We don’t publish enough book reviews here on Trashwire–possibly because we don’t read enough books–but E L James’ Fifty Shades of Grey is such a ginormous success that it warrants a bit of commentary. Let me start off by saying that I’m no English Lit major and I’m not a big time reader, but I have read my fair share of book-to-screen adaptations and, since this book will soon become a movie, I feel qualified to make a judgement call. This review will contain some spoilers, so consider yourself warned!

As most of you probably already know, Fifty Shades of Grey tells the story of Anastasia Steele, an innocent, bookish virgin, who happens to fall in love with a masochistic, manipulative, handsome billionaire by the name of Christian Grey. Christian’s tastes are on the kinky side and Anastasia is simultaneously frightened and turned on by all the ways he intends to “punish” her as his sex slave in their dominant/submissive BDSM relationship.

At first, things are interesting and even a bit tantalizing. Christian’s mysterious and charming, but we know he’s got a dark side, we just don’t know how very, very dark that side is. He’s rather inexplicably taken with Anastasia, much as Edward Cullen is captivated by the blasé, underdeveloped Bella Swan in Twilight, which inspired the Fifty Shades trilogy. We’re drawn along with her in her journey to find out more about this extremely wealthy, extremely handsome and, it turns out, extremely twisted individual. There’s a little bit of a power play between the two, but it’s the kind of flirtatious intimidation one expects in a relationship. He’s so staggeringly perfect, at least to her, and she struggles to match him in wit and confidence.

The graphic sex scenes are also much-discussed, though they get a bit boring since Anastasia and Christian are banging every few pages. Anastasia’s “inner goddess”, the devil on her shoulder, keeps rearing her ugly head and her little insights get a bit tiresome. Really, none of this stuff is anything you couldn’t read on the internet or in one of those $.99 eBooks on the Barnes & Noble Nook store, so it’s only riling people up because these books are actually popular. Still, Anastasia seems to be having fun exploring the world of crazy, wild, impulsive sex with her super hot beau.

Things get a bit weird when Christian reveals that he’s into spanking, whipping, caning, and tying up women to get his kicks. For some reason, Anastasia is down with this, mostly in an effort to make him happy as opposed to a genuine interest or desire to be someone’s submissive. Even then, it’s kind of amusing to hear the couple negotiate rules and “safe words” and all sorts of parameters for their relationship. Anastasia’s email exchanges with Christian are particularly sharp and quite funny.

And then it gets darker.

Christian wants Anastasia to sign a contract (specifically noted as being legally unenforceable, likely in an effort to make him seem less of a monster) that gives him control over most aspects of her life including her wardrobe, diet and the amount of sleep she must get each night. To her credit, she proves to not be a completely idiotic character and offers up some negotiations, though all her limits seem rather hollow as it’s clear in the first few pages that this girl will do absolutely anything her wealthy sadist wants.

Let the “punishments” begin! Christian is a fan of spanking, but not in that tee-hee playful kind of way. He likes hurting her, leaving her sore and crying. And, incomprehensibly, this girl keeps going back for more because she decides she can put up with the floggings since the sex is so good. I’m calling bullshit right here. Now, I’m sure there are girls who would dig this kind of thing, but the way Anastasia’s character is set up leaves no real explanations as to why she’s so willing to accept this kind of abusive relationship. Sure the innocent girl and the dangerous guy are common literary and cinematic traditions, but it seems like most of these romances are about the bad boy’s transition into a good boy, a loving boy, a boy who no longer wants to do any type of damage to his leading lady. Fifty Shades seems to be about a girl’s transition from interesting, intelligent, compelling character into obedient, brainless, easily manipulated servant. What’s up with that?

What disturbs me the most about this series is its popularity among women, particularly bored housewives and soccer moms. Maybe it’s a need to indulge in a fantasy world that’s very different from their own, maybe it’s a curiosity for kink without actually having to go out an buy whips and chains, but I sincerely hope it’s not because of a desire to be physically and emotionally harmed in a relationship. Love isn’t about tearing the other person down and making them feel cheap, worthless, confused and sore and our literary and cinematic objects of desire shouldn’t be about it either. In the time of birth control debates and GOP-fueled threats to women’s rights, what does it say about our gender if we want to be in a relationship where a man controls us and abuses us?

I know people in the BDSM community have had issues with the book as well, claiming that it doesn’t accurately depict the nature of that lifestyle. I don’t think those people would call what they’re doing dangerous abuse, not even the submissives in the relationship, but that’s what it all boils down to in Fifty Shades. Christian is abusive. Christian is manipulative Christian physically injures Anastasia. Christian emotionally destroys her. But somehow that’s ok?

Maybe I’m just the kind of mouthy, headstrong, boss-lady type of woman who Christian Grey would love to break in his “Red Room of Pain”, but I just don’t think a relationship should be based on suffering. Simply put I don’t find anything particularly appealing about the relationship between the two characters. In fact, I find it troubling that a nation of women are digging this and are identifying with Anastasia. I’m on the fence about reading the remaining two books in the trilogy. Part of me is appalled, but part of me is intrigued at how bad this thing could actually get. While I may have a slight masochistic desire to finish the other books in this series, I’m not exactly going to let someone bend me over their knee and spank me with them.

Follow @trashwire on Twitter because Alexis will be tweeting live from San Diego Comic Con! Make sure to swing back by Trashwire regularly for blog posts, pics, videos, interviews and lots of other Comic Con stuff that just won’t fit into 140 characters.

Not on Twitter? (Are you crazy?!) No worries, because you can read Alexis’ tweets right here in the @trashwire Twitter feed…

Occasionally, it dawns on me that a lot of people I know aren’t on Twitter and haven’t seen my frequent (and some might say incessant) updates from the last week. As a result, I’m writing this blog as a continuation of my first “Basketball Diaries” post–which has nothing to do with Jim Carroll, Leonardo DiCaprio, or heroin–to detail the action, intrigue and adventure during my most recent trip out to the desert to spend some time with the Phoenix Suns.

I arrived in Phoenix on Thursday afternoon with just enough time to drop my stuff off at my dad’s house before hopping in the car with my stepmom, Suzanne, and my two little brothers, Ryan and Jack. We arrived at the gigantic U.S. Airways Center just in time to make a quick stop by the family room and head to our seats for the Suns game against the Cleveland Cavaliers.

Having never seen Lebron James play, I must admit that I was really excited. After all, this is a guy who has been dubbed the “Chosen One” by nearly every broadcaster and sports writer. On thing that is instantly striking about him when you see him in person is his sheer size. Not only is he 6’8″, but he’s built like a football player and looks solid as a rock! It was amazing to see him on the court with Grant Hill, who is the same height, but is about 40lbs lighter. With his size and speed, James is a force to be reckoned with and the excitement started to build as we watched him walk onto the court.

I was equally thrilled to have the opportunity to support my dudes at my first Suns home game. The seats were fantastic, and very close to the Suns bench, so we could see all the expression on the players’ faces. I was a little sad that Shaq didn’t utilize his “L.P.C.” (or Levitation Process Crew for those who don’t keep up on the Big Shaqtus’ musings) during his introduction, but still psyched at the prospects of watching a great game.

And what a great game it was!

Going in, I had my fingers crossed, but wasn’t very hopefully about the prospects of an Amare-less Suns team even getting within the realm of a win over the #1 team in the league. Still, I had faith in our guys and knew they would give it their all. Sure enough, there were points when the Suns were even leading the Cavs, but in the end, the powers of The Chosen One prevailed.

After the exciting game, the next notable event was heading back to the arena for practice.

It’s been a long time since I’ve gone with my dad to practice. The last time I went was when he was with the Clippers and I probably spent most of the time texting or playing Snake on my cell phone. This time I spent a lot of time on my cell phone too, but instead of zoning out, I was snapping pictures and posting updates on Twitter.

As I walked around the locker room, I caught a glimpse of something sure to be familiar to Suns fans that, like myself, spend a lot of time avoiding work by browsing the clips in the multimedia section on suns.com. Yep, it was the infamous bike belonging to everyone’s favorite ponytailed PF, Lou Amundson. I overheard a few potential plots to hide the bike, but it managed to stay in the same place the whole day, something I can only attribute to Shaq having the day off.

I chilled out on the sidelines of the practice court as coaches Dan Majerle, Bill Cartwright and Igor Kokoskov worked with the younger players like Robin Lopez, Jared Dudley, Alando Tucker, Goran Dragic and Amundson. As things started to wind down, Dudley, Tucker, Dragic and Amundson played a quick game as my dad Alvin Gentry and the other coaches gave hilarious commentary.

When the court was mostly cleared, my brothers started taking shots at the hoop closest to where I was sitting. At one point, the ball got away from my brother Jack and rolled over to where Dragic was sitting with Tucker out on the sidelines. Dragic asked if Jack wanted to see him make a shot from the chair. When my disbelieving brother said he did, Dragic dribbled a couple times and then nailed a perfect shot that could have been used by a foley artist for the “swish” sound effect. My thoroughly impressed brothers looked back at him in awe as he laughed and continued to talk with Tucker.

After practice, I hung out in my dad’s office while he did a few interviews. I knew my way around the locker room simply because I had visited the virtual locker room on suns.com a few hundred times browsing the clickable items and looking for easter eggs. As I came down the hallway with the Suns history wall, I ran into Tucker, Dragic and Amundson, who joked with me earlier about the “boring” way I was spending my Friday afternoon. They were gathered around as one of the trainers was performing what seemed to be a magic trick. First, he had Dragic stand on one foot, and then pushed him off balance. Next he told Dragic to hold on to a plastic card with the mysterious ability to stabilize whoever possessed it. To everyone’s surprise, it did seem to make a noticeable difference in Dragic’s ability to stay balanced, even when others attempted to knock him off. Disbelieving, Tucker volunteered to try it himself and was again shocked when it seemed to work for him too.

I made the first step in “Operation Get Lou on Twitter” by telling him that, as someone with an iPhone, signing up for Twitter is practically required before I headed off with the family to get some lunch.

The next day was the Suns home game against the Thunder. With a less intimidating challenger, I was able to relax a bit more.

After the game, it was on to the bus and then on to the plane to head to San Francisco/Oakland for the game against the Golden State Warriors.

My only other NBA road trip experience was many years ago with the L.A. Clippers, who didn’t own a plane, but rather chartered one. The Suns are a whole different ball game, so to speak. Upon stepping onboard, I was warmly greeted by the flight attendants who had everyone’s snack/drink orders memorized. Large trays of food were available as the guys filed in and went to their comfy seats. I sat with my dad up in the coaches’ section as we snacked on appetizers. The coaches took out their MacBook Pros and started watching that night’s game as I pulled out Watchmen, turned on my iPod, and wondered how the hell I could ever fly commercial again. Through the flight, we were offered any kind of delicious food we could ever want, including ice cream sandwiches and warm cookies and milk. We were treated to an equally V.I.P. experience upon arrival at the St. Regis Hotel.

That evening at the arena before the game, I had my first chance to talk to Robin Lopez. Having similar nerdy interests, I had a wonderful conversation with him about the omission of the Black Freighter plot in Watchmen, John K. animation, Facebook etiquette and other similarly geeky topics. Having met tons of NBA players in my life, I found Lopez delightfully unique and gained a whole new appreciation for the 7ft. reserve Center.

The game was the cherry on top of an already rad day. The Suns showcased some trademark “fancy pants” basketball scoring 154 points in the win, an NBA season high. Jason Richardson, in particular, was on fire and Hill, Shaq and Matt Barnes had several highlight reel moments.

The next day as I waited at the gate to board the magical coach that had turned back into a Southwest pumpkin for my flight back home to Denver, I was already starting to think about my next trip out to Planet Orange.

Normally, it’s a bad idea when celebrities blog. They typically have nothing to say, can’t seem to figure out the shift key, and use sentences that run on like a marathon athlete. There are, however, a few exceptions and this is certainly one of them.

Trashwire has always had much love for My Chemical Romance, but after reading this review of VH1′s The Pick Up Artist 2 by lead singer Gerard Way, you’ll understand why I’ve become thoroughly addicted to the revamped My Chemical Romance blog (RSS) and the band’s twitter posts.

“You ARE the Pick Up Artist.”

I gotta admit, I got the chills when I heard Mystery say that in last night’s season finale of The Pickup Artist 2.

I don’t even know how I started watching this show it’s first season. I think it may have had to do with the fact I was hooked on Rock Of Love and they would play this afterwards. I think that’s a very old method that networks use called “piggy-backing”, and would explain why shows like “How I met Your Mother” or “My Fair Brady” even make it to their 2nd seasons.

But this show is quality.

And even more interesting than the contestants, challenges, and the orange spray-tan club goers of Scottsdale, Arizona (of COURSE this is where the show is filmed) is Mystery’s wardrobe.

This is a man that knows how to take RISKS.
Mind you, these aren’t risks that I would ever take but you gotta respect a guy thats Ren-Faire from the neck down and fighter-pilot meets X-Games roadie from the neck up. With Gladiator boots.

And can we talk about how likable this guy is?
This is a man that eats his own cereal in the morning if you know what I’m saying.

I felt that Simeon was a strong contender after the last few episodes, having clearly built up a momentum, and adopting a straw cowboy hat seemed to make a big difference. Did he win that in a reward challenge from Mystery? Like some sort of +5 Holy Avenger? (You PUA2 contestants know EXACTLY what I’m talking about)
I also felt Matt was a strong player as well, but I felt they both should have been penalized for their continued use of the same openers in the finale.

I would also like to point out that Matt’s best friend, Chuck, on the previous episode, was not only totally fucking awesome, but also a really amazing comic book artist, who does a book Black Metal for Oni Press. I actually met Matt at the Eisners, as he was friends with Gabriel and had also taken home an Eisner for his comic. I found it interesting they made no mention of him being a comic artist in the episode, but I assumed Mystery felt this would have only hurt his chances in the club, although I feel “Hey I draw comics” is a much better opener than “My friends and I just completed a caper”. But what do I know about this stuff?

One of the reasons I like this show is the fact that it is the least competitive reality show on television. There is no drama, just dudes having each other’s back, and they are genuinely sad when one of their competitors gets the axe. This is an emotional, life-changing journey for these dudes.

The same cannot be said of Rock Of Love: Charm School or Paris Hilton’s My New BFF. Lots of claws flying around.
Charm School had it’s worst episode yet last night, but then again how do you follow an episode where the ladies have degenerated to spitting and plate throwing, drunk the whole time (suprise!). And I back Sharon Osborne, she is fun to watch, but the sock puppet thing didn’t hold me.

Paris Hilton’s New BFF we stopped watching after Kaylee got booted. That girl knew how to party, dress, live life, be fabulous. We think she would have made an excellent BFF. What’s that leave? Bikini Corey? Please…

Some of you may be asking yourselves, “Does reality T.V. make you dumber?”
My answer to this is “Absolutely, yes”.

But I figured I should be okay for a little wile…

xo
G

For more fantastic, insightful, hilarious and brilliant posts, check out mychemicalromance.com and be sure to browse the twitter pages for Gerard Way, Bob Bryar, Ray Toro, Mikey Way, and Frank Iero.

Trashwire’s own Pat Sue Gentry shares her thoughts on the 2008 MTV Video Music Awards…

Watching the VMAs last night was, in a word, torture. The only saving grace was Russell Brand, who managed to actually be entertaining during the ignominious joke of a ceremony we were all watching.

At times it was more like the Kids Choice Awards then the VMAs, but during the Lil Wayne performances it sunk down to some kind of “Pimps Up, Hos Down Convention” in Vegas.

The opinions and “messages” ranged from “promise to save sex for marriage”, to “give it up like free lunch”. And we wonder why kids are confused. So now half of the music industry are born-agains, who think everyone else is a super slut?

I was also left feeling like hip hop should really take a long hard look at itself. I used to be a big fan of rap; Dr. Dre, Snoop, Eminem, and Jay Z were played in my car every day, but then it all took a left somewhere and now we have Lil Wayne and T-pain and nothing can make me run from rap music faster than watching dudes whose main talent is knowing how to work a synthesizer yell into microphones while holding their man junk like it’s about to fall off.

I really don’t’ want to know which underwear brand Lil Wayne prefers. I don’t want to see every lyric sung while limping around the stage holding on to his balls. I can’t decide what bugs me the most the clothing style or the lyrics. Rap of today is not even classy enough to be played at truck stop strip clubs.

Someday, can we make fun of that trend like we do of the giant hair bands of the 80’s? Why wait–let the ridicule begin now!!!

Lastly, on Britney Spears’ awards that just kept coming: It is apparent MTV felt really guilty about putting Brit on stage last year when they knew she had more than one wheel in the sand. This year they piled up awards on her and hoped that would make it all better. To be honest, her competition was pretty weak, but right on for Britney and let’s hope it keeps her from sporting the pink wig and going down the rabbit hole again.

Next year, unless I have a lobotomy, I won’t be watching!

This story began as a post on the Trashwire.com blog. If you are interested in contributing to Trashwire, please use the Contact Us form to send us your story.

Check out the Trashwire Blog for full-size versions and additional pics.

The annual White House Correspondents’ Association Dinner in Washington D.C. can be one of the most bizarre and surreal events of the year. Where else are you going to be able to chat with Henry Kissinger and Heidi Montag in the same room?

This year’s event marked the fourth time Trashwire has covered the pre-party scene and, as usual, it didn’t disappoint.

The list of celebrity attendees was across the board, ranging from frequent guest like the beautiful Morgan Fairchild (who has attended more than 10 times) to WHCAD newbies like Dennis Hof, owner of Nevada’s Moonlight Bunny Ranch.

To my pleasant surprise, the guest list seemed to favor humor with comedy stars like Joel McHale (host of The Soup on E!), Harold and Kumar‘s Kal Penn, B.J. Novak of The Office, SNL star Will Forte, and comedienne Tracey Ullman packing into the various ballrooms in the basement of the Washington Hilton. The dinner was even hosted by late night show host Craig Ferguson, who recently became a US citizen and joked about his new right to complain.

The star-studded event also included movie stars like Aaron Eckhart of Thank You For Smoking and The Dark Knight, British actors Rupert Everett and Colin Firth, moguls like Martha Stewart, journalists from Katie Couric to Charlie Rose, hot blondes Jenny McCarthy and Pam Anderson, everyone’s favorite blogger Perez Hilton, teen music superstars The Jonas Brothers and even an appearance from a possibly pregnant Ashlee Simpson and fiance Pete Wentz of Fall Out Boy.

Instead of doing a play-by-play of the pre-event parties, I’ve decided to change it up and give yearbook-style superlatives for some of my most memorable interactions of the evening.

The Derek Zoolander award for most “really, really, ridiculously good looking”: Aaron Eckhart
There are celebrities who are hotter on screen than they are in real life, and then there are guys like Aaron Eckhart. Spotting Eckhart was easy because he was so handsome amongst the crowd that it was kind of like the infrared vision in Predator. Thankfully, he wasn’t just a pretty face, he was also really friendly. When I mentioned that I absolutely loved him in Thank You For Smoking and that I had seen and reviewed the film at a pre-screening in DC, he rolled up the sleeve of his jacket and said, “Check this out.” before pointing to a cufflink that was engraved with “TYFS”. As we talked a bit more about the pre-screening, he sang the praises of TYFS director Jason Reitman saying that Reitman was “a real talent”. Eckhart’s chiseled features and classic Hollywood smile make him a shoe-in for this year’s Prom King.

The “BFF” award for friendliest celebrity: Tie – Joel McHale and Will Forte
Both McHale and Forte were approachable, engaging and genuinely friendly. I was able to chat with McHale about how much I love The Soup (and I really do watch it religiously) and even take a picture with him while he patiently waited for me to dig my business card out from the depths of my purse. Forte was equally warm when I spoke to him, giving him my business card and telling him a little about Trashwire. He even remarked, “Well then Trashwire.com is my new favorite website.”

Most likely to succeed: B.J. Novak
Perhaps the name of the award should be “most likely to keep on succeeding” because B.J. Novak is not only one of the stars of The Office, but is also a writer and producer on the show. Novak spent most of the night in a well-deserved spot in the VIP section of one of the pre-parties, but I was able to snap a quick picture with him and tell him about Trashwire. He was personable and definitely an over-all cool guy.

Best dressed: Donatella Versace
Although each year there are beautiful designer gowns, this year’s best dressed guest has got to be Donatella Versace because… well, she’s Donatella Versace. Despite the infamously over-the-top portrayal of Versace by SNL‘s Maya Rudolph, she was actually kind of quiet and almost shy, standing towards the back of the VIP section. When Pat Sue and I approached her to get a picture, I half expected her to scream “Gheeet ouuuuuuut!”, but instead she smiled and posed for the shot.

Six degrees of Trashwire: Kal Penn
This category is for people we probably should have met years ago because we have posted items about them or about their friends on the site in the past. If you go back through our blog archives, you can see that we posted a YouTube video from The Lonely Island starring Penn as a potential murder victim with OCD. Not only that, but Most Trashwire readers love Harold and Kumar Go To White Castle and I even studied the story structure of the film for screenwriting class in college. It’s worth noting that Penn is way hot in person and was the runner up for the “really, really, ridiculously good looking” category.

The most unexpected guest at a White House-related event: Dennis Hof of HBO’s Cathouse
There are always unusual appearances from celebrities who seem to have little connection to politics or journalism. The first year I ever braved the DC humidity and made my way to the hotel, it was to see South Park co-creator Trey Parker, who was a guest of one of the publications. While a guy from Colorado with a foul-mouthed cartoon might have seemed like the weirdest guest, that record was shattered this year when legal pimp Dennis Hof appeared on the red carpet. You would think that, in this post-Spitzer world, politics would be trying to distance itself from prostitution, but the publication that invited Hof must have a wonderful sense of humor. And speaking of a sense of humor, Hof had a great one himself when my buxom mother joked that she could put world-famous working girl Air Force Amy out of business. Hof was extremely friendly and quite the gentleman, which may come as a surprise given his profession. Still, I can’t help but wonder, if superstars of the sex industry are invited, maybe there’s hope that next year I’ll see Jenna Jameson.

It seems like the entire country is breathing a sigh of relief as we near the end of the Bush administration and the laid back vibe could be felt through out the crowd. Everyone was more approachable and personable than in years past and it was easy to feel comfortable in such a lighthearted environment. The celebrity guests seemed to be plucked from all ends of the pop culture universe in Trashwire’s fourth year of attending the parties and, like the contestants in Big Brother, we can no doubt “expect the unexpected” for year number five.

Check out the Trashwire Blog for full-size versions and additional pics.

Years ago, CBS debuted a new reality series called Big Brother. Back then, the cast was older, the show was more interactive, high-speed internet access was rare, and the live-feeds were tiny, grainy images of a chicken coop for most of the day.

Since then, the show has evolved into a summer guilty pleasure with eye-candy abound. Though there have been new twists in the game (the Power of Veto), new architecture in the house (the addition of a second story and HoH suite) and new houseguests to compete (hotties like Kaysar from BB6 and BB7), the show remains the most real of reality tv.

Unlike most reality shows, which are completely at the mercy of their editors, Big Brother offers something different: a live internet feed from inside the house. This allows viewers to watch all the plotting, strategizing, and back-stabbing that takes place during an average day in the house as it’s happening. These live feeds are what make the show so much better than other “reality” programs like Survivor or The Real World.

Big Brother also has one of the most dedicated fan communities on the web. BB fans are up at all house, watching the feeds, taking screen caps, summarizing any updates, and discussing their favorite alliances. While it may not exactly be Monday Night Football, fans of this show are more into it than any die-hard arm-chair-quarterback.

I’ve been a fan of Big Brother since the first season and I only missed one episode due to a huge storm that passed through my neighborhood and knocked out the power.

Two years ago, I started a blog for Big Brother All-Stars, my dream season, featuring some of my favorite players from seasons past. After my All-Stars blog grew in popularity, I decided to go for it again with Big Brother 8 and, much to my pleasant surprise, that blog became the most popular page in Trashwire history. Naturally I was in for BB9, which is back sooner than expected due to the WGA strike. This year, the show will start on February 12th.

Because Trashwire’s Big Brother coverage has been so popular, I added a permanent section to the site which will cover all future seasons. This blog will feature updates, commentary, links and screencaps or YouTube videos from this season and maybe even from past seasons too.

To visit our Big Brother section, go to trashwire.com/bigbrother.

-Alexis

Years ago, CBS debuted a new reality series called Big Brother. Back then, the cast was older, the show was more interactive, high-speed internet access was rare, and the live-feeds were tiny, grainy images of a chicken coop for most of the day.

Since then, the show has evolved into my favorite summer guilty pleasure with eye-candy abound. Though there have been new twists in the game (the Power of Veto), new architecture in the house (the addition of a second story and HoH suite) and new houseguests to compete (hotties like Kaysar from BB6 and BB7), the show remains the most real of reality tv.

Unlike most reality shows, which are completely at the mercy of their editors, Big Brother offers something different: a live internet feed from inside the house. This allows viewers to watch all the plotting, strategizing, and back-stabbing that takes place during an average day in the house as it’s happening. These live feeds are what make the show so much better than other “reality” programs like Survivor or The Real World.

Big Brother also has one of the most dedicated fan communities on the web. BB fans are up at all house, watching the feeds, taking screen caps, summarizing any updates, and discussing their favorite alliances. While it may not exactly be Monday Night Football, fans of this show are more into it than any die-hard arm-chair-quarterback.

I’ve been a fan of Big Brother since the first season and I only missed one episode due to a huge storm that passed through my neighborhood and knocked out the power.

Last year, I started a blog for Big Brother All-Stars, my dream season, featuring some of my favorite players from seasons past. That blog became pretty popular, and I’ve decided to go for it again this year with Big Brother 8.

This blog will feature updates, commentary, links and even a few screencaps or YouTube videos from this season and maybe even from past seasons too.

Keep checking back here to see what’s cookin’ in the BB house!