The Boy with Pink Hair (Celebra, $18; ages 4 to 8), the new children’s book by notorious celebrity blogger Perez Hilton which hit stores on September 1^st, tells the story of a boy who is born with “shockingly bright, beautiful pink hair.”  Bullied for being different, Hilton’s blue-eyed, freckled protagonist goes on to form friendships and find acceptance not in spite of, but because of, his differences.Read the full story...

Eva and Her Virgins

    A performance by Eva and Her Virgins is as evocative for the theatrical antics and energy of its band members as it is for the luster of its dark electronic pop sound. Playful, gritty, histrionic, and sexy, Eva and Her Virgins is a band that you want to keep your eye on.

    I was excited to chat with front woman Emily Powers about the band, where we also discuss time travel, superpowers, and using Beethoven’s body as a flotation device.

I'm not saying there's anything fundamentally wrong with a fanny pack. It seems very practical. It's a backpack for your butt (provided you are not using the British meaning of the word fanny). However, practicality aside, I just don't see a fanny pack as a major bonus to anything, especially if you happen to be a fan, of say, Kesha. Excuse me, I mean Ke$ha. Apparently the marketing geniuses behind Ke$ha's new VIP tour disagree, and they think it's exciting enough to help entice you into paying extra to be a Ke$ha "VIP" on her new tour, as evidenced by the actual promotional email ticketmaster sent out.

Interestingly, they note that this is a "new design!" as if people weren't sufficiently excited about the old design, but of course, the concept itself wasn't the problem....

SCENE: Ke$ha Marketing Headquarters. Team Meeting.

Ke$ha Marketing Analyst: "People aren't really excited about this whole fanny pack, thing. We're getting only a 7.8 percent response rate and that's all negative."

Ke$ha Marketing Intern: "I have to agree. People are making fun of it on the blogs and talking about how disappointing it is."

Ke$ha Marketing Director: "I guess we should redesign the fanny packs, then."

Ke$ha Marketing Analyst: "That's not really what I meant--"

Ke$ha Marketing Director: "Okay folks, that's a wrap. Any other business?"

Click to View Comic

 Poetry month on NPR: doesn't it seem like the correspondents are... too excited? And now they are throwing twitter into the mix. Why? Is it the only way to get people to pay attention to poetry? Is that our attention span? Or is it more insidious than that: are they trying to be cute?

Comic Text

It's hard to pick a favorite part out of this...

- Oh, my little girl is coming on next.
- Seriously? How old is she?
- Seven.
- Seven! And she's in this?! Dang! That's amazing!
- Yea, we're so proud of her... OMG here she comes. I'm shaking... Wait what's that she's wearing... holy shit is that a... Who dressed my daughter up like a stripper? What the hell is going on?
- Ooo. She's a good dancer though.
- Uh, thanks.
- Better watch out when she hits puberty.
- Uh....
- Man... better watch out, like right now.
- ...
- uh, huh.

Fig A. If you thought Michelle "Bombshell" McGee looked "trashy", Let me introduce you to Mr James' Ex-Wife, Janine Lindemulder. (Occupation? You guessed it: Porn Star)

 Oh, we all feel for you, Sandra. Your husband, Jesse James, married twice before (once to a tattoo-covered porn star, Fig A), cheated on you with a girl who, like him and unlike you, was covered in tattoos. Yup. No one could have seen that coming. I mean, here's a guy who's built a reputation on being Mr I-will-build-you-a-custom car/motorcycle/whatever (with 10 times the legal exhaust (!), no less), covered in tattoos, and here you are, little miss Bullock. Sure, we saw you in Miss Congeniality. You're tough. You like to act mean. But look, dating football players in high school won't cut it. Your momma was an opera singer and your daddy was a voice coach. A voice coach. You cannot compete in this territory.

 Michelle "Bombshell" McGee was the "trashy" girl's name. She's the one who did this to you. Let's see what the media has to say:

 I finally saw Avatar. I am pleased to say I learned a lot of lessons that I'm glad are being passed on to children all over the world:

       The comparisons were inevitable. One is a sexually provocative, envelope-pushing, hit-churning, fashion-risk-taking, controversy-thriving, gay pop icon. And the other is....well, the same thing. While Gaga is clearly much newer to the fame game and has yet to demonstrate the enormous staying power of Queen Madge, they have both developed their own unique brands of cultural hysteria and fiercely loyal fanbases. Allow Chicktellectual to break it down for you.

Arielle with her Electric Guitar
Photo by Rebecca Weiss Photography

        If you haven't had the pleasure of hearing Arielle perform in one of her numerous gigs throughout the Village club circuit, I can tell you first-hand you are missing out. Arielle is one of those rare breed of musicians who can draw you in without fancy synth beats, overwhelming noise, exotic instrumental backup, or gimmickry of any kind. When you listen to her play, regardless of venue, it feels as though you are being treated to an intimate performance in your living room. It is precisely this raw, vulnerable "just a girl and her guitar" quality that distinguishes Arielle from many of her acoustic folk/pop peers and keeps her fans coming back for more. Her voice, breathy and ethereal, is a stand-out, and her lyrics about inner conflict, love, and loss, are universally relateable.

       I recently contacted Arielle to discuss her music and her upcoming gig at Recoup Lounge in the Lower East Side on October 24th. I was given the scoop on everything from her musical inspirations to her thoughts on Kanye *cough*douche*cough* West.

 Well, it's fall and that means that once again the television networks are trying to get us interested. We asked our readers what's going to be flickering on their screens this fall:

  An excellent production and top notch cast helped draw attention to Wildflower, and its young, up and coming playwright Lila Rose Kaplan. Although a few reviews, including the New York Times, challenged or were uncomfortable with Kaplan's choice of ending, most, including variety and curtain up were charmed, as I was, by her characters and the tale of a mother and her unusual son who escaped from New York City to a small town known for its annual flower festival.

The cast of characters includes an ex-drag queen who becomes the family's emotional and literal source of nourishment, as both mentor and innkeeper who cooks; a hard-on-the-outside-but-soft-on-the-inside forest ranger; a misfit, bubbly teenage girl; a recently divorced, struggling mother; and her son who, while intelligent, clearly has more difficulty deciphering human relationships than your average teen. While this list certainly passes any east-village political correctness checklist, it's clear that they were not created with this purpose in mind: Kaplan weaves them together in a natural way that give the audience an opportunity to see what they all have in common, and the different paths they took to reach the same end. The beauty of these characters is their realness, even when most of them are completely out of place.

We recently spoke with Lila Rose to ask her a few questions about Wildflower and her upcoming projects...

What every cougar wants to be: young-looking

  It's easy to criticize and make fun of the cougar mania that's grabbing the national attention right now, what with all the TV shows and the first national cougar's convention coming up and all (actually that's a bit surprising... there must have been others...). But let's face it, it is a bit fascinating. I mean, older women who men actually find physically attractive? Is that even biologically possible? Gosh, there's so much to talk about I'm not even sure where to start.

  Of course, to modern entertainment, a cougar couldn't be more exiting: it's a twist, but it's still sexy. Yes, men and women still play their traditional gender rolls (phew!) and nothing is really challenged so it's still safe for TV, and even, say, discussing at the water-cooler, but it seems like things are challenged, doesn't it? Perfect combo!

  So instead of criticizing, lets celebrate that we finally have something we can all agree on: cougars are awesome! They are just what every woman should want more than anything: to still be sexy at 50... er, maybe 40, we can't all be Demi Kutcher (yes, that's her name, now).

Thanks to KRO-media for the picture of the adorable little baby cougar. So little and cute and cuddly. Yes you are. Yes you are!