I was doing so well trying to do updates on a regular basis, but then my new job happened and my routine was blown. I’m back on pace now, so I’m going to work on clearing out the backlog of links that I’ve saved to share over the past few months.

On Fatness:

• Once again, Oprah is running a weight loss campaign. This time it’s Weight Watchers and she wants to tell the skinny woman inside all of us fat women that it’s okay to come out and play. As some people have observed, this is not the first time Oprah has jumped on the weight loss merry-go-round and taken it for a spin.  Further breakdown of why this is frustrating and heartbreaking can be found at The Mary Sue.
• I am happy that there’s a list of the 21 most body positive moments of 2015. I hope that 2016 has an even longer list.
• I enjoyed the “fuck it” approach of the 200 pound beauty queen.
• Here are 8 reasons why diet talk sucks.
• Finally, not only do I need to go to New York City to watch Hamilton, I also need to check out this NYU exhibition examining plus-size women in fashion and history.

On Hamilton:

• There will be a PBS documentary and I am ridiculously excited!
• I’ve been enjoying Hamilton mash-ups in fandom and this article does a great job breaking down why Hamilton is such a good candidate for mash-ups.
• I’m delighted to see that Hamilton is being taught in schools. Maybe if Hamilton had been around when I was in high school, I wouldn’t have nearly flunked my American History class due to boredom and laziness.
• Hamilton was at the Grammys! Here’s the behind the scenes look, here’s the performance, and here’s Lin-Manuel Miranda rapping his acceptance speech! Sadly, some people were wondering why Hamilton wasn’t white. I can’t properly capture my eye roll, but know it was epic.
• I really enjoyed this comparison of Hamilton to Shakespeare because it delves into the intricacy of the language used in the show.

On Musicals:

• NBC is doing Hairspray! This is not a drill! Hairspray is one of those shows where if I find out it’s playing somewhere nearby, I have a ticket purchased within 24 hours. If a song from it gets stuck in my head, I’m pulling out the DVD. It has a fat heroine and a major theme is racial injustice. It’s a perfect choice for 2016.
• FOX did a live presentation of Grease, which I thought was a lot of fun. It’s interesting to watch Grease now as opposed to when I was a child watching it for the first time. There’s a lot of overtly sexual songs and lines that flew over my head when I was a kid, so this discussion of the sexual politics of Grease was particularly interesting to me. I still go back and forth on whether or not Grease is a feminist musical, but I still happily watch it whenever I get the chance.
• I’ve been enjoying Tor’s Read/Watch of Disney movies, and I loved the article focusing on my favorite Disney movie of all: Beauty and the Beast. The traveling production will be in Kansas City this summer and you’d better believe I already have my ticket!
• Mamma Mia is ridiculous and I love it. I’ve got the DVD (complete with sing along track!) and have seen at Starlight as well. I was delighted to read Smart Bitches Trashy Books’ three-part series on Mamma Mia. Grow Back Down Again discusses slut shaming, Your Best Friend is all about female friendships, and Not Too Old For Sex! is a great reminder that sex after 40 is a thing that can and should happen.