Comments on: The lion hunter becomes a lion

By: Grant

Grant — Sun, 04 Jul 2004 19:31:21 +0000

Leora, I don’t know that it was a technical matter (that colors were too artificial to “pass”). I think we just “came clean” and once everyone does, the game is up. A good thing, surely. Best, Grant

By: LK

LK — Fri, 02 Jul 2004 16:51:54 +0000

re joan kron: didn’t we (or at least i) kind of have to admit we dyed our hair, specifically in the 80s and 90s when hues not found in nature and tri-colour styles became popular…first on the fringes of course, and now everyone at the gym sports the style. hair colouring was more of an invisible transformation previously (witness: ‘does she or doesn’t she…only her hairdresser knows for sure) whereas the fuschia shades of manic panic (extremely bold hair dye product) made the question irrelevant.

By: Grant

Grant — Fri, 02 Jul 2004 16:00:14 +0000

Exactly so. Joan Kron says that people used to be stealthy about hair coloring and they got over that. For awhile we wouldn’t admit to plastic surgery, and we got over that. In a transformational society, we are newly candid. And once this barrier is truly down (and no transformation is seen to be a cheat), well, the sky’s the limit. Thanks, Grant
p.s., Molly says hello.

By: LK

LK — Fri, 02 Jul 2004 15:10:56 +0000

re “lock in” data:

a friend’s brother works at a young beautiful people’s restaurant on robson street (the designated “trendy” strip in vancouver) and she reports that one by one the waitresses alongside whom he works get their breast augmentation done, take the requisite week of work, and then return to proudly display their wares, completely ok with their obvious artifice. that is not part of the equation.it’s more of a “wow, look what i just bought?” this seems an awful long away from the days when people would enter a version of the witness protection program when they got nose jobs, facelifts, eye lifts, etc done. the unspoken has become the vaunted.

By: Grant

Grant — Fri, 02 Jul 2004 12:58:59 +0000

Gary, great quote, thanks! The new age practices, in their “reenchantment of the world,” usher back in a range of expressive possibilities that the reign of reason and rationality panned from discourse. This really opens up the expressive range. We shall have to wait to see how far it takes us. Best, Grant

By: Grant

Grant — Fri, 02 Jul 2004 12:56:31 +0000

Jesse, very good, the thing that troubles me about plastic surgery is that it is not very plastic. It makes for (some) spectacular transformations, but it demands “lock in.” The effects you are talking about are a little more dynamic. Thanks. Best, Grant

By: gary

gary — Fri, 02 Jul 2004 12:12:21 +0000

“Fashions often revert, but to be popular they modify. It could be
that a re-dressed doctrine of witchcraft will be the proper acceptance.
Come unto me, and maybe I’ll make you stylish. It is quite possible to
touch up beliefs that are now considered dowdy, and restore them to
fashionableness. I conceive of nothing, in religion, science, or
philosophy, that is more than the proper thing to wear, for a while.”

—-
Wild Talents by Charles Hoy Fort, 1932.

Your style of writing, the subjects you pick, and your views on them are a perfect blend. I savor this blog and will be linking permanently to it. Kudos.

By: Jesse Walker

Jesse Walker — Fri, 02 Jul 2004 11:29:21 +0000

(A countertrend to the increase in generic plastic surgeries, I mean. Sorry, I somehow left out the part of the text that I was referring to.)

By: Jesse Walker

Jesse Walker — Fri, 02 Jul 2004 11:26:32 +0000

But isn’t the rise in tattoos, piercings, etc. a countertrend? It could be that the people who want to look more physically unusual simply aren’t using surgery as the means to that end.