Monday, 2/27

The Billy Bob Thornton comparisons keep coming.

I think I've written in here before about how some people seem to think that I bear a vague resemblance to the actor/Academy Award winning writer. It's usually an attractive college aged woman who makes the remark, and when they say it they usually mean it in a good way, such as “he was married to Angelina Jolie so he must have SOMETHING going for him”. I'm still kind of ambivalent about the comparison; however, if it's cool to attractive college-aged women, I guess I'll deal with it.

After all, I'm not stupid!

8-)

Aside from the fact that we both seem to have bizarrely small heads (at least as compared to the rest of our bodies) I personally don't see the resemblance between Mr. Thornton and myself. That, however, doesn't mean anything. After all, I see me in a way much different than most people. So even though I don;'t think I look like him, I'm willing to give other people the benefit of the doubt. And that's a good thing, because three more people in the past two weeks have made the comparison.

One of those people was Loraine's older brother, who noticed the similarity while watching “High School Bowl” online. Another was a parent of one of the students at a “High School Bowl” taping. The third was someone I ran into at the History Center. Three people, seeing me in three different settings, and they all made the same comparison.

And yet I don't get it.

I mean, part of me is actually flattered by the comparison. After all, the gentleman to whom I'm being compared won an Oscar for writing a movie, and has been in the company of some of the most important people on the planet. So who wouldn't want to be compared to someone like that? The other part of me, though, keeps thinking of THIS Billy Bob Thornton--

For some bizarre reason, whenever someone (especially an attractive college-aged woman) says I look like Billy Bob Thornton, THAT is the Billy Bob Thornton to whom I think I'm being compared. I know that's not what the person telling me is thinking, but that's what pops into my head. Call it a personality quirk on my part; heck, call it a major mental deficiency on my part. But whenever someone says I look like Billy Bob Thornton, THAT'S the Billy Bob Thornton I think I'm being compared to.

Even if/when it's not.

I'm sure that if the years wear on and I'm still being compared to him, I'll learn to deal with it a little better than I currently am. For now, it still seems weird, and I still don't quite understand. But that's just me. As we all know, you guys are much smarter than I, so if you say I look like Billy Bob Thornton, then I guess I look like Billy Bob Thornton!

And that's that.

(jim@wmqt.com)