“She doesn’t think I’m in shape to handle it. You know, she told me the other day, she said, ‘Dad the only thing you gotta do is walk me down the aisle and you need to look good,’” Clinton said. “So I said ‘Well, what’s your definition?’ And she said: ‘Oh, about 15 pounds.’ So I’m halfway home,” Clinton joked to laughter from the audience.

2. Sarah Silverman is kind of awesome.

“I don’t really care for like fat jokes about women, specifically. Because I feel that we live in a society where fat men deserve love, and fat women do not deserve love — at least in white America. And so I feel like that’s an ugly thing, and it doesn’t make me laugh.

3. My friend Miriam went to see a film called A Matter of Size at the Northern Virginia Jewish Film Festival, and she wrote about it on her blog. (She liked it!)

A Matter of Size has to do with Herzl, a man who has been mocked for being fat his entire life. It opens with a scene of children waiting in line to be weighed and then moves quickly to a weigh-in at a diet club. He’s kicked out of the diet club, quits his job at a restaurant when he is relegated to the kitchen to avoid offending customers, and has to deal with his mother yelling at him that he’s going to die from his fat just like his father did. (A flashback later in the film explains this and it is decidedly unexpected.) His mother pushes him to get a job at a Japanese restaurant on the grounds that the food will be disgusting and he won’t be tempted to eat it. So he ends up washing dishes there. His coworkers show him sumo wrestling on TV and he finally sees something fat people can be respected for. So he goes back to the diet club, tells off the mean owner, and talks a few of his friends from it into quitting the diet and joining him in a sumo club.

4. There was a follow-up discussion of Jenfu’s MSNBC article at Shapely Prose. Very interesting conversation in the comments!

5. Terrific essay on Dirty Dancing over at Jezebel. In case you missed it!

Another movie would have built up to a performance [Baby] got perfectly right (and indeed there is one, later), and she gets the guy. Instead, they come back to Penny’s botched abortion, a still incredibly rare and key plot point that Eleanor says she put in back in the mid-1980s because she was afraid Roe v. Wade would be overturned. (Helpfully, her refusal to take it out later lost the movie a pimple cream sponsor that would have forced its image onto every movie poster.) A few weeks ago, she read about a pro-choice march where a man asked a protester what exactly a coat-hanger abortion was and she snapped, “Haven’t you seen Dirty Dancing?”

As always, share your thoughts on any of these links in the comments!

“I think fat people are sold a fantasy, and then get no support in the reality, because we’re simply supposed to be grateful that we’re no longer fat,” [Jen] Larsen says… But weight loss chat rooms, forums and blogs are filled with people who are wondering why their newfound svelte selves and stellar metabolic profiles are leaving them ever-so-slightly disappointed.

And who can blame them? Reality shows, weight loss books, movies, TV shows and advertisements all tell tales of people dropping major poundage and gaining seemingly perfect lives. They find their true selves and their true loves. They go back to school or get promotions. They become social butterflies, the life of the party.

Anyone who’s read Kate’s piece knows that’s a bunch of BS. And if you haven’t read it in a while, or ever, go and enjoy.

Accepting my fat really wasn’t the hard part. Accepting my personality — and my many limitations that have jack shit to do with my thighs — was. But oddly enough, once I started to do that, my life became about a zillion times more satisfying… The thin person inside me finally got out — it just turned out she was actually a fat person. A reasonably attractive, semi-outgoing fat person who has an open mind and an active imagination but also happens to really like routine and familiarity and quiet time alone.

That was never who I expected to be — it was just always who I was.

Forthwith, links to some great plus-size shopping options. The size range of these places vary, but I did my best to include places with something for everyone. And remember, before buying always check measurements—a 3X in one store is often nothing like a 3X in another.

And if you’ve got an incredible place that I’ve overlooked in this list, or any exciting shopping tips (do I sound like a women’s magazine yet? just wait until I get to the part about the casseroles and keeping your man happy in the sack), please please share them in the comments!

The old reliables

The stores that form the core of the plus-size shopping experience. Everyone knows about them, and everyone shops at them, and there’s usually one, or more, at the mall. They’re worth revisiting if you haven’t been for awhile, because their clothes of late appear to be adorable and surprisingly on-trend (i.e., significantly fewer floaty peasant tops in batik prints).

Lane Bryant

The Avenue

Torrid

The big box stores

Department stores and general clothing stores that carry a surprisingly robust plus-size section. They can be hit-or-miss when it comes to the actual physical store, depending on location, but their websites carry a lot of excellent stuff.

Target

Nordstrom

Old Navy

Faith 21 (now up to 3X)

Macys

JC Pennys (includes extended sizes)

Online all the way

And then there’s the online plus-size boutiques. Some of these are single designers, and some of these are retailers with nicely curated collections of plus-size fashions. All of these have a range of really adorable clothes in a ton of styles (young and hip! classic and sassy!) and price points.

Igigi

B & Lu

Alight

Baby Phat

Monif C.

Le Grande Dame

Size Appeal

Kiyonna

HSN (seriously)

Big Girls United

Misc. and etc.

Etsy!

You’re going to find a ton of plus size stuff on etsy (though sellers vary widely on what they mean by “plus size”). But even better, there are a number of designers who can design their offerings to your measurements. And don’t forget—if you run across something handmade you love, such as a silk-screened t-shirt, that doesn’t appear to come in your size, contact the seller! Most artists on etsy are more than happy to work with you. Weetabix worked with circularaccessories to score some gorgeous silkscreened t-shirts.

Eshakti

These guys are awesome and amazing. They carry sizes up to 26W in every single style, but allow you to customize for your measurements—have you got magnificent shoulders? They can make that adorable top wider, let out the sleeves, give you more room for your bosom or less room, cinch in a waist. And you can customize styles, too. If you like that blouse but not the sleeves, or the neckline, or the length, they can fix that for you. I might die without this dress.

Lee Jeans

As seen on this blog! Lee jeans in plus sizes, beloved by Mo Pie. They’re adorable, and I am so in love with the awesomely sophisticated white color.

Sexy lingerie is sexy. Hips and Curves: is so sexy.

The only bathing suit you need is the Esther Williams classic sheath. In like, cherries. Or polka dots. Or oh my god, leopard print.

Now, tell me, what did I miss?

There is no “theme” to the portal. Weetabix and Jenfu have both shifted into writing more personal (rather than weight-oriented) blogs, and they’ve also said that they’ll be posting size acceptance related stuff here from time to time, so hopefully Big Fat Deal will be busier than ever in 2009. (And I welcome your input, if there’s anything you’d like to see happen here this year.)

We’re still putting things together over at Dearest Mabel and getting our feet wet and tweaking the template, but in the meantime, I just wanted to point you over there. Happy reading, and happy new year!