http://www.formerlyhot.com/2009/07/just-sayin/ The tween site for adults Tue, 22 May 2012 13:39:51 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.7.1 hourly 1 http://www.formerlyhot.com/2009/07/just-sayin/comment-page-1/#comment-1231 jen Wed, 08 Jul 2009 12:34:19 +0000 http://www.formerlyhot.com/?p=668#comment-1231 I agree with the above comments. Inner beauty should be the most valuable commodity one has, and cherished among all other traits, including the face, hair and body that the marketing gurus have told us is what we need to succeed in our relationships, worklife as well as mopping the floors. I just love the commercials where the gorgeous houswife is cleaning up spills from a burst soda bottle in her best clothes, with a smile and perfect makeup. I don't know about you, but I rarely dress to impress while cleaning the toilet. However, the companies that sell us beauty in a bottle would all like us to think that is the way it is done. Now, I will admit to being a sucker for beauty products since I think caring for your skin at a young age makes a real difference later on, as well as limited sun exposure. But, keeping up with the mainstream airbrushed and photoshopped vixens on tv is just too high maintenance for me. I agree with the above comments. Inner beauty should be the most valuable commodity one has, and cherished among all other traits, including the face, hair and body that the marketing gurus have told us is what we need to succeed in our relationships, worklife as well as mopping the floors. I just love the commercials where the gorgeous houswife is cleaning up spills from a burst soda bottle in her best clothes, with a smile and perfect makeup. I don’t know about you, but I rarely dress to impress while cleaning the toilet. However, the companies that sell us beauty in a bottle would all like us to think that is the way it is done. Now, I will admit to being a sucker for beauty products since I think caring for your skin at a young age makes a real difference later on, as well as limited sun exposure. But, keeping up with the mainstream airbrushed and photoshopped vixens on tv is just too high maintenance for me.

]]> http://www.formerlyhot.com/2009/07/just-sayin/comment-page-1/#comment-1221 Hugh Mon, 06 Jul 2009 15:26:29 +0000 http://www.formerlyhot.com/?p=668#comment-1221 Chaim Weitz. LOL. Well, of course, the question is begged: was/is Gene Simmons really more "presentable" than his nebbishy alter-ego? (And wasn't Clark Kent the real hero, and Superman just an overwrought expression of sublimated libido in tights and a cape?) The point is taken, though. To be happy, we must learn to find that balance at every stage of life -- so that, in a perfect world, we'd no longer even be able to think in terms of "formerly" at all. We'd always be just perfectly accepting of ourselves and every moment in front of the mirror would be concluded with a nod of approbation. Wouldn't that be idyllic? But at the same time, we're forced to ask over and over again, why does this paradox exist? On the one hand, appealing to our better angels, we preach to ourselves and our friends and our communities that surface beauty is transient and that it is inner beauty that matters. We insist that we must look past the flesh and into the character to appreciate the true value of ourselves and our fellows. BUT, what then is the deal with this society that so fetishizes taut skin and long lashes and lustrous hair, and blasts our brains with images of it 24 hours a day, until the litany of "looks don't matter" inevitably becomes an incoherent murmur emerging from beneath a manhole cover somewhere on Madison Avenue? Chaim Weitz. LOL. Well, of course, the question is begged: was/is Gene Simmons really more “presentable” than his nebbishy alter-ego? (And wasn’t Clark Kent the real hero, and Superman just an overwrought expression of sublimated libido in tights and a cape?) The point is taken, though. To be happy, we must learn to find that balance at every stage of life — so that, in a perfect world, we’d no longer even be able to think in terms of “formerly” at all. We’d always be just perfectly accepting of ourselves and every moment in front of the mirror would be concluded with a nod of approbation. Wouldn’t that be idyllic? But at the same time, we’re forced to ask over and over again, why does this paradox exist? On the one hand, appealing to our better angels, we preach to ourselves and our friends and our communities that surface beauty is transient and that it is inner beauty that matters. We insist that we must look past the flesh and into the character to appreciate the true value of ourselves and our fellows. BUT, what then is the deal with this society that so fetishizes taut skin and long lashes and lustrous hair, and blasts our brains with images of it 24 hours a day, until the litany of “looks don’t matter” inevitably becomes an incoherent murmur emerging from beneath a manhole cover somewhere on Madison Avenue?

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