Saturday, December 16, 2006

Ashley Olsen


Ashley and Mary-Kate Olsen, famous since they were babies on Full House, are reportedly worth something like $200,000,000. Each. This, amongst other things, is from films from their own production company.
Does this make them worthwhile artists? I guess not. But on the other hand, does their main-stream appeal make them scorn-worthy? I don't think so either. Who are we to judge what "worth" is? If a Mary-Kate/Ashley film has changed the life of a teenage girl, who are we to call it "fluff"? How many people have you changed the life of?
Everything does not have to be Schindlers List. There is such a thing as just feeling good for an hour or two.

12 comments:

Anonymous said...

Not sure of your intention of posting this picture. It is in my opinion a very odd image, but then opinions are like... never mind.

My first reaction was to go back to revisit your earlier posting of "My friend Bettina", A very friendly image in comparison to this image that is almost completely devoid of personality.

The dilated pupils seem out of place with the intense lighting of the shot.

- anonymous frequenter

Eolake Stobblehouse said...

I've no doubt that Ashley is no match for my friend Bettina, since personality is not a survival trait in the mega-celebrity business.
But there is such a thing as simply "pretty", and I enjoy this picture. Like a sunset.

Anonymous said...

This is one thing I can agree with you on. Sometimes, I think some people get overly hung up on trying to define what makes art good. I feel a lot of it just boils down to personal opinion, which is one reason I never pay attention to what critics have to say. And while I think some things are a higher quality than others, I also think it's a mark of maturity when a person can admit that just because they don't like something doesn't mean it's bad. Obviously, I have no interest in seeing their movies, but my little sister will watch them over and over again, so they're alright in my book.

Anonymous said...

"Who I am, who I'll be, has been decided for me!" (Lucid mentioned.)

Actually it has. I believe in predestination.

Hannah said...

She's very pretty but... it almost looks, the way her face is tilted, that she's trying to pull away. Just my strange interpretation?

Eolake Stobblehouse said...

I don't see it like that.

Anonymous said...

terry said...
"I believe in predestination."

Well, I believe some things are predestined, which we have no control over. But I believe that we have control on other things, throught that greatest gift of all (along with love), free will. We can always choose not to simply follow our nature, our tendancies, our instincts, our habits. Choose to change by learning from others, by watching and thinking.

An unpredictable accident that happens to us, that's predestined. Maybe. Without exonerating the eventual recklessness of a person who would have caused it.
Us doing a good deed or committing a crime, that's choice. I don't believe in "the Devil made me do it", that's just an easy excuse. And cowardly at that. And Jesus doesn't "make" us do anything either. Inspire, maybe, but nothing more. He just wouldn't. We are accountable for our actions because we're the ones responsible for them, circumstances taken into consideration. Otherwise, all this talk about Heaven and Hell would be pointless.

"Who I am, who I'll be, has been decided for me!"
I think what Lucid really meant was, realizing that others would readily try to shape him at their whim via education, the System or whatever authority, this song precisely made him decide to make himself.
I've been through this : rigid, arbitrary education, which only contributed in making me want to be free, to be ME, the person that I would be proud of, not somebody else's frustrations outlet.

I agree with Anonymous, these pupils are medically grotesque. It is notorious that star pics are systematically photoshopped. Including the universal diktat that says "wider pupils are sexier".
Do you know where the name of Atropin comes from? The plant atropobelladona. As in "bella dona", beautiful lady. Women in the past used to put the juice of this plant in their eyes to cause that pupil dilation considered so seductive. A trick as old as Renaissance!
Well, at least, it has become useful in Medicine...

Lucid, she doesn't ONLY look plastic. She also looks nothing like the real person, you can safely bet your family jewels on it. (Why do women demand that men be true and authentic, when they spend so much effort in changing their appearance with make-up and accessories?)

And yet, only an incredibly talented paintbrush artist (more talented than the one involved here) could have erased that certain look in the eyes that forever sets Ashley Olsen apart from Domai girls. I'm not sure she could ever give us a natural, confident and relaxed smile while posing for an official photo.

Damn, celebrity does so hurts the soul! Just look at their marital life : 98% of couples in Tinseltown are a complete mess. They don't even go on honeymoon any more, they prefer to immediately start saving money for the divorce!
Not for me, thank you very much. I congratulate people like J.K. Rowling for refusing to stand under the spotlights until they get sunburned. (Of course, it's much harder for actors.)

"I'm pretty sure there's a lot more to life than being really, really ridiculously good looking. And I plan on finding out what that is." -- (Derek Zoolander)

"That doesn't mean my thoughts are entirely pure."
What? YOU, Lucid, an fan of plastic babes? Oh, I'm so disappointed! ;-)

Anonymous said...

Pascal,

I believe in predestination. (To an extent) Perhaps I should have clarified more.
Of course we do have free will and choices. We always have.
I agree with you that the Lord Jesus gives us our free will and would never force himself upon us.
Yes, we are accountable for our actions. I know that many things in our lives happen because we made it so.
But there are some things that are predestined to occur. I hope I have explained my belief.
Take care.

Anonymous said...

I've no doubt that Ashley is no match for my friend Bettina (Eolake said)

I think you are right. Hollywood seems to turn people into trinkets.
Actually I'd rather have someone like Bettina compared to Ashley. (Nothing agaisn't the starlet.)

Anonymous said...

Seems like Hollywood is too busy telling us what we want to hear us say that what we desire involves real people and *gasp* substance.

I agree Lucid.

Anonymous said...

"I believe in predestination. (To an extent) Perhaps I should have clarified more."
This is also what I meant. So... are we playing "my clarification is bigger than yours" again? ;-)
TAG! You're it! :-D

Anonymous said...

Dear Eolake,there is a quote about predestination or fate:The predestination is the deed of the strong ones (I would addd the cunning ones) and the excuse of the weak ones (I would add the innocent ones that have the "strenghth" to move on over dead bodies and ignore all the virtues of a clean life).
Also Napoleon was using to say about the difference between a lucky man and a skilled one,somenthing like that:"a lucky one may use or not the opportunities that he encounters,but a skilled one always is trying to take the best from all".And he could add,the so called "skilled" one must be heartless,Napoleon reaching the top over mountains of dead bodies,and despite all his abominations,his nation considers him as "national hero".
Ashley and her twin sister were caught in the trap of a shallow consumer society,that drives away from the true beauties and values,the naives whom way of thinking is that "all that glitter is gold",despite the opposite truth.
The big question:is it worth it?
With endless admiration and sympathy,always yours Paul Alexandru Cazacliu artmanro@yahoo.com