SGALGG: Hands! Hands! Edition

You know what we haven’t done in a while? A little Straight Gals Acting Like Gay Gals. But I feel positively inspired after seeing all those soccer stars hug each other with their legs in sportsmanship. So now, how about celebrating when the ladies get handsy? Like Chyler Leigh and Mia Kirshner. Seeing Little Grey and Crazy Jenny go all Girls Gone Wild is, um, interesting. Yes, interesting. That’s my predominant emotion right now. Interest. So in the interest of being interested, I thought I’d let some SGALGG fingers do the walking and celebrate some more-than friendly hand placements. As Willow said to Vamp Willow: Hands! Hands!

Michelle Williams & friendHand holding, the basics never go out of style.

Maria Bello & Mariska HargitayHugging, also a classic.

Blake Lively & Leighton MeesterThe old, subtle let’s compare hands trick.

Thora Birch & Mena Suvari Though, subtlety can be overrated.

Laura Harring & Naomi WattsI’m still not entirely sure what “Mulholland Dr.” was all about. But I sure liked it when they kissed.

Emily Haines & FeistAfter a few drinks, arm wrestling always seems like a good idea.

Kate Bosworth & Zoe SaldanaIt’s not Kate’s hand around her waist as much as the hand reaching down for Zoe’s other hand that makes this so, well, yum.

Jessica Alba & Kate HudsonIn my head, she’s doing the opposite of holding Kate’s dress down. My head is a good place sometimes.

Minka Kelly & Minka KellyI don’t know why, but all of a sudden that Divinyls song “I Touch Myself” is running through my head.

Annie Wersching & Angie HarmonOne hand precariously high on Annie’s waist, the other on her gun. Yep, super duper straight.

Speaking of super duper straight, here are Angie Harmon & Sasha Alexander in their new TV Guide photoshoot. Clearly, I need to make more straight female friends immediately.

SGALGG: Co-Worker Edition

It’s that time of year again for office potlucks and parties. That means hours of awkward socialization with your coworkers and watching your boss get sauced while hit on the receptionist. For the love of God, someone spike the eggnog so we can make it through the holiday season. But informal interactions with your colleagues doesn’t have to be an uncomfortable exercise in stilted small talk. In fact, it could be downright enjoyable. Of course, the level of enjoyability is greatly dependent on who your co-workers are. I mean, these co-workers certainly seem friendly. And when I say “friendly,” I mean like Straight Gals Acting Like Gay Gals. Let Meryl Streep and Goldie Hawn, circa “She-Devil” “Death Becomes Her” (mixed up my late 80s-early 90s wacky Meryl Streep comedies) show you the way to workplace bliss. She ain’t heavy, she’s my co-worker.

Alison Brie & Gillian Jacobs, “Community”Alison tweeted that this was her preferred reading position. “Reading,” so that’s what the kids are calling it today.

Maggie Q & Lyndsy Fonseca, “Nikita”Lyndsy looks like she is blushing from Maggie whispering a passage from some particularly explicit Nikita/Alex fanfic she found online. What? I can’t be the only one who ships this, right? I mean, have you seen how many tank tops they wear?

Lena Headey & Summer Glau, “Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles”Speaking of tank tops, this show was none too shabby about getting its stars in them whenever possible.

Emily Blunt & Amy Adams, “Sunshine Cleaning”Sure, they played sisters. But that body language isn’t sisterly. Just sayin’.

Blake Lively & Leighton Meester, “Gossip Girl”It’s the old “let’s compare hand sizes”-move. Nice.

Feist & Emily Haines, Broken Social SceneIndie Rock Goddess Powers activate.

Audra McDonald & Anne Hathaway, “Twelfth Night”So much Shakespearean swoon is happening in this picture, it almost needs footnotes.

Chloe Sevigny & Ginnifer Goodwin, “Big Love”Bill Paxton who?

Jill Biden & Michelle ObamaThey make a very nice couple. No, really, I mean that. That look Michelle is giving Jill says maybe she does, too.

Naya Rivera & Dianna Agron, “Glee”Quintana, is that a thing?

Dianna Agron & Lea Michele, “Glee”Now I know Faberry/Achele is a thing. And by “thing” I mean what I replace all Quinn/Sam or Rachel/Finn scenes with in my head.

Tank Top Tuesday

My Weekend Crush last Friday had the added benefit of reminding me that I really don’t post about music enough. Granted, I’m no music blogger. While I love every buttery morsel of pop culture, I’ve always have been more of a film/TV connoisseur than a music aficionado. In fact, the breadth of my musical abilities involved reaching over and turning on the radio. Over the years, for whatever reason, my consumption of music has gone from obsessive to casual. Who knows why: lack of free time, lack of attention span, lack of auditory acuity. But that doesn’t mean my enjoyment of music has decreased, nor has my admiration for the musicians. And somehow the music sounds even better when they’re wearing tank tops. Funny how that works.

Alicia KeysNothing gay about this picture, nothing at all.

Brandi CarlileSee above.

Rachael Cantu & Missy HigginsThere are actually two things gay about this picture.

Missy & her armsSee above, again.

Tegan and SaraDid you know it’s really fucking hard to find a picture of both Tegan and Sara in tank tops? Did you know that the best I could do was these muscle shirty things? Did you know I love them, regardless? Well, now you do.

M.I.A.This is really more suspenders than a tank top. Close enough.

Feist1, 2, 3, 4 tell me that Feist should wear tank tops more.

Debbie HarryCall me, indeed.

Joan JettJoan Jett gets more chicks than you. This is just a fact.

See, told you.

Brought to you by the No. 4

Look, I know Steve Jobs nearly played this song to death. And I know even Feist has to be a tad tired of singing it every night. But just try to watch her and her fluffy friends put a new spin on “1234” and not feel like a giggly little kid again. Muppets are adorable. Feist is adorable. Monsters! Penguins! Chickens! The No. 4! Seriously, what’s not to like? The Canadian songstress will appear on the season premiere of the long-running PBS children’s series “Sesame Street” Aug. 11. But, as this leaked clip shows, kiddies aren't the only ones who will love learning to count.

p.s. Poor No. 5, she must feel so left out. There, there, dear. Feist still loves you.

Monday Morning Music

I’m tired of all of my music. It happens sometimes. It’s not that I don’t like my music – in fact some of my albums are like old, dear friends. But, every now and then, when I want some sound to accompany my working/blogging/driving/what have youing I look at my collection and I think, blah. Part of this is probably because I bought a new laptop last month and haven’t had time to copy my iTunes catalog over yet. Shuffle takes the hard work out of “What should I listen to?” Part is because I don’t think I’ve bought a new CD since February (yes, that includes downloads). So, my pretties, this is where you come in. What sounds good to you right now? Who should I be listening to? Help a gal out.

For inspiration, here are four songs – some newish, some oldish and some very, very old – that I’ll never get tired of listening to.

Great Northern, “Low Is a Height”

I saw them live last year and met singer Rachel Stolte after the show. Her voice is the kind of haunting you wish for. Plus, she wore these amazing knee-high boots. p.s. If the song sounds oddly familiar, it’s being used in the NBA Playoffs “There Can Only Be One” campaign.

Feist, “I Feel It All”

How much do I love the vest and tie Feist wore for Colbert? I don’t think science has developed a way to count that high.

K’s Choice, “Believe”

I bought this CD 10 years ago from a remainder rack. I’ve never stopped playing it. I play this song almost every time I fly. I don’t know why, exactly. Maybe because it’s hopeful and yearning and feels like flight. p.s. Sarah Bettens dinged my gaydar so hard from the “Cocoon Crash”album art all those years ago, I remember spending a good day searching “lesbian” and “Sarah Bettens” online. But this was before she was out, so I had only my suspicions and, of course, that voice as clues. Of course now you look at her and you’re kind of like, duh.

Ani DiFranco, “Little Plastic Castles”

I love Ani and will always love Ani. I have all her CDs, have seen her about half a dozen times and even got to talk with her once. She laughed a lot. It was lovely.

UPDATE I: Wow. No, really, wow. Y’all delivered like Domino’s with the suggestions. Thank you, thank you 51-times and counting thank you. I plan to check them all out.

UPDATE II: Oh, if you emailed your suggestion, thank you too. I am terribly behind on my replies, so if you’ve sent me mail in the last week, thank you and please don’t fret. I am getting to you. Just, um, slowly.