U.S. unemployment rate hits new high.

Super special food combos that amp the nutrition.

Who got the American Idol wild card?

Chris Brown pushes real life back to April.

Pepsi…natural?

Paris Hilton gets Lauren Conrad’s sloppy seconds. Seriously, sloppy.

If someone circled my fat, I’d kill them.

Louis Vuitton doesn’t want his goods in crappy music videos.

Canada loves Joshua Jackson.

New uses for your toiletries.

Amy Winehouse looking….good?!

Vince Vaughn engaged?! <Heart Shatters.>

[Photo courtesy of NYTimes.] 

The porn industry may be suffering, but the same can’t be said for the sex-toy sellers of the world. Business is booming!

According to a recent article in the New York Times, sales of high-priced pleasure toys have been on the up and up since the economy tanked last year. Bank accounts may be dwindling, but women are finding a way to indulge in personal pleasure.

This comes as no surprise to me, as I always turn to intimacy (most recently with myself) in times of stress or hardship. Sure, I have to be a little more thrifty with my cash, but that only means I need to be more deliberate about where and how I spend it.

Do I need that Starbucks? No.

Do I need a release after a long day of classes? You betcha.

Is a vibrator a better investment than, I don’t know, weed? Yes, yes, ohmygod YES.

Some women work out when they get stressed. Some shop.

It seems that most, however, are choosing to stay home and have some mind-blowing “stress relief” on their own.

Someone up above must hate me, because Heidi Montag released another terrible song. Perhaps this is what the U.S. Military is using in their latest foray into alternative forms of torture.

Don Imus seems to be back to his old ways. Shocking.

A lot of little children (and some really awesome college students…not me…ok, maybe me) spent their Friday evening at home with the Jonas Brothers.

The perfect breakfast for the morning after a late night summer Beer-B-Q.

To make money, or to make a difference; that is the question for many college grads.

Is your brain gay?

Some guys just can’t quite distinguish between fact and a cartoon from the early 90’s.

[Photo courtesy of the one and only, Perez Hilton.]

Usually when I need some info on friends with benefits, I turn to my friends who have been there, or those brilliant people behind the screens (get it? Computer screen?! HA) at College Candy. I usually don’t turn to the New York Times.

Imagine my surprise, then, when I was surfing the Times today looking for some good opinion pieces when I found an article titled Friends with Benefits, and Stress Too.

At first I thought it was a joke. I mean, I know the Times is a liberal publication, but even they wouldn’t discuss the not-so-easy to explain situation we like to call Friends with Benefits.

Turns out, it was no joke. In fact, it was about a study conducted at Michigan State University where students were polled about their experiences with friends with benefits.

For anyone in college, the findings were nothing spectacular.

Basically, friends with benefits work for some, progress into a relationship for others and cause the rest to have a giant blow up fight because one person likes the other more and thought they had something special and meanwhile the other person is off hooking up with other people and stomping on their “friend’s” heart.

The only interesting thing to come from this, in fact, is the phone call I received from my mother this afternoon after she too was perusing the Times looking for opinion pieces and came across the article: Read More »

Why on earth anyone watches beauty pageants other than to tune in and pray that the contestants fall on their asses is beyond me.

But to actually be in a beauty pageant? Nooo, but thank you.

The NYTimes reports that these contests are much more superficial than you think, and that’s not saying a whole lot. It turns out that many of these girls are duped into thinking they’re gonna win a ton of money and scholarships of some sort, but they never reap the educational or financial benefits.

Ashley Wood, a pissed-off ex Miss USA who never got the money she actually won, said,

“You are talking about an organization that is promoting itself as the largest scholarship provider for women in the world….When contestants try to collect their funds, they encounter one obstacle after another.”

These problems have something to do with all of the local and state pageants that are scattered around the country being tied under the national pageants, and apparently, local pageant winners hardly ever collect – the states could take these local pageants to court, but they have limited control over them in the first place, and to even do that would cost more than what these girls are actually owed.

One girl was even told after winning a pageant that instead of the scholarship she was promised, she could just take home some gowns!! Are you kidding me? Read More »

Sex sells. We all know that.

Otherwise, the porn industry wouldn’t be so profitable and I wouldn’t consider hooking myself out sometimes because I’m so poor (kidding!).But as TV and the Internet merge into one, the porn industry is thinking of taking it live… straight to your hotel room.

Eventually, you could trade in your $9.99 pre-recorded porn Pay-Per-View movie for the real deal. Albeit, the real deal as it happens live from somewhere else, not in your hotel room bed.

Gregory Clayman, owner of Video Secrets a live-action company, told the New York Times that “live, right now, is coming of age.”

And with about one-third of America’s On-Demand and Pay-Per-View movies (which are profiting $1.6 billion a year) being adult films, I guess the question is why not? Read More »

I have a special place in my heart for terrible teen television. The O.C., Degrassi, Instant Star, South of Nowhere, Dawson’s Creek: I just can’t get enough of it. The cheesy acting, the terrible love dramas, the catty bitch fights. I LOVE IT.

Which is why I am pumped for my newest terrible teen television drama Gossip Girl. Being an angsty teen is hard enough but when you’re rich, pretty and living on Manhattan’s Upper East Side, life is so bad it’s good. I’m pretty sure I watched the trailer five times because I was THAT excited.

There have been reviews. The New York Times profiled the show while five real UES Manhattan girls watched the first episode. And a few have even written that Gossip Girl is nothing to gossip about. But this is no Arrested Development, people. This is bad television.

The acting is sub par and the plotline monotonous (teens drinking and doing it… not anything new), but this time instead of sunny California it’s New York City.

And a location change is enough for me to be interested. It’s new! It’s fresh! It’s probably awful and I love it. Read More »

Prepare to have your heart broken: “As she put him into his cage for the night last Thursday, Dr. Pepperberg said, Alex looked at her and said: “You be good, see you tomorrow. I love you.” He was found dead in his cage the next morning…” (New York Times)

Does every art teacher have to be a hippie? I mean, c’mon! That’s like saying all female gym teachers are lesbians… (Chicago Tribune)

What if universities called your house every time you missed class? What if they called your entire school? For some reason I don’t think my mom would have done what these moms did. (tampabays10.com)

$160 = a 5-year supply of Ben and Jerry’s. You just have to find a criminal. Wasn’t this a Nancy Drew book? (local6.com)

Just in case you’re like, the one person who doesn’t check PerezHilton everyday and haven’t seen his own ads on his own site, his show is on tonight. So, you might as well watch so you know what the hell he’s going to be talking about all day tomorrow. (VH1.com)

A few months back, CC covered the College Callgirl, a college student who went on Craigslist and basically put herself up for sale in the personals section. Not prostitution in the virtual world, mind you, (which is also very common these days) but actual prostitution via the C-List.

Not surprising that this is going on all the time, since Craigslist is free, available to everyone 24/7, immensely popular, constantly changing up its listings and crawling with creepy people.

Becoming a hooker is getting easier, thanks to growing technology and the Internet and the fact that hookers are learning how to use it. Hookers are getting smarter! Noooo!

The NY Times reports 70 prostitution arrests in one town alone over the past year, (Nassau County is freaky!) and the story of eight women who traveled to Nassau from all over the country to make some money the hard way. Literally.

Here’s a recent interview with the College Callgirl herself, and it’s pretty interesting. Some highlights:

How often do you use Craigslist to find clients?

I posted ads in the Erotic Services several times a week. My first ad was something like “College girl needs rent help.” I basically said I wasn’t a pro and I wasn’t a supermodel—just a cute, regular girl willing to utilize her talents in exchange for a donation to her “college fund.” Most of those ads [up there] are escort agencies, so I got tons of responses. I’ve also used it as a sex delivery service when I was looking to fulfill a specific fantasy or just too lazy to leave the house. Read More »

Every week while watching The Office, gazing up at Jim lovingly from my futon, I’m torn between lust and discontent because I know that some rando like myself will never have a shot with John Krasinski. Life sure is rough for us mere mortals. Or is it?

According to “Sunday Styles”, one of my favorite parts of the New York Times, celebrities are turning to matchmakers to set them up with normal people. I mean, does anybody really want to be in a TomKat relationship, or even have America calling you and you significant other some equally shitty name like Bennifer?

So single celebs are increasingly turning to matchmakers like Samantha Daniels to expand their dating possibilities outside the realm of the red carpet. Good thing stars are swimming in the dough because top matchmakers come with a steep price tag. Daniels, based in New York, charges $25,000 for her services, which include her cell phone number, coaching on dating, etiquette, feedback and access to her database of over 50,000 clients. Read More »