Picture Perfect (Meh, Not Really)
Plus: The New Golden Bachelorette!!!
I wanted to take a mo to share an update about Uncle Ronnie. When I first started this Substack a few months ago, I wasn’t sure where it would take me. I just knew I wanted a creative outlet where I could discuss pop culture! However, after I wrote about my experience with Ozempic, something changed, and the desire to connect with people about body image grew increasingly strong. And so, I’ll be using Uncle Ronnie as a platform for that connection. Of course, the pop culture hijinks will still ensue because I’ve always loved that stuff and, as a wise man once said, “I am what I am!”
Regarding the subject of body image: If you’d like to work together, if there’s something in particular you’d like to discuss, or if you just want to say hi, feel free to contact me through the comments, via DM, or at amyaliazzo@gmail.com. I love connecting with people, and I feel doing so about this particular issue helps reassure us that we’re not alone. (It definitely does for me.) 💗
And now, onto the newsletter….
Busy Philipps recently talked about an article she couldn’t get out of her head for twelve years called The Mom Stays in the Picture. The author wrote about how shame around her weight prevented her from being in pictures with her young children. She realized that if she kept letting these feelings get in the way, her children wouldn’t have any pictures of themselves with their mother when they grew up.
I’m not a mother, but this really resonated. I’m fine having my picture taken, but that’s because I crop that thing within an inch of its life like a friggin’ Jedi. This behavior happened when I was heavier, stopped when I lost weight, and has reared its ugly head since I’ve gained weight back.
And so, I decided to give myself a challenge, and have a full body photograph taken and just - accept it. I thought this past Mother’s Day would be the perfect opportunity since I’d be wearing a nice outfit. So after I got all dolled up, I asked my boyfriend to take a picture of me. This…did not go well. No matter how I asked him to photograph me - from further away, closer, at a different angle, with softer lighting - I hated the pictures. The funny thing is, he thought I looked fine in all of them.
This reminded me of a day a few years ago when, although I was at my heaviest, I was FEELIN’ MYSELF, as they say. I had cute pink hair, was wearing a blazer with ice cream cones all over it, and my makeup was gawj AF. However, when I saw pictures from the day, I audibly gasped; all I could think about was how big I looked. But again - everyone thought I looked fine.
As Carrie Bradshaw would say, I couldn’t help but wonder - Did all of these pictures reflect how I really looked? And was I…completely unaware? And what if I just…stayed the way I was and didn’t change my appearance?
As Mother’s Day wore on, some pictures were taken that I was fine with because I used my photographic ninja skills to ensure they were beautifully cropped. I guess, as it turns out, I’m not comfortable showing my entire body in a photo at the moment. And until I am, people will have to assume I only exist from the boobs up and use their imaginations to see what I’m wearing on my legs. Or if I even have legs. Or are we on a Zoom call and since nobody can see my legs, it means I’m wearing pajama pants? Or no pants at all? (Guilty.) Much like the author of the article, I’ll stay in the picture, but the bottom of me will have to stay out - hopefully just for now.
Sometimes, when answers to life’s questions elude me - like why we feel we look so different in pictures - I turn to my spiritual leader, Larry David, for the answers:
Larry: “Have you noticed that when you take a picture, you don’t look nearly as good as you do when you look in the mirror? Because the mirror is how you see yourself, and the photo is how you’re seen.”
Leon: “Fuck, that’s deep.”
SOME FUN STUFF FROM THIS WEEK 😁:
The inaugural Golden Bachelorette has been announced! 🌹👏🎉❣
I was ecstatic when
Kendall RoyJeremy Strong received a nomination for his role in An Enemy of the People! (Sidebar: My bf, his mother, and I somehow wound up alone with him in the lobby after we saw the show. We congratulated him, he was super gracious, and then I ALMOST DIED!!!) Check out this sweet vid of Jeremy getting his commemorative Tony nominee pin. ♥
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That Meghan Trainor sure knows how to create a viral TikTok dance! Here’s her latest. I can’t get this video OR this song outta my head!
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Enable 3rd party cookies or use another browserThanks to my friend for sending me this teaser for The Bear’s third season. Can’t believe it starts in just a little over a month?! YES, CHEF! 👨🍳
Speaking of The Bear:
Another show working on their third season is And Just Like That, which has begun filming.
And season two of Severance has wrapped! I know Sev is a polarizing show, and I’m in the I-TOTALLY-LOVE-IT camp!!! The first season was a slow burn, and then all hell broke loose in the last few episodes and it was GLORIOUS! Check out the season one trailer here.
Definitely seeing Treasure, starring Lena Dunham and Stephen Fry, when it hits theaters in June.
Another movie coming out in June is Thelma, which I wrote about wanting to see here. The trailer has finally arrived!
It saddens me that the Strawberry Shortcake I remember from the 80’s (below, left) now looks like a Real Housewife (below, right). Why can’t she remain the adorable, yummy-smelling (IYKYK) cutie that she was? I JUST DON’T UNDERSTAND!!!
Cute! Get ‘em here.
Talk about a guilty pleasure, and I’M HERE FOR IT! Real Housewives + Lifetime TV = the best night EVAH! *le sigh* Lisa Rinna (💎) starred in Mommy Meanest this past Saturday. ICYMI, you can catch it on the Lifetime app. (I watched last night and it was everything I expected and more…ridiculous, etc. Fun Fact: Remember Jacob Tremblay from the movie Room? And remember him bringing his parents along on the awards circuit? And remember how his hot dad practically vent viral for being so hot? Well, his hot dad is in this movie. I can confirm that he’s still hot.) Another former Housewife, Bethenny Frankel (🍎) will be starring in Danger in the Dorm on June 16th! It’s just…too much goodness.
Oooh! A Legally Blonde prequel series is coming to Prime Video! I’m in!
I love that you've decided to use this space to connect about body image - and that you'll still include pop culture tidbits, too - I love reading this every week.
(I also cannot wait for Season 3 of The Bear)
the strawberry shortcake from 2003 will forever and always have my heart (but I was also born in 1996, so makes sense) ALSO so excited for severance season 2 !!!