I hate Tyra banks... so what?

At work we have big flat panel TV's all over the place. They are constantly running day time TV shows or movies if someone isn't using them for Wii bowling championships. Every once in awhile I get the unpleasant experience of catching clips from the Tyra Banks show.

Apparently Tyra has a new publicity gimmick going on called the "Belly Brigade." She gets hundreds of women together to march the streets of LA yelling "so what?" and basically promoting that its OK to be overweight. People magazine said that Tyra was getting fat, and her response was "So what?" On the surface this seems like it could be a good thing. Probably the most recognized and one of the most beautiful super models saying its OK not to starve yourself, that you don't have to be 90 pounds to be beautiful. But the more I looked into it the more I realized that Tyra is a moron. There doesn't seem to be any real message to her "So What?" campaign other than you can do what you want regardless of health, safety, moral or religious obligations.

On the show they interviewed several women who were marching in the "Belly Brigade." The two women I got the pleasure of hearing had this to say:

Woman 1: "I used to have chubby cheeks and a fat face. But then I got liposuction and plastic surgery and now I feel great and revived, like a new person. So to all the women out there who are against plastic surgery, I say so what?" And Tyra supported her by yelling "And you're so beautiful."

Woman 2: "I've been on a diet for 7 months and have been cutting out carbs. But today I'm saying "So what?" and eating all the hotdogs with buns that I want!"

So to hell with natural beauty or being happy with the way God made you. No, thats not the message we are trying to promote. If you are unhappy with the way you look, just get liposuction and you'll be fine.

And to woman number 2 I have this to say: Screw trying to stay healthy and better your body, eat all the carbs you want girl! Because not only is fat sexy, its better for you! Four years from now when you are having heart problems, diabetes, depression and exhaustion from being overweight, just say "so what?," have another hot dog and everything will be fine.

What surprises me the most is that Tyra's sponsor is Dove. Dove has an awesome campaign called the Campaign for Real Beauty where they are promoting the idea that its OK to be beautiful the way you are. They show ordinary girls on TV with no makeup on, and show how beautiful they are. They show naked women in their 80's and say "beauty has no age limit." Dove tries to promote exactly the opposite of what Tyra's show is promoting.

I hope that I can impart to Dylan as he grows up that its great to be happy with yourself, but that its not OK to be fat or unhealthy. I'm currently 75 lbs overweight according to what 'studies' say a 24 year old 5'11" man should weigh. I'm completely out of shape and unhealthy. Sure I can say "so what" and live a happy life but that's not healthy and its not smart. And to get religious on you its not being a good steward of your body, your relationships, or your finances ... all of which God says we should take care of. Isn't gluttony one of the Seven Deadly Sins? Didn't Tyra Banks see the movie Se7en?

Meet the Deans

It occurred to me that you might want to know a little bit about me and the people that I'm writing about. Well let me break it down for you:

Heidi: thats my lovely wife. She has a blog too. Although she doesn't update much. Probably has to do with the fact that she's really really pregnant. We've been married a little over a year. You'll learn more about Heidi as this blog progresses. For now all you have to know is that marrying Heidi is probably the only good decision I've made in my life. Knocking her up might become the second.

Dylan Parker Dean: That's the name of my unborn son. He's negative 7 months now. Somewhere in the vicinity of June 25th he'll make his way out into the world. He's healthy, normal and as far as we can tell he's cute as hell. Weighing in at an estimated 4 lbs 6 oz's he's currently in the 79th percentile. Not that anyone really knows what that means.

Justin: That's me. I'm 24 and I work in advertising for AutoTrader.com. I also own and operate several e-commerce websites. I'm the man behind BlueFishTShirts.com, one of the fastest growing and highly trafficked t-shirt sites on the internet.

Me and my little family live just outside of Atlanta, Georgia. I'm from Southern California and my wife is from Michigan. I'll save how we ended up in Atlanta and how we met for another post.

I'm young, I'm about to become a father for the first time and I'm both excited and scared to death. There's no real purpose for this blog. I like to express myself with writing and lately I've got a lot to write about.

First Post

In six to eight weeks I'll be a dad. Is it just me, or does that scare the crap out of you too?

Everything about being a dad scares me. Important things, like how I'm going to look with one of those Bjorn things on me. You know, the little sacks that hold the baby in front of you? They look so dumb, but they're probably a lifesaver when carrying the little guy around all day. Thats where the fear sets in. I know they are dorky, but I have a feeling that I'm going to like them too much. I'm pretty sure I'm going to prefer one to a stroller. Strollers piss me off. I'm worried about that too.

Heidi's normally the one who pushes the cart around when we go to Target or the grocery store. I hate pushing the cart, and I know I'm going to hate pushing the stroller. I can generally get away with not having to push the carts because Heidi's in charge of what we buy at stores that have carts. If Best Buy had carts I guarantee I'd be the one pushing it. The thing is, I can't expect her to always push the stroller. Honestly, having to push the stroller isn't what worries me. Its becoming one of those people that scares me. You know what I mean. The Stroller People. They drive their strollers around the malls and stores like they are little SUV's. Apparently there is some unwritten law that says if you have a stroller that you have the right of way. I guess this should be a positive thing but something about becoming a type of person that I hate bothers me.

Bjorn sacks and strollers aside, the thing that really worries me is how Dylan is going to interfere with the opening of Ocean's Thirteen on June 8th. With our due date only being two weeks later I'm pretty sure I'm going to have to catch the film on DVD. Which is a shame. A movie like that really needs to be enjoyed in a theater. I suppose this is the beginning of many small sacrifices that I'm going to have to make for Dylan's sake.