Teh News

The creators of AOL probably thought they were being helpful by making that little welcome/sign on screen that appears, without fail, when you sign in. Most days, it just pisses me off. Not only can you not make it go away (ok, maybe you can, but I haven’t SERIOUSLY looked), but when you minimize the thing it becomes a sidebar…that you have to minimize again. Ahem -

In addition the news headlines that flash by are some of the most horrible things ever to put in bold print. One from last week that went along with this story featured a headline of “Carnie Wilson” and “Rock Bottom.” Oh noes, Carnie hit rock bottom?? What on earth has happened, I must click to see more.

She. Gained. 70. Pounds. After WLS, she gained back 70 pounds…after having a baby…and WLS. Gee, you think maybe WLS isn’t the end all be all of being thin?? NO! Say it ain’t so! (/end sarcasm)

How does gaining 70 pounds equate to hitting rock bottom??? Her life is not over because she gained 70 pounds…

Taken from the AOL article (AOL
Posted: 2008-03-23 15:58:46) linked above:

Wilson had undergone gastric bypass surgery in 1999 when she weighed over 300 pounds. After the surgery, Wilson dropped more than half her weight to 146 pounds. But after giving birth in 2005, she gained 70 pounds which she has not been able to take off, even with her participation in ‘Celebrity Fit Club.’

So now she weighs 208 pounds and wears a size 16…and this is rock bottom? So…I’m at her pre-WLS weight of 300+ and a 26/28 on a good day. Does this mean I’m past rock bottom? What exactly is past rock bottom?

Recent Fat Positive TV

I’ve read a few things that have highlighted the negatives of some of the more recent fat positive, or “fat positive” shows/movies on TV lately.

I’ll start with Carson Kressley’s How to Look Good Naked. I’ll admit it right now, I get teary every time I see this show. I think the show has a GREAT premise, though the execution kinda bothers me. I’d personally like to see them focus more on how the woman feels about herself as opposed to the public. Yes, I’m sure that’s a huge part of it, and maybe I’m just mad at society for that, but still. The nude photoshoot at the end just makes me want to scream “YOU DON’T HAVE TO PRANCE AROUND GLITZED UP IN YOUR BIRTHDAY SUIT TO BE BEAUTIFUL!!” Overall I think the show is making waves and is a positive step forward. I wish I had my own Carson to pal around with 24/7 because he just seems absolutely amazing. I wonder if that’s really him or if he’s just acting for the show…

Next, Ugly Betty’s episode Zero Worship in which Betty tries to convince Daniel (and Mode) that they should be using healthy models in their upcoming show like they did in Europe. This was spurred on by Betty giving a tour of the magazine to a class and witnessing the small girls all complain about being fat and giving up their packed lunches after seeing some of the models walk by. The results? The runway was taken over (since the publisher didn’t go for the idea) and real people off the street were used as the models. Betty herself was used, as well as the class’ teacher, and a grandma – just to name a few. Of course the press ate it up and even the publisher was clapping at the end. Now, yes, its TV, yes there are still some issues with how the show ran, but overall I think Ugly Betty did a wonderful job of bring the issue to mainstream TV. That show is quite popular, and I’m sure more people than one would realize were brought to attention about the issue. I know for a fact that had I not seen the information about the real sized models being used in Europe in the Fatosphere I never would have known it was happening.

Finally, also on Lifetime – Queen Sized starring Nikki Blonsky (who I am now in love with!). I had some issues with this, as have others. Yes, it got things wrong…such as not all fat girls don’t run all the way home (or much at all) to sob and eat ice cream in front of the fridge. Not all fat girls eat all the time and squirrel away food in their rooms. Yes, there was that. Yes, she seemed to be the only fat girl in the school, actually, the only fat person in the school.

Just like with Ugly Betty there were issues but hell, the TV world is trying. At least people out there are trying! Aside from the issues it was a story about a fat and insecure high schooler that overcame her issues and learned to love herself. That – that alone made the movie worth watching. I was teary at the end!

Hmmmmm

I was messing around on Facebook earlier, and I noticed that one of my friends had completed the “Picture Personality” quiz. I, being INCREDIBLY bored at work, decided to give it ago. I found the following to be interesting:

The question asked you what you found to be most disgusting and showed these pictures. The red outline is of course my answer, which is inline with 31% of quiz takers. What’s interesting is the results for the pictures of the fat people. I’m happy to see that people still rank dissection and spiders as more disgusting (though I find the picture of the dissection AWESOME!), but am actually kinda shocked at the rest of it. I would have thought more people were disgusted by snakes…or does this mean there are possibly more people afraid of female fat than snakes? That’s special. The difference between where the male and the female fall also bothers me – its ok for men to be fat but not women? That’s how the world is, but that’s just one more thing about this society I hate.

Mostly I LOVE how the picture of the grungy guy eating junk and drinking beer falls dead last, even after the male fat picture…don’t people realize that is one of the ways teh fat happens? Its not disgusting to eat and drink unhealthily, but its wrong for it to show…awesome.