Entertainment | 08/14/2008 10:00 am

wowOwow Photo Gallery Salutes Madonna's 50th Birthday

Photo Essay

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If her birthday isn’t until the 16th why are we “celebrating” so early? Is there no news or is everyone on vacation?

By DeBúrca obj on 08/14/2008 9:43 am

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As far as the New York magazine cover and the statement in the statement beside it “Here she looks as sexy and glamorous as ever before.” I am really disgusted by the celebration of the “youth” $30,000 can buy. It’s like people driving HUMMERS when there’s a war going on because of our dependency on oil. Celebrating wealth at the expense of good sense and good taste.

By DeBúrca obj on 08/14/2008 9:51 am

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I’ve always wondered why so many people (usually females, go figure) insinuate that she’s had work done. They seem to be forgetting to take into account the sad fact that most photos of ANY celebrity are airbrushed these days; that said, Madonna has the face of a woman who can afford to eat and exercise right, to me. I just never got that “my face/t!ts aren’t real” vibe from her, which is odd considering how VERY little I respect her otherwise. Now, if she STILL looks like that in another ten or so years, then yeah I’d be suspicious. Not that it matters anyway - I’ve known people who have chosen to get cosmetic surgery yet their personalities, souls, intellects, etc. remain genuinely intact. It’s just not that big of a deal - what is the difference between wearing MAKEUP or lasering off a little bit of unwanted hair…and something like reconstructive surgery? Funny how most of the women who are so quick to pass judgment on their fellow human for getting a nip here and a tuck there…are women who shamefully conceal their own little flaws as well, be it with a padded bra or an eyebrow pencil. We are ALL superficial in way or another, in the end.

By Kryssi K on 08/14/2008 10:47 pm

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Did you look at the photos here? Did you see the cover of the New York magazine showing what she’s had done? My gripe with it is #1… that these women are held up as some sort of ideal of keeping your “youth” (and I’m not talking about via pilates and fresh vegies) as though doing so is even humanly possible for anyone who can’t afford to spend $30,000 on it and #TWO the strange results of the work done is becoming “normal”. 65 yr old women who strangely look like they did at 25, yet don’t really… sort of the way a corpse looks like the person when they were alive, but doesn’t really. Strange shaped mouths, upper lips that don’t move when they talk or smile, foreheads that don’t move and have no lines or personality to them, puffy lips, slanted eyes, cheek bones that weren’t there 20 years ago, etc.. women with breasts that look like soccer balls under their skin while the rest of their bodies are disturbingly thin and boyish. It does women a disservice. A normal woman, with normal breasts, with a normally aging face doesn’t exist in hollywood and young women and even young men being fed this image through magazines, tv shows, movies, all around them… don’t even know what a natural woman looks like or how she even ages. What ever happened to “You’ve come a long way baby”? I don’t see what women are doing to themselves via cosmetic surgery any different that what was done to Asian women by binding their feet to make them “beautiful” or women damaging their bodies wearing corsets, or destroying their skin in the Elizabethan era with that white, lye makeup… it’s all the same.

By DeBúrca obj on 08/15/2008 12:02 am

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I know what you mean, but it’s hard for me to say much since I am not yet in the position of having to face my own mortality every time I look in the mirror. I mean it’s hard to judge someone’s personal image choices unless you yourself are also pushing 65+, ya know? I think it’s fine as long as they’re doing it for THEMSELVES and not just because the magazines are telling them who to look like. By the way, I have large 34C breasts but the rest of me is “boyishly thin” and inconsistent with my chest size - I only weigh 105 pounds and I do NOT do that on purpose. (In fact I’ve tried to GAIN weight with little success.) Just sayin’.

By Kryssi K on 08/15/2008 12:44 am

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Krissi, I’d love to talk to you again when you’re 50. Enjoy it while you have it, sister.

By Susan B on 08/16/2008 10:43 am

I must add, though, that it IS strange (if not despicable) that a reputable magazine would be encouraging people to spend their savings to completely alter their faces…just so they can mimic the symmetry that a handful of divas are seemingly fortunate enough to possess. (Wasn’t it HITLER who similarly wanted everyone to look and be the same?) This obsessive worship of Celebrity is getting out of hand. Whatever happened to embracing the UNIQUE???

By Kryssi K on 08/14/2008 10:58 pm

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Kryssi, this post seems to contradict the first post you sent me. It basically agrees with my original post.

By DeBúrca obj on 08/15/2008 12:04 am

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My understanding was that you thought the magazine cover was implying she had work done. To me it’s just pointing out her general symmetrical features (that she’s ALWAYS had), and suggesting that women who don’t look like her should want to chop themselves up in order to GET those same features. But I could be wrong.

By Kryssi K on 08/15/2008 12:37 am

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To me it was definitely implying what she had done.

By DeBúrca obj on 08/15/2008 7:49 am

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DeBurca, we are of one mind on both points — especially the Hummer comment. I never got why people held Hummer ownership in such high regard. It was as if they were thumbing their noses at the war, the environment, oil prices and aesthetics as they drove those things around the ‘burbs, Aside from the hubris, it seemed almost anti-American to own a Hummer. But more often than not, those folks were the biggest self-proclaimed patriots/flag wavers out there. And you’re also right about youth, anyone with enough money can “buy” it.

By Susan B on 08/16/2008 10:39 am

To me it is in fact “anti-American” best interests to own a HUMMER… but I suspect to HUMMER owners, owning one is the most American thing in the world… sort of thumbing your nose at the environment, our oil dependency, and owning something soley to display your affluence, that is a certain type of American mindset, that’s for sure.

By DeBúrca obj on 08/17/2008 4:31 pm

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Well…for my 2 cents..being only a year younger than Madonna I kindof resent the kudos she’s receiving for looking so fantastic while the rest of us schleps are busy aging gracefully. Never a fan of the original Madonna music in the 80’s as I was stuck in the 70’s…but truly enjoyed her creativity and even some of her controversial style in the 90’s and 2000’s; I admit I have a couple of her CD’s…but hell, I can look that youthful too if I have a bottomless pocketbook! I sweat it out every day at the gym like she does…but can only squeeze in my lowly hour because my kids/home/job becon. Nobody does it all for me so that I can be well rested, trained for hours by professionals then worked on to boot! Yes, she looks fantastic! Happy Birthday, Madge! But the media, while trying to tell women and young girls to celebrate who they are and where they’ve been needs to stop praising the faux in 50!

By MimC on 08/14/2008 2:35 pm

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Just look at Candice Bergen and read about her life, then you’ll feel better. New thought: I have a theory that certain souls live on the edge so that we experience the ‘absurd’ through them while remaining safe ourselves. So, Madonna, better you and than me, and thank you. Also, think about this, the Hummer has been around awhile, I’m thinking before the war or maybe the first year of the war. This doesn’t make it right, but people had those gas-guzzling, Cheney-chargers before consciousness was raised. Now they can’t sell them, no sap wants to be caught buying them now. The government should buy all of them and storehouse them like they did the trailers after Katrina, only somewhere they could actually be used in emergencies. Peace and grace

By beth willis on 08/16/2008 12:48 pm

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Should there be any doubt, I was speaking of Candice Bergen’s ageless beauty and grace, whose life has not been without tumult but she doesn’t wear it on her face. Some people foster an inner glow while others demand spotlights. Peace and grace

By beth willis on 08/17/2008 5:47 pm