It's deal day for Publisher's Lunch Weekly. Fresh out of the inbox:

General/Other
Marisha Pessl's NIGHT FILM, a psychological thriller about obsession, family loyalty and ambition set in raw contemporary Manhattan, moving to Kate Medina at Random House, by her new agent Amanda Urban at ICM.

Uh, so was that a nice deal? A very nice deal? A good deal? A significant deal? OR A MAJOR DEAL (a/k/a here's a check for half a million dollars, you win the author lotto again!) Inquiring minds are inquiring, and obviously, we wish we knew. While Word Up has been slightly divided and somewhat confused by the way Pessl and her publisher have handled her author publicity, we personally are enormous fans of her work. Special Topics in Calamity Physics was our favorite novel of 2006, after all. Speaking of, you know who should totally play Blue in the movie version? AMBER TAMBLYN. We only just had this revelation of sorts.

2/27/2008 11:52:11 AM by Sharon | Comments [3] |  

Uh oh. Thirteen people in Turkey were arrested for plotting to kill Nobel laureate Orhan Pamuk (My Name is Red).

What a surprise! Oprah's latest Book Club pick is Eckhart Tolle's self-help tome A New Earth. Congratulations, Eckhart -- please enjoy being the spiritual teacher for this entire nation.

Just...ew. From Publisher's Lunch Weekly: Bestselling authors Rory Freedman and Kim Barnouin's SKINNY BITCH JOURNAL, for publication in early 2009, and a book adapting the Skinny Bitch message for guys, for publication in fall 2009, again to Jennifer Kasius at Running Press, by Talia Cohen of Laura Dail Literary Agency (world).

1/31/2008 11:24:03 AM by Sharon | Comments [0] |  

The Wall Street Journal has a great piece on how Penguin built on the word-of-mouth success of Elizabeth Gilbert's Eat Pray Love, and turned the well-received hardcover into a paperback blockbuster.

Our favorite bit:

Selling Ms. Gilbert, the author, was just as crucial. Unlike many writers who don't like touring and are uncomfortable in front of crowds, Ms. Gilbert has a sunny, upbeat personality that plays well on television and in personal appearances. Notes [her publisher] Ms. Court: "When the writer of a book is attractive, generous, and funny, booksellers end up rooting for her."

Yup, sounds about right.

9/14/2007 11:52:09 AM by Sharon | Comments [0] |  

Dear Oprah,

Please stop it.

Now when I recommed Jeffrey Eugenides's Middlesex to people as one of my favorite coming-of-age novels of all time, they're going to be like, Gag, wasn't that shit on Oprah? Soon you'll put your Oprah Seal of Approval on all the new book pressings. I'll walk into the bookstore and I'll see it. I'll feel depressed. I can't help it. Listen, before you start talking about the literary version of "scene cred," and how lame it is, let me cut you off right now. I really could care less about loving a book that isn't cool to love because you love it and you make America love it. Srsly. And, I'm really happy for Jeffrey Eugenides because I think he's an incredible talent. I adore all his work.

It's just that you have this way of popularizing things and discussing them in a manner that takes away the spark of what made me first fall for it. Does that make sense?

I don't know what it is with you. Or with me. I'm double-talking. You see how you affect people? Damn you, Winfrey!!

No. Ok. I'm not angry. I just feel this weird resentment. What you're doing is good because it will expose people to another wonderful novel. Although I can't imagine what Middle American Housewives will think of a book that is basically about a transgendered teenager who first becomes a lesbian and then becomes a boy. Cal is amazing, and I don't want anyone to hate him. They might, and they can, but I don't want them to.

I'm worried about that.

I don't know what else to say. It's not like you can stop. I just really don't like you right now.

Stop screaming so loud when you announce your guests's names because it's really annoying,
Sharon

P.S. Can I have a car?

6/5/2007 1:03:25 PM by Sharon | Comments [0] |  

Fresh from Publisher's Lunch Weekly:

Humor
Borat Sagdiyev's BORAT: Touristic Guidings To Minor Nation of U.S. and A./BORAT: Touristic Guidings To Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan, two books in one -- half a guide to America for Kazakhs and the other half  a guide to Kazakhstan for Westerners, including illustrations and color photographs, to Suzanne Herz and Peter Gethers at Flying Dolphin, with Gethers editing, for publication in November 2007, by Dan Strone at Trident Media Group (NA).

UK rights to Jon Butler at Boxtree, by Jonny Geller at Curtis Brown UK.

Jay Louis's HOT CHICKS WITH DOUCHEBAGS: Deconstructing the Unholy Wrongness of Hottie/Douchey Coupling and How to Recover from the Douchebag Plague, based on the website HotChickswithDouchebags.com, to Jeremie Ruby-Strauss at Simon Spotlight Entertainment, by Michael Harriot at Vigliano Associates (world).

5/31/2007 10:40:33 AM by Sharon | Comments [0] |  

From today's Publisher's Lunch:

Crown has pulled back on another high-profile acquisition, deciding not to go forward with Melissa Dumas' LIVE TO TELL: My Life as Madonna's Nanny, which had been pre-empted in a major deal. The house simply says "it will not be publishing the memoir to be authored by Madonna's former nanny, Melissa Dumas. The rights to the book have been released to the author, who is represented by Martin Literary Management." Sharlene Martin says, "I deeply regret that Crown decided not to move forward in publishing Melissa Dumas' book. I had a wonderful experience with them with a previous nanny tome, You'll Never Nanny in This Town Again by Suzanne Hansen, and had hoped to repeat that experience."

Separately, England's Mirror reports that "Madonna, predictably enough, has risen from the lotus position to turn the full force of her legal team against rogue nanny Melissa Dumas in an attempt to silence her." (They also add an extra zero to the size of the advance Crown had offered.)

Geez, Madge, what could you possibly have to hide?

We're quite sure you're a wonderful parent and an excellent employer. Please do move back to New York. The city needs more aging hipster parents just like you!

3/15/2007 2:10:10 PM by Sharon | Comments [0] |  

Didn't get a chance to post about this last week, but better late than never. Straight from Publisher's Lunch:

Children's: Young Adult

Grammy-nominated musician Avril Lavigne's MAKE 5 WISHES color manga books, in which an introverted teenager gets a series of wishes granted by a demon go bad and then meets her hero -- Avril Lavigne, who helps her find the courage to conquer her own personal demons, to Betsy Mitchell at Del Rey Manga, for publication in April 2007 and July 2007, by Terry McBride at Nettwerk Management (world).

So, we've been balls-out in love with Av for ages now, and no, we can't justify why. It has something to do with her excessive hair straightening, her ability to finagle a modeling contract out of Ford despite her tiny stature, her weird siren-esque voice, and the fact that she got married young to a "punk" singer who sort of resembles a toad. We have also been playing her leaked single "Girlfriend," co-written by Dr. Luke (the magician behind "Since U Been Gone") on repeat for the past few days. And yeah, we think it's amazing.

But back to Av the author. Check the cartoonish styling on the cover of her new album, The Best Damn Thing. Whoever winds up inking the Make 5 Wishes strip would have no trouble cribbing a comic character Avril off this pic. Pink streaks? Was her stylist asleep on the job?

The new Mrs. Whibley: author, grrrl-power demon-fighter, heroine to introverted young girls everywhere. 

2/12/2007 3:51:18 PM by Sharon | Comments [1] |  

In the spirit of politics and exhaustion, today's Publisher's Lunch newsletter threw another hissy over this brief New York Times piece on Barack Obama's "surprise best seller," entitled The Audacity of Hope.

Says the Times:

"But its rapid rise to the No. 1 spot on the New York Times nonfiction list next Sunday, placing the author, the freshman Democratic senator from Illinois, ahead of heavyweight authors like John Grisham, Bill O’Reilly and even Bob Woodward, is something of a publishing stunner."

Pub Lunch retorts:

"More Cutting-Edge NYT Journalism: Obama a 'Surprise Best Seller'; 'A Stunner'
Barack Obama's previous book was a NYT bestseller for over 40 weeks (including 4 consecutive weeks at No. 1) in 2004 and 2005. After his election to the Senate, Crown and Random House Children's made a $1.9 million deal with him. Three weeks ago he was adored on Oprah, featured on the covers of major magazines, and booksellers across the country were selling thousands of tickets to signings and turning away customers (breaking records set by Bill Clinton). Now, finally, the NYT takes notice. But that's not enough. They conjure it as 'a surprise best seller' and 'something of a publishing stunner' (And they credit reviews from likes of their own Michiko as having 'certainly helped drive sales.')

And they wonder why newspapers are in trouble."

Pub Lunch, you're usually so perky and upbeat. What's with all the NYT haterade?

Also, thanks to the Bookslut blog, we've only just discovered The Guardian's Digested Read feature. It's hilarious. Here's a stunning excerpt from the latest, concerning Victoria Beckham's new book, That Extra Half an Inch. Posh, we had no idea you were such a cad!

Quoth The Guardian:

"I have no qualifications to write this book; that's why I've got someone else to do it for me. But let me share my insights anyway. First I'd like to knock something on the head. The idea that, once you have a bit of money, you start wearing couture and stilettos all day and live on caviar and champagne is just nonsense. They've both got far too many calories."

And what sound advice! We heart bargain shopping, too!

"I'm a great fan of vintage T-shirts. A word about vintage, though: it's easy to get confused about the difference between vintage and second-hand and that's because they're basically the same. If you want to be safe, look for something that's ridiculously overpriced. Blouses and halter-necks don't really do it for me, though you can wear them if you want to look like you shop at Primark, but nobody should be without a £1,000 Chanel cardigan. Have a look in charity shops if you can't afford a new one."

Now, if only we had your motivation when it comes to not eating and looking like a living corpse and befriending Katie Holmes for NO APPARENT REASON except to suck her into your creepy fembot cult. Oh, we're just jealous? Well, maybe we are, Mrs. Becks. But just remember how you used to roll:

Enough said, yeah?

 

11/9/2006 1:07:57 PM by Sharon | Comments [0] |  

Relax, Tim Gunn, it's just fashion!

Holler! Pardon the semi-sporadic postings up in here. Now that it's fall and Boston is a city again, there's ohsomuch more to do. Of late, we've been buried underneath an imposing stack of press releases that doesn't ever seem to get smaller -- though it does include some delicious upcoming author appearances that we'll obvs let you know about asap. 

Anyway, despite being crazybusy, there's always time for books -- even if we're forced downgrade our storytime to the commercials breaks of MTV's "TWO A DAYS" (utterly fascinating; we're learning so much about football and team spirit and the love of the game) or on the glorious, extremely efficient B line. Sometimes it's a little hard to concentrate on fiction while screaming students nearly claw our hair out in their misguided attempts to get a seat next to that hottie from Boston College with the popped collar who is wearing a flip-flops and socks ensemble (NO AND NO). But we'll manage! And we digress. We almost forgot this wasn't a fashion forum.

Oh wait, yes it is (sort of)!

Hear us out. Tim Gunn is...well, he's the closest thing to a diety that we know of at the moment, and before long, he will share a place on the coffee table in loving proximity to The Fug Awards. Fresh from our Publisher's Lunch Weekly deal round-up is this shining designer nugget:

Lifestyle
Fashion guru on the series Project Runway and the chair of fashion design at Parson's The New School for Design Tim Gunn's first book, TIM GUNN: A Guide to Style, written with Parsons' Kate Moloney, to Tamar Brazis and Susan Van Metre at Abrams Image, for publication in spring 2007.

Can we get a HELL YEAH?!

Also, if any of you six readers would care to share some insights with us in our handily provided comments section, Nina and I would be very pleased and grateful. Especially if you've attended any of the Readings & Signings we try to keep you informed about, or if you applied to that job with Pagan Kennedy, or if you just want to tell us to shut up and stop talking about Laguna Beach. Anything. Really. Please?

Make it work, guys. Carry on! We'll see YOU at Red Lobster, Tim-bo.

9/21/2006 6:12:38 PM by Sharon | Comments [1] |  

Iron Man: Where are the chapter outlines at?

We love it when this sort of thing is regulated to a mere blip in Publisher's Lunch. Way to bury the lead, guys:

"Ghostface Killah may be out $50,000 after he apparently got spooked by a deadline for his memoir. A Manhattan judge has ordered the Wu-Tang Clan member to return his advance when he repeatedly failed to give HarperCollins a manuscript, due in January 2002, The News' Jose Martinez reports. The rapper, who stood to make $200,000 upon delivery, wasn't available for comment."

Pay the thug up, homie. Though I doubt your publicity team over at HarperCollins is at all perturbed by the delay. This is one pitch we're glad we don't have to make.

 

9/13/2006 12:33:40 PM by Sharon | Comments [0] |  

Hey hi, did you miss us? The internerd at Phoenix HQ was all crazy and unreliable through the end of last week. Thank Christ the www is just a series of tubes. Rest easy, everything's fixed now. Here's an interesting bit from the inbox:

Via Publisher's Marketplace:

Over the weekend the Wall Street Journal looked at books that come with soundtracks--sometimes formally packaged with the book, sometimes informally posted on the web. "The idea is that as they read, people can listen to music that matches the mood of the books. In some cases, the songs are mentioned in the books themselves; in others, the lyrics mirror themes or plot points."

James Patterson spent $100,000 commissioning a CD for one of his Maximum Ride titles, and 100,000 cds were sent to radio stations and given away as promos.

One bellwether site: "One byproduct of the book soundtrack trend has been the transformation of a grassroots music blog into a coveted marketing slot for authors like Mr. Ellis and Mr. Klosterman. The blog, called Largehearted Boy, features a running series called 'Book Notes.' About once a week, an author of a recent book posts a list of songs that inspired the work or that readers might want to listen to as they turn the pages."

We'd link you directly to the WSJ article, but the squares over there don't like giving away any of their content for free. No matter--we heart the idea of book soundtracks and wish more novels (aside from James Patterson fodder) came with a compilation CD. It reminds us of the mixtape Charlie made in one of our fave YA books of all time, The Perks of Being a Wallflower, by Stephen Chbosky. Written in letter-form, Perks is sort of an update on The Catcher in the Rye, though Charlie is nowhere near as entitled as Holden. Charlie is intelligent, shy, introspective, and an old-soul-type whose correspondence to an anonymous stranger takes on the intimate qualities of a journal. It's beautiful and sad and one of the best modern coming-of-age stories this half of Word Up has ever read, so there!

People either love it or hate it (there are over a thousand reviews posted on its Amazon.com page), though usually they love it. Each time we reference this book in conversation, someone owns up to copying Charlie's mix. We have yet to attempt it, though it'd probably create the perfect atomosphere for a reread. 

Here's the tracklist:

Asleep by the Smiths
Vapour Trail by Ride
Scarborough Fair by Simon & Garfunkel
A Whiter Shade of Pale by Procol Harum
Time of No Reply by Nick Drake
Dear Prudence by the Beatles
Gypsy by Suzanne Vega
Nights in White Satin by the Moody Blues
Daydream by Smashing Pumpkins
Dusk by Genisis
MLK by U2
Blackbird by the Beatles
Lanslide by Fleetwood Mac
Asleep by the Smiths

Sountrack to your favorite book? Commentary welcome.

8/21/2006 4:30:31 PM by Sharon | Comments [1] |  

The United Nations Education, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) monitors both the number and type of books published per country per year. In 2005, the US shelved 172,000 new books. We only came in second to the UK, which printed a total of 206,000.

With numbers like that it's no surprise to anyone -- especially struggling writers -- that landing a book deal, or even just scoring an agent, has gotten harder than debuting a number one pop single without ever having released a record. It helps if you're as cute as Lily Allen. But most unpublished fiction writers we know (ourselves included) are perpetually exhaustinated, malnourished, and pasty. We avoid contact with fresh air and sunshine and other humans in favor of the warm glow MS Word v. 6.0 emits on our laptop. Just livin life, ya'll.

Since we're always staring at a computer screen, we were thrilled to learn via handy press release that the relationship of writers to publishers is being TRANSFORMED by a little thang called electronic mail. The release, courtesy Publishersandagents.net:

"At one time, a new book author had to go through an agent to sell a book to a major publisher. But now with e-mails and a compelling query, writers with a good story have been able to break through and achieve major deals...It's an approach that has been changing the relationship between writers and publishers, connecting them directly or helping writers find agents to close the deal with already interested publishers."

That was a convulted way of saying that P&A.net is one of many companies that sends out mass email pitch queries to agents and publishers for a subscription fee. They also offer special tools and tricks to beefing up your query letter and getting your manuscript read and reviewed, rather than tossed in to the slush pile or trashed as spam. Well, we used to work in publishing, and the other assistant in our office would sometimes forward us horrible pitch letters that we would giggle over during our five second lunch break. So it's true that a smart query can make a difference in getting treated like a professional -- even if your actual manuscript is terrible. There are horrible books being published every day. We know. We read them in airports and buy them at the supermarket for kitch value.

If you head over to P&A.net's extremely meta website that looks like something out of AOL's Hometown Member pages circa 1997 (who needs spell-checker when you've got 15 pt Tahoma fonts?), you can read testimonials from over 150 clients who claim to have either found a publisher or gained an agent from this service.

NANOWRIMO is four months away, and like we do every year, we torture ourselves into thinking we're actually going to give it a shot come November 1st. Realistically speaking we'll probably just wind up trying to send out a short story or two so that we can collect the rejection letters in a shoebox to show our grandchildren when we want to prove we were once exciting and creative in our youth. Bottom line, though, is we want to be published. We're also poor as hell and can't afford P&A's subscription-only magic. Plus, we like masochistic, large projects that consume vast quantities of our time. So we've decided to compile a list of free resources that'll have you on your merry way to proofing galleys at the local coffee shop. Those trustafarians scribbling in their painstakingly decorated journal-notebooks are so gonna wish they were you. Oh, and leave a comment if you think we're missing something important, because there's a shitton out there and we're still new at this, too. 

1. Poets & Writer's Magazine: Links to 429 literary magazines where you can send poems and short stories, as well as 156 small presses that are likelier to entertain unsolicited pitches from unknown or unpublished authors.
2. The Council of Literary Magazines and Small Presses (CLMP).
3. New Pages' handy Guide to Literary Magazines. Read as many as you can, and send your work to those that share the aesthetic of your voice, your subject, and your style. They're all looking for something different, which means you should tailor your submissions to the magazines that want exactly what you've already done.
4. Better yet, New Pages' Guide to Online Literary Magazines. Start here and work your way up to print -- online lit mags are well-respected and just as widely read (if not more so -- free content?!) as print mags. And many of them submit to Best Of collections -- which means, if an online mag prints your work, you're in the running.
5. Grub Street: More links to literary and press guides, as well as info on New England writer's residences, local mags calling for submissions, and upcoming contests. The fall class schedule at Grub St. should be up in a few weeks here.
6. Good god, we heart Ploughshares, Emerson College's esteemed literary journal. They're tough to crack, but if you're a local, you've got to send here. They might even get back to you with a personalized rejection letter (seriously, that's cool). Or, they could accept your work, which would give you enormous bragging rights forever and ever and ever.
7. And holy shit we're totally obsessed with Zoetrope: All-Story, too. Reach for your dreams!
8. Keeping up with Publisher's Weekly, the industry's trade magazine standard for news and pre-pub reviews, is a great way to find out more about current literary trends in case you're sitting on something you can tailor to the demands. It's not necessarily worth the subscription fee, but the Web Exclusives still allows you to access most reviews, as well as the PWJobZone. Working in the industry can only help you learn the ins and outs of how to get published.
9. So You Wanna: Publish a Book, Publish a Short Story, Publish a Poem: Obvious yet simple. Step-by-step instructions to doing each of these things.
10. Subscribe to Publisher's Lunch (run by Publisher's Marketplace), a daily e-mail newsletter that publishes deal news, trends, job opportunities, and industry coups: PublishersLunch-subscribe@topica.com
11. Atlantic Monthly's comprehensive list of Boston publishers and media is a good resource for local publishers to pitch to, not to mention internship opportunities if you're still in school.
12. Neil Gaiman runs a much beloved author blog, and he has some wise suggestions and a bevy of links on this post, which answered a reader's query last January.
13. MediaBistro: Excellent, heavily updated content on everything that has anything to do with publishing -- media, books, the works. And you don't need to be an AvantGuild member to learn.
14. Don't count on Craig's List: $850 for a short story? Is this f'reals?
15. Start a blog, get a book deal. We'll be waiting for that phone call.

 

 

8/1/2006 3:01:49 PM by Sharon | Comments [0] |  

We're delighted to regurgitate the completely phenomenal news that the snarky ladies behind one of our favorite blogs, the most triumphant Go Fug Yourself, have just landed book deal worth at least a quarter of the total value of Sienna Miller's capri leggings collection:

Publisher's Marketplace reports the sale of "Heather Cocks and Jessica Morgan's The Fug Awards, fashion critiques of celebrity outfits from the authors of a popular website, to Jeremie Ruby-Strauss at Simon Spotlight Entertainment, in a good deal, by Scott Hoffman at Folio Literary Management (NA)."

You may ask, why would anyone want to purchase a gossip book when we can spend our salaries on weekly tabloids that offer the trash on a budget (or get it free on the Internerd)? And didn't blogger book options jump the shark after former SPIN editor Sarah Lewitinn (aka DJ Ultragrrrl) turned blogger failed to produce a phenomenon with The Pocket DJ?

Perhaps. That aside, this is huge, friends. We are rooting for this one. We want to see it on bestseller lists. The New York Times. The Post. We want to give The Fug Awards away as gifts. People need to experience the joys of fugly fasion -- the whole world should know. So suffice it to say, we'd totally fork over the cash for a coffee table tome about wealthy celebrities with "an unfortunate dress sense" -- as long as its authored by these two. 

When the Fug website (at less than a year old) was linked by Defamer, it found its way to the bookmarks of countless fashion editors and landed the Fug Girls commentary spots on VH-1's Awesomely Badder Fashion. They haven't been nicknamed the Joan and Melissa Rivers of the web for nothing. Except they're younger and hotter, and have even better TV jobs (Cocks is a senior story producer for America's Next Top Model).  

An example, for your pleasure, entitled Califugia, which we adored to such a degree we have a print out hanging above our desk at home. Jessica takes down one of the Fuggers' prime victims: the lovely Mischa Barton. Despite her obvious beauty, her "acting"/modeling career that place her in the paparazzo spotlight, and her natural ability to make Keds look cool again, Mischa makes appalling errors in style and taste on a disturbingly regular basis. We aren't just referring to her long-term relationship with Brandon "firecrotch" Davis and unnerving decision to rebound with gross-to-the-max Cisco Adler. It's the fact that she can look gorgeous one day. Stunning. The next, she's willing to walk about in public wearing items that should be regulated to people who just came home from their high school prom circa 1989, were too tired to fully change into PJs but also didn't want to totally remove their rumpled finery from their bodies because they were really excited they got to dress up for a party and dance with the super tall point guard on Varsity. We're getting ahead of ourselves:

"Is that what you're doing? Is this a conscious ploy for my attention? A cry for help? Or is this some kind of sartorial version of You Got Served? Is this like the part where the kid spins around on his head, except the spinning has been replaced by purple velour sweatpants worn -- sweet God, no -- with a RICK-RACK SEQUINED CARDIGAN?

Do you REALLY want to do this to yourself, Mischa? Do you really want to hurt me? Do really want to make me cry? Do you want to make my eyes bleed? What other reason could you possibly have for dressing like your boyfriend's grandmother,  Barbara Davis, from the waist up? Not to mention the fact that, according to W magazine, Barbara Davis raises kajillions of dollars for charity each year and when she sees you in those pants, she may very well think the you need some of that money to BUY YOURSELF PANTS THAT ARE APPROPRIATE TO WEAR WITH A CARDIGAN and, oh, will it be embarrassing when she tries to write you a check at brunch next week."

LOLZZ HAHA OMG. It's almost too much! But not really. If you like that, check out the Fugger's Mischa Barton/O.C. Gang archive. The Ashlee & Jessica Simpson and Lindsay Lohan posts are utterly priceless. And huge confidence builders! When the mood strikes, the Fug Girls are known to indulge in short one act plays, or spoof diary entries. They've recently initiated a running feature called "Ask Aunt Fugly" -- it's incredible to witness the kind of creative verbal diarrhea that bad fashion can inspire in two great writers.  It's all splendid, and we're sure the main cast of characters will get the attention they deserve in the forthcoming book. However, the real glowing jewel here, and what we hope to see expanded upon considerably in The Fug Awards, are Britney's Letters of Truth. In light of her shitshow of an outfit for her 2004 Billboard Awards appearance, the Fuggers unite World History, Ice Capades, and Mrs. K-Fed in one riotous post. Oh, how the mighty have fallen:

"But let's talk about my outfit because it is so totally cute. When the salesgirl at the Dress Barn told me that I looked like a lampshade, I knew I had to have it. Also, when I was getting ready and Jamie Lynne was helping me and brushing my hair -- and she brushed it really, really hard, y'all, I almost cried -- and she told me I looked like a refugee from a Third World road tour of the Ice Capades, I knew it was the right choice for tonight because Jamie really loves ice skating. Then she said something about how at least my hair doesn't look like I brushed it with a Mix Master and I totally don't know what that means but I am pretty sure it was nice."

Last year, Nina Garcia, the fashion director of Elle magazine, made the mistake of telling one Project Runway contestant (was it Santino? we can't remember) to "Relax...it's just fashion." Clearly, Nina, it is not JUST fashion. And unlike the detractors who claim the Fuggers are setting back feminism or don't know what the hell they're talking about, we say, shut your face! Fug On, Fug Girls. NOBODY looks pretty in red bloomers. Not even you, Duff.

ELSEWHERE:
* Jossip on the Fuggers
* Gawker on the Fuggers
* NPR's Alex Chadwick intervews Jessica Morgan
* Ostrich Ink hearts the Fuggers
* Leggings: Fug or not Fug?

7/28/2006 12:56:02 PM by Sharon | Comments [0] |