CONFESSIONS OF A FAT GIRL

In the name of who?!

I was chatting with an old friend last night. Someone who is religious and kind. I am not religious and can only hope people think of me as kind. I wanted to ask her what she thought about people like the Westboro BaptistChurch, which - in case you have not heard of them - is an Independent Baptist church known for its extreme stance against homosexuality and its protest activities, which include picketing funerals of American servicemen and desecrating the American flag. The church is widely described as a hate group and is actually monitored by the Anti-Defamation League and Southern Poverty Law Center.

To be clear, the WBC is not affiliated with any known Baptist conventions or associations. They are a congregation of about 40, overseen by an impassioned self-declared "civil rights activist" named Fred Phelps. Phelps is a disbarred attorney who has named one of his websites "God Hates Fags."

I did not know who the WBC was until they decided to protest a Foo Fighters concert in Kansas. The Foo Fighters took an unusual but brilliant approach toward it. Waving their "Thank God for Dead Soldiers" signs, I don't even think they knew how totally ridiculous they looked, unknowingly cheering for the very band they were protesting. Morons. My favorite part is the old lady at the end with her "God Hates Fags" sign who says "I loved that song!" (They're singing about "hot man muffins" - she's clueless.) 

FYI, Dave Grohl looks dead sexy in flanel and cowboy boots.

And yesterday, I was reading about the WBC's plans to protest at Whitney Houston's funeral. 

 

Disgusting. 

 

So I asked my friend, how people who claim so vehemently to love God, act out in such terrible ways in his name? How would God feel about that? 

Like I said, I'm not religious but I think that if there is a God, whatever or whoever he/she/it is, God would not want that. 

Seems like a pretty simplistic statement as I read back over it, but that's all I get out of groups like the WBC. 

And my friend said she believes God loves all his creatures. Even those idiots. And all I could think about that, actually, is that God SHOULD love those people. Because they clearly have not had enough love in their lives to know better. I think they probably need God's love more than I do. 

I'll step down off my soapbox now. :)

 

Creepy Facebook Advertising

This ad was not altered for the sake of this entry. This ad was something I KEPT seeing I Facebook.

How many things about this ad bother YOU? For starters, and I think I've mentioned this before, how does Facebook KNOW? Did I mention it somewhere? Did I link to something? Is it my blog? Why do I keep getting ads for diets and plus size fashion and this so profoundly worded "chubby singles" crap? Doesn't that creep you out? It not only creeps me out but annoys me, too.

And then I look at its aesthetic. Why does it look like a four year old drew it with a crayon? I don't know what that says about it but that annoys me, too. LOL.

Although, let's be honest, kids. It's pretty easy to annoy me, right?

I'd rather, at the very least, see ads for blogs like mine. Health tips. Exercise tips. I could care less about ads that seem to hint at desperation somehow. 

* * * *

I'm feeling a tinge of a foul mood today. I feel... useless. Today, after a nice lunch with my family, my brother and I paid a visit to the local pet adoption in the park near my home which takes place every other Sunday. We always say we're gonna go to play with the puppies but we never get to it so I was excited to go at last. But as soon as we got out of the car and stepped onto the grass, I wanted to cry. I wanted to take every dog there home with me. I couldn't stand that I could not. The only thing I left with was a volunteer information flier... I would have been happier to bring Ella, Opie and Monk with me. Who abandons these lovable and loving dogs? It kills me.

I really wanna see this movie!

I Love You, Carrie Underwood

I love music that EMPOWERS me. I love this song, Carrie Underwood's new single, "Cowboy Cassanova":

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nu32vyCldh8

The embedding is disabled so apologies -- you gotta click.

I wanna put my boots on and go kick some ass. Or something. I don't know... this song builds me up. It's a song that's gonna shoot me out onto the dance floor.

And by the way, talk about empowerment, check out how is started. (I'm an Idol geek) What a trip:

Drink Yourself Fat

From New York's new ad campaign to discourage people from chugging sugary drinks and...

 

If you're really lucky, you might catch one of these lard-filled ads on your way to LUNCH. Drink it up, kids! YUM!

(Hey, it's gross but that doesn't mean it's untrue, right?)

More here: http://adweek.blogs.com/adfreak/2009/08/stop-drinking-that-human-fat-nyc-ads-urge.html

Intervention!

Well you've all wondered where I've been and now I can tell you - I've been watching the Food Network.

Honest to God, how did I not know about this before? My mom and brother have me turned onto all of these fabulous shows-- "The Best Thing I Ever Ate," "Chopped," "Diners, Dives and Drive-ins," "Ace of Cakes..." Do you know this is a fat girl's worst enemy and yet, I can't stop! I'm tivo'ing the hell out of this stuff.

Next question - how do I get a job there? LOL.

The thing that kills me, though? The commercials. Well, usually I can fast-forward through them (thank you, Tivo) but I've counted, at LEAST, one Jenny Craig commercial per break. I'm not kidding. And that is JUST what you wanna see,right? Whilst I watch Ted Allen relive his best BBQ experience, I want to be guilted by Valerie Bertinelli in a bikini.

Bitch. (Oh leave me alone. You know I've worked with her and she's cmpletely nice but I get to be bitter right now.)

In other news, as I clearly can't be trusted to blog here often enough, I want to remind you there are other ways to stalk me on the web:

My personal blog: http://confessionsofafatgirl.typepad.com/other/

My Twitter: http://twitter.com/AmandaJoy

I wish you all a lovely weekend. I'll be half-heartedly reading my new book while I whole-heartedly watch Food TV.

Overweight on TV

What does this article teach us, boys and girls?

1. Overweight people are "average looking?"

2. We are not entitled to good looking bachelors.

3. We never use jacuzzis or get massages.

The idea is nice and it could just be the fault of the article's author, but I am sort of insulted by the implications....

Fox orders overweight dating series

'More to Love' will feature 'real women' as contestants

By James Hibberd

March 30, 2009, 01:00 AM ET

Fox is teaming with "The Bachelor" producer Mike Fleiss for a new dating-competition series that casts "average-looking" people.

The series, titled "More to Love," is billed as the first "dating show for the rest of us," throwing open its doors to overweight contestants.

"For six years it's been skinny-minis and good-looking bachelors, and that's not what the dating world looks like," Fox president of alternative Mike Darnell said. "Why don't real women -- the women who watch these shows, for the most part -- have a chance to find love too?"

The project has a similar format to "The Bachelor," where a group of woman compete for one man (producers describe him as a "Kevin James-type"). It marks the first time Darnell and Fleiss have teamed for a series in about nine years. The duo's previous dating show was the controversial, groundbreaking 2000 special "Who Wants to Marry a Multi-Millionaire?" which set the format template for ABC's "Bachelor" and a legion of imitators.

"More to Love" was inspired by the recent ratings success of "Bachelor" and the popularity of NBC's "The Biggest Loser," which Darnell credits with shattering an industry assumption that TV viewers only wanted to watch highly attractive people.

"This show is going to get a lot of people talking," Darnell said. "It may be a little controversial, but I think it will mostly be positive. This is so simple and so obvious, yet it has never been done."

Broadcast reality-dating shows such as the CW's "Beauty and the Geek" and NBC's "Average Joe" have featured less-than-handsome men but paired them with model-esque women.

"Most of the country isn't a Size 2," Fleiss said. "It's the dating show for the rest of us."

Contestants will do the sort of activities seen on "Bachelor," but producers suspect Jacuzzi or massage dates will take on a different perspective. "More to Love" will have makeover aspects -- when contestants wear ballroom gowns, for instance -- but Fleiss said the focus will not be on physical improvement.

"We want to send the message that you can be the size you are and still be lovable," he said. "We aren't going to thin these girls down so they can find love -- that's a backwards message."

But Fleiss has left open the possibility of twists. "More to Love" is casting, and no airdate has been set. For Fox, it marks a return to the relationship genre years after the network aired such shows as "Multi-Millionaire," "My Big Fat Obnoxious Fiance" and "The Littlest Groom."

 

source: http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/hr/content_display/news/e3i4034a50ec696a005d8608d7be351f484

Confessions of a Political Girl

Had to take a break from the usual -- I am going to put these wherever I can. I am invoking the "it's my blog and I'll post what I want to" law.

More from Janice-Land

In light of the recent video clip from Janice Dickingson Modeling Agency, I was excited to find this article, where a plus size model from JDMA relates her experiences...

Read the full article here: http://www.plusmodelmag.com/General/plus-model-magazine-article-detail.asp?article-id=123217881&page=0

[Maddy] Janice Dickinson was not convinced that plus models should be included in her agency. How did you feel about that?

[Alana] I felt it was up to me to try to convince her that plus size models are just as beautiful as her size 2 models.  I even went as far as wearing an outfit similar to an outfit Janice wore on the show to prove to Janice that even though my outfit is a size 14, and not your size 2, I look just as good as you did in yours. As a matter of fact, I looked a lot better in the outfit than you did.
Maddy] How did you personally show Janice your worth in the modeling industry?

[Alana] I tried numerous times to try to connect with Janice on an emotional level about how hard it is for women as a whole to be comfortable in their own skin. Society has put a picture in our heads that if you are bigger than a size 4 you're not beautiful. I tried to explain to Janice that society plays a very important role in shaping our attitudes about beauty, how we are looked at, and judge others, and ultimately, how we look at and judge ourselves. I tried to convince Janice that she has the power to help change the way society defines beauty. But, no matter how hard I tried, Janice was not interested.

[Maddy] Now that the show is over – how do you feel and what has this experience changed your life?

[Alana] I am very happy that the show is over.  I feel like Janice played with all the plus size models emotions.  She never liked us from the beginning. And, she made it apparent during the show she will never like plus size models.  I feel the only thing Janice liked about us plus size models is that she had some new models in her agency that she could ridicule, so she can feel better about herself.  If Janice offered me a million dollar contract to be apart of her agency, I would gladly decline.  To be represented by an agent that doesn't believe in you, would be like selling your soul to the devil.  My self-worth and well-being is priceless. 

From being on the show I realized that I want to be more than just a plus size model.  I want to be a role model/motivational speaker for women of all ages dealing with self esteem issues.  I want to encourage women to love the skin you are in, and your self worth is not based on the size clothing that you wear.  Last but not least, skinny models are overrated!

Cheryl Burke: Talent AND Brains

Cheryl Burke: ‘You Don’t Have to be Anorexic to be Beautiful’

October 9, 2008

When bloggers called out Cheryl Burke for putting on a few pounds, the Dancing with the Stars pro fought back. But what upset her most, she says, is the unhealthy body image issues promoted by such stories.

“I want kids or women out there to realize you don’t have to be anorexic to be beautiful,” the two-time Dancing champ tells PEOPLE exclusively. “There’s a lot of pressure living this Hollywood life. People expect to see you at a certain weight and when you gain a few pounds then all of a sudden it’s the talk of the week.”

Burke, 24, says she is secure with her looks–and she advises fans to be true to themselves.

“People will always have an opinion about you, whether it’s good or it’s bad,” she says. “But most important is to have a secure feeling about yourself and know that you’re beautiful regardless of what people think of you.”

Burke, who owns her own dance studio in San Francisco, admits it’s taken years for her to learn to embrace her curves.

“When I was younger, I wasn’t stick thin. I wasn’t tall. I don’t have long legs. I wasn’t naturally skinny,” she confesses. “As I grew older, I just became more comfortable in my own skin.” – Monica Rizzo