Ugly Leno

So I was lying in bed, unable to fall asleep, and started thinking about an annoying segment Entertainment Tonight has been running for the last week. So I decided to get out of bed and rant about it. It's called 'Ugly Vanessa', and they dress up MTV hottie Vanessa Minillo in a fat suit, braces, and glasses, and send her out on the streets of New York doing various things and seeing how people react to her. As opposed to when they give her a blond wig, green contacts, and a Gucci wardrobe. There are a few things that piss me off about this. First of all, in making her fat they gave her this enormous prosthetic chin. She looks like an ugly, latin, female Jay Leno. Seriously, just because you're fat, it doesn't mean you have a huge chin! Secondly, they picked a girl who's gotten everywhere she is in her life because of her looks. She was Miss Teen USA, then an MTV VJ and ET correspondent, and all because she's cutesy and hot. So naturally she hates the way she looks, and while she's out as the 'fat' Vanessa she basically transmits how ugly she thinks she is to everyone around her by the way she acts. But at the same time, she tries to be all cutesy, because it works for her when she's skinny and hot. Honey, being cutesy gets you nowhere in life. Unless your skinny and hot.

My other big beef is the things they have her do to test how she's treated differently. First she had to approach people on the street to give them a survey. As the timid, big-chinned girl, New Yorkers just passed her by. As I would have. People laughed at her when she rode the subway, which is admittedly pretty mean, but she looked really ridiculous. She's not used to being that size, so she moved awkwardly like somebody who's used to being much different. And she just sort of stood around awkwardly, in people's way, waiting for them to have a negative reaction to her. If you're standing in the middle of the steps to the subway staring at everyone who passes you, I'm probably going to laugh at you too. Another test was going clubbing. They sent her one night as a hottie, and then next night as a fugly. Well, big surprise the bouncers at NYC's hottest club didn't let in the fugly girl with unwashed hair and horrific clothing. Seriously, they could have at least put some effort into her attire and made her look a lot more presentable. Today they had her go lingerie shopping on Madison Avenue. Dressed in ill-fitting, cheap clothes. And then she wondered why no salespeople would give her the time of day. Those people are trained to smell money, and fugly Vanessa just had the stench of insecurity and cheap clothes coming off her.

My roommate Lisa and I proceeded to have a big discussion about this. More than half of what people perceive you to be is in your attitude. People who are self confident (NOT cocky assholes) and secure in themselves are perceived as 'hotter' than perhaps they actually are. Lisa and I both thought about it, and with both of us the guys we've liked have not been 'hot' in the conventional sense, but we were attracted to their personality and attitude. So there you go Vanessa. If you walk around with the attitude you're awkward and ugly, you will be seen as awkward and ugly. And Entertainment Tonight, next time give that girl some clothes that actually fit! The character on Ugly Betty is a comic stereotype. Not a real phenomenon. Idiots.