Back in skinny jeans

The hottest animated Disney women and other feckless bites around the skinny-sphere

• Just 'cause you're animated in family friendly movies doesn't mean that you can't be subjected to the same objectifying "Top 10 Hot chick" lists. Even Disney characters are not free from human beauty hierarchy. [FanPop]

• And speaking of more "Hot" lists, Wired Online is trying to sex up nerd news by taking nominations for their "10 Sexiest Geeks" list. Some would say that Sexy Geek is an oxymoron, but we say not so. The Google boys, Larry and Sergey, maybe not so hot in high school, but now that they're billionaires, everyone wants to get in their pants. Oh pleez! You know it's true. [Wired]

• And what about that Google? Googlers need not worry about nitrates, MSG, or any other nasty artificial ingredients in their cafeteria food at the Googleplex. They are even conscious of how their eating habits effect the global community. Check out their list of "Google Culinary Team Kitchen Food Standards". Guess they need to stay healthy to keep that stock price up. [Valleywag]

• Need a super hero or villain name for that video game alias or that "Next-best-thing-to-Wonder  Woman" novel you've been working on? This nifty little name generator will help you out with that. You pick some themes, and it spits out some possibilities. For Back in Skinny Jeans the thriller, we get:  Enchantment Tooth, Mistress Chopper, Shape Snare, and Bomber Eater. Sounds like a cast of characters in my skinny nightmare on Elm St. [Seventh Sanctum]

I stand corrected. Rachel Hunter is NOT "pro larger models"

In my post, "Final female contestant in reality show "Make me a supermodel" is a size 12", I reported that contestant Jen Hunter, size 12 (UK) which is size 8 (US) was brandied by the judges as being "too fat" to be a supermodel. There were many "Hunters" involved in the Daily Mail article and I got them confused. There was Jen Hunter (contestant), Rachel Hunter (judge) and Fiona Hunter (nutritionist).

Well, me with my rosy glasses applauded judge Rachel Hunter for reprimanding the other judge Tandy Anderson for saying that Jen was too fat with her stocky legs. I read the article incorrectly, and some of my lovely readers made note in the comments. It's okay, so I investigated deeper, and yes they are correct. Rachel Hunter thinks that Jen is too zaftig (I'll be polite) to be a supermodel.

I couldn't find video of Rachel actually making the comments to Jen. From what I gathered, the event occurred on the November 10th episode (or sometime that week as they did several episodes a week). If you go to the official site of Make me a supermodel, you will see video clips and synopsis of the show, and in episode 12, Rachel does say to the affect, "I know people will boo about this but...." and then she goes on about how Jen is too big and that she isn't working hard enough to get trim. My rose colored glasses were smashed, and I am brought back to the harsh reality. Oh well! I can still dream.

I had never seen the show because it's in the UK, but from watching the video clips on their website, I was quite appalled by some of the things they had these model wanna-bes do. I can say that the only saving grace of this show was that the audience got to vote on who stayed and who had to leave. And doesn't that say something? The judges would have kicked Jen off from the very beginning if they had their way, but the viewers kept her on until she was the last woman standing. The audience loved Jen's looks so maybe future advertisers can learn something from this. Check out Jen's gallery. I don't see where she is fat at all.

Happy Birthday Matt!

Today is my sweetie pie's birthday.I just wanted to wish him a very, very wonderful day. He's the best ;-)

Taking care of triplets

Blogging is going to be light today because I have the joy, and challenge of babysitting my triplet nieces. Yes, today I am alone with three 15 month old girls. Oh my! Despite the fact that there are three of them and only one of me, the girls are very well behaved. I'm almost shocked at how low maintenance they are. And when I say low maintenance, I mean that I was expecting there to be lots of crying, grabbing, and liquids shooting from every orifice. So far, Houston, we have no issues ;-)

I have a deeper appreciation for the mothers who blog. The girls are absolutely fascinated with anything electronic and shiny. They especially like anything with some kind of flashing light like a cell phone screen, the red light on the TiVo remote, and a laptop with a really big shiny screen.

I'm sitting here on the couch typing, and the little ones are huddled around me on the edge of the couch like groupies just dying to get a touch of their favorite rock star. I realize it's the laptop and not Auntie Steph that they are willing to rip off their diapers for, and that's okay. I'm just lucky to be here with them ;-)

So, today, pray for me and us that we make it through until 5pm when Mommy gets home. All I have to say is thank goodness for Baby Einstein, and shiny, spiny things.

Final female model contestant in reality show "Make me A supermodel" is a size 12

The British reality show "Make me a Supermodel" is a group of 12 model hopefuls, both men and women, competing for a contract with the Select Model Management agency. Here is a picture of the final two women wearing the same swimsuit, Jen Hunter, size 12, and Marianne Berglund, with a BMI of 16.1. If she were in Spain, Miss Berglund would have been dismissed from catwalking in Fashion Week because she falls below the BMI of 18 which the Spain fashion council set as a minimum.

During the show, Jen Hunter, was criticized for being "too fat" while Marianne Berglund was praised for having a "sensational" body. See the distorted view of the world through skinny goggles. As well:

"Judge Tandy Anderson, managing director of Select Model Management, criticized Jen for having "stocky" legs while supermodel Rachel Hunter, a fellow panelist, reprimanded her {Judge Tandy} for saying she wanted to prove larger women could be successful models."

Bravo for Rachel Hunter! Jen did not win the overall competition, one of the guys did, but she was the last female standing. There is a remarkable difference in these two women in the same swimsuit. Marianne looks like she is in desperate need of a sandwich, and Jen looks like a 40's pinup girl. Despite the harsh critics, Jen has a very confident attitude. She states:

"This is what a real woman should look like. I am all curves and flesh, not skin and bone. Boys, who would you rather snuggle up to?"

The boys commenting over at Digg on this story definitely would prefer snuggling up to Jen. There's 1,714 diggs to this story (as of 12:07am PST) which is phenomenal. See ladies, boys really do love curves and not stick insects. And thankfully, despite the petty and mean "too fat" and highly distorted "sensational bean pole" comments, we have a reality show about modeling where the final woman standing was a "normal" healthy size. My bar of hope is rising.

Here is a link to two more pictures of both Marianne and Jen in dresses. Jen is definitely the stunner, and Marianne seriously is looking even scarier than the bathing suit shot.

[source Daily Mail]

TechCrunch gets a female writer. Finally!

I read TechCrunch everyday because it is informative and provides great value. But, one of my personal beefs about the TechCrunch network of blogs, since I have been reading them, is that there are no female writers or editors. If there have been women writing in the TC network in the history of those blogs, please feel free to correct me. But as far as I know, there haven't been any women doing write ups on the web 2.0 startups at TC.

However, that has changed. Marshall Kirkpatrick has moved onto greener pastures, and Natali Del Conte replaces him. Natali was a writer at PC Magazine, and a contributor to John Dvorak's Cranky Geeks show. She started posting today, and her writing is straight forward and personable. I look forward to reading more of her write-ups, and I am excited to get the female vibe on a topic that is dominated by male energy.

So, why is having women writers on TechCrunch such a big deal to me? It's not about diversity. It's about prosperity. I have never been a believer in the need to diversify just for the sake of diversifying. For me, there has to be a benefit to the choices you make, and in the case of creating diversity in your workplace, the best reason to me is for the sake of prosperity. We are in business to make money and to contribute to the betterment of the world. Putting people on your team from different backgrounds, who look at the world differently, and who think differently from each other gives you greater opportunity to grow, expand, and learn.

When you are thinking of ways to bullet proof your plans, what better than to have people, who look at and care about different things, find all your weak spots. When you are thinking of ways to expand your market share, and create more users and customers, having a cast of diverse thinkers and creators helps you come up with ideas and solutions that you may never have thought of.

Men and women view the world from different lenses. We focus on and care about different things. One view is not better than the other, they are just different, and that's okay. In the example of technology sites, there is a strong focus on speeds, feeds, and size. For many readers, that is fabulous information. For some readers, they could care less about size. They want to know how this piece of technology is going to help them live their best life. ie. How will it help me make more friends? How will it make me become financially independent? How will it help me make my business more profitable? How can it help me lose weight?

Most tech sites have readership's of about 75% or more male. Adding more female writers to the staff is prosperous because women can speak better to other women, and thus bring more readers and more traffic, period.  Female writers understand what issues and topics are of high interest to women, so they are better at writing about a product or service with a female user in mind. An iPod is an iPod, but to one group they may care more about the guts and sizes, and to another group they care more about style, service, and ease.

Right now going to the "big" places like CNET or Engadget for female consumers is not highly enjoyable, and it isn't because women don't have an interest in tech. Women buy 53% of all consumer electronics. It's just that these places don't speak our language. It doesn't feel welcoming to us. We don't feel like the site "gets" what I care about, so we stay away. For places like TechCrunch who focus on the business of Web 2.0 startups, which is dominated by men, adding a female perspective adds to the interestingness and well-roundedness of the place. Again, there has to be talent behind the "voice", regardless of gender, but if we make that a given, then how can you not help but become more profitable and more helpful to others?

Brad and Angelina are pretty do gooders

As far as celebrity couples go, I find Brad and Angelina a cool pair because they use their celebrity for good purposes, and they help shine the light on issues that need attention in the world. These two talented people definitely have a great deal of substance to go along with their prettiness.

I also enjoy the fact that they try to lead ordinary lives, at least as celebrities go. The lovebirds spent their Thanksgiving in Vietnam. Here they are taking a scooter ride around town. Guess no one wears helmets there?

[more pics of Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie in Vietnam at Nosy Snoop]

The new Jaguar XK inspired by Kate Winslet's beauty

Scottish Ian Callum, the designer of the new Jaguar XK coupe, said that the inspiration for his design was Kate Winslet.

"Kate Winslet is my ideal woman," Callum told the Times. "She is naturally a very shapely woman, very British with an underlying integrity and ability. Like a car, she has got substance; she is not just a pretty face. So I designed the new XK body with her in mind. "

Kate thinks the headlights are too small. Why can't we just be happy with our headlights? It's not the size of our headlights that matter but how much light it shines on others...Okay, had enough of my sap yet?

Now, is it objectifying to design an auto after a woman. I'd say no. If you're going to design a car after a woman, I'd say that Kate Winslet is a good choice. She is definitely one lady we appreciate for her realistic and balanced view of beauty.

[pic]

Surviving Thanksgiving

The food cornucopia that is Thanksgiving is now behind us. Whew! I hope that all of you had a wonderful time with your family and loved ones. Mine was lovely. Mostly, I made it through without eating like food is going out of style.

Manola made a good point in that Thanksgiving is just another meal, so why do we feel the need to gorge and over indulge just because it is a holiday. Excellent point. So with that in mind, I treated the Thanksgiving meal as just another meal. I ate my normal portions, or in some cases smaller portions. I scoped out desert ahead of time, and planned the amount of food for dinner accordingly. In the end, I got to have a wonderful meal, and I got to enjoy for dessert a sliver of pumpkin pie and chocolate cheesecake from the Cheesecake Factory.

Over the holiday, I also took two solid days off from the computer. I mean absolute cold turkey. No email. No IMing. No surfing. On Friday, while everyone was out battling the shopping frenzy for Black Friday, Matt and I decided to just be. We stayed in all day, swaddled in sweats, watched movies, ate leftovers, and just basically did nothing except be. It was fantastic. Sometimes, you just need to take time and just sit.

Stephanie Quilao is now a B-List blogger. Find out where you are.

Yes, now that I am gaining in popularity, I shall speak in the third person. [Girl pleez!]

Inspired by Technorati's, Dave Sifry and his State of the Blogosphere, Kineda has created a Technorati-powered  widget that computes your bloglebrity status based on the four influential blog groupings described in the State of the Blogosphere, which basically explains the difference between high to low authority bloggers, or the A-D list if you care about hierarchy.

If you have a claimed blog on Technorati, plug in your blog address in Kineda's widget and see where you stand. It's all about link love sweeties. Back in Skinny Jeans ranks in the "high authority" group which makes us a B-list blogger. Woo-hoo!

What excites me about this is not the ranking but that my mission to spread the word and help other people stand up to the high and unrealistic standard's of beauty is getting out there. People are linking to Back in Skinny Jeans because the content here has meaning and value. As of today, after one year of blogging, we have 937 links from 480 blogs. That's a lot of blogs linking to a place about beauty and body image issues. To all who have linked to us, thank you very much. It is much appreciated. We love to link away here as well.