This makes me crazy.

Surfing the interwebs I came across one of those bulletin boards for plus-sized women:

The first post had a broken link where the woman tried to upload a picture -I assume of herself-

m** wrote:

Documents and Settings\m**\My Documents\DSCN1151.JPG” border=”0″>

I don’t know about all of you, but I certainly don’t feel fat. I feel beautiful and sexy! Pretty amazing at 34, especially being a busy wife and mother to two small kids. If anyone can figure out why the world sees this as fat, please let me know!

M**

The crazy making part is that this is the reply she gets:

M**…yhe picture is not working!!! But even though i can’t see it u r not fat dear sister….

gakk! Come ON LADY!!!
“Even though I don’t know anything about you, there is no way you could possibly be fat.” Someday soon, boys and girls, things are changing.
I really liked what Kate said today about how all there is left on the “first they ignore us, then they laugh at us, then they fight with us, and then we win scale” is for us to win.

Um… Awesome.

Here’s another fat lady kicking ass.

Not Chuck Norris… you know what I mean.
Via deatoya on fatshionista

My Hero…

Paul Campos is having a truly awesome debate with Kelly Brownell in the LA Times Opinion Section this week.

No Bratz for you!

This is great.  Salon’s got an article about emerging designers for plus-sized kids clothing.

 Almost makes you think there’s hope for the kids these days… Last week my friend David and I tried to go see the Bratz movie.  David did some graphic art for the sets and he wanted to see if it made it in…  We searched moviefone, fandango, alll the tickets websites.  Bratz is NO LONGER IN THEATRES!  We were devastated.  It hasn’t even been a month!!

In the desperate search, we came across the official website and the entire plot synopsis. 

I want to see this so bad.

I mean the friggin character descriptions!! :

Yasmin (Nathalia Ramos) is the brown haired hispanic/latina one who likes singing, and journalism. Cloe (Skyler Shaye) is the blonde haired all-american one who likes photography and sports. Jade (Janel Parrish) is the black haired asian-american one who likes science, math and fashion designing. Sasha (Logan Browning) is the dark brown haired african-american girl who likes music, dancing and cheerleading.

When they all look EXACTLY THE SAME!!!

Isn’t that the same girl? Just with 4 hairdos?

I mean, am I right?

I’m totally right.

They look a liiittle bit different here, but just barely.
Certainly ain’t no babysitters club.

There should have been a fat babysitter.

I can’t wait until I’m making the rules in a year and a half.

Look at that thinking cap!

Daniel Williams and Paul Campos have been wearing theirs.

Read their articles in Time and the New Republic here:

Bent Out of Shape
Thinner

What do you think?

Comix schmomix

I don’t know much about comics, but this is cool:

Here’s a whole article about Etta Candy!

via dollbunny’s post on Fatshionista…

Xiao Yang is infriggincredible.

So first I read this…

And then I watched the video that is posted alongside it…
And I saw those SERIOUS MOVES. and realized they were a little familiar…
So I did a little google imaging and I found this:

and I was pretty sure, but I wasn’t positive that it was the same fat girl making everybody’s eyes pop out…
So I googled her name a whole bunch…
And Xiao Yang’s been doin her thang all over the place

MOST AMAZING, however, was this:

SHE HAS A FRIGGIN THROW RUG WITH HER UNBELIEVABLE SPLIT-DOING SELF ON IT!!!

This girl has got the goods.

That first article talks about how a “PR agent” discovered her after she posted an ad in a newspaper asking for someone to help her “lose weight or find a job”. It kind of sounds like this agent saw her as simply a Fat Lady to add to his freak show roster for variety show guests (other clients of his include a glass eater and a guy who pulls cars with his teeth). But things changed when:

To build her confidence, Hu tried to find her a boyfriend. He knew that the relentless pressure from her family to lose weight was driven by fears she would never marry. He got the largest newspaper in the city, the Nanjing Evening News, to write up every detail of Xiao’s misfortune in a story and seek prospective husbands.

Xiao wasn’t serious about getting married. But the story in March 2006 was a big boost to her confidence and drew 200 letters from interested men. It also attracted letters from more than 100 obese women from all over China who had had the same feelings and experiences. They all wanted to be friends with Xiao.

Hu and the newspaper formed a club for the women, with activities such as a beauty contest. That produced enough talented performers that Hu decided to form a band. Dozens of people auditioned.

The result was Qian Jin Zu He.

A fat girl band!!

I’m not sure why I’m so excited about this whole thing.. but I am.
No, I take it back. I think it’s this:

“Our original purpose for joining the band is to help other girls like us feel more confident, feel better about themselves, and to prove our capability in front of others”

Hooray for the Thousand Pounds!!

Also discovered on my journeys through the internets:
Beauty Puzzle

Taxicab Confessions

So after I flew back from Chicago (more on that later), the MTV folks (more on that later) rented a taxi for us to get home in..
So, me in some leopard-print stretch pants

and Guido the cameraman

climb into the yellow minivan and the driver says something in another language to his friend who is driving another taxicab.

Our driver yells something and then both men laugh and laugh and Guido says “What’s going on? What’s so funny?” -like in a friendly, just making conversation, let me laugh too, kind of way – not a “wipe that stupid smile off your face” type way. Just to clarify.

Anyhoo, the driver says “oh… I can’t- I don’t want to say it in front of her.” pointing to me.
And I think: he and his friend are talking about my leopard print ass.
I knew I shouldn’t have worn these pants. I can’t believe I’m wearing leggings on TV. Don’t I always make fun of leggings? Why am I wearing leggings??

and THEN I think: leopard leggings aside, who does this man think he is that he can make fun of my ass in front of my face?!
And I start to get really pissed and feeling bad about myself…

when it occurs to me… that maybe he LIKES my spotted rump.
Maybe its a great coup for this man to carry around a fat lady and her cameraman. Maybe he was bragging to his friend in the other taxicab that now he gets to see where I live…

And THEN, I think: maybe this laughing has NOTHING TO DO WITH ME! Maybe he and his friends have some really nasty inside joke that he just doesn’t think is appropriate for a woman’s delicate constitution!

I don’t understand why THAT’S not my first conclusion: someone’s rude in a store. I can think either: ‘this cashier thinks I’m totally gross for buying mascara and a Baby Ruth’, OR ’she’s a miserable person who’s been working for 14 hours straight’. Which is more likely?

I doesn’t have to be either my fault for being fat, or their fault for being a jackass… it can have absolutely nothing to do with any of it!!

ps- is it like standard procedure for the cab drivers to give you their numbers as you leave? cause it’s happening a lot… with notes like “call me so I have your number” scrawled along the edge of the SECOND business card he’s given you in 20 minutes? I don’t know.. maybe I’ve got some mystical cab passenger mojo goin on…

www.employeesmustwashhands.com/webmail

So last week I was in New York to shoot another YouTube video.

Some filmy friends of mine had just finished shooting a big fancy documentary in upstate NY and they had the fabulous idea to bustle me out there to make another fat video using all the fancy documentary equiptment they’d already rented!

So off I went, with one suitcase completely devoted to costumes and hairdos… to have the dreamiest day I’ve ever friggin had.

First of all, half of the crew was made up of my roommates- people I can’t get enough of anyway.. and the other half were sososo pro and happy- I couldn’t believe it.. To be completely honest, I thought there were gonna be alll kinds of personality conflicts- I can be one bossy lady– but there was NONE of it.

We shot all friggin day long- in the most beautiful building I’ve ever seen.. In this new video I’m playing like 5 different people- all talking and fighting with each other, and at one point I strangle myself-
SO I needed a pair of stunt hands to choke the living daylights out of me..
I’d met this truly amazing girl- Abby- through this whole myspace business a few months earlier- and incredibly she was free the day we were shooting.
I thought we’d only need her for that one choking scene- but my director and DP had other ideas.. she so so so graciously stayed for all 12 hours or something and we used her in practically every single shot. I cannot WAIT to see how this turns out:)

Andy! give me pictures of Abby!! and all that behind the scenes nonsense!!
Then- when it was over we all had dinner at this amazing little restaurant- and as we were finishing, my friend Tim- calls me up, figuring I was in LA.. but I say No! I’m in Williamsburg! and he says SO AM I!! So Tim drunkenly rides his bicycle through the rain to take me to a bar where in the bathroom, on the end of the “Employees must wash hands” sign, someone has written “.com” and somebody else has written “/webmail”
www.employeesmustwashhands.com/webmail

I wish I’d taken a picture…

All photos by the inimitable A. Stolarek.