Doppelganger - must be seeing double.

When my sister and I were younger, we worked together and wore the same uniform.  I remember one day we went out together to buy lunch and a lady said, "Ooh twins!" I was mortified because she was nine years older than me.  I suspect she was flattered.  It depends on your perspective.  Around the late 1970's I saw a poster for Slimmer of the Year.  The woman was my body double. She was wearing a dress by Jersey Master - I had the identical dress - she looked exactly like me and she was dancing.  At first glance I really thought that the company had used my photograph.  The resemblance was uncanny.

Having read Kathleen's blog this week, I am beginning to wonder whether mistaken identity also played a part in my own marital breakdown.  My ex-husband was seen at a country pub with a woman who "looked very like me but was much taller". Apparently they were kissing rather passionately. It probably doesn't matter 16 years after the divorce but I can't help wondering now, whether it actually me, with my hair done and make-up on, wearing and high heels. Oh well - we all make mistakes!    

Of course we know that doubles are used in public life as decoys, especially for Presidents.  I believe that Saddam Hussain had several, all of them expendable. The same is said of the tyrant Adolf Hitler.  My view is that one of each of them was more than enough, resembling one of them must be a life sentence in itself. Funny though, we seem to like people who impersonate others.  There is a local lady who looks and attempts to sing like Amy Winehouse. Elvis Presley is alive and well. Perhaps I should say that there are thousands of Elvis Presleys around the world, many making a living from duplicating his iconic styling. 

The upsurge of Marvel Comic book movies has given free reign to the idea of the alter-ego, after all, where would Spiderman be without his ordinary persona Peter Parker.  Most of the Batman characters are based on the duality of human nature.  I always found Cat Woman particularly appealing and went to a Halloween party in a version of the costume.  I found the mask, long claws and bull whip tail, realised my inner dominatrix - oops I mean kitten. I must confess, the idea of having a double is both unnerving and strangely appealing. A little like wearing a disguise..... 

 

 

Wasn't me

 

You accuse me of spending too much on clothes,

by an exclusive fashion designer,

you say that the game is up because

you spotted the name on the hanger

but I only shop at TK Max,

so that was my doppelganger.

You said that you saw me playing golf,

in Spain at the course called La Manga,
you said that I putted like a pro,  
with a swing to rival Langer. 
You must have mislaid your eagle eye,
for that was my doppelganger.

And when the village barn caught fire,

the night was the 5^th of November,

you told the police I went out on my own,

you said that I’d taken a banger

but I’m not a fire-starter my dear,
that was my doppelganger.

It strikes me that you have been indiscrete,

you may have dropped a clanger
I don’t mind at all that you slander me
I won’t give vent to my anger,
but if you should die from an axe in the head,
it will be my doppelganger. 


Just a bit of fun!  Thanks for reading.  Adele

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My Number One Super Power

 By Ashley Lister

Like Lisa discussed in her post yesterday, I also grew up reading Marvel comics. I was a fan of Spiderman, Captain Britain and the Fantastic Four. I did read some DC comics, Batman and Superman, but it was the Marvel stable of heroes that roused my interest. They were convincing and compelling characters and I dreamt of being blessed with similar super powers. Like so many of the young and impressionable readers of those stories, I wanted to grow up to become a superhero and fight crime. Nowadays I think the heroism side of such a gift might be overrated. If I was blessed with such powers now, I think I’d likely become a supervillain.

There are several reasons for this response, the main one being that superheroes are often shown pursuing bank robbers. I never questioned this as a young reader but nowadays I think: Why? Can’t the police do this? What’s the motive for a superhero pursuing bank robbers? The banks aren’t paying individuals like Spiderman and Batman to resolve breached-security issues. These costume-clad tosspots are volunteering their services to stop banks from suffering the losses. These morons are putting their own lives on the line in the process.

Admittedly, as discussed on yesterday's blog, there are some genuine heroes in our society who regularly put their lives on the line for the benefit of others. But usually those genuine heroes are risking their lives for the benefits of deserving individuals. The superheroes I once read about seemed to be risking their necks to help banks and bankers.

It should be noted here that, as a collective, the banking industry has caused our society more problems than any masterplan of destruction dreamt up by Dr Doom, the Joker, the Green Goblin or the Penguin. Mismanagement within banking is at the heart of the global recession. At some level it’s fair to say that all the doom, gloom and misery brought on by the collapse of the world’s various economies is directly attributable to bankers and banking.

And yet, Spiderman, Superman, Batman and nearly every other superhero simply stop villains from taking money that isn’t legally theirs and hand it back to the super-thieves who are the bankers.  

In some ways it’s an affirmation that money is our society’s current God; that Marx was right and that capitalism is the force to which the masses pay homage.

The superheroes I read as a child took the money from the needy ‘criminals’ at the bottom of the social hierarchy and made sure it was returned to grasping claws of those privileged with a surfeit of opulence and excess.

If that’s heroism, then it’s not a form of heroism that benefits anyone.

And so, what I’m saying here is, if I had Spiderman’s powers and I saw a ‘criminal’ running out of a bank with a big bag of money, I’d maybe smack the crap out of him and then do a runner with the sack of loot they’d stolen. Because, if I was given the choice, my villainous super power would be: looking out for number one.

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