By now, I imagine every sentient being on the planet has seen the YouTube video of Susan Boyle singing on Britain's Got Talent. This singularly surprising performance has generated more internet commentary than any television program I can remember.
Our fascination with Miss Boyle's virtuosity, despite her very ordinary appearance, is certainly puzzling. Cass Elliot once noted that America had hundreds of singers who were at least as talented as her scratching out a living doing commercial jingles for local radio stations. Nassim Nicholas Taleb observed in The Black Swan that there are thousands of talented writers, actors, and financiers that we will never hear about because of the luck of the draw.
We have all of this talent around us, and we rarely notice it. Miss Boyle has apparently been singing her heart out in her village in Scotland for 35 years, but I imagine she's never drawn a crowd of more than a few dozen souls. If she had never tried out for the show, she'd still be at the local pub every karaoke night, with the same passion and skill.
Whether it's an insurance lawyer in Prague writing short stories he never expected anyone to read, a psychotic artist managing to sell just one of his paintings before killing himself, a patent clerk in Zurich imagining an entirely new universe, four black-leather-wearing drop-outs from Liverpool unleashing a new musical energy, or a community organizer in the South Side of Chicago coming to grips with the role of race in society, our history is full of obscure individuals coming out of nowhere to challenge our perception of reality.
In my youth, a road trip across Europe or America was a true adventure. You never knew what delights (or horrors) you might find in the local restaurant or what kind of welcome you might receive from the natives. Each establishment was as good as its owner made it. But when it was good, it was extraordinary.
Now, every town is largely the same, a dot on the map of Corporatocracy, Earth. A traveler can go to Applebee's or Pizza Hut or wherever and get an acceptable--but never great--meal, made from the very same ingredients she's used to anywhere else. The beer will be identical to the beer back home. The hotel will be clean, comfortable, and utterly devoid of charm. The music on the radio will follow a playlist formulated by a national research firm. The local news broadcasters will look and sound the same in Alabama as in California as in New York, and their stories will follow the same format as back home.
My home country of Iceland is another victim of this uniformization. Pre-WWII visitors to Iceland consistently noted our devotion to intellectual pursuits, despite our impoverished condition. We read the Sagas and Shakespeare for entertainment during the long Arctic nights. My great-grandfather, Guðmundur Einarsson, even found the time and energy to write a book (his autobiography, which was published), despite the long days he put in farming and supporting 18 kids.
Now, however, the works of Snorri Sturluson and Halldór Laxness are as foreign to young Icelanders as the kæst skata (fermented or putrefied) we traditionally eat before Christmas. We're more American than Americans. Big cars, designer clothes, satellite television, rock-and-roll, Mexican food--if you've got it, we've got it, in spades.
Susan Boyle was the diamond in the rough, the unique local talent that I imagine inspired great pride among her mates. She belonged in a way few of us will ever know.
The Chicago Tribune has already posted this Susan Boyle makeover photo montage.
Now that the secret's out, I fear that the corporate powers will try to polish her up to fit into their mold. They'll put her on a diet and exercise program, give her a make-over, and feed her lines to repeat in interviews. She'll still sing like an angel, but the passion that touched us this week will become increasingly an act--the type we get when Eric Clapton plays Layla for the 10,000 time, each time farther and farther away from the raw passion that he and Duane Allman captured one day in 1970.
I don't begrudge Miss Boyle her day in the sun or the financial rewards that are certain to come her way. I hope she is able to keep her head straight and force those rewards to come to her on her own terms. I hope she doesn't become a parody of herself, the way so many of the musicians of my youth have.
And I hope that we all look around and appreciate and encourage the unique local talent that surrounds us.
On the other hand, a good make-over always helps a person feel better about themselves. Susan spent the better part of her youth being a shut-in taking care of a sick mother. She's always cared for someone else first. Now she has the opportunity to take care of herself first. BUT she needs to find someone who will work with her personality to give her the make-over. Both of the hairstyles given accentuate her chin. That's just nuts. Susan has it right when she piles the hair on top as it draws attention away from her not-so show biz friendly chin and square jaw. And as I said, neither hair style reflects her personality. She needs less of a modern hair style than a classic style that will look good on any adult woman no matter what era she shows up in.
I know what I speak of. I deal wth a large jaw and minute double chin on a daily basis. I'd never ever ever wear my hair flat. It makes my jaw point out like a shelf and my head look too small for my jaw.
So, I hope she gets a good make-over at a wonderful spa with all the pampering that she wants.
The often approach of putting lipstick on the pig to sell a product is unnecessary in her case.
Based on her performance that I listened to there is no need to change anything and I suspect agents understand the charm of leaving the package pretty much alone and let the voice be the product.
Want inspiring? Try Wangari Maathai, first African woman to be awarded the Nobel prize, founder of the Green Belt movement, activist for democracy, defender of women's rights, protector of the environment, planter of 30 million trees, member of the Kenyan parliament, etc. Now here's a voice I can listen to.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dA0qGlnc-30&eurl=http%3A%2F%2Fvideo%2Egoogle%2Ecom%2Fvideosearch%3Fclient%3Dsafari%26rls%3Den%2Dus%26q%3Dwangari%2520maathai%26oe%3DUTF%2D8%26um%3D1%26ie%3DUTF&feature=player_embedded
Doubt they can do it? How did they package Sarah Palin to convince us that she's presidential material?
Adapted from the work of the great Edgar Guest

Somebody said that it couldn’t be done,
 But, Susan with a chuckle replied 
 That "maybe it couldn’t," but she would be one
 Who wouldn’t say so till she’d tried.
 So she buckled right in with the trace of a grin
 On her face. If she worried she hid it. 
She started to sing which was exactly the thing
 That couldn’t be done, and she did it.
Somebody scoffed: "Oh, you’ll never do that;
 At least no one like you has done it";
 But she took to the stage in spite of all that,
 And the first thing we knew she’d begun it.
With a lift of her chin and a bit of a grin,
 Without any doubting or quiddit,
 She started to sing which was exactly the thing
 That couldn’t be done, and she did it.
There are thousands to tell you it cannot be done,
There are thousands to prophesy failure;
 There are thousands to point out to you one by one,
 The dangers that wait to assail you.
 But just buckle it in with a bit of a grin,
 Just take off your coat and go to it; 
Just start to sing or do exactly the thing
 That "couldn’t be done," and you’ll do it
I believe that nearly everyone would make the same choices given the same circumstances. Even the saying "There but for the grace of God go I" alludes to this.
While there are plenty of people out there who are super talented, it's a mix of timing, cultural/societal shifts, personal drive, stars aligning and the public's perception/reception that makes or breaks a star.
We think that Susan Boyle is lucky because she has been "discovered". I'll bet she's just glad to have had so much reassurance and kindness shown to her. The entertainment industry can be brutal to almost everyone. Here's hoping she'll be treated well and not taken advantage of.
As far as a makeover is concerned, what's the big deal? Gloria Estefan looked a fright before she was styled up. It's biological to want to preen, and if Susan's appeal can be enhanced naturally, why not? I only object to the boring standardization of beauty. Hopefully, her look will be unique to her, whatever it is. As long as she's happy.
And that's the core issue here. Someone must love a stripmall, otherwise how could they keep popping up all over? Aren't we really mad at ourselves for letting that happen?
As far as eating rotted fish, what the heck happened to mead? You can boil even rotten fish in mead for awhile and kill all the bad taste. You Icelanders should try building those longships again, sailing to Somalia and make megabucks attacking the pirates! Then buy good local food and take it back home. Globalization can be a force for good.
As to Ms. Boyle, I saw her, and thought her singularly unremarkable--not bad; in fact, quite good--just nothing special. Then again, I hang out with the sort of crowd who sing professionally, so it takes a pretty incredible vocalist to phase me (most can start by cutting out half of their vibrato...). I'm glad she was discovered, though, and I hope she's allowed to be herself and to make her art her own way. Generally, the most interesting people are so damned unique, often in the face of all pressure otherwise to conform.
As to the putrefied skate, it must be a very acquired taste. When I looked into emigrating to Iceland, that was the first thing I was warned about.