Several months ago, AfterEllen.com reader Teema suggested a post on the women of poker. Once I started looking into it, I got a little intimidated by how many female poker pros are out there. But now Casino City Times has listed the "Top 10 Women of Poker," giving me a place to start, and guess who popped up? Ms. "Shot at Love" herself, Tila Tequila.

At No. 9 on the list, Tequila is credited with using her celebrity to promote online gaming. I'm not sure if Tila Casino is a good gambling site or not, since online gaming is illegal in Texas and I would never break Texas law. But maybe her poker experience explains why Tequila chose Bobby over Dani. I mean, a straight always beats two of a kind. Sorry.

Erica Schoenberg, No. 8, caused a blip on my gaydar. Especially after I read that the former model also was a professional volleyball player, kickboxing instructor and personal trainer. She's even won a math championship. (Not that math skills have anything to do with sexual orientation. I just thought it was cool.)

But, alas, Schoenberg only has eyes for French poker pro David Benyamine. I still wouldn't mind watching her lose at strip poker. Which she does on the Carmen Electra Strip Poker DVD. (Sorry, you'll have to find those screen shots yourself.) … continue reading

Like many of you, Sarah P. and I were bitter and pissed off after the season finale of A Shot at Love With Tila Tequila. Not that we didn't know what was coming to us — I did, after all, predict that Bobby was going to win.

Nevertheless, that didn't stop us from ranting about the following in Part 1:

• Why Dani should have won! And why that is a blessing in disguise.
• The show's annoying return to the men vs. women idiocy of its early episodes — groan.
• Why it was totally unfair and ridiculous for Dani to be forced to wear makeup and that bizarre flesh-colored tube top.
• How much we loved Dani's departing outfit. If she's really starting a "futch" clothing line, we're buying it!

In the vlog, I refer to an article by Nicole Kristal that you can read at AlterNet, in case you want to read it too. … continue reading

I don't know about you guys, but the holidays (and our jam-packed editorial calendar) are making me feel a bit frazzled these days (no, I haven't had any tequila recently), as evidenced by the fact that I started off this episode of The Lo-Down with a typo. This week Sarah P. and I chat about A Shot at Love With Tila Tequila Episode 9, not Episode 8 as it says in the opening title, as well as Episode 10 ("Dig a Hole") of Life. Hey, at least that typo wasn't as bad as this one.

I also took note of your desires to have our vlog available on Daily Motion, so this time, instead of trying to edit our rambling down to 20 minutes, I cut the whole thing in two parts so that you can see them on either Veoh or Daily Motion. Here's what you can look forward to in Part 1: … continue reading

• Sarah reveals she, too, is actually starting to like Tila. ("Not that much!" Sarah insists.)
• Ding-dong! The witch Amanda is dead gone! But we will miss her rubber-tastic facial expressions.
• Dani's in the final two! Malinda and Sarah predict who will actually win a shot at love with Tila.
• Sarah Shahi gets kissed by a woman on Life, and why that should happen more often.
• If we were reincarnated, who would we come back as? Which is continued in ...

Since we skipped A Shot at Love last week to eat turkey and geek out about Battlestar Galactica: Razor, this week on The Lo-Down Sarah P. and I cover two, count 'em, two episodes of the reality show to which I am strangely drawn (Sarah's still not impressed). Luckily, A Shot at Love isn't nearly as complex as Razor, so fitting in two episodes in one vlog wasn't too hard. I even had time to give an impromptu chopstick usage lesson.

In addition to introducing you all to my Chopstick Theory, we discussed the following topics:

• Why the chocolate pudding challenge, unlike chocolate pudding wrestling, was just not sexy.
• Domenico's horrible, no good, very bad choice of swimwear.
• Ryan and Bobby being forced to come out — as dating a bisexual!
• What Dani (and all firefighters) should do until they are dead or disfigured.
• Plus, the Tila doll returns to show us just how skilled she is as a pole- and lap-dancer.

Since we covered two episodes this week, we Sarah also came up with two questions for you to ponder: … continue reading

1. What would Domenico look like as a woman? (My PhotoShop skills are just not good enough here!)
2. Do all white men have an Asian fetish?

Last week, Tila Tequila was a guest on The Tyra Banks Show (thanks to Queerty for the tip). The episode discussed bisexuality generally, supposedly in an attempt to enlighten and educate.

But Tyra's own attitude seems far less than enlightened. Maybe Tila Tequila isn't the ideal representative for bisexuals — not that one person could ever represent such a diverse group — but she definitely seems cooler than Tyra in this video. (Warning: Tila has a shrieky laugh. This could be painful if you're wearing headphones.) … continue reading

This week on The Lo-Down I admit to a shocking truth: I am starting to like A Shot at Love. (I know, I know!) Sarah P. doesn't entirely share my perspective on this matter, but that didn't stop us from delivering yet another vlog in which we talk about the MySpace Queen's dating show.

But we didn't only devote our snarky selves to disemboweling MTV's latest reality casualties; we also talked (at length) about women of color on television. Last week we asked you to tell us which women of color make you proud, and your responses made us realize that there are so many women of color out there (really! like over half the globe!) that we can't possibly cover this territory in one top 10 list. There will have to be many!

To start off with, we are presenting you with a list of women of color you can watch on TV, night by night. (Catch them now before they go into reruns because of the WGA strike.) We spent so long talking about them that I had to split up our vlog into two parts: Part 1 focuses on Shot at Love, while Part 2 is our extensive, WOCtastic guide to television. (So those of you who do not share my disturbing interest in Shot at Love can just skip to the WOC TV Guide.)

Here's what you can see in Part 1: … continue reading

This week on Shot at Love, something miraculous happened: Tila kissed Dani! And it was hot!

In honor of this momentous moment, Sarah P. and I focused pretty much all our attention this week on Dani — our favorite Shot at Love contestant, as well as Sarah Shahi's Dani Reese on Life.

Among the subjects that came up: … continue reading

Last week on The Lo-Down, Sarah P. and I asked you all whether we should talk about something other than Miss Bisexual MySpace, and most of you responded with a resounding "Hell yeah!" So this week, in addition to covering the shenanigans on Shot at Love, we also talk about our new favorite police procedural, Life, aka Sarah Shahi Is a Hot Cop.

Sarah P. and I were also floored by the amazing responses you gave to her question: Why do people have a problem with butches? So many of you answered with thoughtful, considerate answers that we both felt lots of warm fuzzies for the intelligence of AfterEllen.com's readers. Go you! To thank you all, I thought you might enjoy this belated Happy Halloween treat:

Yes, that's Sarah as the cowardly lion (from The Wizard of Oz) terrorizing an innocent little schoolgirl boy scout. (I came with a boy scout troop, but they all seem to have abandoned me to my fate.) … continue reading