freud

What is it about Sigmund Freud that pisses people off so much?

You always hear about how he was wrong, that his theories were eventually debunked. Meanwhile, his critics and detractors make lots of money off of fields of study that, before Freud, were about as interesting as reading technical manuals.

Women seem to hate Freud for suggesting, among other things, that they desire to emulate men, specifically in the genital area. They scoff at this notion, even as they don their pantsuits and ape the worst characteristics of men in order to stake a claim in the modern workplace.

Freud is seen by the psychoanalytic community that thrives because of his influence as an outmoded thinker. Instead, people gravitate to the likes of Carl Jung or R. D, Laing, both of whom owe an incredible debt to Freud for opening the door to further analysis of the human mind.

I think that people just didn't like Freud, as a person. He must have inspired some sort of mistrust in people. He rubbed people the wrong way, perhaps. Maybe he resembled a bad uncle or an authoritarian teacher for hordes of people who were hostile to his work.

I don't think Freud intended his work to be the end-all be-all for psychiatry and the exploration of human consciousness. I think he knew it was merely the beginning, the opening volley, the first salvo fired on the battlefield of the modern psyche.

I like Freud, for his theories had some sort of weird correlation with Albert Einstein's theories on space and time; I also like Freud because the Surrealists took their cues from his works.

I don't think he was 100% correct, but I do think he was on the right path.


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A few things I've noticed from having run various photos of myself and others through the My Heritage Face Recognition demo:


1. Different pics produce different results. I haven't tried to run the same photo twice, but since the MH database is constantly being added to, I suspect that results vary even with the same photo.

2. Sometimes a face just doesn't have a match. My drummer and singer's respective faces didn't produce any matches, but maybe different photos would make a difference. The MH database needs to be expanded, once again.

3. There's some intriguing patterns emerging. Certain photos come up in almost every test. Two examples: Missy Elliott and Helena Bonham Carter. Now, the percentages given with these examples are very low (in the 50s) but still... it's disconcerting to know that I come up with more feminine matches than masculine ones. Also: lots of Asians and West Indians make it into my results!

4. One match, the Bollywood actress Preity Zinta, came up in tests that I ran for both myself and Eve. When I told her about this, she laughed and suggested that next Halloween we swap identities for our costumes: I will dress as her and she will dress as me. I said I was down to do that.

5. So far, only one celebrity photo that came up in a test also happened to be the face of a star that I have been told I resemble in the past: Christian Slater.

6. The angle of your face within the frame plays a big role in your results, as well as lighting and objects such as cigarettes or sunglasses. This tool is perfect for Photoshop users who want to find similar comparison photos to use for projects.


I haven't gotten sick of it yet. I am passing it along to anyone who wants to try it. And what's more-- I can't remember how I found the site, whether it was through a forwarded e-mail link or through my own accidental stumblings.


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Here are the results of a second MH test I did on a different photo of Eve:

Mena Suvari 73%
Mischa Barton 73%
Audrey Tatou 72%
Shania Twain 72%
Marcia Cross 72%
Joan Fontaine 71%
Halle Berry 71%
Calista Flockhart 71%
Rachel Leigh Cook 71%
Kristin Davis 70%


I posted these results because, as I ran through them , it got me thinking about attractive types.

You see, every single girl listed above has been the object (at one time or another) of a celebrity crush for me. Seriously. The only one not on the list was Angelina Jolie.

Yes, even Joan Fontaine. Eve and I watched Rebecca not too long ago and I marveled at how beautiful she was in that movie.

This makes me wonder if I really do have a type after all. Friends have noted my affinity for blondes, but more than half of the women above are brunettes; the others are fair-haired or blonde, and one of them is a redhead.

The My Heritage Face Recognition Test is merely a program that uses algorithms to find your face in the photos of famous people, much like all those wacky quizzes I post on this blog every now and then. A score above 80% means that there is a good match between photos.

Eve used to get comparisons to Calista Flockhart all the time, and I definitely see the resemblance to Mischa Barton. But now I am wondering if I am somehow hard-wired to respond to women who share Eve's facial characteristics: the sculpted cheekbones, the broad and warm smile, the wide eyes and delicate skin...

Plus, the fact that she and I both scored Preity Zinta on a previous MH test makes me wonder how many of the women I find attractive resemble myself. After all, I keep coming up with women in my own personal MH results!

Talk about the ultimate in narcissism...

I'll post more about further results in the near future!