L-Word.com News Stories

By LanaRus

WIGS is the #1 channel for scripted drama on YouTube that introduces original series, short films, and documentaries, all starring female leads and dealing with important issues of love, betrayal, power, and friendship, just to name a few. Season two of WIGS’s award-winning series, LAUREN with Jenifer Beals as Major Jo Stone and Troian Bellisario as Sergeant Lauren Weil, will premier on May 3 on WIGS channel at Youtube and Watchwigs. Four additional episodes will be available on May 10 and the final four on May 17. LAUREN won a Silver Medal for Drama at the 2013 New York Festivals International Television & Film Awards, and Bellisario took home a Gold Award for Best Performances by an actress.

LAUREN explores the consequences of dealing with sexual assault in the military and in season one we were introduced to Sergeant Lauren Weil, who reports her own rape and ongoing harassment by her superiors to her female commanding officer Major Jo Stone. Stone tries to do the right thing, but is caught between military code and what she may believe is proper because she has to navigate between seeking justice while remaining loyal to the institution, to which she dedicated her life.

The story of Lauren is fictional but it is an honest portrayal of the endless red tape and bureaucracy that many victims of sexual assault experience while serving in the military. Second season will continue to explore Lauren’s fight for what is right “the way it should be and not just the way it is.” Additional cast include well-known actors like Bradley Whitford, Raymond Cruz, Mykelti Williamson and Sarah Jones (reprising her self-titled role as a military veteran from WIGS series KENDRA).

Season 2 Trailer

From WIGS press release:

“Before working on LAUREN, I was oblivious to the struggle of those sexually assaulted while serving our country,” explained Bellisario. “There are thousands of young women and men who are harassed or assaulted by their fellow soldiers and forced to keep their pain a secret – or worse, if they bravely come forward, they can be punished for seeking justice. Lauren’s story represents a powerful and important issue, an issue to which attention must be paid. If we truly do ‘support our troops,’ we must put an end to this.”

Conversation behind the scene with Jennifer and Troian

April 11, 2013

Hello L-word.com Members and Visitors!

L-word.com has been online for a looong time. We were actually online before the show even began!  The show has been off the air now since March 8, 2009 – 4 years ago. It’s very hard to believe, yet we continue to stay online with a very large following because of our amazing fanfic writers and readers.

For some time, we’ve been wanting to “freshen up” L-word.com. The freshening, however, would not be as “simple” as updating the look. We also need to completely switch the technology the site is built on. The fanfic archive was built a long time ago. In fact, have a look at our Site History - a reflection of how we came to be.

In addition to giving the site a new look and new technology, we’re also going to spread our wings and welcome additional fandoms to the site. All lesbian themed TV shows, web series, and movies will be welcomed and invited at L-word.com.

How will we do this? First, the L word fanfic archive will be separate from the “Femslash” archive. We will be moving the stories to the new software which you can see in use at www.Fanfic.me. This software has far more features than the old software. And the L word stories will be in their own archive.

The Femslash archive will be home to all the other fandoms. We’ll be expanding our news section and moving our forum over to new software, too.

L-word.com is not part of any big gay media group. We are one publisher (Jacky) and one techno-dude (Chad). YOUR feedback is critical to us. In fact, we don’t even know what the new “look” is going to be yet. We’re counting on feedback from all of you to help guide us as to where this is all going – and how it’s going to look.

You’ll see big changes coming to the forum immediately. We’ll be deleting some ancient forums and threads. We’ve also opened a new discussion forum to talk about the changes. We’ll be giving you previews there and asking for your input.

Please offer your support, constructive criticism, and suggestions. This site has been home to many woman for many years, and we want it to be the most comfortable, easy to use, secure site it can be. Just last summer, I attended the wedding of two wonderful women I met on this site. I know of at least 4 marriages that have come from women meeting on L-word.com! Let’s keep the site thriving – you never know who you’re going to meet around here.

Thank you all for all your support the past 9+ years. May we have 90 more!

Jacky

This is a re-post of an article that was in our original news section. We’re going to be losing part of the old site in order to move forward, so we’re putting here in the “new” News Archive.

Posted approximately January 2006 at the beginning of Season 3. 

Yes, we’ve been online for two years! In some respects, I can’t believe two whole years have past. On the other hand, we’re always moving at such break-neck speeds that we wonder where the time as gone. Take a little trip down memory lane with me with this visual flashback and a few stories.

Below, you’ll see the image of our very first site. Don’t laugh! Obviously, we’ve come a long, long way in just two years. This site was thrown together in about 2 days. Literally. And yes, we know it shows!

I had read about the show and seen a float (yes a float!) advertising The L Word in a parade in Provincetown, MA during Carnival Week in August 2003. From August until just after Christmas, I had the show in the back of her mind, thinking of it once in a while, knowing that it had the potential to be very popular. I had not thought of doing a fan site in that time–just that this show had the potential to be really big. It was just after Christmas 2003 that I woke up one morning with the idea of “I need to do a site for this new lesbian show –and it must have fan fiction and discussion”. As some of you know, my only experience with fan sites and fan fiction dated back to the “Kim and Kerry” story on ER. That was the inspiration for this fan site.

So, I called my buddy Jared at www.uptask.com and said, “Jared, do up something FAST with these links….” the ones you see at the left below. I didn’t know how I was going to populate the pages, but I figured once the show got started, all of you would help me do that. Boy, was I right on the money with that one.

On December 29. 2003, we went live with what you see below. Just over 2 weeks later, January 18, 2004, the show premiered.

By LanaRus

It is not surprising that the success of Laurel Holloman’s art exhibits in Paris and Venice brought her even more notoriety as a serious abstract artist and earned her praise from the European art world. That fact alone motivated Laurel to pursue other European venues. “So far the reception to my work in Europe is very positive and I am looking to build a European exhibition history because if you show strong in Europe it is a good sign for an artist and also good investment for the collector,” Laurel said to me recently and added, “Also no one there knows me so much as an actress which I like.”

Success of her first two solo shows didn’t stop Laurel from working full-time on creating new abstract murals and paintings to prepare for the next solo show, this time in Berlin, Germany. The Berlin Exhibition will be held at the Palazzo Italia from April 27 to June 23, 2013. Palazzo Italia was the former luxurious Hotel de Rome, situated right at the heart of Berlin near the famous Brandenburg Gate. After it was renovated, the Palazzo Italia became Berlin’s most glamorous locations for hospitality and event hosting in the city.

“Berlin show is called All The World Inside. It is sixteen large murals, most of them abstract. This show is sponsored by the Hart foundation. Palazzo-Italia was chosen because it had the space to hold the large murals and it is in central Berlin. Berlin is really the center of modern art at the moment so I am excited to go there,” Laurel explained her choice of the venue.

After Berlin, Laurel is going back to Italy where she had such a tremendous success last summer. Her first appearance is scheduled in the group show, called Nell’Acqua Capisco (In Water I Understand) in the Venice Biennale from June 1 to November 30. To be asked to participate in a show like this is a big honor. “I am really proud to have a painting chosen for the Venice Biennale in a group show with other known Italian artists.”

But this is not all. Another solo show in Venice is also scheduled in September. Laurel told me a little bit more about this show and her progress as an artist. Venice show “called Everything Under Breath, which will have about nine murals. This show will have a similar style but very different color palette. The murals look mostly as if they are frozen in ice. Both of these shows (in Italy) are curated by Lea Mattarella who is the art critic for Repubblica in Rome, so I am very fortunate to be working with her. She is very sharp and has a great vision.”

For those art lovers and fans of Laurel’s work who want to see what’s behind Laurel’s art, she advices, “I also think that as people see these next two shows and see my statement of purpose for Berlin, they will see a style and pattern emerging within my work.”

For more information an Laurel’s work and exhibits, keep checking her art website laurelholloman.net