (Put A Ring On It) – Beyonce: Wow! Last night I watched all of Glee thus far. The Single Ladies dance was amazing. Two of my sisters were pregnant a few months ago. I wanted to make a knock-off Single Ladies video with three pregnant women in unitards, but never got around to doing it. Picture it, though, and then think about it. Funny AND ironic. Beyonce is an amazing performer (Cadillac Records was a boring movie, but it was not her fault). This song will be remembered forever. The video, the Kanye/Taylor event, the parodies, etc. Amazing!

And now my iTunes is playing You Can't Do That by The Beatles. I want to play Beatles Rock Band, but that has nothing to do with anything because this hand is over. Let's re-hash. It was frustrating sitting doing nothing during the burn songs. I need to figure out a better way of revealing information about myself, instead of leaving my fate to a playlist on shuffle. What do you, my faithful readers, think? This poker approach was okay, but I should have dealt myself two songs first...and then bet...and I would have won!

My "Write Right Now" Rite Night

I got a text at about a quarter after nine from my buddy Spencer. He and Eric (another film school buddy) have a blog where they write a one page script every single day. On Fridays they have a guest writer contribute as well. The text informed me that their guest had dropped out and they invited me to participate. I said "Yes."

They have inspiration for each day (a picture, a clip, a song, anything), so this is what I was writing from.

I got my script e-mailed to Eric within the hour. It's basically a bad joke in one-page script form. Bad like "*groan* That was a bad joke!" Not bad like "You're no son of mine!" Check it out here. I noticed at least one typographical error. Nobody's perfect!

Don't ask me what I'm doing.

I am herein attempting an explanation of my current life situation.

At present I am living with my aunt and uncle in Hemet, CA. Now hop on Google Maps/Earth and see where that is. I'll wait for you.

Yeah, that's where I am. I know, right?

Rachel, meanwhile, is living with her padres in Family City, USA. If you're unsure where that is, punch "family city usa" into a Google search and the first result is your answer. The second result is a Wikipedia entry that would have helped me earn my Citizenship in the Community merit badge. (Not that I didn't earn it, because I did. Heck, I got my Eagle. And I did it all sans internet!) And this is one more spot that you can get some Family City news from earlier this year.

Sure we are "separated" technically, but come on! That is not what's going on. I am down here trying to find a job doing video/film editing. Upon securing said job I will find a place to live closer to said job. Then Rachel will join me and find a job of her own. Together we will make money...money enough to barely get by...the American Dream!

Let me see...what else do I need to tell you?

(Who - me. What - my situation. When - ? Where - Hemet. Why - job. How - ?!)

Okay. I have been here for three weeks. And I don't have a job yet! Yeah, that's the "how" that if anyone has any advice for me I'd be very appreciative.

There you have it, ladies and gentleman. I should just say "lady" because I think my wife is the only person who knows this blog exists. I can't blame anyone. I didn't even know it existed until recently.

I have a blog?!

I guess I created this a while ago...as you can see (whoever you are) this is the first time I've written anything on it. I should probably make this first post really lame so that no one has any hopes or expectations for returning. If you do come back...you will quickly learn I like ellipses (and parenthetical statements). And so I will now relate a random story from my life:

Just before my family and I moved into our house in Orem (over 22 years ago) we lived for a short time at my grandparents' house in Lindon. I was three-ish. I remember playing downstairs with this toy hotplate thing (where if you spin a knob I think the colors changed between yellow and red).

So (you'll also find I love the word "so") I had food on my mind. Nearby was some dough with which one might play. I decided to taste it. It was extremely salty; I did not like it. I needed a drink. I figured what I had done was wrong, so I could not ask an adult to get a drink for me because they would find me out. Being a genius, I went outside to get a drink from the hose which was easily accessible to almost four year old me. As the warm, rubbery-tasting water relieved my tongue of the salt which had been attacking it my grandpa stepped outside.

"What are you doing, Steven?"

I started bawling. I had been caught. I explained the whole event to my grandfather who, thinking back on it, was probably quite perplexed.