Narcissus

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Are you vain?

― Will, Friday, 9 November 2001 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

Its just that I read over my description of myself when I was playing the Prince in 'King George' in the Simon Callow thread and I thought I sounded, well, quite fanciable, actually.

― Will, Friday, 9 November 2001 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

I thought this thread was about me.

― Tom, Friday, 9 November 2001 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

Vain but ugly. And I bet I'm not the only one...

― Mark C, Friday, 9 November 2001 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

Serious answer: no. I'm arrogant but I'm not vain - I dislike the way I look and have massive latent body image issues.

― Tom, Friday, 9 November 2001 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

Do you understand 'vanity' to mean more 'caring too much about one's appearance, looking in the mirror all the time' or 'thinking oneself good-looking'? I think traditionally it meant more the former but now people tend to mean the latter.

― Nick, Friday, 9 November 2001 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

I think 'an excessive concern with surface attractiveness', personally. In oneself and others.

― Will, Friday, 9 November 2001 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

Oh goodness, well in that case I'm vain for myself in kind of a reverse way and not for others.

― Tom, Friday, 9 November 2001 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

I was once in a photoshoot for 'Looks' magazine when Britpop was at its height, as slim indie boys with a fondness for eyeliner were in vogue. Since then I have had little interest in the Beauty Industry.
To be fair, the piece made me look a right twat, as Miss Grocott will attest.

― Will, Friday, 9 November 2001 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

Hahaha. I remember Katie showing me that before I ever met you Will. Most amusing.

― RickyT, Friday, 9 November 2001 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

Oh, you have to post the picture -- my sister would probably propose marriage to you, she's still stuck in '95.

I am vain, because I'm always worried I look terrible or that my hair has gone all fluffy.

― Nicole, Friday, 9 November 2001 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

i am vain yes, i admit it. i can never get my hair to go right, so i spend ages achieving nothing with it. and it takes me ages to get ready when going out. i think vain is when you are neither ugly or beautiful. if yr ugly you can't make it much better. if yr beautiful you can't make it much worse. the rest of us are in the middle and can therefore make a difference to our appearance. and don't forget, its what on the surface that counts. ha!

― gareth, Friday, 9 November 2001 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

i just realised i use 'yr' instead of your. does this mean i am irredeemebly indie??

― gareth, Friday, 9 November 2001 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

God - is 'yr' indie? I thought it was just the Blue Aeroplanes.

― Nick, Friday, 9 November 2001 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

'yr' is very indie - it's a big Forced Exposure thing.

― Tom, Friday, 9 November 2001 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

I'm infinitely more arrogant than vain; I firmly believe that I'm so good-looking that it doesn't really matter how well I take care of myself, I'll still be attractive.

God, that looks ugly in print.

― Dan Perry, Friday, 9 November 2001 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

I don't know what Forced Exposure is - does that mean I'm let off?

― Nick, Friday, 9 November 2001 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

you could also claim yr was 18th century, tho (= the math rock century)

― mark s, Friday, 9 November 2001 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

Blimey, I'm more indie than Nick Dastoor!

― Tom, Friday, 9 November 2001 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

'yr' is also very Sonic Youth.

Oh, and I am totally vain but I satirise it to take the edge off. It's an insecurity, but everyone is insecure about something.

― suzy, Friday, 9 November 2001 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

yeah but sonic youth used to read forced exposure

― mark s, Friday, 9 November 2001 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

i am the most startlingly humble man in human history

― mark s, Friday, 9 November 2001 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

Forced Exposure - it was a zine, it's now a HUGE distribution house for stuff that qualifies as "avant garde". Any online article depositories anywhere?

― David Raposa, Friday, 9 November 2001 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

No, not really. I'm wearing baggy, faded jeans and Docs. I need a haircut and dye. I can hardly be bothered to wear makeup but when I do it's classic and devasting: liquid black eyeliner, little bit of mascara and red lipstick, nothing else.

but no, i'm not vain.

― Samantha, Friday, 9 November 2001 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

no, I am not vain, I really can't be bothered making myself look pretty and femme. the only magazine I would ever be allowed to pose for is serial killers monthly

― Menelaus Darcy, Friday, 9 November 2001 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

I am not vain, i am just the right amount of gorgeous.

Perhaps with an extra helping of 'tum'.

― Alan Trewartha, Friday, 9 November 2001 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

I am going to out tonight to go dancing, and have dressed up in new clothes wot I bought. I must say I look gorgeous, althought I'm not sure this shirt goes with this jumper...

Perhaps vanity is simply an extension of confidence. If people think you are good looking, do you work harder to impress them more and more or just stop trying?

― Ally C, Friday, 9 November 2001 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

probably you have to maintain the image. I know people who are good looking and hate to put anything up on the internet, even as a joke, that does not make them look fabulous. Its a very serious matter indeed.

― Menelaus Darcy, Friday, 9 November 2001 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

http://aimee.wyvernweb.com/images/portfolio/gargoyles/vain.jpg

― Kodanshi, Friday, 9 November 2001 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

'yr' can't be indie! I use it, and I am not indie.

I do not think I am vain, but I am shallow.

― rosemary, Friday, 9 November 2001 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

I agree w/ Rosemary - FE, Byron Coley, Richard Meltzer, SY etc. NOT indie! (I realise it's the height of indie to insist that something ISN'T indie, but still...)

― Andrew L, Friday, 9 November 2001 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

Byron Coley and Sonic Youth are indie!! They're cool new york loft-y indie rather than skinny-sensitive-boy indie though.

― Tom, Friday, 9 November 2001 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

Taking Nick's first definition of vanity, I'm vain. And unnatractive to look at: not necessarily ideal qualifications for the pop industry.

― chris, Friday, 9 November 2001 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

Christ, they're PROTO-INDIE! Every single snotty-as-hell zine review printed on cheap ass newsprint owes their very "livelihood" to Byron & Thurston & Tesco Vee & Steve Albini and other beautiful social reprobates.

PS - I'm narcissistic as hell. And self-deprecating, too. Leads to a boatload of cognitive dissonance, lemme tell ya.

― David Raposa, Friday, 9 November 2001 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

Tom and David - ok, I will take yr word for it (but to me, the word indie brings to mind fey janglers not 'cool' ROCKERS).

― Andrew L, Friday, 9 November 2001 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

Is being 'Indie' implicitly quite vain? 'I know better music than you know' - music for cool points instead of pure sensory pleasure and so forth...

― Will, Friday, 9 November 2001 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

Now, a moment of silence for 'yr,' which I now officially proclaim doesn't exist. It's all about 'yer.'

Dan's answer of course speaks wisdom, and is mine to an extent. The Truth -- I don't think I'm all that much. Others continually disagree, much to my honest surprise. And like Nicole I always fret over my hair.

― Ned Raggett, Friday, 9 November 2001 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

Yes, I'm somewhat vain.

― Sean, Friday, 9 November 2001 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

Andrew, there is indie rock and there is indie pop. It's a strange world, Sandy.

― Nick, Friday, 9 November 2001 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

Nope, not very.

― james, Friday, 9 November 2001 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

"Yer" used on last Beatles album by John John = dead before they dropped the needle. Duh. "Yr" used in conjunction w/ song about Sean Penn & Madonna = 4evah!

― David Raposa, Friday, 9 November 2001 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

I'm very vain, to the point that my vanity pushes important thoughts out of my head, which is terrible. (But I look especially good today, hey.)

― Maria, Friday, 9 November 2001 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

I'm not vain at all, oh no. See me discussing my hair with myself earlier this evening.

― Ronan, Friday, 9 November 2001 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

Last rock'n'roll usage of "yer" as far as I'm aware = Reef, "Yer Old". Which makes it horrifically and irredeemably un-indie and absolutely dud.

But then I'm, uh, somewhat indie. In fact, I might even be so indie that I have constant insecurity about whether I'm indie enough (I think this is probably a very indie thing, although it teeters unnervingly on the edge of paradox without actually being exciting enough to fall), thus only allowing myself to use the word "yr" when I believe the people I'm talking to are just indie enough to appreciative its indieness but not indie enough to be snarky about un- indie types like me using it. On the other hand, I almost never post in all lower case (or only when I'm incredibly down and feeling slightly poseurish about it too), so I lose all indie posting style points.

Am I vain? By the "concerned with appearance" definition, I guess so, though I don't take that much care of it and I rarely look like I've taken any. By the "oh God I'm gorgeous" definition, of course not, I ming. I am completely self-obsessed, though. I think the world revolves around me, just in a paranoid way, rather than a narcissistic one. Well, usually in both ways at once, but this post is long and boring enough, so let's not complicate things further...

― Rebecca, Friday, 9 November 2001 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

I'm a 33-year-old married man = I don't give a toss how I look

― Michael Jones, Friday, 9 November 2001 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

I'm not vain but I do like to look good. Gale

― Gale Deslongchamps, Friday, 9 November 2001 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

I refuse to let the indies take over "yr" forever. I have adopted it and will not give it up. I will save years from avoiding two letters in my writing and typing, you know.

― Maria, Friday, 9 November 2001 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

indie = boring. What you really need to listen to is greek dance music

― Menelaus Darcy, Friday, 9 November 2001 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

i protest the use of the word "vain". its not my fault i know i look good. ;)

yes i am vain. i constantly look in the mirror. i like to gaze at my reflections as walking by shop windows. but you know, its not like i'm always trying to look good or anything, i just do.

― di, Friday, 9 November 2001 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

blah blah blah di, and its not like I am really about to murder people, its just that I always look like that.

― Menelaus Darcy, Friday, 9 November 2001 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

Yeah I am. The incontrovertable proof being that right now my website has almost nothing on it other than loads of pictures of me me me. On the other hand, I'd not have gotten very far without it. Something to do with having a sense of control I guess.

― Kim, Saturday, 10 November 2001 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

aren't Reef just about ripe for ironic recontextualization?

― gareth, Monday, 12 November 2001 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

If only I were butch enough to declare that anyone trying to champion Reef as indie heroes anywhere near me would have their face ironically recontextualised. Hrmf!

― Rebecca, Monday, 12 November 2001 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

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