Mandy's back!

That's Mandy Moore on the cover of the July/August 2009 issue of Women's Health Magazine. She looks great, doesn't she? As it turns out, she has a new album called Amanda Leigh (her birth name) and surprise, surprise, she's now married to singer-songwriter Ryan Adams.

I met Mandy Moore a couple of years back and she was the sweetest thing. My fiancé has always had a crush on her, going as far as asking my then-editor to let him tag along during the interview. I am trying to unearth a photo which I thought was in my dormant Friendster account, but apparently, was in the Myspace account I'd deleted a long time ago.

Sorry if this blog post sounds anorexic yet again. I just spent the whole day doing my New York day job—that I get to do outside the city thank you very much—so I'm pretty spent. Plus, up until a minute ago, I had yet to figure out what to write about for Friday's beauty column. Good thing I got an email from the brand manager of Ralph Lauren/Polo and Diesel detailing upcoming men's fragrance launches. So, watch out, I'll be broadcasting the latest scent treats you can get for the hommes in your life!

Back to Mandy, yes she was sweet, charming, gracious, and gorgeous! It was the 'Mandy Machine' of agents, managers, and the like, that annoyed in general. That said, I only have pleasant things to say about the former teen pop star, and I wish her well in her career and marriage. And I'll be browsing iTunes for her new songs, simply because they reek 'indie' and I'm curious: Mandy holed up in a cabin to produce her latest album. This means, she was free to write and record with no big studio labels filtering and forcing mass-produced, monotonous beats on her. (I do like some manufactured pop, too, don't get me wrong.)

Anyway, Women's Health is an engaging read brimming with useful and entertaining articles. Although personally, I seem to enjoy reading Men's Health more, maybe because with the latter being a magazine made for men, I am not compelled to check the gutter for photo credits, or pay too much attention to styling, copy, etc.—an 'autopilot' function that lights up whenever I pick up any women's magazine.

Women's Health is currently being headed and edited (headited—a term I've coined) by Michele Promaulayko, Kate White's former second-in-command at Cosmo. I think anybody who has been second-in-command of anything makes a great head of something, as witnessed by my managing and associate editor friends who now helm their own titles.