Liz Story on MyPleasure: Sex and the City and Busby Berkely

When my edtor at MyPleasure.com asked me to write a little somethin'-something' about the cultural impact of Sex and the City I harkened back to the days when I watched the Gang of Four Vixens on HBO and at first I wavered. Since so many of the shows comforting elements - shopping, drinking, eating, leisure time - seem so out-of-reach now I thought it might be a downer. Then I  watched the trailer for the new movie and in one big kaboom remembered everything I loved about it. Seeing four 40-somethings (give or take) in high-fashion mode in Abu Dhabi was as escapist as the Busby Berkely extravaganzas of the Great Depression must have been for Americans in 1933 (click link for a look at those). And weirdly enough it really made me feel better....like if we had money once, we can have it again and til then and until then at least having fun and bonding with your friends is still free. So I hope you'll check out the MyPleasure post - and enjoy!

Robert Crumb's Girls that Got Away

love this clip from Crumb not just because of the artist's self-awareness of his process but his drawings girls he had crushes on in school and thinking of where they are now ("Jesus..."). His wife Aline is also really funny...and it's interesting that she

seems to have acquired his vocal intonations; they speak very similarly. Anyway, good, weird stuff to start the weekend...

Liz story: Can I Buy you a Banana?

Apes and monkeys are, my favorite relatives of all and now, it seems, they're copying their the human side of the family by using tools to attract mates. Hey, you have your hooker heels and your Dep hair gel ... they have their noisy leaves. Check out the story here on the MyPleasure blog: Can I Buy You A Banana?

The look on this baby orangutan's face be likely be one he will sport a lot when trying to figure out the dynamics between the sexes. Like looking into a mirror, isn't it?

I love you, Carla Bruni

It's not enough that she's stunning, a former model, a recording artist and the wife of the president of France. Carla Bruni-Sarkozy sounds like she's also a fun girl to be friends with. This story on the ABC news blog says that Bruni confided to Michelle Obama - just a little girl talk between first ladies - that the Bruni-Sarkozy's once made a head of state wait for them while they finished having sex and asked Michelle if she and Barack had ever done the same.
First of all, I love that they didn't rush to finish just because Queen Elizabeth (or some President or Prime Minister) was waiting. Then I love imagining various world leaders thinking "Wait a minute...I had to wait for them! That was me!" But mostly I love that she made Michelle Obama her slumber-party friend with an immediate girl-talk over-share. After this kiss-and-tell the girls one wonders if the girls made paper fortune tellers to see who their next husbands would be and then scared themselves doing the "Bloody Mary" trick in the mirror. What a sleep over that must have been.

Normally it would be easy to go on auto-hate with anyone this beautiful, but I think I've found a new role model. So...did you ever keep anyone waiting while you had sex? And don't you wish she was around to ask Bill Clinton? Dollars to donuts he'd have told her.

Wedding pics that get to the heart of things

My pal Bryce Gruber posted these hysterical wedding pics on The Luxury Spot. Makes you wonder if some of these people had writers from SNL as their wedding planners and/or exactly how much booze was flowing before the wedding. Bryce always has the coolest posts, from Salvador Dali jewelry to the rain drum  (an umbrella with different panels that makes different sounds when the rain beats down) to homemade Pop Tarts (God in heaven!) she's my kinda girl - click any of the links check her posts out!   
     And now we can add these pictures to  my 8 Reasons Marriage Doesn't Matter list which originally ran on Alternet but I'm happy to see is also on Democratic Underground. Dominating the interwebs, one site at a time. Wahoo!

Liz story on SeXis: Your Brain on Smut - Erotica Connects the Mind to the Genitals

Dirty pictures, smutty stories, digital mash notes - we all know a little erotica goes a long way to arouse our passions and our bathing suit parts. But how does it actually work? In my latest SeXis story Erotica Connects the Mind to the Genitals I got to talk to Dr. Bryant Paul, a Kinsey Institute affiliate to find out, as well as a few innnnteresting people who offered their innnnnnnnteresing preferences in nasty lit. My personal favorite bit (aside from learning how to say "prick" in Italian) is the part about how porn might actually reduce violent sexual crime....you'll have to read it to find out. Enjoy!

Sheri Winston gets Book of the Year!!!!

Wahoooooo! So happy to see my friend Sheri Winston has been honored by her peers with her book Women's Anatomy of Arousal being named book of the year by the American Association of Sex Educators, Counselors and Therapists. The book truly is fabulous - I reviewed it on this blog awhile back. It's available locally at Fairvilla Megastore and online at Amazon and is a treasure trove of sexual secrets that aren't so secret - it's just that no one bothered to tell them to you before and finally, in Sheri, you can have one of the most awesome teachers there is.
I wrote about Sheri's classes at Florida School for Holistic Living for Alternet in one of my all-time favorite pieces Sex is Natural - So Why Are So Many People So Bad At It? and learned A LOT from her - evidently the august body of AASECT thinks you can, too. So buy the book!

I mean, I know you're a very accomplished lover and all, but there's always something new to learn and you'll be glad you did.

Congratulations, Sheri!!

Liz Story on MyPleasure: Sext Ed

Sexting doesn't have to just be for the teenagers who shouldn't be doing it anyway...even if your squeeze is not at your fingertips they kind of still can be. Check out my quickie sexting tips (well...depending on how fast you type) on MyPleasure.
And while you're at it - check out this 2005 story with the plots of "Pride and Prejudice" and "Romeo and Juliet" summarized into text speak. Gr8 stuff! LOL :)

Nina Paley's "Desire"

I love love love this image.
It's by Nina Paley who made "Sita Sings the Blues" which is on my list of reasons life is good and was the subject of my very first post on this blog. This image looks like it's of the fierce Kali but it really is an image of desire... but you have to click on Nina's blog to read her explanation. It's one I related to perfectly and figure you might, too.

And then, of course, after you get what you desire, you feel like this:

only hopefully with not quite so many people staring at you.