Left Hand, Go Ask the Right Hand What It's Doing

This morning's New York Times Arts Section had two articles: one about Susan Boyle, the wonderful lumpy middle-aged Scots spinster who knocked the judges of Britain's Got Talent on their collective asses and has now become a YouTube sensation; the other about the growing pudginess of male actors. In the first article there's a great deal of waxing on about not judging a book by its cover. In the second there's about the same amount of concern about how these middle-aged actors are looking...middle aged; solid. Heavy, even. They grant that some of the actors put on pounds and take them off for roles (and snidely include Russell Crowe's comment that the pounds come off harder these days than they used to). They cite James Stewart and Humphrey Bogart to prove that in the Olden Days middle aged actors looked thinner. They take nothing into account about individual body type; in Denzel Washington's case they are on him because ten years ago he killed himself to get into shape to play Ruben Carter, and now, ten years later, he looks like he's ten years older (that is to say, he's heavier). They also don't mention that looking like a normal middle-aged person is often what the part calls for; Crowe is currently playing a shlubby guy and he looks...shlubby.

Meanwhile, there's the wonderful Susan Boyle, who is herself. I hope they don't marcel and polish her into looking like a plastic person. I don't think they will, since the novelty of her looking like a normal human being is part of her charm. But really, I know these two articles were written by different people, but couldn't Editorial have noted that they're selling two different snake oils on the same page?