Mirror, Mirror

Here’s a strange random thought I had this morning (what else is new?). Wouldn’t it be cool if mirrors saved all the images that were ever reflected in them? What I mean is, everything that was ever done in front of the mirror was recorded in someway and could be played back on it like a big viewing screen. Almost like a reflective form of TIVO!

I’ve heard some cultures believe that if you take a photo of them, part of their soul is lost. I guess the thinking is it captures a piece of you that can never be returned and somehow goes right into the camera. If anyone knows about this theory, please let me know. I’ve always found it pretty interesting.

I would think you could use the same rationale with a mirror. It captured a piece of you in way. How do you know that just because you walked away from it, it doesn’t still have that piece of you? Through the course of history some mirrors probably have seen some pretty riveting stuff in them.

I wouldn’t want a bathroom mirror to watch. They probably have the most boring stuff stored in them. There might be some amusing little bits. Like overweight guys sucking in their stomachs and women padding their bras. But most of their images are probably people combing their hair, putting on makeup, brushing their teeth. Usual mundane human maintenance type of things.

Big full length mirrors might give you more bang for the buck, especially if your really into clothes. You get someone who’s a real snappy dresser and it could be fun watching what they wore everyday and how they coordinated their whole look. Of course there could be some risque stuff in there too. If your watching someone get dressed your bound to see some skin.

Changing room mirrors in stores could satisfy any voyeuristic fetish you might have. I won’t even go into what you might see in one of those motel ceiling mirrors! If I got one of those, I wouldn’t be leaving it on the coffee table.

Smaller type mirrors I would stay away from too. I can’t imagine there being much entertainment in watching someones old compact mirror. All you would get is close-ups of putting on eye makeup and stuff. Boring! Same goes with any mirrors on cars. Most of them probably just contain images of traffic. There might be some odd angle of an accident or maybe some interesting looks between the driver and backseat passenger. You know, some flirtatious looks or just plain leering by a cab driver. But the odds are pretty slim for those tho.

Now mirrors are being used more for design sake. You hang them up and they’re supposed to catch light and bounce it around the room. Watching that would be the equivalent to static on the television in my mind. I would pass on all of those.

Someone was telling me about how she went to a Fun House one time. As soon as you walked in, there were those wacky Fun House mirrors. So the people would be standing in front of them making goofy faces and standing in weird positions. Just feeling amused at how funny they looked.

As she walked through the hallway to the exit, it was situated behind the Fun House mirrors, which she now discovered were two-way mirrors! So everyone got to see the new people just walking in making all their goofy faces behind this two-way mirror. Now that would be a candidate to have.

Speaking of two-way mirrors, if you’re a crime buff you could opt for one of those two-way mirrors police use in their interrogation rooms. You know the drill. One cop questions a criminal with a huge mirror on the wall, while behind it a group of cops watch it all happening. I would pass on that. Whatever happened in front of those mirrors was already seen by a whole squad of cops. There’s nothing new to those images. They would be like watching re-runs.

Out of all the mirrors I can think of tho, I think I would go with one that was hanging in an old ballroom for years. The longer it hung up there the better. One of those giant mirrors that covered a wall. Ideally it would have been hanging in the place for like a hundred years.

It would be fun to see all the parties and events that occurred in front of it. You would get to hear what kind of music was being played, how people were dressed and what food was being served. That mirror would contain a hundred New Years Eve Parties, weddings, conventions, dances. That could be a lot of fun. You would get to watch all the big and tiny differences that occurred from year to year.

But if I couldn’t get one of those, I guess I would go with a ceiling mirror.