Open Thread

While I'm gone, the lunatics will indeed run the asylum. And by lunatics I mean you fine people, and by asylum I mean this open thread. Post your links here, and chatter away! I'll see you when I return!

Another Piece of the Elephant

Courtesy of Wendy at Pound:

"I did get paid to watch her flail around and scream hoarsely out her car window at the drive-thru about how she didn't get her order of fries, which, if you know anything about the mysterious and reportedly hilarious ways of fat people, is NOT something an actual fat person would ever do, since they do everything they can to avoid public displays of blatant fattery."

Fame & Glory Await You

In the not too distant future, I'll be going on vacation for a couple of weeks. I thought it might be fun to let the inmates run the asylum. Except that all of you readers are not sociopathic lunatics, but intelligent and thoughtful people, so maybe the analogy doesn't quite work. But anyway.

If you'd like to help carry on the glorious tradition of being pissed off at sizism and keeping tabs on Kirstie Alley, please feel free to post your own sample blog item in the comments. In the meantime, in a fit of optimism, I'm going to figure out how to assign posting privileges to people who are not me.

Thanks in advance!

Part Of The Elephant

I feel like the blind man touching the elephant in that old fable. I haven't actually seen "Fat Actress," but every article I read is like touching a different part of it. Here, a size acceptance organization weighs in (oh ho ho) with their point of view:

"After viewing the premiere episode, ISAA believes the show sends mixed messages to its viewers concerning weight and body image. For example, Alley herself perpetuates fat stereotypes of always eating, being clueless, slobbish and out of control. Alley uses fat-bashing language towards numerous plus-sized male actors, considers weight loss dieting and bulimic behavior while at the same time longing to be accepted at the size she is."

Some of this seems realistic (dieting while longing for acceptance? I think we've all been there) and some of it seems pointed (that old Hollywood stereotype of fat men being acceptable while fat women are not deserves to be mocked) but I still don't think it sounds like a very empowering show. And it could be, if Kirstie Alley didn't in fact hate herself so much.

Great John!

Bless that Jen Wade. Who else would have told me about the Great John, a giant toilet for overweight and/or tall people? I love how happy the models look about their giant toilet.

Fat Actress

It turns out you can watch the first episode on a free Internet feed. I haven't seen it yet, but feel free to post your thoughts in the comments.

One review points out some race-based humor that might be offensive to some:

"Alley's assistants decide all she needs to wash away her blues is a black man - since, of course, they all love 'ample rump.' They don't reach that conclusion until they rule out Alley's other sexual possibilities, which include (in order) Alley's effeminate male assistant, other women and women with guys' names. Given the company, that's not quite a ringing endorsement for the African-American sex pool."

That's Week

"How is it that anyone at that God forsaken magazine thinks that Jessica Simpson actually looks better now than she did with all of her curves and boobs? And this isn't a cry for fat acceptance because OH MY GOD SHE WAS NEVER FAT TO BEGIN WITH. For God's sake, she doesn't even look human anymore and here is Us Weekly proclaiming this emaciated skeleton is 'fab!'"

Us Weekly pissed Erin off today. But they have Kate Winslet on the cover, and she is lovely. So if you need to go to your happy place, just check the upper right hand corner.

The Diet Novel

First I read this:

“'I decided that it was time to lose the fat and let in the love I was missing,' Kaye explains. 'I wrote The Diet, a story about a woman, Cate, who also found herself overweight, unhappy, unloved and unable to love. I decided that it was time to replace the fat with love,' says Kaye. 'There are so many studies that show how fat can reduce feelings of love for oneself and others and block the warmth of human intimacy we all crave so very much.'”

And I thought wow. This person actually says that if we are fat, we are "unloved." And there are "many studies" that show that if we are fat we don't love people as much. This sounds pretty fucking offensive. And then I read an excerpt from the book and I think I actually burst a blood vessel in my head.

"Cate looked at what was left of her mother. Just cookie crumbs, ice cream stains, an overturned bowl of cold spaghetti, and hundreds of diet books that had toppled from their shelves as her mother clutched at them to break her fall. But they didn’t save her."

That's right! If you are fat, this is how you will die. Unloved, unloveable, and surrounded by cookie crumbs.

Or you can just read this summary of the book:

"She eats and eats. She gains and gains. She loses her husband, her child, her career, and almost her life. She loses everything except her fat!"

Well, doesn't this sound like a delightful, empowering read! Let me pre-order my copy right now!