Saturday, June 30, 2012

A Little Poll

Some of you might know that Japanese people like to compare foreigners they know to celebrities. Every foreigner "looks like" some Hollywood actor, musician, or athlete. So here are the three men I have been compared to since arriving in Japan. By far the most common is this man:


Pardon me, but I do not see this one at all. People say the "eyes and nose" bear an uncanny resemblance. I'm not upset that people compare me to Nicolas Cage, or even that they call me "Cage" (sounds like the Japanese name "Keiji")... but I do NOT think I look like him at all.

The next man up is...


I see this one a little more. One day, a student of mine said, "I went to the movies last weekend and I saw you!" I thought to myself, "Funny, I never went to the movies, I stayed home all weekend!" So she said, "I was sure you were in Ocean's Eleven." Sure enough, some months later when I saw it on DVD, I was surprised to see "me" on the screen. He does look like me, does he not? I think this picture bears quite a resemblance to me! So when people say I look like Andy Garcia, I do not look surprised or bewildered. Even I would say there is an uncanny resemblance there.

And then there is the most recent one:


Who is he, you might wonder? He is Dev Patel (not to be mistaken with my childhood friend, Dave Patel), star of the 2008 movie Slumdog Millionaire. It was first mentioned by a non-Japanese... in fact, my own cousin, who said that Trevor circa high school (1990s) looked a lot like him. But then I actually watched the movie at school with all my students (550+ students)... and during the showing, they often looked back at me and pointed to the screen and said "Toreba?" Then one of my wife's friends mentioned it on Facebook earlier today... so yeah, I guess he's the newest candidate! (Not only is he Indian, but he is of the same tribe as my dad -- Gujarati!) I cannot say I look exactly like him (or vice versa) but I do see a resemblance.

So the question I pose to you is: which Hollywood celebrity do I most resemble?
a) Nicolas Cage
b) Andy Garcia
c) Dev Patel
d) other: _________________

Your cooperation in this scientific investigation is much appreciated.


Monday, June 11, 2012

Amused by Little Things

Sometimes, song titles line up in a funny way to create puns or clever "sentences" like these:




Bonus points if you can name the bands who sing these songs! (#4 and #13 are the same group)