(image) by A.J. Focht San Diego Comic Con 2012 was packed with so much news that we couldn’t fit it all in one place. Yesterday, I covered the news about the major movies coming from Marvel and DC. In this column, we’ll take a look at some other movies and the rest of the news from the nerd fest. more

by A.J. Focht

San Diego Comic Con 2012 was packed with so much news that we couldn’t fit it all in one place. Yesterday, I covered the news about the major movies coming from Marvel and DC. In this column, we’ll take a look at some other movies and the rest of the news from the nerd fest.

It was a few years ago at 2006 Comic Con when Edgar Wright first talked about doing an Ant-Man movie. While there still isn’t a date scheduled for it, Wright did come out during the Marvel movie news panel to show off a short teaser trailer. All of the copies of the teaser that made it online were promptly taken down, but the fans that saw it at Comic Con have been raving about it.

If they don't get their skates on and hit a looming contractual deadline, Fox face losing the rights to Daredevil, a prospect that's becoming all the more real now that David Slade is out of the picture and the project is director-less. However the studio is moving forward with a new Fantastic Four project before they lose control of those rights too. Josh Trank, director of Chronicle, is confirmed as the director for the upcoming Fantastic Four flick. Fox still has the Wolverine and First Class sequels to push out before they move on the Fantastic Four project however. We’re told there will be an entirely new cast, but it is unclear if the forthcoming Fantastic Four film will be a reboot or in the same continuity. It is confirmed that Jeremy Slater will be writing the next movie though.

Kick-Ass 2 has signed most of the cast from the original film. Christopher Mintz-Plasse confirmed that filming for Kick-Ass 2 will commence in September. There is no scheduled date for the film’s release as of now.

The CW’s The Arrow is turning out to be a much darker show than any superhero TV series before it. Calling The Arrow a superhero show might be a stretch as what we’re seeing in the previews makes him out to be quiet the anti-hero. This is the Green Arrow like you’ve never seen before. In http://www.comicbookmovie.com/fansites/JakeLester/news/?a=63603 " target="_blank">the newest clip released by the CW, Green Arrow kills several of his captors to protect his identity.

Suck it, Wolverine! That’s the tagline of the new Deadpool video game being designed by High Moon Studios. The merc’ with a mouth is getting his own game where he’s going to kick a bunch of ass, make a ton of inappropriate jokes, and constantly break the fourth wall. The trailer for the game captures Deadpool’s unique sense of humor and has fans ready well ahead of the 2013 release.

DreamWorks animation is in talks with Classic Media to acquire several classic cartoon properties. Among the titles included in the $150 million dollar package are: He-Man and the Masters of the Universe, Voltron, Casper the Friendly Ghost, Waldo from ‘Where’s Waldo’, and Lone Ranger. If DreamWorks can make this deal happen, we will likely be seeing CGI remakes of all these titles in the coming years.

The Walking Dead returns to AMC on October 14. Several of the cast were in attendance at SDCC for The Walking Dead panel, which featured clips from the upcoming season three as well as fan questions and answers. The full trailer, which was debuted at the panel, was released online, and there are some special surprises, including an appearance by the Governor.

To wrap things up, Karl Urban promised fans a sneak peak of Star Trek 2 during SDCC. He lived up to his promise, releasing a four minute video of him surfing while music plays. Only in the last ten seconds of the video is there some footage of a wrap from the Star Trek 2 set.

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by Blogbot A column which highlights Suicide Girls and their fave groups. (image) [Payton in Sunshine] This week Payton tells us why SG’s Kitties Group is one of her favorite places to play. Members: 3,617 / Comments: 49,567 WHY DO YOU LOVE IT?: I love it because you get to hear and see the cutest... more

by Blogbot

A column which highlights Suicide Girls and their fave groups.


[Payton in Sunshine]

This week Payton tells us why SG’s Kitties Group is one of her favorite places to play.

Members: 3,617 / Comments: 49,567

WHY DO YOU LOVE IT?: I love it because you get to hear and see the cutest funniest stories about everyone's fluffy purr-ball. You can find really great stories and tips on almost everything about cats. 



DISCUSSION TIP: Don't be afraid to share pictures of your kitty or even a friend’s or family member’s kitty. All are welcome. 



BEST RANDOM QUOTE: "The more people I meet, the more I love my cat."



MOST HEATED DISCUSSION THREAD: I would say the best thread going now is "http://suicidegirls.com/groups/Kitties/topics/435904/ " target="_blank">Reasons why I hate my cat(s) today

."

WHO’S WELCOME TO JOIN?: Every one who loves cats, weather you own one or not, as long as you love fuzzy balls of love.


***
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Director Darren Lynn Bousman has been to hell and back getting his recent projects to the big screen. Since leaving the Saw franchise behind after helming films II, III and IV, he’s been forced to seek alternate routes to get his work seen. If necessity is the mother of invention, then Bousman’s latest... more

Director Darren Lynn Bousman has been to hell and back getting his recent projects to the big screen. Since leaving the Saw franchise behind after helming films II, III and IV, he’s been forced to seek alternate routes to get his work seen. If necessity is the mother of invention, then Bousman’s latest Rocky Horror-inspired project, The Devil's Carnival, is invention’s demented bastard child.

Bypassing traditional distribution channels entirely, Bousman took the first installment of his unique episodic cinematic rock opera direct to his considerable fan base via a rock & roll-style cross-country tour earlier this year. The film-cum-theatrical experience played to mostly sold-out houses packed with the willfully immersed, prompting an encore tour – the first date of which was at San Diego’s Comic Con. We caught up with Bousman by phone as he boarded the train back from the annual geek fest.

Nicole Powers: How was Comic Con for you? I understand you had the first stop of the encore Devil's Carnival Tour there.

Darren Lynn Bousman: You know what? It's liberating. That's the only way I can describe it. We're doing something that a lot of people didn’t think we could do. We kind of defied the distribution model a little bit, we're distributing the movie ourselves completely independently. So here we are at Comic Con where there is no shortage of things to do – at any given moment there's a million different things going on – and we were able to pack a house at midnight on a Friday night, one of the busiest nights at Comic Con, with an audience full of screaming, dedicated, die-hard fans. When you walk in and you see something like that it's awesome.

NP: You did the first Devil’s Carnival Tour back in April. How did that go?

DB: It was amazing, hence why we're doing the second one. The tour could not have gone better. For the first road tour we did 40 stops, there was 40 different theatrical performances of it, and we sold out 85 percent of them. There was only a few cities that we didn't sell out.

The whole reason that we're doing this thing is my last three movies had a really small theatrical release – if any release whatsoever – from Mothers' Day to 11-11-11 to The Barrens. These movies, you pour your heart and soul into them, and you have all these people work long and tireless hours…So at a certain point I just got fed up and I said fuck it. I don't need someone to tell me if my movie is commercial or not. There is a fan base for what we do, and as long as you put in the hours you can find the fan base.

So we went off on this first road tour as an experiment saying if we make something out of the box, a weird little musical, I guarantee people will want to come see it. It wasn't our intention to go off and do this alone, we wish we had partners and major studio backing, but we didn't. But that didn't stop us, and we went off and we did it not knowing what was going to happen. We ended up having an extremely successful tour...The fan base is crazy around this and they're dedicated. And because of the success of the first road tour we obviously have done the second road tour, and now we're in the middle of pre-production on Episode 2 of The Devil's Carnival. We're going to be making a Part 2 and a Part 3.

NP: When we last spoke you were promoting Repo! The Genetic Opera, and you told me you wanted to create a Rocky Horror type experience even then with that movie – and that's exactly what you achieved. So obviously, as a creative model, The Devil's Carnival is a continuation, and I know there's some overlap in cast, does the story continue on in any way too?

DB: Here's the thing, Repo! was something that obviously was a passion project for everyone involved with it, and we were met with a lot of heartache and hard times because we were still within the studio system. We were trying to do something out of the box and yet trying to have a very in the box kind of distribution model – we were basically met with failure with that. Lion's Gate, they released movies like Saw and these type of things, but all of a sudden I get into this weird, crazy black opera starring Paris Hilton and Sarah Brightman…Now, looking back in retrospect, I understand why it was kind of dumped only into a couple theaters, but because of that it was a first step where my career changed. I realized that I can't count on anybody, nor do I really want to.

I'm an artist and I want people to see my art. I shouldn't sit back and rely on a group of people to get that out there. I have to do it. If I believe in my art, I should be the biggest champion behind it. So Repo! birthed the road tour. [Co-writer and actor] Terrance [Zdunich] and I started getting in the van and driving across the country to do this thing. It was the success of what we did with Repo! that spawned The Devil's Carnival. The Devil's Carnival is completely independent of Repo!. It has its own world, its own characters, there's no interconnecting storylines. With that being said, they're cut from the same cloth. They're both musicals, they both use this really crazy world with crazy characters. They exist in the same universe but they're different worlds. They're very much akin. I would call Devil's Carnival the bastard child of Repo! The Genetic Opera, coming from the same family but its own thing.

NP: Wikipedia lists the budget for The Devil's Carnival as being $500,000, which for an independent film is small, never mind a musical, never mind a musical that’s set in this complete other world that relies heavily on sets and costumes and makeup. You've done an incredible job with a relatively small amount of money.

DB: Well thanks. It was actually $200,000 not $500,000. That's even more insane when you think about it….You hear these stories about actors being paid millions and millions of dollars…It's really disheartening for independent filmmakers when you see that you can never afford the actors or locations or anything like that. It's not really true. Actors will get behind and do things that are unique and different and speak to them as artists because that is in turn what they are. I think that we could never approach these people from a monetary standpoint because we didn't have the money. So you approach them from an artistic standpoint. That's how we were able to get people like Clown from Slipknot or Ivan Moody from Five Finger Death Punch or Emilie Autumn, who I'm a huge fan of. Emilie Autumn is this amazing musician/singer and plays the Painted Doll. When you approach them you have to take money off the table because whatever I'm going to pay them is insulting….

You go to them and you let them hear the music and you let them see what we're doing. I think that at the core all of these people are artists and they want to do something that's cool. We were able to basically pull this thing off for no money because we used the passions of everyone involved. You don’t get that with a lot of movies. A lot times for people it's just about paychecks, it's about career longevity, it's not about actually the art.

NP: The passion is clearly translating from the screen to the audience. I can see from the videos that you have on your blog that the audience is showing up fully dressed up in character and bringing something to the experience themselves.

DB: Yeah. I think that's what separates Devil's Carnival from other movies – it's more than just a movie. A lot of times if you go see whatever's in the theater that week, you go there, you pay your 10 dollars, and you sit down and you quietly watch the movie, and then you leave and go home. The Devil's Carnival is not that. You're involved in Devil's Carnival before you ever walk into the theater, and you're involved long after you leave. I think because of that it encourages people to come out and show their true colors. It allows people to basically dress up and to be noticed and to be seen.

When I was growing up, The Rocky Horror Picture Show was like a safe haven for me. I wasn't an athlete, I wasn't a scholar, I wasn't popular, I was none of those things, but when I walked into Rocky Horror, all of a sudden I was encouraged to be unique. It was basically an outlet for me to be creative. It's something that inspired me and stoked me, and it still does today. I think that that's the kind of thing that I want to make and the thing that I think I'm most passionate about.

The other thing that is surprising is this that the fans are the true people that are keeping these things going. It's not the studio, it's not the publicity machine, it's the fans. When you can involve the fans at the ground level, they are more important and more valuable than any billboard ad that I can take out or any commercial that I can get on TV. They are walking billboards, and I think that that is what's great about this. These fans are part of our team. They're not just fans, they've transcended that, they are the team of [t]The Devil's Carnival.

NP: I do think that this is the business model for the future; as directors you're going to have much more of a direct relationship with your audience. You see that with Kevin Smith and what he’s dong too.

DB: Yeah…There's one moment in my career where I think everything changed for me about that. We were in Las Vegas for the premiere of Repo! The Genetic Opera. Paris and everyone was there. It was a big red carpet premiere. All of these fans flew in from all over the world – I'm talking all over the world – and we're sitting there in the audience, we're seeing all of these kids dressed up and it was amazing. It was a really cool experience. The after party was at this club in Planet Hollywood. There were bouncers, there was a big red carpet, and we walked into it and I looked around and there was not a single fan there. There were just agents and managers and actors. All of a sudden the fans were left outside just standing there and they couldn't get in. They weren't dressed the right way, they didn't have the right shoes on, and it made Paris and I kind of sick.

I had a suite at the hotel, so we just left. We left our own party. I walked out into the lobby with all the fans and I said, “All right guys, the party's in my room, everyone come up.” In retrospect it was kind of stupid because I'm not sure how many of these people were actually the correct age or anything like that. But we opened up the hotel room and we had a party in my hotel room. The fans and all the actors were there, pretty much fans from all over the world hanging out with the people in Repo!. In the meantime that party that was supposed to happen at the club kind of diminished and no one was there.

I think that was the first step into changing the fate of Repo! because all of a sudden there was no tiers. It wasn't like we were in the VIP area and they were standing outside. They were on the same couch with us, they were having pizza with us out of the same box, they were having conversations with the creators. I think that that's something I want to do with every film that I do. I don't treat them like fans because they're the ones that buy your tickets, they're your real bosses.

NP: They're also your street team.

DB: Yeah, they are. That's the other thing, we don't have any money to rely on publicists, I can't afford ads in papers or anything like that, so what we rely on is these people to go out – and they do. They go out and they flyer and they hand out brochures and they dress up and they do flash mobs. We had people doing flash mobs of this where they just broke out into song and dance.

One of the things that I always talk about, even today, when I was making Saw 3, there was a moment where Lions Gate sent an email out, and this email, the headline was "Now you know we've arrived." It was just a single picture in the email of an adult male who basically had a tattoo of the Jigsaw puppet on his leg. Everyone was like, “Look at this, look at this, this is amazing!” I remember the chain of emails was about 50 or 60 deep with people all talking about how great it was that we've transcended into pop culture. Looking back on that now it's kind of hilarious because Repo! has thousands of tattoos now, thousands of people that are sleeving their arms and their legs and their bodies.

It's crazy to think this little movie that was released in no theaters has now transcended into pop culture to the point where people are branding themselves with the artwork. And we've already seen it start to happen with The Devil's Carnival, where people are getting huge tattoos. And again that's crazy; The Devil's Carnival is a short film, and the fact that people are doing that at this early stage – it's only been out three months and this is already happening!

NP: You say it's a short film. When people go see it at the theater what can they expect?

DB: The whole idea behind it, the whole genesis of this, was to do something that would give the audience an experience that could not be downloaded. The last couple of films that I've done have leaked online months before they're released. They've been on torrent sites, they've been on all of these places where they can be basically acquired for free before they ever hit the theaters. Now when you're dealing with a 3,000 screen release like a Saw film, that's not that big of an issue. You're not really going to hurt yourself that much. But when you're dealing with a movie that's only released in two screens, three screens, it's a huge issue when it ends up online beforehand.

We know that it's part of the industry now. We now live in a technological age where it's easy to steal something and put it online, so how can we defend against that? What can we do to take measures to make it so you can't do that? And so The Devil's Carnival was born. We wanted to make an experience, a live show, a concert of vaudevillian acts, burlesque acts, we wanted to make it a party. I mean, how can you download a party? You really can't. So we turned it into a live event as well as a movie. We have burlesque dancers, we have freak shows, we have contests, we have give-aways, we have sing-a-longs, we have Q&As.

It's an entire event, it's not just a screening. While the movie is only an hour long, the screening itself is a whole event of about 2-1/2 hours. There's a master of ceremonies who is navigating you through the evening. We fill it full of vaudeville acts, burlesque acts, freak shows, and we have give-aways. We have fan costume contests where the fans win prizes based on what they've worn, and we end the night with a Q&A with myself, the creators, and whatever actors we have on the stops. We also stay around and sign things at the end of the night. Some nights we've been there five and six hours signing things. Again, it's trying to make this whole thing an experience and trying to take things to the next level. As an independent filmmaker things have to change now. We're in a different world than we were five years ago. I think you have to adapt or you're going to die. This is our version of adapting to what's going on out there.

NP: I love the concept of combining Aesop's Fables and creating characters that embody each of those fables. Where did the idea come from and how did you come up with the plot?

DB: Well my writing partner Terrance Zdunich was in Repo! The Generic Opera. Him and I had been talking since Repo!. We wanted to do something else, we wanted to take another stab at the musical world, but we knew that it had to not only live up to what we did with Repo!, it had to surpass it in a lot of ways. For years it was failed idea after failed idea. We knew that we weren't desperate enough to pull the trigger on something bad just to make it – it had to be perfect, it had to be right.

One of the ideas that I had very early on is I wanted to do a movie that was about Heaven and Hell and a musical set in Heaven and Hell. We kept running back and forth with the idea of how do we make this interesting. Terrance eventually came up with the idea about doing morality tales, and what are the best morality tales? The thing that I love about Aesop’s is they're kind of morally nebulous. They're not necessarily clear-cut morality tales where this is the good guy and this is the bad guy. They're macabre and they're dark, and I think that it immediately spoke to us, this idea of these morals that are thousands of years old. It was great because the tales are still relevant today. I mean who hasn't heard of “The Scorpion and the Frog” or “The Goose That Laid the Golden Eggs” or “The Dog and Its Reflection”? They're ingrained in us at an early age.

NP: So you're now going into production on The Devil's Carnival Part 2. How's the story going to progress?

DB: After we finish Road Tour 2 we're going to take it to the UK and do a UK road tour. Once we're back from that we're going to begin production on Part 2. We want to serialize this and make it something that encourages you to go back and watch the first, second, and third ones. It will basically take place in the same universe with the same characters, however we're now going to be cutting back and forth between Heaven and Hell.

In the first episode you're really only introduced to Hell. Paul Sorvino plays God and you meet him in Part 1, but he's more of a mysterious character. Part 2 basically petty much all takes place in Heaven. After Episode 2 occurs, it will be a constant cutting back and forth between Heaven and Hell. So Part 1 you met the Devil and his demons, Part 2 you're going to meet God and the angels. And it's absolutely not what you're going to expect. Heaven will be a lot more menacing than Hell is in some respects. That was our initial take on this. Our initial theme was what if the Devil was not the bad guy? Maybe he's been painted in a wrong light. And what if God was not so good? That was how The Devil's Carnival began, switching the mythology a little bit between Heaven and Hell. In this series the Devil is pretty much the, I won't say hero of the movie, but God is a lot more macabre than we've been led to believe.

NP: I've always wondered about that personally because I don't see how someone that can exact such horrific revenge can possibly be that good. It doesn't make sense to me. He gets upset at people, talks of being vengeful and sends plagues, and he floods the whole world and kills almost everyone – that's not nice.

DB: I know. Our entire thing of this is that God is a toymaker. Basically the toys are us, they're human, and the whole issue is that he is making these toys and then destroying them because of imperfections. He personally makes a toy and its eyes got messed up or it's eyebrows are screwed up or it's too small and he's trashing these toys and throwing them into a bin which takes us into Hell. The idea is that Lucifer or the Devil embraces imperfection.

The other thing is that you go back to the earliest mythology, the Devil is a fallen angel. He’s basically a warden of a prison and his own damnation is to watch over these damned souls. It's not like he was an evil, horrible person. I think that's what we're trying to play this as, that the Devil is imperfect himself. He is like the things that God is casting down.

In the first scene of the episode of The Devil's Carnival we meet God, and we see him tossing toys out. We realize by the end of the episode that the toys are us, and he's messed these toys up. The Devil's Carnival is very tongue in cheek. Its stays in the same kind of vein as Rocky Horror Picture Show. It's over the top, it's flamboyant, it’s boisterous, but it also does have our own beliefs mixed in and our own message put throughout it.

NP: You’re also creating an episodic Rocky Horror and taking it on the road as if it was almost a rock show – you're creating a completely new hybrid.

DB: The thing that I would say is that musical theater, musicals, they're not all like Glee. We pride ourselves that we are Tales From the Crypt meets the anti-Glee. We are darker, we're more macabre, we're sexier – think that we are Glee with S&M, death, destruction and Lucifer.

Musicals are cool, rock operas are cool. They used to be badass. In the ‘70s these were commonplace. They were not the exception to the rule, they were mainstream, from Jesus Christ Superstar to Tommy to Phantom of the Paradise. People came out in droves to see them. I think they've been commercialized too much and made more safe. You get High School Musical now and everyone thinks that's what these things are.

NP: Right. I think that musicals started going wrong when Disney started producing them. Once Broadway was full of the likes of The Lion King, and things of that ilk, I think that was part of the death of the musical and the idea that they could be perceived as being cool.

DB: I think that's what happened. I think that's basically the kind of thing that we're trying to fight against now. Those aren't the kind of musicals we're making. When you put someone like Slipknot or Skinny Puppy or Ivan Moody of Five Finger Death Punch in a musical that we're doing – you're going to get what we're doing. We're not Broadway. That being said, I love musicals, I love rock operas, but we are definitely the R-rated darker, more horrific version of all of that. What we're trying to do is change people's perception of what musicals can be.


For more information on The Devil’s Carnival movie and tour visit thedevilscarnival.com/.

by A.J. Focht (video) Last weekend was San Diego Comic Con, the premier nerd convention of the year. Both major comic companies were present as well as several movie studios, prominent actors, and nerd icons of all kinds. Everyone was eager to show off their newest projects. New clips for The Dark Knight... more

by A.J. Focht



Last weekend was San Diego Comic Con, the premier nerd convention of the year. Both major comic companies were present as well as several movie studios, prominent actors, and nerd icons of all kinds. Everyone was eager to show off their newest projects.

New clips for The Dark Knight Rises were previewed at Comic Con. The first was a teaser of Morgan Freeman showing off a new vehicle, The Bat. The second clip establishes the movie takes place eight years after The Dark Knight in a conversation between Officer Blake and Commissioner Gordon. The Dark Knight Rises premiers in theaters July 20.



Batman is one of the most popular heroes in the world with one of the most iconic cars ever. This year at SDCC, each of the classic Batmobiles were on display. The Batmobiles were all lined up and a new documentary about the cars was previewed at the con. The Batmobile is a documentary that features Batmobiles throughout time and the Batmen that drove them.

A few weeks ago, Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson was rumored to be in talks for a DC movie. The Rock has now confirmed via Twitter that he is indeed in talks for a Lobo movie. While he is in talks, the Lobo movie might not be planned for a while.

The Man of Steel had a panel at Comic Con, helping shed some light on the rumors surrounding the project. A short clip was shown to the audience and it was met with positive reviews. There’s a new teaser poster on their Facebook page as well.

Iron Man 3 had a major presence at Comic Con. During the Iron Man 3 panel, Kevin Feage, Shane Black, Robert Downey Jr., and Don Cheadle were present to talk about the upcoming movie. They discussed both rumors and the movie story, without giving much of anything away. All of the Iron Man armor from the past movies, as well as the armor from the upcoming movie was on display as well. Men might not be the only ones putting on armor in Iron Man 3 however, the new rumor is Gwyneth Paltrow may be dawning the rescue armor this go around.

Marvel revealed the titles to their upcoming sequels at Comic Con, and it looks like Bucky is coming back since the title of the Captain America sequel is Captain America: Winter Soldier. Bucky was the original Winter Soldier so it seems likely he’s returning as a villain. While Bucky isn’t confirmed beyond the title, Falcon will make an appearance in the film. Anthony Mackie will be playing the part. Winter Soldier is scheduled to release April 14, 2014.

The Thor sequel is entitled, Thor: The Dark World. A few things are known about Thor at the moment. The movie will explore Thor and Jane’s relationship. Loki will not be the main villain in the film, and the current rumor mill points all signs to the Enchantress. With a new director on board, it’s set for theatres sometime in 2013.

Marvel officially confirmed they are filming Galactic Guardians after Thor: The Dark World and Captain America: Winter Soldier. They also revealed the cast of the Galactic Guardians team will include: Drax the Destoryer, Gamora, Groot, Star-Lord, and everyone’s favorite, Rocket Raccoon. Galactic Guardians is slated to start in theaters on August 1, 2014.

That’s the first half of Ur W33K 1N G33K’s Comic Con coverage. Check back in for the rest of the news from the convention.

by Laurelin (image) Last night, sitting in a barstool while sipping my Sam Adams Summer Ale, I seriously wished that I were anywhere else. My mind wandered: I thought of going on vacation, I wondered what everyone was doing at my bar, if it was busy, I wondered about my bed, and what would be on TV when... more

by Laurelin



Last night, sitting in a barstool while sipping my Sam Adams Summer Ale, I seriously wished that I were anywhere else. My mind wandered: I thought of going on vacation, I wondered what everyone was doing at my bar, if it was busy, I wondered about my bed, and what would be on TV when I got home. I wondered if it was going to rain tomorrow, if I would sleep in or if I would get up and go for a run. I wondered if I would be hungover. Probably not.

It’s another Tuesday, and the most excitement I’ve had all night is tracing the outline of the snakeskin print leather barstool. My two friends sitting next to each other are squawking about their relationships and I am trying not to fall over out of sheer boredom. We’ve been out since 7 PM. It was 1 AM. My brain had officially turned to relationship mush.

“He doesn’t touch me anymore,” one says. “I go home, he ignores me, he wakes up, goes to work, I know he doesn’t love me.” The other shakes her head vigorously in agreement.

“I KNOW,” she says. “Mine doesn’t love me either. I said I love you to him and he didn’t say it back. Laurelin, what do you think?” She says, turning towards me and asking for advice that I know she’ll never take.

“I think I’m going to stab myself in the throat,” I say absentmindedly. The two girls look at me, horrified. I totally didn’t mean to say that out loud. What I meant to say, and what I had been saying all night is this: How can two beautiful, amazing, once independent woman stay in these loveless relationships simply because they don’t want to be alone?

“We live together,” one says. “

We work together,” says the other. I’ve been down both of those roads, and you know what? You do right by you. You make the important decisions and you trust that one day, you will meet someone who is right for you. Some day you will find your best friend, that one guy who wants you to come home and crawl into bed even if it’s late, the one who won’t leave you sobbing in the street after telling you you’re “lucky” he came home because he totally could have banged that chick at the bar.

These poor women; They often look at me with sadness in their eyes because when I ask them to go out a lot of the time they can’t – they’re with their boyfriends. “Aren’t you lonely?” they ask, the question dripping with pity. Yes. The answer is yes, I am so lonely that sometimes it’s all I can do not to just fling myself into bed at the end of each long day, praying to never wake up. I am so lonely sometimes that I call my ex-boyfriend and tell him to come over when I know he’s been drinking, just so I can listen to him snore and remember what it’s like to sleep next to a warm body.

But I am not so lonely that I would ever do what these girls are doing. Love is hard and relationships need to be worked on. But these, these have been dead for a long time and that type of lonely, well that is something I don’t have. My lonely can be solved with the simple concept of hope. I haven’t met someone yet. I will. I always do. With every sunrise and sunset I never know what’s around the corner, but these girls, they do, and it makes me so sad and bored for them that I could just die.

We walk home later, and one of them is crying. “I can’t do this anymore,” she says. I hug her and tell her to do the right thing, whatever that is. I fall asleep alone, and I know she’s drying her eyes before her boyfriend sees that she’s been crying.

I text her the next day, “How’d it go?” and she writes back like nothing ever happened. “Fine,” she says, “I was just being silly. He went golfing. We’re going to the movies later.”

I’d rather go alone.


***

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(image) by Steven Whitney [The Fighting Back series began with a simple question: given their minority status for most of the last 80 years, why is the GOP so successful at winning elections? Over the next weeks, we’ll seek answers in a myriad of fields and then offer solutions aimed at turning the... more

by Steven Whitney

[The Fighting Back series began with a simple question: given their minority status for most of the last 80 years, why is the GOP so successful at winning elections? Over the next weeks, we’ll seek answers in a myriad of fields and then offer solutions aimed at turning the tables on the party that favors corporations and the 1% over the vast majority of Americans. The series is not meant to be a monologue, so feel free to share your ideas in the comments section below.]

Last week’s column sketched out how Karl Rove – the GOP clone of Dr. Evil but lacking the charm or charisma – designed the new Republican model based upon the same four doctrines employed by Joseph Goebbels in his role as Minister of Public Enlightenment and Propaganda for Germany’s Third Reich.

The reason is simple: if we can learn from and implement some of his tactics and strategies, albeit without his mendacity and immorality, we should – if only to start winning more elections and to successfully push a liberal/progressive agenda through the labyrinthine halls of government.

Make no mistake, no matter who the Republican candidate or what GOP agenda Democrats are running against, they are also running against Rove, “the Architect” of the modern GOP. This is the man who not only “consults” on practically every race but who also makes and maintains connections to Big Money corporations and the 1% while holding the purse strings of rightwing SuperPACs and the RNC.

It’s also important because propaganda is all that Republicans have. With no substance, no moral high ground, no sustainable policies and no real solutions at hand, it’s just them and their giant propaganda machine. If we can beat that, we can beat them.

So let’s reboot the Goebbels/Rove doctrines of Propaganda – Indoctrination, Intimidation and Revenge, Distraction and Disinformation, and Divide and Conquer – and dig a little deeper into them, one by one.

Generally speaking, Indoctrination is the practice of instilling targeted ideas, attitudes, strategies, tactics, and other thoughts into the conscious, subconscious, or unconscious mind of another. It is different from learning (education), which requires deliberate study, perception, and critical analysis, in that indoctrination can be, and often is, involuntary – occurring almost subliminally, unobserved by the unsuspecting mind – and strongly discourages any questions or examinations of an analytic, or fact-based, nature.

The term indoctrination was originally used to describe the generation to generation passing on of religious doctrine (indoctrinate contains the word doctrine and comes from the same Latin root), a set of core beliefs central to an enclosed community that is based solely on “faith,” not facts. Children of the faithful were born and brought up within the strict guidelines of the religion and often attended religious schools (in addition to worship services and special religious instruction like catechism) where they learned and often had to memorize doctrine. By the time they reached adulthood, most (but not all) identified themselves with the religion in which they were indoctrinated. Children, of course, are particularly vulnerable because they rely on their families and communities for all their basic needs and they trust, or have faith in, the entities that nurture their growth.

Indoctrination to military service, on the other hand, is based on the reinforced concepts of “duty” and “order” to a nationalist (or tribal) entity while also encompassing the mental and physical training factually necessary for soldiers to perform their often unpleasant tasks. The ideal recruits or volunteers are late teens and young adults, largely because development of the pre-frontal cortex of the brain that controls judgment is not complete until about age 25, rendering them more susceptible both to influence and bad decisions.

While there are many forms of political indoctrination, the one successfully practiced by both Goebbels and Rove is based on the concept of “The Big Lie,” a term coined by Hitler himself in his book Mein Kampf:

When the Third Reich snatched total control of Germany’s media – all print, radio, and film outlets – Goebbels targeted those same “broad masses,” endlessly bombarding them with the Big Lies that led to World War II and the Holocaust. Any alternative view was vigorously quashed – books were burned, professors and other “intellectuals” were jailed, killed, or fled the country, art and music was censored or banned, and all performing arts were under the centralized control of Goebbels’ Ministry (two films produced by the Third Reich – Triumph of the Will and Olympia – are still considered the most skillful and frightening examples of the power of visual propaganda). This relentless blitzkrieg of untruth occurred every single day from 1933 to the Fall of Berlin twelve years later – and, tragically, it worked.

With modern technology, total control over the outward flow of information is more difficult today, but still possible (think North Korea). Yet in America, if the indoctrination begins early enough, continues blaring non-stop 24/7, and if the dialogue can be poisoned just enough to win elections, our entire society can be transformed from inside the government, almost invisibly, from a democracy to a plutocracy of corporations and the 1% with hardly a whisper of recognition.

Under Rove, and like Goebbels, Big Lies are mostly absorbed and reinforced through social brainwashing by the media, which diligently reports the GOP’s Daily Talking Points as both real news and, incredibly, the truth. On radio it’s the right wing corps of talk show hosts like Rush Limbaugh and Bill Bennett who receive their marching orders from Rove and the RNC.

But for the last 15 years, the elephant in the big GOP tent has been Fox News, created and autocratically run by Nixon/Reagan crony Roger Ailes, who serves as its president – and owned by none other than phone hacker extraordinaire Rupert Murdoch, the Aussie-turned-Brit-turned-American Citizen Kane. Over the last fifteen years, and by Ailes’ design, Fox News has literally become the unofficial arm of both the Republican Party and the Tea Party, if there’s any difference at this point.

In collusion with Rove – who signed a big money contract to serve as Fox’s “political analyst” – Ailes programs a never-ending cycle of propaganda and fear-mongering, complete with now infamous buzzwords and phrases like freedom, entitlements, elitist, liberal media, smoking guns and mushroom clouds, WMD, Red Alerts, Islamo-Fascist, Muslim, birther, redistribution of wealth, and my personal favorite, death panels.

Hour after dreary hour, the chattering chowderheads of Fox News goosestep in 2/4 time to the Daily Talking Point, using exactly the same words and phrases, over and over and over, like the annoying drip drip drip of a faucet all night long until it becomes part of your unconscious and you can finally sleep.

Jon Stewart frequently pokes fun at Fox’s journalistic reverb chamber, airing montages of every Fox host repeating the exact same words and phrases over and over – from Hannity to O’Reilly to Fox & Friends and everyone else, including every “guest” pundit weighing in on the day’s “news.” But laughs aside, the technique is lethally effective: every single textbook on brainwashing states that exact and continuous repetition is the most effective tool of social brainwashing. Preying on fear and paranoia, Rove and Fox continually repeat emotionally-charged slogans and buzzwords that, although false, favorably brand their far right agenda while painting anyone on the left (or sometimes even the center) as “Un-American,” perhaps their most overused buzzword – and all of it at a noise level that deafens reason.

The other sly ploy used by Fox News from its beginning is: “Trust only us. We’re the only network that will tell you the truth.” Goebbels’ state-run newspapers and radio employed the same ruse, so German children of that period grew up trusting only Nazi media.

And, of course, every time any reasonable objection is voiced from the 99% the Fox puppets repeatedly scream other buzzwords like “Class Warfare” or “socialist” (Goebbels, too, was virulently anti-socialist). How’s that for fair and balanced?

Even the GOP’s horrendous rudeness is a political tactic. Watch almost any installment of Real Time with Bill Maher and you’ll see Republican panelists aggressively interrupt and shout down (or over) pertinent points being made by progressives. While it may not at first seem advantageous to be so boorish, it keeps the audience from hearing the liberal perspective – and like a tree falling in the forest, if no one hears it, does it really exist?

Some might argue that only wingnuts on the right believe and trust in Fox News. But consider this: Because they are so unprepared for analytical thinking and contextual meaning, children are extremely vulnerable to propaganda, especially that which is delivered over a period of years. Think of children born in l993 or 1994 to parents who constantly played Fox News in the den. This year voting for the first time, these young adults have been indoctrinated for most of their lives – and they will likely pass their inculcated beliefs onto their children. That’s a scary thought, and proves that we have a lot of work to do for many years ahead.

During WWII, the Office of Strategic Services (OSS) – the precursor to the CIA – issued a report on the Hitler/Goebbels methodology that remained classified until the mid-60s, when its use started to leak into global political indoctrination:

Please, read that passage again. Let it sink in. Then ask yourself if, point by point, it doesn’t exactly describe the strategies of today’s GOP under the aegis of Karl Rove, his corporate sponsors, his media cronies, and Fox News.

As Germans discovered, those tactics can and do win elections, but they are so divisive as to inevitably lead to the destruction of once-great nations and sovereign cultures, just as they have led to the most dangerous political and social crisis the United States has faced since the Civil War – a crisis only we can solve, and only by taking action against those who want “to fool all of the people all of the time.”


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Gotcha!

by Blogbot (video) [Above: Video by Zach Roberts / @zdroberts] Here’s some of our favorite moments from Comic Con 2012. Tell us about yours in the comments section below. (image) [Above: Wil Wheaton stops by the SG booth.] "I love Comic Con so much. This year was my first time working the booth,... more

by Blogbot



[Above: Video by Zach Roberts / @zdroberts]

Here’s some of our favorite moments from Comic Con 2012. Tell us about yours in the comments section below.


[Above: Wil Wheaton stops by the SG booth.]

"I love Comic Con so much. This year was my first time working the booth, so my favorite part was being able to meet so many girls and the fans! But the best part EVER was seeing Venom Suicide pole dance at the club after. She is soooo hot!" – LaneyChantal


[Above: Ackley Suicide with Morgan Spurlock]

“I had the moment of my life at Comic Con 2012. I met my hero, Morgan Spurlock – and I got to share a bed with Rambo! Also, we were lucky enough have Will Wheaton stop by our booth, and Cameron Stewart surprised us with a CCSD 2012 SG Exclusive Comic Drawing of all of us girls. It was just amazing!” – Ackley


[Above: SG Comic Book artist Cameron Stewart stops by the SG booth.]

"My favorite part was getting to see (and take pictures with) many different people in various costumes. I love to see what comic fans come up with. It was also fun to meet more SGs and instantly get along with them." – Severen



"Being able to see Mark VIII from Iron Man 3 made me weak in the knees just a bit" – Tristyn



“The highlight of SDCC for me was meeting 'Lenore' creator Roman Dirge. He drew a quick sketch in the newest hardcover Lenore edition for me and we chatted about an upcoming movie. 
I also really enjoyed meeting the California Suicide Girls and having them sign my copy of the coffee table book.” – Thanatogenous



"Everything about ComicCon is so exciting and memorable. It's the highlight of my year. It's so hard to pick one thing as my favorite moment out of the five days of non-stop nerdsplosion of epicness. But, nothing beats the ‘con exclusive’ friendships that are formed and renewed while you're geeking out together over booths, swag, and sneak-peek announcements. The SuicideGirl booth during SDCC is the best place to be in the world!" – Bob



“What better than meeting a bunch of beautiful girls and finding out that they are super nice and like to party as much as you? Nothing. Add a night of Andrew WK, sexy costumes and meeting some of the nicest fans into the equation, and it made for a win-win weekend!” – Brewin



“My highlight had to be when a guy dressed as Boba Fett dropped down on one knee and pretended to propose to me in front of a huge crowd. I almost passed out from excitement. That moment made the entire trip worth it!” – Phecda



“My favorite Comic Con 2012 moments were watching Bob Suicide rage at the Andrew WK/ SG party, hearing Sash Suicide squeal when she ran into Opie from Sons of Anarchy, seeing the look of excitement on Milloux Suicide's face when she came face to face with her TV crush, talking to fans from all over the world, including Germany, England & Costa Rica, and the girl talk and gossip in the hotel with my fellow Suicide Girls. Nothing is bigger than SDCC and no one has more fun than the Suicide Girls ” – Tita



“My favorite comic con moment has to be the time I spend with all the girls, and catching Marvel’s Avengers vs. X-Men panel. – Lolana



“One of my favorite moments, or should I say hours, was at the DC booth. I was second in line for an Autograph by Scott Snyder (the New 52 Swamp Thing Batman). A very nice DC employee gave this obsessive fan girl a wristband for a later autograph session with Jim Lee (JLA, Infinite Crisis) and Geoff Johns (JLA, Green Lantern). Wristbands? I didn't know anything about wristbands. He pulled one out of his pocket and put it on my arm. I drooled and contemplated hugging him. I now have several of the New 52 #1s double and triple signed by some of the most awesome people in the comic universe. Also, I acquired a variant cover of Lady Meachanika #3 (Aspen) and got it autographed by Joe Benitez – one of my favorite series that everybody should check out by the way. I thanked each one of them for all the awesome and can't wait to come back next year.” – Elea



Thanks to everyone who stopped by the booth to say hi. We loved meeting each and everyone of you, and really appreciate all the love and support. See you at Comic Con 2013 – we’re already country down the days.



In the meatime, we’ll leave you with this Mask & Cape interview featuring our friends Chubby Bunny and Yume Ninja of Bubble Punch who designed our fab cosplay outfits this year. Talking of which, what would you like to see us wearing next year...



[Above: Kevin McShane from Mask & Cape interviews Chubby Bunny and Yume Ninja of Bubble Punch]



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by Lee Camp (video) As I say in the video, I don't believe the Bible is anything more than a collection of some mildly fascinating fairytales with an occasional woman getting stoned to death for giving up pussy at the wrong time. However, we have a lot of extremely wealthy religious people in this... more

by Lee Camp



As I say in the video, I don't believe the Bible is anything more than a collection of some mildly fascinating fairytales with an occasional woman getting stoned to death for giving up pussy at the wrong time. However, we have a lot of extremely wealthy religious people in this world, and I hope they take a moment to consider what their favorite book has to say about the subject. They seem to care what it says when it comes to what people do in the bedroom, so why not what people do in the boardroom?



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by Jeckyl Suicide (image) Ingredients 100g dark chocolate 150g self-raising flour 150g plain flour 60ml blackberry jam 60ml cocoa powder 60ml buttermilk 4 large eggs 2 table spoons coffee powder 200g baking margeriene 200g sugar (this sounds like a lot but the dark chocolate and coffee make it really... more

by Jeckyl Suicide

Ingredients

• 100g dark chocolate


• 150g self-raising flour


• 150g plain flour


• 60ml blackberry jam


• 60ml cocoa powder


• 60ml buttermilk


• 4 large eggs


• 2 table spoons coffee powder


• 200g baking margeriene


• 200g sugar (this sounds like a lot but the dark chocolate and coffee make it really bitter)

Directions:


1. Start by preheating your oven to 180 degrees (celsius).


2. Wash your hands thoroughly. (I'm big on hygiene!)


3. In a clean bowl, sift together all your dry ingredients (flour, sugar, cocoa powder).


4. In a pan, boil 3 quarters of a cup of water. Add the margeriene, coffee powder, and dark chocolate, and mix until they've all melted and it's a smooth syrup. Remove from heat and allow to cool.


5. in a seperate bowl, cream together the eggs and buttermilk.


6. Make a well in the centre of your dry ingredients and stir in the buttermilk/egg mixture.


7. Once the coffee syrup had cooled add it to the other ingredients. (Make sure it's not hot or the eggs will curdle and then you'll have to start ALL over again. Seriously.)


8. The result should be a very runnny and dark looking dough. Like this:



9. Grease up a cake tin of your choosing. Preferably a large one cause it's a pretty big mixture. I chose this one.


10. Place on a baking tray in the oven and allow to bake for approximaltely one hour. DON'T open the oven before it's fully risen otherwise it'll flop and turn hard like an oversized cookie.


11. Remove from oven and allow to cool before turning over onto a dish. I was impatient with mine and tried tp flip it while it was hot then it broke. So BE PATIENT!


12. Dust with icing sugar and add cherries to make it look pretty.




Ta-da!!


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by Brad Warner (image) This picture (above left) got posted on my Facebook wall last week (why is it called a wall?). Apparently it’s one of those things that’s been making the rounds on the Internets lately judging by the number of comments it had attracted even before it reached me. I don’t even... more

by Brad Warner



This picture (above left) got posted on my Facebook wall last week (why is it called a wall?). Apparently it’s one of those things that’s been making the rounds on the Internets lately judging by the number of comments it had attracted even before it reached me.

I don’t even want to get into the implied racism of choosing to illustrate this idea with a photo of a bucktoothed, bespectacled Asian with his head bowed submissively. Instead I’d like to focus on the caption.

First off, Buddhism is definitely not a religion based on not giving a fuck.

Someone posted a comment on this photo correcting it to “doctrine based on not giving a fuck” and someone else said, “Not a religion idiot.” But the problem isn’t whether or not Buddhism is a religion. That really depends on how you define the word religion. No, the issue here is about whether or not Buddhism is about not giving a fuck.

I’ve been doing some soul (or lack of soul) searching to try to figure out how exactly it got to the point where so many people imagine that Buddhism is about not giving a fuck. Here’s what I’ve come up with:

For one thing, Buddhism actually doesn’t give a fuck about a lot of the things that are considered by most religions to be extremely important. For instance, in Buddhism it doesn’t matter what you believe. I have to qualify this, though. Because there are Buddhists out there who do think it matters very much what you believe. Stephen Batchelor writes about his struggles with these kinds of Buddhists in his book Confessions of a Buddhist Atheist. Batchelor was once part of a Tibetan-based Buddhist organization who cared very much about what he believed. Indeed, I was called an anti-Buddhist by some who thought that my non-belief in what they called “literal rebirth” made me a heretic. But those Buddhists were confused and wrong.

Buddhism is not a belief system. It has a cosmology attached to it. But it’s not crucial to the practice that you believe any of that stuff. Gautama Buddha was concerned with relieving human suffering. He didn’t see any reason to think that belief played any great part in dealing with the pain he saw as inherent to existence.

Nishijima Roshi likes to say, “The only thing I believe in is reality.” That kind of belief is important to Buddhism. But that’s not what most religions mean when they talk about belief. Those other religions (or doctrines or whatever) want you to believe in things that you can’t verify for yourself. Deepak Chopra articulated this recently in one of his Twitter postings. It said, “Only the invisible is truly real.” That’s the complete opposite of Buddhist belief. We believe in reality, not in invisible stuff whose existence is found only in ancient books.

Buddhism also does not give a fuck about worship. There are no gods up there in the sky who demand compliments and gifts. We do sometimes bow down in front of statues. But we don’t do this because we believe the statue craves our praise. We bow to something higher within ourselves that the statue represents.

Buddhists also don’t give a fuck about certain behavioral issues other religions think of as terribly important. For example, I don’t know of any Buddhist organizations who oppose gay marriage. The Dalai Lama famously said that he thought homosexuality was a violation of the Buddhist principle of not misusing sex (I happen to disagree). But even Mr. Lama said it was not a very great violation and that if people were happy in their homosexual relationships he didn’t see any terrific harm in them. Abortion is not a major issue to any Buddhists that I’m aware of. The teaching of evolution in public schools doesn’t matter much to most Buddhists. In fact, unlike most other religions, Buddhism has no fear at all that science will one day come along and disprove its basic tenets. On the contrary, Buddhism embraces science.

But I’m not sure this is quite what the caption on the photo of that bucktoothed monk was referring to as not giving a fuck. I think whoever made that image may have perceived Buddhism as having a very casual attitude toward pretty much everything in life. He probably perceived Buddhism as a religion that had enshrined the attitudes of stoners like the guys from Bill & Ted’s Excellent Adventure as its ideal.

But that’s not really it. Or maybe it is. But it’s not quite the same, I think. I actually like Bill and Ted and have quoted them as people (albeit fictional ones) whose philosophy is worthy of respect. “Be excellent to each other” is a great sentiment. But the real world people upon whom Bill and Ted are modeled are usually people whose system is too full of THC for them to be able to care about much of anything. They’re so unfocused that nothing can possibly matter because they’re too numb to their environment to care much about it.

Buddhism is about being extremely aware of everything that’s going on. By becoming more aware of reality, you also become aware that your own thoughts are not so important. This means that you can have as many fears, worries, neuroses and so forth as you want. You just don’t really care very much about them because, after all, they’re just thoughts.

It seems to me that for most people “giving a fuck” means being intensely wrapped up in your own thoughts. Buddhists don’t learn how not to worry. They learn how not to worry about being worried. It’s not that we don’t care. We care a lot. But we also see what our real role is in the things we care about.

Buddhism is not a philosophy of complacency.

There is a huge difference between accepting things as they are and being complacent or apathetic. I definitely want to change the world. I seek nothing less than to completely overthrow the current society, which is sick and depraved and headed for disaster. I give a huge fuck about that. But I’m not going to do it fast and I’m not going to do it alone. In fact, I will be dead and gone long before things change in the way I know they must.

But that’s not enough to make me simply lie back down and say, “fuck it.” I take action. But my action doesn’t seem like much. I meditate every day and I teach others how to meditate. I write. I give lectures. I devote all of my life to making the world better. But I do it in ways that probably seem small and ineffective to those who have a different definition of what “giving a fuck” ought to look like.

***

Brad Warner is the author of Sex, Sin and Zen: A Buddhist Exploration of Sex from Celibacy to Polyamory and Everything in Between as well as Hardcore Zen, Sit Down and Shut Up! and Zen Wrapped in Karma Dipped in Chocolate. He maintains a blog about Buddhist stuff that you can click here to see. You can also buy T-shirts and hoodies based on his books, and the new CD by his band Zero Defex now!


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Brad Warner’s Hardcore Zen: What Happens After You Die?
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Brad Warner’s Hardcore Zen: Doesn’t Buddhism Count Homosexuals As Sexual Deviants? Putting The Fallacy To Bed
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CBGBs Double SG Feature & Impromptu Afterparty (image) With SuicideGIrls being a national and international phenomenon, it gives me a great excuse to couch surf and meet more of this awesome community in person. A very stylish white leather sofa bed in NYC is currently serving as my home away from... more

CBGBs Double SG Feature & Impromptu Afterparty



With SuicideGIrls being a national and international phenomenon, it gives me a great excuse to couch surf and meet more of this awesome community in person. A very stylish white leather sofa bed in NYC is currently serving as my home away from home/office, and on my first night here, as luck would have it, just as my friend Zach and I were trying to figure out what to do with our evening, I saw a tweet from Lux. Turned out CBGBs were hosting a double SG feature as part of their film festival, and were screening Suicide Girls Must Die coupled with the world premiere of the super sexy new Suicide Girls UK movie.



Fabrizia, Payton, Sunshine, Spliff, Auriga, Tore, Lux, and Yankee were at the screening, and afterwards we got to spend some quality time drinking Blue Moon at a nearby bar. Par for the course for an SG get together, a suitable amount of silliness ensued. Alcohol has somewhat dulled my memory of that night, but I do remember trying on a bra that wasn't mine in the middle of the bar. I know the golden rule of the internets is "pix or it didn't happen" - so here you are:



Also, this happened on the way home, because that's just the way I rock & roll:



Click HERE for more image from the night. Pix by @zdroberts.

by SG's Team Agony feat. Kurosune Let us answer life's questions - because great advice is even better when it comes from SuicideGirls. (image) [Kurosune in Apollo] Q: I've been married for seven years to my high school sweetheart – if you can call him that – I just call him my legally... more

by SG's Team Agony feat. Kurosune

Let us answer life's questions - because great advice is even better when it comes from SuicideGirls.


[Kurosune in Apollo]

Q: I've been married for seven years to my high school sweetheart – if you can call him that – I just call him my legally bound roommate. During our marriage I was faithful for the first 6 1/2 years. Him? Well that’s a different story. He's cheated on me 3 times that I know of. The worst was when I found out about the first two 6 months after my mom died. The last one was about a year ago.

I forgave him so quick the first time when I found out just because I didn't want to lose him, but this last time has taken longer because I don't know what I want anymore. Since I found out we've done the marriage counseling thing. It seemed like it was working, but he had to stop because he travels for work. He's only home for about 5 days out of the month and over the summer he went to Australia for 3 weeks.

When he got back I told him that in my mind he hooked up with someone while he was gone and whether he had or hadn't I didn't want confirmation because it would just make things worse. While he was gone, I kind of took it upon myself to do what I wanted when I wanted. I mean, he did it, so why couldn't I? And in all honesty, it felt nice – and still does.

I don't want to loose him but I don't know if I really want to stay married either. The idea of an open marriage sounds appealing but I know in all honesty that would probably be the first step of the demise of us. I know I love him, but I just can’t seem to figure out if I'm still in love with him.

A: Seven years is a long time, I commend you for staying in a relationship so long. I speak from personal experience when I say I know exactly what it is like to fall in love and then move in with your high school sweetheart. Me and mine were together for over six years before we finally broke it off. However, your situation…well, it's a toughy, isn’t it?

I will just cut straight to the chase: A CHEATER IS A CHEATER IS A CHEATER. Very rarely do cheaters change. And for him to have abandoned you when you needed him the most for some nookie – that's even worse.

I truly empathize with you, because when my mother was in the hospital, all one of my guy friends was trying to do was fuck, so I can appreciate how incredibly insensitive he is as well. Under the circumstance, the fact that you stayed faithful for so long is even more commendable. I'm slightly reminded of the song, “I Shoud've Cheated." You should look it up – a little music therapy for you.

And honey, those are the three times THAT YOU KNOW OF. Again, I wouldn't have forgiven him after the first incident. But when you say, "You did what you want to do," that implies that you cheated as well, and, sweetheart, two wrongs certainly do not make a right.

I have a personal philosophy when it comes to cheating: If he loved you, he would have never cheated in the beginning. The opposite side of that, as I see it, is that the minute you had sex with that other guy while in a committed relationship it meant you were basically admitting to yourself that you were no longer in love with him.

Truly, this is your decision, but in reality, however subconsciously, it seems like you’ve already made it. I can understand that you love him, but are you in love with him? And how deep does that love run? Will it cost you your dignity? Your heart? This may just be a relationship that has run its course and that is emotionally healthier to let go. But, ultimately, only you can know what path you need to take.

If it were me, I hope I’d have the strength to take the path away from a man who cheats, who will continue to cheat, and who will break your heart again and again and again. Stay strong and stay focused on what makes you happy. Remember, YOU COME FIRST.

Best of luck and all my love,