Britney Spears on Teen People magazine, February 2000
I used to be a magazine hound as a teen, and the late 90s through mid-2000s were quite the era for magazines. The fashion editorials, the celebrity profiles and covers, those sex articles in Cosmo that had my friends and I snickering…it was quite the time. But going back to those covers: the magazine editors then put some serious effort into those covers. The cover star, the photography, the blurbs and typography…it all got my attention. So, since I’m a sucker for nostalgia and enjoy celebrating #throwbackthursdays, starting every first Thursday of every month, I’ll revisit some of my favorite magazine covers from yesteryear. I aim to post covers that celebrate a milestone anniversary this year (like covers from 25/30/35 years ago), but it’s not a promise.
This month, I travel back to the year 2000. If you’re an old like me, you’d remember seeing a mag called Teen People at the newsstands. TP, which was created by the editors of People magazine and lasted from 1998 to 2007 (?), competed with Seventeen, Teen, and YM. Among those titles, I liked reading TP and Seventeen the most, and TPs issue with Britney happens to be part of my collection (not my pic, btw). That cover exudes pure Y2K teen beauty. The futuristic tone of her makeup and jewelry, the aura of optimism and joy she’s giving…and to witness her ascent to Icon status in real time! You just had to have been there. Us olds remembered Britney when she was happy and on top of the world, and, going by her interviews then, she seemed like someone us teen girls at the time could relate to.
This should’ve been mentioned a week ago, but last week marks my three-year anniversary since I’ve gone cuckoo for keto. These days, I’m more low-carb than keto; I can eat a bit of bread or Godiva chocolate if I want to, but it’s not that often. Remembering how I used to look like before I ditched the carbs and sugar is my main motivation for staying low-carb. And, yep, that’s (headless) me in those pics! No airbrushing here, and no Ozempic or lipo involved. Left is me before I started doing keto, and the right pic is me just a week ago.
By the way, as it is with all diet plans, YMMV. Going low-carb worked for me, and it may work for you or not. And making it work for you is one thing, but keeping at it is another ballgame. I’ve managed to maintain this whole time because 1) I don’t want to look like how I did in that left pic ever again, and 2) having been away from the stuff that made me gain weight for so long, I no longer miss them, and thus I don’t need them. A friend treated me to lunch at a Japanese restaurant weeks ago, and I did have some sushi (ack, rice!), but I didn’t eat all of the rolls in one sitting, nor did it make me crave sushi afterwards.
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It’s been pouring in the Bay Area. I used to not like the rain when I was younger, but now, I think I only dislike it is when I have to drive in it 😆. Given that our state is prone to fires and knowing Temu Hitler and his henchmen would rather watch us burn down instead of grow a soul and help, I’ve since appreciated the rainy days. What faucet again??
Also, are umbrellas not cool anymore? How are some of you going by in the rain without a damn umbrella? On top of it being flu season right now! 😒
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I’d boo it too.
🚨 CANADIAN HOCKEY FANS BOO DURING U.S. NATIONAL ANTHEM AT OTTAWA SENATORS GAME
Wondering if the boos will ever be done in the States. (Side note: I won’t be calling it “US” or “USA” for a long while as I feel like we’re no longer “united” here.) I’m not holding my breath for it to happen at the Super Bowl, but maybe it could happen at the 2025 NBA All-Star Game, which takes place in SF. And as for some ‘Muricans returning the favor and booing the Canadian anthem, it’s nothing compared to what they cheer for (like Nazi garbage).
2024 Grammys >>>>>> 2025 Grammys, yep I said it. Biased me liked last year’s guest lineup. Joni Mitchell and Tracy Chapman performed, a Celine Dion appearance, Mariah presenting, Miley and Kylie winning Grammys, no fire disasters, and this forever diva-glam moment from Xtina:
I was hoping I entered my 40s in the same confident fashion. I think I achieved 1/25th of it.
Speaking of the Grammys, has it been 25 years since J-Lo wore that dress and Xtina won Best New Artist and got all the Britney fans mad? What a time.
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A little advice, and go ahead and call me a hater of your fave, but if you’re all for supporting trans rights, don’t ever be caught in 4K saying “both sides are the same” not too long ago. That uneducated mentality is why trans rights (and much more) are being gutted now, and you’ll never ever get a “yaass queen” from me. Only one side has been in favor of supporting trans rights, and I still find it baffling that some Americans allowed an overseas incident, amplified by misinformation packaged as “news” on social media, to make them believe “both sides are the same” and that it became their deal breaker in last year’s election. It’s like 2016 all over again, but far fucking worse!
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It’s still a bummer to see some of my favorite celebs/people/accounts still use the other social media sites and not even join Bluesky (are they that ignorant over the fascists that own those sites?), but it’s another reason why I prefer to be a fan instead of a stan when it comes to public figures.
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I know, I’ve been very political lately. Anyone who follows me here or on Bluesky knows what sides I’ve taken, and I make no apologies over it. I’ve read remarks that artists should “keep their politics to themselves”, and I’m probably making it tough for those who try to separate the art from the artist. But I’m still going to stand for what I believe in, and I’ll still be grateful for those who will still support my work along the way. I just refuse to be blind to the unconstitutional bullshit happening right now that could affect me and those who didn’t vote for the convicted felon. I still love my trashy soap opera glamour and I still escape to it, but supporting (or in this case, restoring) democracy matters to me, too.
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Finally, I got something special coming a week from now! (No, it’s not a a full-face pic of me; y’all aren’t ready for that.) Stay tuned…
It’s my Saturday and also MLK Day today. Something else happened and I have no idea what became of it. I’ve chosen to stay home and stay off Bluesky (my lone social media outlet now), opting to do some cooking, yoga, reading, listening to KCSM Jazz 91, and lots of lazing around. I only turned on the TV to reconfigure my internet, and if I’m gonna watch some TV, it will be for sports or a movie on the TCM Channel. Eventually, I’ll find out what became of that other event, but I’m choosing not to get worked up about it for now. Anything to maintain what’s left I have of my sanity. And staying sane is what I gotta do in this supposed new era of, as I call it, unprecedented fuckery.
This is not the first time I’ve had to do so. When I realized the household I was growing up in was a toxic, abusive hellhole, I chose to distance myself from it, working more and staying out more. The sanity I reclaimed when I left the people I once called “family” and went no-contact with them was freeing. I was glad to have like-minded friends to vent to when W Bush got reelected in November 2004, and before he went off the leftist deep end, Michael Moore and his documentaries that decade spoke the truth. Social media had yet to exist, and (IIRC) mainstream media except Faux News wasn’t kissing the ring of the then-powers that be. There was also The Daily Show at its prime, giving me laughs to mask the pain in seeing my generation fight and die in a useless war. (You’ll never see us elder millennials sane-wash W Bush; we still haaaaate his warmongering ass!) And I don’t know how I managed to maintain in November 2016/January 2017 (probably the weed), but I did and I’m still here with my sanity that’s about to get tested yet again. *sighs*
It’s Martin Luther King Jr. Day–the lone event worth celebrating today. Given what’s happened to this damn country in the past three months alone, this holiday hits different this year. Through ongoing education and activism, the beliefs of MLK Jr will not only live on, but will assist those who choose to resist the incoming tyranny. After all, it’s better to honor a king over a felon.
(Side note: I notice that many of my pics from past installments of this series is no longer showing up. I recently had an issue with the photo hosting site I uploaded my pics to (they blocked my account for no good reason and I still haven’t heard back from them), so I moved all my pics to a new site and y’all should see them now!)
I didn’t expect my Vegas trip to get political. I had already voted prior to my trip, and while I knew I couldn’t escape it given that my trip occurred the week before Election Day, I thought my trip would involve politics, aside from flipping off all those unsightly Trump ads. I even had my Halloween plans set: go people-watching around the Strip and Fremont Street while dressed as Regina George from Mean Girls.
Then I found out that thee VP herself Kamala Harris was going to appear at a rally in North Las Vegas. On Halloween. My janky Regina George can wait another year, for I wasn’t going to pass up on a historic opportunity!
In fairness, it’s all sugar-free/low-carb. And the recipe I used to make these fried, fatty sweets is probably my favorite donut recipe of them all! 🍩 😋
My New Year’s tradition is walking up the Oakvale Road overpass in Walnut Creek to get a good view of my hometown and beyond. I posted similar picsthe past two years, and, given the uncertainty I have going into this year, it’s fitting that it’s cloudy today.
I have my reasons why I changed the cover of my chart-topping bestseller (in my dreams) The Playgirl. Yesterday marked the end of my book’s exclusivity to KDP Select after being on it for 14 months, and, with its return to wide distribution, I felt like a cover change was needed. If you’ve been keeping track, yes, this is not the firsttime I changed it. And if you’re a cover collector, here’s another one to add to the trove!
If you’re wondering about the image I selected for the cover…I wanted something that embodied the salaciousness and drama of my story (which has not been changed, by the way). Somehow, I never considered using illustrated stock photos for cover art until recently. (My last cover was a photo of a nude woman silhouette, edited to make it look almost illustrated.) And when I eyed that simple yet striking illustration, after looking through pages and pages of stock photos, I thought, wait…I think I found her. After playing with fonts and line placements, I had done it again. I gave my story a new face. Compared to my last cover, it’s quite minimalist. And I actually like it!
Credit to Dasha Kovtun on Dreamstime.com for the artwork. It’s coincidence that the green lashes and dark brown locks of the illustration mirror the look of my green-eyed brunette protagonist. And this time, I’m sticking with this cover!
Lex Writes On 