“Sometimes closing has its ups.”
Not terribly clever or interesting, but there ya go.
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by SB Sarah • Monday, February 27, 2006 at 06:15 AM
There’s something missing in this article about the advent of romantic erotica. Is it mentioning of explicit sex?
No, the article covers that.
Discussion of self-confident heroines with adventurous sexual appetites? Yup.
Hmmm. Creation of erotica imprints from established publishing houses? Yeah, that’s in there.
So what’s missing from this article?
Could it be ANY MENTION WHATSOEVER of Ellora’s Cave? Hello?! “Berkley was a pioneer with its Heat line last May”??!! Are you kidding me?
Gee whiz. For a million-dollar genre, you’d think the writer would find reference to EC quick enough in her research. Of course, it is USA Today, which Hubby and I call “McNews.” Perhaps I ask too much.
Nah, I don’t. To write about the popularity of erotica and not mention EC? That was boneheaded, no pun intended.
by Candy • Friday, February 24, 2006 at 08:03 PM
This video is gayer than two gay men having sex, and that’s pretty gay.
I mean it. Just when you think it can’t get any more gay, IT DOES.
Seriously. It has Kurt Browning, Alexei Yagudin, John Zimmerman and assorted other ice skaters wiggling, writhing and pumping in tight-ass cowboy outfits. To the remixed version of Elvis’s “A Little Less Conversation.”
In summary: GAY. Hot as hell, and gay, gay, gay.
(Update: Broke my poor little Catfoodguide server, but bless JT for uploading ze video to Youtube.)
by SB Sarah • Wednesday, February 15, 2006 at 11:17 AM
Sometimes during lunch, I google “romance” or “romantic” in Google:News and see what comes up. Today, the day after Valentine’s Day, I figured I’d find a few articles from the news feeds about proposals, gettin’ some on Valentine’s Day, or what the card stores do with all the leftover heart-shaped boxes of candy.
But no: it’s a cornucopia of the romantic efforts of the vaguely creepy.
First, we have a story about a new website that enables you to track down and flirt online with hot people in neighboring cars when you’re stuck in traffic. Because picking your nose isn’t enough of an activity, Ben Phillips has decided the new and best way to hook up with hot people is to… mark your car with a decal so other people can look you up online. Imagine the poetry that can come of this:
“Your headlights are perfect
and your bumper is, too.
I’ve got your decal number
so how ‘bout a screw?”
Then there’s high school junior Paul Kim, who spent his hard-earned money delivering roses to every female student in his graduating class. Nice gesture, but he underestimated by 100 students. I hope the boy gets at least a date out of it, though.
And finally, which is a more romantic film? Titanic or Brokeback Mountain? And while I’m asking the internet doofy questions, ¿Quién ES más macho, Fernando Lamas, o Ricardo Montalban?
Updated to add:
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Categories: Random Musings • The Link-O-Lator
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by SB Sarah • Monday, February 13, 2006 at 11:23 AM
An anonymous Bitchery reader was kind enough to send me this splash of a PR release: Romance Novels: Are They the Antidote to a Dreary Sex Life? It’s a promotional piece for a specific book, “Midwinter Turns to Spring,” but it cites two journals as evidence that romance readers know how to get it on:
Women who read romance novels make love with their partners 74% more often than women who don’t, according to Psychology Today. Furthermore, when women fantasize frequently (as they do when they read romance novels), they have sex more often, have more fun in bed, and engage in a wider variety of erotic activities, according to a report in Psychological Bulletin.
Now, I’m having a spot of trouble finding the study in question. I’ve found a previously-linked study about male body issues and the whole size-matters question, and I’ve found articles about using your love story to find your perfect mate. There’s even discussion on the healthful results of sexual fantasy. I’m down with that, but where’s the stuff about how if we read them trashy books wit’ the man-titties, we’re all fired up in the sack?
Hmm. I smell dubious PR.
But being of a mildly scientific bent (read: not scientific at ALL) I queried all of my husbands as to whether my love of romance novels has improved our sex life. He said: “I don’t know. I’ve never been married to someone who doesn’t read romance novels. But I’ll go with true.”
I can see how it might be true, certainly. To quote Candy, “Bitch. Please.” One good sex scene and many a reader is all, “Yo! Hubby! BOOTY CALL!”
And it’s not just the external mental stimulation that can make one go off and seek some happy action. Reading romance reminds me of the value of my own romance, and certainly makes me more attentive to the health of my marriage. Erotica & romantica were probably one of the best discoveries I made last year, if you queried the husbands living in my house.
I’m sure that the idea that romance novels are good for the gettin’ it on is sound - but I’m not sure that the referenced studies exist. You can read about what men and women consider romantic but I haven’t found any references to romanve novels on the Psychology Today website. Perhaps a Bitchery reader will have better skills and luck in the search than I have.
But dubious PR or not - what do you think? True? False? Or are you too busy “reading” right now to type?
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by SB Sarah • Friday, February 10, 2006 at 09:25 AM
You know how there’s always a mind-bogglingly popular, yet not as quality, version of just about everything? Hubby and I call it the “White Zinfandel” effect. Thomas Kinkade? The white zinfandel of art.
Andrea Bocelli? The white zinfandel of opera.
This is nothing against white zin itself, as there are some that are quite good, but it has a major rep as a plebian wine, and I almost busted an internal organ at the absurdity of watching a dude go through the wine sniff-and-taste ritual with a bottle Sutter Home White Zinfandel on a cruise one time.
Yeah, I sound like a snob. But I do have a point. And it’s not that I like wine a lot, even though I really do.
Nicholas Sparks the white zinfandel of fiction, has been nominated for the Romantic Novel of the Year award, which comes with much relative prestige, of course, and, holy crap, £10,000.
Fellow nominees include Brits Veronica Henry and Audrew Howard, Irish writer Kate Kerrigan, and Aussie Asheigh Bingham. I’ve not heard of these people - anyone in the UK Bitchery care to enlighten me?
Sparks was nominated for True Believer, which, judging from the Amazon reviews, was a disappointment to those readers who enjoy romance. One reviewer likened it to Danielle Steele, who also might be called another white zin of romance. Another called it a “watery” disappointment.
I gotta tell you, this just burns my toast more than a little. I’m not sure if Sparks gets the attention for writing treacly spooge because he’s a male writing “romantic novels” or if he’s somehow been singled out as the author of “socially and commercially acceptable and award-worthy romance” for some other reason (perhaps an alignment with Satan?) but whatever it is, it bugs the crap out of me when there are so many other authors who write clever, insightful, and emotionally provocative romance but don’t get nominated for £10,000 awards.
Who would you nominate instead? Maybe we need to create the Smart Bitch White Zinfandel Award for mediocrity in romance, so when we take the award nominations away from people like Sparks we can give them something nice to hold onto in return.