This week, k.d. lang reminded us – and two billion viewers from all over the world – why she is one of the best singers out there. Plus, Jennifer Beals’ “The L Word Book” can be ordered now, and one TV couple left while another one is in the making.

k.d. lang performs “Hallelujah”

The 2010 Winter Olympics were kicked off with a big, yet moderate opening ceremony last Friday. Among the artists who were chosen to perform at the event were popular Canadian singers Nelly Furtado and Sarah McLachlan, but one of the most notable performances was the one by out singer k.d. lang, who moved the audience in the BC Place stadium and two billion TV viewers from all over the world with her powerful interpretation of Leonard Cohen’s “Hallelujah”.

A video of the performance is available online (h/t @SpiritedMuse for the link), but unfortunately only on the NBC website, where it is restricted to viewers within the United States. Videos that were uploaded to YouTube and other websites had to be taken down by request of the International Olympic Committee.

But of course, the Winter Olympics are not (only) about performances at the opening ceremony, but about sports. If you are interested in skiing, biathlon, figure skating and the like and want to know which women you might want to look for, AfterEllen has put together a list of out females athletes who will be competing in Vancouver.

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Don’t you just love it when you are given the chance to get a glimpse of what was going on behind the scenes of one of your favourite TV shows? Well, even if you don’t, you might still be interested in “The L Word Book”. During her six years on the show, actress Jennifer Beals kept a photographic journal of the cast and crew which she is now making available to the fans as well. The book does not only include 400 never-before-seen photos, but also other things like bits of scripts, callsheets and production memos.

“The L Word Book” can now be ordered from the official website, lwordbook.com. The proceeds from the book will go to several different charities.

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Even though the program schedule of German TV channel ARD was dominated by coverage of the Winter Olympics this week, it does not mean that its serial lesbians got a chance to take a breather.

On “Verbotene Liebe”, Carla and Stella said goodbye to family and friends to set off for the next stage of their journey together – marriage. Tuesday’s episode brought not only the two-week-long guest appearance by actresses Claudia Hiersche (”Carla”) and Anne Wis (”Stella”) to an end, but most likely the storyline itself. There has been no official confirmation that there will be no further guest appearances, but judging from the send-off they got and also from the fact that their names disappeared from the cast list on the official website this week as well, it seems more and more unlikely that they will return any time soon, if at all.

Goodbye, “Starla”: Actresses Claudia Hiersche (left) and Anne Wis

With Carla and Stella gone, it is time for Kerstin and Juliette on “Marienhof” to hurry up a little and finally get involved in order to prevent a void of lesbian couples on German soaps. (By the way, have the fans agreed on a name by now? Is it “Keriette” or “Kerstiette”?)

Unfortunately, Kerstin is still fighting her attraction to Juliette and is trying to prove to Juliette, the world and most of all herself that she is still in love with Raul and wants to be with him. Of course, Juliette is hurt by Kerstin’s behaviour, and it gets more and more difficult for them to work together, until the tensions finally become unbearable and they get into a bitter quarrel at the bakery…

Speaking of “Marienhof”, the girls of “Back Dat” will soon be joined by another lesbian. According to the official website, out singer Lucy Diakovska of the German band “No Angels” has just filmed two guest appearances, which will air in April and May, respectively. She will play a photographer who comes to the bakery to take pictures of Juliette and her chocolates.

Lucy Diakovska (left) with Maike von Bremen, who plays Juliette
(Picture: Das Erste)

While Carla and Stella are and Juliette and Kerstin will (hopefully) soon be happy together, things are not looking good for the lesbians on the German “Lindenstraße” and the British teenage drama “Skins”. On “Lindenstraße”, Steffi is still determined to open a chocolate shop. In order to get the money she needs, she starts to work for a drug dealer. When Tanja finds out about it, they get into a fight. Over in Bristol, the relationship of teenagers Emily and Naomi is on the rocks as Emily is unable to cope with the fact that Naomi cheated on her. (You can find recaps of the “Naomily” storyline both on AfterEllen and eurOut.)

And in the U.S., it looks like Callie and Arizona (”Grey’s Anatomy”) will soon not be the only lesbian couple on American network TV anymore. As AfterEllen reports, there will be a lesbian storyline on “Desperate Housewives”, starting this Sunday.

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“The Kids Are Alright”, the new movie by “High Art” director Lisa Cholodenko, won the Teddy Award 2010 for “Best Feature Film” at the Berlin International Film Festival. The movie is about a lesbian couple, played by Annette Bening and Julianne Moore, whose life gets complicated when their teenage children track down their biological father (Mark Ruffalo). You can read more about the award and the other lesbian movies in the competition over on eurOut.

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A tip for German readers: The current issue of German magazine “Gala” has an article about Ellen DeGeneres and Portia de Rossi in which their marriage is being described as one of the happiest in Hollywood. Though the article about “Hollywoods Power Duo” is not very informative and they even get some facts wrong, the pictures alone make it worth to take a look and maybe even buy it.

That’s it for this week. As always, let me know what you think in the comments.