Inner beauty's overrated

Courtesy of Roshan Norouzi/ZUMA press

I'm very proud to be half Persian, but it does come with its downsides. I was born with my father's eyebrows, which require more upkeep than a blonde's. God forbid you want to lighten your hair, you'd need a lot of bleach. (I've been blonde before, and the maintenance is not worth it.) 

Nose jobs are not uncommon in our culture. After a successful procedure, a friend of a friend deleted all her "before" pictures off of Facebook.

Decode men's confusing texts thanks to new site

Courtesy of Island Records 

DOES HE LIKE ME?! In an age where girls try to gauge the depth of a guy's feelings from texts like "Hi" and "Wazzup", an increasing number have turned to the internet for answers. Since its launch in October, HeTexted has been receiving women's perplexed questions about texts, in which users can vote "He's into you" or "He's not into you." The site has had between 25,000 and 40,000 visitors per day.

Lady Gaga vs. Kelly Osbourne on bullying

Courtesy of Getty Images

Nothing's more fun than girl drama and hypocritical celebrities. Who cares about the Golden Globes when Kelly Osbourne and Lady Gaga are feuding?

Starting salaries for new grads have risen 3.4%

Courtesy of Flickr

Finally some good news! For the graduating class of 2012, the average starting salary rose by 3.4%, according to the National Association of Colleges and Employers (NACE), a non-profit group that links college career placement offices with employers. The average salary for a graduate with a bachelor degree is now $44,455, compared to $42,987 in 2011. 

On fragrance and flattery

Courtesy of Juicy Couture

My sister is a perfume connoisseur. She knows scents like people know wine. She, like several of my girlfriends, likes to have a "signature scent" and gets very aggravated if someone else "copies" her. No matter they had no idea she even owned the same bottle.

They say imitation is the highest form of flattery.

Can "coming out" affect your career?

Courtesy of Biography.com

My family and I were talking about Ricky Martin the other day and why he hasn't come out with any hit singles lately. Did coming out as gay kill his music career?

My dad blames it on Barbara Walters. I already knew he was gay from the get-go, but the speculation didn't really start until after this awkward interview:

Scarface, and other famous deleted scenes

Courtesy of Universal Pictures

Until the invention of DVDs, I was unaware that anything beyond the actual film existed. Now I don't consider a movie "done" until I've watched behind-the-scenes footage and deleted scenes. Sometimes I'll turn on the commentary if I'm feeling up to it. Here's some famous scenes that didn't make the final cut.