Girl Power?

I KISSED A GIRL - KATY PERRY (MUSIC VIDEO)
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Three cheers for Katy Perry for providing faux-lesbians an anthem they can scream at the top of their lungs while chugging questionable jungle-juice at their local, shady frat party. 

Whatever, I guess "I Kissed a Girl" isn't completely annoying, and, in a weird way, is doing more good than bad. In an almost perverse way, I feel like the LGBT community can only benefit from a top-40 single that encourages experimentation -- ultimately normalizing such interactions. 

True, most aren't exactly thinking about social progression when they're listening to this song at their local watering hole. Still, I'd argue that singing along to lyrics that proclaims "I kissed a girl and I liked it," coupled with recent speculation that Lindsay Lohan is dating DJ Samantha Ronson, and, yes, even the MTV's vile show, "A Shot at Love with Tila Tequila," can only aid in Middle-America's acceptance of lesbians. 

Yes, there was Jill Sobule's minor radio-hit of the same title ("I Kissed a Girl") in 1995, and Ellen DeGeneres admitted that, yep, she's gay on the cover of TIME magazine in 1997, but that almost seems like, well, a whole generation ago.

So, where are today's young lesbians in the media? And the irony of it all, especially in a time when gay/lesbian men and women have more options than they did in the mid/late-nineties?

OK, so maybe I am giving the song too much credit. But, as it trivial as the aforementioned examples may seem, if they help generate conversation, then that's one more step toward in eliminating ignorance in this country.

Chicks with ink.

Last night Anna D. Shapiro became the second woman in over 68 years to win a Tony Award for best direction of a play, "August: Osage County." While that's amazing and all, I especially love that she didn't cover up the rose tattoo on her right arm for an event that's notoriously conservative, to say the least. Obviously I don't know if she did this deliberately or if this was a choice driven by the forecast (its been unbearably hot in the city the past week), nevertheless I'm glad this taboo about women with visible ink seems to be dissipating. Clearly getting tattoos that are prominently displayed does not mean your professional life is doomed (which is, as ridiculous as it sounds, a fairly popular misconception still perpetuated). So, yeah, my plans for a half-sleeve are still intact...sorry, Mom!

I want Judy Blume to adopt me

Man, I need to pick up a copy of "Forever" and re-read it again.

The fact that her "banned" books (written in the 70s) still resonate with young girls even today is awesome. Kudos to Judy Blume for sticking it to the man.

Top Hat on Top Chef Contestant...

Chef hats have always made me giggle. And how could they not? But Top Chef: Chicago contestant Spike takes it to a whole other level. He seems to sport a different kind of (equally bad) hat in every episode. At first, I thought he was desperately trying to be all cool and suave, or trying to hide a bald spot, by rocking a fedora titled ever-so-carefully to the side.

But on tonight's episode, I realized he was just a hat-wearing tool. During his interviews he wore this atrocious basket-weaved, blue-trimmed baseball hat. I guess its his way of sticking out amongst the other contestants but ugh, all I could think about was Ricky Lizalde from Project Runway Season 4 with all those god-awful hats that never left his head. Yeah, we all remember that he cried at the drop of a dime, but how could we forget his mesh-covered, dominatrix hats?! Ricky even had the nerve to create a whole line of these hats for his "Sew Not Over" (Bravo challenge) collection.

Dear future Bravo show contestants, nix the hats, you'll just end up looking silly.

Twista pulling a fast one on me?

So, rapper Twista held the Guiness World Record for being the fastest rapper in 1992, but he never quite impressed me. I didn't even know he was still recording, but apparently he has an album, "Mobstability II: Nation Business, dropping this year. But I heard the first single "Give it up" (featuring Pharrell) and I might have to eat my words. OK, I'm a little late (it was released last summer) but damn, it's so catchy that it deserves a mention.

Pharrell not only sings the hook but also produced it, so naturally it's tasty ear-candy. But beyond that, it features an arrangement of percussions ranging from bongos to cowbells (I repeat, cowbells! "Gotta have more cowbell!"), creating a instant dance hit (even though it only peaked at 88 on the Billboard charts).

Still, the video is worth watching, too.


I'll even forgive its blatant objectification of woman as yummy food because Pharrell gets a lot of camera time, and I don't mind objectifying him.

Squeezing it for all it's worth.

I like most anything that is lemon/lime-flavored. Just add a splash of either citrus fruit, and whatever you're eating/drinking is that much better. Take for instance a bottle of Corona beer. Despite it being Mexico's unofficial beer, (and by default I should have a loyalty to it) I hated it. But I think I felt this way because I forgot to slip in the requisite lime slice in my first bottle. I didn't think it would make a difference, but, oh, was I wrong. A Corona without a lime is like Project Runway without Bravo (oops, I guess it's little too late for that), it just doesn't work.

Anyway, just because it works for Corona, I doubt it has the same magic for other beers. But Bud Light seems to think so. They're releasing a lime-infused Bud Light next month and I just saw the commercial for it. Normally, their commercials don't phase me but it grabbed my attention when I heard the song in the background, and it was none other than Santogold's "Creator."

Surprisingly, the commercial is no where to be found on the Web but I know what I heard. It was just like the time I heard M.I.A.'s "Galang" as the backdrop music for the Honda Civic SI back in 2006.


Oh yes, it seems to me that Santogold is definitely taking career advice from M.I.A. If this continues Santogold will be the newest "it" girl in the indie/electro/nu-wave world faster than you can stomach that Bud Light Lime.

Fashion Faux-Heel

I guess you could call me a girly-girl. I like makeup, clothes, and most anything pink. But, before you gag at my confession, my girly-ness comes to a screeching halt when it concerns high heels. I wish I could wear heels nonchalantly, but every step I take in any shoes with a heel higher than 2.5 inches is just unbearable (I have nearly flat feet).

Anyway, somebody once told me that designer shoes are supposed to be more comfortable because they're better quality. But since I don't have $400-plus to shell out on a pair of Louboutin's, I can't actually test this theory. Still, Carrie Bradshaw (pardon my outdated Sex and the City reference) wore Manolo Blahnik four-inched heels everywhere in New York City, so, it just has to true, no?

But something tells me that there's no way that these $32,000 pair of five-and-half inched heels (pictured below), designed by Briton Antonio Berdai, are anything but painful. I don't even know how you could even walk in them, but celebrities like Victoria Beckham and Gwyneth Paltrow own a pair and plan to make it work.

And these aren't the only pair of ridiculous heels I've seen on the catwalk, either. Remember Marc Jacobs' "backward" heel (from his Fall 2007 show) that had people scratching their heads in confusion? I didn't think I would see them off the runway but then actress Sophia Bush proved me wrong:

OK, maybe I shouldn't completely discount heels. After all, this study that claims heels increase your sex drive. I guess beauty doesn't always equal pain.