Letting Oscar Peel - Los Angeles, Make-up and Red Carpets
March 7th 2006
L.A is a tough town on aspiring singers/actors looking to glamourous dreams of walking the red carpet ala the Academy Awards.
L.A is almost proud of its superficiality and touts it like a badge of honour.
I watched a bit of the Academy Awards on television and was a little taken aback by all the posing happening on the red carpet, all the twirling, the rumours of romance whispered to reporters... it is a seemingly contrived world. It was interesting to watch music artist Ludacris boasting about his style and as he was being interviewed by the reporter, he made sure to point out
the size of the diamonds on his earslobes.
Stars are cajoled, placated, wooed and fawned over by the media and by the public until the next new thing comes along.
The media is like a spoilt little child whose attention is fast-changing.
Every few seconds, it has to be enticed with the latest news, the newest dresses,
the latest gossip hung like fish bait from various publicists.
It's like a crust of make-up, carefully applied foundation and lip colour, that gets washed away with the rain.
Even the weather in Los Angeles, virtually unchanging, light blue
perfect skies ala a staged studio set... Even the weather acquiesces in the ploy.
Perhaps that's why I love seeing clouds in this often cloud-less sky.
I like the reminder that nature is still present, that reality is still out there.
I love it when it rains. That's when the whole city gets a little more introspective, and I'd like to think...that's when all the make-up and artifice is
washed away and we can start anew.
I heard something on an NPR radio programme the other day. A mature actress, ex-Oscar winner was recounting how horrified she was when her Oscar first started peeling off its gold layers. She got him re-dipped in gold.
But now, she just lets the gold peel away, feeling more of a kinship in the process, whereby the superficial glitz and glamour is peeled back to reveal the real within.
She talked about how fame wasn't about her, it was about 'them'.
It was about how the public perceives you. You don't change.
The public vision changes and that is the frightening thing. If you go along with the public perception and don't recognise or acknowledge the truth ie. that the public image has been crafted and contrived with a marked artificiality, you are likely to be swept away; just like the way a movie set is stripped away once the movie is done and all the parts become amusement park attractions or some question in a trivial pursuit boardgame.
Oscars statues on Ebay anyone?
L.A is a tough town on aspiring singers/actors looking to glamourous dreams of walking the red carpet ala the Academy Awards.
L.A is almost proud of its superficiality and touts it like a badge of honour.
I watched a bit of the Academy Awards on television and was a little taken aback by all the posing happening on the red carpet, all the twirling, the rumours of romance whispered to reporters... it is a seemingly contrived world. It was interesting to watch music artist Ludacris boasting about his style and as he was being interviewed by the reporter, he made sure to point out
the size of the diamonds on his earslobes.
Stars are cajoled, placated, wooed and fawned over by the media and by the public until the next new thing comes along.
The media is like a spoilt little child whose attention is fast-changing.
Every few seconds, it has to be enticed with the latest news, the newest dresses,
the latest gossip hung like fish bait from various publicists.
It's like a crust of make-up, carefully applied foundation and lip colour, that gets washed away with the rain.
Even the weather in Los Angeles, virtually unchanging, light blue
perfect skies ala a staged studio set... Even the weather acquiesces in the ploy.
Perhaps that's why I love seeing clouds in this often cloud-less sky.
I like the reminder that nature is still present, that reality is still out there.
I love it when it rains. That's when the whole city gets a little more introspective, and I'd like to think...that's when all the make-up and artifice is
washed away and we can start anew.
I heard something on an NPR radio programme the other day. A mature actress, ex-Oscar winner was recounting how horrified she was when her Oscar first started peeling off its gold layers. She got him re-dipped in gold.
But now, she just lets the gold peel away, feeling more of a kinship in the process, whereby the superficial glitz and glamour is peeled back to reveal the real within.
She talked about how fame wasn't about her, it was about 'them'.
It was about how the public perceives you. You don't change.
The public vision changes and that is the frightening thing. If you go along with the public perception and don't recognise or acknowledge the truth ie. that the public image has been crafted and contrived with a marked artificiality, you are likely to be swept away; just like the way a movie set is stripped away once the movie is done and all the parts become amusement park attractions or some question in a trivial pursuit boardgame.
Oscars statues on Ebay anyone?
Labels: Los Angeles, Oscars
posted by Corrinne May | 2:55 PM
4 Comments:
your songs left a special place in my heart, bringing me closer to the Lord.
i haven seen u in person, but i really hope one day i could
Amen.
haha guess wad! u saved me from the agony of being creatively dry at the wrong time haha..
whoopee~!
it's funny how inspiration can hit u haha oh well..
true. all those fame and money can only make us happy for a short while. There is no eternal purpose and meaning in life for them... No eternal happiness and peace.
I guess its a lesson for all us, not to let the world convince us that we have to be rich and successful to be happy.... All we need is a strong and deep relationship in our Lord and Saviour. :)
If we do music and etc for the fame, then it will leave us even "drier" than before. Seeing so many people being touched by your music, I guess it is definitely better than all the oscars in the world right???
See you in Singapore!
William Isaac
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