Honestly, Does This Saddle Make me Look Fat?(Photo by Dogmatic)
Wholesome Fun For Your Daughters?
The always entertaining Red over at Unstarved alerts us to this, well, unusual online game that seems to be very popular with girls (most 9-16 years old), at least in England and France.
It's called "Miss Bimbo" and shall we find out a little more about how it works?
According to The Guardian, the aim of the Miss Bimbo beauty contest game is to become the "hottest, coolest, most famous bimbo in the whole world." Contestants are encouraged to "stop at nothing," even "meds or plastic surgery." Starting with a naked virtual character, players compete to earn "bimbo" dollars so they can "dress her in sexy outfits and take her clubbing. They are given missions, including securing plastic surgery at the game's clinic to give their dolls bigger breasts, and they have to keep her at her target weight with diet pills." (Note: apparently now the game no longer includes diet pills).
Here's another cool feature: the game is free to play, but when the contestants run out of virtual cash they have to have to send expensive text messages or use PayPal to refill their accounts!
The game's creators say it's not a bad influence for young children. "They learn to take care of their bimbos. The missions and goals are morally sound and teach children about the real world."
Of course we're sure that the 9 year old girls playing this game are hip to the ironic subtextual messages about the superficiality and oppressiveness of our popular culture's obsession with women's weight and appearance... right? Um, right???
(And be sure to check out Unstarved --Red is kind of a smartass, which is why we like him. Also, as a bonus, he brought his adorable sister in on this one; she writes and waves like a pro.)
Eat the Damn Broccoli; Skip the Pills
Over at Best Health Blog, which is associated with the Canadian magazine Best Health (at Cranky Fitness we love all things Canadian), we learn yet again that taking high doses antioxidants in supplement form doesn't do you any good. According to Best Health, the Cochrane Folks reviewed a bunch of studies (with over 230,000 subjects) and guess what? If you want to live longer, you gotta eat the actual vegetables, people! Overdosing on A and E supplements can even be harmful. Cranky Fitness readers knew this already, of course, but some of us keep hoping they'll change their minds one day and give us a way to eat more cupcakes for our antioxidants, and less cauliflower.
Get Caught "Palming" at Work!
It was ergonomic week over at Marijke's blog, Help My Hurt, and there's tons of useful info there on all things ergonomic. Marijke includes links to some helpful exercises you can perform at work, like: "the Executive Stretch;" "Palming;" and the always popular "Yawning." (Yawning, apparently, is an eye exercise--"it produces tears to help moisten and lubricate the eyes." Just tell your boss that at the next staff meeting!
Bean Counting
Monica over at SmarterFitter has been running lots of great articles, including this round-up of why beans are so healthy for you. (Cranky Fitness will refrain from the usual fart jokes and just send you over there for inspiring bean-related nutritional info).
Weirdest Apparel Item of the Week?
It's a tie!
From the fabulous MizFit, we have been alerted to the "Shape-Up Shoe," which promises "lifted buns" and "toned legs" if it doesn't kill you first.
And for the man in your life, via Vat19, check out a pair of "Manties!"
Yes, They Come in High Cut, Too!
Pretty in Pink
Leslie at the Weighting Game had a great post on PMS, and included this video which totally cracked me up. You may have all seen it, but I hadn't, as I am officially too old for late night TV. (And we've got a guest post from Leslie coming up next week--we're hoping pretty soon she'll do the whole blog for us!)
That's it for this week, and thanks to all the bloggers I stole stuff from! Have a wicked awesome Friday, everyone.
