by Ryan Stewart

April 11, 1983 was the definitive day in Dave Mustaine’s professional life. As lead guitarist and contributing songwriter for an up-and-coming thrash metal band called Metallica, he had been living out his dream of making a living at playing metal for over a year and a half. Like many at the time, he was also beginning to sense that his band was something truly special, a ferociously talented foursome that had the potential to go where no metal band had gone before. A musical virtuoso with unlimited ambition, Mustaine’s eyes were fixed on the future, but he was badly neglecting the present. A problem with drinking and drugs, owed in part to a rootless childhood, had plagued him for years, and as success drew closer his reckless behavior increased and lines were crossed. No one knows what the final straw really was, but on the morning of April 11, while Metallica was in N.Y.C. on business, Mustaine was awoken by singer James Hetfield and unceremoniously handed a Greyhound ticket home to L.A. He was out of Metallica, without so much as a warning.

[..]

by Tara Diane

I feel like I need to add a disclaimer to this post, so: Disclaimer: there will be tons of ball jokes in this entry. Also, I promise I’m not playing a joke where I trick you guys into making as many random circle things as possible (this, contact paper, string lamp thing), I am just not that artistic and circles are really freaking easy to make!

Anyways, I came across this tutorial on making cloth pom pom ball shits on Chinese lanterns. I thought they were pretty cool, but decided I needed to jazz it up a little bit and figure out a lazier way of doing it. Our balls are going to be quite a bit larger than theirs. I basically just steal other people’s ideas and make them better most of the time!

[..]

Jenez Suicide in Physical

• INTO: Cats, art, psychedelic music.
• NOT INTO: Horses, bullshit, mainstream music.
• MAKES ME HAPPY: Smell after the rain.
• MAKES ME SAD: Rain.
• HOBBIES: Dancing, photography, laughing, kissing, sports, painting.
• 5 THINGS I CAN’T LIVE WITHOUT: Ice cream, sun, flowers, chocolate, coffee.
• VICES: Smoking, jealousy.
• I SPEND MOST OF MY FREE TIME: In the nature or in my bed.

Get to know Jenez better over at SuicideGirls.com!

by Brett Warner

They call it “loss prevention”- an attempt to minimize shrinkage, shoplifting, and all other sorts of profit loss. Standing behind a computer screen, fake smiles all around, the word “Information” hanging like a halo over your head… it’s easy to start thinking about things you’ve lost along the way. A soccer mom asks for the Self Help section and like a prized show dog, you walk to her through the aisles, handing her a copy of He’s Just Not That Into You with a chipper “Have a good day!” the first of hundreds you’ll give out before closing time. The truth is that you silently hate this woman, and the next customer, and the next. You hate her because you never planned on selling books for a living. And each query, each title search, each cash register transaction is a blunt reminder of what’s gone missing, of what little there is left. Management worries about lost product – a bookseller worries about losing themselves.

[..]

by Andrew E. Konietzky

This week I had a great round-table discussion with friends concerning the state of new media and the changing world around us. Being a writer and podcaster, I have long been a supporter of CC. Whoops! I may have to give a bit of a refresher course first: Creative Commons is a nonprofit organization that works to increase the amount of creativity (cultural, educational and scientific content) in “the commons” – the body of work that is available to the public for free and legal sharing, uses, re-purposing and remixing. So I sat down to do a bit of research for my benefit and to show I am not created just out of cheesy films, zombies and strange culture. Well, actually I am, but I do have a stake in this changing world of media.

The world is now a hyper-expanding WikiNation, with information flowing back and forth faster than ever before. Plug in your cranial jack and download the info-burst on this documentary from the global networks. Rip: A Remix Manifesto, in which web activist and filmmaker Brett Gaylor explores issues of copyright in the information age, mashing up the media landscape of the 20th century and shattering the wall between users and producers. He is also the web producer of HomelessNation.org, a web project dedicated to bridging the digital divide and allowing everyone to participate in online culture. Brett is one of Canada’s first video bloggers and has been working with youth and media for over 10 years, and is a founding instructor of the Gulf Islands Film and Television School.

[..]

Jamity Suicide in So Long…

• INTO: MSI, Morningwood, Tenacious D, Stolen Babies, Cream, The Left Rights, John Murphy, The Living End, Paramore, Retard-o-bot, Clock Work Orange.
• MAKES ME HAPPY: Romance, chocolate, sunshine, SEA, BEACH, GIRLS!
• MAKES ME SAD: Boyfriend, being sick, racism, monthlies.
• 5 THINGS I CAN’T LIVE WITHOUT: Art, photos, comics, tea, cartoons!

Get to know Jamity better over at SuicideGirls.com!

by Ryan Stewart

Your last glimpse of Michelle Rodriguez was probably in the third act of Avatar, when, as heroic marine pilot Trudy Chacon, she turned on her colonial military bosses and went down with her ship, fighting for the rights of the native Na’vi cat people. It was a typically badass finish for an actress who has garnered a reputation for both kicking much on-screen ass and almost always biting it in the end.

[..]