beautiful broken nose
May 23, 2014 6:51 AM Subscribe
This ...kinda doesn't work at all if you've spent a lot of time drawing faces or have a lot of life drawing experience, does it? Cause any amount of flipping makes them look not like themselves ( or indeed, human, as I've never come across a perfectly symmetrical face.). I was once invovled in a study that did eye-tracking and it found people with life drawing training looked at the big whole shapes first and measured them out while people without training focused on one small area or side and zi wonder if that means anything...)
posted by The Whelk at 7:07 AM on May 23, 2014
posted by The Whelk at 7:07 AM on May 23, 2014
The most interesting part about this -- IMO -- is that I found each of the perfectly symmetrical faces far less attractive than the original.
posted by Kokopuff at 7:17 AM on May 23, 2014
posted by Kokopuff at 7:17 AM on May 23, 2014
Well, unless their heads are perfectly centered, and equally lit from both directions, of course the 'symmetrical heads' will look weird, because you're going to get really strange head shapes.
posted by leotrotsky at 7:23 AM on May 23, 2014 [6 favorites]
posted by leotrotsky at 7:23 AM on May 23, 2014 [6 favorites]
Good Cindy, evil Cindy, good Cindy, evil Cindy.
posted by griphus at 7:30 AM on May 23, 2014 [3 favorites]
posted by griphus at 7:30 AM on May 23, 2014 [3 favorites]
Oh God, what have I done! Now all I can see are big-left, small-right or distended top-right, compact mid-left. Fffffffffuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu...!
Thinking of it a different way, we encounter aliens with actual symmetry and all they can think of is that we're all ugly, horrible, shambling, disfigured monsters.
posted by Slackermagee at 7:44 AM on May 23, 2014
Thinking of it a different way, we encounter aliens with actual symmetry and all they can think of is that we're all ugly, horrible, shambling, disfigured monsters.
posted by Slackermagee at 7:44 AM on May 23, 2014
The star fish aliens with radial symmetry have other things on thier non-centralized, unsentimental hive mind, like completely changing our atmosphere to suit thier ravenous desire to reproduce.
posted by The Whelk at 7:52 AM on May 23, 2014 [2 favorites]
posted by The Whelk at 7:52 AM on May 23, 2014 [2 favorites]
One of my eyes is higher than the other. Whenever I hear "symmetry is beautiful" I basically hear "it doesn't matter how you dress, groom, or exercise, you are unfixably unattractive! Suckaaaaa!"
I knew a tall, fit and conventionally attractive guy who was just beyond in love with this girl whose face was... uneven. Very uneven. Very, very uneven. Uneven like an odd number. Like we all gave each other side eye when he showed up with her. You get the idea.
She had great legs though.
Anyways she dumped him because he wasn't catholic enough for her. He was crushed. Hurt him for years.
So yeah don't worry about that eye, somebody sees that and just can't wait to jump your bones and will be crushed if you end it.
posted by St. Peepsburg at 7:57 AM on May 23, 2014 [3 favorites]
I knew a tall, fit and conventionally attractive guy who was just beyond in love with this girl whose face was... uneven. Very uneven. Very, very uneven. Uneven like an odd number. Like we all gave each other side eye when he showed up with her. You get the idea.
She had great legs though.
Anyways she dumped him because he wasn't catholic enough for her. He was crushed. Hurt him for years.
So yeah don't worry about that eye, somebody sees that and just can't wait to jump your bones and will be crushed if you end it.
posted by St. Peepsburg at 7:57 AM on May 23, 2014 [3 favorites]
That was fascinating; in some cases it was like the two halves had totally different personalities; especially Thom Yorke. Poor Harrison Ford just looks anxious on both sides of his face.
It's too bad that early deprivation can show up as later facial asymmetry. I've got some of that going on myself; the left side of my face is slightly smaller than my right side, as if somebody did a pinch-and-zoom and squished one side of my face a little. Oh well.
I'd like to see more of these, and not necessarily of celebrities. This was really interesting.
posted by spacewaitress at 8:01 AM on May 23, 2014 [3 favorites]
It's too bad that early deprivation can show up as later facial asymmetry. I've got some of that going on myself; the left side of my face is slightly smaller than my right side, as if somebody did a pinch-and-zoom and squished one side of my face a little. Oh well.
I'd like to see more of these, and not necessarily of celebrities. This was really interesting.
posted by spacewaitress at 8:01 AM on May 23, 2014 [3 favorites]
Well, unless their heads are perfectly centered, and equally lit from both directions, of course the 'symmetrical heads' will look weird, because you're going to get really strange head shapes.
Yeah, while this is an interesting topic, they chose the photos for this article pretty carelessly. The one of Meryl Streep, in particular, has her clearly turned slightly to the photographer's right. It tells you essentially nothing about the symmetry or asymmetry of her face.
posted by yoink at 8:09 AM on May 23, 2014 [3 favorites]
Yeah, while this is an interesting topic, they chose the photos for this article pretty carelessly. The one of Meryl Streep, in particular, has her clearly turned slightly to the photographer's right. It tells you essentially nothing about the symmetry or asymmetry of her face.
posted by yoink at 8:09 AM on May 23, 2014 [3 favorites]
When you move Meryl Streep's slider all the way to the right she looks like Frances Conroy.
posted by teleri025 at 8:29 AM on May 23, 2014
posted by teleri025 at 8:29 AM on May 23, 2014
“If you have a very symmetric, very easy to process face, then you have one problem: You won’t be remembered so well,” he says. This is because we recall faces by their differences, by what makes them distinct from one another.
This is one of the reasons why I find so many of the starlets these days so bland... so terribly terribly bland. Like, they're cute and all but ugh. (There are many other reasons too don't get me wrong, but their faces are perfect to the point of putting me to sleep.)
My main squeeze has a roman nose, with that little bumpy thing, and I lurve it! If you're going to have a nose, have a nose, you know what I mean?
posted by St. Peepsburg at 8:40 AM on May 23, 2014
This is one of the reasons why I find so many of the starlets these days so bland... so terribly terribly bland. Like, they're cute and all but ugh. (There are many other reasons too don't get me wrong, but their faces are perfect to the point of putting me to sleep.)
My main squeeze has a roman nose, with that little bumpy thing, and I lurve it! If you're going to have a nose, have a nose, you know what I mean?
posted by St. Peepsburg at 8:40 AM on May 23, 2014
Ugh, how hard would it have been to tilt the axis of symmetry so that it matched the face?
posted by scrowdid at 9:05 AM on May 23, 2014 [1 favorite]
posted by scrowdid at 9:05 AM on May 23, 2014 [1 favorite]
Good Cindy, evil Cindy, good Cindy, evil Cindy.
Our cat, Bonus Cat, has moderately asymmetrical markings on his face, but they're close enough that I read them as symmetrical. The first time I saw his reflection in a mirror, it threw me for a loop because he just looked so weird. I started referring to his mirror image as Evil Bonus Cat, and sometimes I'll hold him in front of the mirror just so we can say hi to Evil Bonus Cat.
I tried doing the same thing with Dr. Wily, but her face markings are symmetrical enough that it's hard to distinguish Evil Dr. Wily from Good Dr. Wily. Which makes sense, given her name and disposition.
So if you are thinking of adopting a cat, be sure to hold it up to a mirror to make sure you're adopting a good cat and not its evil twin.
posted by Metroid Baby at 10:20 AM on May 23, 2014 [3 favorites]
Our cat, Bonus Cat, has moderately asymmetrical markings on his face, but they're close enough that I read them as symmetrical. The first time I saw his reflection in a mirror, it threw me for a loop because he just looked so weird. I started referring to his mirror image as Evil Bonus Cat, and sometimes I'll hold him in front of the mirror just so we can say hi to Evil Bonus Cat.
I tried doing the same thing with Dr. Wily, but her face markings are symmetrical enough that it's hard to distinguish Evil Dr. Wily from Good Dr. Wily. Which makes sense, given her name and disposition.
So if you are thinking of adopting a cat, be sure to hold it up to a mirror to make sure you're adopting a good cat and not its evil twin.
posted by Metroid Baby at 10:20 AM on May 23, 2014 [3 favorites]
Weird! Looking into the perfectly symmetrical versions of these faces triggers this bizarre perceptual effect on me that I can only think to describe as a kind of facial-recognition-vertigo. Basically, I get this weird feeling like I'm looking at something that's kind of constantly caving in on itself and my brain can't seem to bind what I'm seeing properly into a stable form. Does anybody else get this perceptual effect or am I the lone oddball experiencing that? It's a little subtle at first--only happens when I stare intently straight on into the face. But it's very intense and hard to ignore once the effect starts.
posted by saulgoodman at 10:26 AM on May 23, 2014
posted by saulgoodman at 10:26 AM on May 23, 2014
Nope, I guess I'm just an oddball. I can't even find anything on Google that sounds similar. Oh well. I'm not gonna worry about it.
posted by saulgoodman at 11:00 AM on May 23, 2014
posted by saulgoodman at 11:00 AM on May 23, 2014
any person who has tried to perfect a nice liquid or gel eyeliner cateye look will see just how un-symmetrical his or her face is.
posted by misskaz at 11:15 AM on May 23, 2014 [2 favorites]
posted by misskaz at 11:15 AM on May 23, 2014 [2 favorites]
For a bit of fun with faces, go get the free version of the Facegen modeler. The face parameters are controlled by sliders, so you can tweak the face like crazy, as well as change the race, age and gender, as well as morph between states. DOWNLOAD (XP VISTA 7)
WARNING : HUGE TIMESINK.
posted by Enron Hubbard at 11:35 AM on May 23, 2014 [3 favorites]
WARNING : HUGE TIMESINK.
posted by Enron Hubbard at 11:35 AM on May 23, 2014 [3 favorites]
Don't ever look at your body or face in a mirror image of a mirror, that will mess you up something awful.
posted by amanda at 2:45 PM on May 23, 2014 [1 favorite]
posted by amanda at 2:45 PM on May 23, 2014 [1 favorite]
That kinda happens when you see yourself on screen tho. You get over it.
posted by The Whelk at 2:50 PM on May 23, 2014 [1 favorite]
posted by The Whelk at 2:50 PM on May 23, 2014 [1 favorite]
Was the text translated from another language? It reads like an ehow article.
posted by The corpse in the library at 10:18 AM on May 26, 2014
posted by The corpse in the library at 10:18 AM on May 26, 2014
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posted by showbiz_liz at 7:02 AM on May 23, 2014