SEE JANE READ A NEW LESBIAN MAGAZINE
There's an intriguing new quarterly magazine launching this month called Jane & Jane. No, it's not a magazine for women dating women with the same name (although that's probably a sizeable audience among lesbians--I've dated not one but two Sarah's in my time). It's a "Home & Family Magazine for Lesbian Lifestyles" with articles on "culinary creations, discovering fine wines, investing in your future, planning your next family vacation and how to maintain your relationships."

Or as they summarize on their website, "If you love to entertain your friends and family on weekends instead of going to the local nightclubs, then we are the magazine you have been waiting for!"

Sounds good to me, but what about a lesbian magazine for those of us who want to avoid nightclubs and friends and family on the weekends, in favor of long baths, no phone calls, and some peace and quiet? I suppose that would be a fairly boring magazine (Leave Jane Alone?), so I'll take this in the meantime. Go to janeandjane.net to subscribe.

A SLOW NEWS WEEK
Gossip rags are abuzz this week with the news that Ellen and Portia recently came face-to-face with Anne Heche and her husband at a celebrity poker game. A source tells Us Weekly, "Ellen's face was bright red. The group talked, catching up and chatting and sort of seeing where each other was at in their lives. After that they went their separate ways and didn't have much to do with each other. They were concentrating more on their poker games."

Uh, this is news-worthy how? Oh right--there were celebrities involved. Even better, lesbian celebrities. I'm sure it will be made into a TV special soon: "Tonight on the Discovery Channel: When Lesbian Exes Meet!" Hmmm, on the other hand, at least then we'd get to see lesbians on TV...

ROSIE/SANAA
Rosie O'Donnell has signed on to guest star on one the FX drama Nip/Tuck next season, but more importantly, one of my favorite actresses, Sanaa Lathan (Something New, Brown Sugar, Love and Basketball) is joining the cast! No, this isn't technically lesbian news--Lathan plays a beautiful thirtysomething woman married to a wealthy older man, who winds up buying the McNamara/Troy plastic surgery practice. But if that doesn't scream "needs to have an affair with Liz the lesbian anesthesiologist", I don't know what does. Listen up, Ryan Murphy--after last season's promised lesbian relationship never materialized, you owe us!

DOUBLEMINT TWINS NOT INCLUDED
Beginning next week, we're doubling the content on AfterEllen.com! That means two articles a day, instead of one, and it also means we're going to expand the definition of "entertainment" slightly to include topics like sports and the Internet, and provide more articles about books, comics and music (because let's face it, if we only covered lesbians in TV and film, we'd have nothing to write about most of the time).

But double the fun means double the work, so we're looking for a few good writers to help us out. If you're interested, send clips of similar articles you've had written--or if you haven't been published before, an 800 to 2,000 word article (not an opinion piece) on an AfterEllen.com-appropriate topic that we haven't covered yet--to karman@afterellen.com. To answer your unasked questions: you MUST be able to commit to writing at least one article a week for us; yes, we pay upon publication; and no, you can't write about Katie Couric or TomKat, unless they suddenly turn into lesbians.

BUT WAIT, THERE'S MORE...
V for Vendetta finally has a DVD release date: August 1, 2006, and the excellent British mini-series Portrait of a Marriage, about the longtime lesbian love affair between Vita Sackville-West and Violet Keppel Trefusis, is now available on DVD and on Logo.

Bad Girls is back on BBC America--unfortunately, they're only airing episodes from the first season (not the second), and mostly at 3am. At least they're debuting Hex next week--which brings me to the YouTube link of the week: a promo for the first season of the dark British teen drama. Set your Tivo's now!

The fourth season debut of The Simple Life, airing this Sunday on E!, has Nicole Ritchie marrying two lesbians. Yes, it's come to this: a quasi-reality TV star performing a lesbian commitment ceremony qualifies as the most lesbian thing on American TV in the near future. Thank God for British imports!

That's it for this week! Check back next Friday for a new installment of Best. Lesbian. Week. Ever. or read past installments here.