I'm sure you'll be hearing a lot about Entertainment Weekly's "The New Classics" issue which hit stands last week. (In fact, if you watched She Made Me Watch This you already got Lori, Sarah and Dee's take on the New Television Classics.)

Basically, “The New Classics” issue is a list of the 1,000 best movies, television shows, albums, books and more of the last 25 years, and it is — quite frankly — exceptional. Sandwiched between the lists are little tidbits that will make you smile, like: the movie with the most number of kisses? Brokeback Mountain and Pretty Woman, tied with 27 kisses each. The movie with the most F-bombs? Pulp Fiction with 269, followed by Good Fellas with 265, followed by South Park: Bigger, Longer and Uncut with 140, followed by that night Bette Porter read Jenny Schecter's Lez Girls for the first time. (Just kidding, I made up that last one.)

My favorite list is New Classic Books, and because I love nothing more than talking about books and making lists, I am going to give you Entertainment Weekly's top 5, then my top 5, then you can give me your top 5, OK? OK.

Entertainment Weekly's New Classic Books:

1) The Road, Cormac McCarthy

2) Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, J.K. Rowling

3) Beloved, Toni Morrison

4) The Liars' Club, Mary Karr

5) American Pastoral, Phillip Roth

Not bad, Entertainment Weekly. I mean, if you think people will be reading The Road over Harry Potter in 20 years, you've lost your mind. But it's a good start. … continue reading

Yesterday, a guy friend of mine mentioned that on Monday night, while serving as a seat-filler near the VIP section at the Glamour Women of the Year awards ceremony, he mooned over Eric Dane and stalked Ben Affleck a bit. I won't share what he had to say about the aforementioned gentlemen, but it did encourage me a take a look at the women who were honored.

Now, for the record, I'll tell you that I've always kind of liked Glamour magazine, although I have not read it recently. I remember, however, that when it used to be one of my guilty-pleasure travel reads, they had features about out lesbians surprisingly often. In general, the magazine seems to be willing to feature strong women, and not just ones who exude traditional glamour.

The women honored on Monday were praised, of course, for their individual accomplishments, but they represent a range of opportunities, many of which are newly open to women. Let's take a look at a few of the honorees and admire how cool they are. (You can explore the full list here.)

Toni Morrison — “The Voice of Our Time”

Nobel Prize winner Toni Morrison has written some of the most haunting and powerful novels of the 20th century: The Bluest Eye, Beloved, Sula. She was the only black child in her kindergarten class — and the only student who entered kindergarten already knowing how to read. Throughout her education, she read everything she could and noticed one glaring omission:

"What about young black girls who had never been the center of anybody's literary intention? ... No one had written them yet, so I wrote them.” … continue reading

Tina Fey and her mateys may yet be the cutest bookaneers around, but they're no longer alone: Sept. 29 marked the beginning of Banned Books Week 2007, and this year they're riding on First Book's raggedy coattails with the salty theme, "Ahoy! Treasure Your Freedom to Read and Get Hooked on a Banned Book."

Sponsored in part by those crazy intellectual freedom–loving folks over at the ALA (American Library Association; see a full list of sponsors here), Banned Books Week celebrates freedom of expression and freedom of access. It's the perfect time to say thank you to your local Maria Bello — I mean, librarian — and this year it's also a good excuse to say Arrrr and Avast!, especially if you forgot to observe Talk Like a Pirate Day like I did last month.

On its site, the ALA provides lists and graphs, including information about the ten most frequently challenged books of the preceding year. The 2006 crowd welcomed a newcomer in the top spot, children's book And Tango Makes Three. … continue reading

The big opera story in the news last week was the death of opera "rock star" Luciano Pavarotti. But there's another opera story that's been getting a little less international coverage: As part of a multifaceted approach to increasing and broadening the opera audience, the New York City Opera is performing Toni Morrison and Richard Danielpour's Margaret Garner this week.

… continue reading

Take a moment to envision the typical opera audience. I don't know about you, but I'm seeing overwhelmingly white, including a fair number of gay men. (We do, of course, know from the movies that some lesbians swoon for Puccini and some hookers (with hearts of gold) get weepy at La Traviata.) But the powers that be at City Opera, which is already known as "the people's opera" due to its relatively low ticket prices and emphasis on modern works, believe that the opera can be more things to more people.