Quickies: Break in the New Year

Getty Images

> President Obama has named a transgender appointee to the Commerce Department: Amanda Simpson, a former test pilot and National Center for Transgender Equality boardmember. The new senior technical advisor and the Democratic party are both a little reluctant to claim she is for sure the first transgender person to hold a federal government appointment, but she's certainly close to it. "I hope that I will soon be one of hundreds, and that this appointment opens future opportunities for many others," she said.

> In what was definitely a first, a gay sex scene was shown on daytime TV. One Life to Live characters Kyle and Fish, popularly known by the cutesy mashup "Kish," got down to business Wednesday afternoon.

> Playgirl may not have secured any scandalous Tiger Woods photos but Vanity Fair sure did -- he's lifting weights shirtless on the cover of the forthcoming February issue. The shots -- "raw," as they call it in the industry -- were done by Annie Leibovitz before that whole sex, SUVs, and fire hydrants thing.

> Southland's Kevin Alejandro will join the cast of True Blood as Lafayette's latest love interest.

> A new Boy George video!

Previously > Tik Tok It's 2010