The Young Ones

Pictures from bbc.co.uk

Maybe I have become middle-aged, but I love BBC One's series The Young Ones. I have been nailed in front of my telly every evening this week to watch it. It is an innovative series where six British senior celebrities are put in a house for a week.

The house where they live is a replica from the 1970's, from the time when these people used to be most active and in their bloom. In their olden days they have become a bit crumpy and less fit. The house is an experiment to see if the 'housemates' become more active and gain back some their energy if they live in a place that looks like their former homes in the 70's.

The housemates also have all kinds of tasks to do that courage them to be more active. Only on the second day in the house the former celebs did things they had been avoiding to do in their normal life. I am eager to see how the rest of the week goes.

The series has an important message. It is never too late to start exercising and being healthy, but it is better to start it today. And most importantly, it is not good to be alone. One stays in better shape both mentally and physically when being among friends and family.

Big brother

I saw this funny eye attached to a street light in Helsinki last week. I started missing the last season of UK's Big Brother.

Beauty is symmetry - yrtemmys si ytuaeB

A soldier motif from a temple door from Bangkok.

I watched an interesting documentary from BBC Knowledge. The show was called The Human Face (BBC 2001). The episode was Survival of the Prettiest and it examined the symmetry of human face and how it is related to people's conception of beauty.

The show revealed that people with symmetric facial features are more often considered beautiful than people with asymmetric features. There is even a connection with the golden ratio and attractiveness of facial features. Model Elizabeth Hurley was used as an example. The mask below was compared to her face and her features matched exactly to the mask's symmetry. The same was done to Tom Cruise's face and other famous faces often considered beautiful. The results were always the same, symmetry is beauty.

This is, however, only one side to defining beauty. It is in the eye of the beholder where the beauty lies. Still, the symmetry theory gives me a new perspective how to look people and the next time when I see a beautiful person, I will certainly look whether there is symmetry.

Read more about facial symmetry here (PDF).

Picture from the BBC show The Human Face.