A Pudgy Gut is the New Hot.

...Only if you're a guy, though. Sorry ladies. We got royally screwed on this deal.

The NY Times published an article a few weeks ago that I've been meaning to blog on. Well, today's the day.

“I sort of think the six-pack abs obsession got so prissy it stopped being masculine,” is how Aaron Hicklin, the editor of Out, explains the emergence of the Ralph Kramden. What once seemed young and hot, for gay and straight men alike, now seems passé. Like manscaping, spray-on tans and other metrosexual affectations, having a belly one can bounce quarters off suggests that you may have too much time on your hands.

“It’s not cool to be seen spending so much time fussing around about your body,” Mr. Hicklin said.

And so guys can happily and guiltlessly go to seed.

Okay, WHAT????

Guys now get a free pass to have a gut because it's "prissy" to be in shape all of a sudden? They can't be serious. I'm about to punch someone. My friends and I were talking about this at my birthday party, and I went off into a string of expletives, I was so annoyed. I kept saying, "I swear I'm blogging about this bullshit tomorrow!!!" ...And of course my guy friends all started sticking their bellies out and saying "I'm the hottest guy on earth." Buttholes.

Though there's a backbone of truth in this, I won't get into the male super stars who are fat, bald, unattractive (by conventional terms) etc,etc. I still think this article is just insane. They go on to say:

Women have almost never gotten a pass on the need to maintain their bodies, while men always have, said Robert Morea, a personal fitness trainer.

Oh, really?

Wow. That's news. Seriously, do you even need to say that? This article isn't titled, "Newsflash: Women, it's okay to have muffin tops. In fact, it's the new sexy thing!" or "Muffin tops are the new runway accessory!"

I think women are going to be forever held to impossible standards. Will there ever be an end in sight?

Rest in Peace, Michael.

A very, very sad day today. Michael Jackson is confirmed to be dead , cardiac arrest. I'm so sad.

A little tribute to our King of Pop, two of my favorite videos... thanks for the music that touched my life, Michael. You will truly be missed. You rocked our worlds. <3 src="http://i100.photobucket.com/albums/m1/jennybeanjcb/michael.jpg">

Michael Jackson - Billie Jean
Uploaded by hushhush112. - Watch more music videos, in HD!

Watch Michael Jackson - Scream in Music | View More Free Videos Online at Veoh.com

Breaking News... This is HUGE.

Major thanks again to my friend Adara who posted this video.

I'm frightened, heavily saddened and TRULY angry.

I know most of us were already aware the World Trade Center was brought down by explosives, but now there is indisputable scientific evidence.

Watch this amazing 10 minute interview with Professor Niels Harrit of Copenhagen University in Denmark, who is an expert in nano-chemistry.

In Response to NOM.

The National Association of Marriage is flat-out ridiculous. This video looks like one of those parody videos from Saturday Night Live, that's how bad it is. A bunch of people in sugary sweet voices spewing fear and hate. Ugh.

I'd like to counter this pathetic video (via Swish Embassy):



with this one, courtesy of Louis CK:




NOM NOM NOM, I eat your bigotry for breakfast. FUCKERS.

Thank you.




~J

Too Fat? Fired.

So, this article is really interesting to me (Kudos to my buddy Mike over at zumewalk.com for posting about it here) and I wanted to share it with you guys. Also, I want to know your opinions.

Basically, this 52 year old cop had worked for this police department for 25 years and had been a Detective for a while, then was switched to patrol duty. He then got fired because of his weight. Now, the decision has been overturned.

Here's my opinion:

I think he should NOT be on patrol, and the removal from that position should stand. If I’m being attacked and this cop comes up to get the criminal and the criminal runs, the criminal is getting away. I don’t want someone on patrol duty who is physically unable to perform his job at the standard it needs to be. That’s why I’m not a cop, and I appreciate the fact that cops, firemen, military soldiers (take my super hot, ridiculously in shape friend Andrew as a great example), etc, are IN SHAPE. There’s a reason for it. I know if I got attacked and my buddy Andrew was there, the guy wouldn't even have a chance to run before being dropped like a bastardized hot plate of crap cookies.

Now, I think the officer should be offered a different position, like a desk job or something to stay with the precinct if he wants to - it should have just been a matter of “you’re not qualified for this position in your current physical condition.”


What about all of you?

~J

An Abhorrence. (Hate coupled with disgust.)

I'll warn you... this video is disturbing. It shows a veteran Seattle, WA police officer beating a 15 year old girl.




I hope his ass rots in jail. This is absolutely unacceptable. I don't care that she flung her shoe toward his feet, or if she called him a fat pig, or any other number of obscenities. These are the people who are supposed to protect citizens, not beat the crap out of children.

~J

Drag Queen becomes Homecoming Queen

This is awesome! A High School in Washington DC elected a guy who does drag as their Homecoming Queen.

Despite the fact that some things don't always make me feel like this world of ours is moving in the right direction... this story lifts my spirits. It says worlds of words about our generation, and it makes me really eager for those words to come true... "One day our generation is gonna rule the population."

This totally reminds me of this scene from the movie "Flawless." Philip Seymour Hoffman plays a drag queen, and Robert Dinero's character asks him how long he has been a drag queen.

"...We were all on stage, and they had made these dry ice kettles so the smoke could come out of them, you know? And uh, one night, all of a sudden, one dry ice kettle exploded, and dry ice flew everywhere. Well, pretty little miss no talent who was playing the snow queen, dashed off the stage screaming and pulling her hair out. Well the play must go on, I believe, and she had dropped a crown. Well honey, I just picked up that crown, put it on my head... and I was the GREATEST goddamn snow queen in the history of PS 11 Paramus New Jersey."

The Real Life Benjamin Buttons

Though there aren't people born as old men and women and grow young... I found out today about these kids who are born with a condition known as Progeria, which causes the body to age seven to eight times faster than normal.



At eight years old, they have the bodies of 75 year olds. The average life span is 13 years.



These little children die of heart attacks and similar age-typical diseases and ailments at very young ages.

Visit the website to learn more.

~J

Not to get all political on you...

But this makes me really sad.


I'm sure my friend Rob will be thrilled though.

No Fatties Allowed!

That's the way things are going in Japan, at least. And not just by fit buff-heads standards. By law.



This is kind of old news, but since I've been getting into talking about government involvement in health, I thought I'd revisit it. Also, if you hadn't heard about it, I'll share it.

From the article linked above:

Under Japanese law, men are expected to have a waist measurement of 33.5 inches, women, 35.4 inches or less. Corporations and the government are expected to do their share and will suffer financial penalties if they are unable to decrease their obese populations by 10% in the next four years, and by 25% in the next seven years. Large companies stand to lose millions of dollars in fines if their employees don't slim down.

Patients whose waist measurements are greater than recommended and have an illness that can be attributed to obesity will be given "dieting guidance" if they do not show progress toward a smaller measurement within three months. At six months they will be directed toward continuing education about obesity and weight management.



So. Corporations will actually be penalized if they don't follow this guideline.

Imagine if the company you worked for put this into place.

I used to work for Equity Residential. They require a health assessment for all employees in order to be eligible for health benefits the following year. If you're found to be a health risk in any area, you are assigned a "Wellness Coach" who calls you on a regular basis and gives you tools to change your problems, whether it's smoking, stress, weight, whatever.

Granted, it wasn't the worst thing; you just went online and did this little test. I was overweight and my Wellness Coach called and asked me all kinds of questions, to which I had the answer and the solutions. My coach was surprised and actually said, "Wow, it sounds like you really know your stuff." I just said, "Yeah, I've lost and re-gained weight several times - I know how to take care of it, I just get lazy." For someone who had no idea how to fix their health problems it might have been a good thing. For me, it was only an annoyance.

I just wonder how far the U.S. is from this kind of legislation. It's obvious that our obesity epidemic is far worse than that in Japan. Why has Japan done it, and why hasn't the U.S. done it?

~J

Calorie Sticker Shock?

I just found this article (from July 2008) about New York requiring food establishments to post the calories for any food they sell in the same size and font as the price!

This is BRILLIANT. Wouldn't you love to be able to see this when you go out someplace?



I know I would. Man, I want this in Milwaukee.

Tell me what ya think... would you like this where you live?

The thing that most amazed me about this article was not the law. It was the part about the woman who ate at TGI Fridays and was all pissed off that they'd done it. (By the way, the fines start at $2000 if these places don't comply.) She saw the menu and that many of the meals were over 2000 calories each, and one of the desserts was 1500 calories. She said, "I wish they wouldn't have done this," and then asked if they had any of the old menus without the calorie count on them! Talk about denial. Seriously? You'd rather eat foods and have no idea how bad they are for you? Or, you know how bad they are for you, but you somehow think you'll feel better just blindly eating these foods without the facts in front of you? That's the most ridiculous thing I've ever heard. We should be HAPPY with this kind of information. Sheesh!

So... Anybody reading live in New York? How do you like it? Do you find it helps you stay on track with healthy eating?

You really don't know what is in the food you get at some places. A muffin could cost you 630 calories. When getting your morning coffee, I bet that would keep you from buying it.

~J

Pageant Moms and Six Year Old Beauty Queens

Okay.

Dan and I were chatting about this a little bit in the car the other day and I realized that I should probably post about it.

One of the things that makes me the most upset is any parent who puts their little girl into pageants. I find it to be totally deplorable, sickening, disgusting and ridiculous, along with any other word you know of that resembles or has to do with vomit.

I mean, come on! Who wants their little girls to be so obsessed with the way they look? Being pretty, wearing SO much makeup, buying little pretty outfits.... it all makes me SICK.

I can't think of any better way to permanently fuck up your child's sense of beauty, self esteem and set of core values. I don't care if there are "talent" portions, or whatever else is involved. Little girls should NOT be put on display for beauty. What will this do to these children when they hit puberty? What kind of issues, eating disorders, social problems and mentalities are these parents setting these little girls up for? I want to punch someone.

Parents should be developing their children's minds, values, strength, health and hearts. Not their marketability.

All Diva Media did a blog about this, and the show "Little Beauties." I refuse to watch the show, but regardless... I share her sentiments exactly.

~J

Double Bubble Butt

Okay. This post will probably bring up some things that will piss people off, so I'm gonna get that statement out right away.

I must have been out of the waking world of news when this came out, but I recently discovered that the Canadian Supreme Court passed a law that airlines are required to provide two seats to obese passengers who need them for the price of one seat.

Now, I've never been so heavy as to not fit into an airline seat. I've been somewhat uncomfortable in the seat, I've been awkwardly elbowing the person next to me or fighting with myself to not use the arm rest because they might want it. But... seriously, if I was to ever get to the point where I needed two seats to fly... I would FULLY expect to PAY for both seats. I think if someone truly had a medical condition which caused their weight to be so high that they couldn't fit into a standard seat, and they had medical proof from a Doctor, that would be a different story. But eating yourself to 600 pounds does NOT qualify for me.

I go back to remembering the flight back from Denver where the plane was delayed from leaving on time because of weight restrictions for the aircraft. We sat there as they burned off roughly 200 pounds of fuel. I probably blushed or something because I knew they could have just kicked me (and my buddy pass stand by ticket) off of the plane and it would have been just fine.

Are we, as Americans, really at the point where we are all so fat that the airplanes we fly in can't even take off without burning fuel from the tank? We can't fly with a full tank because we're so chunky.

Gah.

So anyway, if it hasn't become clear, though I'm not morbidly obese, and am just "plain ol" obese... I do NOT think this law should pass here in America, if it ever gets to that point. I think it's ridiculous, and now open myself up for people to agree with me, hate me, or yell at me, or whatever.

~J