Blog Posts by Piper Weiss, Shine Staff

Are French kids raised better? (Pascal Le Segretain/Getty Images) Parents used to look to doctors for advice on raising kids. Now they look to other countries. The latest contender for the world's best mom is from France. Author Pamela Druckerman's new book, Bringing Up Bébé: One American Mother Discovers the Wisdom of French Parenting, asserts that the Jerry Lewis-loving culture is better at raising children than Americans. Call her 'Le Tigre Mom', the French version of the 'Tiger Mother.' The latter refers to writer Amy Chua's popular Chinese parenting model emphasizing an extremely structured focus on academia.

Read more about Tiger Mothers and Amy Chua's praise of Chinese parenting

In contrast, the French parenting model, focuses on discipline, particularly in social situations.

"Authority is one of the most impressive parts of French parenting," writes Druckerman, a mother of three, who spent years studying the culture's child-rearing methods. "Their kids actually listen to them. French children aren't constantly dashing off, talking back,

This Sunday, Super Bowl fans are expected to eat more than 1.25 billion wings. Most will be drenched in buffalo sauce and dipped in blue cheese. But a few will be a little less ordinary.

• Check out the Super Bowl Sunday television schedule

More wings recipes on Shine:

Inside-Out Buffalo Wings

How to Make Perfect Hot Wings

The Best Buffalo Hot Wings in America

Paltrow, with daughter Apple, who she recently referred to as a When Warren Beatty's teenage son, born a girl, came out as transgender last year, the 74 year-old-actor remained tightlipped to the press and was rumored to be struggling with accepting his child's orientation.

The new generation of Hollywood elite would have probably handled it differently. In fact, they already are. Angelina Jolie says 5--year-old daughter Shiloh Pitt "thinks she a boy," and encourages her to embrace all the male-oriented trappings - from cargo pants to swords- as she pleases. Gwyneth Paltrow seems to be following in Jolie's parenting practices: she's not concerned what her daughter Apple's interests may mean in terms of sexual orientation. In this month's Harper's Bazaar, she ruminated on whether her 7-year-old, who loves feminine outfits, could be a "lipstick lesbian." And despite have a child count of zero, Blake Lively told Elle Magazine, she's hoping if she has a son he'll be a "trannie" so she can dress him up in girl's clothes.

Let's be honest, some of this

A 'million' moms can't compete with 3 million daily viewers. After J.C. Penney announced Ellen DeGeneres as the department store's new spokesperson last week, a conservative  online organization launched a campaign to have her fired. Why? Because she's openly gay.

The One Million Moms organization, an extension of the American Family Association, called on members to urge the company to rethink their decision. "Funny that J.C. Penney thinks hiring an open homosexual spokesperson will help their business when most of their customers are traditional families," reads the call to action on the group's website. "The majority of J.C. Penney shoppers will be offended and choose to no longer shop there."

Watch Michelle Obama's recent visit to Ellen's show

Not likely. As one of the most popular talk show hosts on TV, with over 3 million viewers turning in each episode, Ellen has her own army of followers that transcend traditional demographics. Gay, straight, moms, dads, kids, and even

Bitch, please.Last week I got a press release for a new book called "Taming your Alpha Bitch."

"Did you know there are five kinds of Alpha Bitches?" No I didn't. I also didn't know that being both "fierce and feminine" can get me "everything I want" but that "being an alpha-bitch can hurt my weight loss goals."

I'm confused: is being a bitch a good thing? It is when you're writing a book. Go to the self-help section of Amazon, type in the word 'bitch' and you've got yourself 130 pages of books on the subject.

The origin of owning the 'B' word may be attributed a 1999 book by Elizabeth Wurtzel called "Bitch: In Praise of Difficult Women." But it wasn't until one of the great literary titans of the new millennium, Paris Hilton, used the word on TV, that the term became a symbol of privilege. In the Paris movement, bitch is a term respect for fellow females who don't really trust each other. It's like saying "I'm jealous of you, even though I'm usually the one people are jealous of."

By 2005 Rory

Is Liam Neeson one of the last of Hollywood's manly men?Liam Neeson is Hollywood's last real man. That's the gist of "The Grey" director Joe Carnahan's recent statement on his star's success. Carnahan tells Collider Magazine, "You have a town now that has put so much premium on boys instead of men, and has put so many shirtless 17-year-olds in front of the camera and tried to pass off as a masculine form. I have nothing against the younger generations, but I feel when I look in their eyes, I don't see s---, man. I don't see a life lived, I don't see experience, I don't see dirt under the nails, I don't see loss, tragedy, you name it. The reason that a guy like Liam, who's nearly 60 years old, is having this resurgent kind of career swing is because we are sorely lacking in his ilk in this business right now."

Carnhahan makes a good point. Where did all the gristle go? Hollywood was once teaming with dirt-kicking, spit-shooting Steve McQueens, Burt Reynolds, Clint Eastwoods and Kris Kristoffersons.

The next wave of leading men are more

The latest recalled birth control pills.
It's happened again. Just months after a major mix-up in birth control pill packaging, another alarming recall has been issued.

On Wednesday, the drug company Pfizer announced the recall of more than 1 million packets of Lo/Ovral-28 (and the generic Norgestrel/Ethinyl Estradiol) due to a packaging error.


Read more: 9 surprising things you should know about birth control

The problem stems from placebo pills that were possibly misplaced in monthly blister packs. So on days when women thought they were taking active hormones they may have been taking sugar pills. The mistake means that an unknown number of women may be at risk of an unplanned pregnancy.

A public statement by Pfizer urged "consumers exposed to affected packaging" to "begin using a non-hormonal form of contraception immediately."

In September, the drug company Qualitest Products failed to live up to its name when it recalled eight different brands of birth control after a similar factory-related packaging issue.

Two

The cosmetics ad featuring actress Rachel Weisz is banned in the U.K.Actress Rachel Weisz isn't as perfect as she seems. That's the consensus behind Britain's Advertising Standards Authority, after it banned a cosmetics ad featuring Weisz this week.

The black-and-white print campaign for L'Oreal's Revitalift Repair 10 anti-wrinkle cream features an alabaster-skinned image of the actress in a close-up, along with the promise of a product that "targets 10 signs of aging in one." According to Britain's media watchdogs, Weisz' appearance was enhanced not simply by the cream, but by post-production techniques that crossed a very thin line of advertising standards.

See more beauty ads under fire for retouching.

The two-page spread, which ran in September issues of U.K.-based magazines, was first challenged by Jo Swinson, a member of Parliament who has previously challenged other cosmetic firms' advertising practices.

L'Oreal complied with an investigation by the ASA, providing images and information on request. Off the bat, they admitted that certain