Advance Notice. 826LA's Spelling Bee.

Admit it: every June, whenever you're flipping the channels around and see the Scripps Spelling Bee is on (or if you don't even try to pretend and just immediately switch to it), you get excited. You get pulled in. You suddenly get overwhelmed by every single awkward and passionate emotion that you remember feeling as an adolescent child and put all that energy into that one kid with the glasses, nervously asking for any alternate pronunciations. And no matter who wins, you're happy. Everyone loves the spelling bee.

So why not take that love and put some money behind it? And maybe take your own spelling skills to task? The (always cool) education-based non-profit 826LA has got the event for you. In its latest creative fundraiser, A Spelling Bee for Cheaters, you have the chance to show off your spelling moxie...but also save some face if you're not exactly keeping up with word origins and all that. That's because if you and your team raise enough money, you can buy cheats such as "get a dictionary" ($750) or "i before e" (ask a letter hint, $100) to get you through to the next round.

The bee is on August 14, so it's time to start raising your money! Glee's Dianna Argon is already past her goal of $5,000. Oh yeah, there'll be celebrities there too, like Argon and Spike Jonze and John Krasinski. So even if you're spelling-shy, you can still sponsor another participant, or buy general admission tickets to the show (will be available on Aug.6 for $25). Educational, charitable fun? It's spelling 8-2-6-L-A (that's sort of cheating, I know, but that's the spirit of it all, right?).

A Spelling Bee for Cheaters is taking place Aug. 14 at 2pm at Lincoln Middle School at 1501 California Avenue in Santa Monica.

-- Chau Tu