by Lexine

Now Playing (4.30.25)

What else would I play on International Jazz Day? 

Listen to the lyrics of this song. More relevant than ever. (The song also reminds me of the movie Casino, oddly enough.) 

TIL that the Herbie Hancock Institute of Jazz (which he is a part of, naturally) is the lead partner for IJD. 

There are a few versions of the last song, with its only constant being Gillespie playing on every version. I’ve always preferred this collab with Miles, and the beat also got sampled in this early 90s rap song, which I first heard before “Tunisia”.

It is not IJD without some actual international flair via bossa nova jazz! While I also enjoy the vocalized version, the instrumental version above will always be next-level aural paradise. 

by Lexine

Scenes From Kylie’s Tension Tour!

Yesterday, I got to break some tension in San Francisco by attending the Tension Tour featuring pop icon Kylie Minogue! While I got to see her for the first time a year ago, it’s not every year she tours the States. Let’s get to it with the pics!

(Note: there are no pics of her opening act Rita Ora, but only because I was in a long-ass line for Kylie merch while she was performing. Sorry!) 

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by Lexine

Going Green

Some sugar-free sweets I made in honor of the last 420 Easter I’ll see in my life, unless if I live to 120.

I made these Easter-themed chocolates with just a few ingredients: Lily’s chocolate chips, coconut oil, and green food coloring. (And I used my own Easter-themed silicone mold that I got at Home Goods to get into that Easter spirit!) Save for the food coloring, this is also the base for making keto nut clusters (one of my favorite desserts), and you can add some nuts to your sweets, if you like. You can also add your own sweeteners or extracts to the melted mix. (With today also being 420, if you want to make your own edibles, simply add as much THC or CBD tincture you want to the mix. I am not responsible for getting you stoned, in this case.)

As it has been in my experience with sweets with coconut oil, it’s best to consume them while chilled. They do get melty.

by Lexine

Hollywood Dreams

Vanity Fair, April 1995 issue, with *takes a deep breath in* Jennifer Jason Leigh, Uma Thurman, Nicole Kidman, Patricia Arquette, Linda Fiorentino, Gwyneth Paltrow, Sarah Jessica Parker, Julianne Moore, Angela Bassett, and Sandra Bullock

Thirty years ago this month, Vanity Fair did that and gave ten of the top actresses of the time the cover. All at once! Their multi-star covers and star-studded portfolio would become a spring tradition for the publication, albeit a tradition that’s gone awry recently. Never forget the first, however, where it was just straight-up star power that sold the issue–no weird setups or questionable photoshop. (Placing queen Angela in the back of the fold-out cover will forever remain a choice to me, though.)

by Lexine

These Cool Poems – #TDoV 2025 Edition

Because now more than ever, we must stand ten toes down for the Trans Community! 🏳️‍⚧️🩵🩷🤍

“A Message For Trans Kids” by Keath Silva: 

******

“Batter My Heart, Transgender’d God” by Meg Day

Batter my heart, transgender’d god, for yours

is the only ear that hears: place fear in my heart

where faith has grown my senses dull & reassures

my blood that it will never spill. Show every part

to every stranger’s anger, surprise them with my drawers

full up of maps that lead to vacancies & chart

the distance from my pride, my core. Terror, do not depart

but nest in the hollows of my loins & keep me on all fours.

My knees, bring me to them; force my head to bow again.

Replay the murders of my kin until my mind’s made new;

let Adam’s bite obstruct my breath ’til I respire men

& press his rib against my throat until my lips turn blue.

You, O duo, O twin, whose likeness is kind: unwind my confidence

& noose it round your fist so I might know you in vivid impermanence.

by Lexine

Wink For March

 

drew i-d 3-95

Drew Barrymore on i-D Magazine, March 1995. 

The Wink–the signature mark found on every (?) cover of the gone but not forgotten i-D Magazine, a UK-based fashion/lifestyle publication. Seeing models like Christy, Naomi, and Gisele on their covers back in the late 90s got my attention, and it would be there that I would notice a common theme among i-D’s covers. Thanks to that mag, now when I wink for fun, I like to think I’m winking for my own i-D cover. 

Also, mid/late 90s Drew remains iconic! Here, she was in her Wild Child Era, fresh off posing nude for Playboy, and was a month away from flashing David Letterman. 

by Lexine

Free For All!

Now through Saturday Feb. 15th, get a copy of my eBook The Playgirl for FREE! It’s been a while since I’ve done a giveaway, and this time, the freebie offer is available wherever eBooks are sold! I do these freebie offers periodically, and if you’re collecting covers of my work, now’s your chance to add another cover to your collection! 😜

Buy my book (non-Amazon)

Buy my book (Amazon)

by Lexine

Throwback Covers!

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. 

Snippets of her cover story can be found here (I can’t find the full article anywhere right now). Is it just me or was fashion more simple yet cooler then? 

Also, that “Bush Is Back” blurb…🤭