Her Name is Aphrodite

Today's hypocritical article about "real women": The Independent

2008-05-04T17:04:00.014-05:00

Today's Independent: "The ins and outs of real women and their curves."

The Daily Mail apparently had a bone to pick with Princess Beatrice over how she wore an unflattering bathing suit. Or something. So in comes The Independent, rebutting with ~~all new~~ the same old same old about "real women" and their "curves," two of my most hated body image-related phrases.

"Real women" is a terrible, terrible term that shows up without fail in any article about runway models or fashion for women who have a BMI over 20, i.e., most women. Newsflash: ALL sizes of women are real women. Yes, even size zeros. Runway models aren't cyborgs. Calling "curvy" women "real women" is derogatory to women who are on the skinny side, so in complaining about The Daily Mail's treatment of Princess Beatrice, The Independent has now revealed itself to be just as insulting, behind-the-times and unabashedly biased, only instead pegging thinner women as being "boyish" and, apparently, not real women. Fail.

More great things from this article that are typical of every other idiotically hypocritical article along these lines:

Article title uses phrase "real women": check
Mentions Marilyn Monroe: Check
Implies that skinny women are "boyish": check
Lampoons Posh Spice: check
Shows terribly unflattering pic of celebrity while claiming she manages to look good at a healthy weight: check
Subsequently implies that you must be anorexic to be skinny/skinny women are anorexic: check
Mentions Dita von Teese as a curvy, healthy role model: check, check and check! We have a winner!

Now I love Dita, but all other points aside, everybody that holds her as being a healthy model is a moron. First of all, her "curves" are because she has breast implants. Second, she weighs ~105, which at 5'6" makes her BMI 16.9, which is definitely underweight. Third, she routinely restricts heavily for days before some of her performances, eating only small amounts of protein and vegetables. So according to The Independent, good-looking royals have eating disorders, skinny women are basically little boys and the perfect curvy role model replacing those godawful "pipe-cleaners" gets plastic surgery to perfect her body and starves herself for days before her burlesque performances. Nice work, Independent. No, really, good job.

Read the article HERE

Cue petition to ban dihydrogen monoxide

2008-04-07T22:54:00.012-05:00

I've come across a few studies casting doubt on the eight-glasses-a-day advice, so I already knew that water was at least somewhat overrated. Eight glasses a day? Why the arbitrary amount that no one is able to satisfactorily explain? This scientist says that people just drink way too much water for no particular reason, and he debunks three other popular myths toting the magical powers of excessive water intake that are very relevent to the somewhat ambiguous topic of this blog:

Myth no. 1: Drinking a lot of water supresses appetite
One time, this girl told me that drinking warm water before eating made you eat less. She was obese. Rule #1: don't take weight loss advice from people who have never lost weight.

Myth no.4: Drinking a lot of water improves your skin

Myth no. 2: Drinking water flushes toxins out of the body
I still get a little mental red flag whenever the word "toxins" comes up. I think it's a legitimate term, albeit a little abused by the hippy natural homeopathic medicine squad, yet that South Park episode with the natural medicine store always pops up in my mind. "Um, have you ever actually seen a toxin?"

Anyway, whatever your stance on toxins is, water doesn't flush them out of your system.

However, beauty aid or not, drinking water minimizes, even eliminates your hangover after a night out. So personally I think this stuff is great, and drink up certain nights of the week!

Read the actual article here.

Special K is full of crap

2008-03-12T00:37:00.009-05:00

I hate diet foods that are full of shit. It's the worst kind of shady marketing out there. I picked up some Special K earlier today because it was a 2-for-1 deal, and I'm a poor college student that likes cereal. I never realized how full of crap Special K is: High Fructose Corn Syrup. Partially Hydrogenated Palm Kernal oil AKA trans fat. But don't worry, there are less than .5 grams of trans fat per serving! So if you eat the whole box that's only 4.8 grams, and how much trans fat is acceptable for human consumption? Oh yeah; none.

Sure, other cereals are just as junky, maybe even more so. But they don't act like they are good for you, like they'll make you lose weight. At least when you eat a fucking twinkie you know, you are GUARANTEED it's full of bad stuff. It doesn't say on the wrapper "YOU can lose up to 20 pounds in two weeks!!!!1!1 *by eating one twinkie a day in place of all three meals and exercising for two hours every morning". Guess what guys, the only Special K that'll help you lose weight is this kind.**

You know what doesn't have hidden additives and fake sugar in it? Fruits and vegetables. Dieting and healthy eating really haven't changed in the last fifty years.. people just wish they have.

Look how far we've come: Zero-calorie sugar. Treadmills. Noodles with 20 calories a serving! And people weigh more than ever.

I'm so sick of diet food.

**I don't actually endorse the use of Ketamine, or any other drugs to lose weight

Dear Abby gets it right

2008-03-06T22:27:00.007-05:00

I never thought much of Dear Abby, but I followed a link to one of her columns today and read this:

DEAR ABBY: I am 45 years old and in great shape. I have always taken care of myself by watching what I eat and exercising on a daily basis. I take pride in my physical and mental health, and take steps every day to achieve my goals.

People often tell me I don't need to worry about my weight, etc. Actually, I look the way I do because I DO worry about my weight!

So why do these comments bother me? And why do people make these comments? -- FULLY ALIVE AT 45

DEAR FULLY ALIVE: The remarks bother you because they negate the fact that you work hard to be the person you are. And people make them because they fail to appreciate that being mentally and physically in tip-top condition takes discipline and is an ongoing process.

Yeah.. that's basically it. I can't count how many times I've grabbed a salad or asked for a Frappuchino light and gotten the arbitrary "you don't need to be eating that, you're already skinny!" I can't help but get the feeling people think that you are either naturally fat and out of shape or else you're naturally thin and healthy with great abs, and that all thin people just happen to be lucky and will stay that way forever without having to exert any effort whatsoever. Seriously, what? Does anyone for a MINUTE even consider that maybe I'm in good shape because I actually eat healthy things once in awhile? Nobody is born with ripped abs, but just because it's not easy doesn't mean it's impossible. This whole diet business is fucked up.

People are hypocrites about appearance, take two: The Vanishing Point

2008-02-07T16:18:00.001-05:00

This article from the New York Times about male models caught my eye today. I guess they finally realized the whole "female models are too thin!!!11" schtick got old two years ago and decided to focus on male models for a change. And like every other article ever that contains the words "thin, models, fashion" somewhere, it's riddled with hypocrisy. Of course.

Then a funny thing happened. The models were also downsized. Where the masculine ideal of as recently as 2000 was a buff 6-footer with six-pack abs, the man of the moment is an urchin, a wraith or an underfed runt.

An underfed runt? Really? So this body

that is about as easy to obtain for men as model-thin is for women is going out of style.. and that's a shame? I know way more "underfed runts" then I do guys with six-packs, and they aren't trying to be thin. Once again, it's completely fine for journalists to take jabs at thin folk and assume they don't eat properly.

“I personally think that it’s the consumer that’s doing this, and fashion is just responding,” said Kelly Cutrone, the founder of People’s Revolution, a fashion branding and production company. “No one wants a beautiful women or a beautiful man anymore.”

Whathuh?? Last week the accusation was that models were too pretty and setting an unrealistic example for women to follow leading to anorexia, depression, etc. These people change their minds too much. Also, if you look at the article, a whole three paragraphs before this quote there was a bit about how Americans have gotten "taller and heavier." So these comparatively stocky consumers are pressuring the fashion industry to make slimmer clothes.. wow, it all makes sense now.

In terms of image, the current preference is for beauty that is not fully evolved. “People are afraid to look over 21 or make any statement of what it means to be adult,” Ms. Cutrone said.

Really I have no idea what they are even trying to say here. Not fully evolved? What? Can people not be pretty until they turn 21? The fashion industry should be making statements about adulthood? I'm sure there's more good stuff in this article, but I kind of feel like throwing up in my mouth right now. (hey, maybe I'll lose some weight..)

Microsoft Vs. Apple: forget business! Whose CEO eats the healthiest?

2008-01-31T03:56:00.000-05:00

It’s no secret that the wealthy tend to eat healthier, higher quality food than the rest of us. In an absurd twist on pretty much all of history, it’s the poorest people in America that are the fattest. So what do the famous megarich nerds eat?

Hehee I love that this picture exists

Bill Gates
I couldn't find as much information on Bill Gates as I hoped. I was hoping he would be a vegetarian or something interesting (well, I found out he was for awhile). Apparently he likes Diet Orange Crush a lot as well as other diet sodas. He’s been seen drinking Diet Coke a lot. That will be a good comeback next time someone bothers me for drinking diet soda. Bill Gates does it!

There's also a 60 Minutes interview where he was interviewed at a fast food place, McDonalds I think. In a 1994 Playboy interview, he talks about eating at McDonalds and Jack-In-the-Box and being a vegetarian for three years:

I eat at McDonald's more than most people, but that's because I don't cook.

You're back to eating meat?

Yes. That was only a three-year period when I was proving to myself I could do it. But in terms of fast food and deep understanding of the culture of fast food, I'm your man.

Jack-in-the-Box? McDonald's?

Well, McDonald's is more pervasive around here. We also have Jack-in-the-Box. I'm not the kind of guy who decides that just because a few people got sick, it's necessarily going to happen to me. It wasn't very crowded for a while, but I thought that was fine.

I wonder why he stopped being vegetarian - and why it took three years to prove to himself that he could go without meat?

Steve Jobs
Steve Jobs is a lot more interesting. I got the idea for this article when I found out that Steve Jobs was a fruititarian back when Apple got started; and no, it's not a coincidence that Apple is called Apple. Apples were his favorite fruit. It’s odd that he was a fruititarian back then.. I don’t think vegetarianism was even that popular back then, much less veganism, raw foodism, etc. I wonder why he ate mostly fruit?

According to wikipedia, right now he is a pescetarian, meaning the only meat he eats is fish.

It's funny though - we could all be carrying around Mango iPods, or Kiwi iPhones right now..!

Dog food and people food are becoming disturbingly similar

2008-01-24T13:46:00.001-05:00

Gallery of the Absurd makes an excellent point comparing the growing convergence of meaty people food and dog food. Really disturbing is second comment down:

It's quite intentional. I performed some design work for a major pet food company and reviewed marketing materials which went into great depth of the 'real food trend'. They want to make our mouths water for what we are feeding our pets. They're ditching the cartoons and using thanksgiving dinner imagery instead.

Actually if you read further down it gets worse

I ate an entire baggie of "dog cookies" once and besides being cheaper than people ones I couldn't tell the difference.

Sorry but there is something really, really wrong with the food market when people food and dog food both look alike and both resemble NOTHING FOUND IN NATURE.

If it was like a steak then yeah I could understand. But compressed pieces of horsemeat fused with sawdust and fat? not so much.

Please for the love of god.. no, for your health and longevity, please stop eating things that your great-grandma wouldn't recognize as food!

Jason color shampoos: tint your hair color by washing it!

2008-01-21T12:17:00.001-05:00

Even with the 3628298794 brands of shampoos in existence, these Jason shampoos manage to be quite unique. They are organic shampoos made with natural ingredients that will enrich your hair color, and even possibly tint and color your hair gradually just by washing it! The line has a blend for every hair color, and I have tried most of them. If you're curious about enhancing your hair color without using harsh chemicals, read on.

The Pink Bottle
I didn't see this one on the site, so maybe it is discontinued. When I was in 6th grade I grabbed a bottle of this at a health food store because it because it smelled good, and lo and behold, after a few weeks my natural light brown hair had a pink tint to it. I didn’t get very far with that though because I was in 6th grade and my mom didn’t like the idea of an eleven year old having pink hair, so she threw it out. The pink washed out after a few weeks using regular shampoos.
The Blonde Bottle
Sometime in 8th I was determined to lighten my hair as much as possible, so I picked up the mix for blondes. I was also using sun-in at the time, but I had used sun-in before on its own so I knew what that result was. But combining the two made my hair lighter than it had ever been. It wasn’t anything near blonde, but it was light enough that I had distinct roots, and I have never bleached my hair.
The Black Bottle
This summer I tried out the black hair blend. I had my hair colored in June and even though I’ve been dying it black for years it was fading really fast, so I thought this shampoo would restore it somewhat. Well, for once I was disappointed, because there was absolutely no change except maybe shinier hair. I think it’s because I don’t really have black hair, it’s chemical dye, and maybe shampoo just doesn’t effect that, though it says on the bottle “Helps extend the life of color treatments.” I think its just this blend. If you’re a natural raven hair, though, it has ingredients to liven up your natural hair color. This one also didn’t have a lovely scent like the other ones, it wasn’t bad, but the others smell REALLY good. They all have a really yummy scent.
The Red Bottle
Recently I decided that I’m going to aim for a nice auburn color. I don’t want to use bleach, so I’m basically trying to gradually shift my hair from black to red using natural products, both lighteners and reddeners. I dyed my hair again over a month ago using Body Art Quality henna (i.e. its just ground up plants. No additives) I don’t expect a full change to all red, but at least my hair has a definite red tint to it and many red highlights. But it’s gradually lightening and this shampoo is REALLY helping! As the black dye fades out, the red tints over it. This actually might work. I suspect that this is the most dying of them all, since red anything seems to dye everything.

I also noticed that it makes my hair really shiny! When I used a different shampoo, it lost that shine, so I have rave reviews for this blend.

A word of caution though: If you’re traveling on a plane, put this shampoo in a Ziploc baggie before you put it in your suitcase. I put it in a baggie with a couple of other things and it leaked all over the inside of the bag. If I hadn’t stored it, it would have stained a bunch of my stuff! Be careful when you’re using it.

In summary

Don't expect to buy these and change from brown to blonde hair; it's just not possible. They only work so well, and they are supposed to be for enhancing hair that is already that color.

I guess the only ones I haven’t tried are the grey hair formula they used to have and the brown hair one, because I don’t have grey hair and I hate having brown hair. Also I don’t have hair color ADD, really, I just have never wanted brown hair and my mom would never let me really change the shade. So I did what every good high schooler does and dyed it black anyway :D Anyway you can find these lovely shampoos at health food store type places, or online. Did I mention they smell really, really good?

A skeptical look at Skinny Bitch

2008-01-16T20:30:00.000-05:00

A skeptical look at Skinny Bitch

If you already know about the book and just want to know exactly how their advice helped me personally you can skip to the end of the article ^^

This has been out for awhile now, but I enjoyed reading this book and I’d like to take a stab at writing up a review for it. From what I’d heard online, I already expected it to be full of vegan propaganda, which seems to be surprising to some online reviewers. First of all, here’s something that everyone has to understand: Pretty much every vegan ever has, before becoming a vegan, said those words: “I could never get up meat, dairy and eggs!” Same thing with vegetarians and meat. Nobody understands this! If you’re open-minded enough to accept that you might possibly, in the future, change your diet in any significant way (like cutting out many processed foods), then you should get this book. If you don’t want to be vegan at all, DON’T LET THAT STOP YOU FROM LOOKING AT THIS BOOK! However if you are just like hellbent on eating enormous quantities of animal stuff, or if you’re from Texas, then you should just go look at Atkins.

I have eaten animal products my whole life, and I still do. So when I picked this book I expected unwanted vegan propaganda. I got it because I already wanted to cut as many processed foods out of my diet as possible and buy organic, so I thought at most this book would be a fun read with decent information about food additives and how horrible they are, with a little FDA dirt on the side. They kicked my ass and exceeded my expectations at the same time. It is all that and so much more!

Even if you don’t care at all about animal cruelty, you will still think twice about drinking milk and eating meat all the time when you read this. They make several VERY good points. Are you one of those people that only eats lean meat like chicken, as if that’s such a great thing? Well, your chickens are probably pumped full of hormones, stressed out and sick. Would you willingly ingest Bovine Growth Hormone? Then why the hell drink milk? They have arguments against meat/dairy/additives even if you’re an organic meat eater. They talk about protein which, contrary to popular belief, is not that hard to get if you don't eat meat. And they assure you that there’s plenty of tasty vegan “junk food” out there and you can eat all the (unrefined) carbs your fat ass wants!

And don’t worry – like I said before, if you still want to have your steak and eat it too, there are still things you can take away from this book. Eating organic, for starters. There’s also good information on artificial sweeteners. They actually tell you it’s okay to use sweeteners that have calories! Holy shit!!

My least favorite thing about this book is– they cite a bunch of sources which is awesome, but unfortunately some of them are Peta. Reading studies from Peta about dairy is about as useful as reading the dairy industries studies about dairy. I only really believe sources like Harvard that don’t have some kind of agenda. Also, I fucking hate Peta.

They advise against using honey as a sweetener, but don’t give good reasons why. I know vegan means no animal products, but who loses sleep over the exploitation of bees, seriously. They do suggest agave nectar, Stevia and a lot of other great sugar alternatives, along with compelling reasons why you shouldn’t eat Splenda, aspartame or any of that crap.

If your honey isn't top quality, you're not abusing your bees enough

I don't wholeheartedly agree with every thing they say. I think that eggs and meat are probably OK to eat – in small quantities – and if they’re raised organically. I eat pretty much a vegan diet, but I’m really lenient because, I want to be honest with you, I really don’t give a shit about the animals. If I was just walking around out in the jungle it's not like a tiger would think twice about mauling me to death. If my friend makes some chicken dish that she’s really proud of and wants me to try it, I’ll shut up and eat the fucking chicken.

Nevertheless, I can definitely recommend this book to you. Read it with an open mind, and, as they repeat throughout the book (more good advice), trust no one. Take at least some of their advice because it is really good even if you don’t agree with everything they say. You just can’t go wrong eating healthy, organic foods. I haven’t read many diet books, but I suspect it is one of the better ones that’s out there right now; there’s no pseudoscience here. The imagery and smart-mouthed comments are enough to kick anyone’s fat ass into a healthier way of life.

My Personal Testimony

I already had the goal of cutting out processed food and artificial sweeteners and eating mostly organic. After I read this book I definitely felt compelled to do these things. The thing is, you don’t even have to adhere to it strictly! Its not like Atkins or whatever where you’re screwed if you do something wrong. The point is that I don’t even do the whole Skinny Bitch plan and I still lost a bunch of weight pretty much effortlessly. I went from alternating between 130 and 135 all the time to 122 and dropping. To compare – I have never weighed less than 125 at a height above, like, 5’7” (I’m 5’8”) before in my life, even when I’ve restricted heavily. Even when I ate fewer than 1000 calories a day for weeks at a time. I feel great all the time – that’s the thing you should expect from a diet! Weight loss is just a treat. And yeah, I eat tons of yummy food and never feel deprived. Hell I probably eat more then before. I eat all the time. Vegan food is not THAT hard to find. So there’s my story about using the Skinny Bitch rules.

Eating Liquids for 4 days

2008-01-16T12:13:00.000-05:00

On liquid diets: In case anyone is curious, after I got my wisdom teeth taken out I ate liquids for 4 days and a little of the 5th day and slept for the better part of 3 days. One thing I did not expect was to gain weight off of this liquid diet! I didn't count calories, but I didn't eat a whole lot either, or so I thought anyway. I pretty much just drank almond milk all the time and ate Soy Ice Cream and Rice Dream Ice Cream (YUM) so I guess even though it's vegan, a vegan junk food diet is not going to help you lose a whole lot of weight (obviously). I gained a little weight but now I'm back to what I was before break and I'm eating lots of fruits and vegetables.

Its probably because liquid-y foods don't fill you up a lot so its easy to eat a deceptive amount of them..

When I was younger I deemed ice cream a "magic food" that would never cause me to gain weight or be unhealthy :) I remember having this idea in like 4th grade that if you ate liquidy things like ice cream, pudding and jello all the time you would never gain weight from them... that definately had nothing to do with me eating ice cream all last week, green tea soy dream is just really good :D

ETA: I just realized the irony of the title "eating liquids." oh well..

People are hypocrites about appearance

2007-11-10T16:31:00.000-05:00

The Mona Lisa after a TV show makeover

I was reading the skinny website today when I came across this quote by Star Jones:

“It hurts my feelings to think that people never came up to me and said, ‘You don’t need to gain any more weight’ but they sure as heck will say, ‘You don’t need to lose any more.’”

People are hypocrites about personal appearance. If you're 5 pounds underweight and eating a salad for lunch, people will tell you you need to eat more - of course assuming that you must be starving yourself to fit an "impossible ideal" body, whatever that is. I'm sorry, but there has to be something else going on with you besides seeing pictures of skinny woman all the time to make you willingly starve yourself, otherwise everyone would be doing it. If models are making people anorexic, than why are there so many fat people in America? But I digress.

My roommate is naturally skinny and she's gotten practically harassed by people - if you're not hungry and skip lunch it's "stop starving yourself to impress guys," if you want to eat healthier it's "you're already thin enough." What's wrong with eating healthy? What's wrong with you people?

And then you see somebody who's putting on a few pounds and maybe someone will politely suggest they start eating healthy but not actually harass them regularly over what's on their plate.

Also, long hair. You see some girl with gorgeous long hair, and people are always asking her when she's going to cut her hair. Total strangers will comment "I think you would look better with shorter hair." What the hell? Nobody goes up to somebody and says "you know, that's not really a good look for you, I think you should really grow your hair out" because that's rude and nobody asked you.

On a somewhat related note: I die a little bit inside every time a longhaired girl goes on some "makeover" show and the hairstylists always chop all her hair off. WHY! I hate these people. She has beautiful long hair so DO SOMETHING WITH IT, don't just hack it all off! Are you really so trendy and unoriginal that's all you can do with someone with long hair? Most makeover shows are pretty dumb anyway. Oh wow, you bought her fancy trendy clothes, chopped off all her hair and taught her how to use makeup. It's a good thing you guys are experts because otherwise nobody would ever figure out how to do that. Read a damn magazine sometime.

Am I totally off the mark here? Do you have other examples of how people are hypocrites about appearance? Leave a comment or email me!

Want to give to Locks of Love? Read this first!

2007-11-05T14:38:00.000-05:00

I remember when I found out some girl in my high school had cut her hair to donate to locks of love - my first thought was "Who would want her hair?" She barely had the recommended length and her hair was frizzy, unkempt and generally unattractive. I'm pretty sure if I had cancer and they gave me that I would just get a synthetic wig or wear a hat or something. It turns out I wasn't far off - The New York Times has this to say.

But although charities have been highly effective at stirring the passions of donors, they have been less successful at finding a use for the mountains of hair sent to them as a result. As much as 80 percent of the hair donated to Locks of Love, the best known of the charities, is unusable for its wigs, the group says. Many people are unaware of the hair donation guidelines and send in hair that is gray, wet or moldy, too short, or too processed, some of which is immediately thrown away. Even hair that survives the winnowing may not go to the gravely ill, but may be sold to help pay for charities’ organizational costs.

80 percent!!! Since my hair has been through plenty of chemical straighteners, dye jobs, and straightening iron torture I'm pretty sure I qualify for "too processed." Since I'm obsessed with growing my hair out, one of my big fears is being harassed for not donating hair.. which sounds ridiculous but apparently it happens. (Solution: "So when are you planning on donating a kidney to charity? You only really need one you know") Anyway, you can still help out - for example, if your hair hasn't been dyed to shit and is reasonably healthy. Or you can do this:

Every day the hanks of hair arrive, filling some 10 postal bins, representing the best intentions of donors, but so much of it destined for the trash.
“A check would be easier for me,” Ms. Coffman said. “But would the donors get out of it what they do? No.”

"Your lipstick is deadly! Well, maybe. Actually, probably not, but it's good publicity right?"

2007-10-14T16:37:00.001-05:00

Death to Smoochy
So recently there has been an article going around about how there is lead in several lipstick brands, we're all poisoning ourselves, you're going to die blah blah blah

Can we take a skeptical look at this?

Here's what the "Campaign for Safe Cosmetics" (Which I have only just heard of in the last hour) has to say:

The Campaign for Safe Cosmetics said that a third of the 33 red lipsticks examined by an independent lab contained a level of lead exceeding 0.1 parts per million _ which is the FDA's limit for lead in candy. The FDA does not set a limit for lead in lipstick.

The organization commissioning the lipstick study says its goal is to pressure companies to remove toxic chemicals from their products and replace them with safer alternatives.

Here's what some dude in another association I've never heard of has to say:

"Consumers are exposed daily to lead when they eat, drink water and breathe the air," said John Bailey, an executive vice president at the Cosmetic, Toiletry and Fragrance Association. "The average amount of lead a woman would be exposed to when using cosmetics is 1,000 times less than the amount she would get from eating, breathing, and drinking water that meets Environmental Protection Agency drinking water standards."

Pwned!

The FDA issues a noncommital response.

The FDA said concerns about lead in lipstick have been raised occasionally in the print media and on the Internet.

"These concerns have not generally been supported by FDA's own analysis of products on the market. In the present case, we are looking into the specific details of the issues raised," said Stephanie Kwisnek, a spokeswoman at the FDA. "We will need to confirm the factual basis of these reports independently in order to determine what action, if any, may be needed to protect public health."

What do you mean "raised occasionally in the print media and on the internet"? Snopes comes to the rescue:

Occasionally, small-scale studies (such as one in 2006 and another in 2007) report detecting amounts of lead that exceed the FDA limits for candy (0.1 PPM) in some brands of lipstick, resulting in news reports with alarming headlines such as "Lipstick Found to Contain Hazardous Levels of Lead!"
The comparison with candy is made because the FDA has not yet issued specific standards for lead content in lipstick (and so news or consumer watchdog associations choose sweets as a comparison product), but this match up is not an apt one: people eat whole pieces of candy; they don't merely smear their lips with thin coatings of it. Also, unlike candy, lipstick is rarely eaten by the bagful. It therefore goes without saying that regulatory standards governing the lead content of items we eat (sometimes in great quantity) must be far more restrictive than those governing items that take us years to go through.

This is a classic news drama! On one hand, you have unscientific study conducted by dubious source with specific self-interests. On the other hand, you have dubious news source with specific self-interests. Then add in the FDA and site dedicated to debunking dubious new sources and you get a media report. Sweet!

Anyway, when was the last time you heard of someone getting lead poisoning from their makeup? Yeah, I didn't think so - if you have, PLEASE comment or email me! I would love to know.

If you're going to be so suspicious of your makeup products, then maybe you should look into what kind of candy you're letting your kids eat.

Or better: drop the lipstick AND gain a new incentive to not eat candy!

Teens spend about $2000 a year on "Socializing and Looking Good"

2007-10-11T14:15:00.000-05:00

According to MTV, teenagers spend a bunch of money every year on clothes and loosely defined "socializing":

Young people aged between 13 and 18 receive around £936 a year through a combination of pocket money and allowances, Christmas and birthday money, paid work and money for odd jobs.

According to the 3,025 teens surveyed by MTV One, the best-off 10 per cent of teenagers receive an average of £1,476 each year, but the poorest 10 per cent get just £144.

They spend an average of £350 each year on their appearance, while they spend around £360 on socialising and going out with their friends.

Four out of 10 teenagers said they spent around £260 a year on alcohol, while 18 per cent admitted they spent £240 on cigarettes.

(Followed by a lot more mundane facts and surprisingly no analysis. Article here)

It makes a lot of sense for teens to spend so much on appearance and social activities - what else do they have to pay for? This article really caught my eye because today in my Economics class the professor showed a pie chart of where the average household's spendings go, and about 4% of it went toward clothing/appearance. However, the average household has to spend money on housing/rent, transportation, bills, and food, as well as other household expenses that teenagers usually don't have to worry about.

I still have some question about the article - did they survey mostly girls or boys or was it even? And this fact - "The most expensive item teenagers own is likely to be designer shoes or clothes" - what about cars and gadgets? My $2000 laptop is easily my most expensive posession, with the next most expensive being my other laptop followed by some purse or a pair of sunglasses I own (I love the fancy sunglasses). And of course, I spend plenty on cigarettes, especially having just bought a pack of Nat Shermans today (the Fantasia kind - I love the little colors, I feel like I'm smoking some kind of party favor though)

Actually I would really question any kind of "study" by MTV but that's just me.

What do you spend the most money on?

Gemma Ward gains weight (and everybody blogs about the poor girl)

2007-10-11T13:29:00.000-05:00

image via theskinnywebsite.com

So Gemma Ward has put on a few more pounds - is it to keep up with the new runway regulations? Somehow I doubt it, but whatever. Her arms look a bit like mine do and safe to say I'm not underweight, so good for her.

I think that they need to find a better middle ground for runway models. For one, the point is to show off the designer's clothing, not a girl's curves, so it makes sense that the girls should not interfere or draw attention away from the clothes. Hence why many runway models are rather flat-chested though nobody would argue that boobs are undesirable on a female figure.

However, the point is somewhat lost when the girls are pratically emaciated and the media jumps all over that (or is it?)

What do you think? Leave a comment or email me!

"There are no ugly women" (just people without thousands of dollars to spend on surgery)

2007-09-28T19:44:00.001-05:00

Click for larger version
The above picture is of several different reality show contestants - the top pics being the before and the after pic being after they were subjected to whatever beauty treatment was avaliable - surgery, hair extentions, anything possible. You cannot deny that the change is remarkable.

Some people claim that this kind of thing is doing damage to women and causing them to spend thousands of dollars on surgery and other beauty treatments to fit "an unattainable ideal" (people love saying that one, especially in regard to "size zeros." I see skinny people walking around all of the time, and not all skinny people starve themselves, so what he hell does it mean? Are they are androids?). I agree that it can be addictive and taken overboard - but what about the thousands of women who have gotten the nose or breasts they have always wanted and significantly improved their self-esteem, and then left it at that?

What about the people who have gotten very unconventional treatments - some unusual body modifications include small horns implanted under the skin, toungue splitting (personally - EW), and I have even heard of one case where a woman had always wanted to have her bellybutton sewn up so she would have a smooth stomach. In those cases it wasn't society's idea of beauty that motivated them, but what they wanted to make out of themselves - they want to match on the outside how they see themselves on the inside. I think the idea that you can make yourself into whatever image you want is very powerful!

I am not saying that everybody should run out and get surgery to look like Barbie or whatever. But I hate it when people make a big deal out of cosmetic surgery - she paid a lot of money for something she wanted and she feels good about it. What's wrong with that?

Aphrodite Friday: Women in Film

2007-09-28T18:32:00.000-05:00

Aphrodite Friday is a weekly feature taking a look at classic or artistic examples of beauty - from art and sculpture to old cinema, or even even beauty immortalized in the lyrics of a song.

I posted a popular video a few months ago called "500 years of women in art" - this is the same idea, but it uses women from film.

Marilyn Monroe and Audrey Hepburn will always be beautiful! True beauty transcends time and trends.

Surgeon has the formula for perfect breasts

2007-09-23T19:33:00.001-05:00

Hint: this is not it
According to The Independent a surgeon has done extensive research into what exactly makes a pair of breasts perfect and will talk about his findings at a conference later this week.

Mr Mallucci said that an attractive breast has a balanced proportion between the upper and lower halves, with the nipple sitting about 45 per cent down from the top, pointing slightly upward.

Awesome! I LOVE stuff like this. Apparently he has come up with specific ratios and everything.

Plastic surgeon Patrick Mallucci has come up with a formula for perfection based on research into topless models who have not gone under the knife.

That must have been hard work right?

One word: Cruggs

2007-09-23T18:40:00.001-05:00

Uggs are a warm and comfortable trend that got blown way out of proportion. Uggs and miniskirts? No thanks Ms. Eskimo Hooker.

Crocs just make me wanna acid wash my eyes out.

With those things in mind, I have one word for you: CRUGGS

Just in time for winter! THANK GOD! I was worried about how I would be able to keep my feet somewhat warm and make little children cry at the same time.

UPDATE - my roommate bought her boyfriend a pair of these. I think it was supposed be a joke but they are still there, sitting in the hallway. If I didn't like her and her boyfriend they would have been "lost" about two weeks ago.

Crocs, meet Couture

2007-09-23T18:24:00.001-05:00

So while looking for pics of Marc Jacobs' lego belts and hairclips I found this:

Balenciaga Fall '07

And my first thought was:

AGHHHH

What about fashion week? Marc Jacobs WTF

2007-09-23T17:15:00.000-05:00

I love Marc Jacobs

I think Marc Jacobs had the right idea with these lego accessories. Perhaps we too should look to our childhood for our fall wardrobe! For example, when I was in second grade I had this idea to make dog hairclips, bracelets and necklaces to match this bright red dalmation shirt I had (I had pretty much the little kid equivalent of a kindergarten teachers wardrobe). So I laminated pieces of paper with drawings on them and somehow made them into accessories and all the other kids at school thought I was stylish and fabulous and maybe even a model. Except not really. Yeah, it took me awhile to get it..

They must have had a lot of fun coming up with this one. "I am so tired of sewing all the time. Let's put some legos together you guys!"

But for those of us that are geeky/quirky/cool and wanna rock like Marc Jacobs, you can make a fun allusion to your childhood with lego accessories! You can find more discreet but still colorful and fun lego jewelry at shanalogic (just search for "lego") like the bracelets above.

EVEN MORE AWESOME: These kooky weird heels:

"So I really want to reuse these old heels, any ideas?"

I don't know what is going on here but I kinda like it, WTFness aside. Just imagine: Your heels wouldn't get stuck in holes and cracks in the sidewalk anymore! Or is that just me..

I have no idea how you would walk in something like this but honestly, that has never, ever been the point.

THE OBESE DIET GURU: IS KIMKINS A SCAM?

2007-09-17T20:53:00.001-05:00

It's really true: ANYONE can invent a diet! You don't even have to be a doctor or know anything about nutrition. In fact, one "Kimmer," inventor of the recently popular "Kimkin's Diet," is so underqualified to give nutritional advice, she's obese - and she may never have lost any weight to begin with.

Kimkins, true to its name, is a spinoff off the Atkins diet but with fewer calories. I've looked at the Kimkins plan before and it didn't seem to sustainable to me - and I've done some pretty poor diets! 2468, anyone? A lot of people have claimed to have lost a significant amount of weight in a short time on Kimkins. But if "Kimmer" herself is overweight, then she never lost weight to begin with - or she gained it all back.

SOURCES:

Slamboard: Who is Kimkins really? And other insights

3 Fat Chicks on a Diet: KIMKINS: ANATOMY OF A DIET SCAM

Actually just google search "kimkins scam" and you get a lot of results.

NOTE: Many of these websites focus on kimkins as being unhealthy. Well yeah.. lots of diets are unhealthy, but they work. At least for awhile.

I think the worst thing that could happen would be to find out that Kimmer did lose the weight on her diet and then gained it back and maybe more.

Tons of people say that Kimkins works and that they lost a lot of weight in a short amount of time. But is it sustainable? Not really. Will you gain all the weight back?

The Monday Roundup: Size zeros, ford models, and digestion times

2007-09-17T14:16:00.001-05:00

Oh God, I Need to be Size Zero - Really it's just another generic "models are too skinny" back-and-forth banter with an interesting bit at the end:

It it too simplistic to blame the fashion industry for 'causing' eating disorders, indeed that would be patronising to those suffering from them.

But those trying to help them recover say there is a responsibility to be borne by the fashion industry in terms of normalising very low body weights.

Susan Ringwood, from the eating disorder charity BEAT, told us: "We interviewed over 100 young people who already have an eating disorder.

"We asked them to describe, did this play a part, did it make them ill in the first place and they all said, 'no, it wasn't what made us ill, but it makes it so much harder for us to get better.'

Thank you!
Because honestly.. the idea that every anorexic girl only cares about her looks and is that influenced by the media is insulting.

Everything you always wanted to know about Ford Models - It's on the Freakonomics blog which automatically gives it cred in my book. Aside from dodging half of the first question in the first answer it's a good read for anyone who aspires to be a model or cares about the industry.

Digestion time of foods - Some semi holistic site I found on Digg that gives you the digestion time in hours for various types of foods. I like halfway down there is a warning "Note: Foods beyond this time should not be eaten 3 hours prior to bedtime" without really saying why, I assume it's part of some diet they promote elsewhere on the site I didn't bother looking for. Potentially an interesting new twist on the "don't eat after 8pm" diet tip?

The 80/20 principle and beauty: improving your appearance AND waste less time with sexy economics

2007-09-16T16:02:00.000-05:00

Because searching for "sexy economist" doesn't give any good results on google images

I picked up Tim Ferriss' The Four Hour Workweek a couple of days ago, and one really interesting economic principle is mentioned in this book: the 80/20 principle as discovered by Italian economist Vilfredo Pareto. It's a simple idea: 80 percent of x comes from 20 percent of x. 80% of the results come from 20% of the effort and time. Sometimes the ratio isn't 80/20, but more like 90/10, or 99/1, even. You've heard it said before that 10% of the population makes 90% of the money. And it can work in opposite ways: 20% of sources cause 80% of stress, while 20% of causes make 80% of overall happiness.

The whole point is that usually most of something is caused by very little of something, and all your other efforts make a minimal impact.

How does this apply to beauty? Well I got to thinking about some beauty routine changes I've made that ended up giving me 80 percent better results at 20 percent of the work than my previous routine did. Impossible? Here are just a few examples:

-Hair: I used to wash my hair every night, condition, blow dry it, and then take a curling iron to it, only to have it go all frizzy if it was a particularly humid day out or even throw it in a ponytail just because I was tired of dealing it. My hair started looking 80 percent better with 20 percent of the effort when I bought a Chi straightening iron. Now I never put my hair up, I wash it every other day (turns out washing it every day isn't good for your hair anyway - less effort can actually give you better results) and it takes maybe ten minutes to straighten it in the first place and five minutes to retouch it before I go out. 80 better looking, 20 percent of the effort of my former routine.. actually probably more like 90 better with 10% of the previous effort. It's that much of a difference.

-Makeup: I used to put on goopy base foundation then dust powder over it, which I often had to retouch during the day. Because the routine was two part and I often had to replace these products, I bought cheap foundation and powder which was bad for my skin. Again humidity killed me as my face started melting.. why bother? I started shelling out $50 for Chanel's Double Perfection Compact and my face has never been happier. It covers extremely well and for a long period of time and you don't need goopy wet foundation - the powder sticks on and doesn't melt in the humidity. It covers excellently and a little touch up is just a swipe away from this super classy compact. Plus I actually SAVE money now because this stuff lasts FOREVER - I had one compact for a year - so it's expensive but really worth it. Any expert will tell you to go on an splurge on powders/foundations anyway - do you really want cheap shit sitting on your face all day? Needless to say I have better skin than ever since my face isn't choking to death on heavy foundation, and so I use even less of the product. 80 percent better looking skin and 20 percent of the original HASSLE.

So ladies, more is not always better! Yeah you could spend three hours doing your makeup, but for what? I spent tons of time on my prom makeup - I put on little fake eyelashes and made sure I looked PERFECT. And though there was a noticable difference, it was very very small - it was basically my normal makeup, which takes ten minutes AT MOST to put on, with a little extra something. I looked glamorous, but not like a totally different person.

You've seen those girls - the ones that don't spend time on an elaborate routine, who don't obsess over calories and still look great all the time. And you might be one of those girls, or you might be the one who spends thirty minutes doing your hair before going out. What are some of the ways you can make your routine more effortless? Do you really need to wash your face with so many different things - maybe the combination of chemicals is actually harming it! Same thing for your hair. In this post I looked at the story of a woman who stopped washing herself for six weeks and her skin actually improved because of it.

So I urge you to examine yourself (and not just in regards to personal appearance): where are 80% of my results coming from? What is causing me the most stress in my daily routine? How can I change my routine so that I get 80% better results with 20% of the previous hassle? It's not impossible girls. It's economics!

Get smoother skin!

2007-09-11T13:16:00.000-05:00

Back in this post I mentioned the Dove moisterizing deordorant that gives you "smoother armpits in five days" or whatever. Well I bought some, and yes, it does work! I have smoother armpits. Not that they really bothered me before, but hey if your deodorant does something extra for you, why not? I actually was admiring them earlier outside my apartment (yah, that's normal)

Another product that works REALLY WELL that I want to pimp out: Caress Exotic Infusions Cream Oil Body Wash. I've only tried the Japanese kind, but wow, it works great - it gives you smoother skin after the very first time! Seriously, my (ex) boyfriend used it, and he had smoother skin right after he got out of the shower. And then I was happy. Bonus: it's not very expensive and it has a nice smell!

Do Not Want: Anna Rexia costume

2007-09-09T21:10:00.001-05:00

I was looking for sexy Halloween costumes earlier today - yes, already! I love Halloween - when I found the strangest sexy costume ever (aside form the "sexy plumber" getup). I give you.. the Plus-Size Anna Rexia costume:

Ahhh words fail. This costume is so wrong in so many ways. Cutifying a life-threatening disorder? I don't think so. And you can get it in size 4x, ladies!

I am almost unbearably narcissistic

2007-09-07T21:02:00.000-05:00

So it's 9:30 Friday night. I just finished my makeup, and it looks great; I finished straightening my hair and it's.. kind of oily. Just a little bit on one side. I guess I put too much shit in it. It's also really hot and humid in my room. I took a shower an hour before and spent the last hour letting it air dry and then straightening it and brushing it and wondering how it is I lose so much hair and am not yet bald. I lose hair like a chemo patient. But back to my hair: it's kind of oily. Kind of.

So I do the only logical thing...

Jump in the shower an hour after my first shower and wash out all the crap and time spent straightening it. Water runs down my face, smearing my eyeliner from a sharp cat's eye to.. well, the smudgy look is kind of cool, right?

Aghhh sometimes I hate this. All that work gone because my hair was "kind of oily" and "it's sort of hot in here." Seriously. It's 10 Friday night. I should be out DOING SOMETHING, not sitting around with a towel on my head like my mom, blogging and making offensive jokes.

I guess that's my qualification for writing this blog. I am almost unbearably narcissistic. Other than that I'm a really cool person.. really.

The Britney Spears Comeback Trainwreck

2007-09-04T21:44:00.000-05:00

This is a little outside the realm of HerNameIs, but who doesn't want to talk about the Britney Spears Comeback Trainwreck? Anyway I haven't devoted many posts to her.. ah.. fashion (I use the term lightly here) choices because it's too easy, so here is my chance to step slightly outside of my niche.

So I was reading this article today: 22 reasons Britney will never make a comeback and reason #21 caught my interest.

21. She’s been upstaged
The debate began over ten years ago: who’s hotter, Britney or Christina? It was a legitimate question while they promoted their first albums, but it looked like Britney won out after their second respective offerings. She had men drooling over her catsuit, while Christina was slummin’ it.
Today, though, it’s not even a question. Christina turned her image around, released an album that blows Britney’s entire collection out of the water, and is enjoying wonderful success. She has certainly overshadowed her fellow Mouseketeer.

Has it been ten years already? Remember how I was talking about sixth grade earlier? That was the year half the boys in the class started taping Britney Spears pictures to their desks. (which wasn't really ten years ago.. maybe eight or nine? right guys?) And yeah, while Britney Spears married twice, had kids twice, and okay, you know the whole story by now, Christina cleaned up her image, kept herself in shape, and continued putting out great music. So yeah, if they were both just now coming out on the pop scene, Christina would be our Princess.

But Britney had something Christina never had, and never will have: she was a pop culture icon. When you think about 90s pop you think about Britney first. Period. Sure, Christina had her fans and is the only one still taken seriously, but Britney was beyond Christina from the start. Girls didn't want to dance like Christina Aguilera or Mandy Moore or anybody else. I remember writing goals in some stupid journal (much like this stupid journal) back in sixth grade and one of them was "Dance like BS." Well, in my mind then, the BS was really supposed to stand for Britney Spears, though now.. well I'm sure the joke is obvious here.

Christina has got style, but she's emulating the it girls of the past. Britney was the decade's iconic blonde in her own way. She was like the girl next door who would get all freaky if you gave her the chance. She was the ultimate teenage sex symbol, the undeniable Princess of Pop; so yeah, maybe ten years later she's the face that launched a thousand jokes, don't forget what she meant to us in the 90s: the sex appeal that all the girls wished they had and the dream that all the boys wanted and the music we all danced to at those corny school dances and the pictures we had on our walls and the CDs we had before everyone started pirating that music. Fifty years from now, when you think back on the times, who's it going to be about? Unfortunately but truthfully, Britney Spears and Paris Hilton. So here's to you, Mrs. Federline.

Can you believe this is the same girl?

Body parts and intelligence

2007-08-30T18:09:00.004-05:00

It's really shaky science, but it's an interesting read. This article lists different features of body parts that have been found in many people with high IQs. Some highlights:

Boobs: It's a case of the bigger, the better. A study of 1,200 women in Chicago found big boobs equalled big brains. "Busty women averaged 10 IQ points more than less well-endowed ladies," said Dr Rossdale, herself a 32A.

Okay that's really the most important part, because.. whowouldathunkit? Looking at the rest of the traits describing men though, I realize a lot of them fit my ex, and he's one of the smartest people I know, so maybe there is something to all this.

The one thing they didn't mention was penis size. Are smarter men more endowed? This is what we really need to know here.

Women carrying small dogs in lieu of children: distrubing? or.. really that's the only option here

2007-08-30T17:10:00.000-05:00

So it's not exactly a new trend: people who get tiny dogs and pamper and carry them around in lieu of a child. Or like Britney, instead of their actual children.

However in the past month or so I have seen this "trend" reach trainwreck proportions. Evidence:

Woman leaves $12 million to dog. World's richest dog gives new meaning to term "rich bitch"

Dog wigs -Dog clothes not making your dog look human enough? Now your dog can look even more anthropomorphic (and creepy). I'm thinking about starting a fun feature section called "trend or horror movie premise" based on shit like this

Some random article about Japanese women who cart the dogs around in friggin baby strollers

I mean I like cute small dogs a whole lot, and though I wouldn't necessarily carry one around in a Louis Vuitton dog bag or anthropomorphize it, but I realize that's still socially acceptable (however unfortunate). But these three articles really take this to a whole other level.

The Diet Fork: is it a joke?

2007-08-25T14:33:00.001-05:00

Are normal, calorie-laden forks weighing you down and ruining your diet? Thank goodness that you can now buy the Diet Fork, with 100% fewer calories than your average fork.

From the website:

-The Diet Fork helps users eliminate over-indulgence while simultaneously creating a "chewing fitness." The characteristics of the Diet Fork allow dieters to "scoop less" food during meals.
-Because of the design of the Diet Fork, dieters will eat slower, assisting in weight loss.
-In this health-conscious society where people are constantly searching for a way to a healthier lifestyle -- the Diet Fork is going to change they way we eat.

On one hand eating slower is a good method to control your weight. On the other hand, this is an invitation for your friends and family to shit bricks over your weight loss methods. The other day I picked up a Diet Tonic Water with Lime for a vodka tonic that never got made. I left it on my dresser and forgot about it, until my roommate's boyfriend came in, looked at it and announced that he was "in the process of shitting a brick right now" over my "diet water." Geezus people, tonic water has like 60 calories. It's totally not the same as real water.

The point is that paying $8.95 for a diet fork is kind of going too far. Why not just use chopsticks? Slow down your eating and look pretentious at the same time!

REAL LIFE FASHION POLICE PROPOSE BAN

2007-08-25T03:42:00.000-05:00

Real-life Fashion Police aka City Council Members are trying to pass a law in Atlanta banning low-slung baggy pants that expose the victim's underwear. Yahoo! News story

The ordinance, of which AFP obtained a copy, states that "the dress fad of wearing low hanging/saggy pants which exposes ones underwear is becoming a major concern for communities, cities and states around the country."

Its not just for the high school dress code anymore kids! It's a major moral concern. Domestic abuse and child neglect step aside kthx.

Press reports have said that the proposed changes would make it illegal for women to run wearing just a sports bra, or to expose their bra straps.

"The ordinance doesn't mention anything about bras. The American Civil Liberties Union brought that up," Chambers said.

Yeah I bet the ordinance doesn't mention anything about bras. Or female underwear in general. Also, does this ban extend to whale tails or is it only limited to the male equivalent? If the girl is ugly and way too much is hanging out, can they fine her? THERE ARE SO MANY QUESTIONS!

Apparently there is already a ban on low hanging baggy pants in another southern city in Louisiana.

Can we ban crocs? Everytime I see someone wearing them I believe in God a little less. They can't be good for the public morality. Think of the children!

Women goes six weeks without washing

2007-08-24T15:53:00.001-05:00

Dailymail has an article up about a woman who, fed up with expensive and time-consuming beauty products and routines, decided to go six weeks without washing herself. Not just soap.. water and toothpaste and EVERYTHING.

After six weeks, her hair was greasy and one of her teeth needed a filling. Nicky says the worst thing was feeling socially ostracized and the low self esteem that came with it.

Ths most surprising thing is what happened to her skin - it looked healthier than it had in years!

Of course, she wasn't putting makeup products on her face at all, which explains a lot.

The Beholder can't pay the bills, needs more readers

2007-08-24T14:39:00.000-05:00

Bloggers that get readers are happy bloggers. And happy bloggers write more!

Case in point: I wasn't planning on updating today, but then I checked out the stats for the page and noticed I got a lot more readers yesterday than any other day this week. That made me really happy, so I dug up some news stories to post and give people something to look at.

So far I haven't advertised very much. Since updates were sporadic for a long time and I really didn't know what sort of direction to go with the site content anyway, I've relied mostly on word of mouth and hoped that my content was interesting enough to bring people back and get them to talk about it. I know it's not a good method and there are way better ways to get the word out, something I'm hoping to do soon.

Uh yeah, I guess this reads like a pity post. This is why I tagged it with the keyword "whoring"

J Crew can pay the bills

2007-08-24T14:19:00.000-05:00

I am not a huge J Crew shopper but a couple of days ago I decided I really liked some of their jackets and long sleeve shirts and spent awhile perusing their store. While I was shopping, an employee appeared and started handing out free bottled water to shoppers. What!

I've been in stores where they serve customers with bottled water before, but since when does J Crew do this? Like I said I don't shop there often so I could be missing something here.

Anyway, after that I was less surprised when I read that J Crew is starting a luxury line this fall called the J Crew Collection. Read about it here.

Basically it's J Crew stuff, only higher quality, and thus more expensive.

Will this kind of scheme really work - starting out cheap and launching a luxury line? Usually you see a designer/store launching a cheap, lower quality sister line (see previous post)

Stores are moving up the class scale; designers move down.

(the picture isn't really from the J Crew collection by the way, I just wanted to put up a generic preppy photo)

Vera Wang can't pay the bills

2007-08-24T13:54:00.000-05:00

IN case you haven't heard, Vera Wang is set to design a line of clothes exclusively for Kohls. What? Vera Wang selling in the same place as Eminem's clothing line? That's Shaaaaady.

But why Kohls? Why would Kohls want Vera Wang? I mean, when designers turn to Target at least you can say Target is the classiest of the Holy Trinity of Retail (Wal-Mart, K-Mart, and Target), what can you say about Kohls? Since when are they trying for class? Granted I've only been to one Kohls and it was in Yukon, Oklahoma, but it was maybe a low-middle-tier department store at best. Maybe that was just a shithole Kohls. Whatever.

The important thing is I like Vera Wang and her Simply Vera collection will feature all sorts of pretty fun things

Article here

Find Jeans that fit, the lazy way

2007-08-23T00:24:00.001-05:00

Want to know what jeans will fit you best without trying on a bazillion pairs?! Zafu.com can help you! All you have to do is answer a few questions - I was intimidated at first, being too lazy to whip out the tape measure or anything, but actually the questions are based on how jeans usually fit you. They even have a checklist where you can mark what you want your jeans to do for you - whether it's make your butt look bootylicious or hide skinny legs. Then they spit out a list of results at you, giving you everything from designer denim to Old Navy.

I'm pretty dumb when it comes to jeans. Until senior year of high school, I had no idea that girls jeans were supposed to FIT you.. all my jeans were baggy on me, thanks to shopping trips with mom. Actually, that was a pretty big theme with all my clothes, so much so that I thought I was a size ten for two or three years (more like a four. Thanks, mom).

Zafu also has the same search tool for bras. I'm a little better at picking out bras, mostly because I used to work at Victoria's Secret. Hint: get measured about twice a year, they can change for no reason! And different brands are sized differently, much like clothing. Who woulda thought.

Beating the Freshman 15: Not your school's advice

2007-08-19T20:11:00.001-05:00

Going into Freshman year, I planned to do the impossible: not only would I beat the Freshman 15, I would reverse it, negate it, actually lose 15 pounds.

I thought my chances were good; I had spent the last year learning everything I could about calories, fat, and healthy eating to get down to my goal weight. I had already been exposed to the "all-you-can-eat-ANYTIME" cafeteria plan for the last two years because I went to a residential high school. I picked the furthest dormitory availiable so I'd be forced to walk everywhere (it sucked in the winter, but it was worth it). And I didn't gain fifteen pounds; I barely gained anything, and I went out drinking at least three times a week, usually more. Okay, so I didn't lose fifteen pounds, but I still did pretty damn good, right?

I'm moving into my new apartment tomorrow, and so ends my brilliant summer bachlorette eating plan where I buy a small amount of food every two days and eat only that. When it's gone it's gone, and if I binge, I can't go crazy - I only have enough food for two days anyway so I couldn't eat 5000 calories if I tried. Plus I do my shopping at night, and I'm not prone to weird cravings then, so I'm more logical with my purchases - salads and sushi instead of bagels and muffin tops that go straight to your.. well I think you get it.

It's the perfect arrangement, and it ends tomorrow. Now the house is always going to be stocked with food - and not just healthy food, shit food my roommates buy. I love my roommates, but they have horrible eating habits. One of them gained no less than 30 pounds freshman year!! Probably more. Yikes!

I decided I wanted a scale for the apartment (I've had one available to me every day but it's not mine) so I asked the roommate if she wanted to buy one with me. Her reply? "I don't want a scale, I don't want to know how much I weigh"

Ignoring the problem is a lot of fun - I do it with the bills after shopping trips - but I know she wants to lose weight and ignoring the problem doesn't help anyone. Or maybe she is being a cheapskate and just pretending so she doesn't have to go in for the scale. Whatever.

What worries me the most is that a lot of girls, like my roommate, gain freshman year and don't even realize it. You'd think you would notice a fatter tummy right? THINK AGAIN. About twenty-five pounds after school started my roommate mentioned "I think I've gained a few pounds since I haven't been to hockey practice" let me tell you, I ran to the nearest scale to make sure mine eyes weren't deceiving ME. So with this in mind, here are a few back-to-college tips for keeping weight off.. and I'm not going to tell you to lay off the alcohol because seriously, why would you do that.

1. GET A SCALE - In case you did't read the last two paragraphs YOU CAN GAIN WEIGHT REALLY FAST AND NOT REALIZE IT. Get a scale or find access to one and weigh yourself weekly so you aren't in for an unfortunate surprise next time you go home.

2. GET A FARAWAY DORM - Obviously you want to consider one close to your classes, but if you can get something near the school building while also being far away from the cafeteria DO IT. As I mentioned before, I had a far away dorm room, which cut down on my snacking whims, but I also can't count how many times I woke up a few minutes before class and it was too cold out so I decided to just not go. So yeah, go to class, just not to brunch.

3. GET THE MOST RESTRICTIVE MEAL PLAN - We had three options for meal plans at my college, with one that included nighttime meals. I picked the one that had the fewest hours available to go eat, with meals ending at about 7:30 and no nighttime meals. It's cheaper too.

4. DRINK LIGHT BEER, GET DIET MIXERS - Most people around here drink light beer anyway becaues you can drink a whole lot more of it. If you buy alcohol consider getting diet coke for your rum and coke. Look up alcohol calories if you have an idea of what you'll be getting. You burn off alcohol calories before anything else, so I never saw a problem with drinking because I would be very energetic after drinking anyway and burn it all off. Don't throw up on purpose, but when it's 2am and you're leaning over a frat house toilet while wearing high heels and puking up all that vodka you just drank, look at the bright side.

Also realize that if you plan on drinking at night, cut back on calories during the day. Don't get dessert - partying is much sweeter - and if you drink soft drinks for the love of god, stop. You could replace all your soft drinks with alcohol, get about the same calories and have a hell of a lot more fun.

5. BUY HEALTHY SNACKS - Because you don't have a late night meal plan, you'll want to snack sometimes and you do NOT want to steal your roommates food because it is probably shitty and unhealthy and they will get pissed off at you. So buy a few healthy things. It's really tempting to buy a lot of cheap junk food; consider buying healthier more expensive food, but buying a lot less of it. Then you can eat less, eat healthier and save money too.

Nicole takes the twins for a walk

2007-08-18T00:38:00.001-05:00

As you can see Nicole Ritchie was photographed recently walking next to a lampshade, and it looks like pregnancy is doing her wonders.. she's not a stick! She has boobs! She looks amazing in this dress, though in other pictures you can definately see her tummy. Even with morning sickness, I bet she throws up a lot less these days. (cheap shot, I know, sorry)

Speaking of mommies, some very pregnant lady sat next to me at the bus stop the other day. And then lit up a cigarette. What the hell!

New spa treatment or horror movie premise?

2007-08-17T15:08:00.000-05:00

Getting poison injected into your face to firm it up is totally normal. Even the Ugly Betty episode where that one girl it advised to get duck jizz injected into her skin for a younger look sounds reasonable, at least in comparison to going into a spa and paying to have small fish nibble at your flesh.

A newly emerged "fish spa" is becoming fashionable in many hot spring resorts, and has attracted even more customers, all curious about this peculiar treatment.

At such a spa, many Garra Rufa, a type of small tropical fish, also nicknamed Chinchin Yu, nibble fish or simply doctor fish, are put in hot springs. As they can live and swim freely in at least 43-degree-hot waters, they are naturally used for the treatment of skin diseases in such spas.

So its painless, but also really, really creepy. Loofah plz?

Source

Eat Chocolate, Smile

2007-08-17T14:28:00.000-05:00

According to Fox News a research team at Tulane has discovered that a certain extract of cocoa powder found in chocolate might be more effective at fighting cavities than flouride in toothpaste. Not included in study: research done on actual humans, evidence if it has cavity fighting properties in its natural form (candy bar) or just once extracting, etc, impressionable people that think eating chocolate candy is better than ever and forget about sugar...

Source

High Fashion and Pop Culture: The Simpsons

2007-08-17T14:09:00.000-05:00

Okay so this news is really old, but it's way fun and I had to make a post about it some time. Harper's Bazaar did a fashion spread featuring Simpsons characters and Simpson-ized designers as well as a cartoon Linda Evangelista in August.

I love the Donatella character!! Also included are Lanvin, Jean Paul Gaultier, Chanel, Louis Vuitton, and Viktor & Rolf.

See the rest here.

POSH BEGINS MAKING CLONE ARMY

2007-08-17T13:46:00.001-05:00

So some irrelevent ex Big Brother contestant has been spotted around LA dressed exactly like her role model and idol Posh Spice. Many many times. Wearing the same things Posh wore days earlier, only they are cheaper versions (I guess reality TV doesn't pay like it used to)

At least she openly admits she wants to be just like Posh, other than that the whole thing is really creepy. I like Posh, I like her look, but are people so devoid of personality they have to copy other people down to the last touch? Elvis impersonators don't get as creepily close to their goal as this chick does.

But then again she's gotten publicity from the whole thing so maybe we're the ones being played. SNAP

Kitsch and Home Decorating Aesthetics

2007-08-16T16:21:00.000-05:00

This blog is really supposed to be focused on personal beauty, but I've been thinking a lot lately about home decorating. I'm moving into a new apartment Monday after living in a frat house all summer with a room that came predecorated with stuff like a sign that says "BONG Recreation Area EXIT 340 Wisconsin" and "I'M GORGEOUS INSIDE." It's kind of fun but I'm really looking foward to having a classier decorating scheme.

If fashion is a form of art, so is home decorating; a well decorated room creates a certain atmosphere. I want mine to inspire creativity and motivate me, but look young and feminine at the same time. I want decorations to be no-nonsense, with a purpose in mind, but without looking too stuffy. I mean, I am a teenage girl in college.

So I was sitting up late last night watching TV and after South Park this infommercial came on for SMC (Specialty Merchandise Corporation) which is basically a home business idea that functions off of selling crap to people who sell it at a higher price to other people. It was like my eyes were being opened - suddenly I understood how stores specializing in crappy statuettes were given life and breath. I added SMC to my list of Things That Are Destroying The World but continued watching because it's really funny how they try to pass off a dolphin potpourii holder as a high quality unique item. God I love late night TV.

Some awesome stuff you can get from SMC:

"Cowboy Rooster With Lasso"

"Alligator wine bottle holder" (why, why would anybody who drinks wine put it in this? SOMEBODY PLEASE TELL ME)

The point of the post is that because of my immanent decor shopping trip I've been thinking a lot about kitsch and what makes something tacky. Have you ever seen an object and thought it looked bad, or tacky, or tasteless, but you couldn't quite figure out why it looked that way to you, especially when other people liked the thing? I have an easy rule for explaining tackiness/kitsch/camp and it is this: Anything that tries to be something else sucks. This rule also applies to people and style and fashion and all sorts of things, it's really useful.

What are your rules for art and home decorating? What stores do you like and which ones do you hate? What does kitsch/camp mean to you, and what are some of the worst examples of this style you've seen? I guess asking questions implies that I have readers which I'm still not totally sure about, but it at least makes it look less like I'm just rambling to myself about asinine stuff.

Fifteen Dollars in Heaven, and the Picky Shopper

2007-08-16T14:43:00.001-05:00

Heaven: the ultimate shopping experience

Classier than the dollar store but less fun than TJ Maxx, the Fifteen Dollar Store is REAL and on a web site near you. It's basically all kinds of women's clothing - dresses, shoes, jackets, purses, you name it - and everything is $15. They have a lot of junk type things but like many other discount stores, you can find good brands if you're willing to look.

I know this sounds like a sales pitch but it's seriously cool, go look.

In other news, I suck at shopping. A couple of days ago I decided to go shopping for college clothes, so I hopped the bus to the mall after work (how stylish am I?) and then spent five hours going through every promising store at one of the biggest malls in America looking for the perfect clothes. I left with two candles, two books, some incense, and a demoralized spirit. I even stopped looking at price tags in hope I would find SOMETHING..

I went back yesterday and bought a paid of boots, a pink purse and another book so I guess I'm getting closer to my goal. When I got home I bought a jacket from kitson so maybe by the time school actually starts I will have found a new pair of earrings and a couple of shirts. I guess I'm a picky shopper.

I also find myself putting away things I really like in stores that I deem too expensive, especially if they're from a good/well-known brand, because "I can find this online for much cheaper." It's a smart tactic, and I've saved a lot of money, but you can take it too far. You can't find everything online, and you can't guarantee if it'll fit, and there's a lot of value in actually handling things before you pay for them, you know?

Sometimes I feel like I just hate fashion. But I also hate things that people who hate fashion wear, so I guess that shows that deep down I do care..

When you go shopping, do you go all out and find tons of things you LOVE? Or do you spend the hours agonizing over details, leaving stores to think over your prospective purchases before you pay?

Not quite a brand snob but getting there,
The Beholder

Dove's new hair ad, and the return of The Beholder

2007-08-13T14:43:00.000-05:00

Dove has a new hair ad that plays out in the same vein as the photoshop ad. Check it out:

Something about the Dove ads really screams bullshit to me. Maybe it's just that they're trying too hard to act like they really care about something when they really just want to sell shit to impressionable people and that's what sets my bullshit detector off. Also, what is "real beauty" supposed to mean anyway? Who the hell knows?
It's like when people accuse runway models of not being "real." I mean, yeah, they're unnatural, and they have a team of makeup artists and hairstylists behind them, which isn't really a secret; it's not like they are androids or something, just targets for insecure loudmouths and former models with talk shows.
One thing dove has come out with recently that's intriguing is the moisterizing deodorant or whatever it is. Has anybody tried it? Is it good? I've been using Secret for years because I think it works best, but this new one sounds good.

In other news, I didn't die and neither did the site; I still have tons of stuff to say about fashion and beauty so don't worry. I went on vacation for the better part of a month, and I quit updating because I really wanted to examine the direction I wanted the site to go before trying to get publicity for it. Also, college is starting soon and I'll have tons of time sitting around in lecture halls with my computer which probably means more posts (or more time on facebook) so keep reading!

Don't be lazy when robots go crazy

2007-06-14T17:41:00.000-05:00

Good news! I'm going to be in NYC till Tuesday, so there probably won't be any more updates until Tuesday or Wednesday. What will you do without me? Solution: pass hernameisaphrodite.blogspot.com on to friends and acquantices. Link to it from your blog. That will make you feel a lot better!

Angelina looks like a million bucks in $26 dress

2007-06-14T17:30:00.000-05:00

Angelina Jolie showed up to the "A Mighty Heart" premiere wearing a vintage dress that cost her only $26. Oh the things you can find!

Don't worry, her heels were Christian Louboutin and cost hundreds.

Good for Angie! You know, I picked up a Dolce & Gabbana skirt for $4 at a thrift store the other day. You have to love it!

Source

20 EASY ways to burn 100 calories

2007-06-13T20:27:00.000-05:00

eDiets has an article up describing 20 easy ways to burn 100 calories. How easy? Easy enough for me to appreciate; there are a few sports/workout-type things on the list, but mostly it's useful stuff like vacuuming, ironing, and walking.

My favorites:

1. Vacuuming -- 25 minutes of vacuuming around your home will burn just about 100 calories.

3. Walking -- The easiest and one of the most natural movements known to human beings is walking. Fifteen minutes of brisk walking will burn approximately 100 calories. A brisk daily walk at lunchtime or after work will make a difference.

12. Swimming -- I’m not referring to swimming laps or training for the Olympics. Just a 15-minute leisurely swim will get us to our goal.

I like how they stress "moderate intensity" in many of the descriptions. Unfortunately one question is left unanswered: how long do you have to have sex to burn 100 calories? (answers) (Okay, seriously, here is a better way to count that)

Iced coffees I've tried recently because they were free

2007-06-13T20:11:00.001-05:00

So you've seen all the paparazzi photos of skinny celebrities, going about town while drinking iced coffee. It's a trendy, low-calorie treat, and the smell off coffee itself is said to reduce appetite. I love iced coffee. It was my favorite drink in Japan, and they always these little containers like creamer containers but that contained liquid sugar instead. Where can you get these? I haven't seen them in the US but they always came with iced coffee in Japan. I know you can get all kinds of sugar syrups in bottles but these are little one-serving containers. Anyway.

Dunkin Donuts - "America runs on Duncan Donuts Iced Coffee"

Didn't they just come out with this? America already runs on it? Anyway I got a free Dunkin Donuts plain iced coffee as part of a promotion a few weeks ago. The coffee drink itself was mediocre, but I asked for sugar, and to my surprise there was granular sugar in the thing. You either have to put your sugar/splenda in the hot coffee so it melts into it, or use a syrup. The good thing is they have lots of flavors, like berry berry, vanilla, and chocolate. Here you can find some nutrition facts on the coffee.

Friendly's Iced Coffee

I got this last week during Friendly's free iced coffee promotion. It was okay; I didn't ask for sugar, but it did come with whipped cream on top because I forgot to order no whip. Always order no whip! It adds about 100 calories and doesn't belong on iced coffee anyway. I couldn't find nutritionals on this, but I would expect about 60-100 for the drink itself with all that cream in it, and then there's the whipped topping.

Clearly to get the best iced coffee, you have to go to Japan (or perhaps starbucks). I drank 2-3 glasses of the stuff every day. The best iced coffee I ever made at home was made by brewing Starbucks coffee, adding in Splenda to taste, fridging it till cold, and then adding in sugar-free vanilla coffeemate (liquid). I've yet to try Starbucks Iced Coffee; I'm addicted to the sugar-free frappuchinos so I just get that whenever I go there.

Would Aphrodite approve?

2007-06-11T16:49:00.000-05:00

Dorothy had her Ruby slippers. Cinderella had glass heels. But neither pair compare to these solid gold shoes designed by an Italian designer.

I'm not sure what to think; are these things extravangantly tacky or beautifully luxurious? What do you think?

FitFlops - shoes that tone your legs

2007-06-11T12:50:00.000-05:00

Summer's hottest casual footwear! Unlike normal flipflops, FitFlops help trim and tone your legs while you're walking.

"Every step you take in the FitFlop helps tone and trim your legs.

"Conventional footwear is designed to keep the foot stable so the muscles are more relaxed.

"The FitFlop destabilizes the foot slightly, creating a more continuous tension in the supporting muscles of the foot and leg.

"Every step you take in your FitFlops improves your core muscle strength, absorbs shock on your feet, knees and back, encourages better posture and stronger muscles and burns calories.

"They can help reduce cellulite and slim and tone your thighs and get you that much closer to having longer, leaner looking legs."

These sound great! I wonder how comfortable they are to walk in? Most people wear flip flops to be comfortable in the first place. It defeats the point to have uncomfortable shoes that are also ugly.

Artcle here - Find stores here.

Shiny Shiny

2007-06-09T10:26:00.000-05:00

Sorry for the lack of posts yesterday; I ended up going out and doing a bunch of birthday stuff (mine is actually today). Here are some web finds for the weekend:

This site has got a list of the world's 10 most famous diamonds. But where is the hope diamond?

Wcbstv has a story about a teenager missing the lower half of his face, who is hoping a doctor in New York City can rebuild it, using a bone from his hip as a jaw.

And if you're really bored, uber.com has compiled a list of the "top ten most androgynous celebrities."

Attack of the killer shoes

2007-06-07T17:23:00.000-05:00

When I heard about Reef Stash Flip-Flops, my first thought was "This is great. Finally, shoes that you can inconspicuously hide your weed stash in!" because that's totally what they're implying, right? Reef stash? The only way it could be a more obvious name would be if they were actually mary janes instead of flip-flops. I think if they want to go anywhere with this idea, they should market sole-y (hahaha) to drug users.

In other news regarding shoes with hidden features, there's the aphrodite project, which aims to help sex workers have safer working conditions.

Platforms, the latest series of work in the ongoing Aphrodite Project, is a social sculpture: an interactive, wearable device that is a conceptual homage to the cult of the Greek goddess of love, Aphrodite, a practical object for contemporary sex workers, and a vehicle for public dialogue.

The platforms have a GPS tracker as well as an alarm system imbedded in the heel. Also included on the heels is a video screen for "advertising."

BDSM Spice

2007-06-07T16:53:00.000-05:00

Posh continues with her classy hooker themed look by stepping out to lunch in a chic little dress and spike-studded stilettos, similiar to the collar like chokers and bracelets you find at Hot Topic, and, unfortunately, Claires when it was catering to the Avril Lavigne-punk crowd.

I love fetishy clothing, and the heels are sexy enough to work away from the cliche. Do you think they would let you through the airport wearing these?

The man without a face

2007-06-06T21:48:00.000-05:00

Plastic surgery can do amazing things. Just how far CAN you go? In this video you can see the guy with the world record for the most extensive facial prosthesis. And him taking half his face off and then snapping it back on. Of course it was reconstructive surgery for a much worse problem then not having a nose like Angelina Jolie.

Personally I think plastic surgery is great; in the old days you either had breasts or you didn't, but now for a few k you can pick what kind of breasts you want and how big and round they are. Of course men will argue they don't feel as nice as regular old breasts, but this blog focused on aesthetics, not kinesthetics.

The problem is it can be addicting knowing you have that kind of power. As soon as I pick out one thing I'd like to go under the knife for, I have a whole list of things. Absolute power corrupts absolutely. In a few years, I'll be a derranged egomaniac with a barbie-doll body.

Posh posh posh

2007-06-05T17:37:00.001-05:00

Good news: Lots of posts today!
Other news: Victoria Beckham showed up to the Glamour Women of the Year Awards wearing this:

Wow Victoria. Remember, she showed up to the MTV Movie Awards on Sunday wearing this. I used to think Posh was very classy and, well, posh, but if I had to name her recent style I would call it Classy Hooker.

These biker gloves have been showing up a lot this year. I've seen them on Rhianna, Lindsay and now Victoria. You know I had biker gloves once too. In elementary school. When I was really into DBZ.

Nah, actually, I quite like gloves.

Source: Hollyscoop

News And Stuff

2007-06-05T16:52:00.000-05:00

I won't make too many posts about stuff I do, but today is kind of relevant. I had to clear out of the house all day until 3pm because they got an exterminator to come in, so how do you think I spent my time? Mall! It's been a few weeks. And by a few weeks I mean since last night, but we only went to see Shrek 3.

First of all, I went and got my hair dyed. I didn't realize how faded out it had gotten.. I usually dye my hair black and leave the ends a lighter shade of brown, but when I went in I had medium-brown roots and the rest of my hair was dark brown bordering on black. I got all of my hair dyed "natural" black, and it looks great.

Then I went shopping. I'm kind of on a budget this summer, but my birthday is in four days so I decided to treat myself. I went to a lingere store and bought stockings, the kind that attach to a garter belt (I actually have a corset I'm planning on attaching them to). I wanted some "dressy" shorts to wear this summer. Solution: Bebe.

I love the sales at Bebe so so much. I can always find great Bebe clothes for half off or more. I have a bunch of shirts from there and I haven't bought any of them even close to the original price

I went into Wet Seal out of boredom, and found a great long dress (below). I actually got it in red but I couldn't find a picture on the website. I've been wanting a long dress a lot, and this one is just casual enough to work for me; it's very flattering too.

I feel like I should carry a huuge bag when I'm wearing it, but I don't know what color, just that my Juicy Couture bag does not work. Wet Seal had all these purses on sale for $10 and there was a white one I liked, but I think black would go better with this dress. I'm not entirely sure what I want to wear it with yet, but it looks smashing with my hair dyed..

In other news, this site has gotten a lot more hits in the past few days. I'm kind of a n00b at blogging on stuff that isn't just my life. One direction I really want to go with this site is to post more beauty news, products, and tips that you can use personally. Right now I think I post too many celebrity pictures and there are ten billion other sites that do that. I know; I counted.

Get your beauty sleep

2007-06-05T16:26:00.000-05:00

It's no coincidence that the fairty tale princess who got plenty of sleep was a real beauty. Okay, maybe it's only because all fairy-tale women were lovely princesses, but you know sleep helps you look better, right? Here are forty amazing facts about sleep.

My favorites:

Scientists have not been able to explain a 1998 study showing a bright light shone on the backs of human knees can reset the brain's sleep-wake clock.
Some studies suggest women need up to an hour's extra sleep a night compared to men, and not getting it may be one reason women are much more susceptible to depression than men.
Seventeen hours of sustained wakefulness leads to a decrease in performance equivalent to a blood alcohol-level of 0.05%.

This is great, I've taken at least two literature finals without any sleep at all, and still got As; I should have shown up after drinking a couple of beers instead.

Woman with only two fingers and toes

2007-06-05T16:12:00.001-05:00

spluch.blogspot.com has a story about an attractive young lady with only two fingers on each hand and two toes on each foot. Uh, kind of reminds me of the ostrich people...

She has designed clothing for people with disabilities and even done catwalk.

That being said, she's very pretty!

I have seen a lot of stories about people with missing/deformed limbs who take care of their appearance very well. One that comes to mind is a woman who didn't have any arms, but who was really gorgeous and could do most things using her feet, including shopping for groceries and taking care of her baby.

There's no reason to let yourself go!

Happy Birthday Angelina Jolie

2007-06-04T12:54:00.001-05:00

One of the most beautiful celebrities in the world, Angelina Jolie turns 32 today. Holy shit!

She's gorgeous - and she looks beautiful all the time. I can't wait to see Atlas Shrugged because I'm pretty sure if Dagny Taggart were a real person and were an attractive Hollywood actress, she would be Angelina Jolie. I'm also pretty sure Brad Pitt is John Galt.

Paris Hilton Mugshots!

2007-06-04T10:59:00.001-05:00

It's a little tasteless to post here. But look anyway -

Probably one of the defining photographs of the year! I'll do a before-and-after post in 23 days (or less).

Source: TMZ

NEWS ABOUT THAT ONE SHOW I DON'T CARE ABOUT

2007-06-03T16:16:00.000-05:00

The newest winner of American Idol has been announced, and while I don't care about that, what I do care about is that everybody is talking about how the Jordin Sparks, is, perhaps, well, some people consider that she's maybe just a little bit too big boned, I guess? Since I like to focus on how beauty is portrayed and treated in today's media, here's a news video with a lot of people I don't recognize or care about discussing this:

Points brought up in the video:
"She looks normal.. most people who are watching today are probably bigger than Jordin." - Which incidentally doesn't make her not overweight; one third of Americans over age 20 are considered overweight according to here, and as the saying goes, what's normal isn't always right;
"She's not a vision of health, she's a vision of unhealth." - I'm not saying that unhealth isn't a word or that it's not the negation of health, I'm just saying it doesn't sound very smart. Other people in the media who are visions of unhealth, though not overweight: Nicole Richie, Britney Spears, pretty much anyone female that gets a lot of media attention.

I'm not qualified to say if she's overweight or not, but really I think everybody is missing the point here. She has a little meat on her bones, but if she wants to improve her image, she should stop wearing her hair so curly because it's clearly the most unattractive thing about her.

She's going to convince kids everywhere that curly hair is okay, and it's not. Most of the time it just looks frizzy and awkward, and everyone knows that it's harder to clean well, so it's unhygienic. Americon Idol isn't just a vaguely interesting and popular TV show; it's supposed to promote healthy lifestyle choices and aesthetic standards. How dare they do this!

Saturday

2007-06-02T19:25:00.001-05:00

For future reference, I might not update on weekends as often as during the week, though during the school year the reverse may be true. Here's an old article I read awhile back: weird beauty products from Japan. Side Mouth Toner looks like QVC's facial flex. Although, are any of these things as weird as lip venom? The things people will do...

Aphrodite Friday

2007-06-01T12:01:00.000-05:00

I'm starting a new feature on this site: every friday I will make a post featuring a depiction of the titular Aphrodite from some, usually classic, art form (sculpture, paint, etc.) along with a paragraph or so explaining the picture. Up this friday is a morphing video montage called 500 years of women in art, featuring many portraits of beautiful women as well as a few Aphrodites.

Already this has been all around the internet, but it's exactly the kind of thing I'd like to put on my page and especially for this special, so here you go.

Forbes: Hottest Billionaire Heiresses

2007-06-01T10:56:00.000-05:00

Forbes has compiled a top ten list of the hottest billionaire heiresses, including Ivanka Trump, the Hiltons, and Amanda Hearst. Apparently they gave more weight to media attention than physical attractiveness, so guess who is number one. Really, just guess. Personally I'm partial to Ivanka Trump; I think she's an intelligent and beautiful woman and I picked out the most flattering picture of her for this article to show my bias; also on the list is Julia Louis-Dreyfus, or Elaine from Seinfeld.

Check it out at Forbes.

This is pretty f**ked up right here

2007-05-31T10:44:00.000-05:00

See here for commentary

You know, I wanted to be like Lindsay Lohan when I was this girl's age too. Except when I was in fourth grade she was doing wholesome movies like The Parent Trap, not stripping in R rated films. Also: how the hell does tanning cost $1300? Do they include the tanning bed AND an ounce of cocaine in the Lohan treatment too?

Tyra Banks is insecure, insulting

2007-05-31T10:18:00.000-05:00

A few months ago Tyra Banks wouldn't shut up about how happy she was with her "eat to enjoy" (or: steak and potatoes) diet and how "if [she] were more insecure" she would start dieting right away. After trying to be a hero for women everywhere and assuring insecure girls that they had nothing to be ashamed of, she insults everyones memory by deciding that she actually was ashamed of her body and losing the weight really fast, then posing for magazines.

Oh no you don't Tyra. People may forgive and forget, but that was only a couple of months and 30 pounds ago.

To be clear: I don't think Tyra was really that fat and I don't think losing weight means you're insecure with yourself. It's a healthy move. Tyra pretty much said all that stuff about insecurity herself.

I wanna see your c-string

2007-05-31T09:46:00.000-05:00

This just in - new "invisible underwear" - the catch line reminds me of this time on the way to a play where I had a discussion with one of my female friends about hypothetical futuristic force-field bras, which could lift and seperate using anti-gravity, no straps required. Only this isn't as good of an idea. I imagine it's useful for formal wear, but why not just go commando like they did in the old days? I really like the top straps on thongs, really. Imagine some girl with her thong peeking out of her low-rise pants, only instead of a thong it's just a red string. How do you explain that? Tampon gone horribly wrong?

Check it out at lovehoney.co.uk.

How to get whiter teeth in 60 seconds with items that cost less than $1

2007-05-31T09:32:00.000-05:00

White Teeth In 1 Min With $1 - The most popular videos are a click away

According to this video, a bowl of cigarette ash + a freshly squeezed lemon + a toothbrush is a cheap and powerful way to whiten your teeth. I really like how they used the same soundtrack you hear in your local McDonalds bathroom to accompany their video. This all sounds, and this is just, I dunno, a hunch, like a bad idea, but if anyone has tried it I'd love to hear about it. Hell I will probably try one day because I'm cheap and I don't think one go will cause severe damage, and I smoke cigarettes every day anyway. (note: smoking is bad for my teeth and lungs. It also makes my skin astonishingly clearer than it used to be. Hey, I'm not promoting smoking, I'm just saying..)

It's been awhile

2007-05-05T18:23:00.000-05:00

But I'm going to try to start this up again because university is over for the year, and while I don't know how much internet access I am going to have this summer, I miss blogging here. So I'll start doing news again soon, and for now here's a more personal post.

I've managed to avoid the Freshman 15, though I didn't escape the notorious college weight-gain completely as I've probably put on about five pounds this semester. Since it's summer and I want to wear tank tops and shorts and things, I've been using a lot of old tricks to hide the winter weight (until I lose it...). Here are some of the old tricks I like a lot:

Being tan makes you look slimmer; I suck at tanning so I've been using those daily self-tanners to get a bit of a healthy glow;
Heels make you look slimmer since they add to your height, balancing you out; I've picked up some cute new heels for the summer;
Sitting/standing up straight. A few years back I would slump over a lot to hide my tummy but of course it doesn't work like that.. standing up straight makes a huge difference. I don't think I lost that much weight to begin with, but when I started up straight all the time people noticed I looked much thinner.
Sucking it in; I have a lot of practice with this.. the trick is to get it just right so your ribs don't stick out a lot (do you all have this problem? I can make my tummy look super tiny, but then it's quite obvious). Helps to get a firm tummy! Standing up straight also helps with this.
Some of my shorts/jean skirts from last year have gotten a little tighter, so I wear a big thick belt with those so you don't see any pudginess when you're wearing a longer shirt.

Of course there are certain clothes you can wear that are more flattering and etc. etc., but I wanted to post tips that I do with whatever I'm wearing. Anyway, I have been eating more healthy foods and working out more so I can get into the 120s again. I'll probably post some more tips later. Peace!

Size Zero Hypocritical Bullshit

2007-03-12T13:11:00.001-05:00

I like how size zero's are currently called just that - not size zero models, or size zero women, or size zero girls; just size zeros. The same people who say that they don't want to be labelled because of their dress size or body type any more are the ones who are doing it the most, and this sad state of hypocrisy is what you see in the media today.

I am not concerned with sizes or BMIs. I am concerned with what is healthy and natural and what isn't. Tyra Banks is wrong. The news media is wrong. There are far more obese people in the United States than there are anorexics, so stop trying to make insecure people feel better about themselves. Eating fast food and cake every day is not healthy for you, and your body reflects that. It's not seen as beautiful today because it's an unhealthy state of affairs. I advocate healthy, natural food items; not necessarily anything organic either. I mean, you can buy organic cookies, and out of the millions of years human beings have been on this planet, how long have chocolate chip cookies been part of the human diet? I don't advocate pre-packaged diet foods. If you succeed at your diet, do you still need that diet? Why would diet companies want to help customers who will eventually stop paying the company when they reach their goal?

I don't like the media pushing girls to anorexia, as is claimed, but I dislike the other side of the argument even more. On one hand we have the actresses and models that glamorize thinness, and then we have a very vocal group that wants to abolish this and promotes all body types. That's great, not everyone is built in the same way, but if you're a 5 foot 2 inch girl with a thin frame and you weigh 200 pounds, you have a problem. People like Tyra Banks are trying to say that's okay and it's not. It's not healthy. I don't mean that you should loathe yourself and lose all confidence, but you need to do something different because what you've got isn't working. If you're happy with your weight you need to think about how you're going to be when you're thirty, or when you're forty, and what's going to happen when the excess catches up with you and starts affecting your health if it hasn't already. You have to think about what characteristics you posess that make you eat what you eat. I say fuck the diet industry, fuck the media, fuck Atkins, fuck South Beach, and fuck Tyra Banks. We need to go back to a diet that makes sense in terms of human evolution.

BRITNEY SPEARS HAS FASHION SENSE

2007-02-08T18:13:00.000-05:00

Aside from Paris Hilton's racism I was going to call this a boring news week, but Anna Nicole Smith just died. Wow. As much as everyone gives her shit she has gone through a ton. Anyway this is not a celebrity news blog, as sweet as that would be, so here are some pictures of Britney Spears. These are in chronological order so you can tell it just gets worse every day.

Pictures are stolen from all over. Does she even have a stylist? I can't wait till tomorrow.

JANICE DICKINSON IS A MEAN OLD BITCH

2007-02-06T15:52:00.000-05:00

WEIGHT A MINUTE
DICKINSON SCORNS EFFORTS TO REHABILITATE MODELING
By DEBORAH STARR SEIBEL

February 4, 2007 -- Nobody is taking height and weight measurements at New York Fashion Week to make sure the models aren't too thin. And if foul-mouthed former model Janice Dickinson has her way, even the mild new health recommendations proposed by the Council of Fashion Designers will bite the dust.

"It's bull," says Dickinson, now in the second season of Oxygen's "The Janice Dickinson Modeling Agency."

Dickinson says the new recommendations, prompted by Madrid's new minimum body mass index for models and the November death of a 21-year-old Brazilian model who died of anorexia, are ridiculous. They include developing workshops on the causes and effects of eating disorders, providing healthy backstage meals and snacks (instead of the usual cigarettes and champagne), keeping models under age 16 off the runway and requiring those identified as having an eating disorder to receive professional help.

The welfare of models should not be a concern of designers, Dickinson declares. "It's up to the models, the parents and the agents," says Dickinson, who is herself in the position of hiring models for her L.A. agency. "I'm dying to find kids who are too thin. I've got 42 models in my agency and I'm trying to get them to lose weight. In fact, I wish they'd come down with some anorexia." When you laugh at such politically incorrect statements, Dickinson yells back, "I'm not kidding. I'm running into a bunch of fat-assed, lazy little bitches who don't know how to do the stairs or get their butts into the gym."

One very pretty model candidate on the show came in for some particularly harsh Dickinson criticism. "She had a big, wide, low-slung ass. She's gotta do some stairs. She's gotta do lunges. She's gotta have sex on top. Anything to get her ass of the back of her knee-caps."

Dickinson, who says she's still the "perfect sample size four," says nothing about the beauty business has really changed "I've been saying this ever since Brooke Shields squeezed her 15-year-old little ass into a pair of Calvin Klein jeans (in 1980): Models are supposed to be thin. They're not supposed to eat. In fact, I'm not going to eat for the rest of the day because we had this conversation."

Wow. On one hand you can't deny she is a huge piece of dick. On the other hand, does having sex on top really improve your butt? What I mean is, she's an obnoxious bitch but I have to smile at her blatant political incorrectness. I also heard she was on CNN for a bit bashing Tyra evidently for gaining weight to "gain America's love" so I'll look for more on that.

POSH SPICE HAS A GOOD IDEA OF A NATURAL BODY

2007-02-01T12:01:00.000-05:00

According to the sun, Victoria Beckham will not be using size-zero models to promote her new Rock & Republic denim line but instead wants more "natural" looking models to give off a more positive image. She has chosen Brazilian model Daniella Sarahyba to promote the jeans, whom is described on her website as "voluptuous" with "curves and meat in all the right places." Here's the model:

Wikipedia lists Daniella's stats at 5'10" and 118lbs, putting her at a BMI of 16.9 which is definately underweight. I'm not going to start on Victoria Beckham because personally I'm a fan of hers and I think she's done the most anyone could expect of her. I could rip on this some more, but it's basically nitpicking on what's obvious and the girl is a lot healthier looking than Mrs. Beckham or someone else you'd think she would pick. At least people are trying. And it's Victoria Beckham that's trying, you have to give her credit.

Shopping insecurity

2007-02-01T11:04:00.000-05:00

I went shopping with one of my roommates yesterday and awhile I generally feel shopping is a fun and lighthearted venture, this time I actuallly commented to her "you know, shopping makes me feel insecure" to which she agreed.

I guess I never voiced it or pinpointed it, because when I think back on it, shopping for clothes almost always has its dark side. It was a lot worse when I shopped with my mom because she'd fit me in slightly out-of-style clothes that were a little too big which made me think I had a really weird body, but that was mom. Maybe it's the lights in Bebe. I think they're unflattering. I think the mirrors are at a bad angle too. Of course I think that and, logically, a store like Bebe would want everything to make you look fabulous.. maybe they didn't think that one through when they designed my local Bebe store?

GISELE BUNDCHEN HAS ALL THE ANSWERS

2007-01-28T14:31:00.000-05:00

SAO PAULO, Brazil Jan 20, 2007 (AP)— Gisele Bundchen has entered Brazil's growing debate over anorexia, saying families are to blame not the fashion industry.

"I never suffered this problem because I had a very strong family base," the supermodel told the local Globo newspaper on Friday. "The parents are responsible, not fashion."
More from ABC

I'm really glad we have an expert like professional lingere model Gisele Bundchen to uncover a vastly generalizing explanation for a complex psychological disorder like anorexia. I bet if you talked to her long enough, she'd tell you how to cure cancer. Also, I'd just like to point out that Wikipedia lists Gisele's stats as being 5'11" and weighing 127lbs, although most other places list her at 115 which seems a lot more accurate. Either way she's under BMI; at 127 she'd have a BMI of 17.5 which is almost passing depending on where you get your definition of underweight, but if she's really 115 like everyone says she'd be at 16.0 (18.0 and above is considered healthy), or 25% below her ideal body weight, and the way she talks you'd think she was the healthiest model out there. What a cow.

Jessica Biel

2007-01-25T17:52:00.000-05:00

So since I posted last I came back to campus and I've been pretty busy with college stuff (drinking, socializing, going to class) but I'll try to update at least every three days. Anyway Jessica Biel has been on a bunch of celebrity blogs lately because of her weight and workout regimen, and how she now supposedly has a great figure.

Props to her for working hard and eating WELL (Apparently she eats healthy food all week and at the end of the week has a small piece of chocolate, which I'm guessing is the only dessert she eats) but I think she is a little too built. Mostly it's in her arms. She has a great ass though, and looks very healthy.

Source: The Skinny Website

Because I love both jeans and, to a lesser extent, mathmatics

2007-01-13T22:29:00.000-05:00

Even though I don't have a layout up yet, I liked this news so much I decided I'd go ahead and post anyway. According to stylebites, you can now purchase jeans that have been constructed in accordance to the famous Golden Ratio! Featuring gold hardware and mathmatical perfection, you can snag the most divine jeans known to the fashion world for $220. Finally, some jeans the math geeks in my life can appreciate..

Coming soon to Her Name Is: actual layout, readers