wbur.org
support wbur today!
Listen to this story
The Human Face
photo

By host Tom Ashrbook:

At fifty, Coco Chanel once famously quipped, we have the face we deserve. Well, maybe. Increasingly these days, at almost any age, people seem to have the face they can afford — with botox, nips and tucks and makeovers of every variety, chin implants and new noses and radio frequency face lifts over lunchtime.

Last week, for a woman in France, there was a partial face transplant. The world’s first, and surely not its last. If the face tells the story of our lives, our stories are getting homogenized. If the face is the theater of the soul, our souls are getting harder to see.

Hear about the head-turning mechanics and metaphysics of the increasingly manipulated human face.

Guests:

Daniel McNeill, author of “The Face”;
Dr. Robert Rey, LA Plastic Surgeon.;
Manohla Dargis, Film Critic for NYT;
Chuck Close.

 
 

Comments are closed.

Recent Shows
Poker: America’s Game
Thursday, November 19, 2009 image

Poker and American history. How the game of presidents, cowboys, gangsters, and online gamblers helped shape America.

Comments [10]
 
Google vs. Murdoch
Thursday, November 19, 2009 image

Rupert Murdoch wants to block the search giant from scooping free content from his newspapers. We’ll look at the staredown.

Comments [132]
On Point Blog
Michael Wolff and Jeff Jarvis on Murdoch v. Google

We had a rousing discussion about Google vs. Murdoch, and what it says about the whole future of news, with Michael Wolff, Jeff Jarvis, and Steven Brill. Here’s what Wolff and Jarvis had to say about the delusions of both Murdoch and Google.

More » | Comments [18]
 
Video: Google CEO Eric Schmidt

Last week, host Tom Ashbrook was on stage with Google CEO Eric Schmidt, asking him about some of the biggest technology and business issues of our time.
It was part of an MIT event held on Thursday, Nov. 5, to commemorate computer science professor Michael Hammer, who died last year. Here’s video of the full interview, courtesy of WBUR.org:

Among other things, Schmidt said the possibilities [...]

More » | Comments [4]
 
California, here we come! And we need your questions!

On Point is headed west!
No, no. Not for good. Only for one show. But it’s a very special show!  The NPR station in Thousand Oaks, California – KCLU – is celebrating their 15th anniversary. We’re lucky to have been on their airwaves for nearly seven years, and they invited us out west to host a live [...]

More » | Comments [10]