Archive

Best. Lesbian. Week. Ever. (September 5, 2008)

OUT OF THE MOUTHS OF BABES Film and lesbian icon Jodie Foster will be featured on The Simpsons in early 2009 as the voice of Maggie, the youngest and most reticent member of Springfield’s famously dysfunctional family, according to Entertainment Weekly.

Jodie will lend her distinctive, throaty lilt to an episode called, “Four Great Women & A Manicure,” which will envision a post-binky, grown-up Maggie A Maggie who sounds, I hope, more like The Brave One and less like Nell. Chicka, chicka, chickabee. A t’ay in the waaynn.

Like Maggie, Jodie is no stranger to the spotlight at an early age. At the tender age of 3, Jodie appeared in a Coppertone suntan lotion advertisement. Unlike Maggie, who hasn’t aged a day in almost 20 years, Jodie matured from this adorable, topless towhead: Into this: Maggie Simpson’s first word was “Daddy” and voiced by Elizabeth Taylor. As an adult, I can only imagine what she has to say about her dopey, lazy dad, Homer; long-suffering, high-haired mom, Marge; obnoxious brother Bart; and precocious, sax-playing sister, Lisa. “Get me the hell out of here,” would not be out of the question.

Here’s what Maggie might look like, as played by Jodie Foster (courtesty of the simpsonizer): “Four Great Women & a Manicure” plans to spoof everything from Macbeth to Citizen Kane and will feature the other citizens of Springfield playing some of the key roles.

Alison Bechdel’s Dykes to Watch Out For is on hiatus while she finishes her graphic novel Love Life, which is due out in 2009. Let’s hope that by then Grey’s Anatomy can make it to The Bechdel Rule’s “yes” list. If not, let’s hope the “who” and “whom” in the on-call room are Callie Torres and Erica Hahn. And if they don’t make the “yes” list, let’s hope it’s not because they’re talking about boys, but because they’re not talking at all.

– by StuntDouble

ENOUGH WITH 8 POWER UP’s Stacy Codikow has co-produced a series of celebrity-driven PSAs designed to convince California voters to support gay marriage by voting against Proposition 8 in November (which, if passed, would amend the state constitution to limit marriage to heterosexual couples only).

The PSAs will be rolling out throughout September, and the first one includes Jillian Armenante (Judging Amy) and her wife Alice Dodd, and Heather Matarazzo (Exes & Ohs) and her new fiancee Carolyn Murphy, as well as several straight allies like Sara Ramirez (Grey’s Anatomy), Amy Brenneman (Private Practice) and Melonie Diaz (Itty Bitty Titty Committee).

Watch it here:  

Cool idea for a PSA, and it’s nice to see Christine Lahti again (anyone else miss Jack & Bobby?).

Vote against Prop 8 in November, all you Californian readers!

WE’RE GETTING A RETIREMENT PLAN As Jill Bennett pointed out on a recent episode of We’re Getting Nowhere, she, Dara Nai and Karman Kregloe have logged over 40 episodes of their popular video blog. They will have done 47, in fact, by the time they’re finished vlogging the first season of The L Word at the end of this month. That’s a milestone most television shows don’t even reach!

But like network TV shows, there eventually comes a time to put away the wigs, pack up the sock puppets, and let everyone go on to do other things, and the Sept. 29 episode of We’re Getting Nowhere will be its last.

Thanks to Jill, Dara, and Karman for entertaining us all so thoroughly over the last year – they kick-started a video blog revolution on AfterEllen.com, spawned several other vlogs, improved on many a dreary TV scene with their own re-enactment of it, and made us laugh a lot along the way. If you get lonely for the Terrible Three, you can always re-watch the episodes starting at the very beginning. And don’t worry, we’ll still be bringing you news about Jill, Dara and Karman on the regular.

In related news, Jenn and Dee will be vlogging South of Nowhere‘s final episodes on Come With Me If You Want to Live when the teen drama returns in October (sorry, Terminator fans, they decided to switch to SON for now.)

Look for more announcements about new and returning video blogs next week (all good news, I promise!).

– by Sarah Warn

BUT WAIT, THERE’S MORE! In case you missed it: Leisha Hailey‘s Alice will be the star of the upcoming L Word spinoff.

House M.D.‘s Thirteen (Olivia Wilde) might actually see some lesbian romance this season.

There’s a 3-D Buffy world in the works.

Queer British rapper Mz. Fontaine has been nominated “Woman of the Year” by a European black LGBT community organization; buy tickets to the Sept. 20 awards event here.

Melissa Etheridge and Ellen DeGeneres will be among the 60 plus celebrities who will Stand Up to Cancer in a rare network multicast tonight at 8pm EST on ABC, NBC and CBS.

Laughing Matters … Next Gen – a documentary by Andrea Meyerson about new and up-and-coming LGBT comedians, including AfterEllen.com vloggers Gloria Bigelow and Bridget McManus – will debut on Logo next Tuesday, Sept. 9, and then be available to watch on AfterEllen.com next Weds.

Karman and Bridget are going to be filming an episode of You Can’t Take Them Anywhere! in Switzerland at the end of this month, and they’re tentatively planning a meet-up in Zurich on Friday, September 26th. If you’d like to help arrange the event (pretty please!) private message Karman or send us an email at [email protected].

Later today on AfterEllen.com, The Gay Agenda‘s Jay and Jon take on the DNC (Jay shares her experience blogging live all week from the Convention floor) and Sarah Palin’s VP nomination, and the women of Cherry Bomb take on “fuzzy friendships.” Plus: Hanifah and Olive play Wii games on a new episode of U People, and Michelle and Becca bring us the WBNA scoop From The Cheap Seats on Saturday .

That’s it for this week! Got the inside scoop on a hot new lesbian/bi actor/musician/TV show/film? Tell us at [email protected]. Check back next Friday for another edition of Best. Lesbian. Week. Ever.

King was outed in 1981 by an ex-lover, losing about $2 million in endorsements as a result. In 1998, she finally came out publicly and became the first out lesbian Olympic coach in 2000. Evidence of just how far she’s come personally is that the one of the book’s dedications is to King’s life partner, Ilana Kloss, who “gives me the strength and support to keep living the dream.” Pressure is a Privilege is a quick read and a great way to get to know a true feminist hero who also happens to be a lesbian. And honestly, how many people can you say that about?

– by the linster

ALL THINGS CONSIDERED, BECHDEL RULES Out cartoonist Alison Bechdel appeared on NPR’s All Things Considered this week to talk about her famous Bechdel Rule, and how it applies to this fall’s television lineup.

“The Rule” first appeared in Bechdel’s strip Dykes to Watch Out For in 1985. It details the three criteria a movie has to meet before she’ll watch it: 1) It has to have at least two women in it, who 2) talk to each other about 3) something that isn’t a man. “You’re constantly watching TV shows that don’t reflect [your] reality back to you,” Bechdel said in her NPR interview. “You feel a dissonance; you feel you’re not connected to the culture.”

Translation: On television, girls only talk to other girls when they need advice about boys.

Bechdel is right: That doesn’t even begin to reflect my reality.

So, what are some good shows to watch this fall, according to The Rule? Well, Bechdel and NPR chose ABC Family’s The Middleman, about a teenage crime-fighting assistant who talks with her best friend about art and their future careers. They also chose Tina Fey‘s 30 Rock because Liz Lemon is dead sexy has great interaction with other women who care about more than their boyfriends.

The show that is an epic failure, according to The Bechdel Rule? Grey’s Anatomy. Seattle Grace Hospital is filled with dozens of intelligent, beautiful women, and the only thing on their minds seems to be who made out with whom in what on-call room.

Alison Bechdel’s Dykes to Watch Out For is on hiatus while she finishes her graphic novel Love Life, which is due out in 2009. Let’s hope that by then Grey’s Anatomy can make it to The Bechdel Rule’s “yes” list. If not, let’s hope the “who” and “whom” in the on-call room are Callie Torres and Erica Hahn. And if they don’t make the “yes” list, let’s hope it’s not because they’re talking about boys, but because they’re not talking at all.

– by StuntDouble

ENOUGH WITH 8 POWER UP’s Stacy Codikow has co-produced a series of celebrity-driven PSAs designed to convince California voters to support gay marriage by voting against Proposition 8 in November (which, if passed, would amend the state constitution to limit marriage to heterosexual couples only).

The PSAs will be rolling out throughout September, and the first one includes Jillian Armenante (Judging Amy) and her wife Alice Dodd, and Heather Matarazzo (Exes & Ohs) and her new fiancee Carolyn Murphy, as well as several straight allies like Sara Ramirez (Grey’s Anatomy), Amy Brenneman (Private Practice) and Melonie Diaz (Itty Bitty Titty Committee).

Watch it here:  

Cool idea for a PSA, and it’s nice to see Christine Lahti again (anyone else miss Jack & Bobby?).

Vote against Prop 8 in November, all you Californian readers!

WE’RE GETTING A RETIREMENT PLAN As Jill Bennett pointed out on a recent episode of We’re Getting Nowhere, she, Dara Nai and Karman Kregloe have logged over 40 episodes of their popular video blog. They will have done 47, in fact, by the time they’re finished vlogging the first season of The L Word at the end of this month. That’s a milestone most television shows don’t even reach!

But like network TV shows, there eventually comes a time to put away the wigs, pack up the sock puppets, and let everyone go on to do other things, and the Sept. 29 episode of We’re Getting Nowhere will be its last.

Thanks to Jill, Dara, and Karman for entertaining us all so thoroughly over the last year – they kick-started a video blog revolution on AfterEllen.com, spawned several other vlogs, improved on many a dreary TV scene with their own re-enactment of it, and made us laugh a lot along the way. If you get lonely for the Terrible Three, you can always re-watch the episodes starting at the very beginning. And don’t worry, we’ll still be bringing you news about Jill, Dara and Karman on the regular.

In related news, Jenn and Dee will be vlogging South of Nowhere‘s final episodes on Come With Me If You Want to Live when the teen drama returns in October (sorry, Terminator fans, they decided to switch to SON for now.)

Look for more announcements about new and returning video blogs next week (all good news, I promise!).

– by Sarah Warn

BUT WAIT, THERE’S MORE! In case you missed it: Leisha Hailey‘s Alice will be the star of the upcoming L Word spinoff.

House M.D.‘s Thirteen (Olivia Wilde) might actually see some lesbian romance this season.

There’s a 3-D Buffy world in the works.

Queer British rapper Mz. Fontaine has been nominated “Woman of the Year” by a European black LGBT community organization; buy tickets to the Sept. 20 awards event here.

Melissa Etheridge and Ellen DeGeneres will be among the 60 plus celebrities who will Stand Up to Cancer in a rare network multicast tonight at 8pm EST on ABC, NBC and CBS.

Laughing Matters … Next Gen – a documentary by Andrea Meyerson about new and up-and-coming LGBT comedians, including AfterEllen.com vloggers Gloria Bigelow and Bridget McManus – will debut on Logo next Tuesday, Sept. 9, and then be available to watch on AfterEllen.com next Weds.

Karman and Bridget are going to be filming an episode of You Can’t Take Them Anywhere! in Switzerland at the end of this month, and they’re tentatively planning a meet-up in Zurich on Friday, September 26th. If you’d like to help arrange the event (pretty please!) private message Karman or send us an email at [email protected].

Later today on AfterEllen.com, The Gay Agenda‘s Jay and Jon take on the DNC (Jay shares her experience blogging live all week from the Convention floor) and Sarah Palin’s VP nomination, and the women of Cherry Bomb take on “fuzzy friendships.” Plus: Hanifah and Olive play Wii games on a new episode of U People, and Michelle and Becca bring us the WBNA scoop From The Cheap Seats on Saturday .

That’s it for this week! Got the inside scoop on a hot new lesbian/bi actor/musician/TV show/film? Tell us at [email protected]. Check back next Friday for another edition of Best. Lesbian. Week. Ever.

I emailed Dole to see if she would share some personal information about herself with AfterEllen.com and got this very funny reply.

I love papayas (slang for you-know-what but I’m honestly talking about the fruit), pineapples, finger bananas and long, cascading hair. I was raised in hot Miami. I came out at thirteen and was kicked out of an all-girl Catholic high school due to a sizzlin’ confiscated love letter written to me by my first girlfriend. As a teen, I was a hairstylist, studied nutrition, and worked part-time at several other jobs, including Djembe drumming, cooking, and landscape design, until I decided to become a full-time writer. I now live in exotic, humid, wild Miami with my beloved Damarys (aka: Astro Maniac)–she’s obsessed with Astrology and drives me nuts! If someone burps, it’s because their north node is in the seventh house of Sagittarius (or something like that). I write for a living and my short stories, and poetry, have been published by lesbo mags. I started my writing career with picture books depicting two rebel eight-year-old girls (for sure they’ll be MAJOR lesbos when they grow up!). I’m finishing another luscious lesbian book (packed with lesbians) but it’s Top Secret.
I, for one, can’t wait. For more information on Dole — including a hilarious account of her conversation with her non English-speaking mom about publication of her book — visit her site.

– by the linster

WHEN BILLIE BEAT BOBBY Hard to believe it’s been 35 years since the infamous “battle of the sexes” tennis match between Bobby Riggs and Billie Jean King. Yeah, yeah, I know a lot of you haven’t even been here 35 years. Trust me, it was A Big Deal. In conjunction with the anniversary of the 1973 match — which she won in straight sets 6-4, 6-3, 6-3 — comes a new book from King, Pressure is a Privilege: Lessons I’ve Learned from Life and the Battle of the Sexes. Using her victory over Riggs as a backdrop, King talks about events in her life that led up to the match — and the many things that have happened since. She highlighted these lessons in a Morning Edition interview with NPR’s Renee Montagne last week. C-SPAN’s Book TV devoted an episode to Pressure is a Privilege, featuring a half-hour interview with King.

King was outed in 1981 by an ex-lover, losing about $2 million in endorsements as a result. In 1998, she finally came out publicly and became the first out lesbian Olympic coach in 2000. Evidence of just how far she’s come personally is that the one of the book’s dedications is to King’s life partner, Ilana Kloss, who “gives me the strength and support to keep living the dream.” Pressure is a Privilege is a quick read and a great way to get to know a true feminist hero who also happens to be a lesbian. And honestly, how many people can you say that about?

– by the linster

ALL THINGS CONSIDERED, BECHDEL RULES Out cartoonist Alison Bechdel appeared on NPR’s All Things Considered this week to talk about her famous Bechdel Rule, and how it applies to this fall’s television lineup.

“The Rule” first appeared in Bechdel’s strip Dykes to Watch Out For in 1985. It details the three criteria a movie has to meet before she’ll watch it: 1) It has to have at least two women in it, who 2) talk to each other about 3) something that isn’t a man. “You’re constantly watching TV shows that don’t reflect [your] reality back to you,” Bechdel said in her NPR interview. “You feel a dissonance; you feel you’re not connected to the culture.”

Translation: On television, girls only talk to other girls when they need advice about boys.

Bechdel is right: That doesn’t even begin to reflect my reality.

So, what are some good shows to watch this fall, according to The Rule? Well, Bechdel and NPR chose ABC Family’s The Middleman, about a teenage crime-fighting assistant who talks with her best friend about art and their future careers. They also chose Tina Fey‘s 30 Rock because Liz Lemon is dead sexy has great interaction with other women who care about more than their boyfriends.

The show that is an epic failure, according to The Bechdel Rule? Grey’s Anatomy. Seattle Grace Hospital is filled with dozens of intelligent, beautiful women, and the only thing on their minds seems to be who made out with whom in what on-call room.

Alison Bechdel’s Dykes to Watch Out For is on hiatus while she finishes her graphic novel Love Life, which is due out in 2009. Let’s hope that by then Grey’s Anatomy can make it to The Bechdel Rule’s “yes” list. If not, let’s hope the “who” and “whom” in the on-call room are Callie Torres and Erica Hahn. And if they don’t make the “yes” list, let’s hope it’s not because they’re talking about boys, but because they’re not talking at all.

– by StuntDouble

ENOUGH WITH 8 POWER UP’s Stacy Codikow has co-produced a series of celebrity-driven PSAs designed to convince California voters to support gay marriage by voting against Proposition 8 in November (which, if passed, would amend the state constitution to limit marriage to heterosexual couples only).

The PSAs will be rolling out throughout September, and the first one includes Jillian Armenante (Judging Amy) and her wife Alice Dodd, and Heather Matarazzo (Exes & Ohs) and her new fiancee Carolyn Murphy, as well as several straight allies like Sara Ramirez (Grey’s Anatomy), Amy Brenneman (Private Practice) and Melonie Diaz (Itty Bitty Titty Committee).

Watch it here:  

Cool idea for a PSA, and it’s nice to see Christine Lahti again (anyone else miss Jack & Bobby?).

Vote against Prop 8 in November, all you Californian readers!

WE’RE GETTING A RETIREMENT PLAN As Jill Bennett pointed out on a recent episode of We’re Getting Nowhere, she, Dara Nai and Karman Kregloe have logged over 40 episodes of their popular video blog. They will have done 47, in fact, by the time they’re finished vlogging the first season of The L Word at the end of this month. That’s a milestone most television shows don’t even reach!

But like network TV shows, there eventually comes a time to put away the wigs, pack up the sock puppets, and let everyone go on to do other things, and the Sept. 29 episode of We’re Getting Nowhere will be its last.

Thanks to Jill, Dara, and Karman for entertaining us all so thoroughly over the last year – they kick-started a video blog revolution on AfterEllen.com, spawned several other vlogs, improved on many a dreary TV scene with their own re-enactment of it, and made us laugh a lot along the way. If you get lonely for the Terrible Three, you can always re-watch the episodes starting at the very beginning. And don’t worry, we’ll still be bringing you news about Jill, Dara and Karman on the regular.

In related news, Jenn and Dee will be vlogging South of Nowhere‘s final episodes on Come With Me If You Want to Live when the teen drama returns in October (sorry, Terminator fans, they decided to switch to SON for now.)

Look for more announcements about new and returning video blogs next week (all good news, I promise!).

– by Sarah Warn

BUT WAIT, THERE’S MORE! In case you missed it: Leisha Hailey‘s Alice will be the star of the upcoming L Word spinoff.

House M.D.‘s Thirteen (Olivia Wilde) might actually see some lesbian romance this season.

There’s a 3-D Buffy world in the works.

Queer British rapper Mz. Fontaine has been nominated “Woman of the Year” by a European black LGBT community organization; buy tickets to the Sept. 20 awards event here.

Melissa Etheridge and Ellen DeGeneres will be among the 60 plus celebrities who will Stand Up to Cancer in a rare network multicast tonight at 8pm EST on ABC, NBC and CBS.

Laughing Matters … Next Gen – a documentary by Andrea Meyerson about new and up-and-coming LGBT comedians, including AfterEllen.com vloggers Gloria Bigelow and Bridget McManus – will debut on Logo next Tuesday, Sept. 9, and then be available to watch on AfterEllen.com next Weds.

Karman and Bridget are going to be filming an episode of You Can’t Take Them Anywhere! in Switzerland at the end of this month, and they’re tentatively planning a meet-up in Zurich on Friday, September 26th. If you’d like to help arrange the event (pretty please!) private message Karman or send us an email at [email protected].

Later today on AfterEllen.com, The Gay Agenda‘s Jay and Jon take on the DNC (Jay shares her experience blogging live all week from the Convention floor) and Sarah Palin’s VP nomination, and the women of Cherry Bomb take on “fuzzy friendships.” Plus: Hanifah and Olive play Wii games on a new episode of U People, and Michelle and Becca bring us the WBNA scoop From The Cheap Seats on Saturday .

That’s it for this week! Got the inside scoop on a hot new lesbian/bi actor/musician/TV show/film? Tell us at [email protected]. Check back next Friday for another edition of Best. Lesbian. Week. Ever.

Maddow was contacted by blogger Ron Mwangaguhunga, who asked if the rumors were true. Her response:

I think it’s hilarious that Page Six just runs stuff that they make up. What a great job that must be! Not intimidated.
So it’s not true, which I think most of us figured. I just can’t see Maddow giving in to the feminizing machine, if for no other reason that it would give her something in common with Ann Coulter.

– by Trish Bendix

ONE TORTILLERA SUPREMA TO GO, POR FAVOR Thanks to AfterEllen.com tipster Vanessa Noble for cluing us in to the fabulous and funny Latina lesbian author Mayra Lazara Dole.

Dole’s latest book, Down to the Bone, has received all kinds of kudos, including a nomination for Best Book of 2009 from the American Library Association. She just received word that the novel also earned a place on the Rainbow nomination list and has been submitted for consideration to the Lambda Literary Awards and National Book Awards. All that is impressive enough on its own, but given the fact that Down to the Bone is a young adult novel about a Cuban-American lesbian, aka torterilla, dealing with coming out in a conservative Catholic family and community, the recognition is almost miraculous. Not Mary’s-face-on-a-piece-of-toast miraculous, but close.

Main character Laura Amores is happily in love with her girlfriend Marlena until she gets caught with a somewhat explicit love note, which is read out loud to her class by a nun affectionately known as “Fart Face.” As if getting kicked out of her Catholic high school and home isn’t enough, GF Marlena is shipped off to Puerto Rico to marry a man.

I’m halfway through Down to the Bone and am completely hooked. Laura’s story is heartbreaking, to be sure, but the book is far from depressing, thanks to Dole’s honest, humorous writing style and Laura’s snarky personality. I wish I’d had this book when I was a teenager.

Laura’s experience mirrors Dole’s own, according to an interview with Worth the Trip.

“At 14, my first love and I were thrown out of high school due to a muy calliente love letter she sent me detailing our first time making love (too juicy to recount!). Much like Laura, I had a boyfriend, but my heart beat passionately only for one special girl.”

I emailed Dole to see if she would share some personal information about herself with AfterEllen.com and got this very funny reply.

I love papayas (slang for you-know-what but I’m honestly talking about the fruit), pineapples, finger bananas and long, cascading hair. I was raised in hot Miami. I came out at thirteen and was kicked out of an all-girl Catholic high school due to a sizzlin’ confiscated love letter written to me by my first girlfriend. As a teen, I was a hairstylist, studied nutrition, and worked part-time at several other jobs, including Djembe drumming, cooking, and landscape design, until I decided to become a full-time writer. I now live in exotic, humid, wild Miami with my beloved Damarys (aka: Astro Maniac)–she’s obsessed with Astrology and drives me nuts! If someone burps, it’s because their north node is in the seventh house of Sagittarius (or something like that). I write for a living and my short stories, and poetry, have been published by lesbo mags. I started my writing career with picture books depicting two rebel eight-year-old girls (for sure they’ll be MAJOR lesbos when they grow up!). I’m finishing another luscious lesbian book (packed with lesbians) but it’s Top Secret.
I, for one, can’t wait. For more information on Dole — including a hilarious account of her conversation with her non English-speaking mom about publication of her book — visit her site.

– by the linster

WHEN BILLIE BEAT BOBBY Hard to believe it’s been 35 years since the infamous “battle of the sexes” tennis match between Bobby Riggs and Billie Jean King. Yeah, yeah, I know a lot of you haven’t even been here 35 years. Trust me, it was A Big Deal. In conjunction with the anniversary of the 1973 match — which she won in straight sets 6-4, 6-3, 6-3 — comes a new book from King, Pressure is a Privilege: Lessons I’ve Learned from Life and the Battle of the Sexes. Using her victory over Riggs as a backdrop, King talks about events in her life that led up to the match — and the many things that have happened since. She highlighted these lessons in a Morning Edition interview with NPR’s Renee Montagne last week. C-SPAN’s Book TV devoted an episode to Pressure is a Privilege, featuring a half-hour interview with King.

King was outed in 1981 by an ex-lover, losing about $2 million in endorsements as a result. In 1998, she finally came out publicly and became the first out lesbian Olympic coach in 2000. Evidence of just how far she’s come personally is that the one of the book’s dedications is to King’s life partner, Ilana Kloss, who “gives me the strength and support to keep living the dream.” Pressure is a Privilege is a quick read and a great way to get to know a true feminist hero who also happens to be a lesbian. And honestly, how many people can you say that about?

– by the linster

ALL THINGS CONSIDERED, BECHDEL RULES Out cartoonist Alison Bechdel appeared on NPR’s All Things Considered this week to talk about her famous Bechdel Rule, and how it applies to this fall’s television lineup.

“The Rule” first appeared in Bechdel’s strip Dykes to Watch Out For in 1985. It details the three criteria a movie has to meet before she’ll watch it: 1) It has to have at least two women in it, who 2) talk to each other about 3) something that isn’t a man. “You’re constantly watching TV shows that don’t reflect [your] reality back to you,” Bechdel said in her NPR interview. “You feel a dissonance; you feel you’re not connected to the culture.”

Translation: On television, girls only talk to other girls when they need advice about boys.

Bechdel is right: That doesn’t even begin to reflect my reality.

So, what are some good shows to watch this fall, according to The Rule? Well, Bechdel and NPR chose ABC Family’s The Middleman, about a teenage crime-fighting assistant who talks with her best friend about art and their future careers. They also chose Tina Fey‘s 30 Rock because Liz Lemon is dead sexy has great interaction with other women who care about more than their boyfriends.

The show that is an epic failure, according to The Bechdel Rule? Grey’s Anatomy. Seattle Grace Hospital is filled with dozens of intelligent, beautiful women, and the only thing on their minds seems to be who made out with whom in what on-call room.

Alison Bechdel’s Dykes to Watch Out For is on hiatus while she finishes her graphic novel Love Life, which is due out in 2009. Let’s hope that by then Grey’s Anatomy can make it to The Bechdel Rule’s “yes” list. If not, let’s hope the “who” and “whom” in the on-call room are Callie Torres and Erica Hahn. And if they don’t make the “yes” list, let’s hope it’s not because they’re talking about boys, but because they’re not talking at all.

– by StuntDouble

ENOUGH WITH 8 POWER UP’s Stacy Codikow has co-produced a series of celebrity-driven PSAs designed to convince California voters to support gay marriage by voting against Proposition 8 in November (which, if passed, would amend the state constitution to limit marriage to heterosexual couples only).

The PSAs will be rolling out throughout September, and the first one includes Jillian Armenante (Judging Amy) and her wife Alice Dodd, and Heather Matarazzo (Exes & Ohs) and her new fiancee Carolyn Murphy, as well as several straight allies like Sara Ramirez (Grey’s Anatomy), Amy Brenneman (Private Practice) and Melonie Diaz (Itty Bitty Titty Committee).

Watch it here:  

Cool idea for a PSA, and it’s nice to see Christine Lahti again (anyone else miss Jack & Bobby?).

Vote against Prop 8 in November, all you Californian readers!

WE’RE GETTING A RETIREMENT PLAN As Jill Bennett pointed out on a recent episode of We’re Getting Nowhere, she, Dara Nai and Karman Kregloe have logged over 40 episodes of their popular video blog. They will have done 47, in fact, by the time they’re finished vlogging the first season of The L Word at the end of this month. That’s a milestone most television shows don’t even reach!

But like network TV shows, there eventually comes a time to put away the wigs, pack up the sock puppets, and let everyone go on to do other things, and the Sept. 29 episode of We’re Getting Nowhere will be its last.

Thanks to Jill, Dara, and Karman for entertaining us all so thoroughly over the last year – they kick-started a video blog revolution on AfterEllen.com, spawned several other vlogs, improved on many a dreary TV scene with their own re-enactment of it, and made us laugh a lot along the way. If you get lonely for the Terrible Three, you can always re-watch the episodes starting at the very beginning. And don’t worry, we’ll still be bringing you news about Jill, Dara and Karman on the regular.

In related news, Jenn and Dee will be vlogging South of Nowhere‘s final episodes on Come With Me If You Want to Live when the teen drama returns in October (sorry, Terminator fans, they decided to switch to SON for now.)

Look for more announcements about new and returning video blogs next week (all good news, I promise!).

– by Sarah Warn

BUT WAIT, THERE’S MORE! In case you missed it: Leisha Hailey‘s Alice will be the star of the upcoming L Word spinoff.

House M.D.‘s Thirteen (Olivia Wilde) might actually see some lesbian romance this season.

There’s a 3-D Buffy world in the works.

Queer British rapper Mz. Fontaine has been nominated “Woman of the Year” by a European black LGBT community organization; buy tickets to the Sept. 20 awards event here.

Melissa Etheridge and Ellen DeGeneres will be among the 60 plus celebrities who will Stand Up to Cancer in a rare network multicast tonight at 8pm EST on ABC, NBC and CBS.

Laughing Matters … Next Gen – a documentary by Andrea Meyerson about new and up-and-coming LGBT comedians, including AfterEllen.com vloggers Gloria Bigelow and Bridget McManus – will debut on Logo next Tuesday, Sept. 9, and then be available to watch on AfterEllen.com next Weds.

Karman and Bridget are going to be filming an episode of You Can’t Take Them Anywhere! in Switzerland at the end of this month, and they’re tentatively planning a meet-up in Zurich on Friday, September 26th. If you’d like to help arrange the event (pretty please!) private message Karman or send us an email at [email protected].

Later today on AfterEllen.com, The Gay Agenda‘s Jay and Jon take on the DNC (Jay shares her experience blogging live all week from the Convention floor) and Sarah Palin’s VP nomination, and the women of Cherry Bomb take on “fuzzy friendships.” Plus: Hanifah and Olive play Wii games on a new episode of U People, and Michelle and Becca bring us the WBNA scoop From The Cheap Seats on Saturday .

That’s it for this week! Got the inside scoop on a hot new lesbian/bi actor/musician/TV show/film? Tell us at [email protected]. Check back next Friday for another edition of Best. Lesbian. Week. Ever.

Marge’s twin sisters, Selma and Patty, as Ladies Macbeth and Macduff, anyone?

– by Dara Nai

OF COURSE SHE’S A VEGAN Ever since executive producer Ken Mok tipped us off that there was a lesbian on Cycle 11 of America’s Next Top Model, we’ve been wondering which finalist it would be.

News of transgender contestant Isis was the main topic of discussion up until Wednesday’s season premiere, which introduced us to the top 14, including 19-year-old Elina, from Seattle. Early on in the episode, Elina said she’d had relationships with women before, and also fessed up to having a crush on her blonde competitor, Clark (who looks like she’s a fan of softball, if you know what I mean). When Tyra asked the big question (“Are you a lesbian?”) Elina responded that she was a “sexual person” and likes who she likes, regardless of their gender.

OK, she’s not into labels, but she is into finding love within the competition. She admitted to the camera she came to the show not just to model, but to meet someone and promote her animal rights activism. (Tyra, perhaps you should ask her again. She was probably just nervous.) From the looks of the season’s previews, it appears that Elina will be sticking around for a while – as well as sticking her tongue in Clark’s mouth during a game of “Truth or Dare.” If it continues past the point of Sarah and Kim’s limo lip-lock in Cycle 5, it will be my idea of Best. America’s. Next. Top. Model. Ever.

Keep up on all the Top lesbian action with Stacie Ponder’s new weekly ANTM Cycle 11 recaps.

SOMETHING TELLS ME SHE’S MISSING HER RADIO SHOW RIGHT ABOUT NOW What’s wrong with this picture? Uh, nothing, it’s perfect. That’s Rachel Maddow, au natural (with maybe a tad of TV make-up on to catch the light just right). Yet with the good news of the political maven getting her own show on MSNBC comes the rumors that she will be given a makeover for the camera. The New York Post reports:

A source says an entire “glam squad” has been hired for the openly gay Maddow, and she has been asked not to wear her Drew Carey-esque glasses again. There’s even talk of “putting her in a skirt.”
Note to said “glam squad”: Behind a desk, we can’t see if she’s in a skirt or wearing a pair of cargo shorts. Besides that, she happens to be an attractive woman and will be bringing in the lesbian demographic to an otherwise unattractive slot on Thursday nights (she follows Keith Olbermann, replacing Dan Abrams).

Maddow was contacted by blogger Ron Mwangaguhunga, who asked if the rumors were true. Her response:

I think it’s hilarious that Page Six just runs stuff that they make up. What a great job that must be! Not intimidated.
So it’s not true, which I think most of us figured. I just can’t see Maddow giving in to the feminizing machine, if for no other reason that it would give her something in common with Ann Coulter.

– by Trish Bendix

ONE TORTILLERA SUPREMA TO GO, POR FAVOR Thanks to AfterEllen.com tipster Vanessa Noble for cluing us in to the fabulous and funny Latina lesbian author Mayra Lazara Dole.

Dole’s latest book, Down to the Bone, has received all kinds of kudos, including a nomination for Best Book of 2009 from the American Library Association. She just received word that the novel also earned a place on the Rainbow nomination list and has been submitted for consideration to the Lambda Literary Awards and National Book Awards. All that is impressive enough on its own, but given the fact that Down to the Bone is a young adult novel about a Cuban-American lesbian, aka torterilla, dealing with coming out in a conservative Catholic family and community, the recognition is almost miraculous. Not Mary’s-face-on-a-piece-of-toast miraculous, but close.

Main character Laura Amores is happily in love with her girlfriend Marlena until she gets caught with a somewhat explicit love note, which is read out loud to her class by a nun affectionately known as “Fart Face.” As if getting kicked out of her Catholic high school and home isn’t enough, GF Marlena is shipped off to Puerto Rico to marry a man.

I’m halfway through Down to the Bone and am completely hooked. Laura’s story is heartbreaking, to be sure, but the book is far from depressing, thanks to Dole’s honest, humorous writing style and Laura’s snarky personality. I wish I’d had this book when I was a teenager.

Laura’s experience mirrors Dole’s own, according to an interview with Worth the Trip.

“At 14, my first love and I were thrown out of high school due to a muy calliente love letter she sent me detailing our first time making love (too juicy to recount!). Much like Laura, I had a boyfriend, but my heart beat passionately only for one special girl.”

I emailed Dole to see if she would share some personal information about herself with AfterEllen.com and got this very funny reply.

I love papayas (slang for you-know-what but I’m honestly talking about the fruit), pineapples, finger bananas and long, cascading hair. I was raised in hot Miami. I came out at thirteen and was kicked out of an all-girl Catholic high school due to a sizzlin’ confiscated love letter written to me by my first girlfriend. As a teen, I was a hairstylist, studied nutrition, and worked part-time at several other jobs, including Djembe drumming, cooking, and landscape design, until I decided to become a full-time writer. I now live in exotic, humid, wild Miami with my beloved Damarys (aka: Astro Maniac)–she’s obsessed with Astrology and drives me nuts! If someone burps, it’s because their north node is in the seventh house of Sagittarius (or something like that). I write for a living and my short stories, and poetry, have been published by lesbo mags. I started my writing career with picture books depicting two rebel eight-year-old girls (for sure they’ll be MAJOR lesbos when they grow up!). I’m finishing another luscious lesbian book (packed with lesbians) but it’s Top Secret.
I, for one, can’t wait. For more information on Dole — including a hilarious account of her conversation with her non English-speaking mom about publication of her book — visit her site.

– by the linster

WHEN BILLIE BEAT BOBBY Hard to believe it’s been 35 years since the infamous “battle of the sexes” tennis match between Bobby Riggs and Billie Jean King. Yeah, yeah, I know a lot of you haven’t even been here 35 years. Trust me, it was A Big Deal. In conjunction with the anniversary of the 1973 match — which she won in straight sets 6-4, 6-3, 6-3 — comes a new book from King, Pressure is a Privilege: Lessons I’ve Learned from Life and the Battle of the Sexes. Using her victory over Riggs as a backdrop, King talks about events in her life that led up to the match — and the many things that have happened since. She highlighted these lessons in a Morning Edition interview with NPR’s Renee Montagne last week. C-SPAN’s Book TV devoted an episode to Pressure is a Privilege, featuring a half-hour interview with King.

King was outed in 1981 by an ex-lover, losing about $2 million in endorsements as a result. In 1998, she finally came out publicly and became the first out lesbian Olympic coach in 2000. Evidence of just how far she’s come personally is that the one of the book’s dedications is to King’s life partner, Ilana Kloss, who “gives me the strength and support to keep living the dream.” Pressure is a Privilege is a quick read and a great way to get to know a true feminist hero who also happens to be a lesbian. And honestly, how many people can you say that about?

– by the linster

ALL THINGS CONSIDERED, BECHDEL RULES Out cartoonist Alison Bechdel appeared on NPR’s All Things Considered this week to talk about her famous Bechdel Rule, and how it applies to this fall’s television lineup.

“The Rule” first appeared in Bechdel’s strip Dykes to Watch Out For in 1985. It details the three criteria a movie has to meet before she’ll watch it: 1) It has to have at least two women in it, who 2) talk to each other about 3) something that isn’t a man. “You’re constantly watching TV shows that don’t reflect [your] reality back to you,” Bechdel said in her NPR interview. “You feel a dissonance; you feel you’re not connected to the culture.”

Translation: On television, girls only talk to other girls when they need advice about boys.

Bechdel is right: That doesn’t even begin to reflect my reality.

So, what are some good shows to watch this fall, according to The Rule? Well, Bechdel and NPR chose ABC Family’s The Middleman, about a teenage crime-fighting assistant who talks with her best friend about art and their future careers. They also chose Tina Fey‘s 30 Rock because Liz Lemon is dead sexy has great interaction with other women who care about more than their boyfriends.

The show that is an epic failure, according to The Bechdel Rule? Grey’s Anatomy. Seattle Grace Hospital is filled with dozens of intelligent, beautiful women, and the only thing on their minds seems to be who made out with whom in what on-call room.

Alison Bechdel’s Dykes to Watch Out For is on hiatus while she finishes her graphic novel Love Life, which is due out in 2009. Let’s hope that by then Grey’s Anatomy can make it to The Bechdel Rule’s “yes” list. If not, let’s hope the “who” and “whom” in the on-call room are Callie Torres and Erica Hahn. And if they don’t make the “yes” list, let’s hope it’s not because they’re talking about boys, but because they’re not talking at all.

– by StuntDouble

ENOUGH WITH 8 POWER UP’s Stacy Codikow has co-produced a series of celebrity-driven PSAs designed to convince California voters to support gay marriage by voting against Proposition 8 in November (which, if passed, would amend the state constitution to limit marriage to heterosexual couples only).

The PSAs will be rolling out throughout September, and the first one includes Jillian Armenante (Judging Amy) and her wife Alice Dodd, and Heather Matarazzo (Exes & Ohs) and her new fiancee Carolyn Murphy, as well as several straight allies like Sara Ramirez (Grey’s Anatomy), Amy Brenneman (Private Practice) and Melonie Diaz (Itty Bitty Titty Committee).

Watch it here:  

Cool idea for a PSA, and it’s nice to see Christine Lahti again (anyone else miss Jack & Bobby?).

Vote against Prop 8 in November, all you Californian readers!

WE’RE GETTING A RETIREMENT PLAN As Jill Bennett pointed out on a recent episode of We’re Getting Nowhere, she, Dara Nai and Karman Kregloe have logged over 40 episodes of their popular video blog. They will have done 47, in fact, by the time they’re finished vlogging the first season of The L Word at the end of this month. That’s a milestone most television shows don’t even reach!

But like network TV shows, there eventually comes a time to put away the wigs, pack up the sock puppets, and let everyone go on to do other things, and the Sept. 29 episode of We’re Getting Nowhere will be its last.

Thanks to Jill, Dara, and Karman for entertaining us all so thoroughly over the last year – they kick-started a video blog revolution on AfterEllen.com, spawned several other vlogs, improved on many a dreary TV scene with their own re-enactment of it, and made us laugh a lot along the way. If you get lonely for the Terrible Three, you can always re-watch the episodes starting at the very beginning. And don’t worry, we’ll still be bringing you news about Jill, Dara and Karman on the regular.

In related news, Jenn and Dee will be vlogging South of Nowhere‘s final episodes on Come With Me If You Want to Live when the teen drama returns in October (sorry, Terminator fans, they decided to switch to SON for now.)

Look for more announcements about new and returning video blogs next week (all good news, I promise!).

– by Sarah Warn

BUT WAIT, THERE’S MORE! In case you missed it: Leisha Hailey‘s Alice will be the star of the upcoming L Word spinoff.

House M.D.‘s Thirteen (Olivia Wilde) might actually see some lesbian romance this season.

There’s a 3-D Buffy world in the works.

Queer British rapper Mz. Fontaine has been nominated “Woman of the Year” by a European black LGBT community organization; buy tickets to the Sept. 20 awards event here.

Melissa Etheridge and Ellen DeGeneres will be among the 60 plus celebrities who will Stand Up to Cancer in a rare network multicast tonight at 8pm EST on ABC, NBC and CBS.

Laughing Matters … Next Gen – a documentary by Andrea Meyerson about new and up-and-coming LGBT comedians, including AfterEllen.com vloggers Gloria Bigelow and Bridget McManus – will debut on Logo next Tuesday, Sept. 9, and then be available to watch on AfterEllen.com next Weds.

Karman and Bridget are going to be filming an episode of You Can’t Take Them Anywhere! in Switzerland at the end of this month, and they’re tentatively planning a meet-up in Zurich on Friday, September 26th. If you’d like to help arrange the event (pretty please!) private message Karman or send us an email at [email protected].

Later today on AfterEllen.com, The Gay Agenda‘s Jay and Jon take on the DNC (Jay shares her experience blogging live all week from the Convention floor) and Sarah Palin’s VP nomination, and the women of Cherry Bomb take on “fuzzy friendships.” Plus: Hanifah and Olive play Wii games on a new episode of U People, and Michelle and Becca bring us the WBNA scoop From The Cheap Seats on Saturday .

That’s it for this week! Got the inside scoop on a hot new lesbian/bi actor/musician/TV show/film? Tell us at [email protected]. Check back next Friday for another edition of Best. Lesbian. Week. Ever.

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