Show Me, Show You

[thefourthvine]

Last night, I was talking to frostfire_17, and she described someone as "classically gorgeous."

I pointed out that I had no idea what that meant. I wasn't kidding. I really don't. Best Beloved has given up on me on this score; she has instituted a series of rules to keep me from getting attacked by a mob because I accidentally describe a celebrity as, for example, "oddly stretched" when that person is, in fact, the apex of beautiful perfection. (Sample rule: If I think a man looks like any member of the rodent family, he is in fact exceedingly attractive, and I should not share my opinion with others until I am sure they don't have pitchforks.) But I have always had the belief that if I simply looked at enough pictures, I wouldn't have this problem. (I have no problem, for the record, knowing what I mean by gorgeous. But I want to know what other people mean, too.)

Since I had a willing victim right there, last night I asked Frost to name some classically gorgeous people. It went sort of like this (names redacted for reasons that will become clear):

Frostfire: There's always [name of person].
Me, studying the results of a google search: He looks like a man who really wants to sell you expensive real estate, even though he was up all night doing lines off Aaron Sorkin's ass.
Frost: But when he was younger - okay. Never mind. How about [name of other person]?
Me: Seriously? Look at his Wikipedia photo!
Frost: Oh my GOD. Don't use the Wikipedia photos. Go to Google Image search like a normal person.
Me, managing to whine in text: But then there's too many pictures.
Frost, patiently: But I am going to tell you which pictures to look at. Okay, got it? First one, last one on the first row.
Me: ...How can those possibly be the same person?

At that point, I decided to call the experiment on the grounds of keeping Frost from hating me. But I still want to know what other people mean by gorgeous. I've just learned that what I need is for people with functioning Gorgeousness Determination Circuits to let me borrow their brains.

So, this is where you come in! If you have a functioning GDC and some time on your hands, that is. What I want - what I very very much want oh please oh please - is for you to pick out a specific photo of a famous person, one that you think embodies the term "classically gorgeous." (I am avoiding all other kinds of hotness for the moment, on the grounds that I am very easily confused, especially when looking at pictures.) Then post it here, so I do not get distracted by the plethora of images of that person on the internet. (One thing I learned last night: the more famous you are, the more truly awful photos of you there are in the world.)

And please remember to include the name of the person, because it's not like I will ever have a clue otherwise. (This is why I give up on "Post hot pictures!" threads. For one thing, I am never sure what kind of hot the posters mean. For another thing, I never have any idea who the people are, which makes it - confusing. Am I looking at the same person over and over? Or are these all different people? What is going on? Why do the pixels mock me? And then I have to close the tab or start ranting on street corners.)

Comments

[greyminerva]

I think Olyphant at least would come under a "classical" heading - nice, even features, nothing too big or too small.
James Marsters might be too "pretty", and isn't aging quite as well, and Wingfield looks a bit too much like a scruffy PhD-student; although he's not young anymore so maybe a lit. professor? :D

Agree with you about the voices, though; "Raylan Givens" just gives me goosebumps. *happyshivers*

I mainly wanted to squee over their voices...

[name_les]

I don't even know how I derived my definition of classical beauty. :)

I didn't consider Olyphant and Wingfield as classical beauties because of their noses. My criteria for the nose is that it should be straight, on the thin side, and proportional. Olyphant's I thought a little too wide, but after conducting further research I've concluded that I overestimated the width and thus Mr. Olyphant does indeed qualify as classically beautiful. As for Mr. Wingfield, the very feature that disqualifies him as classically beautiful causes him to be incredibly sexy, lending strength and character to his face.

I love Raylan! I wonder how much of it is due to his drawl? :)
All of the best loved men in my life have had remarkable voices. My husband has a rumbly voice and an Aussie accent.