by A.J. Focht (video) In my previous article, I discussed the way in which the mass media has mishandled the Aurora theater shootings. While some in the media approached the story with respect, the majority of them showed little consideration for the victims involved. But it’s not just the media that... more

by A.J. Focht



In my previous article, I discussed the way in which the mass media has mishandled the Aurora theater shootings. While some in the media approached the story with respect, the majority of them showed little consideration for the victims involved. But it’s not just the media that has been careless in the aftermath of the massacre. Many politicians have used this event as a spring board for their campaigns, while already failing to live up to their promises to the victims.

It’s been a week since I sat down in Theater 9, unaware of the hell that awaited me. I remember the high pitched screech, like a bottle rocket, as the coward tossed the gas grenades into a theater full of unsuspecting moviegoers. I can hear sounds of gunfire and see the bright flashes coming from the corner of the theater in the back of my mind. The screams of the victims in the theater haunt me at night. The vivid memories of wandering shocked through a crowd of people covered in blood, with no way of knowing whose blood it was, will stay with me forever.

I am just one of hundreds of movie patrons that share this horrific experience. Despite these mental scars, I am eternally thankful I have no physical wounds to match. Seventy people in the theater were not as lucky, and twelve of them paid with their lives.

The death toll could have been much higher if it had not been for the amazing first responders. The first police officers arrived on scene within minutes of the shooting. Several officers took it upon themselves to deliver victims to local hospitals in person, instead of waiting for the ambulances. Their quick action likely saved several lives. While the police, dispatchers, medics, firefighters, and ER doctors all did an amazing job that night, I feel they have already received a lot of praise. I therefore want to personally thank the unmentioned heroes of that evening; the victims’ advocates and local RTD bus drivers that worked alongside the ranks of emergency responders that night.

After we were all forced to wait outside the theater for a few hours following the shootings, the police finally got everyone organized and bussed us down to a local school. The bus drivers were very kind to all of the victims and tried to cater to our needs. Once at the school, the victims’ advocates showed up. They brought us food and water, and helped however they could. For those of us with missing members in our party, they were the ones that organized our information so we could be contacted as soon as anything was known.

Unfortunately, for many of the victims, that was the only night we saw this kind of support. Organizers had promised that there would be counseling available for the victims before a vigil held on Saturday. All of the victims that showed up early, including my group, were disappointed to find that the counseling before the vigil was reserved for the deceased victims’ families. All the other victims, even those who had been injured but released from hospital, would have to wait for the vigil to start and the victims’ advocates to come outside. Until then, we were left to fend for ourselves against the press.

The victims’ advocates did eventually come out to see us, but they hardly knew where to start given our number and the fact we were now spread out in the crowd. They did what they could. They consoled groups in mourning, whether they were at the theater or not. What stung the worst was to then hear the speakers stand up, one-by-one, and talk about how there needed to be support for all the victims, often emphasizing the mental scarring. Despite the diversity of the term victim in their speeches, their policies had a much narrower definition as to who the victims were.

On the day of the vigil, President Barack Obama visited the families of the deceased. He chose not to attend the vigil because he knew he couldn’t be there without pulling the focus away from the victims. His choice not to make an appearance at the vigil, even though it would have likely given him a boost in the polls, shows that he really did have the victims’ best interests at heart.

I only wish others could have been so selfless. There were dozens of politicians on the stage, most of whom didn’t speak. While he didn’t call them all off by name, Mayor Steve Hogan of Aurora stood for two minutes naming the ranks and affiliations of the dignitaries present, several of whom are up for reelection this coming fall. I understand giving credit to all of the first responders who were in attendance, but the long stream of elected officials felt too much like campaigning to the grieving.

For many in Colorado, this incident is hitting to close to home after the Columbine High School shootings. One victim of the Columbine shooting, Samuel Granillo, is working on a documentary about the school shootings. Through it, his goal is to find a way to provide counseling for those seeking it after the shootings at Columbine High School – which is desperately needed for those who still suffer from posttraumatic stress disorder in the wake of it. The funds for the Columbine victims dried up long before everyone had healed. Many of us that were in the theater on July 20th now worry that the support for the Aurora victims will also prematurely disappear.

There is hope; gestures of support have started to come through. Many speculated that Warner Bros. might make a contribution of some kind. On Tuesday, the studio made it official by announcing they were pledging a ‘substantial’ donation, without releasing details of the actual sum they plan to give to the Colorado Community First Foundation Aurora Victim Relief Fund. Many small businesses in the local communities are holding fundraisers for varying charities and victim support efforts. A group that helped bring the first Comic Con to Denver, organized a human wall at the vigil to counter protest the Westboro Baptist Church, even though the church never showed up. The Aurora Rise Benefit Event is being planned by All C’s Collectibles Comic store in Aurora, Colorado. Comic publishers including DC Comics and Image Comics have contacted them to pledge donations. The event is still coming together, but it so far looks to include a silent auction with proceeds going to victim support.

This outpour of donations from the local, online, and comic book communities has been phenomenal. The biggest worry is that the funds won’t reach most of the victims. My message to the politicians is simple: Have some class. Stop using this tragedy to get reelected. The best thing all the politicians can do now is to make sure that the support for the victims is allocated appropriately. There are several victims who have no way to pay their substantial medical bills, and many more that will need therapy for years to come.

In the final segment, I will discuss the ways in which social media has affected the tragedy. On a large scale, social media has created the most support for the victims. That isn’t to say there isn’t a downside to the internet hive mind.



Related Posts:
Back Row Perspective Part 1: An Aurora Theater Survivor’s Message To The Media

***
A.J. Focht is a student, writer, and self-identifying geek. He has a BA in English, and is currently pursuing his Master’s degree at the University of Denver. He is a regular contributor to SuicideGirls. His work is also featured in Kush Magazine.

by Nahp Suicide A column which highlights Suicide Girls and their fave groups. (image) [Aisline in Four Letter Word] This week Aisline puts SG’s Photography Group into focus. Members: 10,757 / Comments: 124,859 WHY DO YOU LOVE IT?: It's really nice to see people’s photography and to get tips... more

by Nahp Suicide

A column which highlights Suicide Girls and their fave groups.


[Aisline in Four Letter Word]

This week Aisline puts SG’s Photography Group into focus.

Members: 10,757 / Comments: 124,859

WHY DO YOU LOVE IT?: It's really nice to see people’s photography and to get tips and tricks.


DISCUSSION TIP: I'm probably the worst person to ask for tips. I never post in threads I like because I always end up killing them. So if I like something I just stay as an observer.

MOST HEATED DISCUSSION THREAD: I don't know if they are "heated" but my favorite threads are "self portraits" and "what did you shoot today?".

WHO’S WELCOME TO JOIN?: Everybody


***
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This is one of the only times I’ve spoken to Alex Kurtzman by himself. He’s usually part of the screenwriting duo of Orci and Kurtzman. He and his partner Bob have written films like Transformers, Star Trek and Cowboys & Aliens, as well as co-created TV’s Fringe. Forbes called them “Hollywood’s... more

This is one of the only times I’ve spoken to Alex Kurtzman by himself. He’s usually part of the screenwriting duo of Orci and Kurtzman. He and his partner Bob have written films like Transformers, Star Trek and Cowboys & Aliens, as well as co-created TV’s Fringe. Forbes called them “Hollywood’s Secret Weapons” and considers them “the force behind $3 billion in box office.”

Not only was I getting Kurtzman solo, but he made time for me at a moment I couldn’t believe. He had just returned from a nationwide tour promoting his new movie, People Like Us, and as soon as he got home from the airport he called me. I know what it feels like to travel. I would not be coherent after a flight and a drive. I guess that’s why I’m not a screenwriter.

People Like Us is also Kurtzman’s directorial debut. It is the personal story of a debt-ridden investor (Chris Pine) who grudgingly returns home for his father’s funeral. When the will is read, he learns he has a sister (Elizabeth Banks) and nephew, whom he meets but doesn’t quite fully introduce himself to.

If you thought talking robots or space aliens were hard to explain, here’s a situation that would take a Hollywood mastermind to sort out. Luckily Kurtzman was on the case. He couldn’t keep his original title, which was Welcome to People, but Kurtzman explained how he dealt with a human drama. After we asked about all the other big movies he’s writing and producing, Kurtzman left us with some screenwriting theory advice too.

Suicide Girls: How long have you had the directing bug and does Bob have it too?

Alex Kurtzman: I don't know, you’ll have to ask him. I definitely have it. There’s no question that I have it. I loved every second of it.

SG: Has there been a certain pleasure to just writing and not having to worry about the directing?

AK: The funny thing is we’ve been fortunate and we haven’t really been in that position, because we’re either producing the movies that we write or we’ve been very into it with the director as they’ve been doing it so we’ve been there through all of the process. So I’ve never actually had the experience of being totally divorced from the material. So no, the truth is you write something three times. You write it when you write the script, you write it when you shoot it and you write it when you edit it.

SG: As a writer, do you have a tricky relationship with exposition, in the sci-fi films where you have a lot of mythology to reveal, and now applying it to these family secrets in this story?

AK: Sure. I think exposition is a challenge for all writers in all different ways. The key is how do you build a story around the exposition falling in the right place so that the audience wants to hear it, and then how do you deliver it in a way that the audience wants to hear it.

SG: How different is it dealing with the human drama versus the pure technical stuff you need to get out in sci-fi movies?

AK: I think we always try and look at it both as a continuum. In the sci-fi movies, the same rule applies which is when you’re getting out the exposition, you want it to be coming from an emotional place, as much as the story will allow it to be one. Sometimes one of the tricks can be you get your characters into a fight, because when people are fighting they tend to be more specific about what they’re happy or not happy with. That is a good way to hold an audience’s attention. I think when it comes to that kind of exposition in People Like Us, it’s a very different thing because so much of that movie is about what people are not saying to each other and the movie is building up to a place of everyone finally reconciling and everybody finally speaking truthfully to each other. So by the time that exposition comes around, it’s a really necessary step in whether or not those characters are going to continue to be in each other’s lives.

SG: Are you dealing with the essence of drama in People Like Us where people are talking without revealing the truth?

AK: That’s right, that’s right. These characters are all so damaged and they have built up so much armor over the course of their lives to keep them from having to deal with their pain. By doing that, they are not dealing with a lot of things. So the movie is really about them colliding into each other. I think the key for me too is humor. I really, really needed to make sure that there was a lot of humor in the movie because I think a lot of characters use humor, as I said, as an armor. But also because I think that pain is funny sometimes. Some of my favorite movies are very painful movies that are very funny. I think that’s what makes us human. Capturing that is really a great thing when you can do it.

SG: I’ve noticed several movies lately where someone can’t reveal who they are. The Lucky One also dealt with someone who couldn’t tell her how he found her picture. Is there something going on now that people feel like they can’t reveal who they are?

AK: I don't know, I guess the first thing that comes to mind in answer to your question is that we live in a world where our identities are pretty much known to everybody and all of our information is more or less public. So I certainly think that it may be tapping into a zeitgeist-y thing that privacy has gone away for all intents and purposes. So what does that do to your sense of identity?

SG: What were some of the shots you just had to get as a first time director?

AK: You know, I didn’t approach it that way. I approached it with a very strong sense visually of what I wanted it to feel like and the thing about my cinematographer, Sal Totino who’s so brilliant, is that he is not interested in a beautiful composition, although his compositions are always beautiful. He is first and foremost interested in how the frame is telling the story emotionally. So what we would do was while we had a lot of ideas in mind and we planned for a lot of transitions in the movie, we would never pre-block a scene. I would bring the actors to set and we would talk through what felt right and then we’d light around them. So it was about more the experience of being a fly on the wall and capturing the real lives of these people than it was about you being aware that the camera was even there.

SG: Were there certain local haunts you wanted to be sure to get in the movie, like the Taco stand?

AK: Absolutely. That was actually Chris’s idea. As a native Los Angeleno I often feel like my Los Angeles is never represented accurately onscreen. I think if you’re from L.A., what you come to understand is that L.A. is about the small intimate spaces that you create for yourself and everybody has different things that mean something to them. For me it’s a lot of coffee shops because I like to write in coffee shops. It’s a lot of just little spaces. I felt like L.A. was a very specific character in the movie because in many ways, the movie is also a ghost story and this man who is unifying all these characters, who has all the answers to the questions that they’re asking, is dead. So they can never get those answers and they’re kind of traveling through his space trying to understand who he was and why he did the thing that he did. That means that every location that we went to was significant because it had to represent the father in some way.

SG: Can you still write in coffee shops now that people know who you are?

AK: Oh, I do it all the time. Fortunately I’m actually not in that place. I’m very rarely recognized which is great.

SG: Has your lifestyle changed a lot with the success you’ve achieved?

AK: You know, I tend to come from a pretty conservative family when it comes to the way that we live so for me it’s mostly about making sure that my son is comfortable and that he’s getting what he needs and we don’t like to live grand.

SG: How about your lifestyle in the industry when you’re a “power player” or “go-to guy?”

AK: The funny thing is that Bob and I are actually pretty shy when it comes to the industry. We very rarely go to industry parties and we don’t take lunches all that often and we tend to just work through the day. So our space is really just about work. I guess we’re just not the kind of people who do all the other stuff. No judgment to the other stuff. It’s just not really who we are.

SG: What was the process of the title changes and decisions?

AK: Well, I loved the title so much, Welcome to People. When we were doing the testing on the movie, the movie was testing really well and the one thing people were having trouble with was the title. We had all worked so hard to pour ourselves into this movie, I think we all felt that we wanted to give it the best chance of success. The studio really felt strongly about it and in their defense, they really let me keep it for a long time. They were pushing me on it for a while and I didn’t want to change it. Then finally it just became clear that it probably was the best thing to do.

SG: With experience as a producer, were you better able to comfort your director self with that change?

AK: I think because I had held out for so long, it wasn’t like I either just caved immediately [or held out stubbornly.] We really thought about it. At the end of the day, what I didn’t want was for people to hear the title and be confused, and I felt like that’s what was happening. Now that said, what I think we all loved so much about the title was that it suggested that people was a destination and that was really what was going on with the characters. They were sort of half people, going back to the idea that they were living in massive states of denial and not dealing with a lot of things. The idea that they’ve become whole at the end of the movie was what that title suggested to me and I loved that.

SG: The big Star Trek rumor is whether it’s Khan or not, and Simon Pegg even went out and said, “Benedict Cumberbatch is not Khan.” What do you make of that?

AK: My lips are absolutely sealed. We’ve all sworn a blood oath to the Star Trek gods that we will not reveal any information, other than I can tell you we held off on shooting the second movie for a year because the studio really wanted it and of course they did. I think we just didn’t feel ready yet. We put so much thought into the first movie that what we didn’t want to do is obliterate it by rushing something into production. So I’m really excited about everything. J.J. just directed the hell out of it and we’re editing it right now.

SG: But what did you make of Simon telling the The Telegraph that it’s not Khan?

AK: It’s the first time I’ve heard it actually. I’ve been traveling the whole month with the movie. I haven’t been reading anything. Wow, I don't know what to make of it. Well, okay.

SG: I’ve been waiting for someone to do Ender’s Game. Can the movie get into the political theory that’s in that book?

AK: Oh sure, absolutely. Look, people have been trying to make Ender’s for a long time. Gavin [Hood] did a beautiful job really protecting and building walls around the beating heart of it. Bob worked very closely with [author] Orson Scott Card in making sure that the novel was reflecting all of the things that he intended it to. So I think he did an extraordinary job and I’m really excited to see how it’s going to come together.

SG: Another interesting thing about it is if it does well, the sequels to the book are very different. Would Speaker of the Dead still be the next film in that series?

AK: I think it’s a discussion, but you’re right to point that out. They are. That’s a conversation but we don’t like to count our chickens before they hatch so we’re really just focusing on this one and we want to make it great. Ask me in a year. I’ll have a better answer for you.

SG: I’m just worried the studio would want another battle movie.

AK: Possibly. Let’s see how this one turns out and let’s see what people react to the most. I think based on that we’ll know.

SG: Did Amazing Spider-Man leave it open to you to fill in Richard Parker’s secret with that easter egg they left in the credits?

AK: That’s another movie I’m sworn to secrecy on unfortunately. I just loved the new one so much so we’re really excited to be doing that.

SG: Great news that Fringe has a fifth season. What is still to come?

AK: Well, it’s our last season and there’s a lot of liberation knowing that you are writing toward a specific destination. I think that the whole point of creating that show for us was to do something really crazy and unlike anything else on television and also to harken back to the shows that we love so much and I think that the finale will hopefully do that for everybody.

SG: Is it also a relief that you got there, when some seasons you didn’t know?

AK: Yeah, absolutely. I’ve got to say, Fox was extraordinary in their support for the show. They really were, kind of from the beginning and all the way through, I think they were very proud of it. You don’t always get that from a network when there’s questions like that, but they were awesome.

SG: Van Helsing is an interesting choice to the reboot. Is that one where you don’t have to be so precious to the original?

AK: I think to some degree that’s sort of true. For me it’s actually about going back to the actual source material and some comics from the ‘70s that we discovered that are very interesting. So we’re literally just in the middle of starting the process of figuring that out so I don’t have any real answers for you on that one.

SG: It’s an interesting combination of something very recent, but it had a mixed reaction so there’s opportunity there.

AK: Yeah, I think that’s right. The character is really, really interesting. The DNA of the character is interesting so that’s what we responded to.

SG: And you’ve written for Tom Cruise before so do you need to set up crazy stunts he’s going to want to do?

AK: You know, we tend to do the stunts last. We don’t think in those terms from the beginning. We actually learned on the first television shows that we did that you have to structure your story first and figure out what you want that to be and then you start to figure out how the story can open up the action sequences because you want the sequences to be organic in terms of the storytelling. You want them to lead you to some new revelation or progress the story in the right way. So if you start just from action sequences, I think it tends to be a somewhat empty experience.

SG: You went to college at Wesleyan. Was college vital to your screenwriting experience, because I don’t know if it’s even an option for today’s aspiring writers?

AK: It was in a lot of ways. Wesleyan I think is a very unique place in that it didn’t have a proper screenwriting program. When I was there, that’s not what it was. It was really more about film analysis and understanding. We had this glorious teacher Jeanine Basinger. A bunch of us when we were there asked her if she would help us find a way to do a screenwriting seminar. So basically what we did is she got us access to a lot of screenplays. We would sit down, a bunch of the students, and we would analyze the scripts and we’d break them into genres and we would pick different categories and we’d sit and talk about them. And we talked about writing styles and we talked about dialogue. It was a really great thing because rather than sit down and give us the assignment of writing a screenplay when we didn’t really understand what it meant to write a screenplay, she had us looking at the source. Going back to people like Preston Sturges for dialogue or the Marx brothers for dialogue or Billy Wilder and then asking, “Okay, what is the modern day evolution of that kind of dialogue? Who’s doing that now? Who’s referencing that now?” So we really got a real saturation in the history of screenwriting and I think that was a lot more informative for me personally than to sit down and write, which at that point I had no idea how to do. I think learning the rules before you start is really important and that’s what Wesleyan gave me.

SG: Now a new generation can see those scripts online.

AK: Completely. My God, when we were there it was pre-internet. I had to make friends with a librarian at one of the agencies to get scripts because that was the only way to know what a screenplay actually looked like. Now every script is available online, like everything, which is pretty amazing.

SG: Sometimes before it’s made.

AK: Yes, frequently before it’s made, which I don’t think is a good thing.

SG: We get to talk about movies like Star Trek, Spider-Man, Ender’s Game and more. What is your feeling of being one of the keepers of these fantastic stories?

AK: I think that Bob and I both feel a tremendous responsibility actually. When we were kids, I think that we were influenced by a generation of filmmakers who so deeply loved genre material. Whether you loved all of their movies or not, there was no question that they were coming from a place of total reverence. They clearly couldn’t be doing anything else with their lives, it was that important to them. And I think that’s how we feel. I think we feel like you’re never going to please everybody but you want to try and stay in touch with the reasons why you tell stories. You want to try and stay in touch with your inner kid and you want to try and do better than you did last time. I think it’s a lot of fun and it’s a real privilege and that’s how we see it.

SG: And someone needs to do it because these things don’t make themselves.

AK: I think so. When you make a movie of the scale of some of the movies that we’ve made it is totally a collaborative effort. I think you go with your gut and you go by the things that influence you and you try and stay in touch with the moments that you remember from your childhood of sitting in a theater and just having your mind blown, and why that happened. That’s a big part of it for us. For me that’s why I do it.

SG: Do your kids know what you do?

AK: Oh sure. I have a son. That’s part of the joy of it too is I can’t break story anymore without thinking about him now. Everything is filtered through his eyes in some way. It’s like being in constant touch with wonder, and he’s six years old. That’s the beauty of having that at your house and also doing what I do.

SG: Does he think dad’s cool?

AK: He does now but I pretty much guarantee that will not be the case when he’s a teenager.

SG: He might become one of those internet haters.

AK: Yeah, he will, he will. It’ll just be in my house instead of on the internet.

People Like Us is now playing in theaters.

by A.J. Focht (image) Thursday July 19th, I rushed home from work to get ready to catch the midnight showing of The Dark Knight Rises with a group of friends. We were all excited to finally be seeing the epic conclusion to Christopher Nolan's Batman series. After wading through the crowd to get our... more

by A.J. Focht



Thursday July 19th, I rushed home from work to get ready to catch the midnight showing of The Dark Knight Rises with a group of friends. We were all excited to finally be seeing the epic conclusion to Christopher Nolan's Batman series. After wading through the crowd to get our tickets and stocking up on overpriced food and drinks, we made our way into Theater 9 and took our seats. The showing was packed and there weren’t enough empty seats in a row for all eight of us to sit together. We split up, sitting in small groups throughout the theater. I ended up in the second row from the back with my roommate and another friend.

Everyone waited patiently through the lackluster trailers for the feature film to begin. When the movie started, the theater went silent and everyone fixed their eyes in on the screen, mesmerized. Scene after scene, I became more enthralled with the story. About twenty minutes in, we were all snapped out of the epic fantasy world and into a nightmarish reality. A gunman opened fire on the unsuspecting crowd. I made it out of the theater unscathed, but I can't say the same about the rest of my group. One of them was injured and went to hospital, and another didn't came out of the theater alive. While I survived, 12 people were killed in the massacre and another 58 were injured.

It took seemingly no time before the twenty-four hour news networks had informed everyone across the nation as to what had happened. The mad rush to present the world with information caused the media vultures to deliver several false reports as they stopped at nothing to get their stories. In the midst of this living nightmare, the media circus fed off the victims' despair like it was fresh bread in a famine.

With only a small charge left in her phone one of the members of my group thought it best to send out a blanket distress beacon via Twitter so she could conserve her battery to call her parents and a ride home. Caitlin tweeted from her account @dingos8myTARDIS informing her family and friends of the chaos and that she was physically alright. Her tweets were some of the first online, and within the hour BBC, CNN, and others were broadcasting her messages on the news. The hundreds of media outlets that contacted her throughout the night were unexpected, but we could understand they were just trying to do their jobs. Once we had been released, Caitlin, not wanting the mass media attention, released these tweets:

Despite her requesting to be left alone, she was perpetually bombarded by yet more media requests via Twitter from outlets including FOX News and The Huffington Post. As if the mass attention on Twitter was not enough, other news networks took it upon themselves to get her phone number and start calling her.

While we all sat anxiously awaiting information on the MIA member of our group, phones and email notifications continued go off till all our phones had died. Before even our families and friends had a chance to check in, the overzealous reporters were all but knocking on our doors. Right after our group finally learned our missing member didn't make it, Caitlin's phone began to ring; It was the Today Show on the other end requesting an interview about him. She told them off and asked them not to contact her again. However, her pleas didn't stop them from calling again the next morning, still trying to get an interview.

This is not to say that everyone in the media treated this tragic event and the victims like they were just a breaking news story. A select few talk show hosts and reporters handled their responses to the incident with the utmost tact. Craig Ferguson changed his opening monologue in response to the Aurora shootings. His heartfelt reaction was a signal that some of the media could show signs of humanity and compassion for the victims. On his Hulu show, Spoilers, Kevin Smith opened with a sincere speech and spent the rest of the time talking about the incident with the Spoilers crew. Responses like these made a huge difference for the survivors in my group who had begun to feel the media had turned on them.

Since the shootings happened in the early hours of Friday morning, it wasn't until the following Monday that Jon Stewart and Steven Colbert had their say on the events. As longtime fans of both shows, I, along with everyone in my group, was interested to see what they both had to say. For once this week, we were not disappointed. Stewart called out the media circus for reporting false facts and refusing to talk about certain related issues. Colbert further pointed out how useless the media was with their inaccurate reports and misguided debates.

While an array of talk show hosts had excellent responses to this tragic massacre, only a handful of career journalists handled it with the same level of professionalism. Out of all the reporters that covered this tragic story, only a few reported it both honestly and with consideration for the victims and survivors. Anderson Cooper conducted an interview with the father, girlfriend, and best friend of Alex Teves, the deceased member of our group. Cooper was genuine, and he allowed each of them to speak their mind. At the end of the interview, Teves’ father challenged Cooper and CNN to, moving forward, stop talking about and showing the gunman, since doing so only gave him the attention he sought, and asked them instead to focus to the victims.



In contrast, ABC continues to provide the wrong information five days after the shootings. In the ABC News interview with Alex’s father and girlfriend, Dan Harris ended the segment by saying that Alex graduated from the University of Colorado with a degree in Physical Therapy. In reality, Alex recently graduated with his Master’s Degree in Counseling from the University of Denver. Even after being called out on The Daily Show, ABC fails to check the facts to their reports before airing them.

As if the misleading media wasn’t enough, their voyeuristic nature is making the victims and survivors feel uncomfortable even attending the memorials and vigils held in their honor. During the prayer vigil held on Sunday outside the Aurora Municipal building, reporters and photographers were swarming the lawn as the mourners arrived. There was a sectioned off area up front, but it was only for the families of the deceased victims, and it was located right in front of the podium for all the cameras to see. There was no media perimeter, and photographers from all ranks of media aggressively roamed through the crowd. Everyone from bloggers to international news organizations forced their way onto grieving groups. When Caitlin asked for her picture not to be taken, the only response she received was that she should not be in a public space. When friends of the victims would act as human shields, getting in the way of the pictures, the cameramen became increasingly volatile. At an event that was supposed to be for the victims, the victims couldn’t find any sanctuary from the press.

The political speeches throughout the vigil and the mass media presence raise the question: who was the vigil for? As a survivor of the Aurora massacre, I can say that I didn’t feel comforted by any of it. Amongst the several prayers, mostly Christian, all I heard was political name dropping ahead of the upcoming election, as the victims and survivors were left to defend themselves against the heartless, overbearing, and at times downright hostile actions of those in the media.

My message to the media is simple: First, as Mr. Teves asked Anderson Cooper, stop showing the face of and talking about the shooter. He is a coward that massacred an unsuspecting group of civilians. Every time you talk about him, you only help add his name to the pages of history. Next, I beg that you give both the victims and survivors their space. There are plenty of victims and families that are willing to talk to you, and could use the attention for good reasons such as medical bills. For those who want to be left alone, it’s the least you can do.

In Part 2, I will talk about how the politicians have handled this event, both good and bad. For many, this is becoming too reminiscent of the Columbine High School shooting, both in the tragic nature of what occurred and in the mishandling of the victims and survivors. For the final segment, I will explore the awe inspiring responses and support that has come from social media.



***
A.J. Focht is a student, writer, and self-identifying geek. He has a BA in English, and is currently pursuing his Master’s degree at the University of Denver. He is a regular contributor to SuicideGirls. His work is also featured in Kush Magazine.

by Damon Martin For the better part of four seasons of the hit FX biker drama Sons of Anarchy, Ron Perlman's character Clay Morrow sat at the head of the table as President of the charter that helped lead the small town of Charming, Calif. However, through numerous mistakes, back handed deals and... more

by Damon Martin

For the better part of four seasons of the hit FX biker drama Sons of Anarchy, Ron Perlman's character Clay Morrow sat at the head of the table as President of the charter that helped lead the small town of Charming, Calif. However, through numerous mistakes, back handed deals and betrayals, Clay went off the reservation one too many times during the last season and it finally caught up with him when his stepson Jax Teller found out that he was responsible for his father's death many years ago.

Jax exacted his revenge by removing Clay from the leadership position as the head of SAMCRO (Sons of Anarchy Motorcycle Club Redwood Original), but needed him alive to help bridge a continuing deal between the motorcycle outlaws and a group of Irish gunrunners dealing with the club.

As Season 5 of Sons of Anarchy kicks off on Sept 11 on FX, Perlman revealed some details about his villainous character as he embarks on a new story arc with less power, less family, and less friends than he's ever had before.

"Clay only knows of one way and that is to be on top," Perlman said when speaking to media at San Diego Comic Con. "He takes a backseat to no one, and he takes orders from no one, he lets no one else set the agenda. So we see him in the beginning of Season 5 and every single thing that he's ever worked for in his life has been taken from him, except his life."

And that's where the story takes a twisted turn, because this evil man who would make Darth Vader cringe in his platform black boots was left alive – wounded and hurt, but still alive. Like any wounded dog left to defend his bone, Clay Morrow is a broken man seeking vengeance on all those who tried to take his power away but made the mistake of allowing him to keep breathing.

"He's wifeless, he's president-less, he's lost the respect of his crew and his family, he's lost the trust of his crew and his family, he literally starts off with nothing, but has to wonder why the fuck would you leave me alive? You gotta know I'm coming back," Perlman stated with a steely grin on his face.

It's that particular dynamic that Perlman finds so challenging as he enters the new season because for the first time in the show's more than 50 episodes, he's not sitting at the head of the table. He may not be the top dog anymore, but he still has plenty of fight left in him, and more than a few tricks up his sleeve.

"I think what's amazing for me is that I'm getting to play the exact same human being in a completely different set of circumstances. It's so much fun what Kurt (Sutter) has given me to do this season," said Perlman. "Where we're going I’m not really sure, but I do know that it's going to be fraught with tension and wonderment as to whether it's even possible what Clay is dreaming for himself for re-dreaming for himself."

Sons of Anarchy creator, writer and executive producer Kurt Sutter has given the actors in the show the power to really take their characters to the next level, and it will be no different with Perlman in Season 5. This wicked biker who was responsible for the death of his best friend once upon a time now looks to conquer the son that took the power away from him.

As Perlman finished talking, he turned to his right and looked at co-star Charlie Hunnam, who portrays his stepson Jax Teller, and gave him a chilling message:
"Unless I'm dead, I'm not stopping. You're not stopping me," Perlman stated. "There you go Mr. Teller, don't get used to that chair."

Related Posts:
SG Interview with Kurt Sutter and Katey Sagal

(image) by The Wine Guy (image) [Malloreigh in Sauced] When you are a kid, unless you’re a fussy little twit, you will eat almost anything. You have very little understanding of the highs and lows of food. You may know that your mom’s meatloaf is yucky and that her pot roast is yummy, but that’s... more

by The Wine Guy


[Malloreigh in Sauced]

When you are a kid, unless you’re a fussy little twit, you will eat almost anything. You have very little understanding of the highs and lows of food. You may know that your mom’s meatloaf is yucky and that her pot roast is yummy, but that’s about it. When you first start drinking it is the same way. PBR, on sale! What luck!!!! Well you’re a purported adult now, so it is time to lay the crap down and drink better.

But how do I do it? There are so many choices! The most important thing to do is to find a good store with a wide selection – and inside of that store find a knowledgeable employee who can guide you. At this point in your life you may have some inklings as to what you like and do not like. You might be holding on to them tightly like someone adrift in the Pacific with a life preserver. These can either be a tool or an impediment to your success. Tell the employee that you like this wine and want to try something similar. If there is too much hesitation on their part, and they are not at the very least happy with what they finally choose, then they are probably not going to be a good guide. Take their recommendation home and try it. Did you like it? Did you hate it? Was it an interesting miss? When you report back, a good guide should be able to use that information to improve their selection, and you should learn something important about your taste.

However, there are now two possible problems: One, the employee does not know what they’re doing. Or two, when you return they are not there. Now you are faced with a giant wall of wine and have no guide. Arghhh! Fear not, there are some tricks you can use to make your gambling odds improve.

Wines to avoid include domestic wines labeled by state only. This means that they probably grabbed grapes from wherever they could find them from and it’s going to have a generic bland quality. Wines with the word “reserve” on them should also be avoided. The term has no official meaning and can be slapped onto to the world’s worst wine. Personally, I love it when there is no regular version, just the reserve; they must have thrown away the regular version as it was toxic, or they put those special grapes into their California blend!

Good things to find on the label include verbiage that indicates the case production is under a thousand. That means the winemaker touched every grape and every bottle. “Estate grown” is another great phrase. Unlike reserve, it is highly regulated and is usually a sign of quality. If you buy estate wine and it sucks, cross that winery off your list.

I know that there are internet reviews and phone apps that can look up wines, and in a pinch these things can be solid tools. What those things lack though is a personal relationship, flesh, blood, and interactive communication. Over time I know what my customers like and do not like, and as we move forward the wine choices get better and better. Plus, their pallets get broader and broader – and I don’t mean more and more expensive.

Almost without fail, the most expensive wine in your wine shop is not ready to be consumed and would be a great disappointment if you bought it for immediate consumption. These are the kind of wines that are designed to be aged, and just do not perform well when they’re young. That said, the myth of the $10 bottle that drinks like a $50 one is total bullshit. While there are plenty of overpriced wines and an almost equal amount of hidden gems, the fact remains that it costs money to make great wine. There are so many factors that go into the making of the wine: grapes, climate, time, facilities, barrels, equipment, and more.

But Keith, I do not want to drop everything that I am doing and become a big wino like you. Still, there’s is no need for you to join wine clubs, attend wine tastings, and buy every bottle of Cabernet Franc you can get your hand on. What you need to do is stop buying plonk. Whenever you decide that you want some wine – whether it be for a special occasion or for a Tuesday night dinner – take a little bit of time and buy a better bottle.

It could be that Spanish Garnacha for ten bucks instead of the Coppola, it might be the 347 case production instead of the Robert Mondavi, but please make an effort. You are an adult now and should care about what you are putting into your body. You gave up Twinkies and orange soda, now it’s time to give up lousy wine.

Demand that your store purchase local wines. Support real winemakers. It’s a win/win – these guys make wine for the love of it. You are purchasing their dreams, and in return you are getting a handcrafted wine. All you get when you buy a factory wine is the name on the label. Worse than that, you send a message to the people that run the shop you bought it from that they should buy more factory wines. And you tell the whole industry that factory is the way to go. Drink better folks. Spend a little, save a little, but either way put that crap down and enjoy a well made bottle of wine.

***

The Wine Guy sells wine for a living, and lives to drink it. It’s his first and foremost passion. He avoids factory wines, loves to seek out bottles that are interesting and unique, and gets excited when he finds a grape he’s have never heard of.

(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? Exploring one answer, the series has first focused on Karl Rove’s free adaptation of Joseph Goebbels doctrines... 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? Exploring one answer, the series has first focused on Karl Rove’s free adaptation of Joseph Goebbels doctrines of Propaganda - Indoctrination, Intimidation and Revenge, Distraction and Disinformation, and Divide and Conquer. In coming weeks, we’ll seek more answers in a myriad fields and offer solutions aimed at turning the tables on the party that favors corporations and the 1% over the vast majority of Americans.]

Through Fox News and other media outlets, Karl Rove has inculcated a false world view for the past dozen years through indoctrination tactics perfected by Joseph Goebbels, the former Minister of Public Enlightenment and Propaganda for Germany’s Third Reich.

How has he gotten away with it for so long? His resume reveals the answer: by intimidation and revenge – the true standards of “win at any cost” politics.

Certainly, part of the blame falls to those who were cajoled or browbeaten into compliance. As children, we’re taught to stand up to bullies, especially since they are essentially cowards...so it’s disheartening when elected officials fold their values under pressure (and, like the post-1994 Republican Congress, even became bullies themselves). But to be fair, Rove and his henchmen dish out frighteningly more punishment than a bloody nose.

In the late 1970s and early 1980s, drug kingpin Pablo Escobar employed a simple tactic that led Forbes magazine to list him as the world’s first narco–billionaire. Escobar would approach someone from whom he wanted something and offer them either silver (plata) or lead (plomo), meaning he would either make them very rich (silver) or riddle their body with bullets (lead). His plata o plomo strategy was copied quite literally by every subsequent cartel...and figuratively by Karl Rove, who adjusted it a notch for the American political arena.

As one White House aide put it: “Karl operates under the rule that if you fuck with us, we’ll fuck you over.”

In 1994, Rove-backed candidate Harold See ran for a Supreme Court seat in Alabama against Democrat Mark Kennedy, who had honorably served as president of the National Committee to Prevent Child Abuse and Neglect and whose commercials included a shot of him holding hands with at-risk children his group had literally saved. Enter Rove, who started a particularly malicious whispering campaign smearing Kennedy as a pedophile. The Atlantic Monthly’s Joshua Green correctly described the incident: "What Rove does is try and make something so bad for a family that the candidate will not subject the family to the hardship."

That same year, George W. Bush ran for governor of Texas against incumbent Ann Richards, widely admired for the diversity of her administration. Soon, persistent rumors spread across the Lone Star state that Richards was a lesbian, several steps too far diversity-wise for Texans to venture at the time. Journalist Lou Dubose spotted a common Rove tactic: “Identify your opponent's strength, and attack it so relentlessly that it becomes a liability.”

In 1991, while visiting one of Mother Theresa’s orphanages in Bangladesh, Cindy McCain spotted two sickly infants who, frankly, weren’t going to make it. On the spot, she decided to take them back home for medical treatment that saved both their lives. Two years later, John and Cindy McCain officially adopted one of the girls, Bridget, and arranged for the adoption of the other (Mickey) by the family of McCain aide Wes Gullet. For many, these were heroic acts of kindness and compassion...but to Karl Rove, they served merely as an opportunity to smear someone who stood in his way.

In 2000, Sen. McCain squared off against the Rove-controlled Bush in the Republican Presidential primaries. After McCain’s 18 point victory in New Hampshire, the smart money was on the Senator to win the nomination, especially as he held a 5 point lead heading into South Carolina. Rove cut into that margin with TV attacks implying that McCain’s days as a POW had left him mentally scarred (a real-life Manchurian candidate) and that Cindy was a drug addict. But then, asserted another White House aide, Rove devised the coup de grace – a fiendishly damaging question to ask Southerners via a phony poll: "Would you be more or less likely to vote for John McCain if you knew he had fathered an illegitimate black child?" Since McCain was barnstorming the state with Bridget, his dark-skinned daughter from Bangladesh, voters in this Old South state quickly began marching to the darkest of Rove’s tunes. Bush won South Carolina by a healthy margin and the race was essentially over.

Following his formula of hammering his opponent’s perceived strength, Rove had taken McCain’s admirable sense of character and turned it into a racist affront. It was a strategy so depraved only Rove could have stooped so low as to implement it – as noted by Meghan McCain: “Karl Rove is a pathetic excuse for a human being.”

Rove’s tactics in these scenarios incorporated the Big Lie, but he could bully with the truth, too – when he needed to.

In 2002, with America already at war in Afghanistan, the Bush administration tried desperately to produce even the flimsiest rationales for invading Iraq. Tipped to an unsubstantiated rumor that Niger had supplied Saddam Hussein with yellowcake uranium, the CIA asked former Ambassador to Iraq and 23 year Foreign Service veteran Joseph Wilson to investigate. After more than a week in Niger interviewing key players and examining technical information (including forged memos), Wilson correctly reported that the rumor was “highly unlikely.” Months went by and he thought the rumor had been discarded...until Bush cited it again in early 2003 as a compelling reason to invade Iraq. Wilson countered by writing an OpEd in the New York Times stating unequivocally that the yellowcake connection was highly suspect.

Almost immediately, Rove leaked to reporters Matt Cooper and Robert Novak that Wilson’s wife, Valerie Plame, was in fact a covert CIA agent specializing in WMD. It was the truth, of course, and once her cover was blown, Plame’s career was kaput. Never mind that Plame’s clandestine colleagues across the globe were put in grave danger and America lost its most effective nuclear intelligence operative. Bush got his “revenge” war (Hussein had put out a contract on W.’s father years before) and Rove got his revenge on Wilson, a man who refused to shade the truth for administration purposes. The cost was thousands of American lives, hundreds of thousands of Iraqi lives, and more than a trillion dollars spent on the Iraq war.

Of course, Rove’s actions were actionably treasonous in this case – the FBI even believed they had him nailed. But for some reason never adequately explained, Special Prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald failed to prosecute Rove.

When pop-recording stars the Dixie Chicks publicly voiced their opposition to the Bush 2003 invasion of Iraq on stage, Karl went to work with his “Southern Strategy” friends. Soon, the Dixie Chicks were not only demonized and persona non grata at many venues and media outlets, with concerts cancelled and radio play diminished, they were even accused of treason via the underground rumor mill that Rove had long relied upon.

Rove’s hostile invective was even aimed to discredit whole countries. Just like in our own Revolutionary War, the French were our greatest allies in the War in Afghanistan. But they rightly wanted no part of Iraq; As bad as he was, they argued, Hussein did not attack the U.S. and there was no reliable evidence that he posed “a clear and present danger” to anyone, much less to the Western allies. France did not believe a country had the moral right to go to war just because its President wanted to, which pretty much sums up the Bush Doctrine. But by this time, Rove had convinced Bush he was “a war President,” and needed perpetual war (shades of 1984), so all things French became nearly traitorous (down to the absurd renaming of French Fries to Freedom Fries in the Senate cafeteria), and the build-up to Iraq II continued unabated.

When Senator John Kerry posed a credible threat to Bush’s re-election in 2004, Rove went after Kerry’s most obvious political asset by swiftboating his admirable Vietnam service. From a legitimate war hero, Kerry was turned into something akin to a Timothy McVey serial killer, while Bush, who went AWOL for about a year during the same era, literally strutted around in a flight suit with Commander-in-Chief emblazoned on its breast. Like a cherry atop an ice cream sundae, there was even widespread talk that Kerry somehow “looked French.”

Even the press was not immune to Rove’s intimidation tactics. First there were the wildly illegal wiretaps and surveillance by which the administration tracked “suspect” reporters. If any of the White House press corps still didn’t toe the line, Rove reduced their access to White House personnel in stages until they either came around or had no access at all and were necessarily replaced by their media employer. The message came through loud and clear – play Rove’s game or lose your job.

Rove is not going to change, and neither will his modus operandi. His inestimably low character and slimy strategies have been too successful (in the worst sense of the word) to alter.

But we can change. Politicians and journalists must be made of sterner stuff than we have seen in the last decade. We must start not only standing up to his intimidation tactics, but begin an all-out offensive against him – harsh, unyielding, and repeated endlessly, shouted from every media outlet and whispered in every dark corner of every American community. We must bloodlessly attack every particle of his loathsome being until he is thoroughly discredited and utterly destroyed. Until no one – not corporations, not his super rich amigos, no one – can afford to have anything to do with him. We must stomp on him until his reputation and his GOP architecture is dead. Then we must set fire to the remains to ensure that nothing arises from the ashes.

It’s plata o plomo without the silver, just the lead – the same game he plays but with one huge difference. Instead of spinning Big Lies, we have only to divulge and spread the truth – relentlessly, with a vengeance heretofore unimagined by liberal and progressive wusses. And repeat those truths over and over and over. We cannot rest until Karl Rove, and the willfully deceitful tactics he employs, are permanently interred in the graveyard of modern American politics.

Related Posts:
Fighting Back Part 3: Fighting Fire With Fire
When The Past Is Prologue
Fighting Back Part 2: Defining Rovian Politics
Fighting Back
The Electoral Scam
Being Fair
Occupy Reality
Giving. . . And Taking Back
A Tale Of Two Grovers
A Last Pitch For Truth
America: Forget it, Jake. It’s Chinatown.
Gotcha!

I actually met Madeline Zima in person at the South by Southwest film festival where her new film, Crazy Eyes, premiered in March. I ended up sitting right next to her, as she took the reserved seat to my left. She was perfectly lovely and laughed throughout the film. By midway through the film I was... more

I actually met Madeline Zima in person at the South by Southwest film festival where her new film, Crazy Eyes, premiered in March. I ended up sitting right next to her, as she took the reserved seat to my left. She was perfectly lovely and laughed throughout the film.

By midway through the film I was surprised she found it so funny though, considering many of the scenes involve what they call “Struggle Fucking.” It’s what it sounds like, you fuck someone even while they’re struggling against you. If Zima was in the scene and she was laughing, then I guess it’s okay to laugh.

Crazy Eyes is a semi-autobiographical film from writer/director Adam Sherman. Lukas Haas plays Zach, an aimless hard partying drinker who becomes obsessed with Rebecca (Zima.) He calls Rebecca Crazy Eyes and pines for her even though she’s made it clear she’s not interested in him, hence the struggle fucking.

Now that the film is out I got to catch up with my movie date properly. Speaking by phone, Zima wasn’t quite as aggressive as her character in the movie, or certainly her character Mia Lewis on TV’s Californication. Zima actually revealed some vulnerable moments and had fun discussing the ins and outs of struggle fucking with me.

SuicideGirls: I’m really glad to talk to you because I sat right next to you at one of the SXSW screenings.
Madeline Zima: You did? Was I doing anything super embarrassing?
SG: You were laughing it up. Did you always see Crazy Eyes as a comedy?
MZ: No. I knew that there would be funny moments because when we were filming it I was laughing so much, but I do see it as a dark comedy. I know a lot of people see it as a lot of different things but I think Lukas is hilarious in it and I think a lot of moments are so funny and Jake Busey is so funny in it.
SG: Is it more of a dark comedy than the dark comedy of Californication?
MZ: I think it’s right in the same vein actually. One is a slightly more intellectual brand of dark comedy and one is slightly more emotional.
SG: So Crazy Eyes is the more emotional one?
MZ: I would say so because I think it all comes from a place of really wanting to be loved and wanting to find that moment, whereas I don't know if necessarily that’s the goal of Californication or that’s the goal of the writers or anything.
SG: Let’s talk about struggle fucking.
MZ: Okay. [Laughs]
SG: Should I try struggle fucking with the women I date?
MZ: I think it’s a good idea to ask before anything that is not just normal consensual sex happening, but I don't know. My personal opinion is that I think men should be more, not in a creepy way, but should be more aggressive with women because women have to fulfill so many different roles and have to be aggressive because we want to get the guy interested, or have to be feminine. If a guy likes a girl than he should go up to her and be forthright and honest if he likes her, and not be too passive.
SG: But if I ask permission, is it still struggle fucking?
MZ: Well, yes, I think so. I guess it’s in the role playing sort of realm. I’m not really sure. I don't think I’ve ever done that so I can’t really comment on it.
SG: Obviously I’m having a little fun with it.
MZ: I know.
SG: Do you know what Adam’s inspiration for struggle fucking was?
MZ: You know, I totally did blow his cover on that and that’s my bad that I totally said that [in another interview.] For this interview I’ll keep the secret but if you want to cross reference than you’ll easily find it. I’m such a bigmouth, I really have to stop doing that. Also when you reveal your sources, it’s like a magician revealing his secret. It just loses all importance.
SG: When Crazy Eyes is the title of the movie, what did you have to do to embody that with your eyes and face?
MZ: I actually wore contacts in the movie because I happened to wear contacts to the audition. So when I got the job, I was like, “Hey, I wore these at the audition. Should I wear them in the movie?” Adam was like, “Whatever you want to do.” I was like, “I think I want to wear them for the movie because maybe it’ll give me permission to be this much of a disaster and then I won’t feel like myself so that I can have permission to be a little bit crazier.”
SG: Do you have friends like these characters who are a little bit aimless and mope around talking about their relationships?
MZ: Yes. Don’t you? Doesn’t everybody? And don’t we all have moments like this? I think that’s why it’s so relatable. Even if you personally haven’t had a disaster relationship like this and been on the dark side of life, even if you haven’t done that, you know people who have. So absolutely.
SG: What do you say to them to help them through?
MZ: I think the best advice always in relationships or in life is be the change that you want to see, you know the Gandhi quote. I’m really big on that quote and clichés and stuff. The clichés help me through and then sharing them with people. Especially in relationships, if you want your friends to be more loving, it’s a really good idea to be more loving in the relationship. Then you’ll naturally see change happening. So I was giving [a friend] relationship advice and she was like, “Well, I want this and I want that.” I’m like, “Okay, so why don’t you plan a night where you get all dolled up and cook him a meal and do the thing that want to become him and see what happens. If it doesn’t work, get out of the relationship.”
SG: That is fantastic. That Gandhi quote was so helpful to me because once I learned that, I realized I didn’t have to explain every situation I face. I can just be the example I want to be and put that out there.
MZ: Yeah, exactly.
SG: Are you still on Californication?
MZ: I’m not on the show anymore, no. I would love to be on the show. It’s doing so well and they promote it so much and I’m sure it would be great for my career to still be on it, but I’m not. I haven’t been on the show for years but people still think that I’m on the show or associate me with it. Even if they’ve seen the seasons of Californication that I’m clearly not on, they always go, “Are you going to be on the next season?” One of the best things that one of the interviewers said to me today was, “Oh, because I saw you in this it inspired me to go and start watching Californication because I like your work in this.” That was the biggest compliment I’ve gotten in a really long time. It made me feel really good about my work.
SG: When your debut scene is the one where you punch David Duchovny, does that make a lasting impression both on fans and people in the industry when you go to castings?
MZ: People just love it. I think most people appreciate the role reversal a little bit. Men have been picking up on women for 1000s of years. To see a woman beating up a man is sort of refreshing for both sexes. Most people are just happy that I punched David Duchovny. A lot of people really do believe that I actually punched him. Fans go, “Did you really punch him?” And I go, “No. If you look on the credits, it says David Duchovny – Executive Producer. You don’t punch your boss. It just doesn’t happen.” I’m proud of that moment even though it was the first nudity that I ever did and afterwards I was like, “Did I make the right decision? Now I have to live with guys coming up to me at bars and staring right at my boobs.” Now I’ve just sort of assumed that everyone’s already seen me naked so it just doesn’t mean anything anymore.
SG: Did it have that effect when you were out in public meeting guys?
MZ: Yeah, yeah. I did run into some people who were less than kind about what they said about me and felt that they could say whatever they wanted because they had seen me naked or something. So that wasn’t that pleasant but at the same time, so many people appreciated it more that the good outweighed the bad. Yeah, a lot of people come up to me and ask for me to punch them or whatever. I have a good sense of humor about it.
SG: Has that passed by now?
MZ: It still happens actually. It still happens. It’s shockingly bizarre but a lot more women come up to me than men who’ve seen it and one girl was like, “Because of you, I punched my boyfriend in the face” while they were having sex. I’ve just relaxed and I own it now.
SG: Did you know how manipulative and aggressive that character would become when you first did the pilot?
MZ: No, I had no idea. Of course not. It was sort of difficult for me to play also because I’m not like that personally so it was hard for me to justify those things. Reading the script each week was like a new surprise of how bitchy she would be and I was just sort of shocked about it. I had help. My sister helped me understand the characters on an equal level. That helped tremendously because at the time I was thinking I’m not pulling it off and they’re going to fire me off the show because I didn’t think I was doing a good job. Now I look back and I was like, “Wow, I didn’t mess it up at all.”
SG: Do you feel closer to Crazy Eyes than to Mia?
MZ: I’ve definitely had moments where I’ve been that vulnerable and angry, but not that it lasted this long. This character is in a downward spiral and hits bottom in the movie. I’ve never really hit bottom like that. I felt closer to this one because I could justify these things more easily based on the relationships of the two characters, how he’s kind of shady and she doesn’t really trust him and she can’t really trust him. These people are a little bit easier to understand whereas on the show the character was just ruining someone’s life.
SG: When you’re playing drunk, is it possible to go too big?
MZ: You just go big and then they’ll tell you to tone it down basically.
SG: Did he?
MZ: Yeah, sometimes he did and sometimes he’d be like, “Okay, you have to be way drunker.” But it was so fun. It’s fun to play drunk and after a while you start to feel drunk. It’s a powerful sense memory thing because we’ve all been drunk before so we know how it is. It’s a very distinct feeling that you can trick your mind into believing that you’re really in that state.
SG: What are you doing next?
MZ: Just auditioning, trying to get the next job.
SG: Is that an easier process now?
MZ: It’s the same. It’s the same until it isn’t, until I don’t have to audition anymore. Hopefully people see this and then I won’t have to audition anymore.

Crazy Eyes is now playing.

by Bob Suicide (image) I've seen people rail against the consumerist, corporate culture of the current incarnation of Comic Con and I don't really understand it. Though, to be fair, I live in Oakland; I've seen people rail against the consumerist, corporate culture of a trash can. Look... more

by Bob Suicide



I've seen people rail against the consumerist, corporate culture of the current incarnation of Comic Con and I don't really understand it. Though, to be fair, I live in Oakland; I've seen people rail against the consumerist, corporate culture of a trash can.

Look at the cartoons of our youth, created for the singular purpose of marketing toys to children. And here we are sitting at a panel waving a foam Sword of Omens excitedly hoping for more Chetaras's in the next wave of toys. Look at comics: variant covers, special editions, various colored "ages" – I can't think of a time when everything comic conventions stood for didn't have to do with acquiring, buying, and selling stuff. Mind you, it's all completely awesome and totally necessary stuff, but stuff nonetheless.

So, needless to say, I had a list of things I HAD to get at this year's Comic Con. Luckily (or unluckily depending on how you look at it) everything I needed was at one booth: the Hasbro booth. Instead of the mad dash from booth to booth and line to line from years before, I only had to make it into one line. It all seemed so simple...

I was SO wrong.



On Preview Night I made a mad dash to the Hasbro booth, hyperventilating the whole way while the loudspeaker announced that there was "no running in the hall." But for all my efforts and really awkward running, I still didn't make it in time. The line was already wrapped several times around the booth. Security was yelling at us to come back in 30 minutes, while the Hasbro staff was yelling at us to come back at 8.30 the next morning. I decided to try to hold out at the end of the line in the hopes that some people would give up and leave or get kicked out of line. You see, they weren't allowing exhibitors to stand in the preview line (Hasbro's way of ensuring attendees had a fair chance of getting the toys they wanted), though I don't think their plan worked the way they expected. I saw a lot of exhibitors go into stealth mode as they slipped into the line wearing pro badges. In fact, the guy standing in front of me did exactly that – and then some.

I know a lot of people hate scalpers, people whose sole purpose at Comic Con is to snag a large amount of toys and sell them on eBay for high prices at the exclusion of "true fans" who could've procured them for the retail price. The truth is, I don't have a deep-seated hatred for scalpers. It's times like this that I think they serve a pretty awesome purpose. Thanks to scalpers, people who are unable to travel to Comic Con have the opportunity to buy the toys they want for less than the cost of the flight, hotel, food, plus the hours (or possibly days) spent in line waiting, etc. needed if they were actually able to go.

But, this guy didn't fall into that category. When approached by Hasbro TV and asked what he was getting and he responded with, basically, the maximum for each toy. The interviewer said, "Oh, are these all for you or are you in line for friends?" And without any shame or compunction at all the dude responded, "No, I've got a booth over there. I'm gonna sell them." Facepalm. It's one thing to get toys to sell to those who can't make it to the con at a comparable price for the trouble it takes to get them, but to take a spot in line to sell to attendees at an inflated price when those attendees could have easily taken that spot is in ridiculously poor taste AND to say it on camera is even worse. SHAME!!!

The Interviewer tried to ignore that and kept on going, asking the guy what he thought of the new G.I. Joe movie. To add insult to injury, the dude said he had no idea there was one and that he hadn't seen any of the trailers. REALLY? You're in line to buy a massive haul of G.I. Joe toys and you have nothing to say about the new movie? He could have said it's going to suck and I would have had more respect for him.

After that, the interviewer turned to me and asked me about the movie, the toys I wanted, and why I wanted them – and I gave him GOLD. The soundbites are GLORIOUS, let me tell you. If anyone knows me, getting me to shut up is the trick. But how did they thank me for all my geektastic word vomit? They waited until I signed the release, then announced the line was closed and they were out of tickets for the day.

No toys for me.



Undeterred, I decided to try again the next day. However, this level was going to be more difficult than the last. Instead of lining up at the Hasbro booth, attendees had to line up in the Sails Pavilion on the 2nd floor in the hopes of getting a ticket with a time on it indicating when they could line up at the Hasbro booth. Like a Disney fastpass, I was getting in line for a ticket for ANOTHER LONG LINE, and the Sails Pavilion line was wrapped around the hall, out the door, and down the stairs. I had lost the boss battle. All I could do was tweet to the world my plight in the hope that I could depend on the kindness of strangers for a level up...

It was then that my new best friend, lord, and savior – Robert Lewis, the owner of wishingwellcomics.com – came to my rescue. He saw my tweet, and got me the Holy Hasbro Grail. And SG member xHIGHONLIFEx, who is always amazing every year, surprised me with even more Hasbro goodies!



So it's still possible to get the con exclusives that you want. It takes a lot of hard work, very few bathroom breaks, and even less sleep. Average attendees can walk away with bags full of limited edition swag without the need for a special pass or early admission. Hasbro even reserves a few toys for sale online the Monday following the con. But, even then it's hard to fly into San Diego with any level of confidence that you'll get everything you need. Every year is different and seemingly more crowded and more desperate. It could be said that's all part of the "con experience" and saying that might make you feel better when you miss out on a toy or two – but that really sucks.

Yes, I know not everyone has the added benefit of being an SG, but maybe we can all follow Robert Lewis and XHIGHONLIFEx's example and make it easier on each other. Just be aware of what line you're in and the swag being passed around, and pass on the good luck or "Con Karma" when you can so everyone can have an awesome time and no one gets shanked in the eye for a panel seat.

Now the countdown for the sequel begins: SDCC 2013: Bob Suicide And The Booth of Swag. I'm not gonna nuke a fridge, but I may choke a bitch if I can't get my G.I. Joe/Transformers Crossover.



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by Brad Warner I was planning to write a different article today but then I heard the news about the shooting at the screening of the new Batman movie in Colorado. If you haven’t heard about that, click on the highlighted words in the previous sentence and read the CNN article. Last night I was driving... more

by Brad Warner

I was planning to write a different article today but then I heard the news about the shooting at the screening of the new Batman movie in Colorado. If you haven’t heard about that, click on the highlighted words in the previous sentence and read the CNN article.

Last night I was driving down Sunset Boulevard around eight o’clock and saw a line of people outside the Vista Theater apparently waiting for the midnight premier of Batman: The Dark Knight Rises. I recall thinking that after the mind-numbing yuckiness of The Amazing Spiderman, I just did not want to see any more superhero movies for a long time. This, from a guy (me) who worked in the business of making superhero movies for fifteen years.

Addressing the incident in Colorado, President Obama said:

True that. You do not even want to get me started on the matter of the Second Amendment and gun control. That debate was over and settled for me on the night of December 8, 1980 when John Lennon was murdered by a maniac with a legally acquired gun. There is no further need to discuss the matter. You will not change my mind on this issue. So please do not bother trying.

But facts are facts. People in the United States of America are allowed to have guns. I am not complacent on this issue and I will continue to do everything I can to change this fact for as long as I’m alive. Nonetheless this is the situation. I’m an American and I like living in this country. So I have to do what I can to make it better.

To me, this most recent tragedy is part of a much larger problem, which most people barely seem able to grasp. As technology advances, more and more people will continue to have access to greater and greater destructive power. The attacks on New York and Washington, DC on September 11, 2001 are the best example of this. Up until then, such an attack could only have been carried out by one of those very large, highly organized units of humanity we call a nation.

Nations have banded together to commit horrific atrocities in the past. This is certainly true. But it’s very hard to get that many people to participate in something really awful. Hitler, to take the most obvious example, really had to work at it. If he’d been able to get the holocaust or the blitzkrieg attacks on London going with just the first fifty guys who showed up at one of his beer hall gigs in Munich I’m sure he would have. But he couldn’t. He had to get thousands of people to support him. The difference between then and now is that now you can get something really horrific going with just a handful of people. Or even just one. The technology has progressed and will continue to progress along those lines.

In Japan (where I lived for eleven years), as in most of the civilized world, not just any lunatic can go buy a stash of guns the way they can here in America. This doesn’t mean there are no homicidal crazies in Japan. It just means they have to use more primitive technology. When I was over there a guy went into an elementary school in Osaka armed with a great big knife and killed eight children. I’m sure he would have used a gun and killed more if he could have gotten one. But he couldn’t.

Our continuing greater access to advanced technology is the factor that makes fundamental human change extremely urgent right now. In the past we could get away with a lot of shit because we didn’t have access to such tremendous destructive power. We couldn’t do that much damage to each other, to our planet and so forth. Now we can.

We’ve all heard the argument that guns don’t kill people, people kill people. Of course the fact is that people with guns can kill people far more effectively than people without guns. But this has been said so often it’s a cliché. Still, even I have to admit that it’s true that if everyone who owned a gun were moral and sane, people could have as many guns as they wanted. Unfortunately not everyone is moral and sane. Nor can we effectively test everyone who tries to buy a gun as to their level of sanity and morality. So we need to control the access to such weapons. Again, this is just a fact, not something I want to debate.

To me, the most urgent issue in the world is not gun control. It’s morality. I’ve always felt this way. It’s one of the most fundamental points in all of Buddhism. People who say that Zen Buddhism has no stance on morality do not understand the very strong stance Zen Buddhism takes on morality. Some of this is the fault of Zen Buddhists who fail to (or are simply unable to) explain our ideas of morality clearly. But it’s also because the Zen take on morality is so very different from what we’ve been used to that it’s hard for people to grasp even when it is explained clearly.

I’ll make what will probably be an inadequate attempt at explaining it here on this little blog. Please forgive me if this just ends up being confusing.

All attempts to regulate morality through rules are doomed to fail. Even the tougher gun control laws that are clearly needed in the United States will ultimately fail. People will still be able to obtain guns if they really try hard. The difference is that they’ll have to try hard and thus may be deterred from doing whatever it is they want to do with their guns because it’s too damned difficult to get them. Yet there will be those few who are determined and those few will be able to do terrible things.

But guns are far from our only problem. Our most basic problem is that we do not know how to behave morally. In part this is because we imagine that morality is based on rules imposed by others. We associate moral behavior with the avoidance of punishment. Religions try make us believe in an imaginary place where even those bad things we’ve done that the law or our parents or whoever have failed to punish will be punished by an imaginary being who sees everything. The law of karma in Buddhism is too often poorly explained as yet another means by which this is supposed to occur. We’ll be punished for our bad behavior, it’s often wrongly said, by a kind of invisible moral force somewhere in the universe.

What’s really going on is that we misunderstand ourselves to be autonomous units who can inflict harm upon other autonomous units without suffering ourselves. But this is like thinking your right hand can stab your left foot and get away with it. Of course in some sense it can. Your right hand will not feel any pain if it does that. But your right hand can only do this if it is able to ignore the fact that it is part of a larger unit that does feel pain when it harms another part of that same larger unit. It’s not that the right hand will die and go to hell and be punished for stabbing your foot. Nor will the bad karma of stabbing your foot find its way back to your hand some time in the future. It all happens instantaneously.

The problem is that we are deeply, deeply steeped in a kind of huge collective delusion. Our mistaken way of understanding things has become so pervasive that we take it to be a fact. Our right hand really does think it’s not connected to our left foot. But it’s really not that hard to understand for ourselves right now that it’s a mistake. It just takes a bit of work to allow ourselves to settle enough that we can start seeing things as they actually are.

I am not trying to suggest that if only that guy in Colorado had meditated a little we wouldn’t have had this tragedy. In fact, there are so many meditation centers in Colorado I would not be surprised to learn that he did meditate. Perhaps even regularly. Meditation is not a magic solution to mental illness. In the short run sometimes meditation can seem to make mental illness worse by bringing it more to the surface.

But I do believe that our society desperately needs to establish a culture of meditation because we need a new basic foundation for moral action. We need a new foundation for moral action because the means for great destruction are now in the hands of far more people than ever had access to them before.

Obama is right. Ultimately, it is about how we choose to treat one another and how we love one another.

My heart goes out to all those who have suffered because of this recent tragedy and all of the other tragedies like this that we’ll never hear about.



***

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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by SG's Team Agony feat. Clio 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: I have been going through a long divorce, it has taken most of my time away from my girlfriend and she is growing more... more

by SG's Team Agony feat. Clio

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


[Clio in Born Into A Light]

Q: I have been going through a long divorce, it has taken most of my time away from my girlfriend and she is growing more and more irritated with me. I on the other hand, have been doing every thing I can to finalize all the paperwork and move on. But she thinks I’m trying to get back with my ex no matter what I tell her. As far as I know she is a pretty trusting person, and I haven’t given her any reason to not trust me. I just don’t know what to do. Should I push through it? I really love her, and don’t want to lose her because of my crazy ex wife.

A: All I can say is... get that shit over with as soon as possible. Talk to your girlfriend about her distrustfulness and step it up a notch to show her that she's the only object of your affection. Are you still in touch with your (almost) ex-wife? Limit the contact you have with her. Don't talk shit about her, just acknowledge that she once mattered but doesn't anymore. If you still own any of her crap, get rid of it now. When will the divorce be finalized? Celebrate with your girlfriend when you're officially a free man. You could even throw a divorce party if that's your thing. Bottom line: spend more time with your girlfriend, and less time on anything that has to do with your ex.

Good luck!

Clio
xoxo

***

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

by Lee Camp (video) Let’s be honest with ourselves. America is too fat!…We’re also too skinny. The United States has the most obese people in the world. But we also force an impossible-to-obtain body image on young people. The end result is that everyone is miserable. Related Posts: Moment of Clarity:... more

by Lee Camp



Let’s be honest with ourselves. America is too fat!…We’re also too skinny. The United States has the most obese people in the world. But we also force an impossible-to-obtain body image on young people. The end result is that everyone is miserable.

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