Glamor 'n Judgement and Photoshop Misdirection

There is a substantial reading prerequisite for you, dear readers, in order to fully understand this post.

1 - please read this essay from the NY Times Magazine first.
2 - I think that he's wearing his suit from H&M here (I told you to read the essay first!)
3 - please don't stop reading just because I am admitting that I am not a fan of the movie versions of Sex in the City and yes, I know that there must be something very, very wrong with me because of that fact.
4 - please read the article that I link to in the last line of this post.

When he referenced the ubiquitous-to-all-middle eastern-movie-sets belly dancers, I was reminded of my mom's take on "My Big Fat Greek Wedding", which she enjoyed some of....but was concerned that the party scenes reinforced the stereotypes of ouzo drinking, weird-meat-cooking-on-a-spit-in-the-front yard Greeks.  (Mom isn't Greek, but she played one in her marriage to a Greek.)

Personally, the pre-wedding scene with the girls bleaching their moustaches had me internally screaming "Oh my god, that's my mom, me and my sister!!!!"

Moustafa's observation that perhaps his participation in SATC2 had possibly reinforced the stereotypes that he seeks to diminish.

He's right, but he had to control over the director and art director's concept of what is middle eastern....and this isn't 60 Minutes or Charlie Rose.....this is SJP-I-grew-up-listening-to-NPR-my-kids-will-too.....so cultured!

He comes clean and says it was the glamor that drew him in.  Manufactured glamor - photoshopped glamor (have you seen the weird versions of the SATC2 girls on the movie poster??)  I think that the government needs to set some standards on photoshopping because it's out of control in many ways - not just whacking down size 0 models to never-seen-before torso proportions.  I've talked about this before.

It was really the "they go to the grocery store just like us" kind of glamor that US Magazine provides in its front section - yeah I read it in the checkout line.    It's the only way our brain can connect the seemingly fabulous lives the stars live and how we live.

But Adobe Photoshop changed the game.

What you see is not what you get.

This is what Moustafa and all of us are up against.
 

Public Service For My "Lurkers"

I have no idea how many people read this blog....so, since I am a 'lurker' myself, I thought I'd share two articles that I recently emailed to all the women that I have email addresses for.

1 - Latisse
Please read this if you are using or have considered using the lash lengthener Latisse


2 - Estrogen Replacement Therapy

OK ladies....this is a very LONG article, but it is of utmost importance to the women (of a certain age/close to a certain age....like me) that I know.

Estrogen replacement has its pro's and con's (the latter being a concern that it contributes/causes breast/uterine/ovarian cancer)


2 main points:  the article cites that studies are showing that estrogen replacement may be most beneficial to us when were are pre-menopausal/in menopause, but not necessarily beneficial long-term.  Ie. take it for about 10 yrs and then stop.  The greatest benefit to taking it at this time is in maintaining critical tissue connectivity in our brains to stave-off Alzheimer's.

Secondly, lack of estrogen seems to exacerbate depression/cause depression (if you are not already diagnosed).  Even if you are taking anti-depressants, you may need some estrogen replacement as well.

It's worth a conversation with your ob/gyn at your next visit.

(KP:  ob/gyn - not your dentist, podiatrist or other doc that you like to discuss your lady-parts with...an OB/GYN)   ;)


Dear Lurkers:
Please spread the word amongst your girlfriends.

Sincerely,

The Eye

Show and Tell - Part 2

This post, at Gawker, communicated important thoughts in a most eloquent way:

Is Size Zero Sizing Falling Out of Fashion?

Vanity Sizing vs. PC Sizing

By Maureen O'Connor - Gawker

Instead of casting size 0-2 runway models this fall, Calvin Klein's using comparatively obese size 2-4's. Is this like the time they shifted sizes down so vain average people would feel skinny, and skinny girls would be nothing at all?

Is size zero finally falling out of vogue? And if it is, are we talking about the actual size, in inches (30-22-32 and 33-25-35 inches, Wikipedia tells me) or just the designation of "zero," which is a relatively new concept, anyway (fashion adjudicator of all things mainstream, the Gap, introduced its 0 in the '90s) and coincides with an upward creep in the numbers on the tags of women's clothes in general. (One fashion industry organization estimates that today's size 10 would have worn a 16 in her grandmother's day.)

Calvin Klein was, of course, at the heart of the invention of size zero, which happened some time after their heroin-chic Kate Moss campaigns taught us that the words "lovely" and "bones" go together. If the company's sizing up this week catches on, Calvin Klein will confirm that it's America's most talented inventor of female body trends. If it doesn't, it will just add to the general anxiety over body size. On an individual level, women worry they are too fat. And lately, on a social and industry-wide level, fashion has been worried that its women are too thin. And we all know the easiest way to soothe the anxieties of others: lying.

Besides, maybe size zeros don't want to be zeros. Maybe size zero ladies will stage a revolution of their own? Points out my colleague Brian Moylan, "I always thought 'size 0' was degrading... like these girls are so skinny, they don't even count." Heidi Klum has a similar stance: "A size zero? I've never heard of that. That didn't exist when I was growing up. When did that start? What does it mean? It means a person is not there, no? It makes no sense." [Fashionologie]

(text by Maureen O'Connor - Gawker)

 

By the way, Bill Cunningham's Eggwear images in the April 18, 2010 issue of the NY Times captured the behind of a woman that would look exactly like mine if I wore a midriff shirt with my low-rise jeans.  Major Muffinage!  

Body Image Ahoy!!

Show and Tell

One of the valuable services that gossip blogs provide is to shine a bright light on how Photoshop has affected girls'/women's body image. Real and retouched images side-by-side (so to speak) like this one and this one provide a chance to have an important discussion with The Girl about what is real and what is NOT.

It took me a while to train my brain to remember that the beautiful bodies I see in fashion magazines (not the prepubescent waifs - they border on kiddie-porn IMHO) are not real.  They are retouched way beyond covering up the pimple that even school picture companies can do for you (for a fee).

The September Issue, a docu-movie about producing Vogue's biggest issue in its history, reveals to us that the cover photo of Sienna Miller is constructed out of the head of one shot + the neck from another shot + the teeth from another shot + body from another shot.

Voila!  Woman through collage.

It's not that art =  life.

Life = art.

V Is For Vitriol

We need a little of this in our water supply.  Some of you have heard me say this when people in my orbit or people that I read about go a little bonkers about an issue.

Unfortunately, the joke's on me because there are drugs in our water supply - just not enough of the right kind to keep us more thoughtful in our discourse.

I am deeply saddened and disgusted that citizens of this planet were spitting on men who risked their lives for the civil rights movement, or are openly gay and serve in the legislature.   I am disgusted by the behavior of these elected officials:

And I couldn't agree more with Maureen Dowd's assessment of Joe Wilson's hateful outburst of "You lie!" (boy) toward President Obama.  A white president would NEVER have had any legislator yell at him.  NEVER.

What the hell is wrong with these people?
Why are they so scared that they use rage to cover their fear?


Why do people scream and shout at libraries and schools to ban books that the screamers have NEVER READ?


Maybe medical marijuana is the answer.

I'm calling the Governator right now.


I'll be back.**

PS.  You know what (you ignorant cowards)?  YOU LIE!


**Extra bonus comment points for knowing that pop culture reference.  I'll even let you scream at me about any issue you're uninformed about.

The New Vacation Car Game: Spot The Botox

You know your days of car bingo are over when you are out to dinner, on vacation, and your 11 yr old daughter says "Mom, turn around, the lady in the red, behind you, has had massive botox."

The Boy said "What are you talking about?"

The Grrl proceeded to put her hands on either side of her face and pulled back her already taut and perfect skin to demonstrate. However, there is no before and after when an 11 yr old pulls her face skin back----it's more like a bad Miley Cyrus-I'm-pretending-to-be-asian moment.

So I took a look at the lady in red, out with her married sons/daughters and the Grrl was right. And there was something going on with her lips too. Not massive like Lisa Rinna (who I have the total scoop on through her make-up artist) and not slightly plumped-up like Nicole Kidman either. I think her mouth was pulled wide due to botox in the wrinkles at the sides of your mouth.

I told the Grrl not to stare and she said "Whaaat? I just glanced!!"

I decided the woman looked like a cross between Dina Merrill and Zsa Zsa Gabor.

Then I had a midwest matchy-matchy flashback moment.

Not only was her top red, but also her watch band and blazer (on the back of the chair). I had to check out the shoes. I pretended to drop something on the floor (lame I know, but the tables were really close together) and the ankle boots were in the red/burgundy family. I knew I'd be really going too far if I tried to confirm if the belt was red too.

When I was in middle school/high school, in the SW corner of WI, I matched my socks to my belt and my hair accessory. And my watchband.

It's more of the wackness.

The midwest kind.

Inheriting The Wackness

The remember-this-for-the-blog-note was written on the back of a "shoe-a-day" mini calendar page (February 2nd, purple pump that even a drag queen wouldn't wear) that is 2 x 2.5 inches.

This is one of the quirks that I inherited from my mom.

It's the why-use-a-pristine-piece-of-paper-when-there-is-some-sort-of-reusable-piece-of-paper-around-here....quirk.

She was green before Al Gore and Bono told us to be green.

She types her notes that accompany magazine/newspaper clippings and comics for the kids on random pieces of paper. The bottom third of a nice piece of paper that someone sent her a letter on. A note pad page from a hotel in Italy or a page-a-day calendar depicting places in Italy that she's been to, with a written or typed note, on the back, indicating the significance of the place on that calendar page.

Grocery lists are written on backs of envelopes and junk mail fliers with enough white space.

I do the same thing.

I wonder if The Boy or The Grrl will inherit this wackness?

I was reminded of another childhood quirk when The Grrl and I played Monopoly last night. When I was her age, I hoarded the money that was distributed at the beginning of the game. I wouldn't buy a property until other people bought up quite a few. I was afraid I would run out of cash. The Grrl bought every property that she landed on until she was down to about $120.

I bought property on every roll until I got to the green ones. The ones before Park Place and the other hoity-toity address. She still had 2x what I had, but I had 3 utilities and made some nice $ when she landed on one.

Maybe she'll get the paper quirk, because she clearly didn't get the Monopoly chicken-shit quirk.