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I finally got around to reading Speidi’s book, but before I discuss that, we HAVE to talk about Heidi’s plastic surgery.
For those who don’t know, Heidi Montag and Spencer Pratt are two reality “stars” from the MTV show The Hills. They gained fame by basically being the most repulsive couple on TV. And that’s being nice.

As far as Heidi goes, she recently elected to have 10 surgeries to “improve” her looks. This is the second time she’s gone under the knife, and she’s only 23.
Since all the talk shows have been discussing this for the past few weeks, I won’t rehash what’s been said. But I do think she knows exactly what she’s doing.

The book, “How to be Famous: Our Guide to Looking the Part, Playing the Press and Becoming a Tabloid Fixture” is all about how to gain fame and wealth by doing nothing.

Heidi and Spencer are pretty upfront with what they’ve done and who they are. “We’re SUPERfamous — and for what? We’re on a reality show … on cable for that matter … and we’re not even allowed to acknowledge on the show that our real jobs are, well, being on a reality show!”

The pair gives advice — admittedly, it’s tongue-in-cheek — on how to get on a reality show, mirroring the journeys their lives took. Spencer also gives a guide on being a villain, which he knows all too well. There’s also a pictorial (yes, that means several illustrated steps ) by Heidi on “How to Say ‘I Hate You’ Without Saying a Word.”
Plus, there’s plenty of information on how to use the paparazzi to your advantage, the goal being to be in as many magazines as possible, no matter what the content.

Back to the plastic surgery, though. There’s a whole chapter on looking the part of a star. And there’s a section on plastic surgery. Heidi says, “I can’t for the life of me think of a single reason why a person shouldn’t be able to look exactly the way they want to. Sure, there are healthier ways to lose weight than stapling your stomach, but you can’t diet or exercise your way into bigger boobs or a smaller nose.”

Later on, she says, “Not only will you look better and feel better about yourself, there is no better way to get instant attention than to completely change your look.”
And that just about says it all, doesn’t it?

The book does what it sets out to do. Obviously, the only reason I picked it up is because I loathe this “celebrity” couple, but I can’t wait to see what they’ve said. And just like that, I’ve fallen right into their trap. That’s what they want: To get paid to live their lives. So I guess they are good at what they do.

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Pop Culture Hijabi is a weekly column by Nadia Malik. Malik is a former newspaper reporter based in Chicago who’s now making her way as a freelancer. She spends entirely too much time watching TV and reading pop culture, fashion and TV blogs. She also occasionally consumes serious books and news. No, really. You can reach her at info@hijabtrendz.com with “pop culture hijabi” in the subject line, follow her at www.twitter.com/nadiamalik or simply leave a comment below.

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I’m beyond excited that Lost is back next month for its final season.

I started watching the show when the first episode aired. I remember ABC promoting the show like crazy and thinking that it looked pretty stupid. I guess at the time it seemed like a dramatized version of Gilligan’s Islan.
But, the day the first episode aired, nothing else was on TV, and I was bored. So I watched the premiere, and I was hooked.

Not that many people I knew watched the first season. But the buzz from the show was huge, and pretty much everyone
I know was watching when the second season premiered.

It was great when that happened because I had people to talk to about theories and discuss the crazy things that happened. I still spend a substantial amount of my time the day after a Lost episode airs reading blogs and theories about the show. That, along with discussing episodes with friends, is also a good way to catch all those things you may have missed while watching.

I equate the show to reading Harry Potter. If you’re a fan of the books then you know half the fun of reading them was the anticipation of the next installment and running through theories with your friends.

It’s a bit bittersweet that this is the last season of Lost, but I can’t wait to see how things end.
For those who haven’t watched the show or who have fallen behind, I’d highly recommend getting the DVD’s for the first five seasons and catching up. You’ll be hooked.

Want to read more posts like this? Click on Pop Culture Hijabi for the full collection.

Pop Culture Hijabi is a weekly column by Nadia Malik. Malik is a former newspaper reporter based in Chicago who’s now making her way as a freelancer. She spends entirely too much time watching TV and reading pop culture, fashion and TV blogs. She also occasionally consumes serious books and news. No, really. You can reach her at info@hijabtrendz.com with “pop culture hijabi” in the subject line, follow her at www.twitter.com/nadiamalik or simply leave a comment below.

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I’m taking a break from celebrity literature this week because I finally got around to reading “Does My Head Look Big in This?” by Randa Abdel-Fattah.

Let me tell you, this book is hilarious and brilliant.

It tells the fictional story of Amal Mohamed Nasrullah Abdel-Hakim, an Australian girl who decides to wear hijab in high school. More than anything else I’ve read, this book really encapsulates what it’s like to start wearing hijab when you’re a minority. Although it’s set in Australia, it may as well be set in America.

The protagonist, Amal, is a typical teenager. The writing really picks up on what 16-year-olds are into. For example, she decides to finally wear hijab while watching an episode of Friends. Of course, she has the religious backing to the idea too, but her final inspiration comes from something completely not religious. Plus, Amal is completely “normal.” Even though she is wearing hijab, everything else about her is what you’d expect from a teenager. I think the book really spoke to me because that’s the thing that most non-Muslims fail to realize about Muslims. When it comes right down to it, we’re pretty much like everyone else.

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I will say this about L.A. Candy: It’s surprisingly well-written. It’s not the best book I’ve read, but it’s far from the worst.

It’s on par with your basic chick lit, which was pretty surprising because I wasn’t expecting something quite so readable. I’m guessing Lauren Conrad had some help in writing, but I have to give her props for fleshing out her characters and making the book believable.

For those who don’t know, Lauren was the “star” of the reality show The Hills. The show pretty much sky-rocketed into popularity in the past few years, especially because of the rift between Lauren and her best friend Heidi and Heidi’s horrible boyfriend (now husband) Spencer.

The book itself is about a girl, Jane Roberts, who moves to L.A. and is approached about being filmed for a reality show. It’s a topic Lauren knows well, since she first started out on Laguna Beach on MTV when she was in high school and pretty much grew up on television.

L.A. Candy is pretty insightful about having cameras follow you around. It’s interesting that this is based on Lauren’s life because some of it shows some regrets about being on the show.

Jane, who moves to California to work for an event-planning company, and her best friend Scarlett, who is going to college, are paired up with two girls they’ve never met before. Many of the situations are obviously orchestrated by the producers of the show, and Jane becomes the break-out star of L.A. Candy. That doesn’t sit well with one of her co-stars, who goes out of her way to sabotage Jane.

The show obviously changes everyone’s life, too, since the girls become famous for basically living their lives. I was expecting the book to have more juicy information Lauren’s real life, but it doesn’t seem to be written as an autobiography. Which is probably a good thing if she wants to keep her friends. But it would be nice to hear more about Lauren about what it’s REALLY like to lose a friend on TV and have her life filmed for so many years.

Since the book is just the first in a series, I admit that I probably will be reading the sequels. I just won’t be first in line when they come out.

Want to read more posts like this? Click on Pop Culture Hijabi for the full collection.

Pop Culture Hijabi is a weekly column by Nadia Malik. Malik is a former newspaper reporter based in Chicago who’s now making her way as a freelancer. She spends entirely too much time watching TV and reading pop culture, fashion and TV blogs. She also occasionally consumes serious books and news. No, really. You can reach her at info@hijabtrendz.com with “pop culture hijabi” in the subject line, follow her at www.twitter.com/nadiamalik or simply leave a comment below.

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I know I said I’d start my pop culture reading experiment off with Heidi and Spencer’s book, but I had easier access to Kathy Griffin’s “Official Book Club Selection: A Memoir According to Kathy Griffin.”

I figured this book would also be pretty juicy and offer up some great gossip.

Although that’s not necessarily true, I did enjoy reading about how Griffin got her start and made her way to where she is now.
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