goddamn smirky eyebrow-raised badass poochie cartoons nowadays

it's a guy who was on an episode of "how to with john wilson," highly recommended, and i hate how fucking catchy the song is

Anyway: I feel like on some level it is a positive development that people put their images through weird filters on Instagram in order to look different -- the hope is that we're at the tail end of the stage where people think how you look in person is how you "really" look, which is what's driving the perverse urge to get your body cut open in order to recreate in inferior physical form what Instagram can do easily and cheaply. In the future, looking one way on the screen and looking a different, perhaps less-marked-as-desirable way in so-called "real life" will not seem any weirder than looking one way dressed up and wearing makeup and a different, less-marked-as-desirable way when you wake up in your pajamas. And then we can fire all the plastic surgeons.

vtubers are, presumably, the first wave of that - although their relationships with fans, the real world, etc. is definitely different that an influencer on instagram or someone on a dating app.

Before you get too depressed over "instagram face" and similar self-mutilations, that entire New Yorker article was centered around real life examples provided by Beverly Hills and its ethic. Although pressure to conform to commercialized standards of feminine beauty is nearly universal, even extending into poorer nations now, the more extreme versions that include plastic surgery and expensive injections will be out of reach of the vast majority of women. It's always going to be a rather fringe phenomenon.

https://d43fweuh3sg51.cloudfront.net/media/media_files/a1e7449c-7171-47da-b82f-817b21ac0db6/7e206072-450e-4f6c-83c0-277fbec14513.png

Problem solved!
The problem is solved!
We solved the problem
And everything is awesome!
Problem solved!

Anyway: I feel like on some level it is a positive development that people put their images through weird filters on Instagram in order to look different -- the hope is that we're at the tail end of the stage where people think how you look in person is how you "really" look, which is what's driving the perverse urge to get your body cut open in order to recreate in inferior physical form what Instagram can do easily and cheaply. In the future, looking one way on the screen and looking a different, perhaps less-marked-as-desirable way in so-called "real life" will not seem any weirder than looking one way dressed up and wearing makeup and a different, less-marked-as-desirable way when you wake up in your pajamas. And then we can fire all the plastic surgeons.

― Guayaquil (eephus!), Wednesday, August 4, 2021 1:04 PM (nineteen minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink

hmm, i feel the converse. the filters making young people look much more conventionally attractive cannot be good for self-image and just anecdotally i know tons of women, some in their 20s, who are getting fillers and botox now whereas i knew none 5 years ago

If you're curious about numbers: https://www.plasticsurgery.org/documents/News/Statistics/2020/plastic-surgery-statistics-full-report-2020.pdf

15.6 million "procedures" (which includes Botox; 2.3 million of those are surgeries). That's a 14% drop from 2019, though obviously Covid is that crucial factor there

those are US numbers btw

There are many things to despise about society as a whole but the myriad ways in which every thought expressed in public must be crushed into a false binary straitjacket so it can be applauded or denounced in the simplest terms is one of the worst.

It's really more that your pathological need to be the most nuanced person in the room makes you post unnecessary things that don't expand or enrich the conversation

unnecessary things that don't expand or enrich the conversation

this makes me feel abnormally typical

hmm, i feel the converse. the filters making young people look much more conventionally attractive cannot be good for self-image and just anecdotally i know tons of women, some in their 20s, who are getting fillers and botox now whereas i knew none 5 years ago

yeah kind of my feeling, I put a pic of myself through a filter and thought "damn! I look good!" and then got depressed that I don't actually look like that. it also seems to be kind of a thing on dating apps - my wife has a cousin who's meeting people using one but using a picture of herself that looks nothing like actually does...I don't wanna be insensitive, but this almost feels like a form of catfishing?

frog you're a fox

great revive

well thanks but imagine if my nose were smaller. it would be game over for all of you

xp
sounds like someone needs an eyebrow raise and a little light smirkening around the mouth

The article rob posted above was interesting. People are not just trying to look “hotter” — younger, slimmer, smoother — they are turning themselves into human cartoons with cartoon facial expressions and sound effects. The ideal is not even realistic for anyone — not even the most conventional looking person around — it isn’t meant to be on our plane of reality. This is about virtual representations of the self supplanting the real self, probably causing weird kinds of dysmorphia.

Not even dysmorphia. A more general or fundamental alienation from the body. I think this is why it seems so dystopian.

I guess digital foot-binding and skull shaping is preferable to IRL foot-binding

Yeah that is true. But people are getting real-life surgery to approximate anime body proportions.

https://www.statesman.com/storyimage/TX/20161012/NEWS/310112497/EP/1/3/EP-310112497.jpg

this is the terrifying sequel to 28 days later I really needed

Alex Jones is not yet 50

14 years on...

https://images.mymovies.net/images/film/cin/350x522/fid21007.jpg

maximum Poochie

The original Legion of Super-Pets is v much not a smirky eyebrow-raised badass Poochie comic strip

https://dc.fandom.com/wiki/Legion_of_Super-Pets_%28Earth-One%29

https://i.imgur.com/R4JmXDx.jpg

Excellent.

https://m.media-amazon.com/images/M/MV5BNWEyYzc2YjItYzY4Ni00ZTY2LWJjYTItMjJiYTE1MWNkZTU4XkEyXkFqcGdeQXVyODUwMzI1NTI@._V1_.jpg

http://www.impawards.com/2023/posters/ruby_gillman_teenage_kraken_ver6_xlg.jpg

Dreamworks, it is time for you to learn to draw faces

There is a large slice of society for which smirk=WINNER and a smaller slice to whom smirk=sociopath, we must choose a side

Well going by the trailer for that movie, the filmmakers are in the latter slice since she’s the baddie lol

del Toro just a few days ago:

The 58-year-old filmmaker spent a good portion of his Annecy master class deriding what he sees as destructive tendencies in much commercial animation where characters and emotions are “codified into a sort of teenage rom-com, almost emoji-style behavior. (If) I see a character raising his fucking eyebrow, or crossing his arms, having a sassy pose — oh, I hate that shit. (Why) does everything act as if they’re in a sitcom? I think it's emotional pornography. All the families are happy and sassy and quick, everyone has a one-liner. Well, my dad was boring. I was boring. Everybody in my family was boring. We had no one-liners. We’re all fucked up. That’s what I want to see animated. I would love to see real life in animation. I actually think it’s urgent. think it’s urgent to see real life in animation.”

Guillermo del Toro, welcome to the resistance

"Well, that just happened."

already noted upthread but

https://vignette.wikia.nocookie.net/lego/images/6/6e/LEGO-Smiley-001.png/revision/latest?cb=20131127180524

to

https://i.pinimg.com/originals/ca/9b/fa/ca9bfa14ff7384c85dde033ab28290ca.jpg

http://https%3A//media.cnn.com/api/v1/images/stellar/prod/230504113629-01-what-are-zillennials-olarte-wellness.jpg%3Fc%3D16x9%26q%3Dh_540%2Cw_960%2Cc_fill/f_webp

from: "Zillennials: The newest micro-generation has a name" https://www.cnn.com/2023/05/10/health/what-are-zillennials-wellness/index.html

Apparently this is the smirking generation. No generation has suffered more. "“They attended college during the pandemic, and missed out on important social markers.” So they must smirk.

goddamit

well just click the link to get your dose of smirk

http://https%3A//media.cnn.com/api/v1/images/stellar/prod/230504113629-01-what-are-zillennials-olarte-wellness.jpg

i give up.

https://media.cnn.com/api/v1/images/stellar/prod/230504113629-01-what-are-zillennials-olarte-wellness.jpg

https://m.media-amazon.com/images/M/MV5BNzk4ODdiOTEtMTk3YS00MzZmLTgyOWMtYzc1NjgxYWE2MmMyXkEyXkFqcGdeQXVyMTUzMTg2ODkz._V1_.jpg

https://static.wikia.nocookie.net/garfield/images/2/22/Garfield1980.png/revision/latest/scale-to-width/360?cb=20231128184048

Garfield was kind of a pioneer when it comes to smirky cartoon characters