Guy Trebay of The New York Times certainly knows how to spot a breaking new trend. And this time he's spotted a shocking one: the pot belly. Guy calls it "the Ralph Kramden." (For those of you who are under 30 or who've never caught an episode of The Honeymooners when it ran on Nick at Nite, Ralph Kramden was Jackie Gleason's character in the classic sitcom. Come to think of it, Ed Norton was also rocking the pot belly on that show).
But back to the end of six pack abs. So how did we get to this sad state of affairs? Perhaps it all started with Kevin Federline. He married Britney Spears and then he started gaining weight. In fact, he's still gaining weight, seemingly oblivious to the hordes of paparazzi who photograph him in his natural element: clubs in Vegas, the golf course and the odd bowling alley.
But how could this really have anything to do with K-Fed? He's not hip. In fact, his penchant for head to toe Ed Hardy ensembles was mercilessly mocked in 17 Again. Hipsters do not follow K-Fed. They go counter to the prevailing fashion style. Then, the light dawns. It's all President Obama's fault.
Hipsters, by nature contrarian, according to Dan Peres, the editor of Details, may be reacting in opposition to a president who is not only, as the press relentlessly reminds us, So Darn Smart, but also hits the gym every morning, has a conspicuously flat belly and, when not rescuing the economy or sparring with Kim Jong-il, shoots hoops.
"If we had a slob in the White House, all the hipsters would turn into some walking Chippendales calendar," Mr. Peres said. Instead, the streets of Williamsburg are crowded with men who are, as he noted, "proudly rocking a gut." Mr. Peres's magazine has a term for these people: the new "poor-geoisie." But the people lining up for $13 lobster rolls at the Brooklyn Flea last weekend hardly looked as if they were worried about making the rent.
"I sort of think the six-pack abs obsession got so prissy it stopped being masculine," is how Aaron Hicklin, the editor of Out, explains the emergence of the Ralph Kramden. What once seemed young and hot, for gay and straight men alike, now seems passe. Like manscaping, spray-on tans and other metrosexual affectations, having a belly one can bounce quarters off suggests that you may have too much time on your hands.
Remember the video of former Vice presidential candidate and philanderer extraordinaire John Edwards in which he endlessly fusses with his hair in a mirror, oblivious that he was being filmed live before a tv appearance? Well, it's kind of like that. The endless preening became obnoxious, a turn off.
Of course, there's another, more mundane explanation. It's a recession. No one can afford to eat salmon and blueberries every morning, washed down with Acai berry juice. Instead, the guys are heading to McDonald's for a couple of sausage egg biscuits. Hence, the emergence of the pot belly.
Guy Trebay of The New York Times certainly knows how to spot a breaking new trend. And this time he's 
