[This post is courtesy of our gal pal, Marie Claire.]

With Amy Poehler’s new sitcom, Parks and Recreation,MC premiering this month, and Tina Fey ruling Hollywood from atop a pile of Emmys, funny women are having a moment.  rounds up the pioneers, the visionaries, and the chemically imbalanced to talk about how we got here.

Can a pretty girl be funny?
MARGARET CHO (Lifetime’s upcoming Drop Dead Diva): I remember seeing beautiful girls do stand-up, and it was a disaster every time. Not only were people not gonna listen to you because you’re a woman, if you’re good-looking, people really don’t want to listen to you.

SUSIE ESSMAN (Curb Your Enthusiasm): I’ve had to give some young female comics advice about what they’re wearing. Like, you can’t wear something too provocative — it’s too confusing to the men in the audience. They don’t know if they wanna f**k you or laugh at you.

JOAN RIVERS (comedian): Phyllis Diller used to dress like a fool. Totie Fields was a big fat woman. In the beginning, women comedians were all grotesque in one way or another. Read More »

[This post is courtesy of our gal pal, Marie Claire.]

It all started 10 years ago with a drunken kiss, which quickly led to drunken sex. She was the cool, pretty receptionist at the glossy music magazine where I was interning. But after a few more heated nights together that summer, my gig ended, and so did our trysts. I initially dismissed our encounters as nothing more than clumsy, alcohol-fueled experimentation — little did I know things were going to get much more complicated.

Prior to that fateful fling, I had been straight as a ruler and extremely confident about my figure. I’d always been robust (185 pounds), and proudly so. Constant attention from men — be it coy advances or vulgar catcalls — kept me feeling like a wanted woman. I was certain that my large breasts, tiny waist, and curvaceous hips were irresistible to members of the opposite sex. These assets — in any size and shape — were just so alien and intriguing to them. Read More »

[This post is courtesy of our gal pal, Marie Claire.]

Sometimes good sex feels like a really tough recipe to me. Now, I love cooking; any good cook knows he/she is only as good as the ingredients they use. This is why I love the process of buying vegetables and other ingredients. I even love peeling and cutting. It’s all part of the process to make a great dish.

And, like a recipe, I think sex is only as good as its ingredients: the people involved, and then the deeper ingredients like connection and chemistry. Here are some ingredients that can help make great sex:

Safe, but threatening

Couples need to feel safe around each other, but sex is fun when it has a bad edge to it. If you can make one another feel “comfortably threatened” it can lead to a steamy experience.

Spontaneity

Spontaneity is a common thread for success in all areas of romance, and sex is no different. Sex, just like anything else, can become routine and mundane. How often do we just grab each other and go at it?

Attraction

I’m not one of those lucky guys that has sex with girls who aren’t attracted to me. Some of my friends admit that they’ve had sex with people they were not attracted to. How do these guys pull this off? I need to learn this secret. Nevertheless, none of my friends are ever thrilled about it, so the sex wasn’t that great. Read More »

[This post is courtesy of our gal pal, Marie Claire.]

Own The Room

When’s the last time you saw a guy walk into a bar or party looking useless and confused? Okay, so it was yesterday. Were you interested in him? No? Shocker. That’s because most guys walk into a place with a purpose. Unless they’re looking for a space to park their binder filled with original Star Trek drawings, they’re looking for friends or women. And you should look the same. When you walk into a place, act like you know where the hell you’re going, even if you don’t. Everyone will wonder who you are and why you’re there, but they’ll never think you’re useless and confused.

Eye Your Prey

Got your eye on someone? Good. Don’t shy away. Look him straight in the eye and think, You should be attached to my lips by now; why aren’t you? Trust me, he’ll read your thoughts like they’re projected above your head on a wide-screen. Read More »

So, apparently that’s Beyonce.

I know, right? I didn’t recognize her either. Her face looks completely different, her right boob is computer generated, and check out that waist! Did she have some ribs removed? That’s gotta be airbrushing, right?

RIGHT?!

I mean, no one’s body can look like that naturally. And I hope this cover doesn’t inspire women to try.

I think I’ve found myself a new celeb girl-crush.

I’ve been a fan of the Olsen twins since Full House, and a closeted fan ever since their enrollment to my school, New York University, was met with open hostility and disdain. I couldn’t get enough of it—their grandma-chic outfits that look like they were put together by a casual stroll through a high-end Salvation Army, their oversized sunglasses that look like they weigh more than the both of the them combined, even their movies that I watched like I watched Lifetime movies, with secret delight.

But after reading Ashley Olsen’s interview in the September issue of Marie Claire, I think I may finally be ready to come out of the closet with my Olsen love. Because, well, it turns out Ashley is kind of…cool. Quirky, a bit strange, and maybe not exactly “the coolest girl in the world,” as Marie Claire dubs her in the title of the article, but surprisingly self-aware and likable.

My only brush with Ashley took place in an NYU bathroom, after which I promptly texted my friend, “Oh my god, I just peed next to Ashley Olsen.” But save for that, and scattered incidents of getting peeks of her crazy outfits on campus, she has remained an enigma to me. Until now. Some juicy facts that I learned about my favorite Hollywood waif: Read More »