HD-Pimples, wrinkles and imperfections, oh my!

So I had two firsts yesterday: The first time I've ever seen TV in High Definition and the first time I've ever watched TV on a 63" screen. Wow, what a revelation. I've heard about the high quality reception of HD before but never seen it in person. I think I saw much more than I wanted to, HD is really TMI in action. We were watching USA network's Covert Affairs with the beautiful Piper Perabo and I could see every wrinkle, pimple and flyaway strand of hair up close and personal.

Then I had said revelation: Being able to see all of Piper's surface imperfections didn't make me feel so insecure about my own. In spite of professional make-up artists and stylists, celebrities - or rather people who make a living as actors, singers, models, etc. - are just like anyone else in spite of their publicist's efforts to pass them off as perfect beings. Piper wrestles with breakouts, will soon be struggling with getting older in a young person's business, and is as vulnerable, fallible and filled with flaws as anyone else. The closeups gave her away. The same is true for anyone in the image business.

Why do I think HD is the greatest equalizer since the National Enquirer? Because it exposes the reality beneath the glossy surface. The National Enquirer has broken more celebrity scandals than any other news/entertainment medium in the last ten years and reveals the pimples of the entertainment/political world. Thank God, since everyone else is too cowardly or lazy to do it.

HD is inadvertently doing the same thing. It's a laser-like surface view of those we put on a pedestal, a visual "outing" if you will, and makes us realize that we're all the same; that celebrity worship is a ridiculous waste of time. I think I might eventually invest in a HD television so that I'll always remember that lesson... 63 inches not necessary.