The time is near. “America the Beautiful 2: The Thin Commandments,”will screen in theaters in 25 cities during the months of October and November and we will also have 300 one night screenings hosted by universities, eating disorder clinics and social organizations.

If you’ve emailed me about hosting a screening and I haven’t gotten back to you as of yet, I’m very sorry and I promise to do so this week.

If you want to host a screening of ATB 2 in October 2011, November 2011, December 2011, February 2012, March 2012, April 2012 or May 2012, let me know and we will work it out.

I will post the schedule real soon.

THE NEW TRAILER

Finally the trailer for “America the Beautiful 2: The Thin Commandments,” is posted for viewing.

After you watch the trailer, let me know what you think and please share the link with everyone that you know.

Link to View Trailer

Together we can start a grass roots movement to help our youth.

ROCKY 3

I’m going to share something with you, but you absolutely cannot laugh or make fun of me.

Remember, we have an agreement.

I am addicted to movies. I can easily watch a movie 20 or 30 times. Rocky 3 was one of those movies. I saw it 42 times.

I still feel a slight thrill when I think about Mr. T saying, “I pity the fool that tries to take what I got.”

So, imagine the excitement that I had when a friend of mine told me that Carl Weathers, who played Apollo Creed, in Rocky 3 was having a BBQ gathering at his house this past Labor Day.

I said, “I’m there.”

Classic!

Okay, now this was kind of embarrassing.

I told Carl that I loved Rocky 3 and had seen it 42 times and his response was, “I can think of a lot of movies that I’ve been in that I’d watch 42 times and Rocky 3 isn’t one of them.

I easily forgave him for not having great taste in his own movies because his house was awesome and he made apple pie on the grill. You can’t see the food spread in the back, but he had so much food that I wanted to movie in.

All kidding aside, Carl Weathers is a really nice guy. I’m going to invite him to the LA premiere of the film in October. I’m also inviting Don Cheadle, supermodel Beverly Johnson and Antoine Fuqua, the director of “Training Day.”

We’ll see who actually shows up.

WAY OUT DIETING BOOK

I’m sure by now you’ve heard that some guy saw fit to write a dieting book called, “Maggie Goes on a Diet,” which will be marketed to girls aged 6 to 12.

You’ve got to be kidding me!

As irony would have it, the book comes out October 16th and “America the Beautiful 2: The Thin Commandments,” opens October 14th.

This is what a journalist had to say about the book –

“A chubby young girl with Pippi Longstocking braids stands in front of the mirror holding up a too-small pink dress and sees a different (some may say better) version of herself. Her mirror image is thin.

No, this is not an after school special on eating disorders; it’s the cover of a (disturbing) new children’s book with the (possibly more disturbing) title, Maggie Goes on a Diet. And, this will be in bookstores October 16.

This book is about a 14 year old girl who goes on a diet and is transformed from being extremely overweight and insecure to a normal sized girl who becomes the school soccer star. Through time, exercise and hard work, Maggie becomes more and more confident and develops a positive self image.

Barnes & Noble recommends the book to children ages 6 to 12.

In the land of hypothetical, there could be some rationale behind the plot.

Teaching kids to make healthy lifestyle choices from an early age is a worthy endeavor (one that (first lady Michelle Obama has taken on as her own), and childhood obesity is a serious public health issue nationwide. According to the CDC, approximately 17 percent of children and adolescents are obese in the United States, over triple the rate a generation ago.

But Maggie isn’t looking at an imagined reflection of herself dominating the soccer field. For this little girl, it’s all about the dress. The book is promoting skinny first, with a side of healthy slipped in later.

Just as childhood obesity is on the rise, eating disorder rates are climbing, and affecting younger and younger kids. Last year, the American Academy of Pediatrics reported a 199 percent increase in the number of eating disorder-related hospitalizations for children under the age of 12 between 1999 and 2006. A 2011 study found that nearly one in 60 adolescents has anorexia, bulimia or binge eating disorder. Over half of little girls aged 3 to 6 think they are fat.

Disturbing, yes. Surprising? Unfortunately not.”

I’m thinking about contacting the author and publisher of the book and express to them the potentially damaging message that they will give to some young girls if this book comes out.

Geeez! What’s next? Starving kids in the womb!

TWO NEW AMBASSADORS JOIN MY “AMBASSADORS OF TRUTH”

I’d like to welcome 2 new people to my “Ambassadors of Truth” team:

Jon Robison of Michigan State University &
Therapist Judith Matz.

The “Ambassadors of Truth” are the brilliant people that I go to to brainstorm, flesh out ideas and seek advice.

America is full of brilliant people who are dedicated to making a difference in the lives of others and I’m proud to have met quite a few of them.

THE NEW POSTER

Once again, here is the new poster. The Statue of Liberty is a constant theme in my artwork because advertisers continue to push us to “fix” things that were never broken.

For me, the Statue of Liberty represents everything that is right with us.

SIGN UP FOR OUR MAILING LIST

If you are not signed up to the America the Beautiful newsletter please email us your email address so we can add you to the list.

We’re trying to collect 1 million names so we can petition school districts across the country to terminate the harmful practice of using BMI on our youth to determine their health or general well being.

We’re currently at 564,802 and counting.

If you’re not on our mailing list, send us your email address to sign up at:

dvd@americathebeautifuldoc.com