Short Cuts

Hey, did you hear Beyoncé got a haircut? Of course you did. It was the STOP THE PRESSES news from last week, dammit. I for one applaud each woman who decides it’s time for an alternative lifestyle haircut. I don’t have the face for it, too round like a pumpkin. But I sure do appreciate others who can make it work. And, interestingly, so many are making it work as blondes. Do they have even more fun the shorter they go? For each straight lady who successfully goes Ellen with her locks, one bad lesbian hair joke gets forever laid to rest. Just don’t screw it up by brining back the mullet, fashion. You’ve already brought back high-waisted jean shorts and fanny packs. We can’t survive another era of business in the front, party in the back.

Some short hair, do care looks to enjoy along with Queen Bey’s.

Beyoncé

I can’t wait to see this styled and paired with a tuxedo jacket.

Charlize Theron

Marrying this haircut is now legal in 13 states and the District of Columbia.

Cate Blanchett

I’m kind of excited for “Blue Jasmine,” Woody Allen notwithstanding.

Carey Mulligan

I kind of think she should never have long hair.

Anne Hathaway

I don’t hate her blonde pompadour. I really didn’t.

Miley Cyrus

I really, really don’t hate her blonde pompadour. Really.

Pink

Blonde Pompadour + Visible Obliques = Nothing to Hate Here.

Tilda Swinton

Please, you knew she’d be on this list.

My Weekend Crush

For more than a week now we here in the United States have been celebrating our rightful step forward in the march toward equality. But our successes do not mean the end of the fight, either here or elsewhere. To be truly equal we must be equal everywhere. So the blatant, unchecked, institutionalized bigotry happening to the LGBT community in Russia via its own government is appalling. A ban on Pride Parades in Moscow for 100 years. A law banning all “gay propaganda” aimed at minors that essentially criminalizes comparing gay relationships to straight relationships and distributing LGBT rights materials. And just this week a new law banning same-sex couples in foreign countries from adopting Russian children (Russian gays and lesbians couples are already banned from same-sex adoption in their own country). For gays it’s more like “From Russia, with a boot to the neck.”

So into that atmosphere stepped actress Tilda Swinton with a simple, universal act of defiance. Yesterday her agent, Christian Hodell, posted a picture of Tilda on Twitter with a message from her that read simply: “In solidarity. From Russia with love.” And there she is, in front of the Kremlin with a police car behind her, holding up a rainbow flag. Small gesture, big message. Also an illegal gesture that could have gotten her arrested. This kind of bold, open defiance of a clearly unjust series of laws aimed at oppressing one population even further means something. It might now unwrite those laws, or change one single thought in Vladimir Putin’s brutally hard head, but it means we are watching. And, if we could be, we’d all be there with her. Happy weekend, all.

p.s. Yes, I know I’ve crushed on Tilda before. And yes, I know some of you have had problems in the past with other causes Tilda has supported. I’ve addressed those conflicts and just want to celebrate her act of defiance here. OK? OK. Now someone give me a pride flag to wave around.

Hottest of them all

Right, so each year I feel a little responsible for creating The Beast that is the AfterEllen Hot 100. It was, after all, a post about my fury over Lindsay Lohan and the Maxim Hot 100 oh so many years ago that helped to start it all. But each year, I also dutifully tell you my vote. (Sure, this year it can be votes, but I am old school and choose to vote only once like the Founding Fathers intended or whatnot.) My picks vary, there are some constants (Tina, duh), but really whatever is turning my brain and/or heart and/or other regions most on at the moment is what makes my list. And this year is no different. Seeing as today is the last day to vote in the AE poll, I thought I would show you mine. So here they are. For all to see. Now you show me yours, it only seems fair.

p.s. You can vote in the AE Hot 100 here.

Do the Swinton

Joy is such an underused emotion. We say we strive for it, but often rebuff its effervescent advances in favor of angst, anger, anxiety, ambition. When we do let it in, it is often unexpected. But it is in that act of being caught off guard, letting down our guard, giving in to joy that makes it so wonderful. I say find your joy wherever you can. And if that joy is the otherworldly presence of all 5-foot-11 of English actress Tilda Swinton dancing with abandon through a theater of 1,500 people to the strains of Barry White’s “You're the First, the Last, My Everything,” then so be it.

What makes this moment so very lovely is the pure joy it brought to the 15th annual EbertFest. It is indeed almost a “spiritual service,” because the event just a couple of weeks after the death of its founder and namesake Roger Ebert. On stage with Tilda is Roger’s wife, Chaz. The impromptu boogie is not only full-body tribute to a great man and film critic, but a celebration of the joy film can bring us. It has made me smile each time I’ve watched, which is going on four and counting. Spread joy wherever, whenever you can. Happy Monday, kittens.

p.s. In other news, I’m pretty sure we can not officially confirm that Tilda is an alien sent from another universe to remind us of the strange beauty of our tiny human lives. From her latest W magazine shoot.

NOTE: I have addressed my serious and complex feelings about all of the actors, directors and the like who have supported Roman Polanski at great length and depth in the past. You can read them here and here and here and here and here. I do not take this issue lightly, nor have I ever shied away from criticizing those who signed the petition in support of him and against his extradition. Sexual assault has never been trivialized on my site and I believe his crime was despicable and deserves punishment. I believe he should serve his jail time. I also believe the art is not the artist, nor does the art absolve the artist. Having written this blog for seven years now, there are certain assumptions I make of readers and our history together. Those who have known and read me for a over the years know that I in fact do not have a short memory on this topic, but a long and complex one.