What the L?

In case you're curious about Charlotte Ronson ...

2008-09-06T23:19:00.004-04:00

Click here for a short interview with her backstage at her fashion show. She's looks quite a lot like her sister but they are somewhat different in, say, affect.

There is also a short interview in the same piece with another sister Annabelle Dexter Jones. Here the three of them are together:

The Fug Girls cover the paparazzi crush after Lindsay and Sam exited the show. I love the Fug Girls -- I used to read them all the time. Here's a key insiderey graf:

It was, quite frankly, a tremendous and crazy crush. Tourists, Lohan-lovers, and professionals alike were screaming both of their names as Lindsay giggled while holding up what appeared to be an electric-blue purse — matching her pumps — to block the left side of her Ray Ban–clad face. At one point she and Sam doubled over to laugh and whisper to each other as a teenager in front of us tried taking a photo of herself with them in the background. “This is terrible,” one girl in our general area said, as everyone (yes, us included — we are nothing if not dedicated to our readers, or at least that’s what we told ourselves) snapped pictures of the tumult. “Those poor girls,” another woman said, pushing closer to get a better shot. “What a horrible way to live,” said another, jumping up to make sure she got Lindsay in the frame. “Please,” the girl next to us said. “If no one was paying any attention to her, she’d DIE.” And then, of course, there was the mob of about ten who threw elbows and pushed us around in order to get as many good photos as possible, then all turned to us and each other and said, “So who is that, anyway?”

Lindsay and Sam today at the Charlotte Ronson Spring 09 Fashion Show

2008-09-06T21:07:00.005-04:00

I'm loving Sam's new do:

Can Lindsay and Samantha Ronson get any cuter?

2008-09-06T12:49:00.002-04:00

I think not. Exhibit A (great song by The Features, btw):

Exhibit B -- building the family photo album (check out how Sam has her toes pointed in in those big clunky shoes):

And the winner is ... Alice!

2008-09-06T12:28:00.006-04:00

Alice Pieszecki will be the star of the L Word spin off. No surprise really. Alice is supremely likable. And hot.

A good combination I would say. The worst part of the news is that L Word creator Ilene Chaiken, she who lives on a faraway planet with L Word characters who disappear without explanation and who serve as her love slaves -- will also write and produce the new show. Hopefully they will encourage her to write more coherent storylines. But that might be too much to ask. Ilene is pictured below -- just because. What's with lesbians and argyle anyway?

Obama Rallies Democrats, Invokes 70s Sitcom

2008-08-29T07:32:00.002-04:00

Where has Michelle Rodriguez been hiding out?

2008-08-27T16:55:00.002-04:00

Yay! Michelle Rodriguez in coming back to Lost for at least one episode. I was so upset when Ana Lucia got killed off. Here's a pic:

A Thought About Lindsay Lohan

2008-08-25T17:36:00.005-04:00

It's occurred to me with the recent report connecting Lindsay and Courtenay Semel that Lindsay might become OUR Lindsay, that she might just be a real, bonafide lesbian. Here's the key quote from the superreliable News of the World:

BEDDED a string of men in a bid to suppress her lesbian urges — and to hide them from her public.
SANK into addictions as the pressure of her double life grew.

That's prose for you, huh? And this from a "friend" of Courtenay's:

“From the start Lindsay was very confused about her feelings for Courtenay so did more and more drugs to stifle the sexual attraction she was experiencing."

Now, obviously Linds isn't a Gold Star lesbian but, really, so few of us are (I'm not, of course, speaking for myself). But what if it's true that the poor thing has been going through the same struggle so many of us has, trying to figure out it it's ok to be gay (should I wear the Birks, should I get the mullet?), except through the lenses of a million pap's high-tech digital cameras? If that turns out to be the case then we may have a historical moment on our hands where a mainstream actress who happens to be gay is allowed to continue her career as a hottie, romantic lead. Lindsay acquired her role in her recently wrapped picture Labor Pains after she was connected with Samantha Ronson. And while many people may have been skeptical about their relationship it may not ultimately matter. Lindsay Lohan -- not Jodie Foster, not Sarah Paulson, not Saffron Burrows -- but Lindsay Lohan may be the one who finally breaks through that hardest of glass ceilings for the gay actor.

And here's a recent pic of Lindsay and Sam (awww):

Check Out a Great (and very funny) Blog

2008-08-25T17:20:00.005-04:00

My friend, Adele, who is a great writer, has a blog that you have to check out. Adele is the only person I know who regularly has bizarredly hilarious things happen to her -- it's kinda like having David Sedaris as a friend except she's a girl and better looking. For the last couple of years Adele has published her stories in The Washington Post -- often they are accompanied by photos and as you can see, she's supercute!

AND, Adele is the most fearless swimmer I know which makes her really cool like Dara Torres -

Yikes! Too much abs? Should chicks have a pelvic line?

Anyway, check out Adele's spine tingling account of her swim across the Chesapeake.

And another of my favorite stories is when things got out of hand for Adele at a routine stop at a Shell station.

Adele will have a permanent fixture in my blogroll -- so, eyes right!

L Word Spin Off -- You Decide

2008-08-24T16:28:00.004-04:00

Word on the street is that there will be a spin off to the L Word focusing on one of the current characters. I think we can assume that it won't be Beals because that would be, well, the L Word in its current incarnation. So, who would be the best choice to carry a spin off successfully? Let's face it, teevee doesn't have a great track record with successful spinoffs (Seinfield, Friends, etc., etc.). I know everyone will hate me but I choose Jenny or maybe Jenny and Shane together. What do you think? Vote in the poll in the column at the right of the page.
Yeah, I know this picture is a few seasons old, but it's pretty great, huh?

Lindsay and Sam -- Too cute!

2008-07-21T18:48:00.002-04:00

You can't get much more adorable than this:

Lindsay (Sam outside of the frame) in the Hamptons -- who drives a Chrysler Le Baron anymore? I love it! (Couldn't find photo anywhere but Perez -- yuck!)

LiLo and SamRo

2008-04-29T23:38:00.004-04:00

Not sure what it means, if anything, but Lindsay and Sam are still hanging out. At least they're staying out of trouble. Here they are getting a pedicure in LA. Tell the paps what you think, Sam!

Just Because ... Kate McKinnon Edition

2008-04-26T23:40:00.004-04:00

Full confession: I love Kate McKinnon of the The Big Gay Sketch Show. For one, she's really pretty. See?
And for two, she's really funny. She created the character of Fitzwilliam on TBGSS and though this isn't my favorite Fitzwilliam sketch I think you'll appreciate it:

My other favorite Kate sketch where she spoofs an anorexic raw food chef isn't up on Youtube yet. In the meantime, here is a really funny clip of Kate and Julie Goldman playing granola crunchy hippie lesbians at a women's music festival.

Books I'd Reread: Tipping the Velvet

2008-04-26T13:34:00.012-04:00

Tipping the Velvet was Sarah Water's first novel and it has been described along the lines of a Victorian, lesbian romp. If you haven't read it, do -- it's a great read and then you can treat yourself to the BBC adaptation of it with Rachael Stirling, Keeley Hawes and Jodhi May.

Here's the opening scene -- it's definitely worth owning:

And here's an interview with Sarah Waters:

Summary Judgment: Cybill Shepherd on the L Word

2008-04-26T12:57:00.007-04:00

I've had mixed feelings about Cybill Shepherd's presence on the L Word. At first, I thought, Cool , since I'd liked her on Moonlightin g eons ago. And you can never forget her part in Taxi Driver back when she was the ingenue (oh, to be the ingenue again):
But then, like so many characters on the L Word, hers was uneven. One minute a comic foil, one minute a mouthpiece for the exposition of other characters, one minute clinging desperately to her sliver of a subplot. In the end, I'm glad she's been around. As the series has relied more and more on camp, she's been very much at home. Here's an interview where she talks about working with her daughter who plays Shane's love interest, Molly:

Book Shelf

2008-04-25T23:57:00.008-04:00

It's been a while since I've read any lesbian fiction, especially any lesbian genre fiction. I thought I'd check a few out and put in my order to Amazon. The first one is by KG MacGregor called Without Warning.

It's about two women -- one gay and one straight (at least for now) -- who meet in a mall after a pretty significant earthquake. I enjoyed it -- it moved well and the characters were well drawn. MacGregor has a bunch of other books, too. Check out her website if your interested.

Next up: Radclyffe's Honor Under Siege.

Inching out?

2008-04-25T23:31:00.007-04:00

Maybe not, but Michelle Rodriguez was a little more forthcoming in her recent interview in Latina magazine. If you recall she has been downright hostile to the notion that she might be gay -- anyone remember this rambling denial? Here she is when she was linked to Kristanna Loken -- formerly of the L Word.

My head tells me I shouldn't like this chick but I just do ...

Is Alice Pieszecki coming to your town?

2008-04-25T23:24:00.004-04:00

Well, she's coming to mine. She'll be here in DC at the 9:30 club on May 14 with her band Uh Huh Her.

Click here to find out where else she'll be.

Just Because ...

2008-04-25T23:21:00.004-04:00

... the L Word is over and there's only one more season!

Lindsay Lohan -- One of us?

2008-04-25T23:11:00.006-04:00

I doubt it. But I am starting to wonder if the rumors linking her and DJ Samantha Ronson might have some truth to them. Lindsay has been following Sam from gig to gig lately. Here are a few pictures from the past few weeks:

Makes you wonder.

Interesting L Word Season Five Review

2008-04-25T23:06:00.003-04:00

This article is from Entertainment Weekly -- here's the key graf:

Of course, once you strip away the sex and gender polemics, the R-rated melodrama can appear pretty, well, bare. It's largely an endless loop of girl-meets-girl stories. Dramatic resonance and plot continuity apparently aren't a high priority in the writers' room. Characters are sometimes given new personalities (not to mention orientations) from one season to the next, story arcs are half constructed and left abandoned (what the heck happened to Papi, the Latina limo driver?), and cliff-hangers are elaborately set up only to be nonsensically resolved before the show's end. I'm no Aaron Spelling, but they're supposed to be left hanging, right? Otherwise they're just...cliffs.

Hmm ...

James Wolcott on the L Word

2008-02-25T08:34:00.003-05:00

I think James Wolcott's commentary is always on the mark and pretty funny, too. Check out his latest post which mentions the L Word -- like me, he skipped the interminable Oscars broadcast to check out Tina and Bette --

Of course tonight I have nowhere to go apart from the few feet separating our cathedral bathroom from the TV room, where I should be tweezering out sociocultural nuances from the Oscar broadcast, pondering the intimations of mortality peeping through the plush self-congratulation, but instead find myself docked in front of The L Word, hooked on the negative suspense of whether Bette and Tina, America's most boring lesbian couple, will get back together and spare us another season of Marlee Matlin's sign-language overacting, and when, where, and how the bratty, insufferable poseur Jenny will finally get hers. Oh, when will the long-postponed reckoning come? Well, not tonight, as the big dramatic payoff featured the annoying, nattering Alice reprising the climax of An Office and a Gentleman lesbian-style with her black lover. I recognize that if you're not a regular viewer of The L Word, it may seem as if I'm trafficking in obscurities, but to those of us who have watched The L Word from its pagan beginnings, these are matters of utmost doctrinal importance, testifying to the emptiness of our entertainment lives.
I mean, the way they've diminished the role of transgendered Max is a crime, particularly since s/he has emerged as the moral center of a series that's misplaced its center and now spills in every ugly, impulsive direction.

For that other k.d. --

2008-02-22T22:49:00.004-05:00

Since I promised -- I hoped it would have more context and I hoped it would be closer up --

And for me --

k.d. and Ariel Levy

2008-02-22T22:02:00.007-05:00

After Ellen's Best. Lesbian. Week. Ever. linked to this article in New York Magazine on k.d. lang. It's interesting especially in its consideration of butchness. Curious about the author, Ariel Levy, I googled her and, though her regular gig is writing for NYM, she came out with a book a few years ago called Female Chauvinist Pigs: Women and the Rise of Raunch Culture where she --

cleverly leads us to explore the role models women aspire to emulate. We are not pursuing the confident, self-determined, powerful, free ideal the women’s liberation movement would have dreamed for its daughters. Instead, our icons are porn stars and strippers and prostitutes. Paris Hilton and Jenna Jameson flaunt their successes in the pornography industry, and in doing so seem to earn our adulation.

Also, can I just say? Ariel Levy is pretty hot:

And she got married to her gf, Amy Norquist, in Virginia near where I grew up --

No wonder she was able to speak so knowingly about butchness. (What's she carrying by the way? Did she bring work with her to her wedding?!?)

Here are a couple of clips from a Dutch documentary called Beperkt Houdbaar --

Aaaand, if you're interested (and I know some of you are), she wrote this piece on Hillary.

Lauds and Gripes and Big Butch Prison Daddy Dykes – Episode 5.3 -- Part 1

2008-01-22T22:23:00.000-05:00

So, before the L Word started Sunday night, the girlfriend and I caught the last coupla minutes of this L Word thing right before it. Apparently, L Word held a fan fiction contest and some chick named Molly won it by writing a scene. I was, like, "Whaa ... Chaiken can't even be bothered to write her own show anymore? Fan fiction! Puh!"

Then it started.

I actually feltl my adrenaline ramping up and then I figured out who that little honey in the middle is ... OMG! OMG! Kate Moennig as Kate Jackson! Shane as Sabrina! OMG! Kate Moennig is a TOTAL femme. I had NO idea. Sabrina was NEVER that femme ...

... evah.

Ok, full disclosure -- Sabrina was my favorite angel. In retrospect, I'm not entirely sure if I identified with her or was responding to certain (unintentionally?) coded images:

Let's face it, the only thing missing from that outfit is the crop.

Molly, whoever you are – I love you and your damned fan fiction! Ilene Chaiken – watch and learn!

The whole opening sequence was a little much to take in and then the girlfriend in a panicked, strangled voice says, “Who ... is ... that? Who is that in the glasses?”

My brain tumbled over a few times. “Wait a minute, wait a minute ... I know who that is ... Ahghh!!! It’s Tina! It’s Tina! It’s Tina totally channeling Randy Dean – Yayyyy, Randy Dean!

And maybe a little Roy Orbison, too.

I thought the business with the guns was kinda stupid but who cares?!?! Kate Moennig IS Kate Jackson. Maybe next week will bring a Scarecrow and Mrs. King parody.

If Max rips off his soul patch, he can play the dude. (And what the hell happened to Bruce Boxleitner anyway? He was cute!)

Part 2 to come -- there was WAY too much going on in this episode to handle in a single, lowly post.

Time Traveling Lesbian -- Episode 3

2008-01-22T12:00:00.000-05:00

Here's hoping your Tuesday is going faster than mine. Let episode 3 of Rebecca Drysdale's Time Traveling Lesbian get you through the next coupla minutes:

If you're wondering if that's Nicol Paone from The Big Gay Sketch Show ... you're right! Even though she's straight :-( -- she's great! Check her out:

Stay tuned for episode 4!