Princess Leia Still Kicks Ass

Ok, so I know I've been promising a new post for a thousand years now, and it's kind of lame to just repost something someone else wrote, but here's the thing: I'm SO sick of everyone feeling like they have the right and apparently even the responsibility to constantly comment on every woman's body*. You don't. Or, I mean, I guess it's technically your right to comment on anything you want to but constantly commenting on every woman's body makes you an asshole. I don't care if you're a man or a woman, body-snarking is mean, unfair, and ultimately, Boring. Yes, I did capitalize it for emphasis. It's Boring. Saying "she's fat" adds absolutely nothing to the public discourse. If you don't have anything interesting or substantive to say, just don't say anything. Please. For the love of all things holy.

Anyway, Carrie Fisher recently made the mistake of googling herself and found that a blogger had written that she used to be attractive but now looks like Elton John. I found her response hilarious:

You see, I was hot when most people are hot—- in my fucking 20’s & part of my 30’s……THEN, in an effort to imitate humans, I had a child &, to further maintain my life like disguise, I took medications for about 9 thousand years, &, despite all my efforts, I continued to get older & older——inadvertently, I assure you———-I tried to arrest my development physically as WELL as emotionally, but unfortunately without as much success. I also must confess that I ate food. I’m sorry….. I realize that I promised never to eat anything but lettuce & sun flower seeds, but tragically, I was unable to keep my promise.

Yes, I realize…..I KNOW that I vowed to exercise for 3 hours a day—-aerobics, pilates AND yoga, but alas, I admit with a large quota of shame, that I failed to fulfill this other important commitment.
NO, I shouldn’t look as if 30 years have passed. I understand completely if you can’t find it in your heart to forgive me for looking like 3 decades have passed…….Of COURSE you should mock & belittle me for being so large!! What else could you POSSIBLY do?????!? I’ve let you down by treating my body as though it were just some giant sad sack that I use to haul my personality around. You have every right to compare me to Yoda or Elton or Kirstie…….I’ve brought it on myself.

Carrie Fisher is an accomplished actress and writer. She has battled drug addiction. She has chosen to be very public about her mental illness (bipolar disorder), helping to lessen the stigma for fellow sufferers. She is the daughter of Eddie Fisher and Debbie Reynolds(!) and the stepdaughter of Elizabeth Taylor(!!!). She was Princess Leia. Her appearance is literally the least interesting thing about her. Please, please, please just shut up about it.

*I'm saying woman because most body snark seems to be directed towards women. Body-snarking men is just as inane.

Free Rice!

Ok, I swear I'll have a real post up here sometime soon, but for now I'm just going to plug FreeRice. It's a really simple concept: answer a multiple choice question correctly and they donate ten grains of rice to the UN World Food Program. I first came across it a couple years ago and quickly became obsessed. Back then it was a simple vocabulary test, and you moved up a level for every three you got right and down a level for every one you missed. Now in addition to English vocabulary, you can test yourself in English grammar, Italian, French, German, Spanish, pre-Algebra, multiplication, world capitals, geography, chemistry, and famous paintings.

So check it out. It's the perfect time-waster at work: addictive, fun, and educational. Plus, when your boss inevitably catches you playing it he can't get too mad: it's all to end world hunger.