Tuesday, June 19, 2007

The illusion of film flab


Wonder why Americans have a skewed view of weight? I recently watched Knocked up, Judd Apatow's very well done film about becoming a parent. First off, I thought it was very weird that people brought their kids to this film. I figure either they're either seeing too much or getting very bored. I think I personally would have looked at this film in a completely different light a couple of years ago. Now that I'm a parent, it's spot on. This is very close to what I went through, including my wife's doctor being out of town for the birth (not nearly as uncommon as you'd think in the days of HMOs).

But here's what really bugged me: At one point Seth Rogen, the supposed fat guy of the film, tells us he's over 200 pounds. He's also clearly standing no more than 5'8" (although imdb lists him at 5'11"! Which if it's true means the Katherine Heigl--listed at 5'8" on imdb--and the entire cast of Grey's Anatomy is towering, including Sandra Oh (listed at 5'6"), T.R. Knight (listed at 5'8") and Ellen Pompeo (listed at 5'7")and--Hah!--Patrick Dempsey, the tiny guy of '80s films (who is listed at a whopping 5'10 1/2"!!!).

Don't even get me started on Paul Rudd, who lists his height at 5'9" but is clearly tiny with a giant head.

The truth: Rogen probably weighs in at about 160 lbs. He has the slightest hint of a gut. If they wanted a fat guy to knock up Heigl, how about Jonah Hill?

The truthiness: Every actor's height is fudged by two inches on imdb, and their age (down) by two years. Take it from the people at bigheadedpygmies.com. It's all a big, not-so-fat lie.

Thursday, June 14, 2007

Austin Chronicle cover


Lesson #1: Beware of sending a mass email about your ugly mug appearing on the cover of The Austin Chronicle. Your friends, family and near strangers will start throwing taunts back and forth. It can be interesting.

Look here for an excerpt the Chronicle ran of my novel.

Saturday, June 9, 2007

Of cover shoots and columns

I was among six authors who met up at an Austin grocery store Friday for a cover shoot for this coming week's cover of The Austin Chronicle. I hid in the back, but expect my melon head to still show up there this coming Thursday. They also will run a brief excerpt of my upcoming novel Evacuation Plan.


Oh, and check out my lastest column in the Dallas Morning News.