Oops, I did it again

[robinturner]

Apologies for the Britney Spears quote.

Well, here I was researching Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon on the web, and cursing the official site (www.crouchingtiger.com) for being unviewable without some poncy multimedia software that won't even install on my system, and it hit me again.

What "it" is is hard to pin down -" infatuation" is the closest I can come up with. I've got this weird adolescent thing that suddenly some woman I see turns into an incarnation of the Divine or something, and I'm reduced to stunned silence because all that would come out of my mouth would be things like "Ergh, gbffl, wah". This time the woman in question is Michelle Yeoh (Shu Lien in the film - she was also in Tomorrow Never Dies and a host of kung fu films). Before I know it, I'm clicking on all the Michelle Yeoh links and even downloading pictures for my desktop.

This is too teenage for words. I mean come on, I have a chronological age of 39 and I'm still going goopy over pictures of actresses (my Juliette Binoche obsession is already material for humour in my office). But there is some indefinable quality which reduces me to a kind of mystical awe in certain women. I say "indefinable" deliberately - if I could define it I would feel much more comfortable, and maybe get some clues to the problematic relationship between ethics, aesthetics and metaphysics I chew at from time to time. It's certainly not simple beauty, since although neither Michelle Yeoh or Juliette Binoche are bad-looking, they aren't Miss World material either (there again, the Miss Worlds I've seen have generally not been that stunning either). Michelle Yeoh certainly has some features that I admire in a woman, such as the ability to kick serious ass, but then Juliette Binoche is no martial artist. Binoche is a superb actress, but then so is Jodie Foster, who just doesn't have the same effect on me.

There again, sexuality must have something to do with it, however indirectly, since I never feel this way about men. But there's a massive difference between feeling horny and feeling mystical awe.

Hmm, need to think about this one some more. In the meantime, if any of my readers can tell me what the following have in common, I'll be grateful:

Michelle Yeoh
Juliette Binoche
Sara Maria Gaup (Algin's girlfriend in Pathfinder)
Sigourney Weaver, but only in the Alien films

Comments

what the following have in common

[ex-fauxpas266.livejournal.com]

Family resemblances.

Re: what the following have in common

[solri.livejournal.com]

I knew you were going to say that!

Re: what the following have in common

[ex-fauxpas266.livejournal.com]

Am I that predictable now?

Re: what the following have in common

[solri.livejournal.com]

Well, you've read Wittgenstein and you did just do a course with Lakoff! Actually, it was a toss-up between whether you'd say "family resemblance" or "radial category". But I want necessary and sufficient conditions, dammit!

Re: what the following have in common

[ex-fauxpas266.livejournal.com]

And here I was, thinking I was all witty and stuff. *sigh*

You want necessary and sufficient conditions? How about this?

Necessary Condition: youth
Necessary Condition: clear skin
Necessary Condition: symmetry
Sufficient Condition: that certain "je ne sais quois"

I hope I spelled "je ne sais quois" right, or else I'll sure look like a dork.

Re: what the following have in common

[solri.livejournal.com]

Youth: necessary condition only within a fairly broad definiton of "youth". Juliette Binoche is only three years younger than me; Michelle Yeoh is only a year younger than me; Sigourney Weaver is twelve years older than me (though she was only thirty when Alien came out, and I suppose first impressions count for a lot). I don't know how old Sara Maria Gaup is, since there is nothing about her on the web. In the film she looks about nineteen. So it just seems to be a case of "too old to be my daughter, and too young to be my mother".

Clear skin: certainly helps. Hard to imagine a deity with zits.

Symmetry: maybe. Obviously a totally lopsided face is rarely attractive.

So these seem to be necessary conditions only in a pretty fuzzy non-Aristotelean way, which implies that Eleanor Rosch got it right at least to some extent.

As for the je ne sais whatsit, well that is what it is I'm trying to identify.

Re: what the following have in common

[ex-fauxpas266.livejournal.com]

I think 30s is still young. Anyway, she LOOKS young. Which is all that matters.

Go to www.imdb.com (http://www.imdb.com) to find out birthdates (and other pertinent info!) of all your favorite starlets.

As for the je ne sais whatsit, well that is what it is I'm trying to identify.

And that's why my comment was so very witty!

IMDB

[solri.livejournal.com]

It's a nice site, but nothing on Sara Marit Gaup except the fact that she was in the Pathfinder. She seems to have vanished without a trace, at least as far as the Internet is concerned. Maybe Saami are less wired than other Scandinavians.

Re: what the following have in common

[solri.livejournal.com]

Actually, I'm starting to get really curious about this, to the extent that I actually visited the notorious Am I Hot or Not (http://www.HOTorNOT.com). Still couldn't see much in the way of a pattern, except that estimated IQ had a lot to do with my ratings, and I was way off the average vote more often than not - I kept getting things like "What others thought: 9.1; you gave her 4" (I never gave anyone less than 4, because I'm kind). Still, no 10's, and no one who gave me that "I am standing in the presence of divine revelation" feeling.

Actually www.amigothornot.com (http://www.amigothornot.com) is much more fun.