[Grandmaster]

To borrow a phrase from the era, Pinkett's "had it goin' on" since the TV show, A Different World, but yes, Niobe was something special. There's a screencap or two of her on the women's-biceps-in-the-movies site that etropacip linked a few pages back (lances66.co.uk). Thanks, by the way, E'!

[Grandmaster]

Here's the first one:
http://tour.ftvideo.com/view.php?i=content/free_samples/102307/IMG_8189.jpg&t=1&l=4968&s=31

Akane Nigro.

And a third:
http://tour.ftvideo.com/view.php?i=content/free_samples/102307/476064.jpg&t=1&l=4968&s=31
http://tour.ftvideo.com/view.php?i=content/free_samples/102307/476031.jpg&t=1&l=4968&s=31
http://tour.ftvideo.com/view.php?i=content/free_samples/102307/476069.jpg&t=1&l=4968&s=31
http://tour.ftvideo.com/view.php?i=content/free_samples/102307/476007.jpg&t=1&l=4968&s=31

Lindsey Cope.

[Grandmaster]

Not sure if anyones mentioned her but Angela Basset is probably the must massive celebrity I've ever seen.

She was among the first mentioned, but you've given me an excuse to post a photo, so you're good.

[Grandmaster]

I think you're misunderstanding me here, Grandmaster.
I agree that, yes, when compared to the top three, Annie wasn't ripped.  My argument is that such an extreme, dry appearance is unhealthy and unattractive to all but the most hard-core of schmoes…I don't like the pinched-cheek appearance of FBBs faces in extreme contest condition, so my reaction to this was "Yuck!"

Me no misunderstand (or should that be "Me misunderstand"?), Superman. You are talking about the affect on faces!

I know from his posts previously that AlexG agrees with me, and Mimi (Annie #1 fan here)

Mimi, I demand to know what makes you #1! 😀

…also loves the slightly less shredded look.

That's cool. I won't say a harsh word against the Annie R. I, too, think she's an attractive woman (an acquired, specific taste–let's not pretend otherwise). But none of that "Oh, mama" has anything to do with what that is ostensibly a sport with expectations of the participants. I think the other athletes would have been cheated for Annie R. to have placed higher than they did, in the condition she was in–but it's not because I like how the others looked better in the sense that I want to hold them in my arms. I don't mix my personal preferences with my enjoyment of the competitive aspect of the sport. I realize for some people, women and men's bodybuilding is nothing more than an amplified beauty contest, but having attempted bodybuilding myself, I know that's not what it means to the athletes. If there had been an edict announced beforehand for the athletes to compete smoother/smaller/better hydrated (it has occurred once or twice before), then that would have been a different contest, and your incredulity over Annie R.'s placing would be appropriate.

Pro FBB judges now seem to only consider two things: size and conditioning.  Symmetry, the balance of a physique and the aesthetics of the body seemingly count for nothing.  In trying to drop to dangerously low bodyfat %ages, and in trying to build 17-18" arms, many of the women are taking strongly androgenic steroids, because of the judges' obsessions.  If judging returned to a more aesthetically-pleasing ideal, interest would slowly recover, as the women would look more attractive (not just sexually, but aesthetically) and therefore people would be more inclined to watch the contests.

I don't know what today's score sheets look like, but unless there's no slot for symmetry points, saying the judges are not noting symmetry just because their evaluation of its presence or absence doesn't match up with y/our estimation of it on y/our TV and computer screens is just "armchair judging" (which we've all done–I realize it's part of the fun). I don't disagree that Annie R. has excellent symmetry, but I would have to see some proof that it wasn't calculated in the scoring before I could cry foul.

In addition, the lack of bodyfat combined with extreme dehydration today means that the ladies no longer have the energy or strength on stage to perform much more than a glorified version of the Figure quater-turns; the days of Michelle Ralabate going from a sideways splits into a handstand with her muscles popping and the crowd going wild are long gone.

cp, I'm sure you know Michelle Ralabate was a gymnast, somewhere around 130 lbs. (kg), and about three feet tall! 😆 No amount of water in one's system is going to transform a woman with no perceivable rhythm or style into Cory Everson, or one in her late 30's/early 40's who isn't a lifetime tumbler into a Cirque du Soleil performer. (That's what Fitness is for. I guess.)

This means that they are replacing spectacle that the crowd want (great posing routines) with the spectacle that they don't (blocky muscle, unbalanced physiques with little flow or shape and square jaws) and thus, Pro FBBing's popularity has dropped.

I don't see how you come to the conclusion that boring, or let's say, non-acrobatic posing routines lead women's bodybuilding fans to want to see only the most massive competitors. I think it's more that women BBs want to pose non-gender-specifically (as physique athletes) more than they want to cavort like sprites around a maypole, and that mass-lovers (or closeted gays, schmoes, the gender-confused, whatever divisive label that's currently in vogue) buy more tickets to the shows than we nerds yakking about who's sexy over the internet. I suppose that whoever buys those tickets directs that "market" (at least in the minds of the contest promoters). Only the efforts and regulations of the other bodybuilding federations could affect a change or provide an alternative for bodybuilding fandom, but "everyone" looks towards the IFBB for the last word.

Annie at this year's Ms O was more marketable than the eventual champ, IMO because her physique was not that much less muscular, but was much more pleasing to the eye, and she therefore represents a more marketable image than Iris Kyle, great athlete though she is.

People who feel as you do (and maybe the athletes themselves–when will they have some kind of representation?) should make their feelings known to the powers-that-be in the IFBB, or else the prevailing "spectacle" will continue. I think it's that the judges are rewarding the hard work of dieting, etc. (which has never been a lifetime healthy endeavor), more than they are concerned with marketing women's bodybuilding to the outside world. I don't believe Annie R. is any more "marketable" in the manner you're implying than any other bodybuilder, for the simple fact that no one except women bodybuilders themselves is marketing women bodybuilding. (Selling bodybuilding images, yes. "Growing" the sport, not so much.) And since the methods of doing that are myriad and controversial and a whole other subject unrelated to Annie R., I'll shut up now before this thread gets locked.

Go, Annie, get bu-sy!

[Grandmaster]

Video of Annie at the Ms O.  Note the snooty comment by the commentator about her "carrying a little water this year".  For the love of god, where?! ???  I presume it's because we can't see striations in her cheeks. >:( ::)

I don't think it's a slight on Annie R. to admit that she wasn't in her best contest condition here.

To me she looks like a goddess.  She gets my vote as Ms Olympia any day – i'm afraid the first three do nothing for me, as their appearance is too extreme for my taste.

Are you talking about faces? Because Annie R. has been in similarly ripped condition before.

[Grandmaster]

I dunno about that…

Kidding! 😛

What's funny about that is that I honestly didn't think we had a chance of winning any prize (much less the Grand Prize) precisely because our screenplay was a fantasy effort.  These types of scripts (nor the movies made from them) rarely win at film festivals (unless the festival itself is dedicated to fantasy, sci-fi, and horror).  So winning was as much a shock ("They chose a fantasy script??") as a surprise ("OMG we won!!").

I'm glad you were pleasantly surprised. Your story simply was obviously more interesting and well-written than the identity-crises, love stories, and emo weepies offered. (Waving fist) Accept it…accept it… ;D

[Grandmaster]

(They misspelled my name – twice – and they mistakenly have me "resid[ing] in Los Angeles" – but that can be corrected.)

Of course, you have to be from L.A. for the script to be good enough to win the Grand Prize! ::) CONGRATULATIONS! It's a sign of the times that a fantasy genre script won the top prize!

Now sell that bad boy!

[Grandmaster]

I would have offered 'em at least a dollar to hear the story of how that tee came to the household.  😀

[Grandmaster]

Unfortunately it is quite recent.

😀 😉

[Grandmaster]

almost

😀 😀 😀

[Author]

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