kestrell: (Default)
Kestrell ([personal profile] kestrell) wrote2020-08-29 09:29 am

Masks as culture: masks as technology, masks as art, masks as magic

Anyone else spend an hour trying to find the perfect face mask? Alexx helped me pick out a very tentacular green man mask. Now I'm trying to figure out what costume, complete with appropriate mask, I will be wearing for Halloween.

Here are three articles and an essay by Oscar Wilde that explore the facets of mask-wearing

The Truth of Masks: A Note on Illusion by Oscar Wilde
http://www.online-literature.com/wilde/1310/

3 Questions: Historian Emma Teng on Face Masks
https://news.mit.edu/2020/meanings-face-masks-emma-teng-0819

MIT: The Meanings of Masks
https://shass.mit.edu/news/news-2020-pandemic-meanings-masks-series

At the Heart of Dismal U.S. Coronavirus Response, A Fraught Relationsip with Masks Washington Post
https://www.washingtonpost.com/national/at-the-heart-of-dismal-us-coronavirus-response-a-fraught-relationship-with-masks/2020/07/28/f47eccd0-cde4-11ea-bc6a-6841b28d9093_story.html
jesse_the_k: Extreme closeup of dark red blood cells (Blood makes noise)

The Octopus Protective Mask

[personal profile] jesse_the_k 2020-08-31 11:42 pm (UTC)(link)

Damn, I've been searching for days and I can't find the photo, but that doesn't matter.

I saw a terrifyingly realistic octopus mask. Looked like it was made from leather or PVC, so it would be horribly hot. Upper pair of tentacles meet and close above the ears, the next pair curl on the cheekbones, the next pair meet and close below the occiput, and the final pair curl under the chin. The crowning creepiness is the oval globe of the head drooping from the chin, which looks a lot like a testicle.

You would rock it!

jesse_the_k: text: Be kinder than need be: everyone is fighting some kind of battle (Default)

Re: The Octopus Protective Mask

[personal profile] jesse_the_k 2020-09-01 02:06 pm (UTC)(link)

Yes! The green woman's shaggy hair lends itself to attaching the mask behind your head.

Does she stick her tongue out like the green man? You could use some retro reflective fabric for the tongue, which would be a safety feature as well as extra horrifying.

jesse_the_k: harbor seal's head captioned "seal of approval" (Approval)

Re: The Octopus Protective Mask

[personal profile] jesse_the_k 2020-09-01 09:21 pm (UTC)(link)

Sounds like a lovely design. Don't forget some spangles!

Sadly I have zero glue knowledge, but I do remember seeing an extensive glue discussion in the OT book you commended to me last year by Therese Willkomm, PhD.

I heartily applaud your decision to spend less energy in frustrating meetings, and waiting for vagrant paratransit rides.