The Olympics are the stuff that dreams are made of, so it's no surprise that some of those stories have been made into books and movies for our entertainment. Unsurprisingly, books are my favorite way to escape into these inspiring stories. Much like

I'm not much of a political junkie, but I am all for silliness -- and the attack ad GOP senatorial prospect Carly Fiorina (who sometimes blogs at BlogHer) released last week raises the bar for silly. It's been dubbed "The Demon Sheep" and FCINO (standing for "Fiscal Conservative in Name Only" -- drubbing rival Tom Campbell's spending record). But who cares about economic policy when there are SHEEP?

As has been true for the past few years, the football was more interesting than the commercials during this year's Super Bowl. Nevertheless, I, like many, sat down eager to watch both the game and the ads.

You can't stop thinking about them. You know how they talk and how they walk. You can even read their thoughts. It's L-O-V-E. There's just one teeny, tiny problem. They aren't real. You are crushing on a literary character.

Still wondering who these people think is going to buy their clothes?

Win or lose, the Saints playing in the Super Bowl is like a healing, a laying on of hands for New Orleans, La. As I wrote on Twitter February 4, followed by hash tags #whodat and #Saints, "Super Bowl mania hangs in the air, palpable like Mardi Gras beads in trees, like August here, thick and hot, like a good rain."

It takes me a while to see all the movies I want to see. So it is no shock that I just saw the 2008 Helen Hunt/Colin Firth/Bette Midler film, "And Then She Found Me." One line in the film haunts me, grabs me by the scruff of the spirit and will not let go. "Dive in and blog me," it says. "Figure out why, later."

The nominations for the 82nd Academy Awards were announced this week, and despite a whooping 10 films nominated for Best Picture, once again Hollywood proves to be no country for old women. Or young women, really. Or at least the Best Picture nominees show us that as far as the content of Oscar-caliber films goes, the stories of women's lives don't tend to be made and don't tend to be celebrated in equity with stories about men's lives.

This week two fellow BlogHer Contributing Editors (Virgina DeBolt and Elana Centor), and BlogHer co-Founder (Elisa Camahort Page), and me had a virtual book club call to discuss Half the Sky: Turning Oppression Into Opportunity for Women Worldwide by Nicholas Kristof and Sheryl WuDunn.

I feel like I should first begin with telling you all that I love Vanity Fair, and I love Annie Leibovitz's photos, in general. I find the articles interesting and pictures beautiful. Alright, that's enough of a disclaimer.I'm pretty unhappy with Vanity Fair, and the "choice" of ladies they've put on their cover this month. I'm sure the moment you see it, you'll see what's irking me.

Amazon shocked consumers, publishers and authors on January 29 when it pulled Macmillan books from direct sale on Amazon.com over an e-book pricing dispute. Amazon and Macmillan each believed that its model was the best, and that the other company would have to cave to its demands. Amazon may have shot off the first round in this pricing war, but before the weekend was over it waved a white flag of surrender.