Blog Posts by Piper Weiss, Shine Staff

Katy Perry in what's now considered a standard Santa costume for women. (Photo by Larry Marano/Getty Images) When we look to pop culture to explain why young girls feel pressure to dress sexy, we blame people like Miley Cyrus. Never Santa. But Christmas has been consistently dishing out the same mixed messages as Miley since the '50s.

First Santa's jolly ("Jingle Bells"), then he's sexual prey ("Santa Baby"). "Naughty or nice" is meant to keep kids behaved or it's meant as innuendo. "Santa's Little Helpers" are mythical elves- no, wait, they're strippers delivering toys to kids in a moving pole-dancing bus in Las Vegas. No really, that just happened.

Like everything in tween-centric pop culture, subliminal messages for adults always get in the way and cross wires. Look to greedy marketers using sex to get consumers as excited about the holidays as their children. From Katy Perry in her scantily Santa mini-dress at the Jingle Ball, to the burlesque-inspired Holiday windows, the season is looking more and more like Halloween everyday. Costume sites that hawked sexy devil outfits only two

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Here's a question: do you get a freebie on your bachelorette weekend? A new commercial from those crazy cats at Las Vegas Convention and VIsitors Authority suggests you might. At least, I think it does. The ambiguous ad follows a group of women at an apparent hen party, trading off wearing a veil in an attempt to get, well, laid. Who is really cheating on their future husband? Maybe none of them. Probably one of them. [Update: Commenters picked up on what I missed from this commercial. They're trying to get hotel freebies. But maybe sex too? I'm confused. You be the judge.]

Culturally, it's far less taboo for men to cheat at their own bachelor party. Whether they do it, requires a case by case assessment. But if '80s movies, and urban legends passed along by guy friends looking all shocked and innocent so as not to incriminate themselves, holds any truth-it happens a lot.
For the ladies' last hurrah, however, nobody ever seems to worried. Maybe she'll put a 20 in a Chippendale

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It's that time of year when Christmas movies from days of yore illuminate the TV screen. Last night, I watched "A Nanny For Christmas" and was reminded of the major problems people have in movies about the holidays. While real live humans worry about whether to get their boss a gift, and how they'll afford their plane ticket home, movie characters have bigger concerns: like how to save the local orphanage, what to do about that escaped convict they've hired to play Santa and how on earth they'll tell the man of their dreams they're not really a high-powered ad exec but a nanny- before the big ad agency Christmas party. The last dilemma is one that was tackled efficiently in last night's made-for-TV movie thanks to the help of "the spirit of Christmas." That spirit, it can fix anything!

With that in mind, I took a trip to Wikipedia in search of synopses of some of the best-worst holiday films ever. Here's a round-up of the dilemmas and resolutions in holiday films, courtesy of old St.

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Sarah Jessica Parker isn't doing the whole Carrie Bradshaw thing anymore. So it was surprising to find this photo spread on Style Bubble, that looks like it was ripped from the classic "single and fabulous?" episode. Vintage Carrie? Is that you? No it's an artist named Cedric Rivrain, who just happens to be a man. He uncannily resurrected the sweet spot days of Bradshaw for a photo spread in Double Magazine. No really, this is a guy.

Still a dude.

Read More »from Harry Bradshaw? The best celebrity impersonation ever

(thinkstock images)

There are two things we know we do in public bathrooms. We've even numbered them. But that's not all that goes on behind the stalls. A few recent studies, including the latest released this week, found that both men and women have some strange impulses during bathroom breaks. Go ahead and act surprised. We won't blow your cover.

1. We talk sh--. Figuratively, that is. 86 percent of people surveyed admitted they dish on everything from office gossip to sex lives while they're filling up the porcelain cup. Maybe the walled in privacy makes secrets feel more sacred, or maybe there's a safety in not making eye-contact while you dish on your co-workers.



2. We go for the middle stall. Nicholas Christenfeld, Ph.D., a psychologist at the University of California, San Diego, found that 60 percent of the used-up rolls of toilet paper came from the middle stalls, suggesting our favorite choice is dead center. His explanation? It saves us brainpower from making a serious decision

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Proposals are at their peak around the holidays, with one in four grooms popping the question in December. Incidentally, it's also the month of a statistical spike in break-ups. Coincidence? Maybe not. A bad proposal can mean the end of a relationship, and it's not always obvious what's bound to backfire. Before you bite the bullet, educate yourself on how not to pop the question.

1. Don't propose in public

If you haven't watched the video (above) of a Jumbotron proposal that backfired, consider it a warning. "Proposing in front of an audience of thousands puts way too much pressure the woman," says Amy Eisinger, an editor at TheWeddingChannel.com. "You never want to make her feel uncomfortable or pressured to answer right away." It could lead to a false positive: "Your partner may agree to your proposal to save face in public and then privately retract it," warns relationship psychologist, Dr. Linda Young. The same goes for proposing in front of family members. "The

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When Kelly Ripa hopped on stage for Live With Regis and Kelly this week, a collective gasp from foot doctors could be heard around the world. The talk show host who regularly wears super-sized Louboutins suffered a stress fracture and was relegated to crutches. But it didn't stop her from somehow forcing a pair of heels on her feet, however painful. Sure, wearing them with crutches could do even more damage to her injury, but for Ripa the shoes outweighed the risk.
Everyone's got their thing. Some people won't give up red wine even if it gives them excruciating headaches. I'm a sucker for ordering jeans online. Even though the odds of them actually fitting are 1 to 100, I so much prefer it to trying on jeans in a dressing room. Silly? Maybe, but some things you just can't help. What won't you give up, even if it's technically a bad idea?

Read More »from Kelly Ripa's not ready to kick nasty shoe habit. What won't you give up?

It's that time of year again, when you're scrambling to get all your gifts, booking flights for the holidays, and generally assimilating to freezing cold weather when boom: "what are you doing for new years?" someone asks. Does this question stress you out as much as it does me? Not that it isn't nice that people are asking, but it always comes at the wrong time. Around December 29th is when I'm able to conceive of making a plan - the same plan usually - whatever is cheap, easy to get to, and packed with friends. You know, the same requirements for a standard night out. But according to the book of modern day privilege problems: New Year's is the kind of thing you can't just "wing." It's just this anticipation that makes New Years perpetually underwhelming. So this year I'm not making plans till last minute. Who's with me?

Read More »from "What are you doing for New Year's?" Worst. Question. Ever.