Subscribers to any Condé Nast magazine will find some extra fun in their mailboxes this month in the form of the publishing company’s fifth annual Fashion Rocks supplement.

The magazine features articles and photo spreads chronicling the decades-long affair between fashion and pop music. Just think back to trendsetters like Aretha Franklin with her Capri pants and big hoop earrings, and you realize that rock stars have been setting fashion trends for generations.

Fashion Rocks takes a look at the history of that affair with a piece juxtaposing pictures of the 1960s girl group The Ronettes (and Amy Winehouse) with a bee-hived Chanel model at a pre-fall collection show. The piece also includes photos of M.I.A., Santogold, Joanna Newsom, Jenny Lewis and a vintage Debbie Harry next to contemporary couture-clad beauties modeling the very same styles those artists made popular.

Check out this gorgeous glamour shot of Beyoncé rocking an Armani suit. … continue reading

As a young aspiring female filmmaker, it’s hard not to be just a little bit jealous of Diablo Cody. She’s got it all, including an Oscar and she’s barely 30 years old. Then I look at the flack Cody gets anytime she opens her mouth by putting something out into print and I’m no longer envious of her, I’m just annoyed by all the haters.

OK look, Cody writes a regular back page column for Entertainment Weekly. Does anyone even really read Entertainment Weekly anymore? The last one I can remember buying had Ellen Page on the cover. My point exactly. (Actually, not my point since I just bought it because Ellen Page looked really cute.)

Anyway, back to Cody. Why do so many people keep trashing her musings on pop culture?

Perhaps because it’s so rare in this day and age that women get to show their enjoyment for mass media, much less be funny about it. And judging by snarky write-ups from the pages of Variety to various bloggers and those always pleasant sexist anonymous comments left on the World Wide Web, it seems practically illegal for Cody to have an opinion on anything. It’s like women aren’t supposed to have a sense of humor, take enjoyment out of anything and they definitely are not allowed to get paid for it.

How many times do you turn on the radio, flip through television channels, open any sort of publication and hear what men think about things? Any things, all things, everything. Raise your hand if you would rather see Sarah Silverman host some late night TV instead of her, ex, Jimmy Kimmel. That’s what I thought. … continue reading

Do you know who Julia Allison is?

WIRED magazine thinks you do, or at the very least, you should. Allison is an internet celebrity, in the vein of Chris Crocker and Perez Hilton. By day, she's a dating columnist for Time Out New York, but the rest of her free time is devoted to taking pictures, making videos, Twittering, blogging and general self-promotion. She's kind of like a real life LonelyGirl15 with a Vimeo account.

As WIRED's current cover girl, Allison is getting everything she's hoped for: Notoriety. However, it might not be exactly what she wanted (the headline reads "Get Internet Famous, Even if You're Nobody." Ouch.) Something tells me Allison doesn't mind too much, as the article discusses her constant publicity attempts online and in person, from attending parties uninvited to taking photos with celebrities and sending links and IMs to Gawker. (She's not one for privacy.) … continue reading

When readers of Maxim see next month's issue, they might be tricked into thinking the tacky men's magazine has made nice with Sarah Jessica Parker, the actress it infamously voted the World's Unsexiest Woman last year. Parker topped a list of so-called ugly women that included Amy Winehouse, Sandra Oh, Madonna and Britney Spears.

Maxim was roundly criticized for the list and the 43-year-old Sex And The City star was candid with the press about how much the dubious honor hurt her, telling one interviewer, the list was "brutal, in a way. It's so filled with rage and anger."

Next month, Maxim does a 180 on its earlier judgment, naming Parker its "Unexpected Crush," but insiders say the "honor" still contains an insult-laden joke.

Is this what the power of the press has been reduced to? Have we all reverted back to the 8th grade? Remember passing terribly catty notes about classmates we were jealous of or threatened by? Sometimes we made fun of them, sometimes, unfortunately, we picked on their physical attributes because it was, again, the 8th grade, what else did we have going on? It's not like we could be snarky about each other's jobs or spouses or whom we voted for.

It's not just mens' mags like Maxim. Famed film critic Rex Reed wrote a review of Sex And The City for the New York Observer in which he spent an entire paragraph crudely insulting Parker's appearance and specifically, the cute mole on her face. (Parker recently had the mole removed. Coincidence?). … continue reading

We want certain things from our newscasters. We want them to be honest, we want them to be fair, we want them to be intelligent, and we want them to be just attractive enough to spend an hour or so in our living rooms every evening. This poses a bit of a problem for CBS foreign correspondent Lara Logan.

You see, while Lara is honest and fair and intelligent, she is also gorgeous. And, well, that's where things get complicated. The 37-year-old South African native was recently named chief foreign affairs correspondent at CBS and has worked for CBS Evening News, 60 Minutes and The Early Show. She has reported on the front lines in Iraq and Afghanistan since 2001. Her work has earned her international acclaim as well as shiny hardware including Emmy, Overseas Press Club and Edward R. Murrow awards.

But if you read The Washington Post earlier this week, all you'd really know about Lara is that she is pregnant by a married man. Columnist Howard Kurtz wrote what amounts to a tawdry tabloid tell-all masquerading as serious journalism. We learn that she has been separated from her husband for a long time, then she had a relationship with a fellow journalist in Iraq and after that, started seeing her current partner, a federal contractor who is also separated from his wife. You can practically see Kurtz pinning the scarlet “A” on her chest. … continue reading

Somebody up there hates Gillian Anderson. Maybe it's the aliens. Maybe it's the men in black. Maybe it's legions of fangirls and boys who can't believe their skeptical goddess of geekery is now cavorting with the tea and crumpets crowd over at Masterpiece Theatre. Regardless the source, there can be no other explanation for the Photoshop of horrors that is her face on the cover of the new TV Guide magazine.

My eyes! My eyes! Great googley-moogley, what the hell happened to her face? Who is that? Because that is certainly not Gillian or even Dana Scully. Has she been abducted by the aliens? Is this a not-so-cryptic hint as to the heretofore cryptic plot for their new film X-Files: I Want to Believe? Should I have put a spoiler warning at the top of this post?

What makes the TV Guide's Photoshopped atrocity even more perplexing is that Gillian seems to be the sole target of their digital wrath. David Duchovny looks OK — a little unnaturally smooth and strangely putty-colored, but otherwise fairly Mulderesque. But Gillian is barely recognizable. If she wasn't standing next to David it might even take me a few guesses. This, folks, is what happens when overzealous photo editors try to hide all signs of aging. They strip the humanity and, as a result, beauty of of a face. It ain't pretty. … continue reading

Unfortunately, there are only a handful of national print magazines that are geared towards women that have little to do with finding and pleasing a man. Fortunately, one of those publications is Bust, a bi-monthly magazine for "women who have something to get off their chests." It's a little less political than Ms., and a little more pop culture-laden than Bitch, which is why it appeals to women that like to read something with substance (as well as pretty pictures!)

Responsible for both the words and said pretty pictures are Debbie Stoller and Laurie Henzel, the creators of the magazine who have been with it since day one, 15 years ago. Stoller serves as editor in chief, while Henzel is creative director. Together, they put together something that the New York Post calls "[a] sassy, sexy magazine — beloved by smart, loyal urbanites across the country."

I know, I know — the Post can't always be trusted. But honestly, there weren't too many places in the 1990s that you could find cover stories and candid interviews with intelligent women – it's hard enough now and we have the Internet at our disposal! But consider this: the mag's 15th anniversary issue has Amy Sedaris on the cover, coming out of a cake. Magical! … continue reading

The men have spoken: Maxim has come out with its annual list of the 100 Most Beautiful Women. This year’s list is a veritable who’s who of reality television, teen queens and people I’ve never even heard of. If you haven’t gotten around to picking up your copy of Maxim or your subscription has ill timely run out, don’t fret – here is a breakdown of this year’s chosen ones.

Knocking Lindsay Lohan off her throne at number one is Marisa Miller, a Sports Illustrated cover girl and Victoria’s Secret model. Poor Lindsay — how could she stand a chance against someone with that kind of resume? But fear not, as Lohan wasn’t completely ousted; she fell eight spots to number nine. (Maxim must deduct sexy points for DWI records.)

Filling in the rest of the top 10 are:

2. Scarlett Johansson
3. Jessica Biel
4. Eva Longoria Parker
5. Sarah Michelle Gellar
6. Elisha Cuthbert
7. Eva Mendes
8. Christina Aguilera
9. Lindsay Lohan
10. Ashley Tisdale

Let me continue on a positive note – there were some surprises: America Ferrera (No. 84), Danica Patrick (No. 91), Emma Watson (No. 94) and Zooey Deschanel (No. 95) all made the list. Granted they are all toward the bottom, but still this is progress and we need to start somewhere. Makes you wonder if maybe, just maybe, the guys over at Maxim got tipped off about the AfterEllen Hot 100 and decided to incorporate some of our carefully chosen favorites into their list. But then I came to No. 36 (Heidi Montag), No. 56 (Lauren Conrad), and No. 74 (Audrina Partridge) — all the ladies of MTV’s “reality” show The Hills were present and accounted for. Ah well, so much for progress. … continue reading

This year's annual list of the world's most influential people, as compiled by Time magazine, doesn't make the female gender look very good. There are only 25 women on the list — or 24, if you count Angelina Jolie and Suzanne Wright as halves, since they are featured as couples alongside their husbands.

The list started in 1999, when Time named the 100 most influential people of the 20th century. Surprised by its success, the magazine decided to make the list annual. Unfortunately, both in 1999 and 2004, the number of women were also disappointing: 17 and 22, respectively. At this rate, we'll have an equal number of men and women on the list somewhere around 2019 (if we're lucky.)

I must confess I liked the women in last year's list better. OK, so I only say that because the first person to appear on the list is Tina Fey, but what can I say, I love me some Tina! (Actually, she writes about Lorne Michaels (Saturday Night Live's creator) in this year's list and it's pretty funny stuff, as usual). This year's list has the obvious (Hillary Clinton and Oprah Winfrey), the surprising (Miley Cyrus), and our very own team member Suze Orman. … continue reading

I want you to look at this Vogue cover and tell me what you see. LeBron James and Gisele Bundchen? An athlete and a model? King Kong and Faye Wray? If you answered the latter, you're not alone. The April cover of Vogue magazine has been stirring up controversy and cries of racism since it was unveiled two weeks ago.

The protests started, as so many do these days, on the internet, with bloggers pointing out the similarities between Annie Leibovitz's shot of the two superstars and the iconic imagery of King Kong. Take a look at the poster for the 1933 classic and judge for yourself: … continue reading

CelebritySpotlight.co.uk recently ran a hilarious quote by Liv Tyler about playing a lesbian (the original source was her interview with Allure Magazine). Actually, the hilarious part was the headline, "Liv Tyler's Lesbian Regret." There is so much you can do with the concept of "lesbian regret," isn't there?

Anyway, Tyler bemoaned the tameness of the kiss scene she did with Kate Hudson a few years ago in Dr. T and the Women.

She said, "Kate plays a woman who is about to get married and she's completely in love with me. We were always so shy about the kissing but in retrospect we were like, 'We so should have just totally made out and tongued each other'. But we never did, we were just too scared to do it." … continue reading

Vocalist for The Gossip and out lesbian Beth Ditto is causing a stir again. This time it's for her audacious photo shoot and article for British music mag NME. The singer appears nude on the cover, and inside of the magazine expounds on a variety of topics.

On new pal model Kate Moss and body image: "Kate is amazing. I spent one night talking to her and she just said the most amazing things about bodies. At first I didn't think I was going to like her, but she just turned up to one of our shows and said, 'Do you know what I hate Beth ? I hate it when people tell my big girlfriends, 'You have a beautiful face...' I mean, that's a really radical concept".

"You can't hate a person for dieting, and you can't blame a person for feeling sh*t about themselves. You have to blame the machine that feeds it, the thing that makes people feel like that. There are lots of things that are part of that machine, and it's too easy to lay the blame at the feet of women - men don't know what it feels like to be a woman and be expected to look a particular way all the time. I had those conversations with Kate, and Kate agreed with me about it. She's a smart person."

… continue reading