Classic Set of the Day:

Manko - Trash n Go



Manko is an amazing individual in addition to a beautiful woman. Always fun to be around, Manko adds life to any party. In this classic set, Trash and Go, Manko's creativity and flare for fashion shine through. It's a classic set you can look at over and over again, from a girl you can never get sick of.


xoxo
-missy

Classic Set of The Day:

Sysca - Petite Chat




Sysca has so much sex appeal it's ridiculous. When she speaks and out comes an adorable french accent, you're putty in her hands. She recently visited HQ and stole our hearts. We miss her dearly but at least we have her photos, like today's classic set, Petit Chat, to enjoy until she visits again.

xoxo
-missy

Classic Set of the Day:

Reagan - Ribbons



Reagan is such a beautiful ethereal girl. She has an otherworldly sexiness about her. We tried to heighten this air of mystery as she slithered down a staircase wrapped in ribbons. I chose this as classic set of the day because I feel like this set shows off the essence of Reagan.

xoxo
-missy

Classic Set of the Day:

Waikiki - Satisfaction



Waikiki is a bad ass. She is a great photographer, beautiful model, sexy as hell and knows her way around some power tools. I would love to meet this world traveling beauty one day, until then this set will haunt my dreams.

xoxo
-missy

Classic Set of the Day:

Sash - Sushi



Sash is naturally stunning. Her beauty is arresting, it literally steals your breath when she walks into a room. Her curves are to die for and yet she is one of the most down to earth responsible and hardest working girls I know. This was the set that made me first stand up and take notice of Sash. She is a classic.

xoxo
-missy

Classic Set of the Day:

Zoli - Raw



Zoli is a natural model. She needs no direction, she just looks through the camera and into your heart. It is practically impossible to take a bad photo of her. She is such a funny sweet girl that is always up for anything. I chose this set as classic set of the day because it shows how beautiful she is even with no make-up or props or anything. Just Zoli Raw.

xoxo
-missy

Classic Set of the Day:

Evette - Laura Petrie



Evette has a classic kind of beauty that is hard to come by. With or without makeup, when she walks into a room everyone turns to look. Her keen sense of humor and infectious laugh make her a pleasure to be around. In this set, she embodies the timeless and effortless sex appeal of one of America's favorite TV wives: Laura Petrie.

Classic Set of the Day:

Fractal - Type Set



Fractal is not only super sexy but really interesting and skillful.. she writes beautifully, takes stunning photographs, and is an avid reader. Her intelligence and talents only add to her sex appeal. This set is a bit atypical Fractal because this is the only time I have ever seen her with a tan but I have fond memories of shooting this set with her and she looks beautiful in it. If you are a Fractal fan and who isn't you should also check out Haute Macabre - http://hautemacabre.com/

Classic Set of the Day:

Nixon - Not Recommended



Nixon is the sweetest nonconformist you will ever meet. With a penchant for all things dead, she finds beauty in the most unsuspecting places. It is her supreme attention to detail that makes her creative, unique, and en excellent storyteller, if you haven't seen the first tour DVD, it is worth finding just for her story about the rollerbladers nipple. I chose this set because it is the epitome of Nixon's sense of humor. She is always pushing boundaries and doing it beautifully. You can see some of Nixon's creations in her etsy shop: http://www.etsy.com/shop/chaosdoll?ref=pr_shop_more

xoxo
-missy

Classic Set of the Day:

Bully - 1966



I chose this set because it is simply beautiful and I am in love with her lingerie in this set. So dreamily perfect. Bully is one of the sweetest girls I have ever met. An animal lover, with a super cute sense of humor you can watch a video of her telling jokes here:




Enjoy!

xoxo
-missy

Classic Set of the Day:

Rigel - Vs Aliens



The gorgeous Rigel should be baking this afternoon but instead she has spent her day fighting Aliens. That is why I love her, she always takes care of business. I thought this would be a fun way to wrap up your holiday meal. Hope everyone had a great holiday, and watch out for aliens!

xoxo
-missy

Advertorial/Competition: Get Intimate With Spread On Us




"This is getting really uncomfortable," says Spread star Ashton Kutcher after watching his character get fucked in a leather chair during commentary embedded in the special features of the DVD version the film. Indeed Kutcher complains that acting in the film often caused him intense discomfort -- "agony" even -- brought on by frequent and severe bouts of vasocongestion in his nether regions (a condition more commonly referred to as blue balls).

Those who watched the film in theaters earlier this year may empathize as the film features some of the hottest sex scenes seen in a mainstream film in recent years. Thus, as Kutcher waited until the cameras stopped rolling to work out frustrations brought on by the day's acting off set with his wife Demi Moore, many cinemagoers had similarly uncomfortable commutes home. Needless to say, Spread is likely to do considerably better when it's released on DVD and Blu-Ray on Nov 10th than it did at the box office, for this is a film best experienced in the private confines of your own home (preferably with relief close at hand if you catch our drift).

In Spread, Kutcher plays Nikki a charming freeloader who hopes to get ahead by getting head -- and servicing the needs of his wealthy female companions. Co-star Anne Heche is perhaps the film's biggest surprise however. She plays Samantha, one of Nikki's well-heeled marks. It's without doubt the Sappho-esque actresses' most erotic role to date. "I've gone further in this movie than I have ever before," says Heche, before adding, "Why didn't I do this when I was 22?"

The actress and mother of two, who hit forty in May of this year, confronts the no holes barred (pun intended) sex scenes with a refreshing honesty. Though the action is often graphic, Heche's toned body shows scant evidence of the two children it bore, and the numerous encounters with Kutcher's character are both hyper-erotic and hyper-real.

Samantha may accuse Nikki of being "nothing but six inches and a pretty face," but it's his mastery of the art of the pick-up that gives the Hollywood player -- and therefore the film -- an edge. Indeed, in the aforementioned commentary, Kutcher fesses up to being a student of The Game, journalist Neill Strauss' infamous seduction bible (which spawned the VH1 reality show The Pick-Up Artist).

Throughout the film, Kutcher's character schools us on the basics of The Game: "There is only one pick up line -- Hi, what's your name? -- everything else is cheese." Player-centric tips such as "Never show her you're impressed -- it lowers your market value" and "You want to give them a good fucking, but not too good -- leave a little room for the relationship to grow" keep the dialog sharp and heighten the irony when the master player ultimately gets outplayed.

Visually, the third character in the plot is Samantha's sleek and stunning, glass-walled Hollywood Hills home -- Nikki's Spread du jour -- which serves as the film's sensual playground. However, for drama's sake, emotionally, the love triangle is completed by newcomer Margarita Levieva's character, Heather, who brings unexpected chaos to Nikki's highly controlled world.

Though Spread is an erotic comedy caper that celebrates all that is wrong with Los Angeles -- a metropolis that idolizes the beautiful and superficial -- Kutcher, unlike his character, is wise enough to keep his baser Hollywood instincts in check. "I've played the game enough to know it doesn't end well," says Kutcher, who married his smokin' hot older women in 2005. "The only way to win is through true passion and love*."



WIN SPREAD TO GO

SuicideGirls has teamed up with Anchor Bay Films for a special competition so you can get intimate with Spread in the privacy of your own home. Winners will receive one of three copies of Spread on either Blu-Ray or DVD (your choice).

Answer the following question to enter:

Which lady would you prefer to be your sugar momma -- Anne Heche or Margarita Levieva?

(See pics at: www.flickr.com/photos/spreadthemovie)

Send entries via email to spread@suicidegirls.com. Please remember to include the following information:

1. Name
2. Address
3. Date of Birth
4. Preferred format (Blu-Ray or DVD)

Contest closes on November 23, 2009 at midnight PST. Winners will be notified by email on or before November 27. No purchase necessary. Must be18 years or older to enter.

For more information on Spread and the DVD/Blu-Ray release go to Spread-themovie.com.



Footnote:
* The only disclaimer being that Nikki's trademark "rollover sleeping smile" has apparently worked well for Kutcher off screen too, enabling him to avoid getting out of bed to take out the trash on more than one occasion when asked by his wife.

These images, featuring Rambo and Radeo, give you a FREE glimpse into the SuicideGirls take on the modern pin-up.












As a special promotion, to show non-members what lies behind SuicideGirls' members-only velvet rope, we're opening this set up for public view for a limited time. If you're 18 & over click HERE to see the complete adult-only photo set .

If you'd like the inside scoop on SG offers and exclusives (such as this one off free photo set), send your name, age, city, state/country and email address to: newsletter@suicidegirls.com

SuicideGirls has teamed up with the folks behind the new film Spread to bring you a special BONUS photoset from Vice. She walks you through some of Nikki's pickup tips. In the film Ashton Kutcher plays Nikki, a charming freeloader, who trades his sexual prowess for the financial advantages ladies of a certain age and position can provide. Nikki's tried and tested dating technique will always mean he'll end up on top -- with the object of his affections underneath.

SuicideGirls members can see the whole set here.











Spread is an erotic caper and cautionary Hollywood tale. Think Red Shoe Diaries meets Cruel Intentions -- or a Wild Orchid for Generation Z. As the film heats up, Nikki gets caught in a love/lust triangle between Samantha (Anne Heche), a mature woman with a sleek car, beautiful property and a well balanced portfolio, and Heather (Margarita Levieva), a hot young waitress who may just end up beating him at his own game.

Enjoy the sexy red band trailer here:




Spread opens on August 14. Go to Spread-TheMovie.com for more info. Tickets available at Spread-TheMovie.com/showtimes.htm

SuicideGirls has teamed up with the folks behind the new film Spread to bring you a special movie themed competition. Winners will receive a giclee fine art print of the Spread poster image signed the artist, David Ellis, and the star of Spread, Ashton Kutcher.

Spread is an erotic caper and cautionary Hollywood tale. Think Red Shoe Diaries meets Cruel Intentions -- or a Wild Orchid for Generation Z. It stars Ashton Kutcher, who plays Nikki, a charming freeloader, who trades his sexual prowess for the financial advantages ladies of a certain age and position can provide. As the film heats up, Nikki gets caught in a love/lust triangle between Samantha (Anne Heche), a mature woman with a sleek car, beautiful property and a well balanced portfolio, and Heather (Margarita Levieva), a hot young waitress who may just end up beating him at his own game. However, Nikki's tried and tested dating technique will always mean he'll end up on top -- with the object of his affections underneath:

Nikki's Top Ten Pickup Tips:

1. There's only one opening line: "Hi, I'm Nikki." Everything else is cheese.
2. Never show her you're impressed. It lowers your market value.
3. You've got to look like a rebel before you look like a sensitive guy.
4. You can't go wrong with girls' tennis.
5. Cook her dinner. It doesn't matter if you can cook or not. Girls grade on effort. It is almost better when the meal is a flop.
6. When a girl tells you you're not getting any, before you ask....before you even try...you're getting some.
7. You want to give them a good fucking. But not too good. Leave a little room for the relationship to grow.
8. I always follow up a meaningless fuck with a chatty phone call. An easy call after a lay can go a long way.
9. I am homeless, carless, and completely unreliable. But I do have a cell phone, that happens to be right beside her. That is right baby, 19 other offers and I am here creating equity with you.
10. Think of it as an point system: 1 for flowers. 2 dinner. 3 for an orgasm. You need 26 points for them to trust you. Then you can go back to watching football.

Have you got a line that's guaranteed to open more than a conversation that you'd like to share with the world?

Enter our special competition to win one of three limited-edition autographed giclee fine art prints of the David Ellis-designed Spread campaign image.

To enter all you have to do is tweet your pickup line, close it with "@spreadthemovie," take a screenshot of your message as it appears on Twitter and email it to: spread@suicidegirls.com.



If you don't have a Twitter account, you can go to Spread-TheMovie.com and click on the "Express Yourself" link to enter your message directly -- Just remember to take a screen shot of it and email it to: spread@suicidegirls.com.

Three winners will be chosen at random from all valid entries. The prints will be autographed by David Ellis and Ashton Kutcher



Competition closes at midnight PST on Aug 14th. Winners will be notified by August 21, 2009.

Spread opens on August 14. Go to Spread-TheMovie.com for more info. Tickets available at Spread-TheMovie.com/showtimes.htm

In my old neighborhood of Central Square in Cambridge, MA, there's a falafel joint that used to be a White Castle. While some might wring their hands at the notion of a bastion of the oldest burger chain in the US being supplanted by cuisine from the Middle East, I embrace this as a manifestation of the Great American Melting Pot that made America... uhmmm... Great. And Melty.

It's in this same spirit of a White Castle location being the site of transformation and enrichment through the American immigrant experience that I embrace and rejoice in the recent assignment of actor Kal Penn --
Kumar himself from Harold & Kumar Go to White Castle and Harold & Kumar Escape from Guantanamo Bay -- to the Obama administration's Office of Public Liaison. As associate director there, according to The LA Times, he'll be doing "outreach to young people, arts professionals and the Asian American community."

Why is this so cool? Because Harold and Kumar are the most patriotic buds in pop culture since Willie and Joe, the two loveable lug GIs created by cartoonist Bill Mauldin for Stars and Stripes.

Yeah, on their most basic level, the Harold & Kumar movies are stoner comedies, Cheech and Chong flicks for the new millennium. But there's really something sublime bubbling bong-toke-like just under the surface of these two flicks, and that's a deep and abiding love for the promise of America. If it's not a new kind of patriotism, then maybe it's a new rhetoric of patriotism. Albeit one with lots of fart, shit, piss, blowjob, dick and pube jokes. But it's really a beautiful vision -- one uniquely suited for this time, and this administration.

Both Harold & Kumar movies (and alas, now that Penn has taken this job in DC, it looks like there won't be a third one) present an ideal of American patriotism which is defined by inclusion and diversity. In the Harold-&-Kumar-verse, it's unpatriotic and un-American to be an exclusionary dick.

Harold & Kumar writers Jon Hurwitz and Hayden Schlossberg, in creating their stoner diptych, put their heroes through a series of encounters that glorify diversity and inclusiveness and expose the profound douchebagery of exclusion and prejudice.

Right off the bat in Harold & Kumar Go to White Castle (even typing these words makes me crave a giant bag of Slyders) we're shown racial adversity as experienced by the film's unlikely heroes at the hands of Billy (Ethan Embry) and J.D. (Robert Tinkler). These two shining examples of jerks dead-bird-drop a pile of extra work on the desk of Harold (played by John Cho, who'll be part of another multi-ethnic and multi-species celebration of diversity when he takes over as Mr. Sulu in Star Trek).

Sure, no matter the ethnicity of the guy who gets loaded with somebody else's work at quitting time on a Friday night, douchebagery is afoot.
But it's depicted as a specifically un-American, specifically racist form of douchebagery when J.D. makes a crack about how he gets all "his" work done by passing it off to Asian guys. "Those Asian guys love crunching numbers! You probably just made his weekend!"

It's this bullshit stereotyping that Hurwitz and Schlossberg wanted to bash with their Harold and Kumar characters. "The high school we went to had a lot of Indian and Asian kids," Schlossberg told The New York Times. "Typically, in movies, these guys are the foreign-exchange students and martial-arts guys. We thought there's something wrong here. We wanted our movie to feel and look like the real world."

Looking over my notes taken during a night of watching both Harold & Kumar movies, I realize that I could burn through a lot of words recapping all the racist, exclusionary fucktards who get in Harold and Kumar's way in the first movie alone as they go in quest of White Castle burgers.

From the pack of drooling extreme sports punks who shout to Harold, as they steal his parking spot, "This is America! Learn to drive!" to the racial-profiling cops of Muckleburg, New Jersey: "What's with that name? Koooo-mar? With, like, three o's and shit? What happened to good old-fashioned American names like Dave and Jim?".

These dicks are foiled by the nice folks who are part of this multi-ethnic and accepting vision of America, like the hideously deformed, pus-leaking, gospel-singin' Freakshow (Law & Order's Christopher Meloni) and his hot wife Liane (Watchmen's Malin Akerman) to the sort of Yoda-like Tarik (Gary Anthony Williams), who says, "Look at me. I'm fat, Black, can't dance, and I have two gay fathers. People have been messing with me my whole life. I learned a long time ago there's no sense getting all riled up every time a bunch of idiots give you a hard time. In the end, the universe tends to unfold as it should. Plus, I have a really large penis. That keeps me happy!"

The thematic zenith of the tokin' (and Tolkien-esque?) epic that is the two Harold & Kumar movies is embodied in a speech made by Kumar as he tries to talk Harold into hang-gliding the last couple hundred yards to White Castle. It's a speech that could be dismissed as just a goofy comedy climax pep-talk, like the one John Belushi made at the in Animal House ("Nothing is over until we decide it is! Was it over when the Germans bombed Pearl Harbor? Hell no!" etc...), if it didn't dovetail so beautifully with the message of the rest of the movie:

That speech is sincere. It's a real expression of patriotism on the part of writers Hurwitz and Schlossberg. It really wasn't just about the burgers. Kumar's dad did come to America and realize the American Dream. He became a doctor. Sure, there's friction between Kumar and his dad. But in their quests for personal fulfillment, be it through burgers or an MD, they've both attained something beautiful. And Harold only grows a pair of balls and stands up to Billy and J.D. after he's gotten his slice of the American Dream and washed it down with Cherry Cokes.

***

Harold & Kumar Go to White Castle was released on July 30, 2004, just one day after the historic Democratic national Convention at which Barack Obama first exploded into the nation's awareness with his totally kickass speech. Consider the notes that both Obama and Kumar hit:

Source


And while you're at it, compare the jerkweed Jersey cop's comment "What happened to good old-fashioned American names like 'Dave' and 'Jim?'" to Obama's statement that "My parents... would give me an African name, Barack, or 'blessed,' believing that in a tolerant America, your name is no barrier to success."

(Then compare these comments to those from Texas State Representative and Asshole Fuckface honoree Betty Brown who said Asian-descent voters should adopt names that are "easier for Americans to deal with.")

Harold, Kumar and Obama's 2004 vision of America is empowering, so much so that by the start of 2008's Guantanamo Bay, Harold, nourished spiritually and physically by his American Dream White Castle munchie run, says as he settles in for the plane ride, "It's like I'm a whole new Harold! Better! Faster! Stronger!" This new improved Harold stood up to the bullying tactics of J.D. and Billy -- and Rob Corddry's Bill of Rights ass-wiping bugfuck Secretary Fox in Guantanamo -- to get his Hollywood ending with the girl of his dreams -- how American is that!

Sure, Kal Penn has a lot more qualifications to take up this new job besides just having played Kumar (though his experience bonding over a doobie with the film's affable George W. has got to help him make friends across the isle right?). He campaigned for Obama, he's been taking graduate courses in International Studies online through Stanford, and he's taught two courses, "Images of Asian Americans in the Media" and "Contemporary American Teen Films," at U Penn (source). But it's the unique combination of the patriotism of Harold & Kumar and the opportunity, diversity and promise that Obama's presidency embodies that makes his new appointment as inspirational and American as apple pie -- served in a falafel place that used to be a White Castle.


Michael Marano 2009.

Horror writer, pop culture commentator and Public Radio film critic Michael Marano previously wrote "Ten Lessons Spider-Man Can Teach Our First Nerd President", and has a new fiction collection in the works about the crazy shit he lived through in the 1980s entitled Stories from the Plague Years.

SuicideGirls was headbanging alongside Keanu Reeves, Dustin Hoffman and The Chelsea Girls at the American premiere of the rockumentary Anvil: The Story of Anvil at The Egyptian Theater in Hollywood last night. Benji and Joel Madden, Henry Rollins, Mark McGrath, Chris Jericho, Ryan Gosling and Rufus Sewell also came out to show their support.

The film is a real-life twist on Spinal Tap, telling the story of two friends, Steve "Lips" Kudlow and Robb "Geza" Reiner, who, at the age of fourteen, pledged to rock together forever. As instigators of the speed metal sound, their band, Anvil, inspired a generation (Metallica, Guns N' Roses and Anthrax, to name but a few). They toured the world with The Scorpions, Bon Jovi and Whitesnake, but while all these band's went on to sell millions, for whatever reason, Anvil faded into obscurity.

Fortunately for them, one fan-turned-friend, Sacha "Teabag" Gervasi, never forgot Anvil's awesomeness. After finding success in Hollywood as the screenwriter of the Steven Spielberg-directed film The Terminal, Gervasi looked up the band that had made a man of him (literally) back in the eighties. He found that, despite their spectacular lack of success in the intervening two decades, Robb and Lips had never given up on their friendship or their dream. Finding this incredibly inspirational, Gervasi decided to tell their story.

At its core, Anvil: The Story of Anvil is an epic anthem about friendship, and the Los Angeles premiere reflected this. Gervasi's buddy Keanu Reeves introduced the film, and friend of the band (and SG) Scott Ian of Anthrax took to the stage with Anvil for a hard rockin' post-film performance. Thanks to the noise this film has created, Lips and Robb, who are now in their fifties, are finally set to get the attention they deserve.

"It was extraordinary," said an excited Gervasi when SG asked him for his post-premiere reaction this morning. "It was overwhelming having Dustin Hoffman come up to me and say it's the most incredibly moving, human film he's ever seen."

Unlike many a Hollywood premiere, where the celebs walk the red carpet for the benefit of the cameras before discretely slipping out the back door before the film starts, the stars in attendance hung around until Anvil's very last chord.

"Dustin Hoffman sat through an Anvil metal concert," Gervasi enthused. "On his feet stamping and cheering. Dustin Hoffman headbanging to '666'!!!"

"I'm beyond words man, I gotta tell you, it's really out there," said Lips, who remains down to earth despite his new found celebrity fanbase (which includes Madonna, Trent Reznor and David Byrne). "The effect of this movie, regardless of your status, of who you are, what kind of person you are, how successful or unsuccessful you are, the kind of effect this has on them is the same. It's such a universal feeling that people seem get from the movie...It doesn't matter who you are, what walk of life, it will affect you and make you feel good."


The Story of Anvil opens in the US on Friday, April 10. Catch Anvil live and see the film on the Anvil Experience tour. Go to AnvilMovie.com for more info, and read our interview with Sacha Gervasi HERE.

Images from left to right:
Top: Steve "Lips" Kudlow, Dustin "Headbanger" Hoffman and Robb "Geza" Reiner. Bottom: Keanu "The Wall" Reeves, Eddie "Metal Show" Trunk, Chris "Man of 1,004 Holds" Jericho and Sacha "Teabag" Gervasi.

Repo! The Genetic Opera director Darren Bousman (see previous interview), co-writer/musical director Darren Smith, and co-writer/cast member Terrance Zdunich stopped by SG Radio HQ to chat with host Sam Doumit about the film's upcoming 13-city tour, which kicks off tomorrow in Salt Lake City and culminates in a special star-infused screening in L.A. at Laemmle's Royal Theater on Saturday, January 24th.

The bloodthirsty futuristic rock/horror flick, which you either love or hate (there’s no room for moderation here –– it’s hit more than one “Worst Film” list), first hit screens on limited release late last year, and has since gained a cult Rocky Horror-like following, with Repo-ssessed souls turning up to screenings in full costume with a word-perfect recollection of the musical’s lyrics.

Repo! boasts an unlikely ensemble cast, which includes Anthony Head (Buffy), Paul Sorvino (Goodfellas), Alexa Vega (Spy Kids), Paris Hilton (‘nuff said), Bill Mosely (Texas Chainsaw Massacre Part 2), Nivek Ogre (Skinny Puppy), and musical/opera diva Sarah Brightman (for whom Andrew Lloyd Webber wrote the role of Christine in Phantom of the Opera). The relentless rock/goth/industrial soundtrack features Richard Patrick (Filter), Stephen Perkins (Jane's Addiction and Porno for Pyros), Daniel Ash and David J. (Bauhaus), and Poe, among others.

For those unable to experience an extreme big screen Repo! assault, the film comes out on DVD and Blue-Ray on January 30th. In the meantime, Bousman gave SuicideGirls this inside scoop on the film’s most notorious cast member.




Here’s the full list of Repo! Road Tour dates:

1/13 (Tuesday) - SALT LAKE CITY UTAH - The Tower Theatre
w/ Darren Smith and Terrance Zdunich

1/14 (Wednesday) - INDIANAPOLIS, IN - Indy Keystone
w/ Darren Smith and Terrance Zdunich

1/15 (Thursday) - FOXBORO, MA - The Orpheum
w/ Alexa Vega, Terrance Zdunich, Darren Bousman

1/16 (Friday) - New Jersey - The Williams Arts Center
w/ Alexa Vega, Terrance Zdunich, Darren Bousman

1/17 (Saturday) - GREENBELT, MD - The Greenbelt Theatre
w/ Alexa Vega, Terrance Zdunich, Darren Bousman

1/18 (Sunday) - CINCINNATI, OH -The Esquire Theatre
w/ Darren Bousman, Terrance Zdunich

1/20 (Tuesday) - ST. LOUIS, MO - The Landmark Tivoli
w/ Bill Moseley, Darren Bousman, Terrance Zdunich

1/21 (Wednesday) - DENVER, CO - The Landmark Mayan
w/ Bill Moseley, Darren Bousman, Terrance Zdunich

1/22 (Thursday) - JACKSON, MI - The Michigan Theatre
w/ Bill Moseley, Darren Bousman, Terrance

1/23 (Friday) - PHOENIX, AZ - The Chandler Cinema
w/ Bill Moseley, Darren Bousman, Terrance Zdunich

1/24 (Saturday) - LOS ANGELES, CA - Laemmle's Royal Theater
w/ Paris Hilton, Paul Sorvino, Alexa Vega, Bill Moseley, Ogre, Darren Bousman, Terrance Zdunich

For more info on the film, the tour, and the DVD/Blue-Ray release go to Repo-Opera.com.

To listen to a recording of our SG Radio interview with Bousman, Smith, and Zdunich hit the “Podcast” button at Indie1031.com/suicide_girls_radio.php.

SuicideGirls' Top Ten Films of 2008
by Ryan Stewart

The 2008 year in film effectively began on January 22, when, while riding a bus through the snowbound Sundance Film Festival, I noticed people checking their Blackberries and whispering about reports that Heath Ledger had been found dead in New York. There would be no other major topic of conversation for the remainder of the fest — it was a pretty dull year for Sundance — and that set the tone for a generally below average, hit and miss year that was light on quality and big on bloated franchise spectacle, particularly the re-animation of long-dead franchises. Rambo came back after a twenty year absence to turn the entire Burmese army into hamburger patties, and that was fun, but then the memory pirates known as Spielberg & Lucas also rode in and delivered a root canal of a film that allegedly had something to do with Indiana Jones. Major missteps from respected filmmakers such as M. Night Shyamalan, Spike Lee, David Fincher and Clint Eastwood would also appear on the menu in 2008.

This was also a year in which the business itself became a big story, as a tough economic climate forced most Hollywood studios to shutter their indie distribution arms, leaving much doubt about how independent film will thrive going forward. If that wasn't bad enough, newspapers also initiated a mass wave of layoffs of film critics that by year's end have left the ranks more or less decimated. Factor in the winter strike that had the effect of disrupting 2009's slate of films and there's truly no telling what next year will look like. Merry Christmas! In all seriousness, though, there were, as always, a handful of truly exceptional films that shone through all the muck this year, and it's my job to point them out, so here we go.





1. Wendy and Lucy

Imagine having no safety net of any kind, no family or friends to count on, no job or savings and no roof over your head — only $500 in cash and a barely-functioning old car. Then the car breaks down. Wendy and Lucy tells the gripping, no-frills story of a twenty-something girl in just such a situation, on her way to Alaska to work at a fish cannery when she's waylaid by fate and trapped in a featureless strip mall town with her hungry dog Lucy to consider and her options shrinking by the hour. Where can she turn? How will she survive? Influenced by Umberto D. and other classics of Italian neorealism, this micro-budgeted film masterfully dramatizes just how terrifying life on the margins of American society can become for those who fall through the cracks.





2. Let the Right One In

"I can't come in unless you invite me," says twelve year-old Eli to her playmate, Oskar, at his apartment door. She's not being polite — she's a vampire and of the two of them, she's the more normal one, accepting that she must kill to survive and is contemptuous of her father for trying to prevent her from doing so, and in a sense, growing up. As for Oskar, he's a small, effeminate boy channeling the rage he feels from intense school bullying into unhealthy knife and serial killer fetishes. What can Eli teach Oskar about living in a world of remorseless violence? And what to make of the scene where these sexless beings lie naked in bed, comforting each other? An amazing story of friendship and survival at all costs, this Swedish gem inspired more conversation than any other film in 2008.





3. Man on Wire

It was an act of high-stakes art, undertaken with all the precision planning of a bank robbery but having nothing to do with money. On August 7, 1974, a French daredevil named Philippe Petit completed a high-wire walk between the twin towers of the World Trade Center, something onlookers could barely comprehend and police seemed embarrassed to label a crime. Man on Wire, an immensely absorbing documentary, chronicles the walk and pushes for answers to the deeper questions: What was in it for Petit, and who is he? What kind of mind could absorb that much imminent danger and still perform like a ballerina? What made others want to join in and help him accomplish his goal? There are hardly any real answers, of course. As one conspirator says in the film, "The important thing is that we did it."





4. In the City of Sylvia

In the city of Strasbourg, there's a man searching for his lost love, but further details are scarce. We know that they connected briefly, six years ago, and then lost each other. We don't know his name or why that sidewalk cafe he plants himself at is central to the quest or whether he has any real expectation of finding her again, but the search is what sustains him as he sketches and admires other beautiful women who pass by and allows all of the majesty of city life to enter his pores. This elliptical, uncommonly beautiful French film from Jose Luis Guerin is highly abstract and certainly not for all tastes, but should strike a chord with anyone who's ever been haunted by a face on a busy street and been unable to shake the memory even years later.





5. Happy-Go-Lucky

Is real happiness reserved for children, morons and religious fundamentalists? Mike Leigh's latest film doesn't have an answer, but it asks the question. Sally Hawkins gives the performance of a career as Poppy, an emphatically upbeat young woman who responds to her bicycle being stolen in the film's opening scene by musing that, "We never even got to say goodbye." Ain't nothin' gonna break her stride as she skips through modern-day London where she encounters neurotics, psychotics, racists, and other walking black clouds who fail to do anything to dim her innate cheerfulness. Is Poppy crazy? Does she know something about the nature of the universe that no one else does? Is she a "happiness fascist" as one critic declared? Is she hiding something deep and dark? These questions become terribly compelling the longer the film goes on.





6. Revolutionary Road

The old Ink Spots song "The Gypsy" plays as Frank first notices April dancing with another man from across the room and begins to fall for her. She notices him as well and the sparks fly. It's all downhill from there! This story of a crumbling marriage between two attractive young suburbanites in 1950s New England is made palpably painful for the viewer because it stars Kate & Leo, the universally agreed-upon Great Screen Couple of our generation. Virtuoso acting abounds as they rip each other to shreds for two hours and we, the audience, silently entreat them to just keep giving it one more try. Come on, Kate — you jump, he jumps, right? Director Sam Mendes appropriately dials down his usual stylistic eccentricities and although the source novel is somewhat overrated, the well-structured screenplay serves everyone well.





7. Iron Man

What was it George Carlin said? Billionaires don't care about you. That's the unburied ethos of Iron Man, a well-made, fun to watch and almost believable superhero film that puts the lie to all of Bruce Wayne's tiresome moralizing. No self-respecting billionaire industrialist would concern himself with personally thwarting the activities of deranged criminals in a crumbling city and then agonize over whether he's endangering citizens. Such a person might, however, build a mansion-sized man cave on the Malibu coast, tinker with advanced metallurgic toys in the basement at his leisure and hire a Gwyneth Paltrow look-a-like to serve as his live-in personal assistant/surrogate mommy/arms-length love interest. And if the press started asking too many questions about his nighttime excursions in an unlicensed flying body suit? "I am Iron Man. Fuck you."





8. Nothing but the Truth

Rod Lurie films offer small pleasures, but pleasures all the same. When sitting down to watch a Lurie film you know you're going to get the kind of socio-political drama that every other filmmaker in Hollywood gave up on making around 1987, only with Lurie's special brand of "ripped from the headlines" immediacy. With Nothing but the Truth, he pilfers the Valerie Plame saga to tell the story of Washington reporter Rachel Armstrong, (Kate Beckinsale) who stumbles onto the secret identity of Erica Van Doren, a brash and sexy CIA agent played by Vera Farmiga. What Armstrong and her paper do with that info and the political shitstorm that results makes for a robust, entertaining little drama that delivers on multiple levels. Also, did I mention that Vera Farmiga plays a brash and sexy CIA agent?





9. Redbelt

Handicapped fighting, an offshoot of mixed martial arts in which the combatants draw colored marbles to see who will have to fight with an arm or a leg tied down before the bout begins, is completely fictional, though you'd never know it watching Redbelt. David Mamet has created one of his best films in years with the story of Mike Terry (Chiwetel Ejiofor), a jujitsu instructor in low-rent Los Angeles who finds himself getting pulled into a seedier world than his own — Hollywood — and must extricate himself from an elaborate gambling ring con before it swallows him up. Like all of Mamet's best films, this one is richly, sometimes maddeningly layered, as well as filled to the brim with exciting cameos, unexpected twists and poignant moments of decision that strip away the characters' illusions about who they really are.





10. The Wrestler

Randy "the Ram" Robinson drives around New Jersey in an old van, blasting 80s power ballads as he goes from one tiny gig to the next, living on chump change. It's the life of a 50-something professional wrestler whose glory days were never all that glorious, although Randy came closer to stardom than most, showing kids at his trailer park a Nintendo game featuring his likeness. His real name isn't even Randy — it's Robin — as we learn when he's forced to don a name tag and do counter shifts at a deli. The Wrestler is an ingenious, but hellish updating of Rocky in which Adrian is now a capricious stripper, Apollo Creed is a car salesman who plays the baddie on weekends to make a few extra bucks and the fans who show up want victory, but they'll settle for injury.




Honorable Mentions: Timecrimes, Cassandra's Dream, The Strangers, Wanted, The Reader, Stuck, Married Life, The Bank Job, Valkyrie, Fugitive Pieces.

Check out our 2007 Top 10 film list for you holiday DVD viewing pleasure.

Legendary pin-up Bettie Page passed away on Thursday, December 11 at 6:41 PST at Kindred Hospital in Los Angeles. She was 85 when she died. A private funeral service will be held at the Westwood Memorial Cemetery on Tuesday, December 16.

Page was hospitalized after suffering a heart attack on December 2, and had been on life support since then, her condition being compounded by pneumonia. In a statement on Page's official website, her longtime agent, Mark Roesler, said, "She died peacefully but had never regained consciousness after suffering a heart attack nine days ago."

Page found religion and became reclusive in later life, suffering from depression and bouts of metal illness. In a rare interview with The Los Angeles Times in 2006 Page said, "I want to be remembered as the woman who changed people's perspectives concerning nudity in its natural form."