Naturalicious

I rather enjoy the Beyoncé Nintendo ad, where you see her sitting around on the couch playing a video game. Cause she's wearing a more natural makeup than we usually see her in... she's so cute! A nice change.

Jolie laide

I saw this model as a judge the other day on Project Runway--reality show where you make a fashion line. On the show (as opposed to in modeling pics) she was downright strange looking. And I have to admit, the fashion industry doesn't always encourage homogeneous looking people. When I was in high school I got a one day *stage* at a fashion magazine, and I remember a woman there telling me the kinds of things they look for when choosing models, and how the people who photograph well, or look arresting or interesting, aren't always what we might stereotypically call beautiful .

Susan Boyle

One of the latest viral videos infecting the net-waves is the video of Susan Boyle on Britain's Got Talent. Here's what an Entertainment Weekly columnist said about the performance:

In our pop-minded culture so slavishly obsessed with packaging -- the right face, the right clothes, the right attitudes, the right Facebook posts -- the unpackaged artistic power of the unstyled, un-hip, un-kissed Ms. Boyle let me feel, for the duration of one blazing showstopping ballad, the meaning of human grace. She pierced my defenses. She reordered the measure of beauty. And I had no idea until tears sprang how desperately I need that corrective from time to time.

And a quote from her brother:

... But Gerard, who Susan makes the 90-minute round trip by bus and train to visit every week, insists the attention won’t change his sister – affectionately dubbed Worzel Gummidge by her family for her unkempt appearance.

“Susan is just Susan. This won’t affect her one bit. She has never been bothered about her appearance,” he said.

“She doesn’t wear make-up or fancy clothes. It’s not that she doesn’t care, she just doesn’t see why other people should care how she looks. When me or my sisters see her we always say ‘Och Susan, you could have put a comb through your hair’. But she can’t see what the problem is.

And if you want to hear Susan's hero...

"You let me down. End of."

I sometimes watch a Brit comedy called Gavin and Stacey. The side characters are the best part, particularly her best friend Nessa. Nessa is definitely one of the best *large lady* characters on TV. She's got this deadpan delivery, funny expressions (with Welsh accent), she dresses like a biker chick, and she's full of stories of her past sexual conquests with famous men. She's just totally cool.

You can see a bit of what she's like in this Comic Relief video--along with my other fave character from the show, Bryn (who we suspect is gay). They're on their way to sing "Island In the Stream" at a karaoke contest, and the day is saved (twice) by one of Nessa's old flames (and fellow Welshman) Tom Jones.

Creepy beautiful!

So speaking of beauty... since that's what I do here... ever thought about beauty in other species?

I mean, in the eyes of creatures, beauty still exists to some extent--the belief is that animals focus on certain traits, that act as shortcuts to whether the potential mate is healthy or not (color, evenness of feathers, whatever.)

But when we look at animals we're not (I hope) looking at them as mates, so we see beauty differently. Overweight cats are still cute. Some people think bald cats and dogs are ugly, whereas we don't have a problem with humans who don't have fur all over their bodies.

Or... all cockroaches look gross, because many of us associate bug-ee traits (shells, antennae, buggy eyes) with dirt or danger. ...For those who eat bugs, they probably still see beauty in larvae, as opposed to "Ewwww it's squirming and slimy and has beady little eyes!"

Hm. Interesting. Anyway, click here to see super close ups of bug eyes. Very beautiful, and yet in some pics, still trigger my "Ahhh! It's coming to get me!" reflex. It's even comical at times... look at the top photo of this guy, and then scroll down til you see how little he is. He looks like something from a nightmare, but he's 1/10 of a thumbnail!

Rupaul: HIV or an eating disorder?

Don't ask me how, but I randomly ended up on Rupaul's blog today. And did a double-take when I came across this posting:




"...this fabulous pro-ana web site." And the link takes you to one of these sad pro-anorexia websites. So... Rupaul is anorexic? I can't imagine anyone calling an ana site "fabulous," even as a joke. It doesn't even seem to be ironic.

I googled Rupaul and anorexia, and apparently people are noticing that he looks gaunt and ill but are assuming that he has HIV. But I came across this posting too on his site:

"featured was footage of BOWIE from ‘73 thru ‘76, when he was at his most anorexic and most beautiful"

Seriously. You don't say "most anorexic and most beautiful" unless you have some serious issues about how thin you have to be to look good. Sadness.

So ridiculous... probably not even worth getting mad about

This story came out in 2007, but I'd never heard it. These photos are from an ad campaign in Brazil for "Fit Yogurt." The tag line for the pictures:

"Forget about it. Men’s preference will never change. Fit Light Yogurt."

Girdles: I Pity the Fool

I said in a previous post that I can understand women buying girdles/slimming underwear. I've never bought one myself, basically because I can't even stand wearing a bra, let alone a larger, un-breathing, skin-pinching, boned garment. (And how can women wear nylons every day? Boggles my mind.) But I can't say I would never such a thing, and I think it's waaaay the lesser of many dieting/surgery evils.

But a strong desire to look "beeeoootiiiful" can make us open to scams too.

I was just setting up my TV to tape The A-Team tomorrow, when an infomercial for "Slim N Lift" caught my eye. This is a long girdle (made of bamboo!), that goes from your knees to your bra line, squeezing, lifting, shaping, and sucking in everything in its way... supposedly.

My first two questions were: Wouldn't that be hot and tight and pinchy? And wouldn't it roll down? And the fat just gets smoothed out, so wouldn't you lose your waist line? You know how the saying goes... if it's too good to be true, then it probably is. (Not to mention, the women in the above pics could probably get the same effect by buying the right size of clothes! Which is probably what the *after* pics are anyway.)

There are a couple positive feedbacks on the anti-scam web sites, but 90% of the comments are (1) the sizing is totally wrong, it's really small (2) it shapes you in weird ways, and (3) it rolls down. (One woman said the informercial should show women struggling to get the damn thing on!)

The disturbing thing, though, is how many women wrote something to the effect of: I was so excited to try it on, and it just made me feel worse. Presumably: made them feel even fatter, since it was so small they couldn't even get it on, or could only get it on with great pain.

On top of which they also feel stupid for being suckered. On TOP of which, people are having difficulty getting their money refunded, etc.

There are huge industries out there getting metaphorically fat off our insecurities. Maybe we can put some sort of limit on how much money and dignity we give away to them. As Mr. T might say... they're just spouting a lot of jibba-jabba.

The Crime: Admitting you wear underwear?

I understand if a woman wants to wear "spanx" or some kind of slimming underwear. Maybe in a perfect world none of us would care about having lumpy hips, but if wearing spanx means you'll wear an outfit you wouldn't otherwise want to, and you'll feel more comfortable about your appearance... I still think that's healthier than liposuction, or beating yourself up mentally, or feeling self-conscious all day.

But I draw the line at this: Feeling self-conscious about underwear lines, while working out. This is not even about your body looking bad... it's just about People Knowing That You WEAR UNDERWEAR. Oh my gosh, how horrifying.

I mean, even if you're hoping to pick up a guy at the gym, my guess is only the most metrosexual of straight dudes would care that he can see your underwear line. In any case, I think that when you're doing something healthy and vigorous like working out, you should care about being comfortable and nothing else.

This is from an article on the Oprah web site.