by Blogbot A column which highlights Suicide Girls and their fave groups. (image) This week we focus on Rambo Suicide and her fave SG group: Photography. Digital or analog, Photography is a catch all group for everything photographic. It offers technical and photoshop tips, a forum for photo critiques,... more

by Blogbot

A column which highlights Suicide Girls and their fave groups.



This week we focus on Rambo Suicide and her fave SG group: Photography.

Digital or analog, Photography is a catch all group for everything photographic. It offers technical and photoshop tips, a forum for photo critiques, and links to and discussion of photographers you love. Members: 9491 / Comments: 110,154

• WHY DO YOU LOVE IT?: Everyone is so helpful and kind. The wealth of knowledge between the members is extremely valuable, especially for beginners or those looking to explore new avenues of photography.



• DISCUSSION TIP: Pay compliments. Don’t be shy!



• BEST RANDOM QUOTE: “Never stop shooting.”



• MOST HEATED DISCUSSION THREAD: I wouldn’t say discussions ever become heated, but the What Did You Shoot Today? threads are insanely active.



• WHO’S WELCOME TO JOIN?: Anyone who is interested in taking photos of any kind!

by Blogbot REVOLUTIONS came to the People’s Republic of Los Angeles on Saturday night, with the opening of an exhibition of album cover-inspired art from Shepard Fairey. The decidedly anti-elitist celebration, held at Robert Berman’s C2 Gallery at Bergamot Station in Santa Monica, was free – as... more

by Blogbot

REVOLUTIONS came to the People’s Republic of Los Angeles on Saturday night, with the opening of an exhibition of album cover-inspired art from Shepard Fairey.

The decidedly anti-elitist celebration, held at Robert Berman’s C2 Gallery at Bergamot Station in Santa Monica, was free – as were the Singha beers, which were being liberally distributed to the packed assembly.



The party spilled out into the parking lot, where a sound system and stage had been set up. Dan The Automator and Fairey took turns spinning tunes from their laptops, but the show was stolen by Metalachi, a mariachi band that plays heavy metal classics.

On paper mariachi metal sounds so wrong, but live it was so fucking right. Who knew that songs culled from the catalogs of AC/DC, Guns N’ Roses, Led Zeppelin, Iron Maiden, Dio and Judas Priest would sound so damn good topped with a sombrero, Mexican style.



Things went from the sublime to the surreal as Fairey closed the party out by playing a set of new wave classics. As he blasted “Rebel Yell” he pointed to BIlly Idol, who was standing out front – it was that kinda night (and yeah, with the midnight hour approaching there wasn’t a soul in the crowd who didn’t cry for “more”).

Numerous other ’80s characters and LA scenesters hit REVOLUTIONS during the course of the evening, including Dave Navarro, who posted a Twitpic of “Enchanting Sounds” and announced via Twitter that he was “taking this one home!”



However, with posters and signed prints starting at $20 and $35 respectively at the Obey Giant store, you don’t need a rock star budget to own a piece of Fairey’s egalitarian work.

View the gallery for more images from the opening reception.

Related posts:

Shepard Fairey’s REVOLUTIONS Will Have Devil Horns

SG Interview: Shepard Fairey – Purveyor of Hope

We all know product placement happens in movies. You see the results when a can of Coke is seen in a shot instead of a generic soda, or a corporate logo comes into focus in a scene played out in Times Square. The existence of product placement is not a mystery or scandal, but Morgan Spurlock wanted... more

We all know product placement happens in movies. You see the results when a can of Coke is seen in a shot instead of a generic soda, or a corporate logo comes into focus in a scene played out in Times Square.

The existence of product placement is not a mystery or scandal, but Morgan Spurlock wanted to put it to a real test. Big budget movies like Iron Man can command huge numbers for fast food endorsement deals. But could Spurlock finance an indie documentary on product placement alone?

He actually did raise $1.5 million to make The Greatest Movie Ever Sold from sponsors like Pom Wonderful juice, Ban deodorant and Sheetz fast food. Perhaps not surprisingly, McDonald’s wanted nothing to do with the Supersize Me guy.

Along the way, Spurlock investigated how advertising impacts our lives. He spoke to filmmakers who have to balance corporate demands with artistic integrity. He spoke to the organization that ensures products are represented favorably in the media. He contrasted America with Sao Paolo, where outdoor advertising is banned. He even bought ads from schools who sell banners to make up for budget cuts.

Sporting a special suit, emblazoned with the logos of all his sponsors, Spurlock hit the Sundance Film Festival. This is all part of the film too. The product placement continues in the marketing of the movie. He even pre-recorded a Jimmy Kimmel Live segment that will air the first week of April, and used a clip of the segment in the film. Wearing his funding on his sleeve, literally, is all part of the fun in Spurlock's style of social commentary.

SG: After ravaging your body and going after bin Laden, did you want to tackle a lighter subject?

MS: Yeah, I mean I thought this film was just a smart fun way to get into a topic that literally affects all of us. Advertising and marketing is something that affects all of our lives every day. One thing I think this film does really well, at least did for me is change the way I look at marketing and advertising. I think what will happen after this film, people who see it will start to recognize how often they’re targeted or how often they’re being pushed to buy or consume.

SG: Where did that KFC commercial you found, about how healthy their fried chicken is, actually air?

MS: Isn’t that amazing? It aired here in the states. I don’t even remember where we pulled that from but it was remarkable, right?

SG: Where did they put that on TV that they thought anyone would believe fried chicken is healthy?

MS: I hope someplace that really needs that good healthy living like California.

SG: Will the Kimmell segment you shot be on his show?

MS: It’ll air in April when the movie comes out. When I called him and said, “Here’s the movie we’re making. We’d love to shoot this bit to be in the film” and he said, “Absolutely. We’d love to help you out.” So we went on his show, told the audience this is for a film that’s coming out next year. Don’t tell anybody what we talked about. Literally no one tweeted about it. Nobody put it on Facebook. It was amazing. Then we put that in the film and that will be on television when the film comes out.

SG: We see in the film that a lot of corporations that turn you down just when they heard your name. Since when are you so controversial? You just did a McDonald’s documentary.

MS: Yeah, worked out great for them. Look how great it worked for those guys. Their stock’s through the roof.

SG: But you’re not Michael Moore going to corporate headquarters and doing stunts.

MS: Sure, but I think from a corporate standpoint, they look at it as the film did skewer McDonald’s in a lot of ways and take them to task. I think their fear was suddenly we’re going to be the bad guy. I think brands were worried about suddenly being the bad person in this film. Which I think the brands that are in this film come off great because they look like they actually had some confidence in who they are and also in the ability of us to tell a great story.

SG: Why do corporations think this is a secret? Like we don’t know?

MS: I think that there are people within the industry who know that it happens a lot. I put it all, in a lot of ways, when I look at it like Super Size Me, that Super Size Me affected a lot of people. It changed the way they eat. This is a lot in the same way. It’s like if you haven’t heard, fast food’s bad for you. Oh my gosh, yeah, you’re being marketed to all the time and here’s how. I think this film does start to make you realize, and it did for me over the course of making it, literally everywhere where you’re being sold to. I’m so much more attuned to it because I see it everywhere I go, whether it’s on a plane or in a car or even in a restroom where there’s a sign up, which there’s not one here thank goodness. There’s no advertising actually in the bathroom here.

SG: But this is the Bing lounge where we're doing this interview. Even the Sundance press room is sponsored.

MS: Yeah, the whole place is a commercial. We’re actually sitting in a commercial right now. It says it over there, it says it over there.

SG: But you helped the school system by buying ads.

MS: That’s exactly right. I was helping out the school system. I was doing my part as a citizen to help make that school better.

SG: I was not aware they sold ads in schools. Let’s encourage citizens to help contribute to the school budgets.

MS: Well, I think that’s a great idea. For me, I think there’s a way to tie in things on a local level, and maybe this film will do that. Maybe it’ll start a conversation to get some of the stuff out of schools and start to get some other type of support from a local community level. People don’t want to pay more taxes, especially local people. When there’s initiatives to raise more money to go to local schools, it always gets voted down in referendums across the country. So what are these school districts supposed to do? The people who ultimately always have the most money seem to be corporations.

SG: Was Where in the World is Osama Bin Laden a success?

MS: I thought it was a success. I like that film very much. I’ve seen countless people here and people who talk about how much they enjoyed the film and how it made them look at the world differently. It’s a good question as to why that film wasn’t received the way it was, whether it came down to it was too much of a conversation, did it not hit things the way people wanted to? If it had been released a little differently, would it have made a difference? Who knows? But I personally am proud of that film and I’m proud of the people who show it. For me, one of the things I really wanted that film to also do is be shown in schools and for kids to really open a conversation, which Super Size Me is shown in health classes all across the country and I’ve spoken to history teachers in middle school and high school who show that to kids to start a conversation about global culture and global politics, which is great.

SG: Did the film make the point you were hoping to make?

MS: Yeah, I think at the end of the day to realize that there are people around the world who look at the world differently but aren’t much different from us, that there are people who have the same hopes and dreams as me as a parent all around the world. To be reminded of that I think is a good thing. Somebody with a kid loves their kid.

SG: Have you followed the Red State protests going on at Sundance?

MS: Oh no, what’s happening? Is it the Westboro Baptist Church, the “God hates fags” guys?

SG: The very same.

MS: This is the first I’ve even heard that there were protests. I feel so out of the loop now. I feel like I completely missed it. To be Kevin Smith, I’m sure Kevin Smith is relishing in the fact that that’s happening because you couldn’t be getting better press or attention than over something like that. I would love to see that film. I love Kevin Smith. I think he’s so fantastically smart and funny, but it’s like how could you be upset about that.

SG: What is it that there are multiple films coming out where filmmakers are exploring that issue with a homophobic villain?

MS: I think a lot of it comes back to the push for gay rights, especially for marriage rights in the United States right now. That really state by state and nationwide is continuing to be a real topic of discussion. I think that that’s what these things are being hinged upon or that’s what they’re stemming from is the fear that’s being associated with that or the anger that’s being associated with that. From my standpoint, I don't know who gets really affected by that. It’s like what’s the big deal?

SG: When you see a hateful protest, whatever your position, wouldn't you just want to say, "Okay, those anti-gay people are so awful and hateful, let's not be like those people?"

MS: For me it’s like when I see the folks from Westboro Baptist Church, I’m just like they’re crazy. The level of insanity that comes out of the stuff they protest and their message is nuts. It’s completely disconnected from humanity and morality. That’s why I love everywhere they ever are, there’s always a counter protest to their protest which I think is the best thing that could happen.

The Greatest Movie Ever Sold is in theaters April 22.

by Morgan One of the best things about casual gaming is that it gives you an easy and light-hearted way to take ten minutes out of your stressful life and concentrate on something else. Hardcore gaming can be fun, but sometimes a break from level grinding is refreshing. On that note, here are some of... more

by Morgan

One of the best things about casual gaming is that it gives you an easy and light-hearted way to take ten minutes out of your stressful life and concentrate on something else. Hardcore gaming can be fun, but sometimes a break from level grinding is refreshing. On that note, here are some of the best casual iPhone games I’ve found in the last month:



Tiny Wings



Tiny Wings may be the most charming game I’ve found for the iPhone. In this game you play a bird whose wings are so small that he can’t fly. In an attempt to defy the laws of gravity, you coast over hills to gain speed and let this bird soar through the air. You meet a variety of goals along the way, which have modest rewards (an achievement gets you a new nest for your bird, for example). With simple but enjoyable gameplay, this is a gem at $.99. On top of the fun gameplay, the graphics are beautiful, and the game itself is completely addictive. After playing it I found myself dreaming of ways to get my Tiny Wings bird flying!

***

Scarlett and the Spark of Life



Almost anyone who has been gaming for a while will remember the Monkey Island games. Scarlett and the Spark of Life is a witty throwback to those, combining sharp humor and a quirky sense of logic in a game that is fun to play and addictive. The sarcastic and silly humor of this game is what makes it unique and fun, especially since each mouse action comes with a witty response, even if that response isn’t particularly useful. This game is unfortunately fairly short, as the creators are working on building new chapters. But, like Pocket Frogs, it’s a free game that would still be worth paying for, and is well worth the time it takes to download

***

Battleheart



Battleheart was recently recommended by the creators of Penny Arcade, which is impressive considering the fact that Dragon Age II is out now and is a more intense game to play. But I can see why the guys loved this inexpensive iPod game: it combines the ease of a hack and slash, with a slightly more complex role-playing game. With adorable sprites used as characters, your goal is to battle various monsters. Play is focused mostly on fighting, but also allows you to make decisions about what armor or weapons you use and who you have in your four person party. This makes it a perfect game to play for 15 minutes when you are looking for an engrossing and enjoyable distraction.

***

Related Posts:

Morgan’s Casual Game Recommendations: Pt 3

Morgan’s Casual Game Recommendations: Pt 2

Morgan’s Casual Game Recommendations: Pt 1

by Blogbot Welcome to our new regular feature which highlights Suicide Girls and their fave groups. We’ll kick things off with Thistle and Vamos Gigantes. (image) Fave Group: Vamos Gigantes A place for San Francisco Giants aficionados to convene. Members: 60 / Comments: 10,716 WHY DO YOU LOVE IT?: The... more

by Blogbot

Welcome to our new regular feature which highlights Suicide Girls and their fave groups. We’ll kick things off with Thistle and Vamos Gigantes.



Fave Group: Vamos Gigantes

A place for San Francisco Giants aficionados to convene.

Members: 60 / Comments: 10,716

• WHY DO YOU LOVE IT?: The “live blog” type discussions for important Giants games, including the best GIFs ever.



• DISCUSSION TIP: Don’t be a Dodgers fan!



• BEST RANDOM QUOTE: “Deal with it.”



• MOST HEATED DISCUSSION THREAD: The only time there’s any disagreement is when Barry Bonds comes up.



• WHO’S WELCOME TO JOIN?: Anyone who loves the SF Giants!

by Justin (a.k.a. SG Member: mydogfarted) Not even sure where to begin this, having been a member for 8 years now and proud owner of an SG tattoo. Probably best to start with the small changes, then work my way up to the biggest and best change. (image) Friends. Lots of them. Some of my closest friends... more

by Justin (a.k.a. SG Member: mydogfarted)

Not even sure where to begin this, having been a member for 8 years now and proud owner of an SG tattoo. Probably best to start with the small changes, then work my way up to the biggest and best change.





Friends. Lots of them. Some of my closest friends in the real world are people I met on SG. It took me about a year after joining, to start attending local member events. Taking the screen names I’d chatted with and putting faces to them. Parties, camping trips and other gatherings with people I’d met on the boards and groups, expanded my social circle internationally. Any given point in the day, I have someone I call a friend to talk to, somewhere in the world.

A few years ago I was diagnosed with an illness that I’ll have to deal with for the rest of my life. I found many places online for information and support, but none of them were comfortable for me. Then I found there was a group for people with this same illness on SG – an already comfortable place for me! Found a bunch of people that I knew across the site were either suffering from this illness, or were the support system for someone who had it. Not only did it make coming to grips with my diagnosis easier, but I have a big group of people who I can reach out to when I’m struggling.

Just recently, a member of this group had a particularly bad attack. Another member caught on to it, contacted me, we got a few other members together and managed to comfort this person while we tracked down some of his family to go help him. Everyone involved were in different states, and I was outside the country. It was an amazing experience. One that I admit I never want to have to experience again, but would in a second if I had to.

The biggest change in my life? My family. My wife, khoos, joined SG about a year after I did. She was a hopeful, and we shared a lot of the same groups, but never interacted. I was smitten. For years I just assumed she didn’t know who I was. Early 2007 I started spending time in the chat rooms on SG. One night in July 2007, I was in chat as usual and she popped in. We were both a little drunk and just fell into conversation. I was just happy she was talking to me! Out of nowhere she starts telling me about how she’s had a crush on me, but didn’t think I knew she existed. I laughed and told her that I’d felt the same way for years.

The next day we started spending large parts of our days chatting over IM, text messages and our nights together in chat. Eventually we set up plans to meet. Knowing we’re both kind of terrible at making the first move, we decided that when we met there would be not words before a deep kiss. Needless to say, we’ve been inseparable ever since. Now we have two beautiful daughters, who occasionally have play dates with the kids of two other members we introduced to each other.

I think SGHQ should seriously consider changing the site motto to “Come for the boobs, stay for the people.”

Michael Moorcock is among the greatest of all writers alive today -- irrespective of genre. Alan Moore wrote, in his introduction to Moorcock’s Into the Media Web, “Look up the word ‘author’ in a dictionary and you’ll find a photograph of Michael Moorcock.” At an age when most are barely learning... more

Michael Moorcock is among the greatest of all writers alive today -- irrespective of genre. Alan Moore wrote, in his introduction to Moorcock’s Into the Media Web, “Look up the word ‘author’ in a dictionary and you’ll find a photograph of Michael Moorcock.” At an age when most are barely learning to drive, Moorcock wrote and edited for magazines. His legendary tenure as the editor of the science-fiction magazine New Worlds from 1964 to 1971 made his first fame (and notoriety), and was the center of what many called the “New Wave” of science-fiction writers. The material New Worlds published was often politically radical and wildly experimental, more William S. Burroughs than Robert Heinlein (who, in fact, called it a “‘sick literature’ of ‘neurotics’ and ‘sex maniacs.”) New Worlds published Moorcock’s acclaimed novella Behold the Man, the story of a time traveler who steps into the roll of Jesus Christ, along with works by Harlan Ellison, J.G. Ballard, Thomas Disch, and dozens of other influential writers. The best and most interesting science fiction writers today, like China Miéville and the aforementioned Alan Moore, credit Moorcock as a major influence; Neil Gaiman once wrote him a letter entitled ”I’m Mostly Your Fault”.

Never content with any one genre or form of media, Michael Moorcock has ventured into music, both on his own and with the influential space-rock band Hawkwind and Blue Öyster Cult, journalism, computer games, comic books, and film. His most popular character is almost certainly Elric of Melniboné, a dark satire of sword-and-sorcery fantasy characters like Conan the Barbarian, and part of the larger idea of the Eternal Champion that links many of Moorcock’s works. Not all of his work is science fiction or fantasy, however. Mother London, which follows three mental hospital outpatients through the history of London from the mid-twentieth century to the eighties, and Letter’s From Hollywood, a collection of his correspondence to his friend J.G. Ballard, are just two of his many well-regarded non-science-fiction books. He even wrote the supposed novelization of the Sex Pistols’ film The Great Rock’n’roll Swindle, but, disliking the Pistols’ manager Malcolm McClaren, pulled a truly punk move and told their story through the eyes of Jerry Cornelius, the time-traveling pansexual hipster who is in many ways Moorcock’s signature character. I have been a fan of his ever since my teenage eyes were first drawn to the striking Michael Whelan cover art on The Bane of the Black Sword, and so I felt tremendously lucky when Mike agreed to do an email interview with me for SuicideGirls about Doctor Who, the misuses of power and authority, and how the Beatles are a good analogy for the state of modern science fiction.

Keith Daniels: Mistrust of authority and an advocacy of independence and freedom, anarchy, runs throughout nearly all your work. Is it gratifying, then, to read the news now and see these authoritarian regimes crumbling all over the world and the superpowers who funded and armed these tyrants left with nothing to show for it?

Michael Moorcock: Of course it's gratifying to see citizens rising up to claim their democratic power. However, we have seen so many revolutions, velvet or otherwise, hijacked by corrupt people, that I'm reluctant to begin celebrating immediately. The good thing is that the Western powers, which have so frequently attempted to take advantage of such revolutions, simply can't afford to do it now. Of course some of the peoples of North Africa and the Middle East do have a chance of building stable democracies. People are learning from past mistakes. But human greed is pretty powerful and we're already seeing the Egyptian army beating up protesters, imprisoning them, possibly killing them. The problem is that armies are not by nature democratic. I don't think we'll see a complete falling back to the pre-revolutionary tyrannies. Libya's probably the most problematical situation. Tunisia's most likely to establish a stable democracy, but, of course, there are thousands of Tunisians flooding into Europe because they can't trust the future -- and others, of course, are economic migrants, hoping to stay in Europe and work. It will be a while before we can really begin to celebrate, I think. Few of these countries have the means of building any sturdy democratic infrastructure, and so we have to offer what support we can and hope the will of the people can remain focused. I hope the Muslim Brotherhood can help. They tend to look to Turkey for their best model, and as we know even Turkey isn't completely free of problems. If the best, most tolerant, elements of the Brotherhood remain in power then we could see something good in a year or two.

KD: How does the year 2011 compare to what you imagined it would be in the '60s? I don't necessarily mean "we don't have flying cars", but rather, did you hope that somehow the world would be a better place now than it was then? Is it?

MM: I'm pretty much of an optimist, so yes I'd hoped the world would have a bit more of the rule of law. You could say I'd anticipated most of this in one story or another, but you describe dystopias in the hope they won't happen. Almost as soon as LBJ and his kind around the world made some progressive laws in much of the world it seemed that big business began scheming about how to grab the power back. Brute instinct which they always dignify as 'natural'.

Gradually they succeeded until with Reagan and Thatcher we'd created one of the most unjust democratic systems since the 1920s. That said, I tend to shoehorn visions of utopia into books like The War Amongst the Angels and King of the City, because I think one might as well show your reader that you think there are goals worth achieving, even when things seem a bit dark. I came across a newspaper piece I'd written in 1991 in which I visualised the computer VR experience of 2011. I was wildly optimistic. I'm hoping that popular demonstrations (we were in the first ones last year in Paris) will bring progressives out all over the world. I'm always amazed by how reluctant Americans generally are to get into the streets -- or put that in the past tense. I'm pleased that at least some Americans are out demonstrating again, even if it took reactionaries to spur them to it. The Tea Party movement is classically reactionary. I don't think they represent the larger public though. Another bit of dystopian vision you hoped wouldn't happen.

KD: Your most recent novel is the Doctor Who book Coming of the Terraphiles. In it, you weave the Doctor into your Eternal Champion concept. Doctor Who has run parallel with almost your entire career. Have you long imagined the Doctor as an aspect of the Eternal Champion? Has there often been some cross-pollination between Doctor Who and your ideas of the multiverse and time travel? For example, the Doctor and a Dalek appear in [1977’s] The Condition of Muzak. Is that why you were willing to do a licensed novel based on someone else's work, which is, as far as I know, a first for you?

MM: Strictly it wasn't a work for hire job. That is, I have pretty much complete ownership of the book. When the Doctor Who people approached my agent they said that they wanted a Michael Moorcock book which had [The Doctor] in it, not a Michael Moorcock Doctor Who novel. The contract let me retain pretty much all rights except of course the BBC names and so on.

I regard [The Doctor] as part of British folklore, like Sherlock Holmes, Sexton Blake or any one of the other characters mentioned in the Jerry Cornelius list of party-goers -- or sung about by Ian Dury, for instance, in “England's Glory” (a brand of English matches!). Generally, that's characters who have become icons and whose authorship is either unknown or is secondary. I used to say I made my original career in the folk hero business: Tarzan, Sexton Blake, Buck Jones (I didn't know he'd been a real person until long after I'd written comic strips about him), Robin Hood, Dick Turpin, Kit Carson, Buffalo Bill, Billy the Kid, Hereward the Wake and so on.

This was a chance, too, to reclaim or rework ideas of mine which had slipped into the public domain -- that is concepts and tropes which originated from my work, including terms like 'multiverse’. In a sense the book is a rewrite of my first science-fiction novel, The Sundered Worlds, which anticipated stuff like black holes (I mean, of course, anticipated their discovery!) and various other ideas. In it I played with ideas which were actually in the process of discovery ('dark flow') as I wrote it and which I incorporated into the story. I didn't use a conventional Doctor Who plot (which I suppose is why some people thought it wasn't a 'proper' Doctor Who story) and I ran other mythic or folkloric ideas as themes -- Diana, Robin Hood and other stuff involving archery, for instance -- and referring to some of my own characters, such as Cornelius. This way I brought in other narratives, which is one of the things the Eternal Champion concept is about, associated with those story cycles and characters. You'll find this perhaps most obviously dealt with in the Blood cycle -- Blood, Fabulous Harbours and The War Amongst the Angels -- where various folk heroes and heroines are referred to or brought in as characters. I'm dealing this in a more conventional narrative with the novel beginning a new sequence, The Whispering Swarm, I'm currently writing. Like those earlier books, this also contains autobiographical elements, though now much, much closer to my own life, my own story, if you like. [Benoît] Mandelbrot's ideas have helped me clarify many of my own -- as I said at the time his ideas were first published, it was like being handed a map of my own brain.

I tried to make this clearer in my introduction to Michael Moorcock's Multiverse, the comic book in which I continued to explore the same notions. At its simplest, there are a near-infinite number of alternate worlds like our own only with minuscule differences in which the same characters experience things in slightly different contexts. When the contexts are radically different (vast numbers of alternatives distant from our own) then we can see how we might behave in them. The 'Eternal Champion' is one character dealing with different contexts. It's a way of imagining, “What would you do?” if the context in which you acted was altered. A sort of ‘judge not lest ye be judged' morality -- at its simplest, you are a hero who turns against the people whose hero he is (The Eternal Champion novel); at its most complex you are Colonel Pyat wriggling his way through the Nazi holocaust. I've often said I'm a science-fiction writer pretending to write fantasy, in that I use my books to examine fairly complex moral problems rather than as exercises in nostalgic escapism which so much generic fantasy and, sadly, science fiction has become.

To a degree I see ideas which I used for moral purposes (Warlord of the Air is a good one) turned into 'cool airship stories' -- steampunk, if you like. I think people like me spend a lot of time trying to escape the cages of their own success, where ideas used for specific purposes are co-opted into genre and in that sense corrupted. Good science fiction combined visionary invention with moral examination, whether it was [H.G.] Wells, [Philip] Wylie, [Ray] Bradbury, [Alfred] Bester or [J.G.] Ballard. [Frederik] Pohl and [Cyril] Kornbluth, [Philip K.] Dick or writers like [Michael] Chabon or [Walter] Mosley all wrote within that tradition. Generally, bad science fiction was a corruption of their invention used for escapist or nostalgic purposes. Often the serious stuff is met with cries of outrage by the general audience. Most sci-fi writers of my generation and earlier didn't have much time for Lord of the Rings because they saw it as appealing to nostalgia, as an escapist construct which allowed the reader to avoid the issues of the day. The commercial success of the sci-fi/fantasy genres isn't surprising since it is the work, generally speaking, which plays to a need for nostalgia previously satisfied by historical fiction (including westerns).

It's no surprise that those earlier commercial genres have lost popularity as “fantasy” has gained it. Writers of modern urban fantasy are often trying to combat that tendency but the more successfully it does so the less commercial it usually becomes. The closer China Mieville, for instance, got to discussing current issues in his fantasy the less his readers liked his books. My own experience is the same. You keep trying to do something with the medium, to make it carry a different message, and you keep a core readership, but you usually have to reconcile yourself to losing the mass readership. Or you can take note of this and every so often write an escapist book which keeps the broader readership happy. The more original you try to be, the fewer readers you have -- though enough, certainly, to keep you in business!.

If I'd been cynical with Doctor Who I would have not tried to address any kind of serious theme but piled in all the effects I'm good at. You can play a guitar well, so that a relatively few people appreciate it, or you can keep doing your flashy licks, which are essentially empty in a musical sense, which make the audience squeal and applaud. I know 'guitar heroes' who are often better musicians than they appear to be but know those bent notes up near the body end of the fretboard are the ones which are going to keep the seats wet. I hope I'm not that cynical. I just can't keep giving the reader the mixture as before, even though I use repetition as part of my technique because, as I've often said, without repetition you don't get poetry or music. That's repetition used properly. Repeating versions of the same tune, same riffs, same flashy tricks is using it cynically or because you can't do anything else. I used the Doctor Who novel to try something new within the Eternal Champion context. I'm still not sure how successful I was, though regular readers seemed to 'get' it.

KD: I can imagine how Mandelbrot's ideas would appeal to you: this beautiful mathematical order in something that at a glance appears random and chaotic. Is that how you see it?

MM: Absolutely. I've tried to reproduce that in books like Mother London which gives an impression of chaos but is actually very carefully and thoroughly organized. The Cornelius books are also very carefully constructed to give that effect.

KD: Do you feel there is something distasteful about nostalgia and escapism?

MM: Of course not! I read tons of old pulp stuff, especially Sexton Blake authors. I believe there's a lot wrong with stuff which pretends to analyze and challenge, which much science fiction and some fantasy seems to do. Maybe the fact that people seem to distinguish between literary ([Margaret] Atwood, [Cormac] McCarthy, Chabon) and non-literary science fiction is that literary science fiction is perceived as engaging with serious issues while generic science fiction is perceived as escapism which fails in that engagement? I know much of this is mere snobbery, of course, and don't agree with the distinction, but maybe that's what the snobbery is based on. I do hate nostalgia, and I'm pretty sure I don't read for that in those pulps. What I get most out of it is popular social attitudes which [are] more easily discovered in popular fiction than in literary fiction.

KD: What can you tell us about The Whispering Swarm and the planned Sanctuary of the White Friars cycle? You mentioned that it is more autobiographical.

MM: It's an attempt to see for myself how much escapism, romanticism etc. influenced my own decisions, and allowed me to act in ways I really disapproved of at the time, let alone now.
So much of the autobiographical material is about my marriages, some about New Worlds and my writing career, and so on. The fantasy element concerns 'Alsacia', [which] used to be a real part of London between Blackfriars and the Temple and was a thieves's sanctuary -- one of several in London. This Alsacia has survived (it was pulled down in the 19th century) and continues to act as a sanctuary. I'm invited there by one of the White Friars (Carmelites). Nominally Christians, these guys have a very odd brand of Christianity involving a few decided heresies. We learn more about what and who their Abbey shelters, including chief rabbi of London, there since the expulsion of the Jews from England. So it's about religion, too -- particularly as it relates to 'the people of the book'. One of the reasons I'm rereading so much stuff from my boyhood -- [P.G] Wodehouse, [Edgar Rice] Burroughs, [George Bernard] Shaw, Charles Hamilton, Sexton Blake, etc -- is that it helps me recall what I was doing and thinking then.

KD: How does one avoid nostalgia while writing autobiographical material?

MM: I see nostalgia [as] a memory sentimentalized, fictionalized in certain ways, and if memory is history the same is true. The more you sentimentalize, the more you simplify. The more you simplify, the more you lie. That's why poetry and fiction which tries to mirror complexity in as concentrated way as possible is what I like to read and try to write.

KD: When you say "allowed me to act in ways I really disapproved of at the time, let alone now", what are you thinking of?

MM: My actions in relationships are what I'm thinking of, my failures of empathy, my corrosive sentimentality (or 'romance'). I believe people of a Romantic disposition have more to discipline both in work and life.

KD: The White Friars sound fascinating. Two books I read as a boy that profoundly altered my course in life were The Gnostic Gospels and The Origin of Satan by Elaine Pagels. They both concern the apocrypha and the early Christian heretics. They made me realize that the Bible I was presented with was in no way the whole story. Some of your most celebrated works concern religion, especially Behold the Man, the Von Bek series... why does religion continue to have such a grip on our imaginations even long after we've abandoned its tenets?

MM: I grew up understanding the Bible to be myth. I had almost no religious background, even when I went to a Steiner school, so wasn't kicking against received ideas in Behold the Man. I wanted to look at the pact which exists between 'the crowd' and the demagogue. That said, I am fascinated by religion and metaphysics. My two books were [Sir James Frazer’s] The Golden Bough and [Robert Graves] The White Goddess. The Perennial Philosophy by [Aldous] Huxley was another great ally! I had so much power from a young age that I became fascinated by ideas of what you did with it. I try to spread it around to those who need it, but that's not necessarily the best use for it. I have a kind of religious faith, but I understand it to be a useful construct just as one constructs God from one's own conscience.

KD: What is the best way to use power or influence?

MM: I think the best way is to extend whatever you have to benefit as many people as possible. I'm by no means the only person in the world to have this attitude. By some fluke I was born with a certain talent and the chance to develop it. Few people have that. Also, by nature and background I'm of an egalitarian disposition. I like to share my good fortune, though I'd be happiest living in a country where taxes were fairer and the money better spent. I believe in high standards of social services, good wages for public servants, but also high standards of public responsibility. I ultimately believe in personal responsibility and little or no government under the rule of law.

KD: The idea of sanctuary runs through Modem Times 2.0 as well. There is a universe where the things that made Ladbroke Grove special still exist as they once were and keep the outside world at bay. Another where a character laments that the old idea of a "little cottage in the country" is almost impossible now. "That whimpering sound you heard was the sound of cowards finding it harder and harder to discover sanctuary." Was the idea of a sanctuary on your mind because you were working on The Whispering Swarm, or has the idea of sanctuary been on your mind lately? In your books, sanctuaries often come to a bad end: the Melnibonéans [in Elric of Melniboné], the Vadhagh [in the Corum books], the people hiding in the Underground during WW2 in Modem Times...

MM: I've used sanctuaries a lot, it's true. Derry and Tom's roof garden in the Cornelius stories was one of my real sanctuaries where I could go for a couple of hours; parts of Holland Park and so on... I had a lot of places where I could be in the heart of the city and yet still effectively alone. That's my favourite kind of place and often where I've chose to live.

Queen's Club Gardens became Sporting Club Square in my fiction but we lived there a long time until it was 'discovered' by yuppies. Nobody knew this wonderful square full of trees, with a little park and tennis courts for the residents, entirely surrounded by what were essentially working class public housing -- what Americans call projects -- of a typically ugly kind. One of these 'estates' (the English word) was reckoned to be dangerous. Of course, it wasn't. It allowed us to live there for just over a decade before it was overrun with rude, pushy people. Until then it had been mostly rent-controlled Victorian apartments with a wide range of people living there. I miss the flat, but only as it was. It was becoming hell to live there. That's the problem with sanctuaries -- you find one and the people you're trying to get away from will eventually find it, too. I call it my lizard theory of human behaviour. One smart, curious lizard find the best, sunniest spot on the rock and the other lizards all come and climb on top of him.

KD: You talked about your love of pulp. In the interview in the back of Modem Times you allude to the idea that science fiction becoming "respectable" wasn't necessarily a good thing. It reminded me of something [I think] Neil Gaiman said about people who insist on calling comic books "graphic novels". Do you feel like when a genre becomes too celebrated, when there's a Hall of Fame, prestigious awards, academic scrutiny, etc, that it takes all the fun and experimentation out of it? For example, I once read an interesting argument that the Beatles destroyed rock'n'roll as much as they influenced it by being the band that made rock'n'roll Serious Music.

MM: Rock and roll used to be at its most vital when you went into a studio -- usually for a day or two -- without knowing what would come out. And usually the people who went in were already tight, good musicians. There were no rules and very few people in the early days looking over your shoulder, making you self-conscious. No criticism, no magazines devoted to rock and roll and so on. Writing science fiction was like that. Nobody to tell you what it was, how it was done, and so on. You were free to do what you liked, and the readers would tell you if they did or didn't like it. Too many good writers get ruined by becoming self-conscious and it was the main problem I had as an editor working with well-educated people.

My first wife Hilary Bailey got a good degree at Cambridge and said she couldn't work for years because of everything she'd been taught about English Literature. She wasn't the only one who found a kind of freedom in science fiction, something which resonated for her. Her first long published story was a sci-fi novella in New Worlds, The Fall of Frenchy Steiner. I still know very smart, very good writers, good academics, who find they are science-fiction writers. There's a friend of mine at the moment, seriously well published poet and novelist, who wrote some stories he didn't know what to do with and I suggested he send them to Asimov's who bought them. He was delighted. "I'm a science-fiction writer and I didn't know it. Great!" was his response.

Well, by and large we've lost that exciting, experimental feeling and you're right, it was the same impulse which drove the Beatles and you can see them on The White Album striving to get back to their roots. Same in Let It Be. Johnny Lennon was a natural musician. I'm not knocking the others, but without Lennon they couldn't have lasted and become so great. You have to keep in touch with those roots, even as you keep pushing the envelope. You can't leave pulp behind without losing the vitality originally informing your work. I agree with Neil entirely. I wrote and write comics and I collect toy soldiers, not models or miniatures or figurines. When I write science fiction I like to say so. Ballard was exactly the same. Not everything you write is science fiction, but when you write it you don't need to spiff it up with another name for it. Also, that sense of curiosity disappears when publishers can tell you what does and doesn't sell. It was great when they didn't know what sold!

KD: So many of your stories end with the moral that people should be their own masters and serve neither Gods nor authorities. Why is that idea so important?

MM: I think it's the real American dream! It's what we grow up with in the 'old democracies'. Every individual to be their own master, answering to a generally agree morality and law which embodies that morality. Obviously I believe in fewer laws and lawyers! And I think that American ideal has been thoroughly hijacked by the wealthy.

Michael Moorcock’s official website ismultiverse.org.

by Blogbot What Suicide Girls are putting on – and taking off… Badass boots, steampunk shitkickers, and fuck-off footwear for those who don’t give a crap about convention. (image) [Tini in Wasteland] (image) [Drave in Spooky] (image) [Tarion in Kiss The Machine] (image) [Reina in Cazzo Vuoi] (image)... more

by Blogbot

What Suicide Girls are putting on – and taking off…

Badass boots, steampunk shitkickers, and fuck-off footwear for those who don’t give a crap about convention.





[Tini in Wasteland]



[Drave in Spooky]



[Tarion in Kiss The Machine]



[Reina in Cazzo Vuoi]



[Myrtle in Boot Camp Burn]



[Moxi in Revenge]



[Mimmi in Industrial]



[Jetta in Tank]



[Flux in Dune]



[Apathy in Dirty Girl]



[Alexis in Turtles]

Fashion Notes

Traditionalists may wanna stick with Dr. Martens (and there’s no shame in that), however nu wave steampunks will be kicking the apocalypse’s ass wearing footwear from New Rock and Demonia. Are you prepared?

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

When Shepard Fairey last spoke with SuicideGirls, he talked about the rebellious allure of both punk rock and street art, and in his latest gallery show, REVOLUTIONS, he directly combines the two. The exhibition, which opens this Saturday (March 12) at Robert Berman’s C2 Gallery at Bergamot Station... more

When Shepard Fairey last spoke with SuicideGirls, he talked about the rebellious allure of both punk rock and street art, and in his latest gallery show, REVOLUTIONS, he directly combines the two. The exhibition, which opens this Saturday (March 12) at Robert Berman’s C2 Gallery at Bergamot Station in Los Angeles, will feature 80 pieces based on the 12 inch record cover form.

REVOLUTIONS, which Fairey calls “a celebration of all the great music and accompanying art that has inspired me over the years,” reflects the LA graffiti artist’s love of punk, and of the hip-hop scene he is associated with. However, there’s also a somewhat unexpected influence, as seen in a series of pieces which pay homage to the rich visual vocabulary of heavy metal.

We checked in with Fairey to find out more.



SuicideGirls: People mostly associate you with hip-hop culture, but I understand this exhibit will also reflect your love of ’70s metal. How will the genre be represented in the exhibition and opening event?

Shepard Fairey: One of my album cover print sets is called “Party At The Moontower” inspired by the great music from the film Dazed & Confused. There are references to metal bands like Black Sabbath, Motorhead, AC/DC, Spinal Tap, Van Halen, etc., in the record cover images I have made. There are additional rock references in the covers like T-Rex, Hendrix, Iggy and the Stooges, The MC5, and Joan Jett. As an audio supplement to the show I have Matalachi, a heavy metal mariachi band performing metal classics at the opening.

SG: What is it about the metal aesthetic that appeals to you?

SF: I always liked skulls and tough rocker images. There are a lot of fun clichés and genuinely cool graphics in the metal genre. I got to do the Ozzfest logo a couple times and it was a blast designing a demon with a skull, horns, sharp teeth, demon eyes, smoke, a cloak, spikes, and lightning, emerging from the hell of a cracked open earth. My record cover designs pepper these elements in a little more tastefully.

SG: What bands would appear on your ultimate metal mixtape? Any guilty hair metal pleasures among ‘em?

SF: I made a mix, so you can hear for yourself. The “Party At The Moontower” mix includes AC/DC, Joan Jett, Thin Lizzy, Deep Purple, Metallica, The Sweet, Girlschool, Ozzy, Edgar Winter, Billy Squier, Ted Nugent, Judas Priest, The Melvins, and more. I was mostly into punk in my mid teens, but I always liked a few Quiet Riot, Mötley Crüe, and Twisted Sister songs. I could never get into the poofier hair metal like Poison, Whitesnake, Skid Row, etc…

SG: Do you have any cherished metal concert memories or memorabilia?

SF: Black Sabbath in 2000 was the best metal show, and maybe the best of any show I’ve ever seen. Sabbath is an all time favorite of mine and they sounded massive. It was at Ozzfest, and when they played the song “Black Sabbath,” 50,000 metal heads put lighters in the air. It was awe-inspiring. I think my best metal memorabilia is the poster I did for Sabbath’s 2005 tour signed by all four members.



REVOLUTIONS – The Album Cover Art of Shepard Fairey

Where: Robert Berman’s C2 Gallery at Bergamot Station, 2525 Michigan Ave.,_Santa Monica, CA 90404

Opening Celebration: Saturday, March 12, 8 – 11 PM.

(Featuring musical performances by Dan The Automator, Metalachi , and DJ sets by Shepard Fairey.)

Ongoing Exhibition: March 12 thru April 23, Tues thru Sat, 11 AM – 5 PM

by Blogbot (image) These silicone f/stop dial bracelets – which carry a design based on the markings from old-school Nikkor lenses – are the perfect way to express your inner photo geek. Better yet, they’re just a buck each (or less if ordered in quantity), with 20 cents per bracelet going to Best... more

by Blogbot



These silicone f/stop dial bracelets – which carry a design based on the markings from old-school Nikkor lenses – are the perfect way to express your inner photo geek. Better yet, they’re just a buck each (or less if ordered in quantity), with 20 cents per bracelet going to Best Friends Animal Sanctuary and the ASPCA. Order from http://photographic.ly/.

by Aaron Colter Hello folks, and welcome back to another round of Things You Like That I Might Like Too. For those of you that haven’t played before, let me remind you that there are no winners and no prizes. This week’s challenge: Emerald City Comic Con! There are a lot of comic book conventions... more

by Aaron Colter

Hello folks, and welcome back to another round of Things You Like That I Might Like Too. For those of you that haven’t played before, let me remind you that there are no winners and no prizes. This week’s challenge: Emerald City Comic Con!

There are a lot of comic book conventions in the United States, and if you didn’t already know, let me be the first to tell you – most of them suck. I understand the appeal of San Diego Comic Con, but if you’re willing to pay anywhere from $2,000 to $6,000 just to wait in line for two hours so that you can get inside to wait for three more hours just to see that thing that you like that you’re wearing the t-shirt of . . . you’re doing it wrong.



And it’s true when people complain that SDCC isn’t about comics anymore. It’s really not. It’s about the movie industry at the moment, which is partially why there was talk last year of moving the convention to Los Angeles. Even this year at New York Comic Con, as guests walked in they were affronted by a giant stage where UbiSoft decided to blast tunes from their latest Michael Jackson dance game. At least in New York there’s the pleasure of being in the greatest city in the world in early October. Sorry San Diego, but your town blows. And going there in July means that aging television stars sometimes hang out in my hotel pool area in garish swimsuits staring at me relentlessly in a tragically desperate attempt to get me to notice them. Goddamn it, Eric Estrada, I know who you are – now leave me the fuck alone!

I’m sorry, what were we talking about? Oh yeah, SDCC & NYCC have been invaded by video game companies and movie studios, who wished they made as much money as video game companies. Both of those industries need to stay the fuck away from my comics. Video games, you have PAX, both an East Coast and West Coast show. Movies, from what I understand, the entire city of Los Angeles is like a year-round convention anyway, so stick to ruining small mountain ski resorts.

Emerald City Comic Con is still very much a mainstream event, but it’s in the delightful (as long as you don’t apply logic to driving) port known as Seattle. The venue, the Seattle Convention Center, is located close to touristy shit like Pike Place and the hipster neighborhood of Capital Hill, so whether you’re dragging a long-box full of floppies to get signed, or looking to get your black & white autobiographical comic picked up by a publisher, there’s something for everyone even outside the show.

The space hosts PAX Prime each year, so the hall is relatively easy to move around in, and enough well-known names attend every year to bring out a decent number of fanboys and cosplayers, the determining factors of success at any comic book show. I had a great time this year, as did everyone else I spoke with after the show.

Here were the highlights for me:

Adam WarRock



When my friends told me to check out nerdcore rapper Adam WarRock, I didn’t really want to, honestly. MC Chris is pretty much the pinnacle of the form to me, so why bother, I thought. But damn if this dude didn’t impress me with his live performance. A lawyer turned rapper out of Memphis, Adam WarRock has incredibly smart lyrics that combine comic book references with real world political struggles. Check out his music, a lot of it’s fucking free.

***

Jason Fischer



I soon as I saw Rexa on the Jason Fischer table, I knew I would have to buy it. The Portland artist had made only four copies of this bizarre monster pornography art book. The printing quality is excellent and I’m happy to have it in my collection. Fischer, or JFish as he’s known, has a whole idea about Rexa that I’ll feature in an upcoming Things I Like That You Might Like Too, and hopefully debut some art pages he’s been working on lately.

***

Hotel Parties



You know there’s something right about the field you’re in when hotel security has to come into your room at 3:00 AM to kick out publishers, reporters, artists, writers, editors, and random fans. Plus it’s always fun to hear Suicide Girls comic artist David Hahn say, “You both have great toothbrushes, I tried them out.”

***

Meeting Suicide Girls



These ladies are as lovely online as they are in person. The stars of Boondock Saints got to sit across from them the whole weekend, the lucky bastards.

***

Drinking & Painting



Bar parties outside the convention are usually the best time to let loose for a moment before heading back to the hotel lobby to talk seriously about the future of the industry. And sometimes a moment like this happens at those bars.

See ya next year Seattle.

***

What I’m reading: Chivalry Ain’t Dead, Lapham’s Quarterly, I Kill Giants

What I’m listening to: The Doom Pop EP by Tiger House, Painting Pantheons by Pegasus Dream, The Daytrotter Mix by RJD2

What I’m drinking: Workhorse IPA, Spring Reign Ale, Fishtale Organic IPA

Related posts: Things I Like That You Might Like Too: Pt. 1

Cameron Stewart is a familiar name to comics fans. He had been working in comics for years but it was 2004's "Seaguy," a Vertigo miniseries from writer Grant Morrison, that put Stewart on the map. Since then there have been a series of high profile projects including a sequel to “Seaguy,”... more

Cameron Stewart is a familiar name to comics fans. He had been working in comics for years but it was 2004's "Seaguy," a Vertigo miniseries from writer Grant Morrison, that put Stewart on the map. Since then there have been a series of high profile projects including a sequel to “Seaguy,” “Seven Soldiers: Guardian,” and a story arc on “Batman and Robin” all of which were written by Grant Morrison, and the Vietnam War miniseries “The Other Side” with writer Jason Aaron. His skill at drawing the fantastic and mundane, the heroic and the ordinary, depicting the present and the past with great accuracy.

More recently Stewart's projects have included a webcomic “Sin Titullo,” which won him the Eisner Award for Best Digital Comic last year. He also co-wrote and co-illustrated “Assassin's Creed: The Fall” a story set in Czarist Russia that ties into the video game. His next big project is for SG. He's designing the characters, drawing the covers and inking the SuicideGirls miniseries that's coming out from IDW starting this month and he took the time to chat with us.


ALEX DUEBEN: So how did you end up involved with the SuicideGirls comic?

CAMERON STEWART: Well, I had been interested in doing something with SuicideGirls for a while. I knew a couple of the girls, who were just personal friends of mine, and was encouraged to contact Missy and see if I could do some merchandise - prints or a deck of cards or a calendar or something. I contacted her and she said, "oh my god, this is perfect timing because we’re in the planning stages of doing a comic book." This was right before the San Diego Comic Con, so I went to San Diego and met with IDW, who are the publishers. Initially I was only able to commit to doing covers and character designs because I was busy with a lot of other projects, but over time, I’ve been slowly convinced into doing more. I was asked to do these two-page backup features in each issue. Then most recently I was given the opportunity to ink the whole book as well so I took that. It’s been fun. I’m committing to more and more because I’m enjoying working on it.

AD: You haven’t done many jobs where you’re inking over other people.

CS: I actually started my career as an inker. The first few years of my career I was inking. I did a book for Vertigo called Deadenders, I inked Swamp Thing and Hellblazer. I was inking Catwoman]/I] for a while and then I graduated into being the sole artist on the book. Since then I’ve been doing my own art and not inking other people. I did a graphic novel called The Apocalipstix for Oni Press, where I wasn’t really paid all that much up front, and In order to finance that I did some inking on a book for Vertigo called Vinyl Underground. Generally speaking, I like to pencil and ink my own work, but inking’s fun. It’s a different approach because I’m embellishing what another artist has done and bringing my own thing into it rather than coming up with it all on my own, so it can lead to some interesting collaboration.

AD: What kind of instructions were you given as to the tone and mood of the story in doing the designs?

CS: I was given a document, which I believe was written by Missy, that had brief descriptions of all the characters. I wanted them to be very convincing, to be believable as real SuicideGirl models and so I spent a lot of time just breaking down the different archetypes that exist among the girls on the site. They are definitely different “types.” I wanted to kind of reflect each of those archetypes accurately and make them convincing. I picked out a bunch of girls who I thought best exemplified those types, and I just stole from them basically, I took various elements that I thought fit together. Hopefully the final result is that these girls, even though fictional, feel like they could fit in very well with the regular group of girls.

AD: Before this have you ever designed characters to hand off to someone else to draw?

CS: No, this is the first thing I’ve done where I've done design work for another artist. I had an interest in doing that, rather than only doing the covers. I could have just signed on to do covers and drawn from another artist's designs, but I was interested in doing the character designs. I thought it was an interesting challenge and volunteered to do it.

AD: Tell me about the backup stories in each issue.

CS: The concept was that they’re these historical segments that depict SuicideGirls throughout history. Each one would be a different time period featuring strong women. The first one is set during the Salem witch trials. I believe there’s going to be one with the suffragettes getting the right to vote. They're written by Steve Niles, who’s a great writer and someone I wanted to work with. It’s two pages in each issue so it seemed like a small enough commitment of time and I thought they would be fun to do.

AD: Is it a real challenge in telling a story in that short a space?

CS: I think the challenge is less in the drawing and more in the writing of it. Two pages is very, very short. Trying to try to come up with a satisfying chunk of story that has character, motivation, drama, conflict and resolution, that’s very tough. The hardest part of drawing it is then trying to cram all that visual information into only two pages and have the readers understand where it is and making sure there’s not too much action that crowds the page. Steve wrote a good little vignette that works really well in two pages.

AD: Do you enjoy historical stories?

CS: Yeah. I just finished doing the Assassin’s Creed miniseries, which is largely set in Nineteenth and early Twentieth century Russia. It’s fun but it’s certainly more of a challenge than doing modern day stuff where you’re just drawing generic buildings. It’s a challenge to make sure it’s all historically accurate because I’m a stickler for that kind of thing. I feel that if you’re going to do something that’s a period setting, it really counts for a lot to get the details right, because otherwise it just feels fake.

AD: Assassin’s Creed, which just finished is a miniseries based on the video game that you co-wrote and co-illustrated with Karl Kerschl. Would you like to write and draw more in future?

CS: Oh absolutely. I really like collaborating with writers, and I’m really fortunate to have worked with a lot of fantastic writers in my career - Steve Niles, Grant Morrison, Peter Milligan, Ray Fawkes, Ed Brubaker and Jason Aaron. I definitely enjoy it. But there's something very different about writing your own material. I started [writing comics] with my webcomic Sin Titulo and was really enjoying it, and found out that I felt comfortable doing it. I don’t think I’ll ever shut out the possibility of collaborating with people, but I definitely would love to write and draw more. Fortunately I’ve been offered some other projects. Since Sin Titulo won the Eisner Award it’s opened a lot of doors for me as a writer.

AD: I wanted to talk about Assassin’s Creed just because the book seems to have flown under the radar. How did this come together?

CS: Ubisoft came to us. They wanted to open up the Assassin’s Creed universe and explore other media, and one of the things that they wanted to do was comics based on the games. They’d done a graphic novel in France a couple years ago, but they wanted something for the English-language market. Fortunately for Karl and I, our studio is only a couple blocks away from Ubisoft. They heard that we were nearby, came over and looked at our work and thought that we were the right people to do the comic for them, particularly because we were already big fans of the video games. Karl and I are both gamers and were fans of Assassin’s Creed long before we’d ever been approached to do the comic.

AD: The comic set in Russia which is a change from the games. What was it like working with Ubisoft and were they looking for in the comic?

CS: They wanted to open up the universe. Initially they had asked for another story featuring Ezio, the character from the second and third games. We considered that and did a short three page test comic featuring Ezio. It was fun, but we quickly realized it was more creatively interesting for us to do an entirely new setting with a new character and not repeat the character from the game. One of things that I think is the pitfall of a lot of video game comics is they’re just the "further adventures of Lara Croft" or whatever, they tend to feel inconsequential. To a lot of gamers they feel like side stories that don’t have any bearing on the main storyline of the games. We had an opportunity, by creating a new storyline with a new character, and solidly tie it into the game storyline, to create something that would enrich the mythology of [the game]. To develop something that didn’t just feel like a cheap spin-off and actually be something that was almost a necessary expansion of the storyline. We wanted to make something that felt important to the games, and also was satisfying as a stand alone story. We wanted to make it a comic that could be read and enjoyed by someone who’s never played Assassin’s Creed. Obviously it’s going to be deeper and more meaningful if you’re aware of the game already and you know the backstory, but we wanted to tell a story that could be read and enjoyed by someone who’d never played the gams before, and then possibly inspire them to pick up the game.

That was our initial approach. We were given a list of possible time periods, but it wasn’t in any way a finite list. We could come up with anything we wanted. That was the great thing about working with [Ubisoft]. They gave us carte blanche, basically, and said "do whatever you want," and were really open to our ideas. They didn’t restrict us at all. When we were looking through this list of possible time periods, the one that really leapt out at us was Tsarist Russia, leading up to the Russian Revolution of 1917. I can’t even really say why it intrigued us so much, but it just sparked something in both of us. It was appropriate because the games are set typically during these periods of great social and political upheaval. The first game is set during the Crusades. The second game is during the Renaissance. The Russian Revolution is a similarly important time of social change, so that was something we just felt intrigued to explore. Then when we started reading about it we started finding all of these events such as the Borki train disaster, which figures into the first issue, and other real events that just seemed to form a storyline for us without us even having to try. That was one of the things Patrice [Desilets, director of the Assassin's Creed games] was telling us. He said, “just look to history and the answers are all there.” And he’s right. It was really fun to just read through actual documented history and piece this stuff together. Of course it’s our job to sew it together and write stuff that happens behind and around the established events, but it worked out really well. It was a nice setting. The interesting thing is a lot of games or comics or whatever that are set in Russia usually deal with Soviet Russia, and not a lot to do with anything that’s pre-revolution, so it was fun to do something that was at once familiar but also unexplored.

AD: What kind of research did you do for the book? Did you go to Russia?

CS: We did. One of the great benefits of working for a video game company is that they will send you on research trips. (laughs) We got to go to St. Petersburg for four and a half days. We went all over the city and looked at all the places that were of relevance to our story. We took tons of photographs and video and did sketching and drawing. The great benefit of taking a trip like that is just being in that place and getting a feel for it. I did the same thing when I drew The Other Side for Vertigo, which is my Vietnam War comic. I went over to Vietnam for three weeks. Just being there in the actual place where this happened gives you a connection to it that no amount of photographs or movies will give you, and it's invaluable. I think it really does make the final product seem a lot more authentic.

AD: Having done that for different projects, when you draw something like Seaguy that you did with Grant Morrison, where it’s fantastic and not based on a place, does this require an extra step for you when you’re planning and designing the book knowing that you need to fill that in yourself?

CS: Absolutely. Seaguy is a different challenge because you’re creating something from the ground up. That was its own set of challenges. A lot of it is just drawn from my own imagination. A lot of it is just trying to come up with familiar elements that exist in our world and bringing them into the fantasy world to ground it and make it feel somewhat real. Grant will mention in the script real world things. Like the town of New Venice where Seaguy lives - there’s a little manufactured community, called Seaport Village I think, that exists next to the San Diego Convention Center, which obviously we see every year when we go to Comic Con. It’s this weird little fake tourist seaside village and that was the feel that he wanted for New Venice. He said that he wanted it to feel like it was this kind of gaudy tourist attraction and so the last time I went to San Diego before drawing the comic, I took a bunch of photographs of Seaport Village. It’s drawing familiar elements from the real world and re-casting them in a fantasy setting.

AD: Since we’re talking about Seaguy, have you and Grant talked about a third volume?

CS: We’ve talked about it. It was always intended to be a trilogy. When the first series came out, a lot of people were baffled by the ending because they thought it didn’t make any sense. We were always trying to stress that’s only because they’ve read the first of three parts. Unfortunately the series did not sell tremendously well, and so it took quite a while to get the second volume greenlit. Really it’s a passion project for Grant. It doesn’t do that well sales-wise.

It’s just something that he wants to do, and I really like it. I think it’s something that’s really unique and not like anything else that’s out there. At the moment the third part really comes down to availability for the both of us. Since the first series, I’ve started doing a lot more and Grant’s started doing a lot more. He’s doing eighteen different things, Batman things and music videos and screenplays. It’s one of those projects where when the time is right and both of us have it in our schedules to do it, I’m sure it will get done. Unfortunately, I have no concrete answer as to when that will be.

AD: Like you said, it’s not the biggest seller and I’m sure that DC, given the option, would rather have you two collaborate on Batman for three issues than do three issues of Seaguy.

CS: Absolutely. But it would be a shame to leave it unfinished having done that much of it. It’s one of those things that we hope, maybe it doesn’t sell very well now, but once it’s complete maybe people will go back to it. They can sell it as the complete story, and they can say “from the team that did Batman and Robin.” There’s always a future life for things. And you never know, it could be one of these things that isn’t a hit right away, but maybe twenty years from now, someone will really like it and make a movie out of it.

AD: You and Grant are also working on another project together. Thunderworld.

CS: (laughs) I love Grant. I do. But sometimes he speaks out of turn. (laughs) I had people coming up to me at San Diego congratulating me and saying they were really looking forward to Thunderworld and I had never even heard of it before. (laughs) I'm slightly fibbing - he *had* mentioned to me like three years ago, or even longer. He asked, "would you be interested in doing a Captain Marvel story?" His description of it was an All-Star Superman-like approach to Captain Marvel, which sounded great. All-Star Superman is one of my favorite comics and I thought if anyone could do that for Captain Marvel, he could. So I said, "yes, that sounds great." Then I never heard anything again, until this past San Diego when he announces this project. It’s something that when it’s written, and when I have time, I’m certainly down for, but it’s not anything that exists beyond a title at the moment.

AD: Your webcomic Sin Titulo. It won the Eisner Award last year for best digital comic. It’s also been on hiatus since last year.

CS: Yeah, unfortunately. I don’t earn any money from it. There have been a small handful of readers who have very generously donated, but I look at it basically as making tips if I were playing guitar on the sidewalk. I don’t really earn any money to do it. It was something that I was doing purely for myself, in the interest of doing my own work and developing my skills as a writer. Unfortunately when you have the decision to make between doing something for free, or being able to pay your rent… (laughs) At first I was able to balance it and do the contract work through the week and on the weekend do Sin Titullo, but it just became overwhelming. I was working seven days a week and having a bit of a breakdown. This is my passion project. The last thing that I wanted was for it to become something I *have* to do, instead of *wanting* to do. If I’m forcing myself to do it, and not enjoying it, then it’s no good. I decided that I would take a break from it for a while and focus on getting the contract work finished and once that was all done then I would return to it.

After the Eisner Award a lot of publishers were interested. I’m not going to say who it is just yet, but there’s a publisher who I’m very interested in working with and they’re going to publish the book. My goal would be to update it far more frequently. I used to update it once a week, if that, and what I would like to be able to do is update it Monday through Friday until it’s finished . If it was daily it would only last for a couple more months. I estimate the story will finish around 175 or 200 pages. Not that much longer. It will be complete online and then it will be released in 2012, I believe, as a hardcover book.

AD: Is there anything else going on that you can talk about?

CS: That’s probably it. There’s the possibility of doing more Assassin’s Creed. I know that Ubisoft was very happy with what we did and there is potential for further storylines in the comics that we’ve discussed.

AD: Would the idea be to do more in different period or more with Nikolai?

CS: There are long term plans to do other timelines, but the current plan would be to expand on Nikolai Orelov. Their thinking, and they’re absolutely right, is that if they’re going to introduce a new character they want to focus on that new character and develop him thoroughly, rather than just introduce a dozen new characters and not spend any time on any of them. They want to make it a, quote, "real" character in this universe. So if it turns out that we do another series it will probably be another story about Orelov.

That’s really all I can say. There’s the potential of more Batman stuff with Grant. There’s a couple other things that are probably premature to talk about but pretty exciting and some stuff that if it all goes through I’ll be writing and drawing for a big publisher so that’s cool.

AD: What is it that you like about working with Grant Morrison?

CS: He’s one of my favorite writers. He’s probably always been my favorite comics writer. The story that I often tell is that when I was thirteen I lined up to get his autograph and now I’m working with him. (laughs) Now I have creator owned comics with him. I think he’s boundlessly creative, he constantly tries to push the envelope. When he’s doing mainstream comics with superhero characters, he has a real innate understanding of what makes these characters work and what makes them appealing, and then he takes that understanding and is able to do things with that seem so obvious, but no one’s ever done before. I’m always amazed at that ability. And when he’s doing his creator owned stuff, he does things quite unlike anyone else is doing in comics.

His scripts can be a total nightmare sometimes. I’ve read his scripts where I sit back and say, “sure, it’s easy for you to write this, but I’ve got to draw it.” (laughs) “You can write a sentence about the four dimensional structure of space-time, but I’m the guy who’s got to draw it.” At times it can be very daunting, but it’s more interesting to figure out how to crack that problem than it would be to just sit and draw safe easy stuff all the time. What it comes down to is that he makes the kind of comics I like to read.

AD: In closing, to get back to the SuicideGirls comic, what can people look forward to in the book?

CS: I think that it’s going to really appeal to the SG community, because we've really tried to capture the spirit of SuicideGirls. It’s a book about a bunch of attractive young women kicking ass and taking names. It’s an A-Team/Charlie’s Angels kind of thing with a bunch of girls with tattoos. It’s really fun to draw!

Dr. Steven Novella eats, sleeps, and breathes science. An academic clinical neurologist by day at the Yale University of Medicine, he spends much of the rest of his time promoting science and rationality through the massively popular weekly podcast he hosts, The Skeptic’s Guide to the Universe, his... more

Dr. Steven Novella eats, sleeps, and breathes science. An academic clinical neurologist by day at the Yale University of Medicine, he spends much of the rest of his time promoting science and rationality through the massively popular weekly podcast he hosts, The Skeptic’s Guide to the Universe, his own blog, Neurologica, and the influential blog he founded, Science-Based Medicine. He is also the President and co-founder of the New England Skeptical Society. Our conversation revealed how every question is complicated, and the subtle link between seemingly unrelated pseudo-sciences like intelligent design and alternative medicine.

Keith Daniels: A lot of the claims that you deal with, in terms of pseudoscience -- things like anti-vaccination, have to do with problems that medical science hasn’t figured out yet. You don’t see a lot of people trying to do “alternative medicine” for things that already have scientific cures. Do you think a lot of these things will go away as science cures whatever-it-was?

Dr. Steven Novella: Well, I’d like to think so. There certainly is that relationship where, the more mysterious the disease is, the less effective our evidence-based treatments, the more that gap of knowledge is filled with superstition, pseudo-science, or “alternatives”. I do think to some extent they’ll be squeezed out, but there are, unfortunately, institutions now dedicated to things like homeopathy, or acupuncture, or chiropractic, et cetera. That develops a certain cultural momentum or inertia, so these things are not going to just “go away” because their reasons for existing go away. I think they will find a niche. They might just migrate over to other things, or reinvent themselves in some other way, but I doubt they will just go quietly into the night.

KD: Because the money is so good.

SN: Absolutely! There’s a huge financial incentive not to give up what they’re doing. They’re not science-based to begin with, so science is not going to dissuade them in any way.

KD: When you see somebody make millions of dollars off some shit like putting in foil in a bracelet and selling it, do you ever wonder if you’re in the wrong line of work?

SN: [Laughs] Definitely my colleagues and I will joke about that, the fact that we’re on the wrong side of this equation. We’re certainly not making any money doing what we’re doing. We’re often going up against people who are extremely well funded, because there’s a lot of money on the other side. There’s a lot of money in fraud, or in selling hope -- whether it’s false hope or not -- and there’s no money in skepticism. We’re evidence of that.

KD: How careful do you have to be when you’re debunking or taking down a bogus medical claim just because of the seriousness of the concern behind it? For example, if you tell people there are no ghosts they probably won’t get their feelings hurt, but if you tell them that homeopathy’s not going to cure their cancer...

SN: Yeah, it is very difficult to go after beliefs when there is something very real and serious on the line. With ghosts... people actually do get quite upset when you address their core beliefs. Whatever beliefs they have, nobody likes to be told that something they believe is wrong, but when there is something really tangible on the line, like health, then it brings a new dimension into it. Plus, I’m a physician, so I have to be somewhat in that role when I’m dealing with these issues. I rarely will confront an actual individual person who is claiming that something cured their own disease, or cancer, or whatever it is. I usually like to talk about the evidence and the claims more in the abstract. Of course, if my own patient asked me for information, then I’m happy to give it to them, but I can’t treat somebody who’s not my patient as if they were by giving them advice; that’s not appropriate. I also think it’s just really tricky and not very effective, and also questionable ethically to directly address somebody’s personal beliefs or claims about their own experience. I’d much rather deal with the questions on the level of what the scientific evidence says.

KD: What do you think are some of the more common mistakes scientists make when dealing with the media?

SN: There’s definitely a skill-set involved in dealing with the media. Scientists may understand their field very well, but if they don’t understand the nature of science journalism they can get into trouble. Often I feel that scientists will be goaded into making very irresponsible statements; statements that make the research that they’re talking about sound a little bit more exciting or interesting, but they don’t realize that they’re also playing into fear-mongering or a distortion of the evidence. They may not be aware of the fact that journalists are often just fishing for quotes that they’re going to plug into the story they’ve basically already written. So, as a scientist dealing with the media, you can’t just answer questions straight up. You have to talk to the journalist, or whoever it is that you’re dealing with, and make sure that they understand what the real story is, get a feel of where they’re coming from. Also, you need to talk in self-contained soundbites that will stand on their own, that can’t be easily taken out of context or twisted. Those are the core things that a scientist needs to know when dealing with journalists. Of course, I read stories all the time where scientists are made to look like fools, and you never know how they were treated by the journalist. Did they really say something that stupid? Or were they just naive and being taken out of context?

KD: Do you think that media literacy ought to be included in the training in a science education?

SN: Well, it should at least be optional. I think the resources should be there. Not every scientist needs to deal with the media, or develop that skill-set. You either do need to be aware that there is a skill-set, or at least make an effort in becoming competent in dealing with the media; or, you should leave it to your colleagues to do so. You shouldn’t just naively go, “OK, I’ll do a press-conference,” or, “I’ll talk about my research,” without having any idea what you’re doing; that’s where scientists get into deep trouble.

KD: One of the logical fallacies that you’ve cautioned against often on The Skeptic’s Guide to the Universe is “argument from authority”, but how does someone like me who works all the time, is not a scientist, know who to trust?

SN: Yeah, that’s tricky, and it’s getting trickier. There’s no easy answer to that. I’ll explain part of the problem. There are a lot of false authorities out there. There are professions that are not based upon science, evidence, and reason, but they might be licensed and have the imprimatur of legitimacy, and certainly the public can get fooled into thinking that they’re a reliable source of information. There are institutions that are created specifically to promote an ideology, but try to make themselves look as if they are a legitimate scientific organization. There are groups that do that specifically to confuse the public and to muddy the waters. There are also just people who are grossly misinformed, but can set themselves up as some kind of authority on the internet. It’s easy to have a slick enough website that you can appear to have legitimacy. So there’s a lot of minefields out there of information. I see this all the time, where people are just confused by the misinformation, and they’re not sure which authorities to trust. Again, this is another skill-set that I think the public needs to develop in the age of the internet and this proliferation of information: you need to have some idea of how to navigate all of these various sources of varying authority. I think [there are] a couple of good rules-of-thumb to follow: one is to try to figure out what the consensus is. Don’t ever trust a single source. Try to look at multiple sources and see if there’s a consensus of opinion that emerges. Any one opinion could be idiosyncratic or quirky, and there’s no reason to rely on any single opinion. Also, there are still brick-and-mortar institutions that are well-established; universities, for example. They will tend to be more trustworthy than some fly-by-night website. Also, always find what the other side is saying. Whenever I get an opinion on a topic, I want to find what the people who don’t believe that opinion are saying. Until you specifically look for the other side you shouldn’t think that you have the complete story. Usually, you’ll see an asymmetry: the more reliable sources -- the recognized professional organizations, the institutions and universities -- tend to coalesce around a certain consensus, and then there’s either a minority or an ideological opinion that is on the outside. You also get a flavor for the kind of opinions that are more likely to be more like a straightforward, scientific opinion, versus an ideological one. [If] people are starting to talk about conspiracy theories and [how] their views are being suppressed, then that should be a red flag that maybe they’re just trying to justify why their opinions are not accepted by the scientific community, and generally that’s just an excuse for beliefs that are not based upon science. There’s a lot more, but those are the kind of skills and the rules-of-thumb that you can develop to at least try to rely upon more reliable sources.

KD: How influential has the Science-Based Medicine site that you helped found become? Are you starting to see it expand beyond the skeptic community and into the medical community?

SN: Yeah, it’s definitely starting to be fairly prominent. We still have a ways to go, I think, in terms of developing it, but I’ll notice, for example, when I’m searching for a topic, or a question that I have, a Science-Based Medicine article will often come up on the first page [of the search results], often the first hit, and I wasn’t searching on a skeptical topic or specifically on Science-Based Medicine. It’s nice to see that it’s coming up very high just on searches for general medical information. That’s a good indication that there are a lot of people linking to it and using it as a resource. I think, just as an internet resource, it’s doing quite well. I think the area where we have a lot of work to do is developing it into more of an academic resource, and achieving some of the trappings of academic legitimacy. For example, we’re trying to retool some of our more basic concepts into peer-reviewed articles to get published on other sites, rather than publishing everything on our own site.

KD: A controversial video-game came out last week, Bulletstorm. Fox News rolled out some scientist who said this was going to increase rapes. What, if any, evidence is there that video-games harm people in any way?

SN: The literature on video-games is a little mixed. If someone has a predisposition to violence, engaging in violent video-game play certainly may increase their aggressiveness; there’s evidence to support that notion. There isn’t really a lot of evidence to support that there’s actual negative societal consequences to it, that people will actually go out there and commit crimes because they were egged on by video-games. So, it depends on what kind of research you look at. Yes, it might increase aggressiveness. I believe there was a study that showed that certain kinds of video-games at least correlate with increased promiscuity. Part of the problem with a lot of this research is it’s all correlational, so you can always ask the question, “Do video-games make kids aggressive, or, do aggressive kids like these kinds of video-games?” When you control for that sort of thing, any remaining effect is actually fairly weak. I don’t think it’s a big societal problem is the bottom line, that we have to put a lot of time and energy into dealing with the effect of video-games.

KD: Do you feel that marijuana and other recreational drugs should be legalized?

SN: That’s a thorny question. I have mixed feelings about that. It’s really tricky. As a neurologist, I know that the brain certainly responds physiologically to certain addictive substances. They are addictive. They actually change brain chemistry. To that extent, they take away people’s free will and ability to really control their actions, and they can take over people’s lives. It’s a susceptibility in our biology, in our brains, so that’s, I think, clearly established by science; that’s how the science informs this question. But then where do we go from there? Do we err on the side of individual freedom? Do people get to decide what to do to themselves and to their own bodies? I can certainly understand that point of view, but people may get into substances not being fully aware of the power of addiction: the fact that they’re actually going to lose themselves in a very real and important way to these substances. Does society have a right to protect them from themselves? There is also, if you look at the societal harm from use of recreational drugs it gets a little tricky, because again you get into the correlation versus causation thing. The greatest societal harm is caused by alcohol, which is the one legal recreational drug. By far, alcohol is the worst that’s out there. You can ask, “Is that because it’s legal? Is that why it’s worse, or is there something else about alcohol that makes it so bad? Or is it just that, culturally, because it’s so widespread?” You can try to compare countries that legalized certain drugs to those who don’t, [but] the comparisons are very problematic. The other aspect of this is just the practical aspects that the “war on drugs” is just not very effective. It just creates more crime and drives it underground, and takes away the ability to control it all. In the end, you have a lot of conflicting information, and conflicting ethical choices. I don’t personally think there’s one objective answer. It really depends on your value judgements. For me, it’s a real dilemma. It’s a real vulnerability in our biology. We have to learn how to minimize the negative effects of this, and there’s no one objective, correct answer.

KD: Speaking of thorny issues: how do you feel about socialized medicine? Do you think that health-care is something everyone has a right to, regardless of their ability to pay?

SN: Well, the short answer is, “Yes”. Health-care ethics are certainly based upon the idea that everybody has a right to at least basic health-care. We certainly don’t turn away people who need urgent care because of their inability to pay. So, that’s one issue. From an ethical point of view, as a profession, we can’t turn away or deny basic care, but once you get beyond that, again, it gets really tricky. How do you define “basic care”? Where do you draw the line? Different states, different countries, draw the line in different places. Is an organ transplant at the cost of hundreds of thousands of dollars considered “basic” care, or is that extraordinary care? Is that heroic care? And what’s the difference? Also, we find ourselves now in somewhat of a zero-sum game in that we have finite health-care resources. We’re exceeding, really, our ability to deliver those resources, and so, when you give somebody a liver transplant, you’re also taking away resources that could go to a hundred children. So it’s not just that that person has a right to a liver transplant, it’s, “What’s greater? The right of that one person to a liver transplant, or the rights of a hundred children to basic health-care?” These are tricky issues that are not being dealt with head-on by the political system. I think they did a good job of avoiding the really important issues during the debate. I think everyone is pretty much in favor of the notion of universal coverage, just because there’s really no downside to it, in that it’s efficient. It’s massively inefficient to have uninsured people who then use the emergency room as their primary care system. Just for efficiency, which we absolutely need to do because of the costs of health-care. We need to have a system in place where everybody can get preventive care and basic care, and efficient care. It also absolutely appeals to everyone’s sense of social justice. I don’t think anybody thinks that people should be turned away [from] health-care. The really hard question is, “How do we devise a system to pay for it all?” That’s where you get to the point where, again, I don’t think there’s one correct answer. Every system has perverse incentives in it of one type or another. Whoever’s paying for it has a huge disincentive to pay for it. If anyone's reimbursement, the money that they make, is at all tied to the amount of health-care that they deliver, then they have an incentive to deliver more health-care. If you then flip it and give them an incentive not to treat, then they have an incentive not to treat. We’d like there to be an incentive-free system where practitioners and patients are only motivated to do what’s best without worrying about their bottom line. Actually, I sort of practice in that situation myself. As an academic, I’m salaried, I don’t get a fee for service; I don’t get paid based on my volume. That’s kind of nice, but the system does still care. The system that I work in does have to be solvent, or at least organize itself in such a way that it’s not losing too much money. So, you can rearrange the furniture on the deck of the Titanic, as they say, but it’s not really changing the overall cost of the system. Whether you’re paying it through taxes, or premiums, or higher costs of goods, we’re all ultimately paying for health-care in the end anyway. So, I think we should just think about how to make the system maximally efficient, fair, and free of perverse incentives. But there’s no one perfect system, you just have to sort of pick your poison.

KD: Have you been following the Planned Parenthood funding issue? Is that something that concerns you?

SN: I’ve been following that issue in general. I sort of have this vague sense that there’s been some activity on that issue recently, but I haven’t had a chance to get up to date on it. Is there something specific?

KD: The Republicans in the House of Representatives, but not the Senate, have voted to remove funding for it. I assume that this has to do with trying to limit abortion, but it seems sort of... short-sighted?

SN: Yeah. That definitely is about the abortion issue, there’s no question. Abortion is such an emotional issue. It’s one of those political issues that sort of poisons everything it touches, and so you have a lot of innocent bystanders, like providing preventative or primary care to women. Reproductive care to women gets sacrificed to this ideological issue of abortion, and the government funding abortion. Unfortunately, again, people have sort of focused on the more ideological questions, and the more practical issues get lost in the shuffle.

KD: What do you think is the most dangerous of the prevailing “alternative medicine” claims out there right now? Anti-vaccination? Homeopathy?

SN: It’s really hard to quantify. There are a number that certainly deserve to be mentioned. You bring up anti-vaccinationists. I think that their specific claims are very dangerous. They’re trying to convince people not to get vaccinated. It’s only the safest and most effective public-health measure invented by man, and they are trying to convince people that it is, in fact, dangerous and not effective. [They are] just full of misinformation, and that is leading to previously preventable diseases coming back. I mean, people are actually dying. Kids are dying from preventable diseases because their parents won’t vaccinate them, because they’ve been made to be afraid by this misinformation. But the scope of it is still on the small side. That’s where it gets hard to compare. Homeopathy is not that big in the United States; I think it’s a much bigger problem in Europe. Chiropractic is a much bigger phenomenon in the United States, and I think that it sucks a lot of resources away from medicine, and can serve to delay definitive medical diagnostic information. To a small degree, there’s some direct harm. To a lot of these things, the direct harm issue is actually pretty minor. It’s more the indirect things: the diversion of resources, the delay of diagnosis or care. I think the big problem is just that the marketing campaign of the alternative-medicine proponents has been so successful over the last twenty years that they’ve successfully profoundly confused the public on a lot of fundamental issues, and they’re doing a lot of harm to the practice of science-based medicine, to the education of the next generation of physicians. Things like confusing “natural” with “safe and effective”, or “holistic” with “patient-centered,” actually trying to weave these really confused and tangled arguments about the nature of science, and the relationship between science and the practice of medicine. This is all having a very insidious and negative effect on the institution of medicine and the beliefs of the public about how medicine works, and how science works. It’s very hard to quantify all of that, but I definitely see it as having a tremendous negative effect. I see patients every day struggling with all of this marketing misinformation: wasting money, wasting time, subjecting themselves to needless risk, because it’s just in the culture now, “Yes, I want a ‘natural alternative’.” Meanwhile, they’re taking something which is basically an unregulated, unpurified drug with unknown content and unknown side-effects and unknown drug-interactions, and they’re spending their limited health-care dollars on this rather than on a proven treatment because they’ve bought into the marketing hype. They often have no clue what it is they’re really buying. It’s unfortunate that they’ve been so successful in pulling off the swindle of the century, really, and in convincing so many people that their marketing con is somehow an acceptable alternative to logic and evidence.

KD: It seems like that’s happening on all fronts. Little kids get it at school with “intelligent design”. Then we get the climate change debate. And then it’s in medicine, too. It just seems like people are being taught that there’s a false balance, that, “there’s always two sides to everything”.

SN: Yeah. In many ways, I think they’re sort of learning off of each other. It is again, this sort of marketing culture that has learned how to market pseudo-science, whether it’s intelligent design, or alternative medicine, or global warming denial, or whatever it is. I see a remarkable consistency in the kinds of arguments that are being used by all these otherwise very different endeavors. They’re all ultimately a way of promoting an ideology, or promoting a financial interest, against the scientific consensus, and their methods are remarkably similar. They’re largely selling misinformation, doubt, confusion, and some fairly sophisticated but ultimately anti-scientific arguments in order to undercut the bottom-line that what they’re selling is not consistent with the science.

by SG’s Team Agony feat. Charley and Koshil Let us answer life’s questions – because great advice is even better when it comes from SuicideGirls. (image) [Charley in Of Yesteryear ] Q: I’ve been single for about a year now, and in general it didn’t bother me too much. In September I wound up... more

by SG’s Team Agony feat. Charley and Koshil

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



[Charley in Of Yesteryear ]

Q: I’ve been single for about a year now, and in general it didn’t bother me too much. In September I wound up taking two classes at college alongside a girl who was everything I ever could have dreamed of in a woman. I didn’t get to know her very well, and, due to her having her own circle of friends, I was fairly intimidated to approach her as I’m not the most outgoing guy ever.

A friend of mine noticed my plight and informed me that he knew a friend of hers, and that she was in a long term relationship. However, he recently told me that she had apparently been dumped by her boyfriend. Naturally, I want to get in contact with her and tell her how I feel.

The problem comes in that she is no longer in any of my classes for this semester, nor do I have her as a “friend” on any social networks. I’ve been battling with myself as to how much time I should allow her to have space, as well as to how I’m going to contact her. The only way I can seems to be Facebook, and I guess I feel like it’d be creepy to say, “Hey, it’s the guy from your film class last semester, I know we don’t know each other well, but…”. Maybe I’m over-thinking it and should just take the leap. What do you think?



A: Well, first of all, I have to say it’s nice to be reminded that dudes worry about these things just as much as we do. It’s easy to think we’re so different, but that’s really not the case. With that in mind, I think you have to imagine how YOU would feel if someone contacted you under similar circumstances. I’m guessing you’d be flattered, even if you weren’t interested. I think I would be.

In this situation, it makes sense for you to initially reach out by sending her a Facebook friend request. That way you can test the waters, make contact, and send a little message along with the request saying, “Hi it’s…I was in your class last semester…” You’ll be able to double check she’s not otherwise involved and she’ll be able to check you out before you take it further.

Or you could just take a leap of faith and message her outright, after all, life is so short and though it’s ridiculously scary putting yourself out there, it can also be exhilarating. Even if things don’t work out with you guys or she isn’t interested you’ll feel good for doing it. Just don’t send anything too intense; by contacting her you’re declaring interest, so after that play it a little cool

Good luck! I hope things work out for you.

Charley

***



[Koshil in On Show]

Q: I’m a 21-year old guy from Germany. It’s hard for me to write this mail, first, because I do not normally use such services and, second, because I do not really speak good English.

Normally I’m a lucky guy. I am happy with my friends, my job and my lifestyle. I am popular among my friends and my family (my family is very important to me). Now come the problems:

• I am a virgin.


• I’ve never had a relationship.


• I’ve never kissed a girl.


• I have not even held hands with a girl.

Here’s my theory why this is so:

Point one is that I’m not the nicest looking guy. I’m not the kind of beautiful man that women are enthusiastic about. I’m more of a nice guy. But all girls seem to see a strange and ugly guy. I think I’m more the kind of guy you have to get to know before you love him.

Point two is that I’m shy as a Sasquatch.

Point three is I think my biggest problem; I do not know any women my age. At least, not available.

Point four is in my opinion not really a problem, only some of my friends think it would be one. I do not drink alcohol, and don’t like the idea of getting drunk and waking up next to someone you do not know. This is something that I will not do. I want a relationship and not a cheap fuck. If I only wanted sex, I would go to a prostitute.

Number five is that I simply do not like to go for loud and raucous nights out with friends. I do not like the club scene or going out, getting drunk and throwing up as soon as possible. This is really not my world. It’s not that I do not leave my house. I regularly go to concerts and play billiards, but if I do go out, it is usually with my best friend. Nothing against my best friend, but he draws women like a magnet. If he is single again, then within a week he’ll find a new girl. Next to him, I’m almost invisible to women.

Sixth point (it’s already at six, I did not know how many problems I have), I try to always be liked by everyone and have huge fear of rejection, particularly among individuals who are sympathetic to me.

So there are my problems. I hope that one day I will find my love. Am I really that ugly? How can I convince a girl to look beyond my looks and get to know me? Do I not have a right to be loved too? To paraphrase the words of Rammstein: “Liebe ist für alle da” (“love is for everyone”).

I hope for a nice and helpful response from you.

A: I will start off by saying that you genuinely sound like a very down to earth and sweet guy. I can actually empathize with a lot of the problems you mentioned in your question.

You say that you don’t drink or like to go clubbing, which I do not see as being a problem at all. In fact, I see that as a rare quality for a guy your age, something which definitely works in your favor. The fact you have a hobby and enjoy going to gigs is a very attractive. I know I would rather be with a guy who is down to earth and enjoys himself, but not to the point where his only idea of fun is going out and getting drunk all the time. I mean, for one it would limit the conversation somewhat!

You say that you are a shy guy, which is again not a bad quality at all. It seems that your fear of rejection and being shy, are two problems that go hand in hand. To break this cycle you have to overcome one. The best one to tackle would be the fear of rejection. Once you have overcome this, or got it to a point where you are not letting it control the way that you interact with others, then your confidence will slowly start to increase. It is a known fact that confidence makes you more attractive to the opposite sex. Now, I’m not talking about being over confident to the point of being cocky and full of yourself, but the kind of quiet confidence that comes from within. It’s about being happy with the person you are – that stands out more than anything else.

To be able to love someone else you must be able to love yourself. What I mean by this is that even though you count yourself as a lucky guy, you then go on to say that you are not the nicest looking guy and that girls think that you are “strange and ugly.” You must be able to love yourself, and as soon as you start to do this you will feel the difference about how you see yourself and how others see you. Accepting who you are and what you’re about is the first step to loving yourself. Instead of focusing on the negative aspects, your insecurities, focus on all the great things you have: your job, family and friends.

Also, you say that you go out with your best friend who is a “girl magnet” and that next to him you feel invisible. Now, I highly doubt that you are invisible. But I really do think that because you believe that next to him you are invisible, you make yourself invisible. Again, this is your fear of rejection controlling your actions.

It is almost like a vicious circle. To break this you must tackle one problem and the rest will follow naturally. It’s not about looking for love or wondering why it seems like no one is interested, it’s more the question of being able to love yourself and being comfortable in your skin. Only then will you be able to truly love someone else.

The worst thing you can do is focus on things like fact you’ve have never had a relationship etc. For one, you are still young, and there are no rules about how old is acceptable for someone to lose their virginity or kiss someone. Live life at your own pace. The more pressure you put on yourself, the harder you will find it to relax and just focus on yourself.

Take it from me, I would rather meet an interesting happy guy who hasn’t had a relationship before but is genuine and will treat me right, than some guy who has had loads of girlfriends, who only likes to go out and get drunk and will not treat me right. I can safely say this is true for many girls.

You are actually a rare diamond

I hope this has helped and I wish you all the best!

Koshil

XX

***

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

this was in another thread, and it got me thinking: RagleGumm said: (image) (image) But also (especially in the eyes): (image) (image) i've always thought that fractal looks a lot like natalie wood - an actress from the 60-70's, was in rebel without a cause, gypsy, the great race, etc. but i... more

this was in another thread, and it got me thinking:

RagleGumm said:




But also (especially in the eyes):




i've always thought that fractal looks a lot like natalie wood - an actress from the 60-70's, was in rebel without a cause, gypsy, the great race, etc. but i definitely see the resemblance above.

anyways, anyone else notice resemblances between any of the girls and particular celebrities?

Neil Strauss has a talent for honing in on the very essence of who a person is. It's an attribute that has served him well as an interviewer for publications such as The New York Times and Rolling Stone, as a writer penning biographical books with the likes of Mötley Crüe (The Dirt) and Jenna Jameson... more

Neil Strauss has a talent for honing in on the very essence of who a person is. It's an attribute that has served him well as an interviewer for publications such as The New York Times and Rolling Stone, as a writer penning biographical books with the likes of Mötley Crüe (The Dirt) and Jenna Jameson (How To Make Love Like A Porn Star), and in his other life, as Style, the seduction guru and author of the pick-up bible, The Game.

On the surface, his latest book, Everyone Loves You When You're Dead, is an anthology of interviews culled from Strauss' extensive back catalog, which includes conversations with everyone from Madonna, Lady Gaga, and Britney Spears to Chuck Berry, Leonard Cohen, and Johnny Cash. However, the acknowledgements section at the back of the book, which sums up all that's included, isn't just a laundry list of high profile names. Amongst the interviewees are some surprising and lesser known people (Kenny G, Patrick Miller, members of the Calabrian Mafia, et al.), and it's these inclusions that perhaps give an indication of the collection's greater purpose - that of a self-help book compiled from lessons learnt (or not, as the case may be) from those with problems on a grander scale than our own.

Because of this underlying narrative, readers are advised to read the book from start to finish, cover to cover, rather that skipping about to find preferred interview subjects as one might initially be tempted to do. "I think I maybe should have put a note or something in the beginning of the book about how it's supposed to be read," admits Strauss during the closing moments of our interview, "because I do think if you skip around for a favorite artist you won't get the experience."

In serving this higher purpose, Strauss chose to omit a few seemingly beyond qualified people. "I interviewed Stevie Wonder and Iggy Pop, two of what I would consider the greatest artists in the last fifty years," says Strauss, "and yet there weren't those profound moments in the interview so I left them out, even though they were huge artists who I'd love to have in a book."

The result of Strauss' labors is an anthology like no other, one that he hopes will stand the test of time. "You assume if you write a book it's not for the moment. It's for a longer period of time. I wanted a book that even in ten or twenty years would still be intrinsically interesting even if half of these people were obscure by then. I wanted it to hold up on its own."

Having read the 500+ page book in a surprisingly short space of time, in our humble opinion, Strauss has achieved this goal. After making the journey to the back cover, SucideGirls called Strauss up to talk about the things he's learned from interviewing the great and the late.


Nicole Powers: All your books have very different forms, and when you last came on SuicideGirls Radio and I asked you about that, you said that you're inspired by other books. What was the inspiration for the structure of this one?

Neil Strauss: Before I do a book I'll do research. I bought every single anthology I could possibly buy by writers I liked and respected, whether music writers or journalists or fiction authors. I bought all these anthologies and I read through them all, or skimmed through them, some of them. And I realized they were all semi-boring. By the time you were done you were bored of the person's voice, and that the only people they really appealed to were people who were already fans. So I felt screwed, because my whole life, spending all this time writing all these thousands and thousands of articles for The New York Times and Rolling Stone, I would save the best ones and I just couldn't wait to put out the anthology of my work like all the writers and critics I was a fan of have done. When it came down to it I realized they don't hold up on their own - that if somebody who had never heard of your writing went out and bought that book, they might be disappointed. So it's interesting because this is the only book where I had no model for it at all. I had no plan even to do it like I ended up doing it, but it seemed to me the only way to make it intrinsically interesting...

NP: It starts out as a cleverly done anthology, where you thread interviews together - like you'll be talking to one person and then they'll mention someone else and then you cut to an interview with the person they've just mentioned. But then I began realizing that you've created something bigger than that. You've constructed a self-help book using advice gleaned often from reading between the lines of what your subjects have said.

NS: Yeah. I think that's totally true, that there was a goal and maybe there's an influence. There's a book by John Berger called Ways of Seeing where there are chapters that are just images. As you look at the images in a row, ideas will come to you without them having to be said. So maybe that book is a slight influence structurally.

The idea was by putting say Christina Aguilera confessing her domestic abuse, followed by Ike Turner talking about Tina, followed by Lady Gaga talking about a different kind of abuse, followed by someone else talking about their incest experiences, you start to get your own ideas on abuse and its effects from both the perpetrator as well as from the victim's [point of view].

I kind of wanted people to naturally come to those ideas. And of course these are people who live life at a much higher level of intensity than most of us have. And I definitely think when I was doing the interviews themselves there were things I was trying to work out in my life and I was using them for sort of free therapy.

NP: As a writer, especially when you spend time with your subjects, you can end up taking on the therapist role, and that's a difficult thing to balance. Because as a writer you are defined by what you print, but as a human being who writes you are defined by what you don't print. It's a difficult line to draw.

NS: Huh, I never thought of it like that.

NP: And because this book contains many previously unpublished interview outtakes, I know with one band in particular you had to make a phone call to warn them that certain revelations were going to be made public. Were there other instances where you had concerns about printing stuff?

NS: Yeah, but it was still going to be printed. I'm definitely not callous about it, but I assume that they're professionals and anything they tell me in the context of an interview is going to be part of the interview unless they flat out say this is off the record. So there are examples: When I called the guys from At The Drive-In to tell them that the fact that [Omar Rodríguez-López] mentioned that he was an incest survivor was going to be in there. And Christina Aguilera, I remember she'd never talked about being a victim of domestic violence from her father before, and so I called her and her mom to let them know it was going to be in there. But it wasn't like they asked for it not to be in there. I wasn't going to remove it. I was just going to give them a fair heads-up so they're aware of it. It wasn't to be callous. It was just that, you know, I didn't trick them into saying those things.

NP: You seemed to have a very clear objective in mind when you do your interviews. During your conversation with Soul Asylum you explain to them that you're not writing the article for the band, you're writing it for the people that like their music.

NS: Yeah, I think my goal is always...but it changed. It's funny because I really think journalism has changed. Because back then there was this golden age of journalism where if someone was doing a Rolling Stone cover story and they just recorded a record, the cover story was almost part of the communication process. You did your record and that's your art. Then you do your Rolling Stone cover story, and that's how you would tell your fans, your listeners and the general public, what this album is about, what you went through while you were recording it, what your intention is, and where you are in your life. You were their mouthpiece. And obviously in the last five or so years they can just Twitter that, or send it to their mailing list, or make YouTube videos. They don't need you anymore as their mouthpiece, so it's changed now, that whole relationship.

NP: In what way?

NS: I think most of a journalist's duty now, sadly, is to try and get some revelation that will be picked up by a bunch of other websites so they can get a lot of traffic...But I'm going to do a Rolling Stone cover story next week, and my goal is to read everything that's ever been written about that person, watch every movie, and listen to every album they've ever done. My goal is to A, advance the dialog about the person, say something new that hasn't been said before, and B, to find out who they really are...I want to really get in their head and show the public who that person is underneath the mask. And maybe even show them who they are - things they may not realize about themselves...

I mean I'll never judge in the article, I'll just show them as they are. Some people afterward love the articles. Like Tom Cruise afterward sent a letter saying, "This article is great. My mom saw it and she thought you just nailed me perfectly." On the other hand, after the Soul Asylum one - and it was definitely no more or less judgmental, if anything some people thought Tom Cruise came off worse. [Soul Asylum's lead singer Dave Pirner] was really upset because he thought I was trying to portray him as an alcoholic, which I wasn't doing. You can tell their comfort level with who they are by their response to the article.

NP: I noticed on the back cover of the book there's a note which alludes to some correspondence that Phil Collins sent to you.

NS: Uh-huh.

NP: I take it that was one very unsatisfied customer.

NS: Yeah. I wrote a review of him for The New York Times. I thought it was a really bad concert, but I was holding back and trying to make it not so negative. He sent this two-page, handwritten letter on Peninsula Hotel stationery basically just railing against me for having his head on a plate. His last words were, "Neil, fuck you."

NP: Well this is from a man that split up with his wife by fax.

NS: Somebody said they saw an interview with him later where he actually said, "I once wrote this guy a letter and I felt really bad about it afterward." It was really an angry letter. It's something you'd expect from Trent Reznor, not from Phil Collins, which is why it's framed in my office now.

NP: In the interview that you did with Trent Reznor you gently prod him about the consequences of his drug use. Then there's another interview that you do with Gary Wilson where you suggest that he sees his dad before he dies. Obviously the therapy goes both ways though. What insights have the people that you've interviewed given you?

NS: It's funny. You know, I didn't realize [it goes] the other way too, but it is true that I am at the same time giving people advice in their life.
I remember even with Chuck Berry, trying to help him get over the cross he carries over the scandals he had 40 years ago that still makes him bitter and angry - that's why it's called Everyone Loves You When You're Dead.

I know you're asking the opposite question...I think a lot of the questions I've had are about the importance of your work - about relationships, and love versus work and career and art. Whether it's with Lenny Kravitz or Joni Mitchell, I've had those conversations talking about which they see as more important...Sometimes these people don't follow their own advice, but they definitely were usually good at giving it.

NP: For me, one of the exciting moments in an interview is when you have that aha moment with a subject, where they realize something about themselves that they haven't thought about before, or they make a connection that they haven't made before.

NS: I love that.

NP: Is there a moment that you particularly remember that was like that?

NS: Yeah, there's one, and this one is more because it was so funny. But I love it. It's in the Orlando Bloom interview. It's like my favorite line in the book. I don't know why. It's so small. I was asking him, "Have you noticed that in all of your movies you have very little dialog?" He thinks it over and he's like, "I don't know, are you sure about that?" I point out some examples, and he's like:

He was getting this epiphany that really he had these characters that were given [very little dialog].

And then there were other times, say with Chuck Berry...when I said these things that were scandals, yes, they don't go away, but after the moment they actually make you more interesting. They make you not Pat Boone. And it was sort of him realizing these scandals that are long gone, that people don't care about them anymore...

NP: Right, you talked about how the scandals become stories, and because of the distance of time people know the stories but they remember them without any level of judgment - that was really key I think.

NS: Yeah, yeah, again, hopefully, at age 83, that was an aha moment for him. The reason I named the book Everyone Loves You When You're Dead is meeting all these people who are icons and legends who you admire for their work, and seeing that they're haunted by old scandals and bad reviews everyone else has forgotten about. I think there was a note to myself: let go of those small things and you can live your life happier and be proud of your accomplishments, and not die thinking that everybody hates you because you got one bad review.

NP: There are other times where I wonder if your subjects have yet to grasp the weight of what you may be implying, or if they'll put it together after the fact. Particularly with the abuse section in the book. You talk about Christina Aguilera and the domestic violence, Lady Gaga and the abuse that happened following her drug use, and Alanis Morissette with the statutory rape. You don't put it into words, but you imply that the abuse has profoundly affected their art and their careers.

NS: I think that's interesting too, that sometimes you leave the interview knowing more about the artist than they know about themselves. Sometimes too, maybe they'll have that epiphany when they read it - if they're open to it. But I think Lady Gaga isn't open to it. Even Jenna Jameson, when I did the book with her, wasn't open to thinking that. The two issues she had when she was young and sexually abused, she doesn't think that those changed her, or affected her, and led to her career - and I don't necessarily think that's true. Even with Lady Gaga, I think she hasn't dealt with what she seems to be implying in the book, which seems to be that she was assaulted very violently a couple times. I think she hasn't dealt with that, but I think her exhibitionism and the way she leads her career kind of speaks to that. It was so obvious from how she leads her life - it's clear that she's a trauma survivor.

NP: It concerns me the way Gaga's getting more extreme. It's gotten to the point where she's becoming a parody of herself. The whole egg thing did seem like a big cry for help.

NS: The one genius thing about the egg thing is it's a great way to go through the red carpet without having to talk to anyone or get your photo taken. But on the other level, when I interviewed her, I said, "What are you going to do when the backlash happens?" And she's like, "What do you mean the backlash? There's not going to be a backlash." I'm like, "Anybody who gets to your level at some point the culture turns on them. Everything they do is all of a sudden seen as horrible, and then later it puts them back on top again. That's how the culture works. They tear you down and they bring you back up." And she goes, "Well my karma is good. I'm good to everybody." Then she calls her assistant over and says, "I'm good to you, right?" The assistant is like, "Yes, of course you're good to me." And she's like, "See, my karma is good. It's not going to happen." I thought, oh man, when this happens they're going to tear you apart.

NP: It's kind of already happening. I know that there is a section of the gay community that is upset at her latest single "Born This Way" because they don't want to be aligned with the freaks of this world.

NS: That's one of those things where I think it's not intentional on her part. She calls her fans monsters...But there is that element that it's like well I'm a broken person...

NP: She views herself as a broken person and is drawing connections between herself and the gay community. But the gays are like, "Hey, we're not broken. We're whole but we're gay." She's comparing her broken soul with people that do not consider themselves broken.

NS: I haven't heard that critique. That's a really smart critique and accurate. So yeah, it will be interesting to see, especially because that's an audience she thought she could count on. That's the one she's seen who have kept the careers of Madonna and Cher and other people going...

NP: Her fallback audience.

NS: Yeah, but by pandering to them so much she's almost turned them off.

NP: Her response to the question you posed about what will happen once the backlash starts touches on something that you wrote about in an article you did for The Wall Street Journal. In it you talked about how a degree of blind faith is almost essential to the success of an artist.

NS: Yeah. That was one of the things that I found fascinating was looking over all those interviews together, seeing the patterns and seeing what happened in their life after the interviews - who went up and who went down, who died and who thrived. That was an interesting and surprising lesson to me, that those who had faith, not just belief in God, but believed their success was part of God's plan for them - which, of course, is mostly hubris - that belief sustained them through the hard times.

The opposite examples, and I didn't mention it in The Wall Street Journal, but Jewel, for example, at the time of that interview in the book she said, "Why am I here? Why not all these other people who were struggling just like I was. I don't feel like I deserve this anymore than they do. It isn't fair that I got here in five years." At that time she had I think her second Top Ten single, and since that interview she's released like eight more records and not had another Top Ten single. Or the White Stripes who were just wringing their hands and saying, "We're from another planet, we don't belong here." And, of course, they just broke up...

NP: Going back to that Chuck Berry interview, how awesome would it be for an artist that's going through a similar shit storm to read that and have the perspective that you gave Chuck Berry. That yeah, it's going to suck for six months or six years, but down the line it's going to make you a more interesting person and it will make the comeback even sweeter.

NS: Yeah, or even to see that, Madonna, when she first came to New York, was this nerd who was uncomfortable at a club. We've all been there, so it definitely makes these things relatable.

NP: One of the most profound lines is during your interview with Trent Reznor. You talk about how the idea that anyone fits in is a delusion, and that no one really fits in. Where did you get that concept from?

NS: I think that's something you get from interviewing everybody. The people you think are the popular people feel like they're outcasts inside. Everybody feels like that, whether it's Snoop Dog or Madonna and Lady Gaga...they all really feel the same. They all feel alone in their castles they've built.

NP: And the ironic thing is that fame doesn't help them feel like they fit in. If you don't sort out those issues before you get famous, you'll still feel awkward and like you don't fit in, but in front of a bigger audience, which amplifies the problem rather than solving it.

NS: That was one of the biggest takeaways of the book, that you meet all these people who think money and fame are going to cure their problems, and it just amplifies your problems. I think two takeaways are, A, fix your problems now because they'll get worse if you become more famous or more wealthy. The second one is the celebrities who weren't raised with unconditional love, who weren't raised with at least a parent who they knew loved them when they were growing up, then seek that love so aggressively from the world that it backfires and it becomes sort of pathetic. So besides having faith in something, those were the two other axioms of becoming stable when you become more famous.

NP: What were your parents like?

NS: One always grows up and thinks they're in the most miserable shitty situation, which I definitely felt, but at least it came from love, even if the intentions and the actions were misguided. In my book Rules of the Game I put: "Dedicated to your parents. You may want to blame them for what's wrong with you, but don't forget to give them credit for what's right with you."

I think that was the motto in the end, that's the way I came to understand my parents...I mean I definitely give them credit for the - let's just say the lack of self-esteem that led to the relentless pursuit of women in The Game. I'll have to also give them credit for the drive and intelligence and excitement about literature and writing as well...

NP: Putting together an anthology is very much a way of closing a chapter on a life. Are you now thinking about your own end game?

NS: I definitely think this is the way to wrap up the chapter on it. I think I've gone through a couple things...for example I used to do a lot of reviews and I stopped reviewing altogether one day. It was probably a consequence of becoming a writer and getting reviewed myself. It was also partly talking to musicians after you've reviewed them and discussing the reviews and realizing that any time someone records a record or makes something they put their heart into it. They care about it. They don't put it out because they think it's shitty. So who are you to say this is three stars or four stars, or this is good, this is bad. Obviously it was something true to themselves.

Kenny G, for example, when his new record came out, I knew I could have reviewed him for The New York Times and it would have been a typical kind of slam, but I thought why don't I meet this guy and see what he's about. What I learned is Kenny G is playing what he feels. That's his personality. It's kind of gentle and kind of soft. There's not a real dark side. He's a sweet person and he's playing sweet, gentle, vapid music because that's on some level [who he is]. I realize I'm sounding condescending, and maybe I am, because I'm a more dark person than Kenny G unfortunately. I'm sure I'd be happier if I wasn't. But I thought I've got to respect Kenny G because he's playing what he feels.

So you realize those things and so I stopped reviewing, and I think this anthology was, on some level, closing the door on the interviewing/profiling part of life. Because looking back on all those articles, no matter how you want to rationalize it as a public service or art, you're really part of a promotional machine in the end. So I wanted to close the door on that and really try to focus on writing the books that I'm passionate about.

NP: So is the cover feature that you're currently working on for Rolling Stone going to be one of your last?

NS: Yeah, that's the plan. At this point I'll only interview someone if it's someone who I really, really, really want to meet and really want to get inside their head, and I have enough time to be allowed to do that. I won't turn down a Jack Nicholson feature, but I will turn down a Justin Bieber feature.

Everyone Loves You When You're Dead: Journeys into Fame and Madness comes out via It Books on March 15, 2011.

Neil Strauss will be the special in-studio guest on SuicideGirls Radio next Sunday, March 13. Listen live at 10 PM PST on Indie1031.com/.

by Keith Daniels Today is π day, 3/14, as we reckon dates in the US. On an even geekier level, using the European method of writing the day and then the month (e.g. 14/3), today is, as noted by Bad Astronomy’s Phil Plait, “the sum of 3 consecutive primes (43+47+53), and also of 5 consecutive primes... more

by Keith Daniels

Today is π day, 3/14, as we reckon dates in the US. On an even geekier level, using the European method of writing the day and then the month (e.g. 14/3), today is, as noted by Bad Astronomy’s Phil Plait, “the sum of 3 consecutive primes (43+47+53), and also of 5 consecutive primes (11+13+17+19+23+29+31).”

Today would have also been Albert Einstein’s 132nd birthday. By coincidence, Pi figures prominently in Einstein’s field equations, “10 equations in Albert Einstein’s general theory of relativity which describe the fundamental interaction of gravitation as a result of spacetime being curved by matter and energy.” Heavy stuff, that, but Einstein’s theories are the foundation of the scientific knowledge that has allowed the development of GPS systems (the effects of the satellites’ movement relative to observers on Earth must be accounted for), the gravitational microlensing that allows astronomers to see otherwise unobservably faint or distant objects, and, ahem, nuclear power — amongst many other wonders. Science is badass.



With Japan and nuclear power very much in our minds this week, it’s worth noting what Einstein considered the, “one great mistake in my life… when I signed the letter to President Roosevelt recommending that atom bombs be made..”

Unfortunately, the one quote most people remember of Einstein’s, if they know any at all, came from one of his letters in which he said, “I, at any rate, am convinced that He does not throw dice.” This is usually paraphrased as, “God does not play dice,” and taken to indicate that the famous genius held some sort of belief in a God who ordered the universe. This attribution became famous even during Einstein’s own life, causing him to respond publicly, “It was, of course, a lie what you read about my religious convictions, a lie which is being systematically repeated. I do not believe in a personal God and I have never denied this but have expressed it clearly. If something is in me which can be called religious then it is the unbounded admiration for the structure of the world so far as our science can reveal it.”

Image courtesy of thisisnotporn.net/

by Greg Palast I need to speak to you, not as a reporter, but in my former capacity as lead investigator in several government nuclear plant fraud and racketeering investigations. I don’t know the law in Japan, so I can’t tell you if Tokyo Electric Power Co (TEPCO) can plead insanity to the homicides... more

by Greg Palast

I need to speak to you, not as a reporter, but in my former capacity as lead investigator in several government nuclear plant fraud and racketeering investigations.

I don’t know the law in Japan, so I can’t tell you if Tokyo Electric Power Co (TEPCO) can plead insanity to the homicides about to happen.

But what will Obama plead? The Administration, just months ago, asked Congress to provide a $4 billion loan guarantee for two new nuclear reactors to be built and operated on the Gulf Coast of Texas — by Tokyo Electric Power and local partners. As if the Gulf hasn’t suffered enough.

Here are the facts about Tokyo Electric and the industry you haven’t heard on CNN:

The failure of emergency systems at Japan’s nuclear plants comes as no surprise to those of us who have worked in the field.

Nuclear plants the world over must be certified for what is called “SQ” or “Seismic Qualification.” That is, the owners swear that all components are designed for the maximum conceivable shaking event, be it from an earthquake or an exploding Christmas card from Al Qaeda.

The most inexpensive way to meet your SQ is to lie. The industry does it all the time. The government team I worked with caught them once, in 1988, at the Shoreham plant in New York. Correcting the SQ problem at Shoreham would have cost a cool billion, so engineers were told to change the tests from ‘failed’ to ‘passed.’



The company that put in the false safety report? Stone & Webster, now the nuclear unit of Shaw Construction which will work with Tokyo Electric to build the Texas plant, Lord help us.

There’s more.

Last night I heard CNN reporters repeat the official line that the tsunami disabled the pumps needed to cool the reactors, implying that water unexpectedly got into the diesel generators that run the pumps.

These safety back-up systems are the ‘EDGs’ in nuke-speak: Emergency Diesel Generators. That they didn’t work in an emergency is like a fire department telling us they couldn’t save a building because “it was on fire.”

What dim bulbs designed this system? One of the reactors dancing with death at Fukushima Station 1 was built by Toshiba. Toshiba was also an architect of the emergency diesel system.

Now be afraid. Obama’s $4 billion bail-out-in-the-making is called the South Texas Project. It’s been sold as a red-white-and-blue way to make power domestically with a reactor from Westinghouse, a great American brand. However, the reactor will be made substantially in Japan by the company that bought the US brand name, Westinghouse — Toshiba.

I once had a Toshiba computer. I only had to send it in once for warranty work. However, it’s kind of hard to mail back a reactor with the warranty slip inside the box if the fuel rods are melted and sinking halfway to the earth’s core.

TEPCO and Toshiba don’t know what my son learned in 8th grade science class: tsunamis follow Pacific Rim earthquakes. So these companies are real stupid, eh? Maybe. More likely is that the diesels and related systems wouldn’t have worked on a fine, dry afternoon.

Back in the day, when we checked the emergency back-up diesels in America, a mind-blowing number flunked. At the New York nuke, for example, the builders swore under oath that their three diesel engines were ready for an emergency. They’d been tested. The tests were faked, the diesels run for just a short time at low speed. When the diesels were put through a real test under emergency-like conditions, the crankshaft on the first one snapped in about an hour, then the second and third. We nicknamed the diesels, “Snap, Crackle and Pop.”

(Note: Moments after I wrote that sentence, word came that two of three diesels failed at the Tokai Station as well.)

In the US, we supposedly fixed our diesels after much complaining by the industry. But in Japan, no one tells Tokyo Electric to do anything the Emperor of Electricity doesn’t want to do.

I get lots of confidential notes from nuclear industry insiders. One engineer, a big name in the field, is especially concerned that Obama waved the come-hither check to Toshiba and Tokyo Electric to lure them to America. The US has a long history of whistleblowers willing to put themselves on the line to save the public. In our racketeering case in New York, the government only found out about the seismic test fraud because two courageous engineers, Gordon Dick and John Daly, gave our team the documentary evidence.

In Japan, it’s simply not done. The culture does not allow the salary-men, who work all their their lives for one company, to drop the dime.

Not that US law is a wondrous shield: both engineers in the New York case were fired and blacklisted by the industry. Nevertheless, the government (local, state, federal) brought civil racketeering charges against the builders. The jury didn’t buy the corporation’s excuses and, in the end, the plant was, thankfully, dismantled.

Am I on some kind of xenophobic anti-Nippon crusade? No. In fact, I’m far more frightened by the American operators in the South Texas nuclear project, especially Shaw. Stone & Webster, now the Shaw nuclear division, was also the firm that conspired to fake the EDG tests in New York. (The company’s other exploits have been exposed by their former consultant, John Perkins, in his book, Confessions of an Economic Hit Man.)

If the planet wants to shiver, consider this: Toshiba and Shaw have recently signed a deal to become world-wide partners in the construction of nuclear stations.

The other characters involved at the South Texas Plant that Obama is backing should also give you the willies. But as I’m in the middle of investigating the American partners, I’ll save that for another day.

So, if we turned to America’s own nuclear contractors, would we be safe? Well, two of the melting Japanese reactors, including the one whose building blew sky high, were built by General Electric of the Good Old US of A.

After Texas, you’re next. The Obama Administration is planning a total of $56 billion in loans for nuclear reactors all over America.

And now, the homicides:

CNN is only interested in body counts, how many workers burnt by radiation, swept away or lost in the explosion. These plants are now releasing radioactive steam into the atmosphere. Be skeptical about the statements that the “levels are not dangerous.” These are the same people who said these meltdowns could never happen. Over years, not days, there may be a thousand people, two thousand, ten thousand who will suffer from cancers induced by this radiation.

In my New York investigation, I had the unhappy job of totaling up post-meltdown “morbidity” rates for the county government. It would be irresponsible for me to estimate the number of cancer deaths that will occur from these releases without further information; but it is just plain criminal for the Tokyo Electric shoguns to say that these releases are not dangerous. Indeed, the fact that residents near the Japanese nuclear plants were not issued iodine pills to keep at the ready shows TEPCO doesn’t care who lives and who dies whether in Japan or the USA. The carcinogenic isotopes that are released at Fukushima are already floating to Seattle with effects we simply cannot measure.

Heaven help us. Because Obama won’t.

***

Greg Palast is the co-author of Democracy and Regulation, the United Nations ILO guide for public service regulators, with Jerrold Oppenheim and Theo MacGregor. Palast has advised regulators in 26 states and in 12 nations on the regulation of the utility industry.

Palast, whose reports can be seen on BBC Television Newsnight, is a Puffin Foundation Writing Fellow for investigative reporting. Visit GregPalast.com for more info.