During our previous conversation with Chuck Palahniuk, which occurred shortly before the publication of his Sunset Boulevard-inspired book, Tell All, he spoke about how the ultimate name to drop was God’s. For this interview, we reconvene to discuss the domain of the G-man’s nemesis –– Hell ––... more

During our previous conversation with Chuck Palahniuk, which occurred shortly before the publication of his Sunset Boulevard-inspired book, Tell All, he spoke about how the ultimate name to drop was God’s. For this interview, we reconvene to discuss the domain of the G-man’s nemesis –– Hell –– which serves as the setting for Palahniuk’s wickedly inspired new novel, Damned.

According to Damned’s canon, evolution is hokum and Charles Darwin is resigned to hellfire and damnation alongside Jimi Hendrix, Marilyn Monroe, and the entire Kennedy clan. Turns out you can end up there by committing all manner of trivial shit, such as dropping the f-bomb or honking your horn one too many times. Worshipping the wrong god will also land you in the hot spot, as will suffering the inconvenience of being a deposed one (thus the likes of Thor can also be found hanging out downstairs).

The topography of Palahniuk’s netherworld features a greasy Dandruff Desert, Great Plains of Discarded Razor Blades, a Swamp of Partial-birth Abortions, a Lake of Tepid Bile, and the Great Ocean of Wasted Sperm (where in Hell, “porn is creating an effect equivalent to that of global warming on earth”). Those that find themselves there have two main career options: pornography or telemarketing.

The narrative of Damned follows Madison Spencer, the somewhat chubby, eternally optimistic13-year old progeny of a self-obsessed Hollywood star and a billionaire businessman. As a reflection of her mother’s glamour, Madison is an abject failure, however, the upside of her troubled childhood is that after a lifetime (albeit a short one) of electrolysis and herbal high colonics, Hell holds little terror for her.

Having been resigned to Hell after inhaling marijuana, and eschewing an eternity being "ogled by millions of men with serious intimacy problems," Madison finds gainful employment in telemarketing, an occupation that she finds unexpectedly fulfilling. Ensconced in one of Hell’s endless call centers, which has banks of phones that are programmed to auto-dial the earthbound specifically at dinnertime, Madison finds redemption. The question is, ultimately, will she want it?

Being in the business of asking people questions for a living, I felt a certain affinity with Madison. For the start of my conversation with Palahniuk, it therefore seemed only appropriate to borrow a little something from her telemarketing script…

Chuck Palahniuk: Hello.

Nicole Powers: Are you there, Chuck?

CP: Yes, I am.

NP: It's me, Nicole Powers, calling from Suicide Girls. Do you have time for a few questions?

CP: I do. How thrilling!

NP: You're not eating dinner I hope.

CP: I never eat anything.

NP: Damn! So there's not some tasty hot meal that's going to be coagulating as we talk?

CP: [laughs] I didn't get that reference. Ask me about Q-Tips. Ask me about paint samples.

NP: Paint samples?

CP: I was trying to think of anything mundane.

NP: Well, according to your book, statistically speaking, I must be in Hell, because Hell's apparently responsible for 85% of the internet's total smut content, and right now SG's probably contributing heartily to raising the level of the Great Ocean of Wasted Sperm.

CP: [laughs]

NP: So the only logical conclusion that I can draw is that I have to be calling from some call center in Hell specifically created for the 100% of journalists that you say end up there.

CP: [laughs] Oh, I thought for sure you were going to say that you were a redhead. I had such a backlash from redheads about that.

NP: Well you know redheads are the new blondes.

CP: They are?

NP: Yes. When we did a survey [on hair color preference], redheads actually came out on top above blondes.

CP: Ah! Well, I know a lot of redheads that I can make happy now after making them really pissed off.

NP: How are you dealing with the ginger backlash?

CP: Boy, don't shoot the messenger, OK. It's not my fault. I'm just reporting here...I think redheads already know what they've got going. Too many cards already.

NP: This book is very tongue-in-cheek. In it you satire the arbitrary-ness of much of religious doctrine. A lot of what you're saying, I assume, is facetious. You get a sense of what you don't mean from the text, but you have to read in between the lines to try and figure out what you do believe. Would you agree with that?

CP: Entirely...Do you remember the Left Behind books that were for the Christians? They bought them by the millions because it made them right...They're these books that reinforce what people already believe, and I wanted to write a religious Left Behind series, but for secular liberals.

Yeah, it is. Madison has this line about how she'll tell you everything about herself except for the truth, and that's kind of the whole theme of the book -- that all the most true things are never going to be said out loud.

NP: As I was reading the book I was trying to figure out what your personal belief structure is. Is that something that you're willing to expand on or is that something that you'd like to leave up in the air?

CP: I'm going to leave it up in the air because I've got two more books to write in the series and I just don't want to let that genie out of the bottle before book number three.

NP: Without giving too much away, there is a "To be continued..." at the end of this one. Does that mean that we're going to see Madison back for two more books?

CP: Exactly! It's The Lord of the Rings kind of. It's based on Dante's Inferno. In the next book she is in purgatory. In the third book she gets to heaven. Things don't really improve much, but she moves along.

NP: I like the idea that you explore that Hell is more of a detox or a rehab spot. There's a quote where you talk about all of the things that you have to give up before you can go to Heaven...The meaningless things that we hold close. I often think about the lies that we tell ourselves and the truths that we ignore to make our lives bearable...What are the lies that you tell yourself?

CP: Wow! The lies that I tell myself? That I'm going to get through this. That if I can just make enough money, or if I can just write a book that's funny enough, or that reaches enough people, that I won't die. I'm not going to die. That's always the big, big lie -- that somehow I can transcend death.

NP: I think that's the goal of every artist, to leave something behind that's eternal.

CP: Every artist or every religious person or every parent. That's how [Martin] Heidegger talked about it. Those were the three main ways in which we sought immortality: through art, procreation, or through spirituality.

NP: [To paraphrase,] you just said earlier that you wanted to write a book [that would make you immortal], but you've already done that. The body of work that you already have has earned you that status.

CP: You know, years ago, maybe when I was 17 or 18, my grandmother got breast cancer and she called each of us grandkids and she said, "What are your three favorite colors? I'm going to knit you an afghan. I'm going to make everyone an afghan in their three favorite colors before I die so that you have something to remember me by." Of course she didn't die. It was dealt with, she lived 20 or 30 more years. Shortly before she actually did die a few years ago, she visited and she saw that afghan that she made and she was just mortified that this thing was her quest for immortality. She tried to get it back from me and she insisted that she could make me a better one. "Please don't let that be your memory of me. I've got to make you a better afghan." And so with every book it's me saying to people, "Let's forget the last one. I've got to make you a better afghan."

NP: I would say that you've already made some pretty damn perfect afghans, but I know that's probably, as an artist, not what you want to hear because you always want to be able to improve.

CP: I can make you a better one. Let me try.

NP: I'll let you try.

I also love this idea that you raise about whether it's blind faith that gets you into heaven or whether it's good deeds...I like to think that if there is a God he wouldn't be an asshole, and if you're doing good deeds for the right reasons, which is because it's the right thing to do, then that should take precedence above someone that's just doing something nice to get a spot on the VIP list.

CP: Exactly. Those people who actually do things because they loved them in high school, versus those people who did things because they looked good on their college applications -- that's the difference.

NP: I've always thought that, in a way, believing or not, or picking a religion like picking a sports team is kind of redundant. As long as you're leading the best life you can, a higher power wouldn't be a dick. He [or she] would see that and let you in. It's like you can't lose as long as you're not a dick.

CP: Yeah, but religion does give you access to a community of people and it brings you together in a mutual and peer-supported way, like any kind of 12-step group, so that you can be accountable and you can state your goals to a group of people who will hold you accountable. I like that aspect of religion.


NP: A friend of Richard Dawkins, R. Elisabeth Cornwell, wrote me an essay on the evolutionary reasons for religion and it was very much about that. As a species we were more successful if we were part of a group. We were safer and we had better access to food, especially as we took up agriculture. So it became important for humans to "believe" and be part of a group, irrespective of whether we really believed.

CP: Also, it allows us to process our experience by converting it into language and make a kind of confession where we debase ourselves in front of our peers so we don't exalt ourselves on an ongoing [basis]. That periodically we invert the power structure and place ourselves on low, and then we're accepted despite the lowest aspects of ourselves, in the same way that people in 12-step groups make their confessions each week and they're accepted back into the community.

NP: I do believe in the function of a church -- when it's functioning well -- but I personally believe that the power of a church is below the roof and not above it.

CP: I do too. I think there's power there, but it's the power the people themselves generate too. So I think we agree on this.

NP: So much of what religion should be about has gotten hijacked by those that focus on the pettiness of it, which is something that you have great fun poking fun at in the book. I'm definitely going to Hell because I've honked my horn too many times, I've dropped the f-bomb way too many times. I don't think I've hit my farting in an elevator quota yet though. That's my one saving grace.

CP: That's kind of the core of the second book in purgatory. Madison has lied to her parents to encourage them to perform these behaviors, and in the second book, when she's stuck back on earth for a year, she realizes that her parents couldn't keep a secret and they founded this enormous major world religion that's based on doing these small inconsiderate rude behaviors, and she's actually made the world an infinitely worse place than it was before.

NP: Madison takes a lie detector test to see if she really should be in Hell or if it's all a big clerical error, and there are lots of questions that are asked that she doesn't know how to answer. She knows what's right in her heart, and then she knows what is written in the Bible -- or what's interpreted as being written in the Bible -- and so she asks this question: "Is God a racist, homophobic, anti-Semitic ass? Or is God testing to see if I am?" I just love that line.

CP: I love that too. It's something I didn't plan. I just thought it was terrific the way that it worked out.

NP: That was just one of those lines that tripped into your head?

CP: Right, like a little Zen koan where you couldn't really resolve it for yourself. I think those things live out in the world like crazy and they stay in people's minds.

NP: It is one of the great paradoxes of religion. Homosexual pastors, for example, when preaching the Bible, must constantly have this conundrum in their heads that can never be answered.

CP: And the idea that they might be speaking to pools of people who are already damned and there is nothing that they can do about them because of predetermination. There's all of those big unanswered questions that are just so much fun to spool out narratives and scenarios with. In a way, I think that is the greatest purpose of storytelling and, as a writer, it's so much fun to tackle these enormous and impossible stories, and to make up answers to them and then to support those answers somehow.

NP: I love the idea that Hell might be of our own choosing. At one point in the book, you make Hell akin to a neighborhood that no one cares about, but that people are capable of sprucing up -- they just have to be aware of that choice.

CP: Right. I think just stating that allows people a sense of power, that they're not just trapped in certain circumstances. They can't change the circumstance, but at least they can change their reaction to it, and that's a really powerful thing to start from.

NP: I often see that when I'm driving around the poor neighborhoods in Los Angeles...some of the homes are beautiful craftsman style houses, and they're just in the worst, most Hellish neighborhoods. You just think about what would happen if, as a group, people saw the potential in their existing world. What might happen if they did a little bit of what Madison did -- putting paper lilies on the sea of shit, so to speak.

CP: In a way, she's doing it all for her parents, because she's recognizing that, as ineffectual as her parents were, their motive was to try to provide her with a better world. She doesn't necessarily have to succeed, but she can at least return the effort by trying to provide them with a better Hell, a better afterlife. What redeems us is maybe not so much succeeding in that effort as it is making the effort for another person. That's one of the things that takes her mind off the fact that she herself is stuck in this awful place. Boy, that sounds lofty. Sorry about that.

NP: Also, just with the way she touches and affects other people. Her friends in Hell start off being a not very pleasant group of people, but through her sheer force of personality, they actually become really good friends and better people. And that goes to the effect that you can have on those around you just by being a little bit more pleasant yourself.

CP: Pleasant and accessible. There's a sense that Madison is denying the drama of the situation and denying a kind of social hierarchy. Everything that occurs is kind of equal for her, and that allows comedy to occur. When you deny the drama or the existing power structure, then comedy occurs.

NP: Madison is a very sympathetic character because of her parents. They have very misguided good intentions. If they do something good it's only ever in front of cameras. You have this line, "The road to Hell is paved in publicity stunts." It reminds me of the uncomfortable feeling I get when I'm at most Hollywood charity events...

CP: It really undermines the idea that anything can be good, and you sort of go back out into your life with a corrupt sense of altruism. That seems like the most insidious part of it, that you quit even believing that goodness is even possible because you always see it harnessed to a project or to publicity, to some sort of capital endeavor. That's the horrible part; you forget that there even is a heaven because it's all about making money or something like that.

NP: When you get some celebrity announcing that they've donated to something, the very fact that they've announced that they've done it diminishes what they've done.

CP: Exactly!

NP: Instead of seeing the beauty in that, and maybe this is a fault of mine, maybe this is me being not very generous of spirit, but I see the cynical side rather than the beauty, which saddens me. Maybe I should be a better person, see the beauty and brush aside my cynicism.

CP: I think that part of becoming a fully actualized adult is recognizing both. Being able to hold that paradox of both in your mind at the same time. Not being completely subsumed by pessimism, but also not being so gullible that you accept all of those things at face value.

NP: This idea of the duality of ideas, that you can hold two opposing ideas in your head and acknowledge them and not necessarily struggle with them –– just recognize they're there and accept them –– that seems to be a very Buddhist stance to take.

CP: In a way, it's a nice skill to have for life itself. You know, you're constantly in the presence of death and you have to deny that or you have to somehow hold the concept of life and death simultaneously. Every time you get on a plane or get in your car or eat something, you could suddenly choke to death and die. How can you live with that possibility without being destroyed by it? Having that skill of holding that possibility in the presence of life is such an important part of not going nuts.

NP: I know the only way that I can live my life -- and this goes back to the lies that we tell ourselves and the truths we ignore -- I have to completely ignore the idea of death. I can't think about it. The way that I live my life is by not confronting death in any way, which is probably not a good thing or a healthy thing.

CP: I think that's probably how the majority of people deal with it. That's also why my books never sell really strong. I always want to throw that possibility out there and play with it and rub people's noses in it maybe a little.

NP: I think that comes from the fact that you have had to deal with death directly in your life through personal tragedy, and I understand that you worked transporting terminally ill people for a while, so you've lived with the line of life and death in a much closer way. You have a much closer relationship to it than most.

CP: I've been developing all these different strategies, or ways of looking at it, ways of perceiving it without either denying it, dismissing it, or being shut down by it; finding all of these different ways to re-perceive it and to use the awareness of it to live a better life.

NP: How do you perceive death for yourself? Is it something that you're at peace with or horrified about?

CP: In a way, I'm kind of completely looking forward to it because most of the people that I love most in the world are dead. It seems like a club or a place where everyone I love has gone and I can't wait to be with them. But at the same time, I'm not going to use that as an excuse not to live my life and enjoy everything right now. It makes right now feel a lot more like a game, like something that is really here to take advantage of.

NP: There is a theme that Madison revisits several times in the book where she talks about how the living feel superior to the dead. Is that something that you feel?

CP: I think that's something that people have to feel. It's a defensive posture where you have to ridicule and dismiss and exclude the dead because, like you were just saying, it's too daunting a thing to consider all the time. We have to exclude it from our daily lives because we have no skills for dealing with it anymore. Especially now that so much of religious narrative has been dismissed. People used to have a way of framing those issues and dealing with them. Now they don't so those issues are even more frightening.

NP: That's something that I'd not even thought about, but there was a formalized way with religion of dealing with and acknowledging death. Without religion, people get put in boxes and put in the ground or in an oven, and we just brush it off and move on. I think religion maybe served a function in that it forced us to confront death.

CP: It provided a comfort and structure for how to live that portion of our lives and how to deal with that when it occurs to people that we cared about. Without that structure, without that comfort, we become much more panicked and reactionary, and that part of our lives becomes much more chaotic and full of suffering when it didn't need to be.

NP: Expanding on that, given that religion and religious ceremony helps people confront death, and that a funeral is very much about not so much remembering the dead, but is about being a form of group therapy for the living -- have you planned your own funeral? Because it is the final gift that you leave to the living.

CP: I really haven't. I'm haunted, in a way, by F. Scott Fitzgerald, who made such enormous plans for his funeral, mapped them all out, scripted them. They were going to cost a fortune, and by the time he died he was completely in obscurity and had no money, and so he ended up being buried in very modest circumstances. All of his plans were ridiculous in the face of how he was actually was buried. So that tempers me making those kinds of plans.

NP: It seems like you believe in an afterlife because you very much hope that you're going to be reunited with your loved ones. I guess everyone has a creative visualization of what it would be like. I know that in this book you're giving a very tongue-in-cheek, facetious view, what's more the glimmer of reality that you actually see?

CP: That's going to be in the third Madison [book]. Again, I don't want to go there until I have to go there. If you become too attached to that vision you're no longer in the present moment, and so I just try not to live that far in the future.

NP: There's a line in the book, "I can't believe there's no wifi in Hell." It's a joke, but no wifi, that's Hell on earth for me...What's your similar idea of Hell on earth?

CP: When people that I care about are suffering and I can't do anything, that is the most unbearable. When you have to be present to the upset of people you love, a health crisis or any kind of suffering, and you can't relieve it. That is Hell.

NP: I feel so bad because I know that you've had a lot of that in your life, and I'm so sorry.

CP: You know, it gives me books. It's another reason why I keep writing. Writing gives me a way to process each of these unbearable situations.

NP: Well, finally, a lot people in the SuicideGirls community were excited that we were going to be talking with you today, so some of our Facebook friends submitted questions. Is it okay if I ask you a few questions from the community?

CP: Sure.

NP: The first question is from Lindsay Mchugh. She asks: Is there a particular character you most identify with?

CP: From now on it will be Madison Spencer. Madison Desert Flower Rosa Parks Coyote Trickster Spencer, that fat little girl who reads books.

NP: The next question is from Johnny Reid: Do you find it more enjoyable to write female or male protagonists in your books, and which is easier or more comfortable?

CP: I kind of see them as equal because I almost write genderless characters. Madison is preadolescent and so she's genderless in that way. The narrator in my last book was a very old woman so she was kind of post gender, or post genitally sexual. Beyond that, my characters are pretty much based on action, so I see their names as either male or female, but I don't see them as one gender or the other.

NP: This question is from Raven Phoenix: Would you ever consider writing a sequel to Fight Club, given the popularity of the book and the movie?

CP: Of course I would consider it, but there's so many other great ideas out there that I would love to explore instead of that.

NP: This one's from Joby Cole: I'm a big fan of Snuff and would like to know which character you sympathize with the most and why?

CP: The Sheila character, the one who is kind of pulling all of the strings. I think it's the writer who is making things happen and setting things up. That's why I identify with Sheila.

NP: You are the puppet master.

CP: You kind of have to be.

NP: And a final question from Cara Stevens: "Are you still an insomniac?"

CP: No, I'm not. I discovered Ambien, so I more or less asleep all the time now, day and night.

NP: Do dreams help you write?

CP: No, but the best time to write is when I first wake up in the morning, before I've heard any language, any music, before anybody has talked to me. That is just a fantastic time to write.

NP: I always find that if I write and then sleep on something, I'll wake up in the morning absolutely knowing what I need to fix, what I haven't fact checked or what I've got wrong...In the morning things just bubble to the surface.

CP: I think, going back to religion, that idle time spent sitting in a church, not really doing anything with an overt purpose, functions in that same way. It relaxes the mind. The Hindus might say that it allows you access to elephant mind, a kind of deeper understanding, or a deeper thinking than the every day chattering monkey mind would provide. I think that stillness that you're talking about allows you access. It's similar to what happens in a really good church.

NP: I haven't thought of it that way, but I think you're probably right. I know that when I'm not ready to write I go do something else. I'll clean the toilet or walk the dog. The best stuff happens when you're not trying to think about it, because you're letting your subconscious function in the way that it's supposed to.

CP: And your hands are occupied. You're doing a mindless thing where your hands are running themselves doing this thing. Yeah, I totally agree.

NP: What's your favorite little trick like that?

CP: Washing dishes. I'm always washing the dishes. I love that.

NP: That's where the best ideas come from? Washing dishes?

CP: Ironing, of all things, ironing clothes.

NP: I can see that. Ironing is very Zen. Ironing the creases out of things and neatening life.

Well, thank you so much for taking the time out to chat. I really appreciate it. I have to say that I love this book. It set the electrons in my brain firing like you wouldn't believe, just thinking about the big questions.

CP: Thank you, and thanks for making me laugh early on, that's pretty rare.

NP: You are very welcome...It's been an absolute pleasure and I can't wait to read the continuing adventures of Madison. I'm rooting for her.

CP: The next one is better than the first one.

NP: Well, this one was perfection to me.

CP: I can make you a better afghan.

NP: I'll hold you to that. I know you can.

by Steven-Elliot Altman (SG Member: Steven_Altman) Our Fiction Friday serialized novel, The Killswitch Review, is a futuristic murder mystery with killer sociopolitical commentary (and some of the best sex scenes we’ve ever read!). Written by bestselling sci-fi author Steven-Elliot Altman (with Diane... more

by Steven-Elliot Altman (SG Member: Steven_Altman)

Our Fiction Friday serialized novel, The Killswitch Review, is a futuristic murder mystery with killer sociopolitical commentary (and some of the best sex scenes we’ve ever read!). Written by bestselling sci-fi author Steven-Elliot Altman (with Diane DeKelb-Rittenhouse), it offers a terrifying postmodern vision in the tradition of Blade Runner and Brave New World...

By the year 2156, stem cell therapy has triumphed over aging and disease, extending the human lifespan indefinitely. But only for those who have achieved Conscientious Citizen Status. To combat overpopulation, the U.S. has sealed its borders, instituted compulsory contraception and a strict one child per couple policy for those who are permitted to breed, and made technology-assisted suicide readily available. But in a world where the old can remain vital forever, America’s youth have little hope of prosperity.

Jason Haggerty is an investigator for Black Buttons Inc, the government agency responsible for dispensing personal handheld Kevorkian devices, which afford the only legal form of suicide. An armed “Killswitch” monitors and records a citizen’s final moments — up to the point where they press a button and peacefully die. Post-press review agents — “button collectors” — are dispatched to review and judge these final recordings to rule out foul play.

When three teens stage an illegal public suicide, Haggerty suspects their deaths may have been murders. Now his race is on to uncover proof and prevent a nationwide epidemic of copycat suicides. Trouble is, for the first time in history, an entire generation might just decide they’re better off dead.

(Catch up with the previous installments of Killswitch – see links below – then continue reading after the jump…)



[THE KILLSWITCH REVIEW – CHAPTER SIX, PART TWO]

[A NEW FACE ON THINGS]

[Previous Chapter]

[Elsa, review and enhance visual on that last scene, please...]

“What the hell are you doing?” Haggerty shouted, angrily getting to his feet. “She’s in no condition to make a run for it.”

Sharyn covered her face, her sobs graduating to keening moans.

Corbin smiled tightly. “Sorry, Haggerty,” she said.

As Haggerty realized the drawn weapon wasn’t for Sharyn, the room went black.

Corbin fired. The shot went wide in the dark. Sharyn screamed.

Then nothing.

The lights came on again. Elsa stood over Corbin’s crumpled, unconscious form.

“I judged agent Corbin’s actions to be dangerous to your well-being, and incapacitated her,” Elsa told him. “Forgive me for taking so long. I should have begun polygraphing her the moment she hit the girl; however, I am only capable of testing one subject at a time.”

Haggerty thanked God for the loyalty chip.

“Your actions were quite appropriate, Elsa,” he said. “Take Corbin’s stunner, her com, and everything in her pockets. And find something to bind her hands and feet.”

He turned to Sharyn, who was pressed against the wall as if trying to burrow into the plaster.

“It’s okay,” he told her calmly. “You’ll be safe now. I’m sorry agent Corbin hurt you. As you can see, she’s no friend of ours either.”

“Jason, look at this,” Elsa called.

Haggerty moved to where Elsa knelt over Corbin. The junior agent’s shirt was undone, exposing blisterbrandings etched into one shoulder and a blisterbrand design on the opposite hip, above the waistband of her pants.

“This is truly fucked up,” he said.

He returned to Sharyn.

“Please let me go,” the girl begged him.

“I plan to,” Haggerty said, squeezing her arm comfortingly, “as soon as you tell me what you know. But first we have to get out of here, before the police arrive.”

* * *

Sharyn quickly rummaged through her clothes, dressed, and threw some personal items into a small travel bag. Either she had sobered up or Happy Sticks left her clear-minded enough to know where her best interests lay — more likely the former, Haggerty surmised. He lifted the notebook off the desk.

“Is this Regina’s?” he asked Sharyn.

“It’s all her crackware and computer shit.”

Haggerty took the notebook and the holograph, then hurried Elsa and Sharyn out of the tiny pairplex shrine to Clone Jesus, past the bound and unconscious Corbin.

The Westside denizens paid little heed to the trio as they sped along the streets. They finally stopped at a dimly lit dive where they could refresh themselves briefly and talk.

“I need you to help me help your friends, Sharyn,” Haggerty said, quietly but intently, once they were settled. “Please tell me where you and Traci work.”

Her anguished expression told Haggerty she was truly terrified.

“Think of Traci,” he implored. “Think of what they did to Teardrop and Sunset. Help me!”

“All right,” she finally said. “I don’t want to see anyone else die. We work for the Society of the Last Supper. It’s an after-hours club run by the Triads.”

The Triads were the only organized crime leagues remaining in NewVada. The understaffed police generally left them to their own devices because they ensured that no petty crimes or offenses to tourists were committed on their turf. What could be going on at this club that merited their involvement?

Haggerty asked Sharyn.

“I don’t know,” she said. “Traci says it’s a members-only restaurant. I’ve never been inside. I just deliver invitations.”

Haggerty looked to Elsa, who nodded that Sharyn was telling the truth.

“How do you get the invitations?” he asked.

“I pick them up from a guy, an ex-footballer, at the Orphanage.”

“I’ve been there,” Haggerty said.

Sharyn lowered her head and dug a fingernail into the pad of her thumb. “He hands me the invites,” she continued, “and the list telling me where to deliver them. And my credits for working the last run. I destroy the list afterward, so there’s nothing to tie me to what’s going on.”

And nothing to tie the club’s owners to Sharyn, Haggerty thought.

“I’d need one of these invitations to get inside?” Haggerty asked. “They won’t know how I got there,” he reassured her, responding to her obvious alarm. “And you’ll be safely on your way. I promise, Sharyn.”

“I made my last run before I dosed. I don’t have any left.”

Elsa again confirmed she was telling the truth.

“Do you remember where you went tonight? Can you give me any names, addresses?”

Sharyn retrieved a lipstick case from her bag. She swiveled it up, unlatched a small compartment, and pried out a thin scrap of paper.

“I was gonna burn this after I dosed,” she said, offering it to Haggerty.

He ran his eyes down the list.

“Thank you, Sharyn,” Haggerty said. “Tell me, is Traci also a delivery girl?”

“Until a couple weeks ago. She got promoted inside. You’ll have to ask her about it — if you find her.”

“All right then. Where is this Society of the Last Supper club?”

“Sinatra and Main,” she whispered.

Vegas District, of course. “What time do they open?”

“Three o’clock.”

“You’ve been very helpful, Sharyn,” Haggerty said. “Now let’s get you out of here.” He extracted several hundred credits from his wallet and handed them to the girl. “That’s enough to get you out of NewVada, over the California border into Ridgecrest or Porterville.” He smiled at Sharyn.

“Thank you!” she said.

Haggerty and Elsa watched Sharyn leave the dive and flag down a taxi. As the cab jetted off, Haggerty looked around to see if they were being observed. Satisfied that they were not, he turned to Elsa.

We need to remain inconspicuous, he linked, and handed her the list. Run a search on these people. Find someone male who isn’t likely to be already on his way to the club.

Haggerty knew from his once-over that there were about twenty names on the list, each with an address and a time.

“So we’re going to this Society of the Last Supper?” Elsa asked him as she processed.

Haggerty nodded. “What do you have?”

“There are five names for male individuals not scheduled to arrive at the club for at least another hour.”

“Whose address is closest?”

“Edward Stevens.”

“We need to know if he’s at home.”

Elsa returned to linking. Jason, I must remind you that I am not authorized to access public surveillance systems.

I know, Elsa, he linked back.

And you wish me to proceed anyway?

Like all androids, Elsa had an ethics program preventing her from breaking the law. How much of that programming was negated by Elsa’s loyalty chip? She might already have overridden the hierarchy directive deterring an android from purposefully harming a human being, when she’d downed Corbin. But Haggerty had no way of knowing how far he could push her boundaries. Until he tried and failed.

He nodded.

May I request an explanation of why this is necessary, Jason?

Haggerty couldn’t help feeling pleased with her hesitation, having honored and followed the law himself for a lifetime — which Elsa knew from having worked with him a good part of it. He’d forbidden Elsa ever to polygraph him, and to his knowledge she had never disobeyed that command. He instructed her to polygraph him now, just this once, then proceeded to remind her that she had been with him when Regina first accosted them on the BBI quad and he had provided the keycard that led them to the pairplex, where Corbin had turned against him after seemingly rescuing them before. And why save us from Woyzeck only to turn us over to him again? Unless both Corbin and the detective had reason to keep something from the Feds that Haggerty knew or had in his possession — something damning to their own careers: the triple press recordings. Hadn’t Corbin confirmed that Elsa still had them uploaded before calling Woyzeck and producing the stungun? Did Elsa doubt that they were probably the only copies left? Moreover, Zabrowski had been alive when they’d left for precinct headquarters, and Consuela had told the world that Haggerty had killed him just before Corbin showed up — to save them, she claimed, but more likely to prevent them from evading Woyzeck and find out what she needed to know before taking them back into custody. And just what did Corbin’s blisterbrands imply? Their only chance was to find out the truth, and they could only do it if Elsa continued to help him.

Elsa cocked her head, computing Haggerty knew not what. He waited tensely, hoping her loyalty chip could withstand the strain.

“Edward Stevens is not at home,” she finally said. “But Sasha DeAngelo is.”

Haggerty wasn’t sure if he was relieved or chagrined that the PLC seemed to trump Elsa’s ethics program, and that she had circumvented the security codes protecting sensitive data in less than five minutes.

* * *

Excerpt from The Killswitch Review, published by Yard Dog Press. Copyright 2011 Steven-Elliot Altman.

Steven-Elliot Altman is a bestselling author, screenwriter, and videogame developer. He won multiple awards for his online role playing game, 9Dragons. His novels include Captain America is Dead, Zen in the Art of Slaying Vampires, Batman: Fear Itself, Batman: Infinite Mirror, The Killswitch Review, The Irregulars, and Deprivers. His writing has been compared to that of Stephen King, Dean Koontz, Michael Crichton and Philip K. Dick, and he has collaborated with world class writers such as Neil Gaiman, Michael Reaves, Harry Turtledove and Dr. Janet Asimov. He’s also the editor of the critically acclaimed anthology The Touch, and a contributor to Shadows Over Baker Street, a Hugo Award winning anthology of Sherlock Holmes meets H.P. Lovecraft stories.

Steven also bares ink on his body, and is bi, as in bi-coastal, between NYC and LA. He’s currently hard at work writing and directing his latest videogame Cursed Love, an online free to play gothic horror RPG from Dark Hermit Studios, set in Victorian London. Think Sherlock Holmes, Jack The Ripper and Dorian Gray mercilessly exploit the cast of Twilight. Friend Cursed Love (Official Closed Beta) on facebook and you can have fun playing out this tawdry, tragic romance with Steven while the game is being beta tested!

Diane DeKelb-Rittehouse spent several years in Manhattan as an actress before marrying her college sweetheart and returning to the Philadelphia area where she had been born. Diane first worked with Steven-Elliot Altman when they created the acclaimed, Publisher’s Weekly Starred-Review anthology The Touch: Epidemic of the Millennium, in which her story “Gifted” appeared. Diane has published a number of critically acclaimed short stories, most notably in the science fiction, murder, and horror genres. Her young adult fantasy novel, Fareie Rings: The Book of Forests, is now available in stores or online.

Interested in buying a printed copy of The Killswitch Review? Well, Steve’s publisher Yard Dog Press was kind enough to put up a special page where SuicideGirls can get a special discount and watch a sexy trailer. Just follow this link to KillswitchReview.com and click on the SG logo.

* * *

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The fiercely individual Madonna once observed that “life is a mystery” and “everyone must stand alone.” But for some that is tragically not possible. Conjoined twins Evelyn and Evelyn Neville (a.k.a. Evelyn Evelyn) are two such people; their uninvited union – and the uniqueness of their in many... more

The fiercely individual Madonna once observed that “life is a mystery” and “everyone must stand alone.” But for some that is tragically not possible. Conjoined twins Evelyn and Evelyn Neville (a.k.a. Evelyn Evelyn) are two such people; their uninvited union – and the uniqueness of their in many ways non-individual state – being both a blessing and a curse.

To say Evelyn Evelyn have had a tough upbringing would be a gross understatement. The pair lost their mother 12 minutes after their traumatic birth, and their early life took a nosedive from there. The girls’ father fell victim to an unlikely chainsaw accident shortly after their mother’s untimely demise, and thus the orphaned twins were left with only each other to rely on as they made their way in this all too cruel world.

Extended stints trapped in a chicken coup and held hostage by a child pornography ring meant the girls were robbed of anything approaching a normal childhood –– if that was ever a possibility given their Siamese status. However, after joining a circus and meeting some similarly conjoined pachyderms, Evelyn Evelyn got an inkling that their bond –– far from being a burden –– was something truly beautiful and special.

Having experienced relentless teasing and taunts for much of their life, the Neville sisters’ world was changed radically by the advent of social media. While in a dead end job filling out sweepstakes applications on behalf of an unappreciative motel proprietor, the duo practiced the songs they once performed with the circus and set up a profile on MySpace to showcase them. Unburdened by physical limitations and prejudices online, their music caught the attention of many, including singer, songwriter, and all round entertainer extraordinaire Amanda Palmer.

Inspired by their songs and by their struggle, Amanda recruited renowned folk musician Jason Webley to help with the project. Produced by Palmer and Webley, Evelyn Evelyn released their debut EP, “Elephant Elephant,” in 2007. Their heartfelt rendition of Joy Division’s “Love Will Tear Us Apart” –– which served as the B-side of the vinyl edition –– brought them initial success and critical acclaim. A self-titled album followed in 2010, as did numerous sold out live dates.

Having recently returned from a triumphant stint at the prestigious Edinburgh Festival –– and with respect having firmly replaced ridicule –– Evelyn Evelyn embark on the next chapter in their lives with the release of a graphic novel based on their story. Written by Palmer and Webley, and illustrated by Cynthia von Buhler, it’s naturally being released in two parts (via Dark Horse Comics Inc.). Having not only redefined beauty, but what it means to be an individual, SuicideGirls caught up with Palmer to talk about Evelyn Evelyn.

For this interview SG’s editor, Nicole Powers, recruited her own twin siblings, Brenda Day and Samantha May. Though not conjoined, Brenda and Samantha do everything together and feel as if emotionally they are. They are therefore especially excited that Palmer and Webley are unleashing the power of multiples though their production work, and are exploring what it means to be an individual when you’re also one half of a whole. The following is a transcript of their online conversation…

Brenda Day: Amanda, what inspired you to work with Evelyn Evelyn?

Amanda Palmer: Their MySpace. It was mind-blowing. I'd never heard Jesus Christ Superstar covers sound quite like that.

Samantha May: I know you have struggled to maintain your own sense of individually in a music industry that likes to produce cookie-cutter artists. How has working with Evelyn Evelyn – two individuals who are in essence at one with being one – inspired you?

AP: You know, it's humbling. When you hang around people who are so truly unique, it bends your perspective. The girls really do have their own agenda and stick to their principals. I, on the other hand, can be talked into just about anything. Not them. They're the most authentic, hard-core performers I've ever seen.

BD:In light of Evelyn Evelyn’s plight, it almost seems like an individual’s struggle by comparison to be an individual is somewhat of a luxury. Has working with the Neville twins changed or challenged your own sense of self and your concept of what it means to be an individual?

AP: Absolutely. On the other hand, there's the envy that goes along with it. Wouldn't you love to know, to be known, by An Other so deeply, so perfectly? In a sense, as human beings, we're always striving for that, alongside our race for absolute uniqueness and individuality.

SM:Evelyn Evelyn have had an unlikely and often tragic journey to adulthood. How does their struggle resonate with your own?

AP: Well, I feel it's never fair to measure tragedy, to measure pain. It's not possible and not fair. Everybody deals with their own struggles and difficulties growing up, it's the attitude and the perspective on your drama that shapes you as a person, not the outside world's "measurement" of your plight. So I look at the girls and their journey and think: there it is, another life, another path, and here they are, making art out of their experiences. I don't look at them with pity. Pity is my least favorite four-letter word. Nobody should ever be pitied.

BD:Their childhood was blighted by fate and tragedy, involving death, chicken farms and child pornography. Many might say this is tough – and perhaps even unsuitable material – for comic books. Indeed to use the word “comic” when describing their tragic life story is almost an oxymoron. What inspired and motivated you to translate their tale into this somewhat unlikely art form?

AP: The story is incredibly visually arresting when you hear them deliver it on the record. Jason and I knew that it would be the perfect medium, especially if we found the right artist, and Cynthia nailed it. And as for the suitableness...I don't know about that, I think you could easily find some darker, gorier material in a graphic novel without looking too far.

SM:Evelyn Evelyn are nervous around clowns. Do you share their coulrophobia?

AP: No, though come to think of it, I find them *moderately* unsettling. But it's not a full-on phobia. My best friend has coulrophobia, for real. He also has a weird conspiracy theory that there's a secret race of clowns, called the Culano, who breed with humans and are trying to take over the planet. If you see someone with very curly red hair, suspenders and oversized shoes working at a regular desk job, they may be of Culano descent.

BD:In real life, Evelyn Evelyn’s circus friends Bimba and Kimba a.k.a. Elephant Elephant, the conjoined twin elephants, die. I always hate it when the dog dies in a movie. When crafting the book, were you tempted at all to tweak reality to deliver a more acceptable and palatable tale?

AP: Um, no.

SM:At one point the twins are caught between to factions – F.A.S.S.T.E.N (The Foundation For Always Separating Siamese Twins Everywhere Now) and S.P.L.I.T (The Society for the Preservation of Linked Identical Twins). Are you pro or anti S.P.L.I.T?

AP: I'm not at liberty to say, as both of these factions troll the internet looking to take down celebrities.

BD:Ultimately Evelyn Evelyn’s story is one of acceptance and understanding through music. How important has music been in your own journey towards acceptance?

AP: It's been the ultimate salvation. I'd have been lost without music and the life it's given me.

SM:You recently did a run at the prestigious Edinburgh Festival with the twins. How did that go? And do they have any more immediate touring plans?

AP: They were a smash hit! The whole run was a sell-out and they garnered a handful of four-star reviews. It honestly couldn't have gone better. But now they're very tired and will probably take a few years off. They found the experience of being in the UK very...trying. They didn't like the weather or the food.

BD:Your husband Neil Gaiman, whom SuicideGirls recently spoke with, did the afterward to the book. You’re also going to be doing some live dates with him. How amazing is it to be able to work and create with your soul mate?

AP: It's amazing. I love Neil more and more every day, as we try to make sense of this strange relationship we've embarked on...the relationship itself is our biggest collaboration, and it's an ongoing work in progress. But with each passing day and attempt to understand each other we get closer. Getting married was something I never thought I'd do...it totally blindsided my sense of identity for a while. But now we're settling into an incredible routine.

SM:What can fans expect from the upcoming shows you and Neil are doing together?

AP: Oh, mostly we're just singing songs and telling stories. It's an indoor campfire, basically. With some strippers thrown in for balance. Maybe.

BD:Any more his ‘n’ her collaborations in the works?

AP: We actually have a kind of rule...no big collaborations. The short tour is fine, and doing small things for each other’s books and projects is fine, but anymore than that and we're risking our sense of sanity. We need each other to complain to about our work...and if we're complaining about each other TO each other, we'll come undone.

SM:In a sense, as you and Neil get closer and more in tune, are you becoming almost an Evelyn Evelyn in the sense that in a marriage two become one, and an individual becomes merely a half of a whole?

AP: No. We'll get closer, but my fantasy is that you find your sense of self using your partner as a mirror, not a soul-sucker. I suppose it's all semantics, isn't it.

BD:Do you finish…

SM:Each other’s sentences?

AP: Yes. And we imitate and make fun of each other MERCILESSLY.

BD:Having fought for your own sense of individuality for so long, do you know struggle or embrace the idea of relinquishing it to some extent to be part of a couple?

AP: Funny you should say that....yes. I find it very hard to give up control. Neil is one of the first men in my life that I've been able to completely collapse on, in a good way. Allowing him to take care of me has been one of the biggest growing experiences of my love life.


The Evelyn Evelyn graphic novel is available now via Dark Horse Comics Inc. For more info on the Neville twins visit EvelynEvelyn.com/.

Amanda Palmer and Neil Gaiman are embarking on a co-headlining West Coast tour, kicking off with a Halloween engagement at Wilshire Ebell Theatre in Los Angeles. For full details visit AmandaPalmer.net/

by Damon Martin 2011 was 12-months of non-stop action in the comic book industry. More and more movies are being adapted from comics, while genre TV shows are seeing their ratings go through the roof. For example a whopping 6.6 million viewers tuned in for the mid-season finale of the AMC adapted series... more

by Damon Martin

2011 was 12-months of non-stop action in the comic book industry. More and more movies are being adapted from comics, while genre TV shows are seeing their ratings go through the roof. For example a whopping 6.6 million viewers tuned in for the mid-season finale of the AMC adapted series The Walking Dead.

DC launched the New 52, which essentially scrapped every single comic they had going and restarted all the titles back at issue one with new storylines and new origins. Marvel killed a Spider-Man (although it was in their alternate 'Ultimate' universe) and re-launched popular characters like Daredevil, while still trying to build back The Avengers.

Though it was a long and crazy year for comic books, these are the titles, artists, and writers that I felt stood head and shoulders above the crowd.



Best New Series: The DC 52

I know, I know, it seems like a cop out to choose 52 comics as the best new comic of 2011, but what DC did by rebooting their entire catalog of comics was a brave and dangerous move. They risked alienating long time readers with their attempt to lure new fans. But judging by the millions of issues sold in just the first few months, the brain trust at DC are currently look like geniuses.

Headed up by the marquee series Justice League, written by DC wunderkind Geoff Johns and art legend Jim Lee, the DC 52 series has content that appeals to the everyday fan, as well as edgier, darker material for those looking for a little bit more blood between the pages.

The stand-outs for the new 52 include Gail Simone's take on Batgirl, which has been a fantastic read thus far, as well as Jeff Lemire's Animal Man, which has become one of the best ongoing series in the DC universe. In addition to the successful re-booting of the Green Lantern, with the evil Sinestro wearing the green ring of will once again and Hal Jordan trying to earn his way back into the corp, Geoff Johns has managed to make Aquaman a character people can follow again.

Overall the DC 52 has been a great success for the comic giant, and they deserve this award for having the guts to risk it all. Fortunately, the gamble paid off, and they came up big winners.

Honorable Mentions: Green Wake, Ultimate Spider-Man



Best Writer: Joe Hill

A few years ago Joe Hill may have been best known as the son of legendary horror author Stephen King. Fast forward to 2011, and though he may have got off to a faster start by standing on the shoulders of a giant, with his work on Locke & Key, Hill's now setting the standard for writing in comics entirely on his own merit.

A labyrinth of characters are interwoven into this book about a family that moves into a house with an elaborate set of doors and keys that open into different worlds, while an evil spirit continues to haunt them.

The biggest crime perpetrated against Hill may be that Fox bought the rights to Locke & Key as a new ongoing series. After a pilot was made, Fox decided to scrap the project in favor of other shows. I had the pleasure of watching the pilot at San Diego Comic Con 2011, and I can say with certainty that Fox made a huge mistake not picking this up. Hill has continued to make Locke & Key one of the most enjoyable series on the market today - his storytelling is nothing short of brilliant.

Honorable Mentions: Nick Spencer, Robert Kirkman, Jason Aaron, Mark Waid



Best Artist: J.H. Williams III

For the second year in a row no less! J.H. Williams III really has set the bar for comic book art in recent times. His stunning art is beautiful on page after page of DC’s reboot of Batwoman, and his work continues to excel in every issue. He pushes the envelope in everything he does - so much so that comic book artists all over the world are paying attention to what he is doing. Williams captures the spirit of his characters with every picture and frame within a book, and truly knows how to showcase emotion so no explanatory words are necessary. It might be hard to move on from Williams in 2012 if his work continues along this same stellar path.

Honorable Mentions: Francis Manapul, Gabriel Rodriguez, Jim Lee, Joe Eisma



Best Ongoing Series: Morning Glories

The knockout winner for the 2012 Book Of The Year goes to Nick Spencer and Joe Eisma's creation Morning Glories, which was an honorable mention for best new series in 2011. It's been hailed as the Lost of comic books – there’s a whirlwind in every issue leaving you absolutely begging for more. It's a series that has an ending in sight as Spencer has said the run will go around 100 issues, putting it in line with another classic book, Y the Last Man.

Most believe Morning Glories will be headed to television within the next couple of years, and there's no doubt why. Spencer's story about a group of special teenagers sent to a prestigious high school where the teachers are actually abusive overlords, hiding a deep secret within the walls, is captivating, mind-boggling, and awe inspiring.

From one issue to the next, Spencer leaves your eyes widened and your jaw dropped, and when accompanied by Joe Eisma's perfectly placed art, Morning Glories is a tour de force that quickly draws you in and never slows down.

When my comic pull is given to me at my local store, nothing hits my eyes faster when I get home than Morning Glories. It's the first ongoing series that has captivated me this way since Robert Kirkman began writing The Walking Dead several years ago. If you pick up no other book in 2011, Morning Glories is the one to try out.

Honorable Mentions: The Walking Dead, Locke & Key, Uncanny X-Force.

So there you have it loyal readers, the best of the best in comic books for 2011. I expect 2012 to be even bigger because The Dark Knight Rises will hit movie theaters and I'm sure it will be a huge hit. A new Daredevil comic will hit stores in 2012 as well, with an all-star cast on board for the writing and art, including longtime scribe Brian Michael Bendis and artist David Mack. And with the digital age upon us, the comic book industry is entering a whole new world in 2012, and bigger things are sure to be on the horizon.

by Blogbot (image) [Above: Eveski Suicide] Artist / SG Member Name: NerdMachine (though I prefer to be referred to by my professional name, Lord Sir Adam Markiewicz) Mission Statement: To create comics that you might find interesting, that might make you think, and will hopefully entertain you. (image)... more

by Blogbot


[Above: Eveski Suicide]

Artist / SG Member Name: NerdMachine (though I prefer to be referred to by my professional name, Lord Sir Adam Markiewicz)

Mission Statement: To create comics that you might find interesting, that might make you think, and will hopefully entertain you.



Medium: Depends on the illustration. Generally, I use India ink on Bristol board. Sometimes I use PITT brush pens on Paris paper. All coloring is done in Photoshop.

Aesthetic: American comic art.



Notable Achievements: Last year, I wrote and illustrated Casual Fridays, a short comic for Domai.com. The story sucked, but people seemed to like the art.

Why We Should Care: That's a surprisingly good question.



I Want Me Some: You can find me and my work via my website, blog, Twitter and Facebook. I am available for commission work. You can message me through SuicideGirls, or email me at admancomics@yahoo.com




[Above: Macabria Suicide]


[Above: Milloux Suicide]


[Above: Selene Suicide]

***

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In the late 1990s and early 2000s, General Motors’ EV1s were the Apple Macs of cars. Ahead of their time, they were only driven by an enlightened “different” thinking few, but those that did felt passionately about their high tech machines. A fully electric plug-in vehicle with a range of between... more

In the late 1990s and early 2000s, General Motors’ EV1s were the Apple Macs of cars. Ahead of their time, they were only driven by an enlightened “different” thinking few, but those that did felt passionately about their high tech machines.

A fully electric plug-in vehicle with a range of between 70 and 140 miles depending on model, the EV1 was first introduced into the marketplace in 1996. Available in limited test markets on a closed lease-only basis (whereby no actual purchase was allowed), it was developed by General Motors partly in response to the California Air Resources Board’s requirement that the seven major auto companies in the US had to make at least 2% of their output zero-emission vehicles (ZEV) by 1998 in order to sell any cars within the state (with further graduated steps stipulated up to 10% in 2003).

Though grudgingly produced by General Motors, the vehicle was beloved by the few consumers lucky enough to rise to the top of the company’s reportedly vast waiting list. But it was likely a car that was never intended to succeed. General Motors seemingly put more effort into fighting the CARB mandate in court than meeting existing demand for vehicles or marketing the EV1 to create even more. It was therefore not uncoincidental that the demise of the EV1 occurred in tandem with the gutting of CARB’s ZEV rules. The EV1 program was officially cancelled in 2003, and a total recall was put in motion, with repossessed cars being not only compacted but shredded for good measure too.

A 2006 documentary, Who Killed The Electric Car, chronicled the crushing demise of this groundbreaking car. In it filmmaker Chris Paine highlighted the collusion of the auto industry, oil companies, and politicians, who all had a vested interest in seeing the electric vehicle die an untimely death alongside CARB’s environmentally prudent directives. Catching the zeitgeist, Who Killed The Electric was the third highest grossing documentary that year (Al Gore’s An Inconvenient Truth being the first).

However, a decade after General Motors presided over the funeral of the EV1, the killing of the vehicle has proven to be a costly mistake. With gas prices rising, Toyota filled the rapidly increasing fuel-efficient void with their hybrid Prius, which went on sale in Japan in 1997. Following its worldwide debut in 2001, Toyota have sold over a million Prius cars in the US alone, and the rest of the auto industry has been scrabbling to catch up.

With revenge being served on a platter less than a decade on, Paine and his documentary team were compelled to reexamine the fortunes of the electric vehicle in a follow up film. The first had centered on activists working from outside the industry, with this film Paine chose to follow a diverse group of instigators working from within. Revenge Of The Electric Car therefore features four EV evangelists (some of whom were more recently converted than others) who are attempting to drive the future of the automobile into the present: Bob Lutz (General Motors’ Vice Chairman up until May 2010), Elon Musk (Tesla Motors’s CEO), Carlos Ghosn (Nissan’s President and CEO), and Greg “Gadget” Abbot (a DIY electric engine retro-fitter).

SuicideGirls recently visited Paine at his ultra green home to talk about his cinematic “I told you so” and the electric awakening of a sluggish car industry that was in need of a shock. After checking out the 2008 Tesla Roadster parked in Paine’s garage, the irony was not lost that we were conversing about, and anticipating the dominance of, the gas-free vehicle in the heart of LA’s oil country amidst the pumpjack nodding donkeys of Baldwin Hills.

Nicole Powers: So let’s rewind and talk about the first film, and how all this began.

Chris Paine: Well, I had one of those cars. I had one and then they took it away. I dropped it off to have the tires checked for something, and [the GM dealership representative said], “Oh, you won’t be getting your car back.” I’m like, “My lease still has another nine months.” And he says, “Yeah, well we’re just going to keep it.” I said, “Well can I get my gym bag out of the car?” [He said,] “Oh, It’s already gone.” [I said,] “Well where has it gone?” [He said,] “We can’t tell you where it’s gone.” [I said,] “You can’t tell me where the car is gone?” And then, you know, the car companies were all saying, ”Well nobody wanted these cars…” And we go, this is just not the whole story…

So that film became an issue movie about two things. One about what happened to these cars. Because the trail was so hot, we could actually follow the step by step. I think that what happened when they took out the streetcars in the ‘50s, a lot of those trails got very cold and it was hard to like do it. We took the title from Who Framed Roger Rabbit, which was really about streetcars in Los Angeles. That’s sort of the backstory.

Then we also thought that the film…it could’ve been about a lot of issues, it just happened to be about the electric car, about what happens with corporate lobbies that take over government. They eviscerate really good programs that are in the public good…for whatever corporate reasons they have. We busted both the oil industry through the Western States Petroleum for their astroturf campaigns, where they would pose as consumer groups but really just be the oil companies. They got behind stopping public funding of charging. And then the American Association of Automobile Manufacturers, which was behind trying to gut the regulation for zero emission vehicles.

The challenge of that film was to make an issue movie interesting and to keep the momentum going. This film, we decided we did the issue movie. People are a little bit issued out. There are so many things going on. Let’s make a movie that’s just about pure momentum –– characters and momentum…Like a regular narrative film. Because if we were going to do the issue movie, it would be 10 hours to do everything: coal, batteries, where does power come from, why gasoline is so bad, the history of the vehicle, etc. This would take forever to get right. And if we can pick four characters that represent different pieces of international business right now, and how sometimes from within you can get something going, it would be a different kind of message…

I found in 10 years of arguing for electric cars that there’s no winning the argument. Because while I think that the argument for electric cars is completely done, you can’t change most people’s minds through argument…What turns people are emotional experiences. The experience, for example, of driving in one of these plug-in cars…Suddenly all of your intellect goes to defending what you like as opposed to trying to beat someone in the argument. So that was kind of the idea for the film…Let’s just give people an experience, and maybe as a result they’ll want to go out and try one of these cars. That will probably do more to convince people than any amount of arguing about air or oil or anything else.

NP: A lot has changed in 10 years since Who Killed the Electric Car? GM may have ended their electric car program, but Toyota and the Prius have been ruling the auto industry since then and everyone’s been scrabbling to catch up. There must be that temptation to say, “I told you so.”

CP: Well, I figure the “I told you so” is implicit in the word “revenge.” We got some push back from a couple of reviews saying, “It’s not a revenge.” But, if you can’t track that Hummer went bankrupt and that all the car companies went bankrupt and that all these things failed because they made so many stupid decisions in the ‘90s, then you weren’t paying attention because it’s a big reversal. The auto industry went from fighting tooth and nail to kill electric cars to being champions of them, and it’s just remarkable. I think it’s one reason that we decided to make another electric car film when we had no plans to do so when we finished the last one. Because you don’t usually see things turn around like that. And from some of the same people even.

NP: I could not believe that you got [GM Vice Chairman] Bob Lutz to participate in the movie. That’s kind of amazing. How did that even come about?

CP: He’s just brave. I think he convinced a lot of people at GM that never wanted us to come in the gates…The first interviews we had with him were pretty stiff, and over the three years that we were checking in with him, things became more relaxed and we got to really do a portrait of someone.

NP: When you decided to make this movie, how did the first contact come about?

CP: Dan Neil, [who was] at The LA Times then, asked my opinion on the Volt, because it was suddenly announced that GM was going to work on a new electric car. I told him, “Hey, if they’re really going to do it, I would totally support it because that’s what we want them to do –– to make plug-in cars.” And then, I can’t quite remember the sequence, but Bob Lutz and I exchanged emails. I had his email address from the first movie for some reason. He said, “Are you really in favor of the Volt if we did that.” I go, “Yeah, I totally support that.” And he goes, “Oh, well, we’re really going to do it.”

Somewhere in there Elon Musk, who I knew because of the Tesla out there [indicates his garage], I asked him if I could start tracking his journey and he said, “Sure, come on in.” So I told Bob Lutz, you know, I was tracking Elon, and Bob said, “Why don’t you come to the GM 100th Birthday Party.” So my producer, Jessie Deeter, she’s out of Frontline, said, “Okay, well we have to be super careful because this is going to be cooption [because of the] massive spin machine we’re about to walk into. If we’re going to work with the car companies, we have to be really careful not to take any free gigs and not to go on junkets, and understand the difference between press and an actual access to something, and it’s going to be a very tricky balance for the next few years.”

And it certainly was. But I think as time went on, we could begin to understand what was more authentic and what was less authentic, and choose those moments to put in the film. So that’s how it started. Once we had GM, we went to the other car companies, Toyota and Ford and everybody else, Fisker and Better Place in Israel. Some of them said no, and some of them made it very impossible to reach them. And some of them said yes, but their stories really changed a lot and they didn’t really work with our film, so we ended up with these four.

NP: Nissan, how did that come about?

CP: We approached them. We thought it would be a no for sure, because they’re a very secret company. Peter [co-writer and producer P.G. Morgan] and I were here, and they asked if they could send two people to talk to us. We met them for a ten o’ clock [meeting], just like this. Ding dong, two guys came in and they grilled us for about 90 minutes about the first film, what we were doing in this film, what we were doing at GM, and what our security provisions were for footage. Because Tesla had an IPO and GM was facing bankruptcy…we had a super secure editing process. If any of our footage got out it could adversely price the stock.

NP: Presumably you also had to have an internal Chinese wall where you would not be passing information along.

CP: Exactly. Exactly. They were competitive with each other. We told them all of our procedures and stuff. Then they said, “Thank you,” and they went to the door. I said, “Where are you guys going?” They said, “We’re going back to Japan.” They’d flown in –– [Nissan Chairman and CEO] Carlos [Ghosn] had sent them –– and then they flew back. Then about two days later we got permission to come to Japan to track Carlos. So all of our Japanese scenes started there. At one point we were all in one hotel room because we wouldn’t take their junket and there were no other hotel rooms. We were all on top of each other and we did sort of envy the other journalists that were there. Everybody’s like, “You guys, what are you doing? You think you’re being purists over here.”

NP: But it’s important…That integrity is lost a lot of the time these days.

CP: Yeah. It hurts me sometimes…We’ve had a couple of negative reviews where they’ve said “your film felt like a commercial” or “you got a little close to the companies.” You try figuring out this balance, it’s really hard to do it…It’s been a very tough balance. And the car companies are often annoyed at us, you know, it was challenging. But I think it came out all right, and we got kind of a portrait of different kinds of entrepreneurship in this country. It happens to be about cars…

NP: I love the fact that you have the independent guy working out of his warehouse/garage. I understand he’s a friend of yours?

CP: Yeah. When you drive down the road here, over the hill you can see where he used to live. That’s the thing that burned down. So he was right there. I wasn’t thinking he was going to be in the film at first. Then the horrible fire happened, and he found that little controller in the ashes and it’s blinking, and he’s going, “We’re going to rebuild it.” I’m like, well that’s the spirit of the film. Even if you’re in a huge corporation, you’ve got a lot of push back.

NP: Right, because GM were in the ashes too.

CP: Exactly. And the best people will rebuild. They don’t give up at that moment. They say, onwards. Elon, he’s a playboy with millions of dollars or whatever…

NP: And he almost went down to his last cent of PayPal money with Tesla.

CP: Everything…His ego stripped down and people attacking him on a personal level…You’ve got to be tough.

NP: From the very little guy to the very big guy, they all have this similar rising from the ashes story.

CP: Yeah, that’s sort of the story, exactly. I’m glad that came through.

NP: I was surprised that there wasn’t much about the Prius in the movie given that that was very much the game changer.

CP: I know. Well, we mentioned it in the beginning, that it was one of GM’s motivators, that they wanted to compete with Toyota, that they had run away with the efficient market. Bob Lutz says it. But we couldn’t get access to Toyota. They wouldn’t let us in for whatever reason.

NP: I guess because Toyota felt that they didn’t need to give you access because they already owned the green market, whereas Nissan is trying to catch up to Toyota so they have the incentive to participate.

CP: I think so, and I think our first film really helped Toyota because they had the only product that was really efficient when gas prices hit $4.00 a gallon in the States. They were the only people that had an efficient relatively green car. Their sales went from loosing lots of money to really on the up and up. The other thing is…[with] the Prius, you could never plug it in.

NP: That was the frustration for me. It made no sense because it already had rechargeable batteries. All you needed was the ability to plug it into a wall, and you’d have never needed gas most of the time, because most car journeys are in the realm of less than 20 miles.

CP: Yeah, well there’s a reason for this. It’s not proven, but a lot of people believe it’s because Chevron owned the technology for the nickel metal batteries which were in the Prius. There was a big closed settlement that happened about the time, right before our last movie came out, that Prius could indeed go ahead and use those batteries, even though Chevron owned the patents, but it had certain limitations. So a lot of people think the limitation was they could not put a plug on it. Whether that’s true or not, the reason that the plug is now coming in the Prius is that they’re switching to lithium batteries…But, it’s very difficult to prove that and we had to with all our films be very careful with our legal and all that.

NP: I remember in the first film there was the mom and pop operation that had developed this far superior battery, and their patent got bought just so that it could be put on ice.

CP: That was the company. That was it.

NP: Ah, Chevron was the company that bought their patent?

CP: Exactly…Iris [Ovshinsky] passed away right after the first film came out and we miss her a lot because she was actually the physicist in that relationship, or she had the PhD, and her husband [Stanford] was like the salesman. She was the quiet brains, you know.

NP: I had a conversation with Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. — that discussion was more on the issue of coal –– but one of the things that he said was that basically the tipping point will come when it’s just plain cheaper to use green energy. One of the problems specifically with coal is that there’s so many subsidies that the price is artificially low. Are there similar economics going on in the car industry?

CP: Oh sure. I mean, the gasoline engine is almost fully amortized, because they developed it over 100 years. They know how to make thousands, and tens of thousands, and hundreds of thousands of these at the lowest possible price. When you start a new kind of automobile, ie. with a motor and batteries, which in theory is much cheaper because you only have a few parts versus an entire engine, it takes a while for economies of scale to kick in. It’s hard for them to get their manufacturing price down to what the gas car is...That’s the first difficulty they have.

Now one thing they have going for them is that electricity is a lot cheaper. Even in the US where we’re 50% coal, electricity as a whole runs about $1.00 a gallon, compared to $4.00 for oil. That is a big cost advantage for the consumer. But the consumer will only make those changes when they’re really hurting at the gas pump. It happened the first time we paid $100 to refill our trucks and cars in 2008. When we’re paying that again, as fuel prices go up, and it’s hard to say how that will happen, but peak oil means that we’ll keep going up…Kennedy is absolutely right, it’s the price of gas that will push them to alternatives.

NP: Also the price of the actual cars is a problem. I recently had to buy a new car. I would’ve liked to have bought a Prius, but the difference was just too great. The Prius cost almost double what my car cost, and I get 28 mpg versus 40-something [highway] on the Prius –– because you can’t plug it in.

CP: Yeah, the prices are hugely important. I think that Carlos understands that. I think they all understand. But Nissan had to even raise their price on the Leaf recently. They raised it like $2,000. They’re not going to be able to compete with the $10,000 economy car. They can’t do that for a while. I think they will in time if all the people...that are buying $40,000, $50,000, $60,000 cars…step up to the plate.

The rest of us, that can only afford a $20,000 [car] or whatever else, this is where ride sharing and test drives [come in]. Because every time someone goes down and test drives a plug-in car, they become a convert and they can tell someone else about it. This is only possible really now, that you can go to a dealership and test drive an electric car to feel and see what it’s all about.

I hope that our film is part of the inspiration for people to go out and check these things out because they couldn’t do it after they crushed all those cars in our [first] movie. They were almost impossible to find…I really believe that the experience of this is as important as any argument. Ultimately, of course, you’re right, it’s the price of these things, and the price of oil that will determine how fast this happens.

NP: Part of me wonders why GM, the moment the Prius started taking off, didn’t just reboot the EV1 since they already had the technology developed.

CP: Pride, I think.

NP: I think it was.

CP: Yeah. I mean, they say it’s because they were never able to get the costs down and that the car was costing them $100,00, but it didn’t have to cost that much. They could make that car much cheaper than that. So I think it’s pride. Also I think it’s why they got into so much trouble in California. Because they wanted to win the battle against California, they forgot about their brand. They obviously forgot about the environment and the consumer and everything else. It was a big disaster.

People say, “Well don’t you want General Motors to go bankrupt?” I’m like, I don’t particularly like car companies, but if these car companies go bankrupt it’s a huge allocation of resources to rebuild industries like this. You think the pollution is bad, it’s much better to use existing factories. Of course it’d be great if we rode bicycles and did public transportation, and this should happen, but the reality is we make tens of thousands of cars all the time so we should be making plug-in cars. General Motors is trying to do something about it. So why not? Because they’re American jobs. I mean, why do we need to import everything from China?

NP: When did you finish shooting this film?

CP: We finished shooting end of 2010.

NP: What updates from the intervening year would you like to have been able to include?

CP: I wanted to get in this idea of how much electricity is in every gallon of gasoline. Because you hear a lot of people say, “Oh, where does all the electricity come from?” Which is a very good question. And, “Isn’t it just coming from coal?” Before you even get there, think about who is one of the biggest users of electricity in the world. The answer is: it’s the oil industry. Because it takes a lot of electricity to turn black crude oil into gasoline. Like 4-7 kilowatt hours of energy. How much is that? If, instead of charging up the crude oil to make gasoline, you put the energy into a battery, you could drive your Leaf 20 or 25 miles, just on that electricity alone. Just on the refining. No Saudi Arabia. No shipping it over. No driving the truck to the gas station, no anything else. Just the refining. So there’s stuff like this that I would love to have in the movie because it’s data that people need to understand…to start using electricity wisely and not waste it converting fuels into other fuels…But again, every time we tried to detour into something like batteries from cars actually don’t end up in landfill and there’s actually only 1% or 2% lithium in a lithium battery, most of it is completely benign, every time we did that, the movie would stop moving…

And to answer your question, we wanted this movie to end when electric cars were actually available to people to buy again. Because the first movie ended when they were destroyed, so I said this movie is going to end when they’re actually in showrooms again. That was sort of our end point. Now, if we had kept it going, right now what would the story be? Well, Volt sales haven’t been that good. They were hoping to sell 10,000 and I think they’ve sold 4,000.

NP: Why do you think that is?

CP: Two reasons. One: they came in at a little high price point and they’ve lowered their price now. Two: they’ve marketed the car really strangely, probably because they had too many focus groups. They’ve marketed the car as “more car than electric.” Nobody even knows what electric means. They should’ve just said “more car.” Like it does more. It runs on two kinds of systems. GM, as good as their engineering is at least on electric cars, I think their marketing has always been a little bit confused…

NP: I think car companies a lot of the time only know how to market a car on machismo. Car commercials are always very testosterone driven…And it’s hard to market an electric vehicle on testosterone.

CP: Yeah.

NP: It’s like when you’re watching Top Gear, it’s the running joke that the presenters hate…

CP: Electric cars.

NP: And the reason they hate electric cars is because they feel that they’re emasculating.

CP: Yeah. Well...You know they got in trouble for defaming both Tesla and Nissan. Did you hear this?

NP: Yes.

CP: Screw those guys. It’s so important that this technology get a foot hold and when they set up bullshit that is not true, just to have a laugh on their show — they certainly shouldn’t be running on BBC on state run money…

NP: There needs to be a disclaimer if you’re presenting something that’s untrue during something that purports to be a consumer test on a factually based show.

CP: Of course. I’m glad that Nissan busted them in such a classy way with their own GPS data from the car. Did you hear that?

NP: No.

CP: That’s how they got them. Because, you know, he runs out of power in a disabled parking space…[And Nissan goes,] well actually, the GPS shows that you drove the car around the block for about 40 miles before you even started your range test and we can see it. Here’s the map of where you went in your car. So why are you making this claim on your show that you ran out of power on a fair test? And they were like, “Err, it’s just a TV show.” Well, excuse me, I spent $6 billion developing a technology so we can get the fuck off of oil and you’re going to set me up like our cars can’t do anything? That’s not fair.

NP: Right, because it’s so much bigger than shits and giggles on a TV show. It’s about people in Iraq and Afghanistan dying.

CP: Yeah. Yeah. Cluster bombing weddings of people that are there because they happen to be in the way, and British soldiers losing their arms because they’re trying to do the right thing. I’m glad your TV show has great ratings, but to hell with you. You can tell I’m pretty fired up about this. I know it’s a show people enjoy, but the mitts are off.

NP: I enjoy that show, but their attitude to green technology is one area of blindness that disappoints me. But I do think it does come down to this idea that electric vehicles are emasculating. People like the smell of gasoline –– it’s manly because it’s dirty….It goes back to your point about how GM doesn’t know how to market the Volt.

CP: And it went back to why the gasoline car took off in the first place. Because the women and the doctors would have the electric cars because they could keep their hands clean, they were quiet.

NP: Right, we used to have electric cars back in the day.

CP: But the men who were making those purchase decisions, wanted noise, they wanted to feel like they were a lion roaring. Its all primal, the noise and all that. I think it’s one reason that Tesla did not put the word electric on their sports car, because they wanted to keep it a pure play – fast.

It’s not like trains continued forever. They were way sexier than a car is. More powerful. You have all the imagery from movies of trains and we thought they’d last forever… And I think the whole generation that gets electronics…people want their iPads and digital phones and none of them make noise and they’re incredibly sexy…The electric car is like that. It’s a 21st century [thing]. Jeremy can live in 1955 all he wants but a lot of us have moved on.

NP: If Electric Car was a trilogy like Lord of the Rings or Star Wars, what do you hope the third movie would be?

CP: The third movie?…I was thinking about that this morning…I thought if nobody buys these cars and the oil price drops to $3.00 a gallon again and everybody decides to get out for awhile, then it’s going to be Curse of the Electric Car –– if we kept the monster theme going. I hope that doesn’t happen. I’d like to see my next movie be about bicycles, because I just see in so many cities around the world bicycle is really having a renaissance right now, and it’s terrific.

NP: What’s happening in London with the Barclays Cycle Hire scheme, where you can just pay £1 [$1.50] and rent a bike for 24-hours, and just leave it in any bike station when you’re done – it’s amazing. When I lived in London, my commute to work used to be a bicycle ride through Richmond Park amongst all the deer. But I would not ride a bicycle in LA because I’d be dead within a week. The basic problem is the cycle lanes are also the bus lanes that are also the right turn lanes –– that’s a recipe for death.

CP: I know. You’re exactly right. If you go to Washington, DC they have concrete barriers protecting you from the vehicle trains.

NP: I think the cycle lanes here are more of a hazard than a help because it gives people a false sense of security.

CP: I agree. LA would be an interesting place to tell that story because you do have a strong community, we have the midnight rides, we have government that wants bicycles to succeed. But you’re up against a huge generational pushback…This is a generational thing, I think. I’m very attracted to doing something about bicycles but a lot of bicycle movies are being made and the trick is how do you find a subject you can reach a lot of people on that’s not just another bicycle movie. How do you make it exciting and sexy? I think that we figured out how to do that, to a certain extent, in our Electric Car films. Because you wouldn’t know that there were maybe stories locked in there that would be interesting to most people. I’m sure that’s true for bicycles too, it’s just you never know where it is...

I think, for electric cars it’s going to be another five years before we get another feeling for it –– maybe ten. I was amazed that this turned around as fast as it did, from “we’re going to kill every one” to “oh, we all want to make them.” I mean, Mercedes, BMW, they all want to do it now. When they switched from horses to cars, that took about 20 years, so I think we have to give just a little bit of time.

NP: Another 10 years, halfway through the process.

CP: Yeah, I think so. And for everybody to understand that gasoline is not forever and that the environmental stuff is real.

Quentin Tarantino discovered Rie Rasmussen when he was presiding over the Cannes Film Festival in 2004. Her short film, Thinning the Herd was nominated for the Palme d’Or in the shorts competition. Her first feature film, Human Zoo opened the Berlin Film Festival in 2009, and Tarantino is bringing it... more

Quentin Tarantino discovered Rie Rasmussen when he was presiding over the Cannes Film Festival in 2004. Her short film, Thinning the Herd was nominated for the Palme d’Or in the shorts competition. Her first feature film, Human Zoo opened the Berlin Film Festival in 2009, and Tarantino is bringing it to the states.

Rasmussen herself plays Adria, an immigrant from Kosovo in Marseilles. While opening up to an American romantic, Shawn (Nick Corey), Adria remembers her escape from military rape and a crime spree with a former soldier (Nikola Djuricko). Filled with the kind of blood and sex that would strike Tarantino’s fancy, it’s the voice of a woman with worldly thoughts. Standing 5’11” with Danish features, Rasmussen was a model for Gucci, Yves Saint Laurent, Dolce and Gabbana and more.

She appeared in the film Femme Fatale and starred in Angel-A. I met her on the Femme red carpet where she laughed at my questions about her height. Again speaking about Angel-A, I recalled her itching to speak out about her passions after years of being paid to stand there silently. So I was interested to see what those artistic ideas would be. To speak about Human Zoo, Rasmussen hung out in the offices of The Weinstein Company, essentially Tarantino’s home base. Dressed in all black with leather jacket, she dropped F bombs, talked dirty and got political all in the same breath. Finally, a woman I can talk to.

SuicideGirls: Let’s first talk about what Human Zoo means so the people who haven’t seen it yet can understand.

Rie Rasmussen: I ended up doing Human Zoo because a real story was happening currently in my life. A parallel universe in Denmark where my family adopted a girl named Lihn from Vietnam. Her mother had been sold into prostitution in Moscow and she was from Vietnam. She’d been stuck her entire life where her mom was enslaved and had escaped. Her mom had gotten her out. Lihn made it to Denmark where my parents ended up trying for six years, battling to adopt her. That was when I started thinking about Human Zoo, the human zoo we’re in. In the film it’s like the ovarian lottery. How do you win the ovarian lottery where you’re born in America, ka-ching, you won. You’re born in Canada, you’re pretty all right. If you’re born in Mexico, you’re looking at a short stick. How is this possible? How is this stupid line, this red line made with blood, sweat and tears, how could that separate me from the fact that I could be a fulfilled individual human being with a soul that matters and know that it matters and can vote and can make a difference in the world? That’s what Human Zoo is about.

SG: When Shawn in the film makes a sarcastic remark to Adria, she doesn’t understand why he’d lie as a joke. Does that reflect your feelings about sarcastic jokes, that people should just be honest?

RR: When she says, “I don’t trust you. Why would you say that if you don’t mean it?” Yeah, for me, a lot of this is autobiographical you’ve got to realize, because I left Denmark at 15. I came to Huntington Beach, California. First I came to New York for six months. Then I followed a surfer boy to Huntington Beach, California and all of a sudden I’m in Jackass: The Movie for real. Really, honestly, because that’s where they all came from back then. Back then there was a real live crew of it and this was my experience with American humor and sarcasm. I couldn’t understand it. Coming form Europe, it was much more deadpan. The disconnect between the two universes was why I was so attracted to that universe and why it taught me so many lesson and why I grew up so fast out of there. This is the exact thing. It’s American to me. I met America basically before MTV had Jackass. That was my interpretation of America.

SG: Doesn’t that sarcasm put a distance in relationships? Everyone’s performing so you avoid honesty.

RR: Exactly and this is what I mean. From 16 and whatnot living in Huntington Beach and driving my first car, a massive Toyota Landcruiser and doing skateboard videos and being around skateboard society, like you see in the movie I had to learn how to fight, physically and mentally. I had to learn how to put up a fight and this is my way of also showing what we teach people. Our environment will teach us how to become adult animals, how to become predators or how to become prey.

SG: As a director, are you able to photograph yourself the way you wish other people would have seen you through the lens?

RR: I think a lot of people, I come into a room and I see people and they see “Oh, this beautiful girl.” That’s what they think. This is not me saying it. I see something completely different. I see a character, an individual. I see something that I know could come out of me. Obviously you’ve seen Human Zoo. Yeah, okay, I’m 22 pounds heavier but you really get the heaviness of her life. She’s sweet, she’s cute, but she has a heaviness in her and a worn out-ness in her later on and a tiredness and a realness that other people when they shoot me, like Luc Besson, I’m this otherworldly angel who is alien and six foot tall and absolutely glamorous and gorgeous. Well, I don’t see that. I see the broken down soul in Human Zoo with the dried up skin and the dumpiness of her. Yes, so you’re very, very right.

SG: It helps to have all this going on inside that you can express, because I can tell you not all pretty girls have that.

RR: [Laughs] Look, my experience is that those generalizations with models, let’s call them pretty girls, 80% of the time they’re right. And why? It’s not really they’re fault. It’s also society’s fault. Look at TV. They give them everything. The pretty girl walks into the room and we can’t help it. Me too. I cater too. I like a pretty girl. It makes me happy. So she comes into the room, I’m going to cater to her, and everywhere that girl goes, she’s going to be catered to. And everywhere, everybody’s going to try to impress her or give her something or they’re going to have a reaction to her beauty. Therefore, she becomes conceited or dumb or entitled, which is the worst. An entitled pretty girl is just straight up a fucking cunt. But that’s what you deal with in these industries of beauty and I understand that. Huntington Beach and these skateboarders and this surfboard community and these guys who were so out of tune with their emotional level and so in tune with their animalistic need to be “I’m alpha and I’m badass,” really made me just feel dumb if I wasn’t up to the performance level. I’m sure for them there was a certain level of looking at a pretty girl doing what I was doing, but I wanted to be just like them. I have a very competitive streak and I have a very tomboyish side so that brought it out in me.

SG: Did you ever hate being pretty?

RR: Look, I look pretty in the photographs. I look pretty in this and that movie, Femme Fatale, Angel-A and I can look pretty going down the street but I can also put on a pair of sweatpants and not look pretty and that’s fine. If people think I’m pretty, fuckin’ hell yeah, awesome. That’s great. Use it, be happy about it. It’s a gift from the genetic compatibility of my parents and that’s what it is and I’m stoked.

SG: Don’t you think guys like the sweatpants and dumpy look?

RR: You know, when I wear it, if I’m in a big T-shirt, like I just walked in and I saw Quentin with all this staff the other day. He said, “Oh my God, you look like just a little girl, perfectly cast in the alternative movie.” I was like oh, I think a lot of guys respond to that but especially respond to their T-shirt and white panties and their socks. Then it’s all good.

SG: Does the Suicide Girls type make you happy?

RR: I love tatted up girls. I think it’s a turn-on. I love sexually empowered girls, if they are. Sometimes sexually explicit girls are just acting out because they’re having a lot of problems and then I feel sad for them. But I love sexually empowered girls. I’m from Scandinavia. We were the first country to have female rights for voting. In the 1300s, women could divorce the men and they could take their children with them. So I’m coming from a culture where men and women are basically the same size, build and considered equals. So I look at myself as a person. Not is she a cutie girl or is she a tomboy? I’m a person. I’m a human being and if in front of me is a man or in front of me is a woman and I’m attracted to this man or this woman, it has absolutely nothing to do with what gender they come in. So yeah, I think the tatted up girl is pretty fucking hot generally.

SG: Human Zoo does not look like a first time feature. There are some complicated shots like tracking action in several rooms from above the building. How did you achieve those?

RR: Well, I’m not a first time film director who hasn’t seen film. I am from the Quentin Tarantino school of filmmaking. I have watched movies my entire life. Anything, anytime, anywhere, anyhow. Two a day, three a day, five a day. I also grew up in Denmark, it’s really dark, it’s winter nine months out of the year and it’s horrible, so you escape. I really needed the movies for escaping. Movies taught me. Sam Peckinpah, Sergio Leone, Orson Welles, Carol Reed, Howard Hawks, John Huston, you name it, Jack Hill, they taught me.

SG: Still, haven’t you seen a lot of aspiring filmmakers who watch a lot of films and don’t quite get it?

RR: Funnily enough, a lot of times the ones who don’t quite get it haven’t watched a lot of films. I’m not saying that’s the only school. I’m saying Scorsese and Tarantino did it and it worked for them but they’re brilliant minds.

SG: I know and there are wonderful first time films too, but you know.

RR: Yeah, there are really incredible first time films where you’re just so impressed and sometimes that’s their only film that they’ll ever make that’s worth anything. But there’s a lot of crappy films and we know that, but that’s also part of the beauty of it. That’s also something the Quentin Tarantino school of film taught me is love the bad movies for their best qualities.

SG: What was your vision for the love scene? It’s really passionate and he goes down on her, which they never allow

in American films.

RR: The vision was he goes down on her.

SG: So I’m not wrong to pick up on that.

RR: No, no. It was quite graphic too. Also, most people don’t notice but it’s one take. Not one cut. None of that cutting to lips and skins and a nipple and the hair. No, no, no. This is what fucking happens. They come in, take off their clothes, he goes down on her, it’s awesome, it gets a little jumbled and they’re having sex. They’re fucking and it looks good and that’s it. It’s one take. Yeah, the point was he goes down on her.

SG: Well, thank you for that.

RR: Yeah, well, I’m glad you liked it. I’m glad you saw it.

SG: I saw you’ve photographed Afghanistan. How did that opportunity come about and what were you able to illuminate?

RR: I went with my creative partner who I worked with and I’ve known for the last 15 years and I went to Kosovo with him to research in Kosovo. We couldn’t shoot in Kosovo because the U.N. is down there. The U.N. security is just ridiculous. But from there I went to Afghanistan because one of the characters in this film is from Afghanistan, an immigrant woman from Afghanistan which is something that happened in my home. When the Taliban took over in Afghanistan, all these Afghans came to Denmark and they would come through my home. My mother’s a doctor. She would retrain them, all this kind of stuff. I went to Kabul, I went to Afghanistan to check out what this was because there’s an organization called RAWA, Revolutionary Association of the Women of Afghanistan. This is a good thing to put out because it’s good for them, they need money. They just do female causes in Afghanistan and they do refugee centers on the Pakistani border. They did girls schools during the Taliban because women weren’t allowed to learn. I have a lot of opinions on that. So then I went to Kabul and I saw them. I had no fucking idea how crazy it was at the time because this was 2007 and it was in Ramadan, it was fall 2007, Iraq was getting under control but it was nuts in Afghanistan but in the press they weren’t talking about it because it was just going out of control over there. But my sister’s husband was part of the Danish U.N. troops going in there. Denmark was very involved in trying to reform Afghanistan, especially when the Danish president became the head of the U.N. So I had some military advice but I went in there and it was nuts. It was fucking nuts.

SG: It’s kind of nice to be reminded of Kosovo, because you forget, yeah, we did go to war with them too.

RR: We did, yeah. Bill Clinton did, by the way, bomb this country. In Kosovo, this was the Albanian immigrants in Serbia, in a little conclave where they were actually being. It was a sort of Apartheid because if you were Albanian, Kosovan, Serbian you were not allowed to go out at night. You were not allowed to learn things in school. You weren’t allowed to write your own language. It was really terrifying, a terrifyingly oppressive, discriminatory little state. It was after Sarajevo. Sarajevo was obviously terrifying with all the rape camps and everything. Good on Angelina for making a film on that because it was terrifying. This is the ex-Yugoslavian region that invented ethnic cleansing. It started there. Ethnic cleansing out of ex-Yugoslavia meant impregnate women from the other culture and either they have your child, or their father or their brother kills them, or they have to kill themselves. This is straight up the truth what happened, and then everything else that came with that violence. There was violence so grotesque I could never show it in a movie. You could never because it’s humanity at its absolute dark ages.

by Nicole Powers (image) [Above: The heroes of last night's raid - citizen journalists and Livestreamers Oakfosho and OccupyFreedomLA] Though thankfully there's no reports of anyone being seriously hurt during last night's police action, perhaps the biggest casualty was the First Amendment... more

by Nicole Powers



[Above: The heroes of last night's raid - citizen journalists and Livestreamers Oakfosho and OccupyFreedomLA]

Though thankfully there's no reports of anyone being seriously hurt during last night's police action, perhaps the biggest casualty was the First Amendment and freedom of the press. The LAPD pre-selected a group of a dozen handpicked mainstream media representatives, and denied access to the City Hall grounds to all other journalists while the eviction was taking place. (During the actual raid, any media already present were warned that they may face arrest or serious injury if they ignored the dispersal order and remained on the South Lawn.) Predictably, no independent or alternative outlets - and no bloggers or Livestreamers - were among the LAPD's chosen few.

At one point in the evening citizen-journalist-turned-Livestream-celebrity OakFoSho was threatened by an officer who pointed the business end of a weapon at him - with his finger on the trigger. This incident was witnessed by the surrounding crowd, who chanted "guns down" repeatedly in response, and the approximately 15,000 viewers who were watching OakFoSho's stream. The officer's name was duly noted and shared by numerous Tweeters (including friend of SG Wil Wheaton).



Just as troubling was the fact that the pool of approved media had serious restrictions placed upon them. They were not allowed to tweet or call in stories from inside the park until after the eviction, and had to funnel all pool reports via a city news wire service. Additionally, KCAL9 revealed they had "made an agreement with the LAPD to not give away their tactics" and, according to BoingBoing's Xeni Jardin, "CBS LA blacked out shots so as to 'not interfere with integrity of police action.'" Many other bloggers and tweeters also noted their disappointment at the easy compliance of so-called journalists and traditional media outlets whom they felt should have put up more resistance to the obvious attempt to restrict and suppress information.

The underlying serious First Amendment issue at play here is the principle that police shouldn't be the ones to decide who is and who isn't deemed press - since the function of a free press in a democracy is to provide a check and balance for those in authority. Furthermore, even those members of the media granted pre-designated access can't cover any action freely if they're worried about having the credentials they need for such coverage rescinded (as was the case in New York during the Zuccotti Park eviction). Given the gravity of this issue, we expect this story to develop over the next few days and weeks, and understand the ACLU is already in the process of taking action.

by ExAddict (image) Late last summer, a controversy erupted in National Hockey League circles after three prominent on-ice enforcers passed away during the off-season. Wade Belak, Rick Rypien and Derek Boogaard died of a tragic combination of mental illness and addictions. The three were so called 'tough... more

by ExAddict



Late last summer, a controversy erupted in National Hockey League circles after three prominent on-ice enforcers passed away during the off-season. Wade Belak, Rick Rypien and Derek Boogaard died of a tragic combination of mental illness and addictions. The three were so called 'tough guys' - called on by other players to keep the action rough, and let goal-scorers do their jobs.

Much of the media-driven controversy of course was centered around the amped-up Don Cherry, a highly-charged broadcaster who labeled three other former league bruisers as 'pukes' for stepping outside of the shadows and linking NHL fighting to substance abuse and depression.

In typical NHL fashion, sports fans’ tongues went wagging and opinions varied from demands for a crackdown against unfair hits to protect players from concussions (the current enemy #1 in pro-hockey) to banning fighting outright.

So that's what's happening in hockey, a so-called 'real sport'. We can expect that because it is one of the big four pro-sports leagues, the issues surrounding mental health and drug abuse will be addressed both by the player's association (NHLPA) and NHL league executives.

That's all well and good to save lives and protect athletes on the ice. But there might be another sport that needs the attention of media....

Unfortunately for fans of sports-entertainment, or 'pro-wrestling' as it once was called, voices calling for an increased examination of the cause and effects of mental illness, tragedy and death in this highly-athletic profession are few and far between.

With respect to the squared circle, there is a much more horrific tale lurking beneath the surface excitement of the storylines and dramatics put on by World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE), Impact Wrestling (TNA) and the hundreds of other smaller grappling organizations that operate worldwide.

Every week, for the past eighteen years, WWE and Monday Night Raw has been entertaining millions of fans who clamor to follow and cheer on names like John Cena, CM Punk, and The Undertaker as they do battle with evil-doers like R-Truth, The Miz, and Mark Henry.

Yet beyond the spotlight, there is a tough road of dues-paying and hardship for up-and-coming wrestlers as well as a path of serious discontent for names from the past. Even the biggest name in wrestling history – the immortal Hulk Hogan – now toils for the #2 wrestling organization, hobbled by numerous surgeries to repair a body damaged by nearly thirty-five years of competitive action. On average, an NHL player can expect to play five to six seasons.

For wrestlers, there is no off-season or players' union. If it was any other sport, there would be a Congressional investigation concerning the numbers of athletes dying before age fifty.

For once-famous grapplers who fall through the cracks, hanging on to the spotlight can be mentally devastating.

Scott Hall, a former champion in WWE, is the latest tragedy to garner attention. An ESPN feature that compared the journeyman wrestler to the fictional character portrayed by Mickey Rourke in the film The Wrestler was completed in mid-October but this did little to address the susceptibility of once-popular celebrities to mental illness and substance-abuse problems.

Earlier this summer, former Impact Wrestling and WWE superstar Matt Hardy ran into his fair share of legal trouble after crashing his car and getting arrested for possession of illegal substances. His brother, the equally-as-famous Jeff Hardy, encountered similar difficulties.

So what happens after the spotlight fades and wrestlers are left fighting for fame and the few dollars that past glory affords? Hopefully, a change is afoot. Perhaps gone are the days when wrestlers used to performing in front of tens of thousands in packed arenas are left toiling in front of a few dozen fans in high school gymnasiums, left alone and isolated as they slowly descend into mental illness.

In response, WWE has instituted a tough Wellness Policy for current superstars and pays for substance abuse rehabilitation of former “independent contractors.” The Wellness Policy serves as a “three-strikes-you're-out” safety net meant to protect current and former wrestlers from life on the road. WWE has even gone as far as to ban infamous chair-shots to the head and remove blood from broadcasts – an effort to maintain a PG friendly atmosphere and to protect the long term health of employees.

Christopher Nowinski, a Harvard graduate and former WWE Alumni himself has much to say about sports-related injuries in his book Head Games: Football's Concussion Crisis and in 2007 became the founder of the Sports Legacy Institute, dedicated to researching brain trauma in professional and amateur sports. That same year, former WWE World Champion Chris Benoit killed his wife and son in a brutal double murder suicide.

An examination of Benoit's brain revealed that extensive injuries and concussions suffered by the Canadian could have caused dementia. Since that time, the stigma of mental illness has meant he’s all but been erased from the record books. Benoit's name is never mentioned on WWE broadcasts and his reign as champion is scrubbed from history.

For pro-wrestling a.k.a. sports-entertainment to truly address the demons of mental health and addictions, gone must be the notion that those addicted to drugs or the spotlight are criminals or unrepentant. It's time that all professional sports addressed the 1-in-5 statistic of mental illness that effects all North Americans. If more wrestlers are willing to speak out about mental illness in sports, it may very well set a precedent for other athletes in other sports to address these issues in a very public way.

For WWE, it's time to take the bull by the horns and end the stigma of mental illness in sports. Lives are on the line. To save just one, I'd pay top dollar.

Images: Mickey Rourke in The Wrestler

As Americans, we like to think of ourselves as advanced and sophisticated as a society. Yet, when it comes to issues of gender equality the numbers don’t lie –– there’s no escaping the fact that we’re pretty damn backwards. Women make up 51% of the US population, yet hold just 16.6% of the seats... more

As Americans, we like to think of ourselves as advanced and sophisticated as a society. Yet, when it comes to issues of gender equality the numbers don’t lie –– there’s no escaping the fact that we’re pretty damn backwards.

Women make up 51% of the US population, yet hold just 16.6% of the seats in Congress and 17% of those in the Senate. Indeed, we rank 90th in the world in terms of the proportion of women in national parliaments, below Afghanistan, Cuba, China, Ethiopia, Iraq, and the Sudan!

Furthermore, in America, just 3% of Fortune 500 CEOs are women. Similarly only 3% of positions of clout in the telecommunications, entertainment, publishing, and advertising industries are held by the fairer sex (pun intended). And this may be part of the problem, since those that are ultimately responsible for the aspirational messages we receive on a daily basis are predominantly male.

That’s not to say that the innate sexism that’s partly responsible for this power imbalance is necessarily malevolent or even intentional; the root of much of it is simply a lack of consciousness on all our parts. And to an extent, the state of play appears to be self-perpetuating, since a mere 16% of those responsible for Hollywood’s mass market dream machine (writers, directors, producers, cinematographers, and editors) are women, which in turn perhaps explains a similar lack of female protagonists/role models in feature films.

A much talked about new documentary, Miss Representation, which recently debuted on the OWN Network, does a very comprehensive job of exploring the underlying reasons for this vast leadership gender gap. The film features many prominent leading ladies including Nancy Pelosi, Condoleezza Rice, Dianne Feinstein, Gloria Steinem, Jane Fonda, Geena Davis, Rachel Maddow, Lisa Ling, and Katie Couric, whose powerful voices add strength to the message –– which is that a woman’s value is more than just the sum of her youth and beauty (as the mainstream media might have you believe).

SuicideGirls spoke with the driving force behind Miss Representation, Jennifer Siebel Newsom, who wrote, directed, and produced the exceptional cinematic gender essay. As a Stanford graduate, environmental and gender activist, actress, and mother –– who also happens to be the wife of the former Mayor of San Francisco, and current Lieutenant Governor of California, Gavin Newsom –– she’s had a front row seat watching what happens to women in power and how the media treats them, so perhaps has a greater understanding of the issues they face than most.

Nicole Powers: What inspired you to make Miss Representation?

Jennifer Siebel Newsom: I knew I wanted to have children some day and I was in the entertainment industry when the tabloid/celebrity culture was taking off, and the lowest common denominator of what it is to be an American really persisted, especially through reality TV. I was concerned about what it would be like to raise a child in this culture, and a girl in particular. As it turns out, we started shooting and I become pregnant with a girl. Now I have a son and I’m equally concerned about what the culture is communicating to our boys. Not just about women, but about what it is to be a man. So really the heart and core was just that the media really is the most persuasive and pervasive form of communication in our culture and it’s dictating our cultural values and our gender norms, telling us who we can and cannot be. And our children, as the most vulnerable class of citizens, are receiving these messages that are telling them that a woman’s value lies in her youth, her beauty, and her sexuality, and not in her capacity to lead. What it does, obviously, is it limits women from dreaming big and from aspiring to be great things. And it continues to encourage boys to objectify women and see them as second class citizens. That was the initial heart reason for making the film, and knowing that I didn’t want my child to go through some of the things I went through.

Then I obviously witnessed the 2008 campaign with Hilary Clinton and Sarah Palin running for the Presidency and the Vice Presidency. I was just so upset at how they were treated in the media. And while one or two news anchors may have had their wrist slapped for sexist remarks here and there, most of the sexism was not reprimanded. What that message then communicates to us is that it’s okay to treat women with disrespect and to demean them and to discourage them. And therefore, why logically would any woman aspire towards that when they know that they would be held to a completely double standard and that they would be mistreated like that? That doesn’t help us when you look at the fact that we need more female leadership and more of this transformative leadership in our country, whereby characteristics and values of empathy and collaboration, empowerment, and creating a win-win scenario for all are embraced. Because we know those qualities of leadership are necessary for progress, and necessary for success in the global economy. We’re not encouraging those in our male leaders and we’re not supporting enough women to achieve leadership at the same time. So those are the reasons really I was compelled to make this film.

NP: One of the interesting statistics you bring to light in your film is how early things go wrong. At age 7, around 30% of girls and boys want to be President, but 8 years on at age 15, the results are radically different. So it really is between 7 and15 when things start to go awry.

JSN: Exactly. This is an interesting story actually. My daughter Montana is two years old, my son Hunter is 3 ½ months old. When Hunter was born –– and I say this jokingly but just to share this with you –– Hunter received a letter from the President and the First Lady and then the Vice President and Second Lady congratulating us and wishing him well and success in life. Congratulating him on his birth –– that’s a very special thing. My husband is now the Lieutenant Governor, formerly he was the Mayor of San Francisco when Montana was born. But I would say that he actually had a stronger leadership position, and was more respected in some ways, as Mayor of San Francisco then as Lieutenant Governor of California. Anyways, Hunter also received a shirt that said “Future President,” and a few other [items] of White House paraphernalia. These are from different people, this is not just from the White House itself. Montana never received a shirt that said “Future President” and didn’t receive acknowledgment from the President. To share this with you, by the way, I’m so not complaining. I find it really interesting that in our subconscious, as a culture, people who are thrilled that I gave birth to a boy are thinking that boy is going to be a leader, that boy can be President. But that didn’t occur to people about Montana, my daughter. Isn’t that interesting?

NP: A lot of this is so subconscious. Often there’s no harm meant.

JSN: Right.

NP: A really good example of this is I remember when I just got out of college; I’d trained as a sound engineer, and I went for a job at a recording studio. I showed up and they just looked bemused. We had a great interview, and they said very honestly –– and if they’d thought about it, they would never have said it because they could’ve got sued, but it was just such an innocent remark –– they said to me, “Oh, well, to be honest, we’ve never had a girl in our studio, but we’ve got a job upstairs in the office if you’d like.” I could’ve told them where to stick it and complained that they were being sexist, but it wasn’t meant in a sexist way. It was just an utterly honest, off the cuff remark. I actually ended up taking the job as the tea maker upstairs in the office, and I was running the company within less than a year.

JSN: Oh, wow. Good for you.

NP: But that’s just an example…There was no malice meant. It’s just such a cumulative effect and we’re all guilty of it…Even if you think you’re one of the most politically correct people, you are nevertheless a product of your upbringing, your surroundings, and the culture that you’re swimming in.

JSN: Yes. You’re so right. That’s why it’s no one’s fault. It’s really that we’ve got to take responsibility and accountability. We need to be thinking about the multiple bottom line, and the fact that we can’t continue to operate as a country nor a culture this way. We have to, to your point, look at our own internal sexism and what we’ve learned, and…relearn or unlearn what we’ve learned. But it requires an awareness and a sensitivity because, as you said earlier, it’s so subliminal. It’s so steeped into our subconscious.

NP: Part of it is because so much of the dialogue is defined by men out there, which is not their fault. They’re just in the position of power, and it’s one of those self-perpetuating situations.

JSN: Exactly.

NP: It’s going to take an conscious effort to break that cycle for both men and women.

JSN: Right. It does require complete consciousness, and a willingness to change. Because facts are facts. I think if you look at the facts, you can’t argue that those aren’t real. They’re real. So then you have to make the connection, okay, well what can I do? I think that’s where we are. That’s why we launched MissRepresentation.org, for people to join, to take the pledge, to follow us on Facebook and Twitter, but actually to start taking action so that it’s not like they’re just talking about it –– which is great –– I mean, you have to see the movie, and then you have to talk about it, but then you actually have to do something. You have to do something individually, and then you have to do something with the community, or at your corporation, or in terms of legislation and government, whatever it is. That’s what’s required to create a pattern interrupt and a real shift in our culture. Until we all agree to do that, and I don’t know what percentage of the population it has to be, maybe it’s just 30%, maybe it’s just sort of the tipping point, but until we really have the masses doing that and taking it initially step by step and spreading the word, we’re going to be challenged as a society. Because you need women’s voices to be heard, now more than ever, and we need more women in leadership –– period.

NP: The shocking thing is that you expect sexism in certain areas, such as from the Christian right, but you don’t expect it in the more politically correct corners of the globe and from the more progressive thinkers. It was a shock, obviously, when the Ron Suskind book came out, which talked about the Obama White House administration, and how, for the first few years of his term, it was a very tough environment for women. So it really is about encouraging even the most progressive thinkers to reassess what they’re doing. I think it almost has to start with them first, before the areas where you see sexism coming and can expect it.

JSN: Right. Right.

NP: Another example of that is I notice, even on The Daily Show and Real Time with Bill Maher, the skew towards male guests and male panelists.

JSN: Exactly. There was a study that came out, I don’t know if you saw that recently, I don’t have it exactly in front of me, but on The Daily Show and Colbert Show, the ratio of men to women was like 80% men, 20% women, something like that. There were more Republicans on the show then women, which is interesting as well –– for progressive talk shows.

NP: I don’t know in this climate if the situation's even improving. One of the statistics you include in your film is how, in the last election, for the first time in three decades, women haven’t made a gain in Congress.

JSN: Yes, exactly…

NP: As a nation, it’s embarrassing that America’s behind Cuba, China and Afghanistan when it comes to having women represented in government.

JSN: Exactly. And just to add to that…The argument that’s often made is, “Well the reason we don’t have more women in legislative positions is because women have to give birth to and raise their children.” My argument is [that] we are the only industrialized country in the world that does not have paid family leave whereby the father could play a larger role in parenting. We don’t have a national flex time policy, and we’re one of three countries including Swaziland and Papua New Guinea that don’t have legal paid maternity leave. So what is that saying? It’s saying that we don’t value motherhood. If mothers were paid for the work that we perform, which is our second shift or second job or third job even, because we have the household which is like another job in and of itself, we would be making $117,000 a year, which is a lot of money. But our society, America’s culture does not value motherhood enough –– that’s the problem…

NP: I think that with the current pervasiveness of the Christian right and traditional values, we’re actually moving backwards rather than forwards. Another worrying statistic is that women won’t achieve political parity for 500 years, but if we keep going backwards, it’s going to be a lot longer than that.

JSN: Exactly. You know what’s interesting, with regards to the Christian right, is the disconnect that’s going on in that culture that I think needs to be examined…Because of deregulation, capitalism, and everything being about the bottom line and no multiple bottom lines, we’re seeing the media and advertisers selling to our kids at younger and younger ages, and they’re selling sex. And that’s the exact opposite of what the far right would desire and want. So, to me, it’s like, come on people, wake up! This is dangerous. This is not what you intended. This is not what you want. We’re devaluing, we’re harming our children…there’s got to be a connection and a level of accountability that’s not being made.

NP: In the film, you talk about how it’s so easy to blame the public for the media we have, in that they claim that they’re giving people what they want. But what’s actually happening is we’re giving the advertisers what they want. You see that when great shows get cancelled, not because of ratings, but because advertisers won’t support them. Our media is actually advertiser driven, rather than viewer or people driven.

JSN: Exactly. Right. Right.

NP: And that comes back to those in charge of our ad agencies?

JSN: Well in telecommunications, advertising, entertainment, news media, and publishing, women are in 3% of positions of clout.

NP: Talking of women with clout, you have an amazing collection of interview subjects. One of the women that I enjoyed the most was Rachel Maddow.

JSN: Isn’t she lovely? I really, really loved interviewing her.

NP: How did you get all of these amazing voices into this movie?

JSN: That’s a great question. I started shooting in September of 2008. I started with friends and a few well known people that I knew and had asked to be a part of the film. It was really hard. I got a lot of “no’s” or conflicts with their schedule. I had to call on friends, and ask friends of friends to make phone calls, and I didn’t take no for an answer. A few people flat out wouldn’t give me an interview. I did try and communicate with them that this was a film that was going to make them look good, that this was about empowering women. And I had a lot of men helping me, which was wonderful, who these women trusted. Somehow I got through their handlers. I told them my story and I think that they felt safe enough to share their story. But it required one interview with someone of a certain respect level to get some of the others, and then there’s sort of that snowball effect. Really though, I think people were like, “Oh, this is important” and “Of course Jennifer.” It was a lot of just juggling schedules. I would have to fly back to New York or fly to DC or LA, and only have a few minutes to make it work.

NP: One of the other amazing women that you interviewed was Catherine Hardwicke of Thirteen and the original Twilight.

JSN: She’s great.

NP: One of my pet peeves was she worked miracles with Twilight, and then the moment the film was a success, they took the franchise out of her hands and gave it to a guy. For me, what she brought to the first film, this subtle sense of longing, is lost in the more action driven sequels.

JSN: Yes, you’re so right. Exactly. She brought an intimacy and an emotional connection and an emotional through line that I credit her for. That is why I think we need more female writers and directors, because I think they’re more interested in the emotional connectivity and the drama and the character. I mean, there’s some incredible male directors that can do that, but it does seem like in Hollywood men who make these action films are more rewarded then the women and men who make these character driven, smaller stories, that actually are more powerful and moving.

NP: Yet when these films are made, people go see them in droves, whether it be The Help or Sex and the City, there’s just not enough of them.

JSN: Yeah. There are not enough of them, and that’s where we as consumers need to recognize women have 86% of consumer power in the country and we’re not using it well. We’re not being thoughtful with it. I understand we’re all busy and have kids and are working and taking care of our families, but, at the end of the day, if we’re going to change the cultural landscape one way that we have to step up and be accountable is we have to consume that which is good for women and that which empowers women. Because otherwise the system will continue to encourage sexism…

NP: Even how our support and dollars are measured perpetuates the problem that women are a silent majority. For example, with movies, studios look at the opening weekend to measure success. Whereas women, who often have to look after children, will frequently wait for the DVD to come out. But for a movie to get green lit, all the executives are looking at are the potential opening weekend numbers.

JSN: Exactly. We’ve institutionalized sexism in our country and that’s the big problem, right? It’s so entrenched in business and in government and just in our culture at large, so we have to reverse that. One thing I’m learning as a working mother is that I need to take time out for myself. I need time with my girlfriends, and my kids will be happier for that because mom’s taking care of herself. I think we women need to remind ourselves of that and we need to have that weekend out with our girlfriends, or that date night with our husband. I always take my husband to go see the movies I want to see. I hate the movies he thinks he wants to see, and he’s rarely, rarely satisfied to be honest because they’re just dumbed down, action packed, violent junk. Thankfully he’s willing…What was that movie? It was a real hit with the woman from Saturday Night Live?

NP: Bridesmaids?

JSN: Yeah, yeah. My husband, he laughed so hard, it made me so happy. Granted it was raunchy or whatever, but it was still a “chick flick.” But it was an educated, entertaining chick flick. It was great because, as Geena Davis points out…there’s this misnomer that women will go see movies about men but men won’t go see movies about women. But actually, men will go see movies about women. The problem is there just aren’t enough marketing dollars behind those films, and because they’re aren’t enough marketing dollars, there’s not enough attention so not enough people go see those movies on the opening box office weekend and so then they aren’t out long enough.

It’s a vicious cycle, but I think through social media and all of our communications online and our technology, we women, since we’re online more than men anyway, I think we just need to come together and communicate with each other the value of supporting female storytelling and supporting that time together when women can be there together and celebrate and enjoy life together and have experiences together. This is one simple way that women can actually help to change the cultural landscape while having fun in the process. Just to go opening weekend. I just saw Glenn Close’s film [Albert Nobbs], that she financed and produced herself, which is really an interesting little character driven film. It’s a period piece…Very interesting. The type of film that you want to talk about after. Those are movies that women love to go see because we want to talk about them after. It’s just like a book club…

NP: Well, hopefully this movie will help change things.

JSN: Yes…And the next film will continue this conversation. Thank you so much for speaking with me.

NP: You are very welcome. Obviously you are trying to be the change you want to see with Girls' Club Entertainment, your female orientated production company –– so good luck with that.

JSN: Thank you. I appreciate it.

(image) by Blogbot Since its launch in 2004, Facebook's genius has been its ability to express complex relationships between people and things in a simplified graphical form in a way that is easy to grasp with just a couple of minutes browsing at any one time. Thus, its storytelling format is clearly... more

by Blogbot

Since its launch in 2004, Facebook's genius has been its ability to express complex relationships between people and things in a simplified graphical form in a way that is easy to grasp with just a couple of minutes browsing at any one time. Thus, its storytelling format is clearly ideal for condensing convoluted shit like life, the universe, and everything into an easy to read feed. A new book, authored by Wylie Overstreet, rather successfully does just that, telling the entire history of the world in just 153 not-too-dense pages. Here, in this excerpted first chapter, we breeze through the pertinent points of a few billion years, learning more-or-less everything we need to know about a period of time bookended by the birth of the universe and the birth of man.











***

In August 2010, Wylie Overstreet published a satirical article called "If Historical Events Had Facebook Statuses" on CoolMaterial.com. Within a month, it had received 3 million views and had been "liked" by 120,000 Facebook users. In The History Of The World According To Facebook (published by It Books), Overstreet expands this concept into a full-length history of the world, from its creation up to the present day, as if Facebook had existed all along and Abraham Lincoln had written a status update about "taking the missus to the theater" on April 15, 1865 and Ben Franklin had done the same alerting his network that he′d signed the Declaration of Independence ("Bring it," replied John Adams). Filled with hundreds of real-life historical figures and thousands of not-at-all-real Facebook statuses, comments, and actions, and parodying Facebook users′ proclivity to over-share and use lazy jargon ("lol," "rofl," "fml," etc.), this is the definitive humor book for those who spend too much time online.

Excerpt from The History Of The World According To Facebook by Wylie Overstreet reprinted by kind permission of It Books. Copyright © 2011 Wylie Overstreet.

by Aaron Colter (video) It's been a long time since I've written anything about #OccupyWallStreet, and even longer since I first posted about the movement's inception. Since then, a lot of things have happened, most of which are still too difficult to cope with intelligently or even handle... more

by Aaron Colter



It's been a long time since I've written anything about #OccupyWallStreet, and even longer since I first posted about the movement's inception. Since then, a lot of things have happened, most of which are still too difficult to cope with intelligently or even handle on basic level. The world is awaking, bursting at the seams of what it means to be a society. It's exciting, but frightening as well, confusing as always.

I hope to unpack all of those thoughts soon. Put them into the right places so that I can have a better grasp of what Occupy means, why in some ways it was a tragedy, and why it's still hopeful. Most importantly, why its failure is a personal failure.

For now, if you're supportive of the moment, continue to do what you can. Some of us in the comic scene have decided to come together for a Kickstarter project called Occupy Comics. Top names in the industry are creating their own interpretations and stories from the Occupy movement for a book that will be collected next year. For now, funds raised will be donated by the artists to various efforts around the world to help the Occupy movement continue. There are only a few days left to contribute if you'd like to help out or get a book.

Creators involved include: Darick Robertson (Transmetropolitan), Dan Goldman (Shooting War), Amanda Palmer (Evelyn, Evelyn), Ben Templesmith (30 Days of Night), Charlie Adlard (The Walking Dead), Riley Rossmo (Cowboy Ninja Viking), Tim Seely (Hack/Slash), Zoetica Ebb (SuicideGirls, Biorequiem), Steve Rolston (Queen & Country), Tyler Crook (B.P.R.D.), Steve Niles (30 Days of Night), both Brea Grant and Zane Grant of the SuicideGirls comic series, and many more. Plus, several other top creators will be announced soon!

If you're into the idea, please contribute to the Kickstarter. And if you have an idea of your own for how to keep the Occupy movement alive, please make it a reality.

Thanks for reading.

Stay safe, stay positive.




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by Aaron Colter It's been a long time since I've written anything about #OccupyWallStreet, and even longer since I first posted about the movement's inception. Since then, a lot of things have happened, most of which are still too difficult to cope with intelligently or even handle on... more

by Aaron Colter



It's been a long time since I've written anything about #OccupyWallStreet, and even longer since I first posted about the movement's inception. Since then, a lot of things have happened, most of which are still too difficult to cope with intelligently or even handle on basic level. The world is awaking, bursting at the seams of what it means to be a society. It's exciting, but frightening as well, confusing as always.

I hope to unpack all of those thoughts soon. Put them into the right places so that I can have a better grasp of what Occupy means, why in some ways it was a tragedy, and why it's still hopeful. Most importantly, why its failure is a personal failure.

For now, if you're supportive of the moment, continue to do what you can. Some of us in the comic scene have decided to come together for a Kickstarter project called Occupy Comics. Top names in the industry are creating their own interpretations and stories from the Occupy movement for a book that will be collected next year. For now, funds raised will be donated by the artists to various efforts around the world to help the Occupy movement continue. There are only a few days left to contribute if you'd like to help out or get a book.

Creators involved include: Darick Robertson (Transmetropolitan), Dan Goldman (Shooting War), Amanda Palmer (Evelyn, Evelyn), Ben Templesmith (30 Days of Night), Charlie Adlard (The Walking Dead), Riley Rossmo (Cowboy Ninja Viking), Tim Seely (Hack/Slash), Zoetica Ebb (SuicideGirls, Biorequiem), Steve Rolston (Queen & Country), Tyler Crook (B.P.R.D.), Steve Niles (30 Days of Night), both Brea Grant and Zane Grant of the SuicideGirls comic series, and many more. Plus, several other top creators will be announced soon!

If you're into the idea, please contribute to the Kickstarter. And if you have an idea of your own for how to keep the Occupy movement alive, please make it a reality.

Thanks for reading.

Stay safe, stay positive.




Related Posts:

Things I Like That You Might Like Too: Update on #OccupyWallStreet - Wins and Fails
Things I Like That You Might Like Too: Youth
Things I Like That You Might Like Too: #OCCUPYWALLSTREET
Things I Like That You Might Like Too: Cool Shit
Things I Like That You Might Like Too: Art Online
Things I Like That You Might Like Too: Anonymous Ideas
Things I Like That You Might Like Too: Not Going to Comic-Con
Things I Like That You Might Like Too: Happy Summertime Playlist
Things I Like That You Might Like Too: LulzSec
Things I Like That You Might Like Too: EPs
Things I Like That You Might Like Too: Beer and Comics
Things I Like That You Might Like Too: The Taxpayers
Things I Like That You Might Like Too: Random Stuff from the Internet
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Things I Like That You Might Like Too: Being Alive & Rocking Out
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Things I Like That You Might Like Too: Graffiti
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Things I Like That You Might Like Too: Art Fags & Not Paying Taxes
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Things I Like That You Might Like Too: Emerald City Comic Con
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