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I Hate Myselfie: A Collection of Essays by Shane Dawson
I Hate Myselfie: A Collection of Essays by Shane Dawson
I Hate Myselfie: A Collection of Essays by Shane Dawson
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I Hate Myselfie: A Collection of Essays by Shane Dawson

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New York Times Bestseller ● Publishers Weekly Bestseller ● Los Angeles Times Bestseller ● Wall Street Journal Bestseller

A brilliant, hilarious, and honest essay collection from #1 New York Times bestselling author and YouTube sensation Shane Dawson about how messy life can get when you’re growing up but how rewarding it can feel when the clean-up is (pretty much) done.

From his first vlog back in 2008 to his full-length film directorial debut Not Cool, Shane Dawson has been an open book when it comes to documenting his life. But behind the music video spoofs, TMI love life details, and outrageous commentary on everything the celebrity and Internet world has the nerve to dish out is a guy who grew up in a financially challenged but loving home in Long Beach, California, and who suffered all the teasing and social limitations that arise when you’re a morbidly obese kid with a pretty face, your mom is your best friend, and you can't get a date to save your life.

In I Hate Myselfie, Shane steps away from his larger-than-life Internet persona and takes us deep into the experiences of an eccentric and introverted kid, who by observing the strange world around him developed a talent that would inspire millions of fans. Intelligent, hilarious, heartbreaking, and raw, I Hate Myselfie is a collection of eighteen personal essays about how messy life can get when you’re growing up and how rewarding it can feel when the clean-up is (pretty much) done.
LanguageEnglish
Release dateMar 10, 2015
ISBN9781476791586
I Hate Myselfie: A Collection of Essays by Shane Dawson
Author

Shane Dawson

Shane Dawson is a director, actor, comedian, musician, YouTube vlogger, and the New York Times bestselling author of I Hate Myselfie. He lives in Hollywood, California. Find him on YouTube.com/user/ShaneDawsonTV.

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Reviews for I Hate Myselfie

Rating: 4.348314606741573 out of 5 stars
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  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    I’ve followed Shane Dawson for years and I am so happy I finally got to read his first book. I am just as excited to read “It Gets Worse”. I found myself reading much of the book in his voice which made it that much more hilarious! Fun read.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    Within the last two years-ish I've become a fan of Shane.
    I haven't gone back and watched his old stuff, or even a music video.
    I really like what he's doing now.
    This book fast-tracked his first years on youtube for me.

    I liked it. It was funny.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    I loved having more insight into Shane and I never truly believed so many people thought he was a woman before reading this.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    This book was super funny and extremely relatable. I had only watched a few of his videos before reading this and I wasn't a die-hard fan or anything, but I enjoyed how real Shane was in this book. So if you're a weirdo you should probably read this.

    2 people found this helpful

  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    A quick and entertaining read, I would definitely recommend :)

    1 person found this helpful

  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    Like many YouTubers, Shane puts on a personal in front of the camera. This book is as real as he gets.

    1 person found this helpful

  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    I'd never heard of Shane Dawson before I got this book. I read to my disabled wife every day, mainly humor, and I was out of books to read (having gone through the entire output of Dave Barry, Bill Bryson, Steve Martin, David Sedaris, and George Carlin, to give you an idea of what we laugh at). So I bought this solely on the basis of amazon's rating. He's younger than our daughter and inhabits a world that we never have and never will. He is demonstrably immature, vulgar, and generally weird. But, the thing is, we started liking the little s**t. He has admirable traits that are really kind of, well, sweet. He also doesn't hold anything back, his documentation of self-embarrassment second to none. We laughed as he laughed at himself. There isn't much in this book that's mean or snide. Well, except for waiting for Lindsay Lohan to die. The book ended too quickly for us. Now I have to look for something else to read to her.

    2 people found this helpful

  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    I love shane and i think is a great book i love this awesome book

    2 people found this helpful

  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    I absolutely adored this book. I have watched Shane Dawson on YouTube for about a year now, so I was really interested in reading his book and having an opportunity to learn more about him. I found this book to be quite humorous (which was to be expected). I also think that his writing was actually pretty good. The only problem that I had with this book was the fact that it was hard to determine whether or not he was truthful in some of his stories. For example, the dialogue that he presented didn't seem realistic. It was funny to read, but in my honest opinion, people usually aren't that open with the things that they say to others. Other than that, I didn't have any issues with the book. It was a quick and fun read. I would definitely recommend this book to anyone who is interested in learning more about Shane and/or looking for something that is light and funny.

    1 person found this helpful

  • Rating: 1 out of 5 stars
    1/5
    I understand that Shane is sarcastic and knows how to be inappropriate. And even though there were moments when I didn't hate this book as much, I still couldn't get over some things. This book was filled with really wildly inappropriate jokes that made me cringe and want to throw my phone through the window. Mentions of rape, suicide, depression and totaly sexist remarks. There are simply things that you don't mention as a joke.

    3 people found this helpful

Book preview

I Hate Myselfie - Shane Dawson

Cover Page ImageTitle Page Image

This book is dedicated to my hilarious and caring mother. Thank you for giving me so much unconditional love and fuck you for giving me your fat arms and wonky eye.

CONTENTS

About the Art

I Hate Myselfie: An Introduction

My Destinee

My High School Musical

Two First Kisses

The Original Catfish

Between Hollywood and an Abortion Clinic

Denny’s and Death

My Birthday Suit

Internet Famous

How to Survive a Horror Movie

The Mean Girl Got Fat

My Girl (SPACE) Friends

My Strange Addictions

YouTube Got Me Fired

Astral Projection

Just a Pretty Face

My Leg Twin

Shocktuber

Prom

Acknowledgments

ABOUT THE ART

I have a lot of really talented fans. So I thought it would be fun to ask some of them to create pictures inspired by the essays. I sent each of them an excerpt and asked him or her to draw whatever they felt like. As you’ll see, the results are sometimes amazing, sometimes hilarious, and always unflattering, considering I have a VERY hard face to draw.

I HATE MYSELFIE: AN INTRODUCTION

ABOUT THE ARTIST

Isabella Piccione is currently a freshman in high school and has had a passion for art for as long as she can ­remember. She lives in Connecticut, and you can follow her on Twitter at @stylesftdawson.

Hi. I’m Shane Dawson. Some of you might know me from my videos on the internet. Some of you might know me from the movie I directed entitled Not Cool. And some of you might know me as the guy you saw on the cover of this book who has an incredibly punchable face. I’m all of those things and more! I also have an incredibly punchable body, but none of you will ever get to see that.

For the record, I don’t really hate myself, but I do hate the way I portray myself online. Hence, myselfie. See what I did there? Online I’m this loud, outrageous, confident guy who acts like nothing bothers him and he has the whole world at his fingertips. In reality, I’m a shy, quiet guy who would rather spend his nights lying in bed watching Netflix than being a valuable member of society. If I could spend my entire life underneath a heating blanket with a handful of my own balls I would happily do so.

I’m not saying that I don’t like the stuff I put out into the world, because I genuinely enjoy my videos and think they are funny. What I’m saying is that I embrace the fact that I have a punchable face, and that if I could punch myself without feeling it I would. Sometimes I scroll through my Instagram page and audibly groan. What is the point of posting four pictures a day of yourself doing the same duck face in four different locations? If you go through my Instagram feed it’s like a flip book of me thinking I’m WAY more attractive than I am. It’s nauseating. But feel free to follow me at @SHANEDAWSON! You can also follow me on Twitter, where I post important tweets like: I think I just pooped blood. Should I go to the doctor? Nvmd, just gonna google it, and Ugh. Is Emma Stone still a thing? Can that be over yet? It gets really deep. I’m a social warrior, clearly.

In this book, you’ll get to see the real me, not the me you see on YouTube. You will get to know what’s really in my head, and I’m warning you it’s not pretty. It’s a twisted land of self-hatred, sadness, and lots of repressed anger toward every person who’s ever hurt me. ENJOY! Don’t worry, I threw in some dick and fart jokes to make the stories a little easier to handle. Kind of like mixing in some peanut butter with your medicine, which by the way my mom used to do. You haven’t lived till you’ve had a Vicodin peanut butter marshmallow fluff sandwich. I can still taste the numbing of my emotions. Delicious.

I urge you to sit back, enjoy, and know that in the end things have gotten better for me. And they will for you too, if that’s anything you’re worried about. Feel free to laugh at my misfortune and get that feeling of Wow, my life is SO much better than THAT guy’s.

Obviously joking but semi-serious,

Shane Dawson

MY DESTINEE

ABOUT THE ARTIST

Anna Siefken has been drawing her entire life, but it wasn’t until an art class in the sixth grade that she decided to start taking it seriously. She currently resides in Norwalk, Connecticut, and, at just fifteen years old, spends her days drawing, designing shirts, and making YouTube videos. You can find some of her designs at pistachiothegreat.spreadshirt.com.

Nothing gives me more anxiety than getting a haircut. Just the thought of going to a salon—I mean barber—and having a stranger touch my head while asking me personal questions about my life makes my nerves shoot through the roof. It’s the same feeling a wicker chair gets when a circa-2006 Kelly Clarkson takes a seat. TENSE. But sometimes you have to bite the bullet and let Kelly Clarkson sit on your face. The day after my high school graduation was one of those times. I had rocked the same shoulder-length frizzy do since I was twelve years old, and the style had run its course. There was only so much I could do with it. Actually there were only three things I could do with it: wash it, let it air-dry, and pray to God I didn’t get lice. My hair was lice’s dream habitat. The amount of poof and waves made it practically a tropical getaway for those little fuckers. I’m sure every time I walked by a homeless dude his lice would only WISH they were having an adventure in my twisted, knotted labyrinth of a hairdo. I might not have had girls double-taking when I walked by, but damn it, the lice wanted a motherfucking piece.

So one hot Monday afternoon in June of 2006 I pulled into a shopping center parking lot and stared at the SUPERCUTS sign that was casting a shadow on my car. This was the day. I had prepared myself for this moment for weeks, and I was ready. I took a deep breath, took a bite of a protein cookie—which, let’s face it, was just a cookie—and stumbled through the door with fear in my eyes. The woman at the register looked up at me with a welcoming smile and asked what she could do for me. I asked for a haircut. She paused. Awkward silence. Then she said, Women or men’s? Yep. It was definitely time for a haircut. She walked me over to the station and I looked around, scoping out what the situation was. The situation was pretty clear: these people had NO fucking idea what they were doing and it smelled like El Pollo Loco had farted and locked the doors for two weeks. I was too lazy to find another salon—I mean barber—so I just sat in a stained purple swivel chair and awaited my fate.

Receptionist: Destinee will be with you soon. She’s in the back talking to her ex-husband on the phone.

Me: Definitely didn’t need all that information, but thank you.

So I sat and flipped through a Spanish version of People magazine from fifteen years ago, thinking, Wow, I don’t know who this Selena chick is but she is DEFINITELY going places! As I skimmed through the magazine my Razr phone started vibrating and playing Ashlee Simpson’s Pieces of Me. It was my mom calling.

Me: Hey, Mom.

Mom: Did you do it yet?!

Me: No. Still waiting. I think my stylist is in the middle of a custody battle right now.

Mom: Oh! Fun! Are you excited?!

Me: Not really. I’m scared she’s gonna make me look like a troll doll.

Mom: Awwwww, but you’re MY little troll doll!

Me: Not really the response I was looking for, but thanks, Mom.

Mom: Well, call me when you’re done! And email me a picture on your pager!

Me: That makes no sense.

Mom: Love you!

As I reached for another decade-old magazine my stylist walked up to greet me. I put stylist in quotes because her cosmetology certificate looked like it was printed on the back of a Denny’s placemat. My expectations for this haircut were about the same as when I walk into an Eddie Murphy movie. I know it’s going to be bad, but maybe it will give people a few laughs. I like to spread joy even if it’s at my expense.

I looked her up and down, and my expectations went from an Eddie Murphy movie to any Adam Sandler film made after 2008. This situation was Grown Ups bad. It looked like she had cut her hair without scissors and had instead chosen to cover her head in peanut butter and raw meat and hang upside down from a tree branch in a dog park. She was wearing one of those shitty Halloween shirts that said This IS my costume. Did I mention it was June? She had hoop earrings so big I could have hanged myself with them, which I thought would come in handy if the haircut went as horribly as I suspected it would. She took a sip of the world’s biggest Starbucks Frappuccino and let out a small uncontainable burp. This was going great.

Destinee: So, what do you want?

Me: For you to tell me that you are just another sassy front-desk person and Destinee is still in the back screaming at her baby daddy?

Destinee: Nope. I’m your Destinee.

Me: That pun is particularly terrifying. I’m going to use the restroom. I’ll be right back.

At that moment I wished I was in a horror film, because I’ll be right back usually means you aren’t going to be back, you’re going to die. I wished I was dead. Now, I know what you’re thinking: why didn’t I just leave? Because I have a syndrome called No Balls Disorder, that’s why. Basically I have no fucking balls and I say yes to everything to avoid conflict. I’ve gotten better at it with age but at this time I was eighteen and terrified of ­everything and everyone around me. Including wicker furniture.

I went into the bathroom and locked the door. I stood in front of the mirror and looked at myself. I tried to make myself see something that wasn’t there: a great hairstyle. Maybe if I could convince myself that my hair looked ok the way it was I could just get out of there and never get a haircut ever again? Ya, that seemed doable. I took out my phone and started taking hundreds of selfies. Different angles, different faces, lots of filters. I was trying my hardest to find at least one picture where I felt like I didn’t look completely unattractive. It didn’t happen. It made it worse. After the bathroom photo shoot I decided it was time to go back out there and face my Destinee.

Me: I need help. I’m scared. Can you please make me look like less of a lesbian?

Destinee: Awww, don’t be so down on yourself. And people shouldn’t judge you by your hair or by your lifestyle.

She thought I was a woman. Perfect. At this point I wanted to just shave my fucking head.

Me: Can you just make me look like a guy?

Destinee: Any specific guy? Did you look through my magazines?

Me: I don’t really think I can pull off Enrique Iglesias from ten years ago, so maybe just make me look like Brad Pitt?

Silence. Challenge not accepted. Out of the realm of possibility.

Me: Ok . . . how about Jay Leno?

Destinee: Jay Leno? Nobody wants to fuck Jay Leno.

Me: My grandmother strongly disagrees, but ok, noted.

Destinee: Just trust me. I’m gonna just do my thing.

Judging from her personal style and the zero customers in line for her, I couldn’t imagine her thing being revolutionary, but she was my only hope. She grabbed the scissors, then looked at my head for a moment, put the scissors back down, and replaced them with the biggest set of electric clippers I’ve ever seen. This wasn’t a job for flimsy pieces of metal; this was a job for something that could mow a lawn. I avoided looking at the mirror because I didn’t want to see the damage being done. Similar to how when I eat at a restaurant I keep my eyes clear of any reflective surface. I looked down at my lap and saw chunks of hair gathering near my crotch. The amount of nappy dandruff-sprinkled hair that was falling from my head made it look like God was shaving his ancient pubes. It was of biblical proportions. I then heard something that you never want to hear a hairstylist mutter.

Destinee: Oops.

Oops?! OOPS?! You better have spilled some of your Starbucks fattaccino on my smock because if that oops is in any way related to my haircut I WILL ONE-STAR-YELP YOU SO HARD YOU’LL HAVE TO CHANGE YOUR FUCKING NAME AND MOVE TO CANADA! (Yelp wasn’t really a thing back then but hey, you get the point.)

Destinee: I think I took a little too much off the back. I might have to even it out. Are you ok with that?

Am I OK WITH THAT?! ARE YOU FUCKING KIDDING ME, YOU BARELY GED-ACHIEVING, TACKY-DRESSED SNAGGLE-TOOTHED CUNT?! NO! This was NOT ok!

Me: Sure.

Once again, No Balls Disorder. Like any girl having

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