Wednesday, May 30, 2012

Another Premiere Video You Need to See

 Jay-Z and Kanye West’released the third official music video from their celebrated Watch the Throne. In this No Church in the Wild” clip you'll see burning cars, rioting youth and aggressive police.. one thing you won't see? The rapping duos themselves! Oh well, I'm sure Jay-Z was busy changing baby diapers while Kayne West tries to pull himself out of Kim Kardashian's bootylicious butt.

Movie Trailer of the Day: Les Miserables


If you don't know the story you should and if you haven't seen the play you definitely should. I can't wait for the soundtrack to come out for this one. The movie comes out sometime in December..Anne Hathaway you better not mess this one up!

Tuesday, May 29, 2012

Video: Kids on Anesthesia

Another Kids Laughing Gas video... Thank God there was no such thing as YouTube when I was young...



And a Part 2:


Monday, May 28, 2012

Summer Girls Come and Summer Girls go: Why Men Like 'dumb-looking' Women

I was down celebrating the Memorial Day weekend in Manasquan New Jersey.. Although it's not really considered to be a part of the "Jersey Shore" Guido/guidette fest, you will find plenty of drunk Snooki lookalikes dripping down from the likes of Belmar bars that you see showcased on the MTV show.

But Hey- it's summer time. Whether your getting black-out before 9pm or taking the walk of shame in the morning, everyone has their fun. But this wasted whirl of fun had me thinking when I came across a new study that asked whether men prefer dumb girls over intelligent ones for short-term flings.

The study involved a group of undergraduates who put together a list of female gestures that signaled low-intelligence, which they called 'exploitability cues'. Some of the 88 signs included; lip licking/biting, sleepy, intoxicated, tight clothing, partying etc..

After showing a separate group of male undergrads pictures of women in embodying each gesture they concluded that the men found these women to be appealing and were eager to have one-night stands with them.

However, they didn't see the liquored-up women to be more attractive than smart women when it came to thinking about them in long-term relationships. When the men were asked to judge the drunk women in the pictures as potential girlfriends or wives they had completely lost their appeal on them. ( Points for all the smart and classy girls out there!)

A follow-up study was also done to show what kind of man would be most aware of these 'exploitability cues' and more likely to pursue women with them. This study found that more promiscuous men who lacked in the personal empathy and warmth departments were the ones most attuned to the cues (not really a shocker there) and concluded that to them,this indicated that not all men are sleazy d-bags when it comes to pursuing sex.

Take the Study for what it's worth, but I interpreted it as proving the following:  1- ditsy doesn't deliver 2- you won't or you most likely will not find a boyfriend if your three sheets to the wind and 3- the guys participating in this study didn't take into account the effect drunk goggles have when your out getting sloshed picking up even more sloshed girls at the bar.


                 Another one of those famous videos " Whart Drunk Girls Say"

Thursday, May 24, 2012

Beware of.. Skinny Jeans?



First they tell you not to wear high heels and now you shouldn't wear skinny jeans either?!


 (And as I write this I am actually wearing a pair of skinny jeans).


I was actually pretty against the whole skinny jeans fad when it first started, I couldn't help thinking I looked like a giant A-hole every time I tried them on in a store, kind of like how I feel when I try to wear Keds. They always look cute on the shoe display, but once I get them on I resemble more of a Revenge of the Nerds kind of a character than some cute girl from the pages of a J.Crew catalog.  


Regardless, now that I have become accustomed to the tight skinny jeans that look amazing with a great pair of stilettos I hear that they can cause nerve damage!


According to Dr. Karen Boyle from the Greater Baltimore Medical Center, wearing skinny jeans that are too tight for you ( a la one turn in the wash) compresses a nerve that runs in the outer part of your thigh and can cause the disorder Miralsha Parasthetica. 


What's even worse.. she goes on to say how wearing high heels with your skinny jeans can make the symptoms worse suggesting, "When you wear high heels the axis of your pelvis changes and what happens is your pelvis tilts and your buttocks kind of kick out a little bit and your legs are longer looking. This is why women like to wear stilettos. But because the pelvis tilts some, it further accentuates the pressure that's caused on those nerves. It can make the symptoms worse."


And don't think this "disorder" only applies to women... I think we all know at least one guy whose jeans are a tad bit too skinny or tight looking..and as I was researching this story I read that in the past doctors have also warned men who were trying to have a baby to avoid tight-fitting jeans because they can make their testicles overheat, lowering their sperm count ).

So what's a girl or boy to do?... Boyle advises wearing jeggings or a pair of skinny jeans that has some kind of stretch to it... and if you do wear skinny jeans and ever feel a tingling/ numbness in your leg to stop wearing the fashion faux pas pronto or else it could lead to more permanent nerve damage. 


Wednesday, May 23, 2012

Leonardo Dicaprio as The Great Gatsby

20th Century Fox

Leonardo DiCaprio will always be my favorite male actor. My Hollywood crush whose face once wallpapered my teenage bedroom. My romantic hero and 1 fling exception ( you know when you make a deal with your partner that if you ever got the chance to sleep with one celebrity it would be this person).
I was already excited to hear that the brilliant classic, "The Great Gatsby" was being turned into a movie but now that the trailer is out with a glimpse of Leo as Mr. Gatsby, Christmas can't come soon enough! Plus its directed by Baz Luhrmann, who directed the famous and heart melting rendition of Romeo & Juliet (I think every girl dreamed about that fish tank scene at least once or twice) and it's amazing soundtrack ( aka Desiree's Kissing You song)

 ... also to point out.. this film reiterates my recommendation for Leo to nab the leading role in Fifty Shades of Grey.. He would be the perfect Christian Grey.


Whitney Houston's Last Song Released

I know I am a little late on this story as it was released this past Monday on Ryan Seacrest's radio show, but either way, below is her new duet with Jordan Sparks 'Celebrate'. R.Kelly produced the track for Whitney's final film 'Sparkle', a remake of the 1976 film about a family of three sisters who form a singing group during the Motown-era ( inspired by The Supremes). Filming ended just three months after Whitney died on February 11th 2012. 'Sparkle' is set to be released August 17th.



Trailer for the Film:

Tuesday, May 22, 2012

Annular Solar Eclipse May 20 2012


An impressive time-lapse video of the May 20 solar eclipse. The photographer, Cory Poole captured 700 images of the solar eclipse from Redding, California.

Monday, May 21, 2012

News You Should Know Monday Morning

                                                                            AFP
It was a beautiful Sunny weekend here in New York, so whether you were outside enjoying the amazing weather or too hungover to leave your couch odds are you may not be 100% caught up with the news. So here are some top stories to know the basics on in case a boss or co-worker asks you around the water cooler.


POLITICS: Tax hikes are a hot topic in the white house as Obama and republicans clash heads once again on what to do about our country's looming debt...with Obama's payroll tax cuts and the Bush-era tax cuts expiring we could be looking at the biggest tax hikes in U.S history. House Speaker John Bohnner said, "We're looking at the largest tax increase in American history on January the 1st. We're looking at big cuts to our Department of Defense ...And we're looking at an increase in the debt limit. Why do we want to wait to rush this through at the end of the year after the election?" http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2012/05/20/congressional-leaders-gird-for-debt-ceiling-tax-hike-chaos-session/  http://www.nytimes.com/2012/05/19/us/politics/obama-and-gop-stake-out-positions-in-deficit-battle.html?_r=1

WORLD: Abdel Baset al-Megrahi, a former Libyan intelligence official, who was convicted of blowing up Pan Am Flight 103 over the Scottish town on Dec. 21, 1988 that killed 270 people died of cancer. Although his death gives some families of the victims some closure, some say that it doesn't close the book on what happened as they don't believe al-Megrahi was the only one involved in the bombing. http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5jOifUOxr5PSqRxlw4b6im4y3O8fw?docId=CNG.adf90b5352ae73d83a391a33023a1efa.e1

NATO meetings in Chicago: If you don't know what NATO means, it's OK.. it stands for the "north Atlantic treaty organization."a military alliance established in 1949 in the early years of the cold war with the soviet union..NATO originally made up of 12 countries, the alliance now has 28 countries. The big thing to know about this 2-day summit is that President Obama hopes to discuss turning over combat missions to afghan forces to end the war in 2014. Also know that the U.S is still pissed at Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari over his refusal to reopen supply routes to Afghanistan- supply routes used to transfer fuel and war supplies into Afghanistan. http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fg-nato-summit-20120521,0,3696577.story

SCIENCE:
An annular eclipse took place on Sunday providing a gorgeous and rare "ring of fire" for thousands of stargazers.. though you only got a good glimpse of the 4 minute spectacle if you were positioned along the centreline of the eclipse's path. "The eclipse was first visible over southern Asia and then moved across the Pacific. Travelling on a diagonal path, it later crossed parts of Oregon, Nevada, Utah, Arizona and New Mexico before disappearing in Texas with the sunset." http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/05/21/uk-eclipse-idUSLNE84K00620120521

MORE WATER-COOLER HEADLINES:
The ex-Rutgers University student convicted of invasion of privacy and bias intimidation among other charges could be deported or sentenced to 10 years in prison today. http://www.nj.com/news/index.ssf/2012/05/former_rutgers_student_dharun.html

In the trial of John Edwards..the jury continues to deliberate on whether John Edwards conspired to violate election laws to cover up an affair during his campaign for the 2008 Democratic presidential nomination. http://www.csmonitor.com/USA/Latest-News-Wires/2012/0521/John-Edwards-trial-jury-deliberations-continue-Monday

The Famous Bee Gee singer, Robin Gibb passed away from cancer.








Friday, May 18, 2012

Want the Truth out of your Partner? Text Them!



I assumed as I believe most do that when asking someone a question via text they have a better opportunity to lie or distort the truth... For one thing the person sending the text can't see your facial expressions or hear the tone in your voice. I admit I'am a terrible lier, my voice raises an octave and my eyes dart to the floor. Though I actually find it to be a good quality, I'm never tempted to lie since I know even a small child could see my Pinocchio nose from a mile away.


However Pinocchio-esque you might be, a new iphone study claims that texting may actually reduce some respondents' tendency to shade the truth or to present themselves in the best possible light.


Fred Conrad a psychologist at the University of Michigan Institute for Social Research who conducted the study said, " this is sort of surprising since many people thought texting would decrease the likelihood of disclosing sensitive information because it creates a record of questions and answers that others might see on your phone and in the cloud," aka traps like, "Oh you didn't text so-and-so last night at 3am, let me see your phone").


The study also found that people are more likely to provide thoughtful and honest responses via text messages even when they're in busy, distracting environments...Now this point I can believe. I can easily imagine myself walking through the city trying to text while looking up occasionally so I don't get bulldozed over by someone, but as soon as a bike or cab swipes by me a little too close for comfort I jot down the first thing that comes to mind and punch send. The in-the-moment response wouldn't give me enough time to sculpt any kind of fabricated answer.


I would be curious to see how many women versus men give more precise answers via texting but Conrad and his partners admit they are still in the early stages of analyzing their findings. 


Maybe that's why posts from that texts from last night web site seem so blatantly honest...http://www.textsfromlastnight.com/


Happy Friday~ Don't Drunk Text you never know what you could reveal! 


Thursday, May 17, 2012

A Sex Museum for Kids?



Canada's museum of Science and Technology is hosting a hot new exhibit, " Sex: A Tell-All Exhibition"...except it's not for adults. Nope it was designed for children 12 and older ( though the admission age has now increased to 16) to "fill in gaps" after the regions sex ed program acquired some changes.


According to the Ottawa Sun newspaper the racy exhibit shows screens displaying aroused genitals, naked statues, a man's voice describing his orgasm and a climax room. One display calls for interactive participation with printed questions and push button audio answers.. an example of one of the questions they could be hearing the answer to... "Sometimes when I look at a handsome singer, my panties become wet. Is this normal?"


Now remember this was originally for kids 12 years old and up.


Of course not everyone is a fan of this new educational expose.The museum did take down one animated video showing naked young people how to masturbate after some horrified parents apparently complained. Others have complained that the exhibit is insulting to tax payers- the sexy show cost $800,000 to build, a small chunk of the museums $30 million they get from federal taxpayers per year. 


But am I missing something here? Sure politico's will complain about wasted tax money but I know I never got to take a field trip to a sex museum when I was in what middle school... is this an acceptable form of sex education or is it another example of our society throwing sex into the faces of the young, curious and susceptible? 


You can view a video of some of the images here: http://www.montrealsciencecentre.com/exhibitions/sex-a-tell-all-exhibition.html


New Nicki Minaj Music Video

Enjoy it's ALMOST Friday! 

Nicki Minaj - Right By My Side (Explicit) ft. Chris Brown
(Just released yesterday)

Wednesday, May 16, 2012

Consumer Warning! Fish Pedicures; Not as Safe as we Thought



Jacquelyn Martin/AP Photo
I certainly won't forget the day when my Morning Show executive producer (at the time) told me to find a salon that not only offered the so-called "fish pedicure", a treatment that has customers soaking their feet in a tank of water with small carp fish nibbling away at your dead and calloused skin. And then on top of that she told me I would also need to find and bring in a fish tank to our studio in midtown Manhattan so an audience member could try the new fish fad.


Up for the challenge (but really what choice did I have) I managed to put the segment together and pulled an audience member to volunteer for the free fishy pedicure. 


Now fast forward 4 years and British scientists are reporting today that the toothless carp used for these pedicures may carry bacteria that could cause a variety of dangerous skin and soft tissue infections!


My apologies to the poor audience woman I convinced to try it!


Although the threat has been spoken about since the new fish fetish hit U.S salons in 2008, it wasn't until last spring that British fish inspectors checked Indonesian fish shipments on their way to British spas revealed the fish carried strains of bacteria that could cause infections like Vinbrio Vulnifcus, Vibrio Cholerae and S.agalactiae..(aka really bad and gross infections you definitely don't want to get!).


An ABC News report stated:


"In the United States, "there have been no published reports to date regarding illness from fish pedicures," the CDC said in a June 2011 document. "However, fish-free foot-baths in nail salons have been implicated in several outbreaks of nontuberculous mycobacterial infections, including the species Mycobacterium abscessus and M. fortuitum," which have left customers with boils and scars."


So although sandal season is upon us- stay clear of any fishy fish pedicures and just go with the good old hand scrubbing ones, your feet will thank you!

What Really Turns You on...



When you think of what gets you in the mood to have sex do you think of soft sounds from Marvin Gaye and a bedroom covered with candles and rose petals? Or maybe a naughty text message?

Sure it may not sound as romantic but according to a survey by Fitness Magazine and Yahoo! Shine 22% of men and women between the ages of 18-34 say it is.

20% say a sexy movie can turn them on the most.

And for women its those simple three little words that does the trick... 44% say "I love you" gets them in the mood.

Tuesday, May 15, 2012

Men Get Frustrated with Dating Too: What They Fear the Most

Women aren't the only ones worried about that end of the date kiss or what to write on a text to a crush.


A new survey by TSB Magazine, a men's interest and online dating site, sought out to find just what confuses and frustrates men the most when it comes to women and dating.


The study asked men to choose from a list of common frustrations men might battle when trying to start a relationship. From a list of common issues, 32% said confusion about what to say in a text and when to send the text to a woman was the most frustrating aspect of trying to start at relationship. ( What men over-analyze text messages too?!)


22% said the biggest source of anxiety was whether or not they could recover from an awkward moment in a conversation with an attractive woman. ( You know the crickets moment where you don't know where else to look but down- Note to men, usually if you just buy us another drink we'll overlook the stupid joke you just tanked on).


12% said that just approaching women altogether fed their anxiety levels ( as long as were not in an in-depth conversation with one of our girlfriends we usually don't bite).


Surprisingly only 18% felt the end of the date goodbye kiss was the most frustrating part of dating ( it's stressful for all parties involved, a good or bad kiss could a deal breaker).


Lower on the list were issues on whether a woman sees you just as a friend as well as the frustration that comes when a guy thinks they really "hits it off" with a woman only to find out she's changed her mind and is already interested in someone else.  


I couldn't help but compare this study to the debacle that is and was the premier episode of  The Bachelorette on ABC last night. By the end of the first day The Bachelorette, this season's Emily Maynard, has to eliminate 6 out of 25 men after meeting each for mere minute. If they had time worry about any of the dating issues this study talks about they would drive themselves crazy.. or drunk... kind of like this contestant.. Now THAT is an awkward moment: 


Monday, May 14, 2012

Guest Blogger: Dating Advice from a Regular Guy

There is only so much dating advice you can get from your girlfriends and reality TV.


You may even find yourself asking so many questions to so many different people that you forget what your own opinion actually is.


But let's face it, no one has the perfect answer to any dating dilemma. 


It's Monday, the weekend is over and maybe you meet a new guy over this past weekend and your already making yourself crazy over-analyzing his every move since you've meet or maybe you didn't meet anyone new this weekend and just need some some run-of-the-mill dating lessons and recommendations from a new source.


So here are a few helpful tips to take into consideration from an anonymous regular and overly honest guy who doesn't know you or the exact details of your dating life. He is a 28-year old guest blogger who has been both happily single and in a committed relationship. 

The one thing girls need to remember if they want to find/get a boyfriend
The first thing is you don’t “find” or “get” a boyfriend because when you are looking for a boyfriend guys can sense that and there is absolutely nothing worse than a desperate girl. I believe the number one thing girls need to remember is to have confidence in yourself, confidence to go up to a guy and start the conversation. People talk about the “game” and the right amount of days to call someone. I am sorry but this is not the 1920’s, if you want something go out and get it. Don’t wait for the guy to be the catalyst of a budding relationship because chances are unless you are a ten we are not going to wait around.

Best way or place to meet a guy with boyfriend potential
If there was a specific place to meet a guy with bf potential that place would be swarming with girls, unfortunately that place doesn't exist. What you need to do / be is open to new ideas, new places and new people. Take yourself out of your comfort zone i.e( if you got to one bar all the time try a new bar) it could be as simple as that. I think the best way to meet a potential bf would be through friends. Be open to meeting other people and don’t disregard new people if they don’t fit your groups mold… you are not as cool as you think you are. 


Keys to a happy relationship that dating experts & self-help books don’t tell you
If they seem shady, they are shady.. good-bye! Don’t over communicate, if you talk through email all day you don’t need to have a hour long chat that night it will become a chore and how many people like chores?!?! Lastly with anything in life be yourself, you cant change who you are and if you need to change yourself to be with a guy… hes not worth it .

For More Dating Advice from an older perspective check out the video post from 41-year old Hottie and Mad Men star, Jon Hamm:







Friday, May 11, 2012

Your Friends Don't like your Boyfriend? Would you Dump him over it?

Everyone has some similar or shared interest with their friends or they wouldn't be friends right?
Whether it's liking the same activities, genre of books and movies or sharing the same sense of humor, in someway or another you friends mirror some small part of you.


But what about when it comes to men. Obviously  if your constantly eyeing for the same guy at the bar this will  eventually cause a riff between friends, but on the other side, what if you don't like the guy your friend is seeing, what happens then?


Datewithamate.com, a dating website that sets up pairs of friends on double dates with other pairs of friends conducted a study to find out just how important a friend's approval is when a new boyfriend is introduced to your circle of friends.


According to the study, 42% said they would need their friends approval when they started dating a new person.. furthermore 12% said they would even end a relationship if their friends didn't approve ( a Mother's Day tie-in: just 8% said they would end it if their mom didn't approve). 


Luke Pomaro, founder of datewithamate.com said the study was to help them get to know their target market better and added, "I appreciate the importance of a friend’s approval, however I don’t believe it is that important that if a friend doesn't approve the relationship should be ended. The grounds of a healthy relationship are ultimately down to the two people directly involved in it and as long as they are happy together that should be all that matters."


Although I think we'd all like to say we would end a relationship if our friends didn't like our boyfriend how many times have you heard stories of a break-up followed by a friend saying ' I never really liked him anyways" or " I don't know what you saw in him, I always thought you could do so much better"...


You won't win the friend of the year award for dumping your dude just because your friends don't see the same charm and lovable person you see. BUT if your friends are trying to warn you about your guys red flags that you are too love struck and blind to see you should appreciate and consider their opinion and maybe approach your man about certain concerns you've suddenly become aware of. 

                         Ke$ha Singing about her Best Friends Boyfriend

Super Wave Makes New Guinness World Record


It's just about that time.. Memorial Day is weeks away and that means Beach time, sun time, ocean time.. 
Take a look at a crazy extreme pro surfer, Garret McNamara take the title of the Guinness World Record for the largest wave ever surfed- a 78-foot wave off the coast of Nazare, Portugal.

Think he looked like this kid on his way down?
Happy Friday! 

Wednesday, May 9, 2012

Why Women Don't like Sex as much with a Hook-up

Ahh College hookups.. A time to frolic from dorm room to dorm room without a care in the world. A place where you know you won't be caught and embarrassed in front of your parents or gossiped about as much as you would in the close quarters of high school hallways. 


For some incoming freshmen hookups might be their first set of sexual encounters.They don't say college is liberating for nothing. 


But one new study finds that such hookups don't actually make for great sexual experiences.


The Study "Accounting for Women's orgasm and sexual enjoyment in college hookups and relationships" published by the American Sociological Review wanted to explain why relationship sex is better for women (in terms of producing more orgasms and sexual pleasure). 


After reviewing  a large online survey of undergraduates at U.S colleges and Universities as well as in-depth  interviews they found that women have orgasms more often in relationships than in hookups. The reason behind it? 


The study contributes the better big O's from four things: 1- technically competent genital stimulation ( I mean if you don't know how to shift gears you shouldn't be driving a stick). 
2- partner-specific learning ( that's what happens when you don't know the name of the guy your hooking up with, you can't call out his name with proper directions and commands). 
3- commitment ( you'll most likely relax and enjoy yourself more knowing he won't hightail it out the door before you wake up in the morning). 
4- gender equality (aka sexual equality,  basically having some dignity and knowing you have the right to feel just as much sexual pleasure as your partner does).


And then they get into some unnerving double standards saying: 


"both men and women question women’s (but not men’s) entitlement to pleasure in hookups but believe strongly in women’s (as well as men’s) entitlement to pleasure in relationships"


Essentially saying that women don't think they have the right to enjoy themselves in a casual hookup BUT it's ok for men to enjoy themselves. This isn't breaking news folks, this goes back to the unspoken understanding that if a woman fools around with a guy shes not in a relationship with she's called a slut, but if a guy hooks-up with a girl he's not dating he's a hotshot and a hero.


Take the study for what it is but now you are scientifically informed that random hook-ups won't be as enjoyable for you as hooking up with your boyfriend or husband.. so maybe.. if you can (and I for one won't judge you if you can't) put the hookups on hold. 

Here is a funny video from College Humor on the aftermath of a hook up

Tuesday, May 8, 2012

Tuesday Tunes: Gossip, 'Move in the Right Direction'

Check out the alternative pop groups new single ' Move in the Right Direction' below


A better audio only version here: http://www.rollingstone.com/music/news/song-exclusive-gossip-move-in-the-right-direction-20120508

Sharing on Facebook is as Good as Sex? What?!

If your not someone who updates their status on Facebook or twitter every few minutes, I'm sure you know someone who does. 


You know the types- posting what they just ate for breakfast, what the traffic looks like on their evening commute, a gift they just bought themselves or a vacation they just booked ( that's a year away). You know, people who like to over share. 


But what gets people off so much by over sharing?


Some researchers from Harvard University set out to answer this enigma. They looked at brain imaging scans to show how our brains react to sharing information about ourselves with others.


Now what they came up with will surprise and startle you.


They found that our brain actually responds to sharing information about ourselves in the same way it responds to the pleasure triggers we get from sex!


Shocking, I know. 


I mean listen, I'am all for the growing social world but for those 300 people that they conducted the study from.. word of advice.. get a life and get laid for God's sake! 


In another part their research they worked on what they called the 'Penny for your Thoughts' study to find out if people would pay money to share information about themselves with other people. According to their data study subjects were willing to go without 17-25% of their potential earnings if they could tell information about themselves to others.


People make a good living listening to other people share their thoughts, its called therapy, just get yourself a psychologist.


Diana Tamir, the lead author of the study says, "everybody can find some kind of value reward in having an audience or a sympathetic ear, regardless whether you do that behavior a lot or a little. It provides you with some sort of reward."


No wonder why Mark Zuckerberg  is so filthy rich, he single-handedly gave the same pleasure feeling you get with sex to 794 million users ( said to reach 1 billion in August).



Monday, May 7, 2012

A New Study asks an Old Question: Can Men & Women be "Just Friends"?

It's the age-old question, can men and women really just be friends?


The disputed 'When Harry met Sally' conundrum seems to always go back to the problem of attraction. A news study says that though these platonic relationships are plausible,  there is nearly always a portion of attraction between male and female friends. 


And if some guys wonder why they seem to hear the line "I just want to be friends" or " I think we're better off as friends" more than their female counterparts its because men report more sexual interest in their female friends than their female friends do in them and men are more likely to overestimate how romantically  interested their friends are in them.


Lead author in the study, April Bleske-Rechek says that although men and women want to be friends and have platonic relationships, that data she has collected shows that attraction can get in the way. 


April and her researchers sent questionnaires to 107 young adults asking whether they thought their cross-sex friendships were beneficial or burdensome- the results?


"Everyone was very positive about these friendships, ranking them as overwhelmingly beneficial."


However beneficial these friendships might be, attraction was named as an interference when it came to the relationships 5-times more than it was said to be a benefit and the more attracted someone was to a friend, the lower their satisfaction with their romantic partner. 


So what do we learn from this study? 


I can't help but think of the old Jimmy Soul song, " If you wanna be happy"...


If you wanna be happy for the rest of your life
Never make a pretty woman your wife
So for my personal point of view
Get an ugly girl to marry you


I know the concept may be a little different.. but bottom line.. girls are much better at having platonic friendships with men than men are.. and if your guy has a "best girl-friend" who looks like the next Kate Upton either keep your eye on her or tell him to get uglier girlfriends. 



Friday, May 4, 2012

Fifty Shades of Grey Finished...


The infamous erotic novel, Fifty Shades of Grey is still generating quite a buzz throughout the country. American Idol host, Ryan Seacrest has even caught the bug saying he is “obsessed”! Also adding that, “I think it can be a study book for a lot of people,” he told Access Hollywood.

The popular read has also invoked a stream of spoofs and parodies. Andrew Shaffer wrote  “Fifty Shames of Earl Grey” a satirical novel that stars a handsome and wealthy count, Earl Grey who buys businesses to capture the heart of another young college student.

"The hero is so fabulously rich that he buys up every company the heroine works for, including Amazon.com and Walmart, and he also has a private dinosaur island ... so they actually have sex on a dinosaur's back which is not something I have ever seen in a romantic novel before," Shaffer told Reuters.

And you don’t have to look far to find parodies on Youtube, Howard Neuthaler produced, “Christian Penetrates the Suburbs” saying he wanted to spoof the majority  of the people who actually read the book- the suburban mom.




But some people are just lucky enough to reap the benefits of the hot selling title without even trying… a 2011 young adult novel about a Lithuanian girl’s life in a Siberian labor camp got a boost in sales just by having a similar name, “ Between the Shades of Gray”. In just three weeks, the novel moved into the No. 5 bestselling children’s paperback on the New York Times list.

While all the hype continues to grow, I couldn’t help but feel a hint of disappointment when I finished the last page of book number three.

As in most trilogies, my favorite was the first book- the characters are all brand new and I was immediately drawn to Christian and wanted to know more about him and his dark secrets. By the second book, the plot thickens and I realize the book has more depth than just a story about love and kinky sex. By the third and final book I notice I'm reading in a slower pace, perhaps it's because I know it’s the last one or maybe because it is a tad bit slower than the first two. Either way the sex scenes are still as steamy and their relationship on a new and intriguing level. The ending was.. well it was, good. New and welcomed suspense draws you in as you wonder whether you will be satisfied with the finale. To be honest I could have done without the last couple of pages but E.L James revives herself with an interesting swap of narrators in the last few pages giving the reader a new and intimate look into the beloved and worshiped mind of Christian Grey.

But now that I’ve finished Fifty Shades what the hell am I going to read? What is going to capture and keep my attention like Fifty Shades of Christian Grey?

Without any time to research  I downloaded “Beautiful Disaster” by Jamie McGuire. The book has been out since last May but the synopsis gave me a glimmer of hope that this new novel might offer a Christian-like bad boy that I might enjoy reading about.


“The new Abby Abernathy is a good girl. She doesn't drink or swear, and she has the appropriate percentage of cardigans in her wardrobe. Abby believes she has enough distance between her and the darkness of her past, but when she arrives at college with her best friend America, her path to a new beginning is quickly challenged by Eastern University’s Walking One-Night Stand.


I won't sway you one way or another but after reading some of the reviews I know I was intrigued enough to give it a try. http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/11505797-beautiful-disaster

I’ll let you know how it goes… Happy Friday