This is beautifully said, and quite apropos as I went to a concert last night featuring aging rockers, and I swear more than half of them had Botox or substantial face work done. I thought, if experience is such a large part of their art, why would they want to erase it? The exclusive worship of youth (or of youthful traits) is a national disease. Perhaps, as we are a young country, we will one day outgrow it.

One of the things that fascinated me about ST:XI was how little makeup or star-flattering lighting was in evidence. The actors are all extremely attractive, but the camera unflinchingly showed their "flaws" (Pine's scars, Pinto's 5 o'clock shadow) against the backdrop of lucite perfection that Peter David aptly compared to an Apple store. To me it emphasized their humanity and gave them depth and character. It's almost comical to see the contrast with all the airbrushed magazine spreads that present them as "teen idols"...