Gallery: Separated at Birth

I get a kick out of "separated at birth" pictures...there, I've said it, and I don't apologize.  I think they can make you think about relationships more than you might, or see parallels (more than just appearance) that you might not of before.  And, they can be really goddamned funny.  So I started putting together my own "separated at birth"s.  I've already posted a Ryan Reynolds/Nick Nolte picture (which I will include again at the end of this post, so I can be anal-retentively complete in my posting), but here are a few others.  This will be a continually evolving page, and suggestions will be happily accepted (though I do reserve editorial right; if I put it up is my decision).And so, without further ado...the humble beginnings to the "Separated at Birth" gallery.I'm going to keep this statement short and simple: I like Lindsay Lohan.  I think she's way more talented than she ought to be, and I'm not surprised she's got issues with substance abuse because her innate vulnerability shows up in pretty much every single one of her performances.  Yes, even in The Parent Trap.  Every time I see her I want to say, "Lindsay, honey, knock it off.  You're going down a dangerous road, one that will be impossible to come back from.  If you don't stop what you're doing, before you realize it things will be way out of control and you will look exactly...

...like Carol Channing."

Now I don't want to imply that there is anything wrong with Carol Channing. She's had a tremendous career and is an outspoken and beloved member of the celebrity firmament.  But she is also 91.  LiLo, you're way too young to ought to merit any comparison to a 91-year-old lady no matter what the reason, and yet here we are.  Put down the Botox, pull out the cheek implants, and knock it off with the Restylane in your lips.  If you need daily affirmations call me, not your plastic surgeon.  Good luck.

In a twisted moment of separated-at-birthery, paparazzi recently rushed 66-year-old Blondie singer Debbie Harry outside the Mercer Hotel in New York City.  They thought Ms. Harry was 25-year-old Lindsay Lohan, who was also recently seen at that hotel.  <sigh>  Oh, LiLo.

I was watching the VMAs (what?  It's not a crime) and thought, who's the weird creepy guy sitting next to Jay-Z?  Kind of looked like Sal Mineo, only not nearly as adorably vulnerable, or one of the Jets from West Side Story...only kind of freakish and hostile, with what looked like few to no redeeming qualities.  And then I found out that it was Lady Gaga as alternate personality "Joe Calderone".  Goooood.  But sad.  Garth Brooks came up with the Chris Gaines alter-ego and at least he tried to be attractive, in an emo, chin-pube-sporting, complete-failure-of-what-attractive-means sort of way.  Beyonce comes up with Sasha Fierce, which is, you know.  Fierce.  But Lady Gaga?  Comes up with her version of Ralph Macchio as Johnny from The Outsiders, just before Ponyboy gets beat to hell by the Socs and Johnny has to shank Leif Garrett.

Celebrity alter-egos: When one ego just isn't enough.

When I watched Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows (Part 1) (and if you haven't watched this yet then hello, welcome to Earth, I'm sure you've had a long journey...would you like some tea?) I kept thinking Bellatrix LeStrange (Helena Bonham-Carter) was derangedly over the top, but in a cartoonish and caricature-y way, not in a freaky/demented way.  And she's supposed to be an insane, deadly zealot that you know will stab you as soon as look at you, not insane but you kind of laugh at her even though you're sure she's got a knife in her skirt.  Sort of like her fellow Brit, comedian Russell Brand:

The matching hair?  The waist-cinching belts?  *Killing me*

I was working on the final project for one of my classes, comparing the movies The Hurt Locker and Avatar--the 2009 Academy Award winner for Best Picture, and the largest grossing film of 2009, or ever.  I watched a LOT of Avatar, and Neytiri's character reminded me of someone.  And then I realized, those big eyes!  The little freckly patch over her nose!  The skin color!  It's another one of my favorite movie heroines:

Don't get me started on how many things I found wrong with Avatar; that's another post for another day.  Suffice to say, when you think about it, Neytiri's character development makes her, by the end, as unthreatening and ultimately servile to Jake, as Dory is to Marlin. And I don't even want to think about the sexual dynamics of Finding Nemo, lest I go insane.  So.  Moving on.

OK, OK, I should be nicer to Donna Shalala.  She's had a distinguished career--she's the former Secretary of Health and Human Services during the Clinton Administration,  has been awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom, and has been the President of the University of Miami for the last decade.  She probably does more before she finishes her morning coffee than I manage to get done in a day.  But that doesn't change the fact that she looks...almost exactly...like the Heat Miser.

And from what I understand, she is indeed...too much.

So.  Back to pop culture.

I admit it, I can't stand Justin Bieber, and I don't have pre-teen girls, so I don't even have to pretend to not despise his music.  But one day, while confronted with his visage, I realized he looked decidedly like another figure in the music world (I was originally going to type "another music icon", but it's about the Biebs...I couldn't do it...and I'm not linking to anything about him, because if you can't find a frigging link involving Justin Bieber, then you need to learn how to work the interwebs).  Anyway.  Justin Bieber, meet Helen Reddy.

For more Bieber look-alikes ("Biebians"), please direct your attention to Lesbians Who Look Like Justin Bieber, though this does lend a rather curious twist to the song "I am Woman", especially if the Biebs covers it.  (I smell a Grammy...!)

And, for now, the final comparison.  I absolutely think Ryan Reynolds is dreamy, and I've thought so since Van Wilder...though not even I could find a reason to want to sit through Green Lantern, because if you couldn't tell that was a stink bomb from fifty feet away...well, they have medical professionals to help with this, but I digress.  Anyway.  Ryan Reynolds.  So.  I was trying to think of who it was that Ryan Reynolds reminded me of, and it bugged me for months.  Finally, eventually, I realized why the connection was so slow in coming...

He and the young, Rich Man, Poor Man-era, handsome buck Nick Nolte have striking similarities (though Nolte's porn-stache in the clip I linked to is unfortunate).  Same nose, same jawline.  But Nick Nolte, of late, has become--to put it mildly--a train wreck.  Please, Ryan Reynolds, do what you can to avoid this.  Eat right, smear yourself in lamb fat, engage in voodoo, start an exercise regimen that involves being chased by bees...I really don't care what you do, so long as you avoid...this.