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Jun 2011 13

by Morgan

I’ve spent long stretches of time the last couple of months without a computer, which means that when I had a working one in my apartment again I devoured new games with more enthusiasm then usual. And I usually have a lot of enthusiasm for games! I also spent a lot of time playing games on my brand new iPad. So for this casual game review column, I’m going to offer a grab-bag of different games for both PC and iPad. Also, to make up for the absence of a column last month, I’ll include a few quick recommendations at the end of this one!

1. THOR: Son of Asgard

First, there’s THOR: Son of Asgard. I know, I know, games based on movies are most often somewhere from mediocre to gorram terrible, but I really enjoyed this one. The tutorial level will get you comfortable with the easy to use, intuitive controls that allow you to use basic attacks and awesome foe-smashing special powers. The graphics are excellent and the game play engrossing. One of my favorite aspects is the storytelling cinematics, which play out in comic-book art form and are very nicely rendered. There are some downsides here though. I got the game for $.99 on sale, but it usually costs $4.99. The game does feel short and I generally do not like dropping five bucks on a shorter game, but for this one I probably would have as I could see myself replaying it several times. Also, from my understanding the game currently does not work well with iPods, so buyer beware if you don’t have an iPad!

[..]

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Jun 2011 13

by SG’s Team Agony feat. Sassie and Vanessa

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


[Sassie in Postern]

Q: How does a shy guy like me talk to an angel? For the longest time, I have been enjoying the most intense dreams of a SG kind of girl. All emo with tattoos and such. Gush….

This has been going on in my thoughts and dreams even before I discovered this wonderful site. It is almost as if I found my way this far for a reason.

Now with that said, I am in a horrible marriage. Ten years have gone by now. If it were not for the fact that we have an 8-year old daughter, I would have dumped her years ago.

Do you think it is possible to find the gal of my dreams here on SG? And if so, how do I approach the subject of me being married but not happy and ready to jump ship?

Let us leave it at that for now…

[..]

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Jun 2011 13

by Nicole Powers

“I think that the tide against mountaintop mining’s free ride is turning.”
– Bill Haney

There’s nothing pretty about coal mining at the best of times, but mountaintop removal mining is downright obscene. The process is ugly in every sense of the word, but is less labor intensive, and therefore cheaper and more desirable for the big energy corporations who do it. However the hidden expense in terms of the environment, public health, employment, and subsidies mean that it’s something that the American public is paying dearly for. The cost of mountaintop removal mining is something that is literally and metaphorically killing us.

The sordid details involve deforestation to prepare the site. The ‘overburden’ – in this case a euphemism for the top 250 to 500 feet of a mountain – is then removed using dynamite to reveal the underlying coal seam. The rubble created as the mountaintop is blown away is generally pushed down the mountainside, covering flora and fauna, rivers and streams, and anything else in its wake. Once the coal has been removed the mining companies are supposed to restore the site, but this requirement is at best broadly interpreted, and at worse blatantly flouted with few repercussions.

Fifty percent of the electricity produced in the US comes from coal-powered plants, and thirty percent of the coal used comes from Appalachia. As a result, 500 majestic Appalachian mountains have been destroyed. The biggest perpetrator of this destruction is Massey Energy, who proudly proclaim on their website that their ‘vision’ is ‘to be the premier supplier of quality coal from Central Appalachia to worldwide markets.’

The physical removal of coal however, is only the first stage in a highly toxic chain of events. The coal then has to be prepared, a procedure that uses vast amounts of water to wash off the soil and rock. The byproduct of this is a filthy sludge, which contains all manner of heavy metals and other such carcinogens, that is stored in vast impoundments. These sludge ponds are generally lazily constructed using dirt that is blasted off the mountaintop to damn a valley below. For the most part, there’s no concrete or steel reinforcement as would befit dams built on such a scale. Because of this, many of these impoundments are leaking, and, furthermore, because these structures are not lined, the pollutants even in the sound dams leak into the surrounding water table.

The environmental impact of such mining practices is supposed to be mitigated by the Clean Air and Clean Water Acts, which in turn are supposed to be enforced by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), the Department of Environmental Protection (DEP), and, to some extent, the Army Corps of Engineers. But a Bush-era single word change to the Clean Water Act arrested its ability to control pollution, much to the delight of the polluters. Known as the Fill Rule, the definition of allowable fill material that could be dumped into lakes, rivers, and streams was essentially broadened to include all manner of waste. Thus, the Clean Water Act now serves as a license for big business to pollute.

Because of the intrinsically dirty nature of coal mining and the cozy relationship the industrialists have with those in power (George Bush famously called his election to office ‘a coal-fired victory’ because of the extent of the industry’s contributions to his cause), pollution is an inevitable part of the process and polluters are rarely brought to task. For example, according to Environmental Protection Agency records, Massey Energy committed over 60,000 violations between 2000 and 2006, but has paid a pittance in fines, which when compared to the company’s profits barely even register as a tickle on the wrist, never mind the slap they’re supposed to be.

In the lieu of the government acting in the interests of the people it’s supposed to represent, the battle for clean air and water, and sustainable energy and jobs is being fought on the ground by those Big Coal directly adversely effects. The struggle of one such community in West Virginia’s Coal River Valley, whose homes, land, health, and employment prospects have been blighted by Massey’s mountaintop removal mining operations, is documented in a new film, The Last Mountain.

A collaboration between filmmaker Bill Haney (whose previous credits include the Academy Award-shortlisted Price of Sugar) and renowned environmental lawyer and activist Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., The Last Mountain should be mandatory viewing for anyone who’s ever switched on a light. The film not only tells the inspiring story of the grassroots fight against the Goliath that is Massey, but also underlines our implicit culpability, which can be summed up by one simple yet staggering statistic: sixteen pounds of coal is burned each day for every man woman and child in the US.

SuicideGirls participated in roundtables with Haney and Kennedy. The following is excerpted from the interview with Haney (our conversation with Kennedy is posted here).

Read our interview with Bill Haney on SuicideGirls.com.

The Last Mountain opens in Los Angeles* on Wednesday, June 15, and in Irvine, Pasadena, Philadelphia, San Francisco*, and Berkeley on Friday, June 17.

*Bill Haney and Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. will appear in person at the Landmark opening night screenings in Los Angeles and San Francisco – visit the Landmark website for more details.

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Jun 2011 13

Chrysis Suicide in A Dull Roar

  • INTO: World events, social avoidance, grammar, straight-edge, going fast, veterinary medicine, coffee, sushi, old dogs, smarties (and not the candy), baking a cake for every reason, stirring up trouble, brain-stretch, language, truth, blood, bruises, scars, being left to my devices.
  • NOT INTO: People who prey on others, fucking liars, forward boys, fatty foods, the party scene, the Tea Party, pollution (environmental and mental), second-hand smoke, prejudice, shower curtains, shower stalls, fake laughs, speeding tickets, washing silverware, Ohio winters, uneducated opinions, lack of effort, lack of tact, lack of personal or societal awareness, taking anyone’s word for anything, people who inherit their parents’ positions or interests, imposition.
  • MAKES ME HAPPY: Huge dogs, vanilla-scented things, sunlight spots on the floor, veggie burgers, listening to baseball on the radio, using double-negatives, violent weather, gut laughter, strong coffee in an oversized chair, working on my car, ambient noise, the laundry aisle at the store, heavy blankets, hospital rooms / bandages, charity.
  • MAKES ME SAD: Does everyone list “animal cruelty?” — well, me too. And willful ignorance (especially toward the English language or politics), propaganda, apathy, time, aging and birthdays, being around happy families (especially around the holidays), driving through industrial cities, weak coffee, actual silence, self-servers and self-aggrandizers (either one in denial = – 10 pts).
  • HOBBIES: Cycle of self-destruction and self-improvement fueled by coffee.
  • 5 THINGS I CAN’T LIVE WITHOUT: Heavy eyeliner, unlimited texting, espresso, sunlight, a reliable pen.
  • VICES: Disclosure.
  • I SPEND MOST OF MY FREE TIME: Neurotically making lists, overanalyzing, and daydreaming..

Get to know Chrysis better over at SuicideGirls.com!


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Jun 2011 10

by Aaron Colter

There are so many cool things to read online other than my dribble, so please check out all the neat links of stuff I found interesting this week. Next week, I’ll write about beer. That’ll be fun. You like beer, don’t you? Good. Me too.

1. Watching the Murder of an Innocent Man

This feature in the NY Times Magazine is one of the most captivating stories I’ve read in a long time. The commentary of poverty, globalism, religion, politics, families, and strangers combines into a stunning narrative about the consequences of actions, both big and small. I know, you’re going to scroll down to the end of the first page and think, “Holy fuck, ten more pages, I’m not reading this shit.” But trust me, read it. Print out the pages and carry them with you for reading while on public transit, or late at night while ignoring the awful bile that’s on television, or in the morning while eating breakfast, or in the bathroom while taking a shit – I don’t care, just read the damn thing.

[..]

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Jun 2011 10

by Flux

Every week we ask the ladies and gentlemen of the social web to show us their finest ink in celebration of Tattoo Tuesday; our favorite submission from Twitter and Tumblr each wins a free 3 month membership to SuicideGirls.com.

Check out this week’s winners below:


From Twitter:


@BenDavis1979 and his gorgeous sleeve, inspired, apparently, by a SuicideGirl.


From Tumblr:


The super-cute technologicalsmash and her beautiful arm piece.


If you haven’t won this week, don’t forget that you can enter each week until you do, so good luck next Tuesday, and happy inking!

A few things to remember:

  • You have to be 18 to qualify.
  • The tattoo has to be yours…that means permanently etched on your body.
  • On Twitter we search for your entries by looking up the hashtag #TattooTuesday, so make sure you include it in your tweet!

Check out the Tattoo Tuesday winners of weeks past!

 

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Jun 2011 10

by Mur Lafferty

SuicdeGirls presents the eleventh installment of our Fiction Friday sci-fi series, Marco and the Red Granny, which is brought to you by SG columnist Mighty Mur a.k.a. cyber commentator Mur Lafferty.

Marco and the Red Granny is set in a not-so-distant future where an alien species, the Li-Jun, has transformed the moon into the new artistic center of the universe, where the Sally Ride Lunar Base soon gains the nickname “Mollywood.” These aliens can do amazing things with art and the senses, allowing a painting, for example, to stimulate senses other than sight.

In the previous installments, Marco, a writer whose career has long been in the doldrums, gets a surprise call from an agent he thought he no longer had, informing him that he had received an offer from Mollywood for a much coveted Li-Jun patronage. Keen to catch up career-wise with his ex-GF Penelope, who’d unceremoniously dumped him after being recruited by the Li-Jun two years earlier, Marco jumps on the next shuttle to the moon. Once aboard, he finds himself sitting next to a seemingly unassuming old lady called Heather, who turns out to be The Red Granny, a legend in Li-Jun’s reality show world for being a three-time champion of The Most Dangerous Game (which requires contestants to sign away the rights to their life).

After settling into his new accommodations at House Blue, Marco has a brief meeting with his new patron, a Li-Jun called Thirteen. It’s only then that Marco realizes he’s never been shown the terms of his employment, and a sense of unease sets in. That evening, Marco is taken on a trip to see The Red Granny in action in The Most Dangerous Game. After a bloody battle, the senior reality TV star is again victorious. The viciousness of the game however, leaves The Red Granny unconscious, and Marco shocked, disturbed, and in need of a stiff drink. Unfortunately stiff drinks are frowned upon by the Li-Jun, so Marco settles for an early night

The next day, Marco learns first hand about the process that enables the Li-Jun to put taste into paintings, music into pie, and stories into (nonalcoholic) beverages. Having had his deepest and most depraved memories dredged and thoroughly probed by the aliens so they can be monitored and recorded, Marco finally sees the terms of his contract.

Having accepted the Li-Jun’s too-good-to-refuse offer, Marco settles into his new life at House Blue. However, though he’s been handed everything he ever wanted, somehow the reality of it is hollow. Twenty thousand words into his new graphic novel, with his first deadline looming, Marco is suffering from a severe case of writers block. Looking for inspiration in the bottom of a glass that’s had something actually worth drinking in it, he heads to the seedier end of the Moon and stumbles across an illicit establishment which turns out to be run by a collective of folks who are strictly persona non grata as far as the Li-Jun are concerned – The Alcoholic’s Guild.

Taking a sip of gin, Marco looks up and sees a couple enter the bar. The man catches the attention of most of the establishment’s other patrons, but it’s the woman beside him that Marco can’t stop staring at.

“Penelope?”

[..]