Wedding Bells

Mark and Giselle were married this past week! The ceremony is yet to come (they’ll be married with all the bells and whistles in a romantic little town in Spain) but they decided to host a “pre-ception” here stateside before heading over to Europe in just over a week. Anyway, Masami and I jumped in the car on Saturday and headed towards Wayzata, a mere 17 miles from my apartment. An HOUR and TWENTY MINUTES later (plus one stop at a gas station and three phone calls to the event caterer for directions), we arrived. Masami was right. Navigating Wayzata sucks.

Walker girls from left to right: Mok (artist, and wife to Eyeteeth), blushing bride Giselle, demon-eyed FatGrrl, and Masami looking adorable and summery in blue. Image courtesy of Masami’s Flickr site.

Charmin hasn’t got shit on the Japanese.

I’m finding fewer and fewer things about Americana to get excited about. Chili dogs? Hmph. Baseball? Please. Go-gurt? Barf. Mall of America? Don’t even get me started. I’m a bit bored with my native land. My brain has finally decided to move to Tokyo (though my wallet still needs convincing). What sealed the deal?

Toilet paper.

I found this on TokyoMango (I can’t begin to tell you how much I’ve come to depend on The Mango for my daily dose of Nihon) and I still can’t quite believe it. But I want to believe. I do! Apparently, this special brand of wunderbar t.p. makes all the difference when it comes to your bathroom experience. The yellow rolls in the center facilitate bowel movements by educating you about the constipation pressure point on your hand.

Living in the boring U.S. of A, I only have access to boring toilet paper. But I did track this down online and I kind of like it. Pretty color. And THIS definitely has potential. (I think this could be an ideal advertising schtick for Perez Hilton, for sure.) Things just seem like more fun in Japan! The color! The presentation! The goofiness!

Reading: Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows
Watching: Black Cat and South Park: Season 6
Listening: Honeysuckle by Klee

Blue Monday

Innovative and influential film director-extraordinaire Ingmar Bergman passed away today. Movie sets all over the world are a little bit lonelier today.

Still from Ingmar Bergman’s The Seventh Seal. One of my very favorites.

Fat Friday - A leetle beet freaky

I really like this image. It is so unlike the standard plus-size fashion photography seen out there. It seems like skinny-clothes designers and artists out there are coming up with interesting and innovative ways to present fashion (it’s macabre, but it’s beautiful!), but we fat girls get the kind of stuff you see on Lane Bryant and Land’s End. Boring! The photography is so bland that all you see is a fat girl in clothes. There’s no reason to give a damn about the girl or the clothes.

This image is different. That strange decor, that intense gaze - there is a narrative here. Without THOSE clothes, without THAT girl - it’s a different story altogether, and not one I’m terribly interested in hearing.

Image courtesy of Charles & Patricia Lester, UK.

The Triumphant Return of Tequila Dog!

Kiba recovers on the couch from her latest binge-drinking episode. When you’re this cute, you never want for drinks.

Need an aspirin, Keebs?

(This one’s for you, Ellie!)

Keepin’ Fat in the Family.

Okay, so everyone seems to be buzzing about this new study that says fat is socially contagious. The main idea being that if you have friends and family that are fat, your chances go up significantly for also being fat. Even if those friends and family are miles and miles away. Why do they think this may be the case? Because…..wait for it….

[I]t may be that having relatives and friends who become obese changes one’s idea of what is an acceptable weight.

Oh, FUCK! Are they trying to tell me that if I have fat family members and friends it might plant the evil thought in my mind that it’s actually not such a terrible thing - nay, it’s actually okay! - for me to be some other body shape besides a whittled down collarbones-that-can-cut-glass physique? I am so s.c.r.e.w.e.d.

But don’t let it worry you too much. Doctor’s recommend that you NOT break up with your friends in order to avoid fatness.

Despite their findings, the researchers said people should not sever their relationship.

There, isn’t that comforting?

Okay, I’m really hoping that people will see this for the DUH moment that it really is. It seems like people would be able to understand - even if they can’t articulate it - that their social network is a big part of them, and whether conscious or not, influences them to some degree. If you live amongst a group where women aren’t taught to carefully count calories and spend days of their lives on an elliptical, doesn’t it make sense that women in that group wouldn’t have a meltdown about a couple of pounds on their tummies?

The best part of the article? This quote by Dr. David “Douchebag” Katz:

“If you’re just a little bit heavy and everyone around you is quite heavier, you will feel good when you look in a mirror,” said Dr. David Katz, director of Yale University’s Prevention Research Center.

Hmm, I wonder, Dr. Katz, if that means if you’re just a little bit of a douche and everyone around you is quite douchier than you, are you still going to feel good when you look in the mirror and see what a douchebag you are?

I think this study is a lot of fat fear at work. These researchers talk about fat like it’s a deadly disease (when it’s not) and they use disease rhetoric to scare the hell out of people. Contagious? Fat? I don’t think so. The flu is contagious. The common cold is contagious. HIV is contagious. Fat is NOT. Not socially or otherwise.

Ick.

Okay, I’m trying to be open-minded about this, but it’s really hard. Curry-flavored soda? Wasabi-flavored soda? No, thanks. It looks about as appealing as Crystal Pepsi (and we all know how well THAT went over).

Via TokyoMango.

The Happy Couple

Former co-workers and friends Dawn and Aaron were recently wed in Prague. Congrats, you two! I l.o.v.e this photo. I think it is just about the most perfect piece of wedding photography I’ve ever seen.

Fat Friday - Hogs

So interesting what a Google search for “fat boy” will turn up. I had no idea.

Ahahahahahaha!

Maximum Beauty

Leonard Nimoy (yes, THAT Leonard Nimoy) has a new photographic series, Maximum Beauty, opening at the R. Michelson Galleries this fall. Betcha didn’t know he was a photographer, huh? Here is a bit from his artist statement:

This current body of work is a departure for me. For a number of years, I have been producing images using the female figure. I have worked with numerous models who were professional people earning their living by posing, acting, dancing, or any combination thereof. But, as has been pointed out to me in discussions at exhibitions of my work, the people in these pictures always fell under the umbrella of a certain body type. I’ll call it a “classic” look. Always within range of the current social consensus of what is “beautiful.”

These women are interested in “fat liberation.” They hold jobs in the theater, the film industry and in business—and together they perform in a burlesque presentation called “Fat Bottom Revue.” The nature and degree of costuming and nudity in their performances is determined by the venue and the audience, which can range from children’s birthday parties, to stag parties. I wanted these pictures to be more about them. These women are projecting an image that is their own. And one that also stems from their own story rather than mine. Their self-esteem is strong.

While I’m definitely in to the idea of presenting fine art with real bodies, rather than idealized forms, I’m not sure how I feel about the title Maximum Beauty. I applaud the presentation of realistic forms, but why the reference to size in the title? Yes, I realize that many interpretations are available, such as exploring the maximum spectrum of beauty found in the world, or the maximum possibilities for cultural constructions of beauty. Maybe I’m just in a bad mood, but the title sounds like a euphemism to me.

The gallery is also going to present a panel discussion about women and body issues, which is a nice change of pace from what I see going on at a lot of privately owned galleries.