Mariana's blog

The Cannes Film Festival is finally over, after almost two weeks of movies and red carpet glamour. Since we can't see most of the movies in competition at the festival yet, I thought we'd take a look at some of the red carpet highlights. Whether in Armani, Chanel, Versace or Lacroix, you need to look couture fabulous if you want to be at the biggest film festival in Europe. Some can pull it off. Others, well, not so much.

Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt

I feel nothing I could say would do justice to Angelina: She's pregnant with twins and she still manages to walk down the red carpet looking absolutely beautiful. She attended the premieres of The Exchange and Kung Fu Panda, both movies she has roles in. And even though my immense amount of drool is distracting me, I can also see a very handsome Brad Pitt in a classy Tom Ford suit. Yep, they're a great couple. Their secret? Brad takes care of the kids while pregnant Angelina does Cannes in comfy Cole Haan shoes.

Harrison Ford and Calista Flockhart

Yet another fabulous couple, Harrison Ford (so not looking 65) was in Cannes presenting Indiana Jones and The Kingdom of The Crystal Skull and he was accompanied by the elegant Calista Flockhart. I use the term "elegant" because her dress is indeed beautiful, but I wished there was more meat next to those bones. Calista, eat a cookie. Please. You're starting to look like Shane.

Angela Bassett, k.d. lang, Diane Keaton, Pamela Anderson, Hayden Panettiere and Lauren Bush, all on the same list, all thanks to PETA. The voting for the 2008 sexiest vegetarian celebrity is underway and the ladies I mentioned are all nominated with 200 other names of well-known men and women.

Last year's winners were country singer Carrie Underwood and The Tonight Show's Kevin Eubanks. They're on the list again this year, but they face some fierce competition: Rosanna Arquette, Jorja Fox and Emily Deschanel on the women's side, and Milo Ventimiglia, Justin Theroux and Rufus Wainwright on the men's. And those are just a few of the sexy herbivores on the list.

I think it's great PETA has these kind of competitions, because it's a wonderful way to show the world that some very cool celebrities are vegetarians. It helps people understand the benefits of the lifestyle, such as better health and helping to stop animal cruelty. A celebrity who is spreading the word in her own way is Oprah Winfrey, who just started a 21-day cleanse on her show, during which she will give up animal products, caffeine, sugar and alcohol. Even though I think this is great, I must confess I'm not a vegetarian (that's why I'm not on the list, obviously.) I do feel bad about it, so I at least eat tofu and soy just as often as I eat meat or fish. (I'm trying, I swear!)

I didn't know that some of the people on the list were vegetarians, and I was especially surprised with Lauren Bush and Chelsea Clinton. However, they aren't the sexiest vegetarians on the list, as you may imagine. So, here go my 3 top choices for sexiest vegetarian of 2008. )I know you're only supposed to choose one, but that's way too hard.)

Naomi Watts

The first time I saw Naomi Watts was in Mulholland Drive, that very cryptic (or crazy) movie directed by David Lynch. I've loved her since. How can you not like her scenes with Laura Harring? Sexy, I tell you.

This year's annual list of the world's most influential people, as compiled by Time magazine, doesn't make the female gender look very good. There are only 25 women on the list — or 24, if you count Angelina Jolie and Suzanne Wright as halves, since they are featured as couples alongside their husbands.

The list started in 1999, when Time named the 100 most influential people of the 20th century. Surprised by its success, the magazine decided to make the list annual. Unfortunately, both in 1999 and 2004, the number of women were also disappointing: 17 and 22, respectively. At this rate, we'll have an equal number of men and women on the list somewhere around 2019 (if we're lucky.)

I must confess I liked the women in last year's list better. OK, so I only say that because the first person to appear on the list is Tina Fey, but what can I say, I love me some Tina! (Actually, she writes about Lorne Michaels (Saturday Night Live's creator) in this year's list and it's pretty funny stuff, as usual). This year's list has the obvious (Hillary Clinton and Oprah Winfrey), the surprising (Miley Cyrus), and our very own team member Suze Orman.

With voting for the 2008 AfterEllen.com Hot 100 underway, I thought I should give you some suggestions in choosing your top 10 and expand your voting horizons. Well, I and PopCrunch, where they compiled an international beauty list with 30 gorgeous women from around the world.

Actually, my suggestions are probably unnecessary, since last year's AfterEllen.com Top 100 already had a lot of international beauty in it. Looking at the top 10, we can find two British women (Kate Winslet and Lena Headey), a Mexican (Salma Hayek), an American born in Panama (Jordana Brewster) and a Texas native with an Iranian father and a Spanish mother (Sarah Shahi). My point is: If this doesn't help you choose your top 10, you can just gawk — it's Friday!

PopCrunch's list has a lot of interesting choices, such as Laetitia Casta (France), Rebecca Romijn (USA), Bar Rafaeli (Israel) or Milla Jovovich (Ukraine), but I must say their taste in pictures is rather poor. Was this really the best Jovovich picture you could find?

I'll help you out:

I did enjoy the list, however. I was pleasantly surprised with a few gorgeous women I didn't know, such as Daniela Pestova (Czech Republic) and Federica Ridolfi (Italy), and I also applauded the inclusion of my countrywoman Cláudia Vieira (Portugal), who is quite hot. The No. 1 spot went to Brazilian model Adriana Lima, but I must say I was rooting for the woman who ended up in second place, Heidi Klum (Germany).

Yes, summer doesn't officially begin until June 21, but the folks in Hollywood like to start things off early, so the summer blockbusters season is officially beginning. Last year, movies like Spider-Man 3, Shrek the Third, Transformers, Ocean's 13 (and many others) took a lot of people to the movies, with total ticket sales amounting to almost $10 billion. This year, the grand total may not be that much, but with a little help from the following movies, it's likely to come close.

Here are the blockbusters you should watch out for, starting this week:

Speed Racer (May 9)

The cartoon series Speed Racer was a very successful adaptation of a Japanese anime originally called Mach GoGoGo. Still, I wouldn't make a movie out of it, but the Wachowski brothers thought it was a good idea. I really liked watching the show when I was a kid (seriously, how gay am I?), so I'm curious as to how they're going to adapt it. I'm also curious to see Trixie (Speed's girlfriend), played by Christina Ricci. Go Speed Racer, go!

Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull (May 22)

Indiana Jones (and Harrison Ford) is finally back for the fourth film in the series. No, Indy doesn't have a cane yet, but we'll meet an older version of the character, obviously. However, the character I'm most looking forward to meeting (as are you, probably) is Agent Irina Spalko, the evildoer played by the lovely Cate Blanchett. Actually, she'll play a Soviet Union agent. How hot is that? Yeah, not much, I guess. But not so bad either, in a sexy dominatrix kind of way (see the pictures and you'll know what I mean.) They can certainly count on my 10 bucks!

First, a disclaimer. The official Feist idolator (I hope that's an actual word) around here was the fondly missed scribegrrrl, as you might remember. Obviously, these are very big shoes to fill, but I'll give it my best shot: I. Love. Feist. Love, love, love. Looove.

Want proof? She's coming to my neck of the woods on June 11 and I have had the ticket for months. And I can hardly keep myself from running to the venue right now and sleeping there to get a front row seat. The only reason I don't do that? I have to blog for AfterEllen.com, obviously! Well, and I'm sane too. (Also, I'm going to a Cat Power concert on May 26, so I'm sleeping there first.)

The lovely Leslie chatted with Stephen Colbert on Monday for a few minutes only, but that was quite enough to make me like her even more. First of all, her outfit. She looked absofreakinlutely fantastic. Seriously, a tie and a vest? No wonder Colbert told her, "So you swing both ways." He was actually talking about her dual citizenship (she's a citizen of both the U.S. and Canada), but we can still dream, right?

Colbert tried to understand what kind of an indie singer-songwriter Feist is, as he said he discovered her "in a little out-of-the-way club I call an iPod commercial." Heh. He then asked her if he should call her Feist or Leslie or Leslie Feist, to which she answered, "As long as you call me, Stephen Colbert, you can call me anything you want." Lucky %#$$&!

Feist and Colbert have a nice interaction, but it's way too short. Still, it's worth watching, so go ahead:

Danica Patrick just made history. Last Sunday, she became the first woman ever to win an IndyCar race when she finished No.1 in the Japan 300. In her 50th career start, Patrick finally got what she wanted since her debut back in 2005: first place.

Patrick poses with her trophy at Twin Ring Motegi in Motegi, Japan, on April 20, 2008

Photo credit: Jonathan Ferrey/Getty Images

And it’s been a long, long ride since she first got on the road. Patrick was usually tormented with “When are you going to win something?” questions and with comparisons with Anna Kournikova, the tennis player who never won anything but became famous for being good-looking. But Patrick’s no Kournikova. Not anymore.

"I'm not going to lie," she said. "I was getting frustrated. I believed in myself. It was just a matter of when it was going to happen. I've been asked so many times when I'm going to win my first race — finally no more of those questions."

Patrick is one of the Indy’s biggest stars, but she has always been known more for her good looks than her abilities. In 2005 in Indianapolis, she took fourth place — her best result prior to her win in Japan — and that was enough to get her more attention than the race’s winner, Dan Wheldon. She was even named Rookie of the Year for her 2005 IndyCar Series without ever having won anything. So it always came back to haunt her: Was she famous for being good or good-looking?

We’re a year away from the start of the highly anticipated Women’s Professional Soccer League, the successor to the failed Women’s United Soccer Association. In April 2009, the new league will kick off and relaunch nationwide worldwide interest on women’s soccer.

(That’s Mia Hamm’s silhouette on the WPS logo. How cool is that?)

The first women’s U.S. soccer league, the WUSA, folded prematurely in 2003 after a lack of sponsorships and audience. Now, the WPS has to learn from the mistakes of its predecessor, and league Commissioner Tonya Antonucci guarantees that it will. “In order to ensure long-term success, WPS has developed a brand-new business model, focused on shared infrastructure, cost containment and realistic expectations that will maintain profitability for the league and team owners,” she wrote on her blog.

In 1999, after the U.S. won the World Cup title before 90,000 fans at the sold-out Rose Bowl (when Brandi Chastain became famous for taking off her shirt — and was I glad she did), there was just as much potential for a great league as there is now.

The difference, however, is in planning. Today, with assistance from the men’s league (MLS) and investors such as NBA star Steve Nash and former Yahoo! president Jeff Mallett, the WPS will be stronger and steadier, in a pursuit to become "the premier women's soccer league in the world."

The tech folks over at MSNBC.com recently compiled a Sexiest video game characters top 5, in a quest to find the few characters with “the complete package: looks, brains, confidence – and that mysterious element the French call 'je ne sais quois'” that do it for us gamers. Yeah, I bet that was easy. In fact, I bet that the good folks of Tecmo had those exact characteristics in mind when they developed Dead or Alive Extreme Beach Volleyball.

Right? Anyway, everybody knows sex sells, so it’s quite normal to have a few babes (male or female) appealing to the gamers. Still, this unusually short list has a couple of interesting (and odd) choices, which focus on a lot more than just a nice pair of … pixels. For example:

Lara Croft (Tomb Raider series)

What? Lara Croft is intelligent and … stuff.

OK, seriously now. It’s obvious that no sexiest video game characters list can be credible without “the queen of virtual babes”: Miss Croft. Since Tomb Raider's original release in 1996, Lara has become an Eidos Interactive goldmine, both in the video game industry and in Hollywood. Whether it’s the looks, the guns, the attitude or the accent, no one can resist Angeli — er, Lara Croft.

Jade (Beyond Good & Evil)

Now this is an interesting choice. Jade is one of the few leading ladies in video games, but she’s not your typical eye candy: she’s actually smart, talented and, all in all, a pretty nice role model. Kudos for choosing her. Also, did you notice that hair and that attitude? Quite ... ambiguous. Just ask our friends over at LesbianGamers.com.

There are also two men on the list: Agent 47 (Hitman series) and Dante (Devil May Cry series). The choice of Agent 47 is odd. Sure, Agent 47 wears nice suits, but … he's scary. But I have to agree with the choice of Dante, who is very stylish and, seriously, isn't he a bit lesbianish?

Dante (Devil May Cry series)

Look at that nice hair. Pretty lesbianish man, if you ask me. OK, maybe it’s just me. But hey, he’s very good looking and can kick some serious butt. Also, Devil May Cry is fun.