Well, not exactly. Please let me explain. Back in January of 2012 I wrote Separated at Birth 2: Tim Tebow and Bigfoot. In that piece I posited the theory that there was some connection between then-Denver Broncos quarterback Tim Tebow and the legendary half-man, half-monster known as Bigfoot. That claim was based mainly on the following images of the two man-like creatures striking a stunningly similar pose. This pose had come to be known as "Tebowing" during the 2011 NFL season, and it spawned a mini-fad where people would imitate the pose in photos posted on social media sites. Tebowing was inspired by Tebow's habit of removing his helmet, going down on one knee and lowering his head in prayer after a particularly good play on his part.
Examples of Bigfoot and Tim Tebow "Tebowing"
There was a pretty good amount of additional supporting information presented in the piece, but I don't want to repeat the whole thing (please read the original blog to see it all). One of the most convincing (in my opinion) bits of evidence came via the eleven photos I found online of Tebow in game action throughout his college and NFL careers where he eerily seemed to take on the form of the most famous image ever taken of Bigfoot--a still frame from the famous Patterson-Gimlin Film of 1967.
I suppose that if Bigfoot is "Tebowing" in the first example above, then it could be said that Tim Tebow is "Bigfooting" in the second one
Well, since the time of that blog Tim Tebow has traveled an interesting, if not terribly successful, journey in his NFL career. After his half-season as the Denver Broncos savior and miracle worker, his 2011 season came to a screeching halt when the New England Patriots dismantled the Broncos 45-10 in the AFC Divisional playoff game. After that his future with the Broncos was in limbo until they went and signed free agent Payton Manning to be the "future" of the franchise. A suddenly expendable Tim Tebow was dealt to the New York Jets, who supposedly had a plan for him in their playbook. In the end that plan didn't seem too be very detailed (as Harvey Keitel said to Sylvester Stallone in "Copland": "Your plan is the plan of a boy. You made it on the back of a matchbook, without thinking!"). Tebow spent the majority of the 2012 season in the tabloids and on the bench. He was still a hot commodity in the media, but not so much on the football field. In April the Jets drafted Geno Smith to join a crowded backfield at quarterback. With something like fifteen QBs on the roster (including the lingering presence of former wunderkind Mark Sanchez) something had to give. At the end of April the Jets finally admitted that there was no place for Tebow on the team and waived him. He spent over a month in limbo. No team seemed to be interested in him. It seemed like his short and less-than-stellar career in the NFL had come to an end. And then a funny thing happened...
From Yahoo! Sports
A few days ago Michael Silver, a writer for Y! Sports, mentioned in an article that Bill Belichick (head coach of the New England Patriots) "hates" Tim Tebow. I'm not sure where he got this information, but apparently it wasn't from Belichick himself. The coach found it necessary to respond to that statement and sternly denied that he hates Tebow.
Best Buds!
It seemed like that would be the end of the story...but it wasn't. Today (June 10, 2013) it was reported that the Patriots had signed none other than...Tim Tebow! What?!? I don't know if this is some shrewd move by Bill Belchick, some giant mistake by Belichick or simply Bill's way of proving beyond a shadow of a doubt that he does NOT in any way hate Mr. Timothy Tebow. Whatever the reason, for better or for worse apparently Tim Tebow is now a member of the New England Patriots. I can't say it hasn't been an interesting day to be a Patriots fan.
Teammates?
And, wouldn't you know, in the ensuing deluge of press coverage I just happened to see yet another image of Tim Tebow looking for all the world like that famous photograph of Bigfoot once again! Heck, the photographer even went so far as to make sure there was some vegetation (hay bales?) in the foreground to make the scenery resemble Bluff Creek and the scene of the Patterson-Gimlin film!
This photo (seen on a number of websites, so I'm not sure which one to give credit for it) apparently shows Tebow arriving at the New York Jets' training facility in April, a couple weeks before his release. What it looks like is Tebow walking out of the practice facility for the last time after being cut from the team. While that's not the case, with that expression on Tebow's face as he walks away it might as well be. Either way, it appears that Tim Tebow will now be bringing his traveling side-show and tent revival to New England. For how long his tenure there lasts no one can know for sure (except possibly Bill Belichick). All I know is that, if Tebow can stay on the roster until the 2013 season opener, and if I can finally prove that he and Bigfoot were indeed separated at birth, then Bigfoot will be suiting up for the Patriots and serving as a backup quarterback for Tom Brady. Incredible? Unbelievable? Impossible? Maybe so. But, if you were to ask me yesterday if Bill Belichick would ever consider signing Tim Tebow, I'd probably think that someone finally proving the existence of Bigfoot would be just as likely. Sometimes truth is indeed stranger than fiction!
Bobcat Goldthwait may still be best known as "that crazy comic" from the 1980s, but he has carved out a pretty decent new career as a director over the past few years. Last night (April 29, 2013) I was lucky enough to be in attendance at the world premiere of his latest film, "Willow Creek" (2013). It was showing at the Somerville Theatre in Somerville, MA. The screening was part of the 2013 Independent Film Festival of Boston. While getting chance to see a film's world premiere is reason enough to get excited, what made this night extremely interesting for me was that "Willow Creek" just happens to be a horror movie about...Bigfoot! It was a good night and a very good movie. Bobcat Goldthwait himself introduced the movie before it started, and then did a Q&A session with the stars of the film after it ended.
I had listened to a podcast interview from The Bigfoot Report with Bobcat Goldthwait about the movie which gave me a lot of information going into the film. It seems that Bobcat is actually a pretty big Bigfoot enthusiast himself. That certainly bodes well for the film. His knowledge of and respect for the subject could only be a plus.
Here's the podcast from The Bigfoot Report:
Over the past decade or so there has been a huge explosion of new Bigfoot and Abominable Snowman movies. With the popularity of the show "Finding Bigfoot" this trend will probably continue. When I first started noticing that new Bigfoot movies were appearing I was excited to see the genre return to the big (and small) screen. But when I sat down and watched these movies I realized that they were almost exclusively simply trashy horror/slasher movies that just happened to feature (a generally crappy-looking) Bigfoot as the murderous "monster" doing all the gruesome killing. To make things worse, it was obvious that the accessibility of computers and cheap, easily made CGI effects made most of these creatures possible. A terrible gorilla suit is bad enough, but really crappy CGI Bigfoot monsters and gore effects make for practically unwatchable crap. This will all tie in with the review of the movie, trust me.
Back to "Willow Creek". The most important things I learned from the podcast were that Bobcat was an actual fan (if that's the right word) of Bigfoot, and that this movie wasn't meant to be "snarky" about Bigfoot or the people who believe in the creature. Not really knowing much more about the movie, I was excited to see it. I guess the only other important thing to know is that this is a "Found Footage" movie (a la "The Blair Witch Project" (1999) and "Cloverfield" (2008). I know a lot of people are tired of this format and automatically hate anything done in the style without even having to watch it. While I agree that the unexpected popularity of "Blair Witch" was responsible for the gimmick being overused, I still think it's possible to do good things with it.
When we got to the Somerville Theatre about an hour before the 9:30 showtime there were already a handful of people lining up to get in. Apparently they wanted to get the best seats and were willing to wait an hour to do so. We went for a drink and returned around 9:20 to see very long line snaking around to the back of the theater building.
It was nice to see such a large and enthusiastic turnout for a Bigfoot movie--even if 95% of the people were actually there mainly to see Bobcat Goldthwait. We got our seats and enjoyed an introduction to the movie from Bobcat himself. He had recently had spinal surgery and was all hopped up on painkillers, so it was impressive that he made the effort to be there at all in the first place. He managed to be funny and talk coherently about the movie and why he made it.
After the film ended Bobcat returned to the stage to talk some more about "Willow Creek", introduce the stars of the movie and answer some questions from the audience. I had never been to a world premiere of a movie (small-time independent or major studio release). Having the chance to attend one at a wonderful place like the Somerville Theatre, and getting to see the director talk about his movie was very cool. Bobcat and the stars answered quite a few questions and gave the audience a good idea of what the making of "Willow Creek" was like.
But what about the movie itself?
"Willow Creek" tells the story--through found film footage--of Jim and Kelly, a couple who are trying to make a documentary about Bigfoot by traveling to the Pacific Northwest, visiting some of the tourist traps of Bigfoot Country and camping out at the site of the most famous Bigfoot sighting of all-time, Bluff Creek. This was where, in 1967, Roger Patterson and Bob Gimlin took the famous footage of a large bipedal creature walking off into the woods that yielded the most well-known image of Bigfoot ever taken--an iconic image familiar with both Bigfoot enthusiasts and people who don't even know anything about the subject.
Still from the 1967 Patterson-Gimlin film
The trip starts out with the couple driving toward their destination. We get to know them through their personal moments "unwittingly" caught on film as they record the first somewhat awkward scenes of their film. Jim is a believer in the subject and very excited to be making the pilgrimage to Bigfoot Country. His girlfriend Kelly doesn't believe there is anything to the Bigfoot myth, but is happy to accompany Jim on the adventure and help him out with his film. The first thing I liked about the movie was that this section showed the couple visiting a number of actual Bigfoot tourism sites and a number of real Bigfoot "personalities" are featured. It's a pretty fun look at an area that I've always wanted to visit myself, but probably never will. While this is definitely not a comedy, there are quite a few nice bits of humor in this "introductory" segment of the film. All the while the couple is preparing for the ultimate voyage to the Patterson-Gimlin film site. To set up some conflict there are local people who warn the couple that they shouldn't take the trip. From telling them that it isn't something to joke about, to warning them that it could be dangerous, to actually threatening them, people seem to think that the excursion isn't a great idea.
When they finally do take off for the film site we get an idea of just how remote the area is. Paved roads lead to dirt roads of increasingly poor quality. This is where they meet a creepy hillbilly who gives them a very clear and direct threat that they should turn back. Of course they don't listen. They finally have to hike in the last few miles when the road eventually ends altogether. As it gets close to nightfall they decide to make camp before finishing the journey in the morning. This is where the main action of the film happens. They wander away from their tent to check out the scenery (and take a dip in a stream) and return to find the campsite trashed. Trashed by what or whom we don't know. Was it a bear? Was it the hillbillies messing with them? Was it Bigfoot?
The next scenes are in and around the tent at night. After an awkward marriage proposal from Bob we see the couple wakened from sleep by strange sounds in the woods. This is the part of a movie that provides the greatest challenge for a "Found Footage" film. Suspense and mood need to be established and maintained without using many cuts and/or edits in the film. It's also necessary to make it believable that the characters would be filming what we're seeing. I thought Bobcat did a fine job on all fronts during this stretch. The centerpiece is an approximately nineteen-minute shot of Jim and Kelly in the tent listening to the sounds around them and becoming increasingly creeped out as they try to figure out what they are hearing. The camera is on a tripod (or something that keeps it steady) and doesn't move during this whole scene. At first Jim hears "knocking", which is an actual method of knocking pieces of wood together that is supposedly used by Bigfoot creatures to communicate in some way. The sounds are coming from far off and aren't frequent. It could certainly just be natural sounds of the forest--as Kelly tries to convince herself. Later they start hearing strange whooping sounds that Jim refers to as "vocalization", another noted Bigfoot communication method. The yelps don't sound particularly threatening, but are unnerving. And the noises seem to be moving around the campsite and getting closer. Next come deeper moaning sounds that are much more creepy, and what sounds like a child or a woman crying. They start to hear something walking around the campsite, rocks are thrown at the tent, and finally something or someone pushes down on the tent before retreating when Kelly screams. Throughout this long scene Kelly is transformed from a skeptic into a true believer (even if she's most likely not sure exactly what it is that she now believes in). This whole scene is the centerpiece, and the most effective part, of the whole movie.
We next see the couple at dawn as they break camp and announce that they are abandoning the project, heading out of the woods and going home. But first they have to find their way back to their car. Along the way Jim finds and collects a hair sample and they get the feeling (with increasing certainty) they are being followed. Naturally they don't find their way back to the car. As nightfall nears they realize they had been spending hours walking in circles. The film closes out with the couple's ultimate journey into fear as they finally encounter what has been following them and messing with them since they entered the deep forest. Without giving away the ending I will say that we find out in a few quick and loud minutes just why the story is being told solely through some "found footage".
I thought "Willow Creek" was an excellent movie. At least excellent in terms of a Bigfoot film anyway. I grew up in the 1970s and saw movies like "Creature from Black Lake" (1976), "Sasquatch: The Legend of Bigfoot" (1977) and the documentary "The Mysterious Monsters" (1975). To this day these remain my favorite Bigfoot films of all time. They probably wouldn't be considered of very high quality today, but because of what they meant to me as a terrified kid they remain the best of the best. "Harry and the Hendersons" (1987) was a fine bigger-budget Hollywood film, and probably the "best" Bigfoot movie ever made, quality-wise, but I don't really think of it a true Bigfoot film so much as a nice family movie that just happens to be about Bigfoot. I have also seen most of the slew of newer Bigfoot horror movies I mentioned at the beginning of this piece, and pretty much dislike the vast majority of them. I think "Willow Creek" is (to me at least) one of the best Bigfoot movies ever made, and probably the best since the heyday of the 1970s. It gave me genuine chills during the inside-the-tent scenes, and I can honestly say that, for me, it was genuinely scary in places (something that most modern horror films can't say). To be honest, I was a bit disappointed with the ending. It had to have an ending, and this one certainly finished things up in a major (but still mysterious) way and let you know just what or who was responsible for the action outside the tent the night before. It even included a big surprise element that was foreshadowed earlier in the movie. It gets you thinking and wondering, but in the end it was just a touch too much for me. In fact, it felt almost like a shot-for-shot re-creation of the ending of "The Blair Witch Project", with Bigfoot inserted in place of a witch. I can't say exactly what was wrong with it, or how I'd recommend improving it, but it just felt a bit forced. Otherwise (and even with this issue) I really did think that it was a very good movie. It's certainly something that Bigfoot buffs should enjoy.
SPOILER ALERT
If you plan on watching the movie and want to be surprised going into it,
please don't read any further...
What might be the best thing about "Willow Creek" is the fact that it's pretty obvious that there is indeed a Bigfoot creature (many of them in fact), but we never see it onscreen. The worst part of most of the new wave of Bigfoot horror films is the onscreen appearances of the Bigfoot creatures themselves. Whether it's a guy in a suit or a CGI creature (and especially when it's a CGI creature) the monsters always seem to disappoint big time. Some of the filmmakers seem to put a decent amount of effort into the costumes, but the low-budget nature of the direct-to-video market limits what they can do. The easy alternative is to go the increasingly accessible CGI route. These monsters always end up being overblown and move too quickly and unrealistically to be believed. Bobcat saved the money of creating a creature and left that part to the imagination of the viewer. We all have a pretty good idea of what Bigfoot is supposed to look like and using our imaginations ends up being a much cheaper and more effective special effect. Bobcat did a great job of building the suspense, and by the time it all ends you don't really feel you need to actually see the thing that's doing all this stuff to feel satisfied.
As I mentioned, the ending was very derivative of "The Blair Witch Project". The whole movie was of a similar framework, but that's to be expected in a "Found Footage" movie. I wasn't bothered by the similarity until the end. The surprise element, mentioned above, concerns what can only be described as a "forest bride", who was alluded to earlier in the film while the couple were touring Bigfoot Country. It's adds a disturbing element to what was already a disturbing ending as our main characters meet their horrifying demise. Since this is a horror movie there's nothing wrong with it having a gruesome and disturbing ending (and the gore, like the creature, is never explicitly shown). I'm not even sure exactly why I was put off by the ending. Maybe Bobcat just did too good of a job making me like these people and I simply didn't want it to end the way I knew it had to end.
Newbury Comics is the name of a chain of retail stores in New England. The chain currently has 28 stores in Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, Connecticut and Maine. They do indeed sell lots of comic books and graphic novels and the like, but they offer a LOT more too: books, magazines, CDs, DVDs, Blu-rays, video games, t-shirts, posters and lots of toys, action figures and other goodies from all corners of pop culture: superheroes, Star Wars, Doctor Who (old and new), The Walking Dead, Star Trek, and all your favorite bands (just to name a few).
I just found out a couple days ago that Newbury Comics was celebrating its 35th anniversary on April 6, 2013. To commemorate the occasion they had a giant one-day sale where nearly everything in the stores was 35% off (even sale items)! I was never a very dedicated comic book reader, but always loved taking a trip to Newbury Comics to check out my favorite movies, music and other neat stuff. A giant 35% off sale was a great excuse to make a trip to Newbury Street in Boston (the flagship store for the chain).
It seems hard to believe that Newbury Comics has been around for thirty-five years. The store's not as old as me (I was eight when it opened, and didn't start patronizing it until my teenage years), but it's still hard to imagine. In 1978 vinyl records weren't a neat and hip option for music--they were the main format for music. When I first started going to the store the big format was cassette tapes. Later on CDs came along. Now the CDs (and the vinyl selection for that matter) have to duel with virtual adversaries like mp3s and iTunes. Newbury Comics has also weathered the home entertainment revolution spurred by the video cassette recorder (VCR). VHS (and Beta) tapes were eventually replaced by DVDs and Blu-ray (which have their own virtual adversaries online).
Despite being such a New England institution for so long and having 28 outlets, Newbury Comics still manages to feel like an independent local store rather than some giant cookie-cutter chain store. Speaking of the big chains, when my friends and I used to travel into Boston to cruise Newbury street--and Newbury Comics--back in the 1980s this now-vacant building used to house a gigantic multi-floor Tower Records store.
Back to the sale. I got to the store a few minutes before the doors opened at 10:00 AM. There was a modest line of people waiting to get in. Obviously word of the big sale had gotten around. It was kind of funny watching the other Newbury Street shoppers walking by and trying to figure out why people were lined up in front of the store.
Waiting for the doors to open
Time to spend (and save) some money!
When the store opened the crowd moved inside. It was relatively quiet at first, but in the approximately hour-and-a-half that I spent there, the store filled up with bargain hunters pretty quickly. People congregated around their areas of interest (comic books, jazz CDs, t-shirts and other clothing, DVDs and Blu-rays...). The most interesting group (to me at least) was the crowd of eager vinyl fans pouring over the record section.
Vinyl collectors (right), with posters and Doctor Who merchandise nearby
T-shirts and racks of CDs
Some of the comic books for sale in the store
a selection of superhero banks
It was hard to resist these Han Solo in carbonite ice cube molds!
While I spent most of my time browsing, I did manage to find a few things (four to be exact) that I just couldn't resist. It felt odd not buying any music (or even a few comic books), but I still think I ended up with a pretty good representation of what Newbury Comics is about. The first thing was a Ghostbusters t-shirt (that glows in the dark!), which I've been planning on buying since last October to replace an old one I have that has a hole in it. I'm always looking for a bargain and find it hard to shell out $19.99 for a t-shirt. With the 35% discount the Ghostbusters shirt only cost $12.99! Guess it was worth the wait.
I also got a wind-up Doctor Who Dalek toy for The Little Monsters (and, yes, for me too I suppose). This one had a price on it of $9.99, but with the 35% off deal it only cost me $6.49.
The last two items I bought were movies sets on DVD. As it turns out they were both very appropriate choices for the day. It just so happens that both of them were originally released in 1978--the same year that Newbury Comics opened! First up is the four disc Special Edition set of "Superman: The Movie" (1978). I have a bare-bones set of all four of the Christopher Reeve "Superman" movies, but couldn't resist what was probably the bargain of the day. The price tag on this one was a more-than-reasonable $6.99. But it was already on sale for only $3.99. With the anniversary discount added it only cost $2.59! That's well under a dollar per disc!
And finally, I also got the Ultimate Edition four disc set of "Dawn of the Dead" (1978). This is a movie I already have on a single DVD, but to get this set for a ridiculously low price was a no-brainer (no zombie pun intended).In addition to the U.S. theatrical release (that I have on my older DVD) this set also includes the Extended Version and the European Version of the film along with a bunch of extras.
The funny thing about this set was that the store had two copies of it on the shelf. One was a used copy that had a price of $14.99. Right below that one was a brand new copy for...$13.99. Yes, I paid a buck less for a new copy! Actually I paid quite a bit less, because with the discount added in it only cost $9.09.
Hmmm. $14.99 used or $13.99 new? Tough choice!
These four items would have cost me a total of $50.96 (without Massachusetts tax added) according to the price tags (and not counting the sale on the "Superman" set. With the 35% anniversary discount it really felt a bit like time was rolled back and I was paying 1978 prices. The whole mess, including tax cost only $32.30!
Here's a video I made about the Newbury Comics haul:
Another in the continuing series dedicated to the Separated at Birth phenomenon.
So a few days back I was watching an old episode of the show "In Search of..." called "The End of the World" for a blog I was writing on the subject. The episode came from the fifth season of the show, way back in 1981.
One of the experts consulted on the subject of various possibilities for the end of the world in this episode was a scientist from Berkeley named Frank Asaro. Now, I can't say that I'd ever heard of Mr. Asaro before watching this old show, but for whatever reason there was something about him that seemed very familiar to me.
Frank Asaro: Scientist
I couldn't quite place it at first, but this familiarity seemed to have something to do with the epic beard he was sporting. The first thought was that he resembled former U.S. Surgeon General C. Everett Koop. A case could probably be made that Frank Asaro and C. Everett Koop were indeed separated at birth. They were supposedly born eleven years apart, but are certainly contemporaries of each other.
C. Everett Koop
Frank Asaro
But, as you've probably noticed, the title of this edition of Separated at Birth doesn't mention C. Everett Koop. No, there seemed to be something else nagging at my mind when I saw Mr. Asaro. I saw the "In Search of..." episode less than a week before Christmas and it felt like Frank Asaro's long-lost "relative" must have had something to do with the season at hand. The answer was found in the old animated Christmas special "How The Grinch Stole Christmas"(1966). This Boris Karloff-narrated show was alway a favorite of mine as a kid (and still is, as a matter of fact).
In the show, when the Whos of Whoville started singing the song "Welcome Christmas" there's a moment when a bearded Whovillian appears alongside some of his fellow citizens. This particular Who had a very distinctive beard. A beard not unlike...Frank Asaro's (and C. Everett Koop's too for that matter).
Now, note the resemblance between the bearded Who and Frank Asaro. Similar Beard. Similar hairline. Throw some glasses and a tie on the Who and it's almost uncanny, right?
The Bearded Who
Frank Asaro
I can't say for sure that Frank Asaro and the bearded Whovillian were indeed separated at birth. The fact that one is a human being and one is an animated character would seem to make it rather unlikely. But then again, we have seen some rather odd pairings in earlier Separated at Birth installments: like Tim Tebow and Bigfoot, and Reese Witherspoon and Sister Bear (from The Berenstain Bears). I suppose a less dramatic explanation could be that Mr. Asaro was simply inspired (consciously or unconsciously) by a viewing of "How The Grinch Stole Christmas". Either that or (probably more likely) he was a fan of Abe Lincoln's style.
Abraham Lincoln
Frank Asaro
I don't know what ever became of the bearded Whoville resident in the years since he helped usher in Christmas by singing "Welcome Christmas" back in 1966. Does anyone happen to know what the average life span is for a Who? HIs bald head and white beard would seem to indicate that he was already an elder of the town, but I really couldn't say how old he would have been back when the special first aired, or if he'd be likely to still be alive today.
However, thanks to the internet we do have a better idea of what happened to Frank Asaro in the three-plus decades since his appearance on "In Search of...". According to his Wikipedia page he's still "an Emeritus Senior Scientist at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory associated with the University of California at Berkeley." And according to Berkeley's Environmental Energy Technologies Division website he's part of the Sustainable Energy Systems Group. Here's a more recent photo of Mr. Asaro from that site:
Note that after all these years he's still rockin' his trademark beard!
...Even if it is cropped a little closer these days.
See more instances of people (and other things) that seemed to have been "Separated at Birth" below:
