Prettier

Does anyone else notice the strangeness of Meg Ryan's lips? On Oprah the other day--I didn't see the actual show, only the promos aired during Monday's show, which I did watch--she looked as if she had, and I don't think this is exaggerating, two little sticks in her upper lip. As if the fat, the silicon, the mongoose liver, or whatever they're injecting people with these days, had set up in two inch-long bars and stayed there.

I wonder, too, if when this happens--we have all seen good plastic surgeries and bad ones--does everyone in Meg's life simply agree not to talk about it? Do the legions of people she runs into every day (or perhaps she is an agoraphobic recluse and sees no one) all pretend that she doesn't look like a freak? "Oh, Ms. Ryan, you look marvelous!" they say, then aside: "Don't tell her about the sticks, she's having a bad morning."

Somehow, the sight of someone like Amanda Lepore does not shock me in the same way. I suppose it's because there is a performance aspect to what Lepore is doing, and Ryan looks as if, rather than end up with Angelina-bee-stung lips, she's been attacked by a whole nest of hornets, and she's just trying to look "normal."