It's a huge compliment when a high-end escort says one of your sex manuals rocked her world (her terminology)--so much so that if she ever met you, she would feel obliged to pay you for sex. (She also said The Big Bang was topping the list of possible gifts for her mum's birthday.) We've been a fan of Belle de Jour's ever since. Not just because she's got great taste in sex books, but because we like her writing style: saucy and a little bit snarky. Her pseudonymous blog and first book, The Intimate Adventures of a London Call Girl, caused quite a stir in the UK--an unapologetic, tell-all memoir about being paid for sex...and liking it. 

It was only a matter of time before someone made her story into a movie or TV show. So tonight at 10:30pm, Showtime continues its trend of envelope-pushing, sex-themed shows (The L Word, Californication) with Secret Diary of a Call Girl. Not sure how true the show is to the book (or how true the original book is, for that matter), but check out the promotional videos and see if you aren't intrigued. Yes, it's all a bit too glam to be believed (think "Sex and the City," except with cash transactions instead of jewelry), but there's something provocative about the line from the show's "blog" video "Why I became a call girl" (if you can get past the cheesy camera work, the chick-a-baum music, Billie Piper's mouth-marbles accent, and her overworked exterior): "Cheap is going out, getting drunk, and falling into bed with some stranger."