Meme: Ross Matthews and Otho Share an Uncanny Resemblance

Do Ross Matthews of Ru Paul’s Drag Race fame and the character Otho from the 1988 movie Beetlejuice (played by Glenn Shadix) share an uncanny resemblance? I think so. Share if you agree. 

Memes We'd Love to See: © 2023 Stones of Erasmus

If we take a closer look at Ross Matthews and Otho's appearance, it's hard not to see the resemblance. Both have a similar facial structure, a prominent chin, and an expressive gaze that instantly draws you in. Ross Matthews is famous for his role as a judge on Ru Paul's Drag Race, where he has become a fan favorite for his endearing personality and quick wit. Meanwhile, Otho, portrayed by the late Glenn Shadix, is a character in the 1988 Tim Burton-directed film Beetlejuice. Otho is an interior designer who helps the ghostly couple who haunts a house to scare off the new living inhabitants.

While Ross Matthews is a real person and Otho is a fictional character, the idea that they could exist in the same movie universe is more plausible than it seems. Both Tim Burton-directed movies and Ru Paul's Drag Race are known for their campy, colorful, and often outrageous aesthetics. In fact, the idea of a drag queen and a flamboyantly styled interior designer crossing paths in a fantastical cinematic universe would make for an entertaining and hilarious movie.

Whether or not Ross Matthews' and Otho's similarities are intentional or coincidental, it's still fun to imagine the two coexisting in a shared universe. As pop culture enthusiasts, we can't help but look for hidden connections between our favorite shows and movies. And who knows, maybe we'll see Ross Matthews and Otho team up for an unforgettable adventure that will leave us laughing and cheering from start to finish.

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Fall Teaching Diary: After a Quarter of the Year Teaching (On the Hinge of the Covid-19 Pandemic)

I am a high school English teacher. But, in this post, I don't talk at all about teaching. But if you want to check out my store on Teachers Pay Teachers — it's lit! I took a selfie while waiting for a burger at the Five Guys on Fifty-Something street in Manhattan. Then I went to see a French film at the Museum of Modern Art — L'amour Fou, directed by Jacques Rivette. I knew nothing of the movie, except that it was an artifact of the Nouveau Vague — and its running time was well-over four hours. The movie's images and set-up captivated my imagination. I only once became anxious about sitting in the theater for that long. The movie is about the break-up of a theater director guy and his girlfriend, an actor (performed by by Jean-Pierre Kalfon and Bulle Ogier). The film cuts between life in their Parisian apartment, scenes from rehearsal of the play Andromaque, and a documentary film crew filming the director's rehearsals. Lots of talking. And improvisation. So it feels natural. Something that a long-run movie does for the viewer. And the scene where the couple has a Dionysian tear-up of their apartment was fantastic. And then the moments when the guy was a total masculine unsympathetic man — I didn't care for that much. The focus on the female character was my go-to source of enjoyment. Hooray! I watched that long French movie. And then I went home and became anxious because I was looking to move to a new place. I move on December First, and I have no idea where I will end up or with who. Long story short — I decided (and my current roommate) agreed that our time was up. We divorced. Amicably. Kind of like in the French movie — except my roommate is not my lover. *Laughing out loud* I plan to move to another place in the neighborhood — in Jackson Heights, Queens. I like the environs even though it is a tad boring. So wish me luck and let me know in the comments if you have ever seen a French film that you liked and why.

Film Still from Jacques Rivette's 4-hour long film L'amour Fou

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When Seeing the Devil is Not a Matter of Good Versus Evil

I Saw the Devil
(2010) Directed by Jee-woon Kim
Starring Byung-hun Lee, Min-sik Choi and Gook-hwan Jeon

    It was an incongruous pairing for me this weekend: Jim Hensen's muppets and a Korean film depicting gory revenge. After previewing Hensen's charming eight minute exploration on resisting time (at the Museum of the Moving Image in Astoria), my buddy Airplane and I took in the last film showing offered in the museum's theater. I Saw The Devil is most certainly not a sight for Miss Piggy. Or for Kermit.
    If one takes Dostoevsky's Crime and Punishment to the next level it might be close to this movie. At the outset I knew it would be bloody and disturbing. The first few minutes is a graphic abduction and beheading of the protagonist's fiancé.
    Protagonist may be too strong of a word. The film calls into question the concept of villain and hero. The narrative runs revenge style. Man kills man's love so man seeks out to destroy man. The movie takes us on this horrific journey but twists it to the extent that at the end we are not sure who is good or who is bad.
    Neither apologetic nor dogmatic, director Jee-woon Kim's impeccably filmed story of sadism and torture is not a movie for the faint of heart. Hoping to rest on a human ending, this tale ends with questions disturbingly left unanswered about man's inhumanity to man.
    Revenge is bad is the film's mantra. The typical good versus evil movie usually ends with evil overturned by  the good. Not this movie. [spoiler alert] While evil does get vanquished by the plot's end, so does good.
    It seems to me after a couple of hours of maiming, blood lust, and chopped up corpses, all we are left with is the question why?
    The gist seems to be a Chinatown addendum where the path down the rabbit hole leads to only one place: a seizing, inescapable void.

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Image credit: filmdeviant