The Rolling Stones vs. the Avatars
There's something creepy about avatars. According to Wikipedia, an avatar is a "user or player's virtual identity," or the "graphical representation of a user."
Avatars are the complete opposite of real. At some level, avatars indulge people's passion to be forever young, beautiful, skinny, and visually appealing. Some people spend, what I believe to be, an inordinate amount of time and energy cultivating picture perfect avatars. After they get done constructing killer bodies, they spend even more time acquiring sensational outfits. It's shocking to me how many outfits some avatars have in their inventory.
Consider it the virtual equivalent of cosmetic surgery, a makeover, and a major shopping spree without the real life pain, trouble, or expense. An extension of what's become the all too common American quest for physical perfection and youth.
It never was my thing.
Contrast this to the very real appearance of The Rolling Stones' Mick Jagger, Keith Richards, Ronnie Wood, and Charlie Watts in their movie, Shine A Light, released last week.
Mick Jagger looks every bit the age of sixty-three, precisely the age that he was when the film was shot in 2006. While Jagger truly exemplifies the expression, "he's got a lot of miles on him," he's lean, mean, and offers as excellent a performance as he ever has. He moves about the stage and works the audience with charisma, excitement, stamina, and charm. At any age, let alone sixty-three, all of us should be so lucky.
You could make the argument that Keith Richards looks the worst of them all. He's impossibly thin and his skin sags. You'd be correct to think that he looks just plain "out of it," but as he leans into his guitar and plays music, you know that's not the case. With the music, his face comes alive with focus, boyish excitement, and bliss. We should all have a job which we love so much.
Ronnie Wood and drummer Charlie Richards offer a solid and excellent performance. Both are authentic and no avatar wannabes, but Shine A Light is really Jagger's and Richards' show.
Age defies The Rolling Stones. The wrinkles on their faces attest to lives well lived, just as the way in which they ignite the crowds at The Beacon Theater attests to years of experience thrilling innumerable fans with their music.
Which gets me back to the subject of avatars. My avatar looks no different today than the day she was "born." She's wearing the same clothes and not a hair is out of place. Her adventures in Second Life have not changed her one bit. Somehow I find that very sad.
There's an inherent beauty that comes from living. Skin sags, wrinkles surface, we gain or lose weight, and people just don't "look as good," and to most, that would mean, "young," as they used to. That's just the way it is. Why would anyone want to mess with it?
Admittedly, it's a strange twist on perfection, but I'd rather go the way of The Stones. They've had the pleasure of performing for forty plus years. They continue to thrill their audience with world class rock and roll. Their job brings them a sense of joy and purpose that many strive to find but few ever do.
No matter how many martinis my avatar downs in Club Tinki Winki she'll never get drunk. She'll never be worse for the wear of her travels to places like Vassar's Sistine Chapel and the Second Life Eiffel Tower. She can stay up all night and never get or look tired.
But she'll never have the experience of attending a world class rock concert or the pleasure of listening to "Jumpin Jack Flash" at peak volume.
I'm not giving up on Second Life or my avatar. But Mick Jagger reminds me that youthful perfection can be achieved by accepting your age, living life, doing what you love, and rolling with it. I don't think that most self-respecting avatars would agree with that. Given how good most avatars look, they certainly wouldn't go for the consequences.
It's not the first time that I've disagreed with the avatars.
Back to the Stones' movie. Last week I saw the movie at a regular theater, tomorrow night, I'm off to see it at the IMAX. The volume at the regular theater just wasn't loud enough. A true Stones fan knows exactly what I'm talking about. The Stones are all about live and loud.
And forget the people who mention that it's not good to listen to loud music because it will hurt your hearing. Life is meant to be lived, and watching a Rolling Stones movie in anything less than really loud just isn't living right. I'd bet that Mick Jagger would get it.
Most avatars would never understand. Then again, what do they know? Avatars don't even get wrinkles.
