. . . . ...........Aline Rosa Thomas, 1908 - 2006
I said earlier that I might write a quick tribute to my Granny. So, here it is. I think these photos of her, taken about 80 years ago, do show how graceful and gracious a person she was. She was always loving, even to the point when Karen and I were teens that we felt a bit coddled. She had a wicked sense of humour too. She had a library of funny stories for every occasion. As I knew her, she was a beautiful old lady with sparkling blue eyes and rosy cheecks - all hairnets and the smell of soap - but before that she was the daughter of a village clergyman, wife of an army officer in East Africa, and a mother to two boys and a girl in the English New Forest. When I feel the red mist coming, I'll try to think about her. Once again, goodnight granny.
posted by Mr.Thomas at 10:27
9 Comments:
Having worked at a photography studio for 2 years, I have to admit that seriously non-Asians look much better, and more natural in pictures than Asians. We all wonder why and thought, might be it has a lot to do with a person's background. Now I see your granny's pictures and I'm pretty confident that the attributions are correct =)
Hard to believe you realy think us pastey gringo's are generally photogenic? I find the whiter the complexion, the harder it is to have good skin tone? The pics on your latest entry make your skin look flawless!
. . or are your talking about demeanor?.. . I think the English, second only in pasteyness to the scottish are usually too self conscious to look good on film. But my gran. here does have obvious personal grace. She kept it her whole life too. Thanks. Cheryl. . .
I'm not generally referring to people of pastey skin, rather those with more abrupt facial features even for people of Hispanic heritage, or Africans. This is what account for their photogenic.
But of course it has a lot to do with personal grace. Asians in general JUST DO NOT HAVE THE GRACE/TEMPERAMENT/DEMEANOR (models are exceptionists, though.) Perhaps history didn't allow that (?). Still, I'm pretty sure that skin color does not matter.
I'll try to post of couple of client's pictures later on so you could tell the difference...
IF you have to be picky on "self conscious", I think Asians in general have expertized it. Usually it's Asian people who require a vast amount of touch-ups while "gwei lo" would beg us to "don't to anything to our faces" =)
p.s. I have to admit that I have fair skin. Thanks. But if you see pictures from me you should be thinking if I have retouched them... lol (The "routine" pictures are original, but the PROFILE one is not)
i was guna say... but we asian girls are MUCH MUUUUUUUUUUUCHHHHHH hotter and more exotic in real life. with the exception of those hispanic latino ladies. plus we're much much harder to get.
i've seen one or two asian women with grace in my time, they must be among the most beautiful i'd ever seen. (and Rare) what did u mean by 'history didn't allow that'? weren't the ancient chinese women graceful, quiet, submissive n all that? plus all dolled up in their amazing costumes n hair styles?
your granny sounds and looks beautiful. yeah u should do your best to make her proud.
gsswut? i'm daughter of a clergyman too...
Cheryl, your english kicks my hill shaped butt everytime. I love reading your entire blog.....
I think I know what you mean, After living in HK and UK. I think on some level's Chinese and Brits do have some commonalities. We both have superiority and inferiority complexes at the same time. Both can be fake, both loyal, both smart ;)
What Nora wrote is interesting (as it usually is) and got me thinking. . . From the white point of view, Chinese overseas are always admired, the girls anyway. Seen as intelligent, exotic, unnatainable etc. Chinese cliques usually have a pet wannabe Chinese that hangs with them too yah?
But I dont know if there's a natural grace and an effected grace that Cheryl might be talking about?
I look at the white people in the UK with their greasy hair and dirty fingernails and bad teeth. Then here in HK where they are assumed to be somehow sex-mad and trustworthy and rich and smart. I realise how messed up the Anglo Chinese mutual admiration and resentment society is. Oh man, I'm going off topic. . . got class to teach in 20 mins. . .
I dont know what you look like Nora, but Cheryl has grace and great skin. The 'routine' picks make her look pretty good I think. How tall are you Cheryl?
Happy Christmas to you both.
Nora - do you write? You are always so mysterious and in fact I LIKE YOUR NAME A LOT. It gives me an impression that you must be really feminine... (oops)
"History didn't allow that" - I was kinda referring to the underdevelopment in Asian countries general, where education did not flourish. Anyway, history stuff *yawn*
HA! Perhaps it's just as Neil said that this is a "messed up Anglo Chinese mutual admiration": we tend to see the positive side in others. But Nora, one thing I'm pretty damn sure is that ANCIENT CHINESE WOMAN look gross. Have you even seen pictures of CiXi? (The mother of GuangXu, or she herself the "emperess") The norm for beauty just AIN'T the cup of tea for today... even though they were dolled, quiet and submissive; I bet the rule is just like today that, not everyone possesses the demeanor =]
Neil - "greasy hair and dirty fingernails and bad teeth" - I can picture this together with the muddy football field, lol. All in all, every place has a variety of people, in which we love some of them and despise a great deal of them. P.S. NOT V.Beck.
Cheryl is not very tall, a little above mean which is five six/one sixty-eight centimeters. Please note that according to Cheryl's definition girls over five eight could be regarded as "tall" and for guys over six =P
yeah i keep those pics of me online to a minimum to avoid them stalkers. (my face is just not digicam friendly)
mysterious? no, shy maybe, or if u like, exclusive ;) um i look and dress like a girl but i'm a man underneath it. i play football too. i'm more of a man than all my guy friends; sometimes that pisses me off. yeah those wannabe chinese groupies like u hehe... i make ALL them gwei jei's wanna be Chinese heehee ;)
ancient chinese women are hot! that girls pretty mingin - but any average chinese girl with those clothes n hair would look pretty damn hot. (mb growing up in the West has made me develop a reverse Asian Fetish or sumthn) mb i based my imagination too much on those blockbuster movies... or mb the white ppl around me are just so ugly that anything else seems hot to me.
yeah i have a link on mr thomas' list.
Groupies man! that's a whole other hilarious topic! Must post on it sometime. I hope I wasn't ever one. . . I just happen to have Chinese folks as my closest pals and live here entirely by complete accident ;-}.
Seriously though after living in BeiJing and Hong Kong and Singapore, and having a Chinese girl as my best friend for 26 years, I've seen the best and the worst. There are no pink fuzzy edges to my eyesight.
So Nora is too hhhot for public consumtion?! Its not easy being increadibly good looking, believe me, I know!
Cheryl, guys have to be over six feet?? Darn! I am small but perfectly formed
nora is a HOT name, unlike cheryl... fussy and old =[
yeah so with this hot name she must pay close attention to her virtual route and pics... trust me it's not that easy to google search a person unless they use very explicit keywords and stuff. i tried serveral times on myself hitting different combinations -- i got pictures of a cheryl ng obviously a celebrity wannabe in singapore.
groupies -- scary word. discussing w/ you guys always leave me uneasy and exhausted (FOB no english!)
NORA, CIXI here http://www.chinapage.com/images/cixi-1903.jpg with her maids... awwww... don't you think the left maid is wearing a mask??? awwwww... they used to cherish FAT (fertile) women w/ very small eyes (phoenix eyes), thin eyebrow and lips, and small feet.... but may be i understand why 'cause of the popularity of lucy liu i think the western ideology for chinese beauty is JUST LIKE THAT!!!! =D
Neil -- there has a range of being tall. 6 = a very tall guy to me, but like girls above five five or guys above five eight are also TALL. but u also have to take into account the bodily proportion. i guess caucasians generally have longer legs so you should be good.
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