Comments on: The service economy. http://nancynall.com/2008/05/13/the-service-economy/ one writer's daily download Thu, 28 Aug 2008 12:46:20 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.6.1 By: nancy http://nancynall.com/2008/05/13/the-service-economy/#comment-184667 nancy Wed, 14 May 2008 23:05:07 +0000 http://nancynall.com/?p=1792#comment-184667 I have no problem believing Gwynnie's arms are that thin. What the retoucher does is make them look good, too. And that's what was so weird about the before/after nude in the magazine. The model was extremely thin, and had the sort of ass very thin women have -- which is to say, not much of one. And without doing anything you'd call major retouching, but just by adding light and changing the curve the tiniest bit, presto, a pretty heart-shaped bum. My guess is, Gwyneth's arms were similarly enhanced. The problem is, people look to those photos to set a certain standard. And now more than ever, it's utterly unattainable. Because even the people in the pictures don't look like that. P.S. The P'shop master, the French guy? Is a roly-poly hairy dude. I have no problem believing Gwynnie’s arms are that thin. What the retoucher does is make them look good, too. And that’s what was so weird about the before/after nude in the magazine. The model was extremely thin, and had the sort of ass very thin women have — which is to say, not much of one. And without doing anything you’d call major retouching, but just by adding light and changing the curve the tiniest bit, presto, a pretty heart-shaped bum.

My guess is, Gwyneth’s arms were similarly enhanced. The problem is, people look to those photos to set a certain standard. And now more than ever, it’s utterly unattainable. Because even the people in the pictures don’t look like that.

P.S. The P’shop master, the French guy? Is a roly-poly hairy dude.

]]> By: MaryC http://nancynall.com/2008/05/13/the-service-economy/#comment-184663 MaryC Wed, 14 May 2008 22:42:59 +0000 http://nancynall.com/?p=1792#comment-184663 What I find so weird about all the magazine-cover Photoshopping is how <i>bad</i> it is. It's almost ostentatiously fake. Look at Gywneth on the cover of May Vogue. This wouldn't fool a kitten. No-one has arms that thin -- the right one looks deformed. You can't look at it and not know that half of her was brushed away and the other half was brushed smooth. And it's not as if Gwyneth isn't bone-skinny in the first place so what was the point? I keep wondering if there isn't some in-joke here that I'm not getting. What I find so weird about all the magazine-cover Photoshopping is how bad it is. It’s almost ostentatiously fake.

Look at Gywneth on the cover of May Vogue. This wouldn’t fool a kitten. No-one has arms that thin — the right one looks deformed. You can’t look at it and not know that half of her was brushed away and the other half was brushed smooth. And it’s not as if Gwyneth isn’t bone-skinny in the first place so what was the point?

I keep wondering if there isn’t some in-joke here that I’m not getting.

]]> By: Connie http://nancynall.com/2008/05/13/the-service-economy/#comment-184563 Connie Wed, 14 May 2008 16:07:35 +0000 http://nancynall.com/?p=1792#comment-184563 I got a car as soon as I turned 16, along with the assignment of being responsible for transporting two younger brothers. First car: 1969 VW hatchback automatic. I proved you could get a tuba in the back seat. After picking up a bunch of eighth grade boys from a skating party, I left them on the side of the road after one of them let off a firecracker in my back seat. I only went around the block and came back and got them. Two summers ago I saw the identical car - colors and everything - in the grocery store parking lot in Glen Arbor, and was amazed how ugly it was. It got replaced by a brand spanking new 1972 Chevy Nova in gleaming white, envy of many of the boys in school. My uncle was a GM big wig and he ordered it at the GM bigwig price. My dad drove it home from the factory. It lasted until we moved to a house on a gravel road, and white just didn't do it anymore. My college graduation present was an almost new AMC Matador, the ugliest car in the world, which I drove for several years, including my Upper Arlington year. Perhaps you were one of the Columbus area drivers who screamed at me about my UM bumper sticker. I got a car as soon as I turned 16, along with the assignment of being responsible for transporting two younger brothers. First car: 1969 VW hatchback automatic. I proved you could get a tuba in the back seat. After picking up a bunch of eighth grade boys from a skating party, I left them on the side of the road after one of them let off a firecracker in my back seat. I only went around the block and came back and got them. Two summers ago I saw the identical car - colors and everything - in the grocery store parking lot in Glen Arbor, and was amazed how ugly it was.

It got replaced by a brand spanking new 1972 Chevy Nova in gleaming white, envy of many of the boys in school. My uncle was a GM big wig and he ordered it at the GM bigwig price. My dad drove it home from the factory. It lasted until we moved to a house on a gravel road, and white just didn’t do it anymore.

My college graduation present was an almost new AMC Matador, the ugliest car in the world, which I drove for several years, including my Upper Arlington year. Perhaps you were one of the Columbus area drivers who screamed at me about my UM bumper sticker.

]]> By: LAMary http://nancynall.com/2008/05/13/the-service-economy/#comment-184558 LAMary Wed, 14 May 2008 15:24:06 +0000 http://nancynall.com/?p=1792#comment-184558 I know I've said it before. Shhhh. Don't mention earthquakes. I've been through two good sized ones. No fun. I know I’ve said it before. Shhhh. Don’t mention earthquakes. I’ve been through two good sized ones. No fun.

]]> By: John http://nancynall.com/2008/05/13/the-service-economy/#comment-184557 John Wed, 14 May 2008 15:04:13 +0000 http://nancynall.com/?p=1792#comment-184557 Brian, don't even joke about The Big One hitting New Madrid. Brian, don’t even joke about The Big One hitting New Madrid.

]]> By: Sue http://nancynall.com/2008/05/13/the-service-economy/#comment-184550 Sue Wed, 14 May 2008 14:42:49 +0000 http://nancynall.com/?p=1792#comment-184550 Several years after I graduated high school, the parents of a kid who didn't have anyone to go home to (poor latchkey child) did something creative: they bought the house right next to the school. Not bought the house to live in, bought the house so their son could have a place to go to after school. Needless to say, Party Central was soon established. The experiment didn't last long; they sold the house when wonder son was old enough to drive. Several years after I graduated high school, the parents of a kid who didn’t have anyone to go home to (poor latchkey child) did something creative: they bought the house right next to the school. Not bought the house to live in, bought the house so their son could have a place to go to after school. Needless to say, Party Central was soon established. The experiment didn’t last long; they sold the house when wonder son was old enough to drive.

]]> By: moe99 http://nancynall.com/2008/05/13/the-service-economy/#comment-184547 moe99 Wed, 14 May 2008 14:31:53 +0000 http://nancynall.com/?p=1792#comment-184547 Nancy, I went to college with a kid who's dad was no. 2 in the Chicago mob (or reputed to be). He drove a Lincoln Continental Mark IV on campus which, since it was 1973 was absoutely outrageous and unheard of. He'd drive the car from his dorm to the dining commons, about 3 blocks straight north. Lots of wonderful stories about him, the shortest that once a bunch of us were in a park in Mpls with open bottles and the cops came by. He went into action, charming them so intensively, that they didn't inspect our stuff. It was an amazing thing to watch. And pre-Godfather movie days. Nancy,
I went to college with a kid who’s dad was no. 2 in the Chicago mob (or reputed to be). He drove a Lincoln Continental Mark IV on campus which, since it was 1973 was absoutely outrageous and unheard of. He’d drive the car from his dorm to the dining commons, about 3 blocks straight north. Lots of wonderful stories about him, the shortest that once a bunch of us were in a park in Mpls with open bottles and the cops came by. He went into action, charming them so intensively, that they didn’t inspect our stuff. It was an amazing thing to watch. And pre-Godfather movie days.

]]> By: brian stouder http://nancynall.com/2008/05/13/the-service-economy/#comment-184542 brian stouder Wed, 14 May 2008 14:01:58 +0000 http://nancynall.com/?p=1792#comment-184542 Thanks for the link, Jolene. Did you notice the extra-red cheeks on the children in the last photo? I noticed the same thing on the faces of the children in the post-quake pictures in the news, and thought it was injury-related.....but apparently that was incorrect. Anyway - the cyclone and now the quake are powerful reminders of our own smallness (let alone the smallness of our daily concerns) Besides the massive scale of the human cataclysm, the geographic scale of the quake is also astounding; I saw an overlay of the Chinese quake onto a map of the US, and if the same quake struck Missouri, it would be felt from California to New York Thanks for the link, Jolene. Did you notice the extra-red cheeks on the children in the last photo? I noticed the same thing on the faces of the children in the post-quake pictures in the news, and thought it was injury-related…..but apparently that was incorrect.

Anyway - the cyclone and now the quake are powerful reminders of our own smallness (let alone the smallness of our daily concerns)

Besides the massive scale of the human cataclysm, the geographic scale of the quake is also astounding; I saw an overlay of the Chinese quake onto a map of the US, and if the same quake struck Missouri, it would be felt from California to New York

]]> By: Jolene http://nancynall.com/2008/05/13/the-service-economy/#comment-184534 Jolene Wed, 14 May 2008 13:23:39 +0000 http://nancynall.com/?p=1792#comment-184534 Not that I really have anything to say about it, but I just have to remark on that earthquake in China. The numbers keep going up. The Post is now saying that there are 15,000 confirmed dead and at least 40,000 trapped under rubble. Astonishing, and tragic. Do y'all know James Fallows? He's a wonderful writer. Is currently in China, where he keeps a not too frequently updated <a href="http://jamesfallows.theatlantic.com/" rel="nofollow">blog</a>. He has some pictures of the area where the earthquake occurred taken on an earlier trip. Worth checking out and scroll down for entries from a couple of days ago. Not that I really have anything to say about it, but I just have to remark on that earthquake in China. The numbers keep going up. The Post is now saying that there are 15,000 confirmed dead and at least 40,000 trapped under rubble. Astonishing, and tragic.

Do y’all know James Fallows? He’s a wonderful writer. Is currently in China, where he keeps a not too frequently updated blog. He has some pictures of the area where the earthquake occurred taken on an earlier trip. Worth checking out and scroll down for entries from a couple of days ago.

]]> By: John c http://nancynall.com/2008/05/13/the-service-economy/#comment-184531 John c Wed, 14 May 2008 13:15:50 +0000 http://nancynall.com/?p=1792#comment-184531 I grew up a middle class kid in an upper class world (Fairfield County, CT) Many of my classmates got cars when they turned 16. Slightly less than many wrecked them, and got new ones. One friend whose dad was the CEO of a very large global corporation drove a Cadillac with a phone. This was 1979. I grew up a middle class kid in an upper class world (Fairfield County, CT) Many of my classmates got cars when they turned 16. Slightly less than many wrecked them, and got new ones. One friend whose dad was the CEO of a very large global corporation drove a Cadillac with a phone. This was 1979.

]]>