"Your need for approval is like a sickness."

A gem of meaning at 3:14 in this video of the opening of the Oscars show last night.

Not having seen the movies, I experienced this noisy cluttered barrage of vignettes as ugly chaos. It reminded me — with jarring pokes and jabs — why I don't want to see new movies anymore. Why was Conan in overdone makeup that made him look like a very ugly woman? Why did animated Conan develop stars in his eyes for 3 adolescent girls? Why were children screaming and chasing him? He stops for a moment to speak Norwegian and examine whether his need for approval is like a sickness and then the children screaming chase him out of the psychoanalytic dark Norwegian room. It's back to the noisy cluttered barrage that is Hollywood as Conan runs into the theater. I don't know what movie those children were supposed to represent, so I was just thinking generically of Hollywood's exploitation of children. How did the children become the monsters? Or were they running from monsters and Conan running with them, not away from them? At least tell a clear story. But no, I think this years stories were about chaos and raw fear and uncomprehended monsters. 

"After six hours of Magafication, I hobble home and wash off the drag. I pull off the lashes; the fake tan pools in the shower tray.... The relief is indescribable. "

 

That's Poppy Sowerby in The London Times. The experiment was performed in Manhattan — uptown on Fifth Avenue and downtown, in the East Village, where she lives.

If you're trying to understand the mindset of young women as they fail to step up and solve the problem of worldwide population collapse.

Here's Miley Cyrus, from an interview in the NYT:

I was talking to my stepdad, and he said, “Why are you the only celebrity without a makeup line?” And I said, “’Cause I’m not passionate about it.” And he said, “That’s the right answer.” I feel that way about motherhood. It’s just never been something that I’ve been overly passionate about. It’s a lot of responsibility and devotion and energy, and if you’re not passionate about that, I don’t know how you do sleepless nights and 18 years of what my mom dealt with. And when I say 18 years, I mean 33, ’cause I’m still a baby. So I’ve never felt the burn, you know? And I think for me, the burn is everything.

For any given individual, it's an individual decision... unless you take individuality away.

"The women’s hair is in Utah curls, long waves with straight ends, popularized by Mormon momfluencers. Their makeup is heavy..."

"... the content creator and comedian Suzanne Lambert called it 'Republican makeup,' which she explained to me is 'matte and flat': thick eyebrows and lashes, dark eyeliner on the top and bottom lids, a bold lip, lots of bronzer. 'Inappropriate unless you’re on a pageant stage. And in that case, I would still do it differently,' she said. Their clothes, whether casual or corporate, are form-fitting and often accessorized with giant crosses. They are always thin and almost always white. To each her own. But it is also undeniable that this hyperfeminine and overtly Christian look offers a stark contrast to the often blunt and even brutal language they employ. Another glaring example of this is the horrifying video of Kristi Noem, the homeland security secretary, at CECOT, the tropical gulag in El Salvador where the Trump administration has sent migrants. She stood there before a group of shirtless prisoners and declared, 'If you come to our country illegally, this is one of the consequences you could face,' while wearing a $50,000 Rolex.'"

Writes Jessica Grose, in "MAGA Beauty Is Built to Go Viral" (NYT).

"[Chantal] Kreviazuk, who is from Winnipeg, Manitoba, also wrote the phrase 'that only us command' with mascara on her left hand."

"She posted a picture of that on her Instagram with emojis of a Canadian flag and a flexed muscle. 'I just put it on there so if I ever had a moment and I kind of froze, I would be able to look at my hand and see it,' Kreviazuk said. 'I’d love to see people sort of get inspired and catch the fire and say their heart more in their art. ... Sometimes you just got to speak the truth in your art and it’s awesome. That’s what it should be about.'..."

From "Singer of Canadian anthem at 4 Nations Face-Off changes lyric to protest Trump’s 51st state remarks" (AP).

The official lyrics begin: "O Canada! Our home and native land! True patriot love in all of us command."

That is, the homeland commands true patriot love in all of us.

The changed lyric was "O Canada! Our home and native land! True patriot love that only us command."

So it is no longer the homeland commanding love. It is "only us" commanding love. There are several problems (aside from the problem of changing the words of the anthem):

"It wasn’t until I was incarcerated that I got into makeup.... I’ve been in here for 28 years, so I’ve tried it all: using the string of a tampon to pluck, thread, and arch my eyebrows..."

"... because I couldn’t afford tweezers; using immersion heaters to melt down black checkers from the game board, let it dry, and make mascara... getting body soap a little wet to make hair gel for my edges, which dries white eventually; shaving down water color paints and colored chalk from art class to make eyeshadow; using that same paint as nail polish..."/"The... homemade makeup I’ve used is colored pencil eye shadow. I put a few drops of water in a lid from a jar of hair grease, dip the pencil in the water, then scrub it around until it becomes soft. Then I can just paint it onto my eyelids as desired. This could also be done with either graphite pencils or colored pencils. Occasionally I’ve painted my lips with M&Ms, licking the candy and rubbing it over my lips to color them. Long ago a friend of mine also taught me how to mix lotion, baby powder, and a few grains of freeze-dried coffee to make a foundation that was surprisingly good...."

From "Fighting for Beauty Behind Prison Walls/For incarcerated women, access to makeup can mean access to their authentic selves. So why is it often denied?" (NY Magazine).

"Eyeliner"/"Yeah, I can work that into a post about JD Vance."

Meade gave a 1-word response — "eyeliner" — to this longish quote I'd texted him:

"Harry Truman, with bipartisan support, militarized the economy so that we might be forever at war. It was just decided that we were going to stay in the war racket -- that's how we went broke. Now we have an enemy-of-the-month club. If it's not Noriega, it's Bishop in Grenada; Qaddafi, whose eyeliner is very ominous; Saddam, just like Hitler. When they get into their bunkers they always find a copy of 'Mein Kampf,' a portrait of Hitler, women's underdrawers — which they wear —  a couple of dead Boy Scouts and three mistresses, because they do both terrible things."

Is "eyeliner" what jumped out at you in that feast of words — "Qaddafi, whose eyeliner is very ominous"? Who speaks like that and drops in a phrase as apt and poetical as "whose eyeliner is very ominous"? It was Gore Vidal, in a 1995 NYT piece called "Gore Vidal Receives a Visitor," which I'm reading because... it doesn't matter why I'm reading that! It's full of great stuff. I just wanted to give you those 3 sentences."

Anyway... eyeliner. Are you up to speed on the subject of JD Vance wearing eyeliner? Let me help:

"The bronze sheen on our presidential candidates... used to be organic: the result of hours spent in the sun rallying crowds and shaking hands..."

"But even if the campaigning is done in the confines of a television studio, you’ll still see sun-kissed skin, glowing just the right amount for the HD cameras.... Makeup telegraphs the way politicians see themselves — or how they want others to see them. The men on Harris’s short list for vice president have portrayed themselves as middle-of-the-road, no-nonsense everymen, an image complemented by their polished but natural makeup looks. The Republican National Convention in July brought forward a different kind of male face: Kardashian-bronze, a look favored by party standard-bearer Donald Trump.... This parade of copper-colored men were a united front of Trump aesthetics: highlighting the strange cocktail of masculinity favored by Trump himself — a mix of swashbuckling American masculinity and Hollywood sensibilities, expressed in deep tans and bandaged ears, a kind of gilded populism."

From "Color theory for male politicians: Am I a gold, copper or bronze? The 2024 presidential election season has given us an eyeful of the glorious highs and perilous lows of men’s makeup" (WaPo).

Are the 2 parties really doing different colors? Here's Josh Shapiro as he appeared last week:

Is he not orange? Seems to me all the men have adopted the ridiculous color Trump has used all these years — to endless mockery. 

"She looked like someone who had other things on her mind than dress... and wasn’t all that interested in devoting a big chunk of time to catering to the male gaze."

"You could imagine her before the event, looking at her closet and exercising her own judgment about what seemed right.... ... Ms. Vance’s first appearance at the convention on Monday, in a taupe dress that practically disappeared into the background and flat shoes, was so counter to the prevailing Trump aesthetic that it was startling.... The rare photos of her until now suggest someone who isn’t particularly interested in using her clothes to attract attention, but rather to effectively get her through the day.... As she stepped into her role as a potential second lady... [s]he arrived as herself. That may seem minor, but in a campaign that prizes the visual message and is trying to position itself as a broader tent, one in which her husband’s political consistency is under scrutiny, it is a statement in itself...."

Writes Vanessa Friedman, in "Usha Vance and the Iconography of the Trump Women/The potential second lady models a new kind of Republican image-making" (NYT).

When I started reading this essay, I thought Friedman would go negative, but I don't think she did... other than in a part I didn't include above, about how "Trump women" all have "a certain kind of look... a defining gender trope" with "a lot of hair, often left to cascade in glossy, carefully controlled Breck girl waves" and a ton of makeup. I've never liked that look and wish it would go away, so I liked Friedman's appreciation of Usha Vance's relatively natural look.

Here's video of Usha Vance introducing her husband at the convention last night. The hair over the eye in the beginning was a huge distraction, and I was quite relieved when, after a cut to the audience, it had moved behind her ear.

"Trump hasn’t raised the beard issue with Vance, insiders say, but like a number of ladies of MAGAville, Trump has repeatedly commented favorably..."

"... on his 'beautiful' blue eyes and long eyelashes (just Google 'J.D. Vance eye' and links galore auto populate on speculation he wears eyeliner—which his team denies). Such are the considerations of Trump. The ex-president has a certain—shall we say, unique—set of specifications when it comes to charting out his political course. 'Central casting' is crucial...."

From "J.D. Vance Has a Problem on His Face/Can a VP aspirant with a beard find acceptance from a candidate who hates facial hair?" (The Bulwark).

It will be Vance, I think, and Trump's distaste for beards will be just one more thing he can talk about. It's a good random topic to riff on. I can practically hear him: J.D. Vance, I love this guy. Imagine how much I would love him if he didn't have a beard. Shave off that beard! No! I would love him too much. I see a beard, I think: Abraham Lincoln. You know, I like to say I can be more presidential than any president in history except for Honest Abe Lincoln but when he’s wearing that hat. And that beard! Should I grow a beard? I can't be more presidential than any president in history when there's Abraham Lincoln and he’s wearing that hat and that beard. J.D. Vance! He has a beard! He's very vice presidential with that beard....

"As I applied the nightly serum, I remembered the description, by philosopher Clare Chambers in her book, Intact: A Defence of the Unmodified Body, of 'shametenance'..."

"... all the things we do (like applying 'natural makeup') that contribute to the idea that our unmodified bodies are shameful, that even our ageing eyelids must be fixed.... And then one night I had a terrible dream that my eyelashes had grown too long. They were like a dark black fringe, blinding me, and I woke in a sweat. Shortly after this, I started to read about experts warning of potential side-effects linked to eyelash growth serums, including 'a permanent change in eye colour,' dark circles under the eyes and 'a sunken effect.' At this point my lashes had grown longer, definitely longer, but also spidery and fine...."

From "All of a flutter: how eyelashes became beauty’s biggest business/The eyelash business is worth $1.66bn – and is predicted to grow from there. Why are we so obsessed with our lashes? Eva Wiseman reports on their history and significance" (The Guardian).

That article continues with various other eyelash treatments, so I go looking for more on Clare Chambers and "shametenance." I find this from last year: "A Defense of the Unmodified Body: Clare Chambers Interview/We spoke to the acclaimed Cambridge philosopher Clare Chambers about her new book, Intact, which examines and critiques the urge to alter or ‘perfect’ our bodies." Excerpt:

"It may very well be that 10 years from now people will pay $10,000 in cash to be castrated just in order to be affected by something."

Says Andre Gregory in "My Dinner With Andre" — page 59 of the screenplay — a 1981 movie. 

It's not 10 years later. It's more than 40 years later. But think of the things we're doing now just in order to be affected by something.

For example, there's Zoraya ter Beek, 28, who "expects to be euthanized in early May" (The Free Press):

She said she was hobbled by her depression and autism and borderline personality disorder. Now she was tired of living—despite, she said, being in love with her boyfriend, a 40-year-old IT programmer, and living in a nice house with their two cats.

"Born in 1943 to a New York family of tactile pragmatists (her father helped invent the X-Acto knife), Glück, a preternaturally self-competitive child..."

"... was constantly trying to whittle away at her own perceived shortcomings. When she was a teenager, she developed anorexia — that pulverizing, paradoxical battle with both helplessness and self-control — and dropped to 75 pounds at 16. The disorder prevented her from completing a college degree. Many of the poems Glück wrote in her early 20s flog her own obsessions with, and failures in, control and exactitude. Her narrators are habitués of a kind of limitless wanting; her language, a study in ruthless austerity. (A piano-wire-taut line tucked in her 1968 debut, 'Firstborn': 'Today my meatman turns his trained knife/On veal, your favorite. I pay with my life.') In her late 20s, Glück grew frustrated with writing and was prepared to renounce it entirely...."

From the NYT's annual roundup of short essays about people who died in the past year — "The Lives They Led" — I've chosen a bit of Amy X. Wang's essay on the Nobel Prize-winning poet Louise Glück.

I loved the X-Acto/exactitude theme — the whittling away, the meatman and his trained knife, and the potential to end up with nothing.

ADDED: I wondered if — in 20 years of blogging — I had ever before used the word "exactitude." It's a great word, and I thought, perhaps I'd never used it. But I see I've used it twice, both times in 2018.

"'Worldschooling,' a loose term that refers to making travel a central part of a child’s educational experience, can involve a monthlong trip to Europe..."

"... or years spent traveling. Parents might try to stick to the curriculum of a school back home using workbooks and remote learning tools, or choose to engage in more free-form, interest-driven learning. Ms. Tolk worldschooled her daughters during their years on the road. The girls were 10 and 12 when they left, and while she and her husband initially tried to stick to a semi-strict schedule — daily math lessons, grammar exercises and spelling lists — they quickly found themselves easing up, focusing instead on the places they were exploring. 'We ended up doing a lot of family projects. All four of us would research something we were interested in and present it to each other,' she said. While they were in Egypt, one daughter did a project about ancient makeup traditions in Egypt.... 'I’ve had a life of really impactful, powerful, transformative international experiences,' Ms. Tolk said. 'I always knew that I wanted that for my children.'"

 
From "Taking Off From School to Take In the World/Vacationing during the off-season has long been considered a cost-saving boon. But can families with school-aged children take advantage? Should they?" (NYT).

If it's "years spent traveling," then it's like home-schooling, and the parents are running the show and who knows how good or bad it is for the kids, but the article is mainly about parents taking their kids out of public school and causing them to miss days or weeks of classroom instruction and justifying it as beneficial to the child.

The top comment at the NYT:

"Seven sorority sisters, suing anonymously as Jane Does... said Artemis only posed as a transgender woman to get into the sorority...."

"As she read the allegations, Artemis felt angry and betrayed. 'Some parts were completely made up,' she said. 'Others were things I remember but in their version was twisted to look weird, gross, sexual.' Many passages felt deeply personal, as though those filing the lawsuit could sense her deepest anxieties. She was still learning to dress as a woman and had been able to afford only a few long dresses that reflected her modest Mormon upbringing. The lawsuit took note: 'Other than occasionally wearing women’s clothing, Mr. Smith makes little effort to resemble a woman.' 'Mr. Smith is 6’2” tall, and he weighs 260 pounds. No other member of Kappa Kappa Gamma has comparable size or strength.' Other accusations homed in on the social awkwardness that Artemis says was partly a symptom of her autism. 'He has several times chosen to sit for hours on the couch in the second-floor common area. He does not study. He does not speak to the women who live there.... Mr. Smith has, while watching members enter the sorority house, had an erection visible through his leggings. Other times he has had a pillow in his lap.'..."

From "A trans woman joined a sorority. Then her new sisters turned on her. A 21-year-old University of Wyoming student was looking for community. Instead, she faced death threats, a federal lawsuit and an attempt to kick her out" (WaPo).

After her makeup artist died, Pamela Anderson decided "it’s just better for me not to wear makeup."

I'm reading "Jamie Lee Curtis 'floored' by Pamela Anderson going makeup-free at Paris Fashion Week: 'Courage and rebellion'" (NY Post).

It's not the most stunning show of courage in the history of the world, but it's something a lot of us will love. Here is Pamela Anderson — famously beautiful when seen in her youth through heavy makeup  — showing up now at glamorous events without makeup and openly old — 56 years old.

 

 

 

Yes, her eyebrows look radically plucked, the roots of her hair indicate somewhat recent bleaching, and there was whatever plastic surgery there was, but she's bold to present herself so differently. People will talk about how she looks, and it's nice to see her getting positive attention, especially to the extent that people are saying she looks great like that, and not just that she's displaying "courage and rebellion."

Washington Post headline: "The lobotomy-chic trend has an ugly history."

I hadn't heard of "lobotomy-chic," but I knew the history of lobotomies, so this article wasn't written for me, but it did tip me off to a trend I'm interested to read about:

It’s become a common social media discourse: the memeification of lobotomies; the romanticization of sanitariums. The hashtag #lobotomychic has 9.3 million views on TikTok; a tweet that reads “I wish it was 1952 so my husband could just take me to get a lobotomy” earned more than 26,000 likes. “Back in the day your husband used to pay for your lobotomy, now thanks to *feminism* I have to pay for my own,” says another user to a chorus of more than 11,000 views. Then there’s this love letter to the trend from i-D magazine, which calls it the “duckface of a nihilistic era” and heralds the “dissociative pout” as the new it-girl go-to for selfies. The article unpacks the aesthetics of sullen eyes and swollen lips — all without once mentioning why women who were lobotomized actually had that vacant look in their eyes; why dissociation for them was a constant state of being. Then there are the viral TikTok makeup tutorials on how to get the lobotomy chic look. If you’re an ASMR girlie, maybe you’ll enjoy this “drive-through lobotomy” simulation where a creator in cherry earrings and bright purple eye shadow and a stethoscope around her neck pretends to lobotomize the viewer all while delivering a dreamlike, coddling narration.

The author of the piece, Caroline Reilly, seems to infer that people fooling around in this manner, having their fun, don't understand the background or that people shouldn't play around with an idea that was once about something serious.

Isn't that like taking issue with people who dress up as witches at Halloween?

It's not as if Reilly is trying to stir up alarm about damaging surgery desired by young people today.

Lady Gaga is here to help... but don't touch her!

Lady Gaga ran to help a photographer who fell at the #Oscars pic.twitter.com/czfGHvN29s

— Film Updates (@FilmUpdates) March 13, 2023

I like the way she got all dressed and made up and coiffed for the red carpet, then took it all off to do her stage performance styled pretty much like the average person watching the show at home from the couch.

"A head teacher has apologised after replacing all the mirrors in a girls’ lavatory with motivational posters urging them to stop wearing make-up...."

"A picture shared online showed one that read: 'If all girls started wearing no make-up and comfortable clothes, guys would have no choice but to fall for girls because of natural beauty.' Others say 'Beauty is nothing without brains' and 'Dear girls, make-up is a harmful drug. Once you start using it, you’ll feel ugly without it'.... Neil Morris, the head teacher, [said t]he mirrors had been removed... to stop the lavatories becoming a 'congregational social area'.... 'The English department had used this as an opportunity to provide some argumentative discursive letter-writing,' he added. 'They put up some provocative posters.... This has produced some frenzied, powerful writing and debate. With hindsight, the posters should have been placed in the classroom area, not in one toilet.'"

The London Times reports.

"Everyone over here talking about eye liner and I just want to know why they're sitting in order of least to most foot coverings."

Please go enjoy the comments at the subreddit r/pics on "Taliban announces graduation of three new pilots." 

Don't miss the Bee Gees parodies.