TresSugar

The How-To Lounge: Being a Good Hostess

DearSugar — Fri, 23 Mar 2007 06:00:00 -0700

It requires a lot of experience and some serious patience to become a graceful hostess. A good girlfriend of mine currently gives us all a run for our money, and I admire her talent and her skills. Let's review a few helpful tips for throwing a great dinner or cocktail party and enjoying it, too.

Click here to read more

Be prepared for early guests!
When hosting a party, ambiance counts. I like soft lighting, candles, and it's best if the music serves to accent conversation, not overwhelm everyone
Flowers are always a nice tough to make your home look fresh and cozy
Being a hostess takes a lot of work. Catering to your guests, and taking care of the food and the drinks gets overwhelming here and there. Stay calm and collected. Take a 5-minute break in the bathroom if you need to center and ground yourself
Provide an assortment of beverages for your guests, including enough water and non-alcoholic choices, and stock up. When the drinks disappear, so do the guests
Introduce guests to each other. If you're secretly playing matchmaker, be very sly but do help spark their conversation
Set aside a place for coats. You don't want the couch turned into an eyesore in the middle of the room
Assign little jobs to your partner or good friend. This way you can concentrate on your guests' needs, facilitate introductions and not become overwhelmed. Delegate. Delegate. Delegate
Provide appetizers, no matter the occasion. A simple cheese plate on the coffee table will suffice
If you're hosting a dinner party, keep the cocktail hour short and sensible. Disasters follow excessive drinking before a meal
Parties should be fun for everyone, including you. Let the little things go and delight in the company of your friends and family

Enjoy your weekend, ladies!

Source

Adam Lambert: Just Another Provocative Pop Star?

TresSugar — Mon, 23 Nov 2009 14:30:39 -0800

Last night on the American Music Awards, Adam Lambert gyrated along dancers dressed in S&M inspired costumes. At one point, the American Idol alum pulled a dancer's face toward his crotch. Of course, not everyone was entertained - the spectacle was edited from the West Coast broadcast. Adam has since expressed his disappointment with that decision, saying:

"There's a big double standard, female pop artists have been doing things provocative like that for years, and the fact that I'm a male, and I'll be edited and discriminated against could be a problem. People are scared and it's really sad, I just wish people could open their minds up and enjoy things, it's all for a laugh, it's really not that big of a deal."

So in other words, the public should just think of the performance as a male throwback to Madonna, as BuzzSugar described it. Do you think Adam is being held to a different standard of acceptable sexual expression or was the network right to edit the show?

Front Page: Carrie Prejean Is Offered Millions For Sex Tapes

TresSugar — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 08:00:50 -0800

Porn distributor Vivid Entertainment is offering Carrie Prejean millions of dollars to distribute her sex tapes. - Gawker
Speaking to students in Shanghai, President Obama said it's better for society when everyone can use Twitter freely. - CNN
The UK version of the marketing poster for Couples Retreat doesn't include the movie's black couple. - Huffington Post
Courteney Cox has signed on for Scream 4. - AP
2012 came in number one at the box office this weekend. - BuzzSugar

This American Life Faithfully Takes on Infidelity

TresSugar — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 13:00:00 -0800

I am a faithful listener of the radio program This American Life. Each week the show offers an entertaining and in-depth look into various themes ranging from the financial crisis, to children switched at birth, to the perfect break-up song. This week, the program took on an invariably popular topic of discussion: cheating.

In the intro, host Ira Glass discuses how some happy couples have no problem admitting that they got together because one or both of them cheated. You can see evidence of this in the New York Times Vows page, where newlyweds often use coded language implying that it took infidelity to bring them together. (Of course, they also want to believe that fate was somehow involved too.)

These write-ups will say that a couple's romance was a "bumpy road" or that they "encountered some obstacles." The episode suggests that these couples justify their infidelity by believing that whatever happened, everybody (including the exes) is better off because fate brought together two people who were meant to be. True or not, this is definitely a self-serving conclusion!

Do you think there can ever be a happy ending when infidelity is involved?

Do You Like the Holidays?

TresSugar — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 09:00:00 -0800

The weather in San Francisco has been so sunny and warm lately that it's strange to think the holiday season is upon us. Now that Halloween has passed, we can expect to see decorations all around reminding us that we need to make plans for Thanksgiving and eventually start our holiday gift shopping.

Of course, the holidays aren't all about entertaining and shopping - ideally they're about spending quality time with family and friends, eating delicious dishes, and enjoying our other favorite festive traditions. Do you think we're about to begin (perhaps prematurely) the most wonderful time of the year?

Source: Flickr User Jybet

TV Showing More Violence Against Women

TresSugar — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 15:05:37 -0700

I typically avert my eyes when graphic scenes flash across my television screen, so it boggles my mind that violence is such a celebrated form of entertainment. A new report from the Parents Television Council suggests that the prevalence of violence on TV is getting even more disturbing. The report reveals that violence against women and teen girls is up 120 percent, while violence shown on television general has raised by only two percent in recent years.

Questions remain about the conservative group's study. For example, it doesn't precisely define what it considers "violence." Still, the results cannot be completely ignored. Showing more examples of violence against women could desensitize viewers and make it appear more acceptable.

The Parents Television Council is calling for more government regulation against such violence on TV. Do you support that, or should viewers censor what they watch themselves?

Photos courtesy of NBC

Do, Dump, or Marry? Adam Lambert

TresSugar — Wed, 21 Oct 2009 09:00:00 -0700

I was dragged kicking and screaming to the Atlantic City leg of the American Idols tour over the summer, but once Adam Lambert started singing, I stopped complaining. Elvis by way of David Bowie for the 20-something set, Lambert is the real deal. This guy was smokin' - as a singer, an entertainer, and as a sex symbol.

Adam described his shoot for Details magazine as "heterosexual," and with all the sexy Adam-on-girl poses, I see what he means. "I am gay," he says, "but I like kissing women sometimes. Women are pretty. It doesn't mean I'm necessarily sleeping with them."

Since we all have about as much chance of sleeping with Cristiano Ronaldo or Clive Owen, why not play this game with Adam?

Why Women Love Vamps: It's Really a Desire For Gay Men?

TresSugar — Sun, 18 Oct 2009 02:00:00 -0700

Esquire's Stephen Marche thinks he's figured out the obvious explanation for the vampire craze sweeping the world. He writes:

Vampires have overwhelmed pop culture because young straight women want to have sex with gay men. Not all young straight women, of course, but many, if not most, of them.

So there you have it. Still confused? Using Twilight as an example, Marche draws a parallel between Edward and a gay man who is the object of a straight woman's lust. He says that just like an unresponsive gay man, Edward is a "sweet, screwed-up high school kid, and at the beginning of his relationship with Bella, she is attracted to him because he is strange, beautiful, and seemingly repulsed by her."

Marche believes that wanting Edward to be your boyfriend is the same as wishing you could turn that gorgeous gay man into your lover. Are you buying this theory? If not, why do you think some women love the vamps?

Photo courtesy of Summit Entertainment

South Africa Weighs Legalizing Prostitution For World Cup

TresSugar — Mon, 12 Oct 2009 11:00:00 -0700

Fans heading to South Africa for the World Cup 2010 are interested in more than soccer. Anticipating that sport tourists will frequent prostitutes while they're in town, health experts are calling on the South African government to legalize prostitution for the tournament. The hope is that testing and registering legal sex workers will reduce HIV infections among visiting fans and South Africans alike.

In South Africa, approximately 50 percent of sex workers are HIV-positive. While this figure might be enough to dissuade cautious would-be customers, experts figure that the party atmosphere, fueled by alcohol, will lead to much promiscuity. In fact, South Africa has been anticipating a surge in prostitution demand for some time now. More than a year ago, police unveiled plans to legalize sex services for the 2010 games, arguing that Germany opened safe and easy "adult entertainment centers" during the 2006 World Cup. These plans have been rejected so far, for reasons including concerns about greater transmission of HIV, but if legalization means screening sex workers for HIV, it could make things safer.

No matter what happens, let's hope South Africa can use the World Cup to raise awareness about HIV testing. If that happens, everybody will walk away from the tournament a winner.

Bad For Women? Celebrity Weight Loss as Entertainment

TresSugar — Wed, 06 May 2009 15:02:08 -0700

In the latest issue of People, Kirstie Alley discusses her 83-pound weight gain in the aftermath of being a Jenny Craig spokesperson. Maybe she felt upstaged by Valerie Bertinelli, or maybe the only way she can lose weight is to do it in the public eye. (FitSugar has the details on her diet.)

Who knows, but I had to stop and ask myself, when is this going to end? I'm totally bored of hearing about these former actresses' diets! If you're interested in a brief history of this trend, then read more.

In an informal office poll, I asked my co-workers if they could pinpoint the moment this trend started. A few mentioned Oprah and her constant discussion of weight, but for me, the moment that stood out was when daughter of Brian Wilson and former Wilson Phillips singer Carnie Wilson televised her gastric bypass surgery live in 1999. (All I can remember, since it was endlessly repeated and discussed, is that her stomach had been reduced to the size of a can).

Carnie taught us that you could milk this subject for publicity endlessly. After all, as quickly as you lose the weight, you can gain it back. This means more interviews, another round of diets; you could stay in the public eye forever in a binge-purge cycle of attention-getting.

So what do you all think? Do their stories of weight loss inspire other women, or encourage them to yo-yo diet and obsess over dieting rather than simply eating well and exercising? Is celebrity weight loss as entertainment bad for women?