This week's can't-miss, female-centric entertainment highlights includes a Mexican lesbian nanny, girls with guns, a hot rapper that'll make you totally forget about Missy Elliot and Queen Latifah, gays on Oprah, a rock opera chick, and a trans guy who the ladies adore.
10. TV: Oprah's Next Chapter: Gay Hollywood
Oprah Winfrey will host an in-depth conversation about the being gay in America with three out Hollywood heavy-hitters on Oprah’s Next Chapter: Gay Hollywood. Airing Sunday at 9 p.m. Eastern/Pacific on OWN, the program will feature actress-comic Wanda Sykes, Modern Family star Jesse Tyler Ferguson, and Scandal Emmy award-winner Dan Bucatinsky as they open up about the moment they realized they were gay, their coming-out processes, and the reactions of their family members when they learned of their sexuality. The actors also discuss the current state of LGBT visibility on television, the importance of role models, and how being gay has affected their careers in in Hollywood. — Jase Peeples
9. Film: A Girl & A Gun
Hollywood loves to glamorize a woman with a gun through portrayals that resort to sexy stereotypes when, in reality, women who own guns generally aren't in it for the image-boost. The fascinating new documentary, A Girl & A Gun (First Run Features), explores American women's relationships with guns through archival footage and commentary from actual gun-toting women that help to illuminate a different perspectives on gun ownership in America today. Watch the trailer below. — Nick Cimarusti
8. DVD: Margarita
The titular woman is their teenaged daughter’s whip-smart lesbian Mexican nanny who could put Martha Stewart to shame in the kitchen, Eva Longoria to shame in the mirror. She’s perfect, but when a combination of complacency and bad investments leaves her yuppie employers, Ben and (bi-curious) Gail, bitter and broke, they fire Margarita and set off a chain of events that lead to her deportation. Everyone comes together to try to solve the problem to hilarious effect. Created by award-winning lesbian filmmakers Dominique Cardona and Laurie Colbert (who teamed up previously on Finn’s Girl), the internationally acclaimed, award-winning Margarita debuts October 9 on all digital platforms and on DVD from Wolfe Video. Nicola Correia Damude (from Degrassi: The Next Generation) is the hot nanny with an equally hot girlfriend (Christine Horne) and Maya Ritter (Finn’s Girl) is the tomboy teen Mali in this queer Mary Poppins for the new generation. Get your copy here. —Diane Anderson-Minshall
7. Book: Art & Sole
Dorothy is no longer the only gal in town whose shoes are beyond fabulous. Jane Gershon Weitzman's new book Art & Sole catalogs approximately 150 of Stuart Weitzman's fantasy shoes. For those unfamiliar with the sensational products of Weitzman's Madison Avenue boutique, these shoes are not for wearing. They are made from materials such as paper, playing cards, feathers, flowers, frosting, and even Swarovski crystals. Brief biographies of each artist are included, as well as descriptions of each shoe's unique story. During the month of October, 100 percent of the profits from Art & Sole sales will be donated to breast cancer research. Buy the book here. — Nicholas Cimarusti
6. Theater: Exit the King
Lesbian actress and former SheWired contributor Jill Bennett is back onstage in a Los Angeles production of absurdist master Eugene Ionesco’s Exit the King. The show, directed by Pat Towne, promises a hallucinatory journey into a bizarre realm as a ruler’s world crumbles about him. Exit the King opens tonight and runs Fridays and Saturdays through November 30 at the NoHo Actors’ Theatre in the North Hollywood neighborhood. Get tickets and more info here. —Trudy Ring
5. Music: Lucas Silveira of The Cliks in Los Angeles
Lucas Silveira is the out transgender front man of Toronto-based alt-rock band The Cliks, which released its third studio album, Black Tie Elevator, this spring. After a four-year hiatus, the departure of his fellow bandmates, and a gender transition that threatened his singing voice, Silveira is beyond proud of the finished product. Black Tie Elevator is heavily inspired by blues, and it features soulful tracks that speak to love, loss, and longing. You can get up-close and personal with Silveira's sultry, husky voice — that is at times reminiscent of Adam Levine, at other moments channels Jack White, and occasionally alludes to David Bowie — when The Cliks step onto the stage at The Mint in Los Angeles on Wednesday October 30. Find tickets for the 8 p.m. show here, and get a preview of what to expect with the official music video for one of Silveira's favorite tracks, "Savannah," below. —Sunnivie Brydum
4. Theater: Homecoming Queen's Got a Gun: The Musical
Everybody run! To Julie Brown’s new show, Homecoming Queen’s Got a Musical. People are dropping dead at Betty Ford High, but no one has time to investigate because there’s a new homecoming queen to crown. Join Julie and best friend Debbie Dickey (Drew Droege) as they count down the minutes and the student bodies until Homecoming. The show’s written by Brown and Kurt Koehler, and directed by Koehler. Also in the cast are Sam Pancake, Jenn Dohn Watkins, Natalie Lander, Chris Pudlo, Jaci Denning, Cole Gerdes, Grant Bacicco, and Marsian DeLillis. This ‘80s music video come to life opens tonight and runs weekends through November 10 at Cavern Club Theater inside Casita Del Campo Restaurant in Los Angeles’s Silver Lake neighborhood. For tickets, click here. —Trudy Ring
3. Book: The Book of Jezebel
It's little surprise that Jezebel, the website that launched in 2007 and became an instant sensation with girls like me, has created a must-read tome that does things the Jez way, like defining a tomboy as "a female who likes to do 'boy' things, like discussing politics." With contributions from writers and creatives behind the site's distinctive mix of pro-choice feminism and pop culture punditry, The Book of Jezebel: An Illustrated Encyclopedia of Lady Things (Grand Central Publishing, website) is filled with facts and stats, great graphics and fun photos collected by Jezebel creator Anna Holmes. Jezzies unite! —Diane Anderson-Minshall
2. Video: Lizzobangers "Batches and Cookies"
There is something so magnetic about Minneapolis, Minn. rapper/singer Lizzo in her new "Batches & Cookies" video. Already acclaimed for launching the female powerhouse groups GRRRL PRTY and The Chalice, and fresh off being named City Pages' 2013 Best Vocalist Award as a solo artist, Lizzo has released her debut solo album, LIZZOBANGERS. The rhymes are phenominally explosive, the hooks hard to forget, and at times Lizzo reminds listeners alternately of Lisa “Left Eye” Lopez, Missy Elliot, Queen Latifah, or the women of Salt 'n Pepa. I think this video is saying she’s bisexual and supports marriage equality, but really who knows? Who cares. She’s damn hot, and today that’s enough for me. Also, check out “Pants vs. Dress” on the new album; you won’t be sorry.—Diane Anderson-Minshall
1. Music: Emilie Autum
Sexy, bizarre, and brash, actress/singer/songwriter/author/violinist Emilie Autumn’s concerts are legen — wait for it — dary. They are rock operas that combine sex, violence, burlesque, English literature, Broadway theatrics, and her notorious nightly encore of Queen's “Bohemian Rhapsody.” With her most recent album, Fight Like a Girl, hitting record sales and her book, The Asylum for Wayward Victorian Girls, coming out in its third printing, the performer is ending her solo Fight Like a Girl Tour this weekend (Las Vegas tonight, La Jolla, Calif. tomorrow) and then hitting the road again, coheadlining a tour with The Birthday Massacre November 1 through December 9. Find the tour dates near you here. —Diane Anderson-Minshall
