Go Fug Yourself

I've documented my long standing love for Television Without Pity in this blog before. Although most of the original crew have flown the coop since Bravo bought them out and their new interface is ridiculous, I do still love their site. When I first started reading, Jessica was the recapper for Dawson's Creek and she did a wonderful job documenting the hatred we all felt for Dawson. I still go back occasionally and read her recaps which contain wonderful sentiments about Pacey and Joey like, "And then he reaches up and kisses her. Aw. Aww. Eee! EEEE! Aw. Ahem."

Eventually, I found out that Jessica (Morgan) and Heather Cocks, another recapper, wrote the best blog ever: Go Fug Yourself. They post pictures of celebrities at events and make fun of them. It's awesome. As luck would have it, they've just written a book called Go Fug Yourself presents The Fug Awards. The first award is titled Girl, Please and it only gets better from there. Chloe Sevigny wins the Bronzed Uggs for the first award, and rightly so. Clay Aiken is up for Male in Most Imminent Peril and I must agree. He frightens me so very much; they describe his new-ish look as two parts Paul Reubens, one part k.d. lang. Indeed. Sadly, Rupert Grint is also nominated in this category. Oh Ron...you should have stuck with the sweaters Mrs. Weasley knit for you for Christmas. The book goes on to make fun of Tyra Banks' hair, Tara Reid's plastic surgery, Fergie's lack of fashion sense and also rag on their favorite targets. Bai Ling, Sienna Miller, Paris Hilton, Britney Spears and Lindsay Lohan all get their proper face time during the awards. The book is fabulously funny and some of the outfits are truly horrifying. And, as always, Heather and Jessica add their signature snide and snarky commentary that includes references to Dynasty and Passions. Oh Passions, I miss you almost as much as I loved this book.

Cheer!

When I got my room assignment for my dorm my freshman year of college, I was so excited. Imagine my surprise when I moved in and my roommate proceeded to cover her half of the room with cheerleading memorabilia from high school. I got to help her practice for a try-out with the spirit squad and deal with the reaction when she didn't make it. I only knew about cheerleading from Bring It On and was not exactly prepared for the *clap* "Ready, OK?!" that came out of her mouth in normal, everyday situations.

Amazingly, my experience was nothing compared to the extremely dedicated college cheerleaders that appear in Cheer!: Three Teams on a Quest for College Cheerleading's Ultimate Prize. Author Kate Torgovnick follows the Memphis All-Girl Tigers, the Stephen F. Austin University Lumberjacks and the Southern University Jaguars in this well-written and extremely informative book. After a very interesting history of cheerleading, Torgovnick introduces the three teams at try-outs and follows them through to various National competitions. The author is clearly passionate about her subject and that shines through in her writing. Although readers may have many stereotypes about cheerleading, Torgovnick shows that this is a sport worthy of our attention. The drama is real because the stakes are high for these dedicated athletes. I really enjoyed this book and was amazed at how fast I got sucked in to the stories of the men and women on these three teams. It's always exciting to find a subject fascinating when you never thought you'd even like it.