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Summary: Dr. Michael L. Johnson
Review: "Queer Eye for the Straight Guy" along with "PTI"(Pardon the Interuption) are my two favorite TV shows. The minute this book came out, I had to have it (actually 2--red cover and yellow cover with green yet to come in the near future). This book is informative, original, and funny. If you're a fan of Queer Eye, you will love this book. If you are not a fan and don't by this book, God help you because you will be lost in a lost world forever!!!!
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Summary: A Straight Eye for the Queer Guys
Review: "Queer Eye for the Straight Guy" is one of my favorite TV shows. The minute this book came out, I had to have it ( I bought the red cover). This book is informative, original, and funny. If you're a fan of "Queer Eye", you will love this book. If you are not a fan and don't buy this book, God help you, because you will be lost in a lost world forever!!!Dr. Michael L. johnson Autjor of "What do You Do When the Medications Don't Work?--A Non-Drug Treatment of Dizziness, Migraine Headaches, Fibromyalgia, and Other Chronic Conditions".
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Summary: Queer Eye for the Queer Guy
Review: As a gay man I have learned a great deal from the Fab 5. This book along with their show has helped me understand how to live better with grooming and fashion. This book is a book for all men, and all people in general! Great to have the Fab 5 around.
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Summary: great guide for men!
Review: Before I read this guide I was a total nerd,now I know how to dress and decorate with style.I also used to be a slob,but now I recognize the value of appearance and personal care in making a good impression on other people.The fab 5 have given me a whole new way of life! I now take the time to keep my condo clean and keep my clothes clean and pressed.I also bathe daily and shave every other day as well as get my hair cut once every three weeks.I didnt do this before,I just didnt care,but I do now and its made a world of difference in my personal life!
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Summary: Need Some Laughter and Helpful Advice?
Review: Being a huge fan of the show on BRAVO, I purchased this book for my husband and found myself flipping through it. I found many of the suggestions very helpful and some of the text was so funny that I was laughing out loud while reading it. Really love the section by Ted Allen--there are even some very yummy-looking recipes included (that I hope I can get my husband to cook for me!). If you are a fan of the show, you'll definitely enjoy this book.
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Summary: first of all let me say I'M NOT GAY
Review: but yhese sexy boys are and they taught me how to dress really nice. Only problem is now gays seem to hit on me wherever I go. Oh well, maybe one day I'LL do a little more experimenting ilke back in College.
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Summary: Learning How To Live Better
Review: By now everyone knows the premise of the show: five gay men (aka The Fab Five) bust into some poorly dressed, hygienically clueless and culturally unaware straight guy's messy home (a guy, for instance, like me or probably you if you're reading this) and set him... well... straight on a few things. The book, like the show, is divided up into five areas. Ted/Food: Definitely the meatiest section of the book (pun intended). I got more useable info out of Ted's few page crash-course in wine than I did out of complete wine books I've read. And the list of kitchen essentials is great. Also included are some not-to-complicated looking recipes, lists of bar essentials, directions on mixing various cocktails, Steak 101 and a brief guide to fresh produce. With Ted as my witness, I'll never eat Hot Pockets again! (Well, maybe not 'never,' but less often.) Kyan/Grooming: I thought this section of the book was a bit lacking. Don't get me wrong - there's plenty of great information here. I just wanted more at the end. After all, I think this is the area that most guys are perhaps the most clueless. The essentials are covered, from what hair product does what and proper moisturizing through shaving and hair removal. And, of course, BUY A NOSE HAIR TRIMMER!!! Thom/Decorating: This section wasn't quite what I expected. I expected more specifics. And I'm glad I didn't get them. Thom can't tell me how to decorate my place to make it my own. But what he did do was give me an idea how/where to start and got me thinking in terms of color palettes. Again, I got more out of a few pages here than entire decorating books. Carson/Fashion: Some great dos and don'ts in this section, as well as lists of fashion 'essentials' each guy should have in his closet. Great tips on creating different looks with the same items too and info on selecting a suit that's right for you. One thing missing though: direction on the proper way to tie a tie, something I definitely need help with. Jai/Culture: This section was a surprise. Too often in the show I think the culture aspect doesn't come through clearly. It's easier to see the dramatic results of a haircut or redecorating. But in the book, there's plenty of great info on culture and etiquette. Tips on hosting a party or being a gracious guest, encouragement to try new things and the tips on dating section had some great ideas as well. I may start handing out copies of Jai's 'Cell-Phone Etiquette' to people everywhere. Overall, the layout of the book is entertaining and contains easy to read short-topics. Just like on the show, Hip-tips pop-up in the corners every few pages. And the mantra of the show comes through loud in clear in the book: don't be afraid to try new things. I'd say a must-have for fans of the shows or guys looking to improve themselves a bit. As Carson said in one of the early episodes, "We're not here to change you; we're here to make you better."
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Summary: WHEN YOUR SON GRADUATES COLLEGE, GIVE HIM THIS BOOK!
Review: Easy to read, funny, witty with great photos that illustrate every HOW TO, this book is a winner! I recommend it for any graduating bachelor as he leaves college for the world of work.We live in a world that has become so casual that it is sloppy.The book will also be a great "starter kit" for "beginning adults" who want to upgrade their outdated images and uncover potential.Buy it, use it,be inspired by it and be creative! It just might make your life better.
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Summary: Who doesn't need a little "tszujing" in his life?
Review: Every woman who has wished that she could get a gay man to take her guy shopping--and every hetero man who would like to figure out how to unstick himself from the tarpit of cultural ignorance--has managed to make "Queer Eye for the Straight Guy" a major hit. Absorbing all that information in a fast-paced TV show, however, can become challenging. The Fab 5's book retains the same breezy, frank, gay-joking tone of the show while providing an easy-to-use reference that guys can come back to--or gals can use to drop a subtle hint to their favorite caveman. Sure, guys could probably get the same information by reading cooking and decorating magazines, subscribing to GQ, calling the local Mary Kay rep, and (gasp) listening to women, but the Fab 5's guide does a great job putting together key information on food, grooming, decorating, fashion and culture in a fun and focused way. "Right now, in cities and towns across this great land, there are men eating pork-n-beans out of the can, grooming like Neanderthals, and dressing themselves in the darkness of utter couture-ignorance. (The tragedy!) You needed us, and we were there." The chatty format and clean layout makes the information accessible and quick to find. Each section contains helpful 5-point lists. Short straight-guy FAQs, Q&As and "hiptips" sprinkle the chapters with easily digested ideas. The writing style is a crack-up, filled with the gay-straight double entendres that make the show fun to watch. The guide is divided into the same five areas that the Fab 5 address in their make-over show: * Food & wine, by Ted Allen of Esquire, contains enough cocktail recipes to get you through all seasons, suggests a few easy ways to prepare bar snacks, reviews some basic wine information, provides recipes for several simple but elegant meals, and (perhaps most helpful of all) tells guys how to "fake it" with no-cook dinners. The chapter concludes with five tips for dressing a dinner plate--something few guys know unless they've worked in restaurants.
* Grooming, by stylist Kyan Douglas, covers hair styling products, nose-hair trimmers ("Dude, it's power tools for your nostrils!"), skin care and shaving. I found the skin-care section particularly helpful since I've been trying to get my boyfriend to pay attention to this topic, but haven't been able to explain to him why he needed to do certain things. Kyan does a good job explaining why guys should pay attention to these topics, and manages to do it in amusing "guy talk."
* Decorating, written by interior designer Thom Filicia. While key points about grooming can be covered well in brief, an overview of decorating in the same amount of space is bound to leave a lot out. Fortunately, Thom doesn't attempt to be all-encompassing. He emphasizes thinking about how you use your space, and points you in directions for learning more about styles you find appealing. Creating architectural details, particularly in bland apartments, has been a strength of Thom's designs on "Queer Eye," and he does a good job in the guide explaining how to do this. His "5 Quick Cleanup Tasks Before Company Comes Over" hilariously ends with a reminder that "porn, of any sort, no matter how soft, should be hard to bump into."
* Fashion, by stylist Carson Kressley (easily the most outrageous of the five), could be subtitled "how to look good without looking like your mommy dressed you." He covers wardrobe basics, ways to dress up and dress down shirts, 5 ways to wear blazers, what tie knots go best with different collar styles (but not how to tie them), and cuts of jeans. His suit-buying information is fabulous. I especially loved his "evolution of the suited man," featuring a pyramid of swatches, starting at the top with the basic navy blue for the guy who only wears a suit when pressed into service as a pallbearer, and extending, eventually, to "sponsoring your tailor's green card" (a dozen swatches for the extreme dandy). * Culture, by actor/singer/dancer Jai Rodriguez, contains a lot of great "5 thing" lists: public speaking, straight-guy faux pas, hosting tips, working a cocktail party, alternatives to dinner-and-a-movie dates, places to pick up women (more classily titled "look for love"), birthday gifts, and tszujing a date. Cell phone and e-mail do's and don'ts are tips that almost everyone, male and female, could use. While Jai's cultural tips on the show tend to be very specific to the guy/couple involved--and that's one of his points, *make it personal*--his cultural guide contains some more general ways that guys can become more cultured, like websites for finding good books and movies. The Fab 5's approach works because they affirm who the individual is and make over wardrobes and homes based on what the guy likes, not on some one-size-fits-all approach. "Our goal isn't to turn you into someone else," they note in their introduction. They also stress, in very funny ways, that adopting their ideas is not going to turn heterosexual men into effete things who will attract gays. And what's "tszujing," you want to know? The guide ends with a glossary that explains this "Queer Eye" term, and contains other amusing definitions. My favorites: "Mise-en-place: Culinary term, from the French for having your **** together." "Empathy: Listening your way to getting lucky."
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Summary: Family of Fab Five Fans
Review: Having become a Fab Five Family Fan Club, we had to have this book. I'm a wife and mother living in an otherwise male household. These fantastic guys offer advice for the betterment of all of us..from the inside-out. The truly wonderful thing about this book, and about these men, is that they are just that, men..who happen to 'get it.' They aren't afraid to pass along hints which simply elude many people. They gently encourage us to make the attempts to broaden and enrich our lives. This isn't just about men, either. Face it, girls, we don't understand men any better than they understand us. This book has cleared up many a confusion for me. In fact, I've learned a little more about all five areas these charming men discuss. This book is on our family reference shelf, and has served us all well. Thanks, Fab Five, for putting into the simplest terms, and with the most well-placed humor, all the little things we need to know to raise the bar. Hats off to the boys! Cheers!
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