Subject: Promotion issue
Select One: Consumer

From Dictionary.com:
kar·ma /–noun
1. Hinduism, Buddhism. action, seen as bringing upon oneself inevitable results, good or bad, either in this life or in a reincarnation: in Hinduism one of the means of reaching Brahman.
2. Theosophy. the cosmic principle according to which each person is rewarded or punished in one incarnation according to that person's deeds in the previous incarnation.

I do not feel it is appropriate to be using the word karma in television promotions for Yoplait Chocolate Mousse Whips yogurt; from the definition above, it becomes clear that the message that you are trying to make about how good the product is does not correlate at all with the word that you have chosen, in the context in which it is being used.

I am not asking that these promotions be pulled off the air, as I know how expensive and inconvenient this would be. All that I suggest is that, the next time your advertisers decide to use a word from a religion or culture that is unfamiliar, they please take a little time to research exactly what it means before broadcasting an improper definition.

Thank you.

This may not seem like a big deal to anyone else but those commercials piss me off more and more each time I see them.

I've decided tonight that I'm wayyy too forgiving for my own good.

On another note. In History of the Producer today, we watched newsreel footage, some of which was about a random beauty pageant held on the beach. And I noticed something. Back in the forties, the women considered beautiful were healthy -- they had flesh on their bodies, they had breasts and hips, and they wore sizes above a 0. They weren't fat or overweight by any means -- but they weren't emaciated, either. Far from it; they looked like they actually had enough to eat every day.

When did it become a rule that in order to be beautiful, you had to be stick skinny? Why can't you be gorgeous no matter what you look like?

I'm experiencing a renaissance of curvy girl pride. I love it. I love being back to this state of mind. :)

I am such a bad girl and I went to the screening of Yuva tonight instead of doing work.

Except I didn't really enjoy it, because it was a crappy pirated DVD (which ordinarily would be fine but just think of the grainy image stretched to the size of a movie screen...yeah) and I was with some Bollywood HATERS which was not really appreciated.

Am I the only one who thinks that a lot of Hollywood movies have just as outlandish (if not MORE outlandish) plots as Bollywood films?

In order to enjoy any movie, you have to sit back and subconsciously suspend the disbelief of silly, way-too-coincidental coincidences and just accept things as they come. Agreed, a lot of movies have plots that are so idiotic that even after doing this you still groan when certain things happen. But I'm sick of people criticizing Bollywood for its so-called "plotless" and "unbelievable" storylines. Star Wars was unbelievable -- Some Like It Hot was unbelievable (drag? In the 30s? puh-leeeze) -- Christ, even most Hitchcock movies to some extent are too coincidental and unbelievable (I mean, come on, how many of you get chased by a crop duster on a regular basis?), but these are all some of my favorite movies -- we still love them and acclaim them as masterpieces. So why can't we accept Shah Rukh following Kajol to Punjab to stop her wedding? Or Aamir winning the cricket game by a hair to prevent his village from being taxed? Or the obssessive love and danger portrayed in Dil Se..?

And I'm sick of people making fun of the bursting into song. Watch any beloved Hollywood musical -- Singin' in the Rain, My Fair Lady, West Side Story, The Sound of Music, hell, even most Disney cartoons -- and you find the exact same thing.

People laugh at me when I tell them that I want to go into this industry. But as far as I'm concerned, Bollywood is much more charming than Hollywood will ever be. At least Indian cinema has retained a sense of the rich culture and tradtion of the country, whereas Hollywood films are all about sex and nakedness and blowing each other to bits. A lot of people don't like Bollywood because they simply don't give it a chance. It's not fair to write off the biggest movie industry in the world as idiotic without stopping to think about why so many people adore it.

This is making me too wound up and I have 9 AM class tomorrow. Yuva is gorgeous, the music is beautiful, and it's 100 times better with a clearer print. But now, to bed with me.

So at the beginning of the summer, I promised myself that I would buy no new clothes until I reached my target size. Ever since then I've been working out like a madwoman and depriving myself of all of the unhealthy, fattening and oh-so-delicious food that I love.

And then I went to the doctor yesterday and discovered that I hadn't lost a single pound.

So I spent a lot of today moping around and asking myself why it's so difficult for me to reach the figure I want so desperately. My one goal this summer has been to get down to a specific size and I felt like such a loser when I discovered that all of my work has gone to waste. And it seems like everywhere I turn there are images of the perfect female - and they all manage to be thin and curvy at the same time. Way to make normal people like me feel like garbage.

But after seeing movies made in India - a country where there are far more people that look like me than in the "diverse" half-and-half, black-and-white Shaker Heights - I began to realize that what western culture sees as "beautiful" is very, very warped. Stars in India , these women who facially look so freaking similar to me, aren't stick-skinny; hell, with the exception of one or two, they're far from it. Watch any of Kareena Kapoor's recent movies and you'll see that the pants she's wearing are noticeably too tight for her. Actresses' stomachs aren't unnaturally toned and washboard flat. It's OK to be curvy. Hell, it's even considered attractive. ::GASP::

I don't know what guys find sexy, but I do know that it's been shoved down my throat since I was 10 that the best way to be was as thin as possible. Even when we're made aware of the risks of eating disorders, malnutrition and countless others, the general beilief is that if there is even an inch of extra skin on your body, it should be removed as soon as possible. Growing up surrounded by all of this shit has taught me to hate myself and how I look. And no matter how much weight I've lost in the past 3 years (which, if you could have seen me in high school, is a hell of a lot), all I've ever wanted to do is lose more.

So I say fuck it. Yeah, I still want to reach my target, but if I don't I'm not going to waste a day moping about it like I just did. Yeah, it's always been a dream of mine to go away on a long break and come back 2 sizes thinner and completely made over, but it's not worth the agony, depression and dissatisfaction with myself. And I'm going to keep this stupid fantasy in my head that somewhere, I'll find a guy who'll be interested in more than just a pretty face. Because frankly, I'm sick of comparing myself to these stick figure actresses that are shoved in front of my face. Either Hollywood needs to get some realistic role models, or I'm moving to India.