by Blogbot (image) [Above: Hezza Suicide in Melancolia] SG / Artist Name: Hezza Suicide a.k.a. Majo Rey Mission Statement: Having experimented with other kinds of clothes I began my lingerie line in 2004. I was always a lingerie consumer, but couldn’t find nice things over here (I live in South América). more

by Blogbot


[Above: Hezza Suicide in Melancolia]

SG / Artist Name: Hezza Suicide a.k.a. Majo Rey

Mission Statement: Having experimented with other kinds of clothes I began my lingerie line in 2004. I was always a lingerie consumer, but couldn’t find nice things over here (I live in South América). After working in a big factorywhich made swimwear, I decide to start with my personal own line, and launched my brand Majo Rey. What I do, or want to transmit to the people who consume the brand, is the spirit of being young and sexy. It’s important to feel comfortable and sexy at the same time. The brand has a lot of myself in it; It’s for powerful, independent women with a rock & roll spirit.


[Above: Gold Label Collection 2011]



[Above: Gold Label Collection 2011]


[Above: Gold Label Collection 2011]

Medium: Laces and silk, with colorful and playful elastics and hooks.

Aesthetic: Sexy.

Notable Achievements: Being part of several catwalk fashion shows of designers in Uruguay and Belgium. Next October I’m going be participate in the fashion show at the International Brussels Tattoo Convention. My work has also been featured in several newspapers and blogs (see Blogcouture 2011, Blogcouture 2009, and Pimba).

Why We Should Care: I’ve created a designer luxury lingerie brand, made by hand, with a big team working everyday on special things - just for you. I’m dedicated to my work and care for every single detail, from the raw materials through to the finished product and packaging.

I Want Me Some: Visit MajoRey.com and/or MajoReyStore.Etsy.com/. You can also find me on Facebook and Twitter.


[Above: Melancholy Collection 2011]


[Above: Melancholy Collection 2011]


[Above: Melancholy Collection 2011]

***

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(image) [Remembering the good times: Amy at Coachella 2007] Amy Winehouse has been found dead. The BBC reports that an ambulance was called to her North London home on Saturday July 23 at 3.54 PM GMT. The London Metropolitan Police said in a statement that she was pronounced dead at the scene. The singer... more

[Remembering the good times: Amy at Coachella 2007]

Amy Winehouse has been found dead. The BBC reports that an ambulance was called to her North London home on Saturday July 23 at 3.54 PM GMT. The London Metropolitan Police said in a statement that she was pronounced dead at the scene. The singer had had a much publicized battle with drugs, though at this stage her death is officially being treated as “unexplained.” She was just 27.

So sad.

R.I.P.

Photo: Nicole Powers

by SG's Team Agony feat. Jaeci, Yesenia and Fabrizia Let us answer life's questions - because great advice is even better when it comes from SuicideGirls. (image) [Jaeci in Be My Lover] Q: I've been in a relationship for about 3 years now. We had a hard start but things were good for a... more

by SG's Team Agony feat. Jaeci, Yesenia and Fabrizia

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


[Jaeci in Be My Lover]

Q: I've been in a relationship for about 3 years now. We had a hard start but things were good for a while. About a year ago, we had our last big fight, which was caused by her jealously.

Since then I’ve felt myself detaching from her bit by bit, and I've got into some one-nighters with ex-girlfriends. About four months ago I started to date a friend and I've fallen in love with her. This has led to another massive problem with this relationship.

So to get to the point, I want to breakup. I need my space and all that jazz, but I just don't want to hurt her. She has psychological problems and has already tried to kill herself twice. I just don't want to make things worse.

Any ideas of how to just get things done without any blood?

A: Nothing excuses your cheating. It is the ultimate betrayal of the bond between monogamous lovers. You say you don't want to hurt her, you don't want to make things worse – you've already done the most hurtful thing you can do; you've already shown total disregard for her fragile psychological state. If she were to find out you cheated, I'd bet money she'd be in a worse condition than if you had just broken up in the first place. Incompatibility, irreconcilable differences – these things are normal, natural, not even terribly personal. Being cheated on, however, raises a thousand questions and will put all kind of doubts in her min. Your behavior hasn't been respectable. You've been a coward.

Yea, someone has to say it.

However, what's done is done. You fucked up. Now it's time to get out, and stop living this charade. Stop hurting someone you're pretending you care about, stop living a lie, stop keeping the woman that you do love waiting in the wings.

First of all, you need to approach this breakup in a calm, non-judgmental way. You need to be gracious, courteous, tactful, gentle. Don't pick her apart, don't list a litany of mistakes and missteps, or try to apportion blame. Don't air out your dirty laundry to clear your conscience in any way – you've made the nasty choices, and you've got to live with those. In this case, I'd advise you to err on the side of caution. When in doubt, hold your tongue.

Does she have a close friend that you also talk to? A reasonable family member, maybe a brother or sister or cousin close in age, who knows of her suicide attempts? Often people with mental health problems, personality disorders, or addictions have some people in their lives that love them unconditionally but DO understand why boyfriends, girlfriends, and plain-old-friends have to detach. If there is someone close you can talk to, you may want to consider reaching out to them. After you've broken up, if it seems like she's very hurt or worked up, tell someone, "We just broke up. I'm not sure she's taking it so well, but I want to make sure she's okay. Would you mind giving her a call or stopping in?"

As much as I do not want to give you a get out of jail free card, what happens AFTER your break up is not your responsibility. If you've treated her with respect (or at least pretended to; your multiple bouts of infidelity are blatantly disrespectful), if you've handled her heart with the best care you can, what she does after you leave is her choice. You cannot stay with her because you are afraid of how she'll respond.

Arm yourself with a suicide hotline number, and tread carefully. Hopefully she will have better judgment than to cause herself harm over you.

Jaeci

***


[Yesenia in The Watering Hole]

Q: 
So this movie coming out, Friends With Benefits, got me thinking. How can I introduce the idea of sex between my female friend and I? Like the movie No Strings Attached, how can I successfully introduce this concept? 
Understanding that she ultimately makes the rules, such as: no emotions, it’s not about sex all the time, and/or no games like trying to make her jealous. Is it normal or possible for the dude to even bring it up without looking like a jerk? 
I have a couple of friends in mind (they don't know each other) whom I do care about, but I know we are generally not wanting a serious relationship at this time.

Any advise?


Not Justin Timberlake

A: I will say 9 out of 10 times these situations end badly. Think about what is more important to you – sex or that person's friendship? I don't want that to sound rude, because for all I know either of the girls could be bad friends, making sex more appealing (and if that is the case - the sex will be empty and you might as well get a blow up doll). I guess just sit down and think about all the possible outcomes of the situation and make a decision accordingly.

If you do decide to go ahead, remember, the more important the friendship, the more delicately the approach should be taken. First, you need to know if the girl is sexually attracted to you. You can start by doing some random mini-flirty type things, like giving a look or touching her hand briefly. Always be honest – it will only hurt the both of you if you are not. Let her know you are attracted to her, but also state you do not want a relationship.

You may also want to think about what you expect out of the sexual encounters. Are you searching for an emotional feeling or strictly to get off? And bear in mind what the girl is expecting to get out of it. If the two of you are not completely mutual in these feelings, I would abandon ship.

xx Kisses xx

Yesenia

***


[Fabrizia in Cottonwood]

Q: This may sound weird, but my problem is my insane sex drive when it comes to my wife. She’s so hot that she doesn’t even have to do anything to turn me on. We hug and I have an instant erection. Her sex drive is a lot lower than mine though. She says my dick hurts her when we have sex so I just try to double down on licking her so at least she gets to cum sometimes, but she’s rarely in the mood like I am.

I’ve tried pushing for things like three ways, either with another guy or girl, and told her she can get a GF on the side and I’d be OK with it if it helped her libido. Is it possible that we can love each other so much and just not be sexually compatible?

I’m nowhere near the point of looking for an affair but I’d love to know if there’s anything I should do for her. She doesn’t communicate sex well either. I was her first BF, and mine was the first penis she’d ever seen, so she’s not as experienced as I am. I think that’s why she doesn’t want to talk about what’s wrong. We also tried getting toys. I’m already pretty kinky so we got stuff like a strap on, cuffs, leg restraints, blindfolds, gags, and a bullet/egg. It works and we do have fun with it, but we still don’t have that much sex even with them. Any advice?

A: It sounds like you need to stop pressing the issue and maybe start asking some different questions: Were things always like this between the two of you? If not, when did it change? Have there been any major life events that may have put a damper on her sex drive?

Sometimes, lack of drive stems from psychological or physical reasons that have little to do with sex itself. However, there are situations where people are just not sexually compatible. I am not sure which one of these is the case for you, but there are ways to find out.

Consider if something has changed, or if it's always been this way. Maybe you have been trying too hard to change her into a person she is not. Whether or not the two of you have different sex drives is one thing, but it's an altogether different issue when you bring sexual preferences - likes and dislikes - into the mix.

You've done this by trying to introduce sex toys and even suggesting the addition of another partner. But it seems to me that these suggestions are only addressing your needs and not hers. If it hurts her when you have sex, maybe you should try to slow down a little bit and take some of the pressure off her - literally and figuratively!

Since you are the more experienced one in the relationship, you need to approach the situation with a bit more tact and understanding towards her – she's never been with anyone else and may not really feel comfortable being sexually overt yet.

If you love her, stay the course and try to be understanding that you two might just have different needs. She isn't broken and doesn't need to be fixed. You might be making it worse by going over to top with your attempts to change things. If all else fails, hey there's always masturbation. (You might also want to consider couples counseling too.)

Fabrizia

***

Got Problems? Let SuicideGirls’ team of Agony Aunts provide solutions. Email questions to: gotproblems@suicidegirls.com

by Mur Lafferty SuicdeGirls presents the seventeenth installment of our Fiction Friday sci-fi series, Marco and the Red Granny, which is brought to you by SG columnist Mighty Mur a.k.a. cyber commentator Mur Lafferty. Marco and the Red Granny is set in a not-so-distant future where an alien species,... more

by Mur Lafferty

SuicdeGirls presents the seventeenth installment of our Fiction Friday sci-fi series, Marco and the Red Granny, which is brought to you by SG columnist Mighty Mur a.k.a. cyber commentator Mur Lafferty.

Marco and the Red Granny is set in a not-so-distant future where an alien species, the Li-Jun, has transformed the moon into the new artistic center of the universe, where the Sally Ride Lunar Base soon gains the nickname "Mollywood." These aliens can do amazing things with art and the senses, allowing a painting, for example, to stimulate senses other than sight. However, humans remain suspicious of the Li-Jun’s emotion-imbued goods, so while their entertainment can be beamed back to earth, a trade embargo prevents anything from being physically imported to the planet.

In the previous installments, Marco, a writer whose career has long been in the doldrums, gets a surprise call from an agent he thought he no longer had informing him that he has received an offer from Mollywood for a much coveted Li-Jun patronage. Keen to catch up career-wise with his ex-GF Penelope, who'd unceremoniously dumped him after being recruited by the Li-Jun two years earlier, Marco hastily jumps on the next shuttle to the moon. Once aboard, he finds himself sitting next to a seemingly unassuming old lady called Heather, who turns out to be The Red Granny, a legend in Li-Jun's reality show world for being a three-time champion of The Most Dangerous Game (which requires contestants to sign away the rights to their life).

After settling into his new accommodations at House Blue, Marco has a brief meeting with his new patron, a Li-Jun called Thirteen. It’s only then that Marco realizes he's never been shown the terms of his employment, and a sense of unease sets in. That evening, Marco is taken on a trip to see The Red Granny in action in The Most Dangerous Game. After a bloody battle, the senior reality TV star is again victorious. The viciousness of the game leaves The Red Granny unconscious, and Marco shocked, disturbed, and in need of a stiff drink. Unfortunately stiff drinks are frowned upon by the Li-Jun, so Marco settles for an early night

The next day, Marco learns first hand about the process that enables the Li-Jun to put taste into paintings, music into pie, and stories into (nonalcoholic) beverages. Having had his deepest and most depraved memories dredged and thoroughly probed by the aliens so they can be monitored and recorded, Marco finally sees the terms of his contract. He ultimately accepts the Li-Jun’s too-good-to-refuse offer, and embarks on his new life at House Blue. However, though he’s been handed everything he ever wanted, somehow the reality of it is hollow.

Twenty thousand words into his new graphic novel, with his first deadline looming, Marco suffers from a severe case of writers block, and searches for inspiration in the bottom of a glass that’s actually had something worth drinking in it. To this end, he stumbles across an illicit drinking establishment on the seedier side of the moon which turns out to be run by a collective of folks who are strictly persona non grata as far as the Li-Jun are concerned – The Alcoholic's Guild. There Marco has an uneasy encounter with a glass or three of gin, his ex-GF Penelope, who is now going by the name Knowledge, and her AG sponsor, Defect. After downing one too many drinks, Marco begins to get a sense of exactly how severe of an infraction the Li-Jun consider the consumption of alcohol to be.

While attempting to conceal his inebriation as he sneaks back into House Blue, Marco is caught red handed by his Li-Jun keeper Seven (it was probably his spontaneous vomiting that gave him away). The punishment is a second bout of mind raping/mapping. Afterwards, with his patronage in jeopardy, Heather gives him a 'special' necklace to calm his nerves and promises to plead his case with Thirteen.

The following morning, Heather takes Marco on a behind-the-scenes tour of the secret areas of House Blue where the Li-Jun infuse emotion into art. The Red Granny also reveals that everything created in Mollywood will soon be permitted to be legally imported back to earth. Duly inspired and placated, Marco is allowed to resume his patronage...However, that was before he got kidnapped twice in one day. The first time by Penelope/Knowledge and Defect of The Alcoholic's Guild, who made him realize the Li-Jun had brainwashed him into compliance, and the second time by the Li-Jun, who were rather upset about the fact he'd just been fraternizing with said Alcoholic's Guild – albeit initially unwillingly. Marco’s punishment for this infraction? He was to be a contestant in The Most Dangerous Game.

Having selected his weapon of choice, with a little help from Heather, we join Marco as he prepares for his first bout - armed with nothing more than a bad case of nerves/abject terror, a staff, and a seemingly unassuming knife. However before he enter the arena, something Heather said gives him pause for thought:

We are not that dissimilar. We're just going about our paths in a different way.

Before he enters the arena, Marco cuts himself with the knife to see what it might be imbued with. He discovers thanks to its nefarious Li-Jun properties, it gives him a sense of rage he’s never felt before…



Marco and the Red Granny - Part 17

Being single-minded was liberating. Marco felt none of his usual second-guessing or wondering if he'd left his computer on. There was no listening to his own panicked breathing or wondering which way he should go.

The rage was deep within him. After a moment, he realized this was not rage brought about by his own memory. It was a stronger, more primal rage, caused by the betrayal of someone close, and the loss of family and love. A small part of him wondered if it was Heather's nostalgia, but he barely acknowledged it. No matter where it came from, it was his driving force.

He came out onto the Lunar landscape running full-tilt, a low, forward-focused gait that barely lumbered, taking only a moment to get his bearings with the bulky suit. He made for a rocky hill that offered shadows he could hide in. From there he could plan.

Something nagged at him, but he ignored it utterly. He reached the hill relatively quickly. He hadn't seen any other contestants.

The enraged mind doesn't think defensively; he hadn't considered someone else might be waiting in the shadows for him. The suited person leaped out at him, a crossbow raised, and Marco dropped to his knees and pushed off with his feet, propelling himself forward like a low-flying bullet. The shot must have gone over him, but it didn't matter. He hit the person in the belly with his massive helmet and knocked them down. He reached over his shoulder and slid the Red Granny’s staff off his back and came down with the butt of it, smashing the person's helmet inward. He didn't even register the shocked, bloody look, and left the body to finish dying.

That was for my family, he found himself thinking. Three left.

He took a moment to get his bearings. He saw no opponents anywhere around him, not in the shadows, not in the hills. He ran his tongue over his teeth, tasting the sweet tea still, and realized he still held the staff in his hand.

Like a big pencil.

Billions of people were watching him. Everyone on the moon, nearly everyone on Earth; certainly everyone who were fans of the alien culture, the alien culture who took delight in watching the barbaric humans fight each other.

The moon dust was thick, an easier grain to push around than sand. Marco had always enjoyed stories of the great artists on the beaches, drawing before the tide came in to destroy their masterpieces.

He took the staff and dragged it behind him, running into the light again. The sun glinting in the black sky sparked another memory, but the two warring emotions of must-create and must-destroy were too loud in his head, fighting for control. He saw two bodies flailing at each other in the distance, but he ignored them, continuing to draw in the moon dust, incorporating his large footsteps into the drawing, thinking woolly, woolly, as his feet landed, making little puffs.

The world must think I'm mad.

He was nearly done. He glanced up and saw a body running toward him. The hot bile of rage rose in his throat again and he jumped lightly out of his drawing so the resulting bloodshed wouldn’t mar it. The body looked vaguely feminine, in a Li-Jun created suit. It plowed into him and he took care to make sure they fell away from his drawing. He tried to throw the body off, but she had a death-grip on his suit, and he saw with growing alarm that she had knives on her left glove.

He couldn’t reach the staff; he’d dropped it by the artwork. He took her scrabbling left hand in his, squeezing tightly to hurt himself as much as her, and pulled the hand off. Her little knives hadn’t punctured his suit yet, and he bellowed in his helmet, encouraging the rage to continue. She turned her wild eyes on him and in a moment of clarity he recognized her.

Penelope. In a Li-Jun suit. Attacking him with murderous rage.

Oh no. Not Penelope.

He let her go, jumping backward, trying to get out of her range, to keep her from attacking him, loathe to attack her back. Her face contorted behind her mask and she screamed silently, running toward him again.

Unlike Marco, who tried to balance the two opposite urges within him, something had given Penelope only rage, and she leaped at him. He dodged her and she fell into the moon dust.

“Please, Penelope, Knowledge, don’t do this, please,” he said the mantra to himself, chanting at her, trying as much to calm his own manufactured killing urge as try to get through to her.

But he forgot where they were. He forgot that they weren’t alone. He forgot that while he was willing to spare Penelope, his ex-lover, Knowledge of His Will, no one else on the battleground was.

The body hit her from above. Another Li-Jun suit, similarly made, with double knives in the fists puncturing her suit at the collarbone, slicing upward toward the neck, and it was over. Knowledge of His Will crumpled without a fight, the escaping air in her suit making little white puffs in the vacuum.

The attacker didn’t even have a chance to pull the knives out before Marco was on him. The staff was back in his hands and he used it with brutal efficiency. There was no grace and beauty to his using the weapon, this was not a use the Li-Jun would be impressed with. It was over quickly, with the helmet bashed in, and the face of Spiritual Awakening stunned and bloody. Thirty seconds later, and all you could see to identify him was the 12 on the side of his neck.

Marco wheezed, sobbing, his voice loud and pitiful in his helmet. Somewhere he remembered; Seven had told him that every season of The Most Dangerous Game had one capital punishment trial. No glory here; the winner got to face the champion and go free if he won. But everyone seemed to be artificially pumped full of rage.
The next realization was ice cold down his back. Heather. She’s all our handicap.

Would she kill me? Have I imagined this alliance?

If this battle were like the others, there would be one person left, or two if Heather didn’t count. He saw her about fifty meters away, dispatching the final contestant. The “remove your opponent’s helmet” trick had proved to be a popular move, and she had done it again, her victim lying in the vacuum, his ten seconds to die seeming to be a very long time.

Marco didn’t recognize the victim.

Marco gripped his staff tighter, feeling the blood squelch in his glove. The rage crested again, and Marco took a couple of steps toward her. He paused, though. Maybe Heather had a plan. Maybe there was a way out, maybe they'd be picked up by a shuttle and be whisked away... where? There was no other moon colony. A rogue shuttle wouldn't be allowed into Earth’s atmosphere. They were stuck, there, bald and naked in their final minutes.

He turned back to his art, knowing that the world was, indeed, watching. He had almost finished it. To him it looked awkward and tilted, impossible to parse out what he had created. But he knew that the aerial cameras, and thus the billions of eyes watching, could see it perfectly.

He put the finishing touches on it, trusting her to give him room. He added some embellishments here and there, to add to the shock value, and stepped away. If he had done his work correctly, it would convey what he needed it to.

The rage still brewed, and he had no idea where to point it. He couldn’t attack Heather. He was fighting to the death out here, but he wasn't stupid.

The Red Granny walked toward him pumping her arms, building up speed. Marco paused, unsure, but the rage blinded his fear. He ran for her, the roar in his ears drowning out his primal scream.

She did not resist him. Later he realized he was nothing but a ball of rage, something a focused martial artist like her would have had no problem dealing with. She could have grabbed him, thrown him, dumped him down a crater. But she skidded to a stop and opened her arms to him, letting him overpower her. He knocked her down and came down with the knife the way Spiritual Awakening had done to Penelope, his Penelope, and cut easily through her reinforced suit. Behind her mask, her eyes flew open as the rage he was feeling entered her, too, but it was too little too late. She grasped his sleeve weakly and then closed her eyes at last.

The area was already lit well with arena lights and the weak sun overhead, but Marco had to shield his eyes against the applause as the crowd stood as one and flicked their lights at him. He stared down at Heather's corpse, and then Knowledge's. The rage finally began to dissipate, and his knees buckled as grief and exhaustion overtook him.

***

Excerpt from the Marco and the Red Granny, published by Restless Brain Media at Smashwords. Copyright 2010 Mur Lafferty.

Mur Lafferty is an author and podcast producer. She has released several works via audio podcast, including her novel Playing For Keeps, the novellas in the Heaven series, the audio drama The Takeover, and many others. She's won the Parsec Award and the Podcast Peer award. Her published works include Playing For Keeps (Swarm), Nanovor: Hacked (Running Press Kids), and Tricks of the Podcasting Masters (Que), not to mention several short stories. She is the host of I Should Be Writing and the Angry Robot podcasts, as well as the editor of Escape Pod, the sci-fi audio magazine. Marco and the Red Granny was originally published as the premier podcast serial at Hub Magazine, and is available for Kindle via Amazon.

Mur lives in Durham, NC with her husband, Jim Van Verth, their daughter, and two dogs. You can find her in the Murverse, at Smashwords and on Twitter.

Catch Up With Marco and the Red Granny:

Fiction Friday: Marco and the Red Granny - Part 1
Fiction Friday: Marco and the Red Granny - Part 2
Fiction Friday: Marco and the Red Granny - Part 3
Fiction Friday: Marco and the Red Granny - Part 4
Fiction Friday: Marco and the Red Granny - Part 5
Fiction Friday: Marco and the Red Granny - Part 6
Fiction Friday: Marco and the Red Granny - Part 7
Fiction Friday: Marco and the Red Granny - Part 8
Fiction Friday: Marco and the Red Granny - Part 9
Fiction Friday: Marco and the Red Granny - Part 10
Fiction Friday: Marco and the Red Granny - Part 11
Fiction Friday: Marco and the Red Granny – Part 12
Fiction Friday: Marco and the Red Granny - Part 13
Fiction Friday: Marco and the Red Granny - Part 14
Fiction Friday: Marco and the Red Granny - Part 15
Fiction Friday: Marco and the Red Granny - Part 16

by Aaron Colter The bulk of this blog post isn't about San Diego Comic-Con, I'm just using it as an excuse to get you to click on the title. And it worked. Fooled you, motherfuckers! You might as well stick around though, I mean, you did already click on the title, and you are already reading... more

by Aaron Colter

The bulk of this blog post isn't about San Diego Comic-Con, I'm just using it as an excuse to get you to click on the title. And it worked. Fooled you, motherfuckers! You might as well stick around though, I mean, you did already click on the title, and you are already reading this sentence. The next one's pretty good, you should read it too.

Comic-Con can actually be a lot of fun, but it's expensive as hell and crowded as five pounds of shit in a four pound bag. If conventions are your type of party, there are smaller conventions around the country that are legitimately well-attended, where you'll have the opportunity to meet with other fans and actually speak to creators about their work. If, however, you're looking to blow a few thousand dollars, and can get a decent group of your friends to do the same, plan a year in advance, and set aside hundreds in cash for stuff on the show floor, then yes, San Diego Comic-Con is fucking awesome. If attending, my top three picks for things to get at SDCC are Mr. Hipp Strikes!, Any Empire by Nate Powell, and the 2011 Color Ink Book.

But, if you're like me, and don't really want to deal with all of that noise this year, next, or ever, unless absolutely necessary, then here's some cool stuff that you can do this weekend that will still be pretty fun.



1. Go to your local comic book shop.

Seriously, find a store in your area, even if it means a bit of commute, and get to know the shops that carry comics. Chances are, they'll be populated by nerdy, nice folks who can suggest titles you've never heard of and will ultimately love.

2. Listen to some great music.

Oh, look, I found some here and here.

3. Read the dozens of bills Republican lawmakers across the country have enacted based on drafts from major corporations.

Come on, you knew this bullshit was happening. Now, there's proof.

4. Make your brain think you're on drugs.

Seems fun! Plus, it's cheaper!

5. Learn about a study which sought to see if a chimpanzee could learn to construct sentences by having him live with a wealthy New York family.

Yep, this happened. It was a Columbia University study in the late 1970s, and the subject of a new documentary. As you might have guessed, things didn't go so well when the researchers tried to raise a chimp like a person in the middle of one of humanity's largest cities. I smell a sitcom! But, only if it's one of those British sitcoms that are actually more sad than they are funny.

That's all, everyone! Have a superb weekend, and remember - don't dress up like Slave Leia or you'll look like an idiot.

I understand Miranda July’s new movie The Future, completely. I don’t think I can explain it, except to say that each individual scene, even single lines of dialogue, can inspire an entire conversation. Writer/director July crafts the story of Sophie (July) and Jason (Hamish Linklater), a couple planning... more

I understand Miranda July’s new movie The Future, completely. I don’t think I can explain it, except to say that each individual scene, even single lines of dialogue, can inspire an entire conversation.

Writer/director July crafts the story of Sophie (July) and Jason (Hamish Linklater), a couple planning on adopting a cat they rescued. In the time it will take for the shelter to heal Paw-Paw (voice of July and yes, the cat narrates), Sophie and Jason plan to make the most of their remaining time without commitment. Sophie cancels the internet, yet still plans to record dances that she’ll upload at Wi-Fi enabled cafes. Jason explores a career in environmentalism.

Yet those are not the themes I focused on. The unique voice of July is that she will give Jason the power to freeze time, or the characters will contemplate the end, as in the big end. The story of Jason and Sophie’s relationship progresses to a conclusion, but it’s the abstract steps along the way that evoke thought and feeling.

At the Los Angeles Film Festival, July met me in the lobby of the J.W. Marriot downtown while her film played at the Regal Cinemas. She would return to the theater for an audience Q&A, but while a new audience experienced The Future, July sat in an outdoor bar, magenta stockings shining in the sun, and analyzed her film with me.

Fred Topel: Would you consider yourself a New Wave filmmaker?

Miranda July: Wow, what is the New Wave? Is there a New Wave?

FT: I was thinking of the French New Wave which was 40 years ago.

MJ: Right. I’m not French so I guess no, but that would be cool if I was somehow part of that but I don’t think there’s any way I could claim that.

FT: If one were to say they felt your films were reminiscent of the French New Wave, would that be a compliment?

MJ: Yeah, but to be honest, I’m such a bad film scholar that it’s not like my understanding is deep and intrinsic of Godard and stuff like that. I love those movies but because I’m married to someone who really loves those movies and studies them and stuff, I know that I’m not that person.

FT: I could say that about your husband, Mike Mills' film Beginners also.

MJ: Well, whatever. I wouldn’t say that about his either.

FT: Not to say you intended it, but whatever your thought process might have something in common.

MJ: Yeah, they seem so much looser than me in a way. I feel so kind of narrative. Maybe it doesn’t come across that way but I’m a real story person.

FT: It totally does but you’re willing to take departures from standard narrative.

MJ: Sure.

FT: Would calling The Future an art film be an inspiring genre, or too much of a niche to put it in?

MJ: That’s fine. I love art films. I don’t have a problem with that.

FT: How do you decide how you’re going to physically move with a dance or standing in the yard?

MJ: The one standing in the yard that you’re probably thinking of when I do this thing, I hadn’t planned that and I think everyone when they read that part of the script, I forget how it’s described but it says I do a little move. I guess everyone had their own vision of what that would be, so when I just suddenly started doing that when we were rolling, I remember rafter I yelled cut on myself, everyone was like, “What? What was that? That was so weird.” I was like, “That’s the move. I don’t know. I just did it.” Then in other times, like what we call the butt dance, when she’s in front of the computer dancing.

FT: You call that the butt dance?

MJ: Well, not like a sexy butt dance but it involves moving my butt. That one I remember I tested it out on my computer the day before. I had a couple different dances and that was the one I went with.

FT: Are you a happy person?

MJ: Yeah, I feel like I have a certain tendency to be hopeful while maintaining a constant level of anxiety. But it’s not a doomful anxiety. I get a lot of energy from it I think.

FT: I get that, but I thought of the question because I could see one reading of the film might be sorrowful.

MJ: Yeah, this movie’s for sure quite sad. There’s humor in it but I wanted to make a sadder movie. I think sadness is really interesting to me and I think there’s a lot of room in there, in some ways more room than a happy movie. There’s all these colors to sadness. It’s not just someone weeping. It’s a really large haunting territory. But that doesn’t mean I’m sad all the time.

FT: Even if you expect the end of everything, you can still be happy along the way, right?

MJ: Right. Yeah, sure and I tried to make the end have a certain feeling of openness. Not just a kind of obliterating sort of nothing’s working out type thing, but kind of the end of a beginning like the cat says, but that’s just still the beginning.

FT: Isn’t that a spoiler?

MJ: No, you don’t know what I’m talking about. I could be talking about anything, it’s so vague.

FT: Are you able to use the internet in creative, productive ways?

MJ: Yeah. Certainly even in making the movie, it’s such a joy to pull reference pictures from all of time and all over the world. There’s just so much art really and photographs at our fingertips. With my first movie, it wasn’t like that at all. I did this for this one too, but I was only scanning pictures from books because that thing hadn’t happened of tons of people putting all those pictures from books online.

FT: What kind of books?

MJ: Just photo books. All the books that you would want to own but you can’t go out and buy every single great photo book there is. Not costume books but lots of photo references for clothes and looks of apartments or whatever. You can just get into a good area of the web and keep pulling stuff. Then you make a gallery and then you e-mail that gallery to your production designer. It’s fun. So yeah, it’s definitely very useful. It’s just not useful when you’re trying to have a new idea and write, I find.

FT: When Sophie says she wishes she were one notch prettier, do you feel that way?

MJ: Yeah, I mean, I look just like her so that line wouldn’t make sense if I didn’t think that that was apt for me too. I mean, if a model looking actress said that, you would just roll your eyes, right? You’d be like, “What?” But I feel like I pull that off.

FT: You’re right, if a model type said it it would seem insincere, but why? Why shouldn’t anyone be able to feel that way?

MJ: I think that people who are not like universally pretty or pretty in every picture are allowed to claim that feeling. People who everyone agrees are pretty, they don’t get that feeling. They can have it if they want but I’m not going to be going to great pains to make that a safe space for them. It’s a pretty shallow, fleeting thought. It’s entirely about outside perception of your face and your outside of you so I’m not even talking about how you feel. It’s just purely how you think you are on the scale of prettiness. It’s almost embarrassing that one knows, everyone knows kind of where they are in that. You might as well claim it. You can claim your particular level.

FT: I guess I'm trying to shake down the whole hierarchy of beauty but I can't really articulate it right.

MJ: Of course there’s a whole world of I think there’s all different kinds of beautiful and what makes someone beautiful is very complex. I think I was taking the simplest, flattest version of that which in a movie that’s obviously pretty complicated, that’s not filled with gorgeous people, I feel like it’s kind of nice to almost have something that simplistic. This isn’t an ideal world. I’m not having every person say what is a good, true thing to say. I of course feel like that’s wide open. Of course I do.

FT: Is there a particular inspiration that goes into your style?

MJ: I think just liking the colors. Friends influence me. I have a friend named Jennifer Johnson. She’s a costume designer. She actually did the costume for Beginners but she’s an old friend. Then just the same pictures that I’m talking about that I pull. Half those pictures were just for me. I didn’t even get all that in the movie but they were amazing costume references.

FT: Where do you shop?

MJ: All over. I was about to give away my big secret but we’re in L.A. so I can’t do that. But in L.A. for new clothes, Creatures of Comfort, Opening Ceremony. For vintage clothes, Scout is a good store.

FT: Is Ella, the real cat who played Paw Paw, okay?

MJ: She’s fine, yeah.

FT: I feel like I understand the film, and I don’t know if I can express how I understand the film. Is that a reaction you understand?

MJ: Yeah. I feel like often, whenever I’m asked to explain what the film is about, I’m just lying because if I could, then I wouldn’t have had to make the movie. So that makes perfect sense to me. In some ways, you’re forced to reduce it to something. I am too and that’s not unique to my movie. But I think when you’re trying to make a movie about things that are not easily or maybe impossible to articulate in words, it’s a weird challenge when you’re forced to do it.

FT: I understand what stopping time means and I love it. I don’t know if I could tell people here’s why that happens.

MJ: Right, I know. It’s true. Especially with this movie, almost all the answers I give I feel are sort of just the answers I’ve decided to give to this set of questions that I get. I can’t ever quite nail it.

FT: What are your next plans for art or movies?

MJ: Well, I just finished a book that comes out in the fall that’s a nonfiction book. It’s kind of its own project but ultimately it intersects with the movie, called It Chooses You. I won’t go into it, it’s a whole other interview. Then I’m working on a novel, so that’ll be the next long term thing.

The Future opens August 17.

by Bob Suicide A study which purported to highlight the equality among the sexes when it comes to computer gaming was recently published in the uber-reliable Daily Mail. The survey was funded by the scientifically-minded, and above-bias team at Doritos, which lends further credence to the findings. That's... more

by Bob Suicide

A study which purported to highlight the equality among the sexes when it comes to computer gaming was recently published in the uber-reliable Daily Mail. The survey was funded by the scientifically-minded, and above-bias team at Doritos, which lends further credence to the findings.

That's right, Doritos. Now why would the chip company -- known philanthropically funding scientific discovery in key areas such as how to make ranch "cooler" -- waste it's time researching women's interest in computer games when it could be curing cancer, you say? Well, it doesn't have anything to do with the recent launch of their own online computer game: Doritos Dip Desperado. No sir.

I'm honestly surprised that the survey didn't find that "women say that computer games taste great and are less filling than the leading chip brand," it's that blatantly obvious this is a sad marketing ploy. But what the press release of an article did say was:

Sure, women love gaming more than sex -- but not more than CHIPS! And the only way to appeal/pander to the carb-craving, sex-shirking, mouse-clicking female geek is to download the new Doritos app. *eye roll*

Don't get me wrong, I support ongoing research into both the subtle and blatant differences between the sexes and their gaming preferences. After all, it's that kind of information that inspires better game development that appeals to both sexes in a more accurate and realistic way.

However, regardless of the issues of the survey’s reliability and dubious source, it does inadvertently but nonetheless usefully highlight one issue -- namely what should be defined as "gaming" for the purposes of collecting and analyzing such data?

The survey argues that the difference in gender preferences lies in the "type" of game they choose:

However, it seems to me that the question that needs to be asked before such gender comparisons can be made is: "What do we consider a computer game and what do we consider a social media application?"

As a hardcore gamer myself, I don't feel comfortable touting the impressive statistic of 49% if over half of those women consider chucking sheep on Facebook's Farmville to be on the same level as my attempts to syphon little girls in Bioshock. It feels almost as dirty as comparing the average gaming enthusiast to someone who would walk into a Game Stop to buy a used copy of Burger King's Sneak King. (You know who you are, and you should be ashamed!)

I know I've rallied the war cry of the female gamer in past blogs, and make no mistake we're out there fraging with the best of the boys, but the hardcore female gaming community is never going to be taken seriously if we don't clearly define and respect the differences between apps, casual, and hardcore gaming. Until then, when attempting to profess your genuine interest and dedication to the gaming community people can sadly legitimately make comments like, "Oh you play games? You probably play Farmville and shit like that," and companies like Doritos can use our very existence as a shocking, tongue-in-cheek marketing ploy to push a stupid app.

We're worth more than that. We deserve more. There's a frigging difference between fragging and Farmville -- and the difference is that REAL women FRAG.


Image: Leon Ryan
***

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by Jensen Ahhh, I haven’t done a post for so long! I finally feel like I’m catching the blog bug again though, so look forward to some new Doing it with Jensen posts :]. Anyways, I saw this amazing 'Red Velvet Brownie Recipe' and decided I 100% needed to make it immediately. They were... more

by Jensen

Ahhh, I haven’t done a post for so long! I finally feel like I’m catching the blog bug again though, so look forward to some new Doing it with Jensen posts :].

Anyways, I saw this amazing 'Red Velvet Brownie Recipe' and decided I 100% needed to make it immediately. They were very easy to make and turned out delicious! I followed the directions pretty closely, though I made my own cream cheese white chocolate frosting instead of the buttercream frosting. The frosting recipe is listed below! I don’t really feel right just copying and pasting the brownie recipe, or putting it into my own words when their version is just fine, so go over there for the step by step directions.





I’m sort of a professional at giving “come hither” over-the-shoulder glances while cracking an egg with one hand. Just an FYI.



I don’t think you can use too much red food coloring when making red velvet cake. I want to see red tongues for days after eating this shit. DAYS.



Hours later and the red dye hasn’t washed off of my hands. Or tongue. Or teeth. Also, obligatory slutty looking spatula lick picture.



This Wilton baking pan is PERFECT for making brownies. This is the first time I used it on them and I don’t think I can go back. I’m always worried about burning the edges while also being worried about having the center raw, in a regular pan. This pan guarantees that they’ll be perfect. Fuck-up proof brownie pan!

Frosting Time

What You'll Need

• 1 8 oz package of cream cheese


• 6 oz white baking chocolate


• 2 tbsps whipping cream


• 1 1/2 cups powdered sugar

Melt the white chocolate in the microwave in 20 second intervals. When the chocolate is *almost* melted (you don’t have to melt it all the way), throw all of the ingredients into a mixer and mix the shit out of it for a minute or two. Put the frosting in the fridge for about an hour to harder back up. Slather it on the brownies ;].



Deliciously fluffy frosting.



These were probably some of the best brownies I’ve ever had, and definitely the best brownies I’ve made myself. I’m not a huge fan of brownies, generally, but these fuckers proved me wrong. Hope you guys try out the recipe!


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Doing it with Tara: Space Invader Magnets

Ron Marz has been a comic book writer for many years, with a long list of credits at Marvel, DC, Dark Horse, Top Cow and just about every other comics company there is. His career has notably included a long run on Green Lantern. In recent years some of his best work has been for Top Cow, where he’s... more

Ron Marz has been a comic book writer for many years, with a long list of credits at Marvel, DC, Dark Horse, Top Cow and just about every other comics company there is. His career has notably included a long run on Green Lantern.

In recent years some of his best work has been for Top Cow, where he’s been writing the company’s flagship comic Witchblade. He transformed the tile from a comic that was known in its early years for T&A into a complex superhero fantasy story that has led to Marz writing a series of miniseries (First Born, and Artifacts) and ongoing series (Magdalena) for the company.

Marz is leaving the series with issue #150, and is busy writing a Green Lantern one shot and the Voodoo series coming from DC this fall. His big project this summer though is Shinku, a bloody horror story set in Japan that involves samurai and vampires, and is just as cool as it sounds.

ALEX DUEBEN: You’ve been interested in Japanese culture and the medieval period for many years as we’ve seen in books like Samurai and The Path. What is it about the culture and that period that you find so interesting?

RON MARZ:I think first and foremost the period is so visually striking that it’s a natural fit for a visual medium like comics. Also, the nature of all drama is really conflict, and that’s a period and a culture that had nearly constant conflict. Plus … people with swords, you know?

AD: After thinking about this for a time, Samurai and vampires seem very different but both see themselves as superior to everyone else. They make their own rules. They are a law unto themselves. It’s not a culture or ideological clash. I thought that was interesting.

RM: That’s really where a large part of the inspiration for the Shinku series came from, that sense of superiority, of a segment of the society holding itself above the rest. I was very intrigued by the similarities, especially the aspect of not abiding by the rules that apply to others.

AD: When you had this idea, did you consider just making it a period story? Or to your mind was it always set in the present and then flashing back?

RM: I think because I’ve done a number of stories set in the classical samurai period, I wanted Shinku to have those elements, but to contrast those elements with a contemporary time frame. I wanted to examine how something as structured as a samurai clan hierarchy would survive down through the centuries.

AD: Now you mentioned at one point that the initial idea was for the book to be in black and white with red - which would have been really awesome. What was the thinking behind doing the book in full color?

RM: Truthfully, the suggestion to go full color came from Eric Stephenson, Image’s publisher. He felt like there’s still a stigma attached to black and white material in the marketplace, and the book would have a better chance of survival if we went full color. In hindsight, the color work that Mike Atiyeh is doing has turned into one of the hallmarks of the series. Virtually everybody has heaped deserved praise on Mike’s work

AD: Some people might not be aware of just what it means to put out a creator owned book through Image because everyone involved is working for free. Which isn’t easy for a writer, but it’s a lot harder and more time-consuming for an artist. Talk a little about what’s involved, how many people it takes to assemble a comic and why you’re releasing the book as a series of miniseries ala Hellboy.

RM: Shinku is intended to be an ongoing, assuming we have the sales to sustain it, but we’ll be taking a month or two off between story arcs to get caught up and make a couple of bucks doing work-for-hire projects. The reality is that doing a creator-owned book means working for free for months on end, and then hoping the tough market embraces the book enough that there’s at least a little profit to go around. As you said, it’s toughest on the artists, particularly Lee Moder, who has the most time-consuming job on the team. That said, everybody who has contributed to the book -- Lee, Matthew Waite, Mike Atiyeh, Troy Petri and Phil Smith – have gone above and beyond on a regular basis. All of these guys are my friends and all of them take great pride in their work, so there’s never an instance of “good enough” with them. Everybody wants everything to be perfect. I’m very thankful for all of them.

AD: Shinku is a dark fantasy/horror book not a superhero or superhero-ish tale. Was that important? I ask in part because Witchblade for example often felt like it could have been more fantasy/horror. 

RM: Shinku is very much the book we wanted it to be. That’s one of the liberating aspects of doing creator-owned material: you tell your story in exactly the way you want to tell it. I’ve certainly written my share of superheroes in my career, but I’m forever preaching about the need for more genre diversification in comics. For so many people in America, when you say comics, it’s immediately translated into “superheroes” in their minds. Superheroes are great, but that’s not the only kind of story you can tell in comics. Comics are a storytelling medium, not a genre.

AD: I did want to ask about the recent announcement that you’re leaving Witchblade at #150. You’ve been writing since issue #80 and while you didn’t create her, I think it’s fair to say that she’s “your” character as much as any character you don’t own can possibly be. What made this the time to leave?

RM: There were a number of factors, including how full my schedule is with things like Shinku, Magdalena and finishing up Artifacts. Stjepan Sejic and I are leaving Witchblade together, and moving over to a new project at Top Cow, a project I think makes sense for us, and that we’re both excited about. I think we’re both proud of what we’ve done on Witchblade, but the chance to start something else from scratch is pretty alluring.

AD: I remember when I picked up a couple of the trades a few years back, and having never read the comic before, what struck me after reading them was that it was a superhero book where things changed. There is no status quo. Obviously Top Cow was very willing  and interested in doing this but I was curious about the freedom that this offered and how much you enjoyed that aspect of the book.

RM: The majority of comics, especially superhero comics, are more about the illusion of change than actual change. Obviously, that’s understandable, particularly when you consider so many of the characters have become worldwide, multi-million dollar franchises. For something like Witchblade, which has been around for 15 years, I think we stayed true to the core, while trying to evolve the characters and concepts, so there’s a feeling of forward motion. The amount of freedom Top Cow gives me is great, because it allows me to tell stories that matter and have lasting consequences. I feel like stories about “becoming” are always more interesting than stories about “being.” The journey of becoming a hero is usually more interesting than the story of maintaining the status quo and being the hero.

AD: You are still writing another series for Top Cow, Magdalena, who’s not as well known to casual readers. Could you talk a little about the character and the series and what people can expect when picking it up?

RM: Magdalena was actually the book I asked to write for Top Cow before they suggested I take over Witchblade. In a lot of ways, I think Magdalena is among the best concepts that Top Cow has in its universe. There’s one Magdalena in each generation, someone descended from the bloodline of Christ and Mary Magdalene, who essentially serves as the Catholic Church’s monster hunter and enforcer. So you’ve got ready-made stories about a woman with this great costume, and the Spear of Destiny, fighting monsters. The added wrinkle is that the current Magdalena isn’t terribly trusting of her Vatican masters, so there’s an additional layer of tension.

AD: It was just announced that you’re working for DC writing Voodoo. I have a vague memory of reading an Alan Moore written miniseries about the character but otherwise...nothing. How did you get the gig? Who is she? What can we expect?

RM: How I got the gig is fairly simple – the phone rang one day and DC offered me the gig. The “who” part of it is a little more complicated, because that’s part of the mystery of the series, and I don’t want to give away too much. I can say that the Voodoo character who is being introduced into the relaunched DC Universe will have a lot of similarities to the original Wildstorm character, but there are some new elements as well. The series provides an outsider’s perspective on the new DCU and its heroes for story-driven reasons. The short version is that the series is a sexy spy thriller set in a superhero universe, and I think it’s going to surprise people.

Last weekend, I went to Las Vegas for Creation’s annual Star Trek extravaganza. It’s the biggest Star Trek convention of the year, and the only one I’m aware of which attracts just about all the actors from each series, and thousands of devoted Star Trek fans. As I’ve written before, I’ve been attending... more

Last weekend, I went to Las Vegas for Creation’s annual Star Trek extravaganza. It’s the biggest Star Trek convention of the year, and the only one I’m aware of which attracts just about all the actors from each series, and thousands of devoted Star Trek fans.

As I’ve written before, I’ve been attending cons since I was a kid, and I’ve spent almost as much time standing in line to get autographs as I’ve spent sitting behind the table signing them. It’s given me a lot of perspective on why we go to cons, what makes cons good, what makes cons bad, and inspires me to do my very best to be a good guest when I’m invited.

I don’t go to nearly as many cons as I once did, but this summer I’ve appeared at more than usual, so making the convention experience awesome for fans has been on my mind. Here’s an incomplete list of things that have been on my mind this year:

Rule One: Conventions would not exist without fans.

I don’t know why this simple fact is so difficult for so many promoters and celebrity guests to understand: these people pay your fees and keep you in business. Jonathan Frakes bought his first house with money he earned at conventions. I’m putting my son through college the same way (well, first semester, anyway, we’ll do this one year at a time.) I know countless vendors who drive all over the country to sell their collectibles and crap (yes, there’s crap, and to suggest otherwise is, at best, disingenuous) to fans. We all have to understand that, without the fans who endure great expense and effort to come to the con, there is no con. Period.

Pay attention, promoters: you have no business without the fans who come to your shows. Don’t ever forget that, and respect them. I’ve personally watched promoters figure out that they could do something awesome for fans and earn nothing but goodwill for it, or alienate, exploit, and piss off fans to earn a dollar. Time and again, these people choose to earn the single dollar.

Rule Two: Conventions can not function without volunteers.

When you see a volunteer, thank them. They’re paying to be there just like you are, but they’re also volunteering their time to help make the convention run smoothly. Yes, some of them are power hungry jerks, but most of them are freely giving their time because they love the con and want to give something back to the community. They’re almost certainly being exploited by the convention promoter. They know this, and they do it anyway. The least we can do is thank them.

Rule Three: Respect your fellow fans.

Treat your fellow fans with kindness and respect, especially when you’re in line. Keep a deck of cards, some dice, or this awesome game called Pieces of Eight, and use them to make new friends. I had a lot of fun at Comic-Con this year while I waited in different lines (even the 90 minutes I waited to get into the Futurama panel, only to get cut off by about 40 people) because the people around me were so awesome, especially when we saw the kid dressed up as Link with his MILFtastic mom who was dressed up in a skin-tight spandex Poison Ivy costume and riffed on it:

speaking of waiting in line, here is the most important note I can ever give my fellow fans: Take a fucking shower every day. If you get hot and sweaty in your costume (excuse me, uh, “uniform”) and it’s stinky, guess what? You don’t get to wear it until you’ve had it cleaned. If we can see the stink lines coming off of you when you walk into the con, we shouldn’t have to endure standing next to you for two hours while we wait in an autograph line.

Rule Four: A memo to celebrity guests who sign autographs.

If someone waits in line to meet you and get your autograph, give them a moment of your undivided attention, listen to what they have to say, and honor them. If you’re not willing to seriously interact with the people who are paying outrageous sums of money to see you, do us all a favor and don’t go. When I was at the Creation Con in Vegas last weekend, I heard horror story after horror story about people I consider close friends who simply didn’t treat fans well. I heard from one fan who waited in line for over an hour to meet a particular actor. When he finally got to the head of the line, this particular actor took a call on his/her/its cell phone, carelessly scrawled his/her/its signature with one hand, and didn’t even make eye contact with this fan who: waited in line forever, paid money to get into the con, and paid money for the autograph! As I’ve written before: It’s never about the autograph; it’s about the interaction. If you don’t get that, you shouldn’t be there. If you do get that and you still treat fans like they are nobodies on an assembly line, you’re an ass.

If you doubt how memorable and wonderful the autograph thing can be, witness this experience I had in Vegas while I signed autographs on Thursday:

It wasn't about the autograph, really. That 8x10, covered with eight different signatures in black and silver and gold ink represented a journey for her. I don't know what happened on the journey, but I was there for the end of it, and it was awesome.

Rule Five: Don’t be a dick.

This one is for fans and promoters and celebrities alike. If you’re a promoter and you’re just doing whatever you can to separate the fans from their money, you’re a dick. If you’re a guest and and you’re just there to take whatever money you can from the fans without giving them any of your time or energy, you’re a dick. If you’re a fan, and you’re determined to be unhappy no matter what happens at the show, you’re also a dick. There are always fans at conventions who will not be happy no matter what happens, and we’ve all seen them. I will never understand why someone will spend the time and money to go to a show just to be miserable and complain the entire time they are there, but they are certainly a square on convention bingo.

There was a time when the majority of conventions were essentially huge organized parties where fans could gather together, take over a hotel for a weekend, and celebrate the thing they loved, whether it was Star Trek, gaming, or just science fiction and fantasy in general. Somewhere in the last fifteen years or so, though, that began to change. Screening rooms where you could watch everything from a bootleg third generation VHS copy of Akira without subtitles to a Prisoner marathon were phased out in favor of more vendor space. Fans became segregated into “gold” and “silver” and “general admission” groups, with each getting different treatment and levels of access. Celebrity guests refused to pose for photos, and wouldn’t personalize their autographs. (I was once guilty of this, and I deeply regret it. I blame my youth, and I’ve been working to make up for it ever since). It was around 2001 that I noticed that most cons (certainly the Creation cons) had become giant autograph shows, which was great for collectors, but pretty disappointing for everyone else. I know I’m tilting at windmills here, but I’d like to see less gouging of fans and more celebrating with fans. I’d like to see more fan-run cons like LosCon or Penguicon, or shows lke Dallas Comic-Con, with organizers who put the fans first and only invite celebrity guests who have the same philosophy.

It doesn’t have to be all about squeezing every last dollar out of every last fan. In fact, that’s not why these things were started in the first place. Remember that this is supposed to be fun. We’re all here because we love [Star Trek | Gaming | Battlestar | Buffy | Dressing up like characters from Naruto | Comics] and we want to celebrate it with our fellow fans. If we can meet someone responsible for helping create the object of our affection, it’s that much better. But it’s a fragile ecosystem, and a finite economy. If we all of us – fans, guests, and promoters – play a small part to care for it, we’ll have conventions to attend for years.

Wil Wheaton don't use words like that, St. Louise is listening.

(image) by Blogbot When temperatures rise, here's what Suicide Girls are putting on - and taking off - at the beach and by the pool to stay cool. (image) [Carrina in Te Extrano] (image) [Arq in OMG] (image) [VioletRose in Upon The Hills] (image) [Ajilee in Summer Shower] (image) [Krito in Steel Cold]... more

by Blogbot

When temperatures rise, here's what Suicide Girls are putting on - and taking off - at the beach and by the pool to stay cool.


[Carrina in Te Extrano]


[Arq in OMG]


[VioletRose in Upon The Hills]


[Ajilee in Summer Shower]


[Krito in Steel Cold]


[Vice in The Color of Living]


[Tristyn in Time Travel]


[Radeo and friends in Ohio Summer]


[Porphyria in SPF 5000]


[Denie in Drop Your Pants]


[Sash in Sunset Beach]


[Iluvenis in Summer Girl]

Fashion Notes
SGs are rockin' three main swimwear looks this summer: solid black, stripey, and metallic 2-pieces.

Lovin’ H&M’s super mini black string bikini with gold skull and tassle details ($14.95 for the top / $12.95 for the bottom). Target’s Xhilaration Juniors black sequined 2-piece also hits the spot ($14.99 each for the top and bottom).

If you're in the mood to get your stripe on, Target/Xhilaration also have a couple of pretty damn cheap separates sets. The first is a reversible one in green/pink that's on sale right now ($7.48 each for the top and bottom), and the second is in a semi-punk multicolor stripe ($14.99 each for the top and bottom).

And if you want to get all-out reflective this summer, Zappos have the perfect metallic 2-piece set that comes in silver or gold ($51 total for top and bottom).

Check back for more Dirty Laundry and let SuicideGirls show you the best way to (un)dress.

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For some reason I expected Errol Morris to be a really serious documentarian trying to blow the lid off a scandal. Instead he was happy and smiling and laughing. He even made a joke that my two digital records (one for backup) were brother and sister. Morris has explored topics like police corruption... more

For some reason I expected Errol Morris to be a really serious documentarian trying to blow the lid off a scandal. Instead he was happy and smiling and laughing. He even made a joke that my two digital records (one for backup) were brother and sister. Morris has explored topics like police corruption in The Thin Blue Line and Abu Ghraib in SOP. His latest film, Tabloid tells a story we may not know, with a theme that still resonates today.

Joyce McKinney caused a scandal in the ‘70s when she allegedly kidnapped Kirk Anderson from the Mormon Church. At the time, the London tabloids either glorified her as a beautiful heroine or slammed her as a sexual predator. Today it takes far simpler scandals to make someone a tabloid star. For the film, Morris conducted an interview with McKinney and some of the other men who knew her, helped her or tried to stop her. The story unfolds in their own words, with a few on screen images for emphasis.

I spoke with Morris about today’s media, tabloid or otherwise.

SuicideGirls: Would Joyce’s story make a dent in today’s media?

Errol Morris: Well, hopefully my movie will. I don’t know. Everything is so strange and mysterious, what gets traction, what doesn’t. Hard to know. It didn’t get traction here. We know that. It was never a big story in the U.S. Nothing compared to what it was in the UK.

SG: She had battling tabloids, some making her out to be as pure as a nun and others calling her a slut. Has tabloid coverage become more uniform now? For example, every coverage of Lindsay Lohan has the same point of view.

EM: Right. I don’t know. There was something about this story that led to that kind of ambiguity. The claims that Joyce had made, the story that Joyce had told versus the investigation that was done by Kent Gavin. Maybe it was the peculiarities of this particular case that led to that. I think that had to be part of it.

SG: That makes me think that legal issues get covered with uniformity now too, whether it’s O.J. or Casey Anthony? What creates media ambiguity in a story?

EM: This story seems to have genuine ambiguity. I would go so far as to make that claim. O.J., Casey Anthony, seem to be a different kind of story altogether. They seem to be stories of strong public feelings about underlying guilt and the jury’s reluctance to provide a conviction based on what they felt was insufficient evidence. That seems to be at the heart of both of those stories, correct me if I’m wrong. I don’t think you have many, many people saying, “I’m absolutely convinced that O.J. is innocent” or many people saying, “I’m absolutely convinced that Casey Anthony is innocent.” But we do live in a country where reasonable doubt is a standard in the courts of law, if the jury feels that the case has not been made sufficiently to provide a conviction under those circumstances. But those are controversies. This story, part of the reason why I became obsessed with the story, is all of these ambiguities and the impossibility. It’s like GSK. GSK is a good example of a story that does have elements in common with Joyce McKinney and Tabloid because will we ever know what happened in that hotel room? We have a kind of he said/she said deal. We have the possible ex-president of France versus a hotel maid. Will that evidence ever sort itself out clearly so that we can say it was one thing rather than another? The papers of course play out both and flip flop between them and you get all kinds of variants on that theme.

SG: In my lifetime, I’ve always assumed a tabloid was false. That’s why they call them tabloids.

EM: Why false?

SG: It started with The National Enquirer posting cover stories about aliens.

EM: Bill Clinton is an Alien, etc.

SG: What makes something a tabloid now?

EM: It’s clear that there’s lots of different kinds of tabloid stories. There isn’t one kind of tabloid story. It’s interesting, why did this become a huge story in Great Britain but a non story over here in the ‘70s. The difference between the Weekly World News and the National Enquirer or The National Enquirer and The Post, all these different versions of tabloid journalism. I think at the heart of it is that it’s a story which is almost like a sketch of a story. It’s a summary of a story that in four or five, six words pulls us in. It just grabs a hold of us and drags us kicking and screaming into the story.

SG: In entertainment journalism, Us Magazine and People used to be considered legitimate magazines. Now they’re referred to as tabloids. What makes them tabloids now?

EM: I don’t really know. Maybe you’re right. Maybe it’s the sudden abandonment of truth, that we just don’t care anymore whether something is true or false. We just care whether it’s interesting. That is against the deep interests of journalism because journalism should always ultimately be concerned with seeking the truth of something. The recent Murdock story involving News of the World seems to be a really different kind of story. It’s a truly ugly story because here you have people not just merely interpreting the news but simply creating the news. At the same time, in a kind of callous way, I would go so far as to say even attacking the people that you’re writing about. It’s one thing for Joyce McKinney to come to England with chloroform, a fake gun and a pair of Smith and Wesson handcuffs and to either kidnap or not kidnap Kirk Anderson. She is a participant in all this. It’s not as if somehow she was an innocent victim just preyed upon by the press. But if you talk about a girl who’s been abducted and murdered and the parents don’t know whether she’s alive or dead and the newspapers are tampering with her cell phone, that’s a different kind of thing altogether.

SG: Wouldn’t that actually be illegal?

EM: I think that is the good point, because they’re actually doing stuff that is illegal. They are committing, I believe, felonies.

SG: The issue of what is a tabloid also made me think of how I am referred to as a blogger now. I do not write a blog. I do interviews and report news that is published online. Now they call anything online a blog. Why does that happen?

EM: I’ll give you another example. I write longform pieces for The New York Times. I write on the Opinion pages of the Times. The last piece that I wrote was in five parts. It’s 21,000 words. Am I a blogger? I don’t really think so. I see myself as a kind of essayist who puts this stuff up on the opinion pages of the New York Times. That’s not really a blog.

SG: Are people calling it that?

EM: People have on occasion called it blogging. I just don’t quite see it as blogging at all.

SG: So you feel my pain.

EM: I feel your pain. I think I agree, absolutely.

SG: Is there a way our industries can educate our audience into what is what?

EM: I don’t know. I think that we’re living in a world where everything is shifting and changing so rapidly, no one knows really what to call what, what. What’s print journalism, what’s electronic journalism, what’s a blog, what’s not a blog? It’s all going to change. Probably turn around in another couple of months and it’ll be different again.

SG: You’ve said not all tabloids are bad. What is an example of a good kind of tabloid?

EM: I love reading lots and lots of tabloid stories. I love for example The Weekly World News. Reading about “Bat Boy Escapes From Cave,” was that a terrible thing? Was I defaming Bat Boy? Bat Boy doesn’t even exist. It was funny. It was fun to read. I use The Weekly World News to teach my son how to read.

SG: So it’s good entertainment.

EM: Yeah, it’s fantastic entertainment.

SG: What does it mean that the Mormon Church is now the subject of a hit Broadway musical comedy?

EM: It’s an accident. I certainly wasn’t aware of The Book of Mormon when I started to make this movie.

SG: But it’s been growing, Big Love was popular, and they’ve become more well known than at the time when Joyce was dealing with them. Is it relevant that they’ve become more public?

EM: Well, it’s certainly socially relevant in the fact that we have two people, two major candidates who are running for president who are Mormon. That in itself makes it relevant.

SG: Could it have happened before?

EM: I don’t know. I don’t know if I have a simple answer to that. Certainly Romney has been a presidential candidate for a while now. He’s not new but the idea that there are two, maybe more, Mormon’s vying for the presidency is an interesting phenomenon and it is something new.

SG: Do you feel the lessons of SOP and The Fog of War been taken since your movies came out?

EM: No. Not really. I think everything I do is connected. It’s not as if these are separate discreet [topics]. They are, but they aren’t. There’s the same kind of concerns and interests in this movie as in The Fog of War or SOP .

SG: If you were still working on
SOP when you found out Seal Team 6 killed bin Laden, would that have affected the film?

EM: Not really. What is interesting is that Eric Holder, the attorney general of the United States, last week has opened an inquiry into the death of al-Jamadi which is the central murder in the middle of SOP. So that is still ongoing.

Tabloid opens July 15.

by Blogbot (image) If you're attending SDCC be sure to stop by our booth (#1632) to say hi. We'll have issues 1-3 of the new SuicideGirls Comic for sale, as well as copies of our book, Beauty Redefined, DVDs, and T-shirts. Girls on hand for photos and autographs will include: Radeo, Rambo,... more

by Blogbot



If you're attending SDCC be sure to stop by our booth (#1632) to say hi.

We'll have issues 1-3 of the new SuicideGirls Comic for sale, as well as copies of our book, Beauty Redefined, DVDs, and T-shirts.

Girls on hand for photos and autographs will include: Radeo, Rambo, Tita, Bob, Ackley, Milloux, Lolana, and Rlei.

The ladies will be indulging in a little cosplay - maybe even as a special character from the SuicideGirls Comic!

See you at SDCC
XOX

Ps. SuicideGirls Comic artist Cameron Stewart will be hanging out at our booth on Saturday between 12 and 1 PM.

Related Posts:

SuicideGirls Comic – A Preview Inside
Dirty Laundry: Cosplay 4 Comic Con
SuicdeGirls Comic Con Cosplay Adventure

Who else needs a new set? Hasn't had one up in a while? [show us pictures to prove it] First off, I think I need to see Leola quite soon (image) (image) And, I'm sorry, but this picture of her butt is just hot! (image) [Edited on Mar 15, 2006 by Fatality] more

Who else needs a new set? Hasn't had one up in a while? [show us pictures to prove it]

First off, I think I need to see Leola quite soon





And, I'm sorry, but this picture of her butt is just hot!




[Edited on Mar 15, 2006 by Fatality]

by SG's Team Agony feat. Clio, Squee and Elea Let us answer life's questions - because great advice is even better when it comes from SuicideGirls. (image) [Clio in Born Into A Light] Q: My boyfriend seems to drink a lot. He's very sensitive when I try to talk about it, but he'll spend... more

by SG's Team Agony feat. Clio, Squee and Elea

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


[Clio in Born Into A Light]

Q: My boyfriend seems to drink a lot. He's very sensitive when I try to talk about it, but he'll spend nights in by himself getting drunk. Not only that, but he plays an awful lot of Xbox, daily as soon as he gets home from work and all weekend (we live together).

I worry that he simply isn't happy in our relationship since he’s drinking and playing Xbox so much. I try to talk to him about it but it never goes smoothly.

Two years ago my Mum passed away, and it was down to drinking too much. Her kidneys and liver failed and she passed away suddenly. She was only 54 and I was 24 at the time, so to have someone else I love drink too much is hard for me. We've been together for 4 1/2 years and he knows how much my Mum's death affected me and still does.

I just don't know what to do anymore. Please help.

A: Hey lady, I'm sorry to hear about the unfortunate situation with your boyfriend. Have you tried getting him to go out of the house with you during weekends? Spending one day a week together going places like the movie theatre, a new art exhibition, the zoo, the beach or wherever will keep him away from 24/7 Xbox sessions and help focus him on his real-life girlfriend in the non-digital world. Video game addiction is not (yet) officially recognized as a diagnosable disorder, but if you think he has a full-blown addiction it might be time to address your concerns with him, whether he wants to or not. More information about the symptoms and treatment can be found at Video-Game-Addiction.org/.

As for his alcohol problem, it's terrible to see someone you love and care about suffer from substance abuse. Spending nights drinking alone can be a sign that something more is going on than just being fond of a few pints. If you're concerned for his health and suspect he might be unhappy and depressed, the best thing you can do is talk to him about it and let him know you are there for him with whatever it is that's troubling him. If he's unresponsive I suggest getting in touch with a professional therapist who can provide help (also, SG's group Living With Addiction is an amazing resource for information and support).

Hopefully things will start looking up for the both of you soon.

Clio
xoxox

***


[Squee in Philosophy]

Q: I have been talking to this girl for a month now. We knew each other in high school but never really talked. A month ago today was my 20th birthday and she texted me to wish me happy birthday. We started hitting it off from there. About a week or so goes by and we started hanging out. She is 16, so I wanted to take it slow. That weekend we hung out every day. We both said we had feelings for each other, and I was pretty happy about that but I didn’t know what to do about the age difference.

About half way through the week, since I hadn't got any texts from her like usual, I called her and got her voicemail. I left her a message asking if she wanted to go out to a baseball game and never got anything back. I texted her the next day to ask what was going to happen between us. She sent me a message back saying that she wanted something but her parents would never allow us to see each other. I said I understood. We kept on talking but nothing really serious. About a week later she started dating a younger guy. At this point in time I was pretty over her. I had some feelings left, but nothing a couple more days couldn't heal.

This brings us up to this last weekend. Saturday I went out and got pretty drunk at a small party. I texted her when everyone went to bed around 1 AM. She told me that I shouldn’t talk to her because she thought I would say something that I would regret. I told her that the only thing that's secret to me would be that I'm a virgin. A couple of text messages later she said that she wanted to help me with said virginity.

Sunday I texted her and asked her how serious she was about helping me. She said she didn't want to help me get rid of it, but I told her it wouldn't be like that and it would really mean something to me if it was her and not some random girl. She ended up texting me a few hours later that she would do it.

The next day I asked if she wanted to come over and she said she was busy for a while that day. She said it isn't all that great to get worked up about. I ended up telling her it’s more or less that I haven't felt it yet and want to know.

Which then brings us up to today. I woke up to Facebook saying she broke up with her boyfriend and was mad about something, so I texted her asking if she needed to talk to someone. She said she couldn't really talk. I told her I was a text away if she needed to talk. I texted her about the storm later and asked if she was doing any better, but was given a short answer.

I think I came off as too needy. I end up caring way too much about people and I’m not really sure what to do about this now. I have a couple of things running through my head. One would be not texting her for a few days and to re-approach the subject slowly. Two would be to just text her saying that I didn't want her to help me so it doesn't hurt our friendship anymore. I'm really lost on what to do with this.

A: I can see why you're confused by the situation you've found yourself in, but in my honest opinion I think you really should take a step away from this situation.

Although this girl may have initiated the idea of helping you lose your virginity, you have to realize that she is a lot younger than you (and depending on where you're living, potentially illegal). Even if she is mature for her age, introducing a sexual relationship with no real idea of where it may go is something she really might not be ready for.

I can understand that you want to lose your virginity with someone you like, and maybe nothing more, but I think it would be unfair to do it with such a young girl. If you were a friend of mine, I would be telling you to back away from the idea of having sex completely. If you still want to be friends, that's great, but in my opinion 16 is just too young for this situation. If anything went wrong, since you’re 20, you will get the blame. You are the older, more responsible adult, and I think it's time to man up and back away.

Squee
XXX

***


[Elea in Soul Nighter]

Q: Hola!!! Nice to write to you here - the only place where I can feel free at all. Is it hard to date an alter girl just like one of you? I am a true metal head warrior, and I just do not like Barbie face bitches around me. Plastic girls are worthless. Since I joined SG I feel so nice, like I would like to meet one or all of ya…But I’m kind of a dumbass to get along with girls. I am rude, ruthless, rough and tough. I also scare all people due to my clothing and my style. I know I must be free, not fitting in this society, but it’s almost impossible to find an alter girl in my country and I feel sad for that. Damn!!! You have no idea of how much I'd like to meet someone like Dot or Nyta.

A: First of all, let me guarantee you, there are alternative girls in every country. They might just be where you wouldn't expect them to be. I'd have to know - I was stuck in a cow-town for half my life with no prospect of escape.

Unfortunately I can't give you any dating advice here. Every girl is different in her interests. But a good start would be to get in touch with your quiet and sensitive side for a moment. Is there anything that makes you feel humble or gives you this warm feeling in your belly? Little kittens with big eyes? Girls like it when there is one thing they know about you that brings out your soft side.

Nobody likes a guy made of stone. You can still be yourself, just consider letting somebody get close to you by sharing this. And no, I don't mean that you have to be able to start crying on cue now, but your use of the word ‘bitches’ and your comments about being ‘rude, ruthless, rough and tough’ are a concern, and tell me that perhaps you’re afraid to show a more thoughtful, sensitive and caring side, which in turn may be putting some potentially wonderful females off.

Perhaps you should explore why you’re afraid to be vulnerable and show emotion before you try looking for a relationship, since until you resolve these underlying issues, you’re likely to experience much success in the romance department. Just because a girl has a certain look, it doesn’t mean she’s devoid of the softer human feelings, and just because you consider yourself a metal head doesn’t mean you should be too. Humans are complex beings, not two-dimension archetypes, and should be treated as such regardless of their looks. Perhaps if you get to know a few alt girls as friends, you’ll start to realize this, and knowing what makes any girl tick will make you more attractive regardless of your rough 'n' tough exterior.

Are you very active on the site at all? Start talking to girls (not necessarily SGs) on here that seem cool to you. You never know what can develop out of this. Chances are, the girl you are looking for is out there, though you might have to make a big step and travel. Traveling is fun and makes you open up to new possibilities. It always brings balance to me and helps me discover something new in myself.

Don't despair. There is somebody out there for you, I'm sure.

Elea

***

Got Problems? Let SuicideGirls’ team of Agony Aunts provide solutions. Email questions to: gotproblems@suicidegirls.com