TresSugar

Arlene Has Questionable Hobbies

GiggleSugar — Mon, 07 Apr 2008 02:00:00 -0700

There's nothing wrong with a woman maintaining her maiden name after marriage, but sometimes, a woman needs to pick her battles.

Thanks, College Humor!

Name of Shame

GiggleSugar — Fri, 28 Mar 2008 02:00:00 -0700

That guy Peter? Yeah, I hear he's a major ass, man.

Thanks, College Humor!

Is This Baby Name 4 Real?

GiggleSugar — Mon, 25 Jun 2007 10:00:00 -0700

Are they 4 serious? These parents know their son will get teased on the playground for his unusual name, but they don't care. They think they're just keeping it real. The question is: will the kid ever 4give them for it? (Thanks, i am bored!)

The Baby Name Hall Of Fame

GiggleSugar — Mon, 11 Jun 2007 10:00:00 -0700

No doubt, a name like this will make life "hard on" this kid. (Hee, hee, hee.)

Source

10 Smart and Sexy Books

TresSugar — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 15:00:59 -0800

Forget the Literary Review's Bad Sex Scene award - we want the good ones, but not the smut . . . necessarily. Luckily, Nerve tracks the books with the best sex scenes all year with its Henry Miller awards. Named after the novelist, it rewards the best literary sex scenes in the English language. We've selected our 10 favorites.

Source: Flickr User jamelah

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Were You Ever Attracted to Bad Boys?

TresSugar — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 11:00:15 -0800

With her rocker eyeliner, all-black wardrobe, and perfected eye roll, Gossip Girl's Jenny Humphrey isn't exactly fitting in with the prissy kids at her prep school. It's obvious that she needs a bad boy by her side, and on last night's episode that's just what she gets.

Jenny meets up with a Belgian diplomat's son, who happens to be drug pusher. She seems turned on or at least intrigued by his rebellious side and ends up helping him with some sales. Luckily, original bad boy Chuck Bass (they know his name even in Europe) is there to save Jenny from the dangers of drugs. But now that she's had a taste of the fast life, I suspect she'll be back for more, especially since she already has the wardrobe.

Although Jenny's appearance in the episode is otherwise pointless, it did remind us that sometimes we can be attracted to bad boys - even if it's completely stupid. Have you ever had a thing for troublemakers?

For more Gossip Girl coverage, check out FabSugar, BellaSugar, BuzzSugar, and CelebStyle.)

Photos courtesy of The CW

The Dark Side of Cute

TresSugar — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 15:00:00 -0800

Kittens in casts. Babies nudged to laugh every five seconds. Stuffed teddy bears left at killing-spree sites. We are so surrounded by the tyranny of cute that even multibillion-dollar corporations have cute names like "Google" and "Twitter," and the uncute business of insurance is represented in ads by a cute lizard with an English accent. (And yes, I too am guilty of spreading cuteness.)

What's up with the cute? Writer Jim Windolf has had enough and decided to try to get to the bottom of what he calls the "self-infantalization" of Americans. His conclusion? There's a dark, manipulative side to cute. If you want to know what it is, read more.

In Daniel Harris's book Cute, Quaint, Hungry, and Romantic, he says that there's a hidden sadism to our love of cute, citing the barrage of images of cats falling, puppies slamming into mirrors, and even babies trapped in high chairs being prodded to laugh.

"The process of conveying cuteness to the viewer disempowers its objects," he writes, "forcing them into ridiculous situations and making them appear more ignorant and vulnerable than they really are. Adorable things are often most adorable in the middle of a pratfall or a blunder." In other words, they are cute insofar as they are helpless, and we, conferrers of cute, are all-powerful.

Becoming cute, conversely, is one way of disarming opponents or critics. It's not incidental, argues Windolf, that the cult of cute in the US emerged during the Bush years, when "the American image went from that of protector to invader, from defender of human rights to aggressor on the lookout for loopholes in the Geneva Conventions." Cuteness then, according to this theory, "came about as some sort of correction, as a way for us to convince ourselves and our friends that we're not as bad as our recent national actions have made us seem." (It reminds me of smiley emoticons at the end of passive-aggressive email messages and instant messages. In this case, American cute is like a ginormous cultural smiley face emoticon tacked on the end of dubious actions telling our allies we're not all that bad.)

Windolf traces American cute back to Japan's kawaii culture, which got huge 10 years ago but actually emerged at the end of WWII after it was "humiliated and emasculated." If you're interested in political and cultural psychoanalysis, I suggest reading this long essay. But whatever you do, remember - ~~sometimes a cigar is just a cigar~~ sometimes a cute kitten isn't just a cute kitten.

Source

7 Things I Learned About Girl Power From Watching "Whip It"

TresSugar — Mon, 05 Oct 2009 15:00:00 -0700

It's rare to see empowering chick flicks (even that genre name is a little annoying), but Whip It, starring Ellen Page, Drew Barrymore, Kristen Wiig, and the terrifyingly awesome Juliette Lewis, was fun and inspirational.

The film is about teenager Bliss Cavendar (Ellen Page), who would rather skate on a roller derby team than don an evening gown and compete in beauty pageants as her mother wants her to. The following is what I learned about that outmoded term "girl power" from watching it:

1. Your mom may not realize she's keeping you down with the same things that kept her down. Communicate with her - it may help you both.

2. Being true to yourself may not just make you happier, it may make everyone around you happier. A lot of unnecessary tension ensues in Bliss's life because she hides her true self from her family.

3. Boys can be fun, but they aren't everything. Wait for the right one (if that's your thing), and in the meantime, find yourself. To find out what else I learned, read more.

4. It's OK to be competitive with other women if you aren't hurting or undermining anyone. Competition between women abounds in both of Bliss's worlds, the pageant world and the roller derby world, some good and some bad. It may not be as culturally acceptable for women to be competitive with each other, but a healthy dose of it keeps you in top form.

5. It's important to find an activity that not only challenges you but brings out your signature strengths. Bliss is certainly challenged by beauty pageantry - but not in a good way. Roller derby brings out her best traits.

6. Friends really can be the family you wish your family was. (Although you should give your family a chance!)

7. Taking risks in your life can pay off. It would have been just as hard for Bliss to continue with the pageant world, but by going out of her comfort zone and reaching for something that scares and excites her, she comes out on top.

Astrology: Do You Believe in Saturn's Return?

TresSugar — Fri, 18 Sep 2009 15:00:00 -0700

If you're anywhere between 27 and 30 and have ever had, oh, a problem, someone might tell you not to worry - or, actually do worry. It's all part of a perfect celestial storm known as Saturn's return. Taking about 29 years to orbit the Earth, Saturn returns to the place it was in at your birth every 29 years. This means one thing to astrologers - rebirth!

Birth is painful; rebirth isn't much better, especially considering Saturn is a sign of growth. Astrologers believe Saturn's return represents life changes: the first time it returns in your late 20s, you enter adulthood. The next time, around 60, you enter maturity, and the final time, at 90, you enter the wisdom of old age. None of it comes easy.

So what does Saturn's return mean for those approaching 30? It's out with the old and in with the new: self-examination, career changes, bad relationships ending, good relationships deepening, and, hey, maybe you'll have a baby! To which I say, these are all things that happen anyway.

Yet, Saturn's return is all over pop culture. No Doubt named its 2000 album Return of Saturn as Gwen Stefani approached her 29th birthday; there's a book - Surviving Saturn's Return - about it; and then there's this amazing blog that connects Saturn's return with events in celebrities lives. It's quite morbid, actually, blaming Annie Leibovitz's money troubles and the deaths of John Hughes, Heath Ledger, and Julia Child on the return of Saturn.

Sound about right to you, or should the idea return to outer space?

Source Flickr User LarsOh

Bad For Women: Playboy Names the Sexiest CEOs

TresSugar — Thu, 07 May 2009 15:00:00 -0700

We spend decades breaking through the glass ceiling, and yet there are still just 13 female CEOs in the Fortune 500. But don't worry: Playboy.com has decided to "celebrate that achievement" with its just-released list of America's sexiest CEOs. The package is entitled - wait for it! - "Women on Top." How original!

I know it's foolish to expect Hugh Hefner's empire to act in the best interests of feminism, but really, this is just wrong in so many ways. At least the list could have included male and female CEOs - there'd sure be a lot more to choose from!

In the interest of equality, I did a few Google searches for a list of "sexiest male CEOs" (and "hot male CEOs" or even "attractive male CEOs") and turned up nothing - not a single homage. So what if we were to put together a coed list, sorta like People's 100 Most Beautiful? I'd definitely put Salma Hayek's hubby Francois Henri-Pinault on there, and Jay-Z, were he still a CEO. Who would you add?