Definition of the week: Doppelganger

Urbandictionary.com
1. Doppelganger

Someone that looks the exact same as another person. yet not a twin. ghost identical to living person: an apparition in the form of a double of a living person

Example: yo i saw someone that looked just like u...could have been your doppelganger

LOOK-A-LIKE?

Rich Stromberg and Josh Harty

I knew this lady who had a twin, not by blood, in her own town. Her parents went to the local fast food restaurant and thought there clerk was their own daughter but she wasn't. "Jody! You never told us you got a job!" "I'm not Jody."

Once I was in Atlanta, Georgia and I swore I saw this kid from my brother's baseball team working at a water park. But the kid at the park swore up and down he had never been to Alaska and, for that matter, didn't know anyone who had.

My roommate Mindy has a twin in Fairbanks, they are exactly like each other in every way but looks. They both study infectious diseases, come from military dads and korean moms, have an affinity for local music and guys with guitars, the list goes on.

And then, last night I went to a BBQ/music jam and met this musician who looks like he could be the doppelganger of a friend Rich Stromberg, who I originally met working at the college newspaper at UAA. Josh Harty is a singer/songwriter originally from Fargo, North Dakota who is going to play a show at Humpy's tonight.

You tell me. They long lost brothers or what?

Being silly at work...

Guest spot on 'Natural Selection'

I got to guest host on Mindy's KRUA radio show "Natural Selection," Tuesday. Here is the recording of the show if you would like to listen!

PLAYLIST

Feist - "Brandy Alexander"
Matt Sheehy - "About Piano"
Kaki King - "Gay Sons of Lesbian Mothers"
Andrew Norsworthy - "do you ever"
Patrick Park - "Life's a song"
Jaymay - "Autumn Falls"
Band of Annuals - "Ain't lookin' back"
The Devil Whale - "Dirty Mouth"
Marcus Bently - "Dimestore Return"
Wilco - "Hummingbird"
Sun Kil Moon - "Last Tide"
Portugal. The Man - "Telling Tellers Tell Me"
The Devil Whale - "Turn around this car"
Cory Branan - "Tall green grass"
Josh Rouse - "Streetlights"
The Owls - "Air"
Belle and Sebastian - "If she wants me"
Bright Eyes - "I woke up with this song in my head this morning"
The Beatles - "Here comes the sun"
The Shins - "Phantom Limb"
Paul Simon - "Me and Julio down by the school yard"
Lucero - "Tears don't Matter much"
Patrick Park - "Summertime"

Strange sighting at Ocean's Fest 2008

LONG LOST LOVE

I finished the book. Jimi is dead.

I just finished reading "Room Full of Mirrors" by Charles R. Cross, a journalist from the Seattle area, who specializes in the lives and deaths of the Cult of 27. The cult is a group of successful musicians who died at the age of 27, including Kurt Cobain, Jimi Hendrix, Janis Joplin, Robert Johnson and Jim Morrison, among others.

"Room Full of Mirrors" is successful in that it feels complete. You don't feel like you are missing a single thing. Fact or fiction. Or fact so outrageous it seems like fiction.

Fact: Jimi had at least two children, Tamiki Carpenter and James Sundquist. Both were children of groupies he slept with. He never met his children. He was probably too much into free love to handle the responsibility. He was never DNA tested to prove that they were his kids but they look like him.

Fiction: Jimi killed himself on purpose. This book leads to the conclusion that if Jimi in fact wanted to kill himself he would not have left 40 sleeping pills in the bottle. He took nine probably thinking that European sleeping pills would not be as strong as American. And Jimi had a high tolerance for drugs.

Outrageousness: Jimi had a large one. In Chicago in the late 60s, there was a group of girls called the Plaster Casters. Jimi was one of the first to have his penis cast by them. Cynthia Plaster Caster is still casting penises and breasts of talented people in Chicago.

Can rats laugh?

Aristotle didn't think so. He thought laughter was something that separates humans from the rest of the animal kingdom. But at Bowling Green State University in Ohio, psychobiologist Dr. Jaak Panksepp says he can make rats laugh. Human ears just can't hear it. It is crazy how in this video after he "tickles" the rat, it follows his hand like it is asking for more.

Radio Lab did a show on laughter, where I got the link to this video.

Elton :)

Here is a clip from the Friday night Elton John show in Anchorage. You can hear my sis Nati singing along in the background, silly.

BENNIE AND THE JETS


I went with my mom, brother, sisters and Sara and had a great time. Highlights were the flamboyant light show and how after almost every song he would jump up and confront the crowd, give some points, shout outs, muscle flexes, thumbs up, etc. How a 60-year-old man can play like that three nights in a row is beyond me.

The sound was Sully sound but he played with the reverb and seemed to have fun with it, especially on "Rocket Man," so I got over it. All in all, worth my Momma's money! :) Thanks Mom!

Definition of the week: Power Animal Shirt

So, my roommate Mindy and I stumbled upon greatness this week when she purchased an animal t-shirt downtown at one of the tourist shops. We knew it was hot right off the bat. But she wore it one day while hanging out with her mom and returned to tell the stories of the power the shirt exudes.

Urbandictionary.com (Coming Soon!)
An animal t-shirt often sold at tourist shops in the U.S., most often printed with an airbrush look. Common Alaska prints include wolves howling at the moon, bears showing some teeth and eagles descending. If you take pictures of these shirts in the night, the power glows.

Example: Mindy is getting hit on all the time because she is rockin' the power animal T. And I heard she won a hula hoop contest because of its magic.

B.Meyers, Mindy and Rosey

Now, we all have one. And those of us who do not, get on it! But good luck trying to find one at a thrift store. I tried and came to the conclusion that when people buy a power animal T, they hold on to it. :D


Roland, Rosey, Lee, Mindy, and Alex


Rosey, Paul and Mindy

Also, check out Lee Post's blog on Power Animals.