Liz on MyPleasure: DNA test to detect cheaters

When I pitched my editor at MyPleasure.com a story about a lab that offers DNA testing that can detect if a partner has been cheating she responded immediately - as most people do - that thats' a little creepy. Understood. It still feels a little 1984 to have your fluids tested for what are deemed anti-social behaviors (cheating, drugs, etc). But a call to The Paternity Lab Center offered insight into not only how the test works but why it can be such a big relief to the worried partner - no matter what the results may be.

Me on Playboy radio....the number to call is...

So last week I went into hyper mode because I'm going to be on Playboy Radio this week! I'll be on with Tiffany Granath' who has interviewed lots of terrific sex experts including  Dr. Ian Kerner (who is in my book), Tera Patrick and Laura Corn... I'm incredibly excited to be on her show!

I'll be on on Tuesday, February 28 at NOON PST and 3PM ET talking about Crazy Little Thing: Why Love and Sex Drive Us Mad and the number to call if you'd like to say Hi or ask a question or just show me love is 1-877-205-9796. 

Hope you can listen in and that I get to hear from you! Without you I'm no-bunny.   :)

New blog! Crazy Little Thing: Why Love & Sex Drive Us Mad!

I've got a new blog entirely dedicate to those crazy things that people do in love...the ones people don't want to talk about on Valentine's Day!

Crazy Little Thing: Why Love & Sex Drive Us Mad

Check it out!!!

What's Hot in Central Florida

Listen for me today on WMFE 90.7 FM for "What's Hot in Central Florida," including a free sword swallowing demonstration at Ripley's Believe it Or Not!, the premiere of Hedda Gabler at Mad Cow Theatre and the Murder City Project at Evolve Art Studio. Listen in at 4:32 pm this afternoon or, if you're as impatient as I want you to be, listen NOW! See you there!

Liz on Alternet: A little smut might be good for ya

     Pornography is a funny thing. Especially when you get titles like 'Bitanic."
     Adult films are actually like any other medium to me...I like some genres and styles and don't like others, but I have never been bothered by it in the way some people are, possibly because I grew up in the 70's when Deep Throat was something people went to see on dates, but more likely because I just have an innate live-and-let-live attitude towards sexuality, not to mention a natural nosiness about what other people are up to.
      So when Alternet asked me to do a piece on the upsides (no pun, etcetera) of porn I was happy to check out some studies that contradict the 20th century criticisms of the medium as well as to get to talk to three brilliant women, JamYe WaXman, Dr. Catherine Salmon and Candida Royalle  in this piece about about Why Porn Can Be Good For You.
       Thank you, ladies and thank you Alternet! Now I'm going to cue up "Dawson's Crack"....  ;)

Me in SeXis: VA lawmakers might actually consider studying the law they were about to pass

Jesus.
Just think of the amount of time and energy that could be saved if everyone....but specifically lawmakers...would actually consider the consequences of things before acting on them.
Virginia lawmakers are actually rethinking a bill requiring women to get invasive, pointless pre-abortion ultra-sounds, a bill they were all set to put right into law until protestors made enough of a fuss pointing out that this could amount to 'state-sanctioned rape.'
If it had been about putting a foot-long probe up their butts you can bet they'd have seriously considered it....and it almost was when State Senator Janet Howell almost got an amendment added to the bil requiring rectal exams for men wanting ED meds,
I think I have a crush on her.

Anyway, thank you to all those people who spoke out and especially to all those protestors in Virginia who did so very, very much without saying a single word.

Geek Love: MEGACON

Sweet Zombie Jesus! Great Merciful Crap! And other phrases of astonishment coined by Matt Groening characters! Megacon! Who knew?

 
Everyone but me, evidently, because as I am the only person on earth who has never been to Vegas or seen The Matrix I was, until yesterday, the only person I know who had never attended a sci fi/anime/comics/and more convention that’s bigger than many cities: Megacon, which ran from Feb. 17-19 at the Orange County Convention Center here in Orlando. 


Seriously: the place was like the 42nd Street subway station at rush hour. Everyone was there for as much Geek Love as they could get…and there was plenty.

Some of the highlights for me were, of course the fact that about 95% of the attendees were in costume, everything from zombies to game pieces to Jack Sparrows to this lady. I was so riveted, so spellbound by her yarn beard that I didn’t even ask who she was, though ‘some troll,’ ‘some Viking,’ or ‘some God,’ would have done fine for an answer. She made that yarn beard and those yarn horns herself, too and if that doesn’t denote supernatural powers I dunno what does. 

Another highlight was going to the Robot Chicken panel and hearing Matt Seinreich and Zeb Wells talk about what it’s like to work on the show AND go that extra mile of getting SETH GREEN to talk to the audience via speakerphone. Everyone went bananas, of course, and with good reason, when they announced that Paul Reubens will be part of the upcoming Robot Chicken DC Comics special - RCDC - along with ,Megan Fox and Alfred Molina. It was also good to hear that they have a lot of ideas that never see the light of day….I’m glad to know I’m not the only writer with a stack of “Dumbest Thing They’ve Ever Heard,” files buried somewhere in my computer.

The costumes, as I’ve mentioned, were top notch and here’s my friend Miriam Ruckert as “one of the characters from the book Game of Thrones, (I didn’t ask further because I was doing good just to keep up with my group and some looks are elegant enough to require no explanation)...

and THIS GUY who was a dead ringer for Thor. The resemblance is as close as the movie was bad.

At some point we were standing around what appeared to be the celebrity pen, where all the stars selling autographs were corralled, like a petting zoo with a bunch of very fit,, well-mannered and somewhat bored-looking specimens in it. Because of the line around the pen we thought one had to pay money to even get in to gawk at a reasonable distance and were squinting like Mr. Magoo, trying to get a good look at some of the stars when suddenly…not looking of course…we stumbled on the entrance and felt far too stupid to be anywhere near a sci-fi con. 

     But the beauty part of being stupid is that it also requires to to sometimes be sneaky. Because we didn't know you could just walk in to the celebrity area we also didn't know you couldn't take pictures while you were in there, so taking one while outside the perimeter seemed like the thing to do. Especially since the subject was Corin Nemec!!! You know….Parker Lewis Can’t Lose!!!! He was really there for Stargate but seriously…..PARKER LEWIS!!!! One of the best shows EVER on TV. There are people I know who would have stopped speaking to me had they known I had a chance to take Corin Nemec's picture and failed, plus, once we got sense enough to walk into the corral he was nice enough to tell us in a brief chat the DVDs of the series are out. This show typified the early 90’s, a beautiful time in American history before we’d ever heard of George Bush the younger, “Jersey Shore,” or even Olestra (all of which produce the same effect on sensitive persons). This was a serious highlight of the day….if only one of us had been wearing a yarn beard it would have been perfect.

We also got to see the lovely Lacey Sanchez and two of her Florida Tribal Bellydancers and avoided having to watch the actual costume contest by watching all the particpants file in: we liked the Tetris pieces. 

A few more random shots and the day was over.....my next lingerie purchase......

a weird mix of Ghostbusters, Blues Brothers and, way in the background, Inspector Gadget...

Doug's new best friend...

...and my new boy toy

Anyway, a wonderful time was had by all and I'm sure I'll go again. You suppose they'll ever have one of these things for Downton Abbey? 

What's Hot in Central Florida

OMG!!! Geek love will be everywhere at the Orange County Convention Center this weekend during Mega Con, with celebrities, panels and even sci fi speed dating! "Fuddy Meers" opens at the Breathrough Theater in Winter Park and the Orlando Antiques Vintage and Garden Show at the Orlando Museum of Art could be the place where your very own Anqitues Road Show dream comes true!!! It's going to be a FABULOUS weekend! Listen for me at 4:32pm TODAY on WMFE 90.7 FM or listen online now!

I'm going to be on Playboy Radio!!!!

I'm usually pretty articulate, both in my writing and even sometimes when I speak, but all I've been able to manage to say since I found out this news has been "OMG, I'M GOING TO BE ON Playboy Radio!!!!"
     Ever since I found out I've been pacing around like Ed Grimley on Christmas (I must say). I can't even wait...but I will...because I have to become articulate again, because...have you heard? I'm going to be on Playboy Radio!
     I'll be on with Tiffany Granath who has wonderful call-in show with all kinds love and sex experts - she's interviewed Dr. Ian Kerner (who is in my book), Tera Patrick and Laura Corn...and now me! I'll be on on Tuesday, February 28 at NOON PST and 3PM ET talking about Crazy Little Thing: Why Love and Sex Drive Us Mad so mark your calendars and tell your friends and of course I'll be reminding you again because it's all I'll be able to say for the next 12 days. Cheers!

Happy Tuesday!

Valentines Day, whether I'm single, paired or in between, has always been my least favorite holiday. It's not imaginative or inclusive like Halloween and Christmas. It's not boozy like New Years. And I've never liked the fact that it's exclusive... a vulgar display of romantic wealth if you're happy in love, a pointless jab if you're not. We might as well have a King Midas Day where the rich make a show of jetting to Paris for dinner while the poor more keenly feel how close they are to having their phone turned off. Many people have anti-Vday events and I applaud that screw-you-punk-rock spirit. Some, myself included, recast it as a day to celebrate all kinds of love...but I still wish it was Halloween instead.
    So I'm not crazy about the root of the holiday, but I have written in the sex & relationships genre for a long time, and therefore, I feel a turkey farmer who thinks Thanksgiving is nothing but a slap in the face to native Americans...it's weird.
     So I was a little dumbfounded this morning to find that I've got a lot to be proud of in it. For openers I'm excited to be on Blisstree.com with a group of awesome writers offering VDay tips, no matter what your relationship status is. I love Blisstree and its sister sites The Grindstone, The Gloss and Crushable (they've also got Mommyish but I'm not so Mommyish so I tend to go for the others right away), so this was a nice thing to wake up to!
     Also, I've got a NEW BLOG in addition to this one: Crazy Little Thing: Why Love & Sex Drive Us Mad that's dedicated to my book and to those stories of love that we don't necessarily want to hear on a day like Valentines Day.
     My last column for SeXis magazine is also out today SexCult: Singing the Praises of Chemistry about the very things I talk about in the book.
      But my favorite online thing of the day was getting profiled on the website of my alma mater, Rollins College in Liz Langley, '90, Explores Why Love Makes Us Go Crazy. Being a Rollins grad is one of the things I'm most proud of so this was a perfect Valentine's Day gift.
      It was such a busy day in fact that I'm publishing this two days after I wrote it! Busy is good. Happy Tuesday AND Thursday AND whatever other days you might read this!  

New Blog!!!

I've got a new blog entirely dedicate to those crazy things that people do in love...the ones people don't want to talk about on Valentine's Day!

Crazy Little Thing: Why Love & Sex Drive Us Mad
Check it out!!!

MyPleasure: Valentines cockroaches

A roach by any other name would taste as sweet....EW! If you're looking for a place to spit right about now I wouldn't blame you but that's because you haven't seen the lovely new Valentine idea for the science geek, insectophile or special someone with a great sense of humor in your life: you can get a Madagascar hissing cockroach named after someone or send them artful chocolate cockroaches from the Bronx Zoo, on MyPleasure.com. Name a roach after someone your beloved hates. They'll love you for it.

On your radio

I've been lucky to have been doing lots of radio interviews about  Crazy Little Thing: Why Love & Sex Drive Us Mad  in preparation for Valentines Day including this chat on Midday Conversations with Cyrus Webb. Mr Webb (check out his blog here) had some terrific questions and has a great way of keeping things easy - he's also got his own book club & hopefully Crazy Little Thing can be in it one day!

    I also got to do a really fun show on CBS Minnesota: Mischke til Midnight with Minneapolis radio legend Tom Mischke - check out this great profile of him here in the Atlantic - and it was definitely a different experience doing a later-night radio show than some of the earlier ones I've done, thanks, largely, to Mischke's exuberance at the over-the-top subject matter Crazy has to offer - yes, there's some solid information about neurochemistry and psychology but it's fun to talk about Carol Von Cosel bringing his dead would-be bride home...and I liked that Mischke had empathy for those whose love makes them a little batty. I include myself in that. If it means something to you it's going to drive you a little nuts...hopefully not to Von Cosel country, but enough to make an impression. After all, if being in love isn't worth having a little drama, what is?

On the radio!

I'll be on WGTK 970 AM Louisville the Dr. Stan Frager show from 8-9pm Eastern time tonight talking about Crazy Little Thing: How Love and Sex Drive Us Mad. If you want to call in with questions about the book the number to call is 502-571-0970. Come say Hi to me!!!!

What's Hot in Central Florida

There's so much going on this weekend no one will have any reason to sit still and this week on What's Hot in Central Florida on WMFE 90.7 FM I tell you a little bit about the Lebowski Fest home of all-things-Big-Lebowski, the Orlando Folk Festival at the Menello Museum and Orlando Shakespeare Theater's productions of Romeo & Juliet and Cymbeline.
Hope you all have a lovely Valentines Day weekend...but don't save your expressions of love for one day. Let people know you love them all year long. Cheers!

Sex Cult: A Political Kama Sutra

A few weeks ago in SexCult I somehow managed to mix up sex and politics to make a Political Kama Sutra....maybe because every time I hear some kind of political news I feel like we're all screwed. Enjoy!

Crazy Little Thing CANADIAN CONTENT CONTEST!

It's almost Valentine's Day, eh? And while a lucky handful are planning on what to do for the person with whom they are in a fabulous, impervious, rom-com relationship many others will be thinking about the one that got away, the one they got away from, the one who assaulted them and claimed a ghost did it, the one who left over 1000 messages on their voicemail, the one who threatened to stab them for using Facebook too much. They're either glad to get away from crazy...or are in danger of going crazy themselves.

Yes, people do crazy things in love and for love and in my book "Crazy Little Thing: Why Love and Sex Drive Us Mad," I tell some of the craziest stories you've ever heard along with some of the neuroscience and psychology of why we do these things.

Now I want to hear YOUR crazy Canadian love stories in my Crazy Little CANADIAN CONTENT Contest! Send me your story of crazy love and win a signed copy of "Crazy Little Thing." The stories can be funny, silly, scary, the ending can be happy, horrid, or even pending. I just want to know the craziest thing you've ever dealt with romantically. 

The only rules are: please keep it to 300 words or so, please don't just tell me crazy sex stories (they can have sex in 'em but not just sex...I can get that online...and I probably should) and the deadline is Mach 22. If you don't want your real name revealed that's fine....you can change the names to protect the crazy.
And please be Canadian.

Why am I doing a contest limited for Canadians only? Because I freaking love Canada and want to be connected to my neighbors way up north. I've been a columnist for the Toronto Sun, am half Nova Scotian and if I ever move from Florida I'd probably go to Victoria where they have totem poles on the Parliament lawn and you can walk out the door in August and not feel like you're in a dog's mouth. Canada makes me happy.

And so do Canadians, so I hope lots and lots and lots of you enter! You can contact me on Facebook or email me at crazylittlecontest@gmail.com with stories or question.
Can't wait to hear from you!

Good luck! And have some TimBits for me!

On the radio with Andrea Adams-Miller

Last night I was on air with Andrea Adams-Miller (left) on her 881. FM talking about my book, Crazy Little Thing: Why Love and Sex Drive Us Mad on her SexTalk Live! Show and have become a fan - I've never met a sexuality teacher who used to be in law enforcement, so you can imagine what a vast and varied amount of information on human nature that she has right at her finger tips! I thought that was so cool - plus she's using a chapter out of "Crazy Little Thing" in one of the college courses she teaches....I'm pretty proud of that!

The main thing I liked about Andrea, though, was that she was really fun ...in what I've seen and read of her work she's very good about helping us to remember to keep the joy in our relationships and to communicate with a lightness and empathy for the people we're communicating with that I think makes for the ultimate relationship balance: comfort and excitement. Does it get any better than that?

It also really made me happy that she enjoyed the humor with which Crazy Little Thing is written...that was VERY important to me in writing the book, because I want people to really enjoy it. My favorite authors, like Bill Bryson, Douglas Adams and Sarah Vowell are people who make me laugh AND tell me something I didn't know or get me to see something in a new and exciting way and that's what I want to do in my work as well.

Anyway, thanks to Andrea and check out her show and her web and FB pages! I know I will be.

What's Hot in Central Florida: the Civil War, Halloween for Valentines Day and "Dancing at Lughnasa"

Check out What's Hot in Central Florida on WMFE today at 4:32 PM or click the link for details, but just to give you a preview, my favorites this week were Mad Cow Theater's "Dancing at Lughnasa," then Rockabilly Zombie Weekend because I LOVE the notion of Halloween on Valentines Day and finally, sure there's some football contetstt this weekend but having once been to  The Civil War re-enactment of the Battle at Townsend's Plantation and had a truly interesting time that's the contest I'd prefer to cehck out. I never thought a Civil War event would be my thing, but I was so glad I went a few years ago - the costumes, the antique equipment and the people were all an intriguing surprise - I recommend it! Have fun!

Crazy Little Thing in Watermark!

Had a great interview with Steve Blanchard at Watermark last week about Crazy Little Thing: Why Love and Sex Drive Us Mad, the perfect gift for someone in your life whose Valentines Day is looking a little on the iffy side....which is probably more people than Hallmark cares to admit. Thanks, Steve and thank you Watermark!
     And don't forget Movies Out Loud with Jeff Jones and Miss Sammy coming up on Feb. 9! This month it's an 80's classic: Mannequin. Their show are always brilliant so don't miss it!

'Crazy Little Thing' in Orlando Magazine!

Thank you Kristen Manieri and Orlando Magazine for a great write-up on 'Crazy Little Thing: Why Love and Sex Drive Us Mad." I so enjoyed talking to Kristen and am really happy to be in the magazine just before the Valentines holiday, which can be nice for some but pretty heinous for others - hopefully there's a little help for those who aren't fond of it in "Crazy."
The book is available all over the place now, including on iBooks and on Amazon where I'm thrilled to say I've gotten ALL SOLID FIVE-STAR REVIEWS!!!! If this was the Olympics I'd be Nadia Comaneci in Montreal, '1976...kinda...on a smaller scale, obviously....you know what I mean.....oh hell, WAHOO! I want to enjoy it while it lasts!!!! Thank you everybody!!!