by A.J. Focht

Is it any wonder that there is a group of film lovers out to send M. Night Shyamalan back to film school? After going from two Oscar nomination for The Sixth Sense in 1999 to winning five Razzies (which are awarded for the worst achievements in filmmaking) this last year for The Last Airbender, it’s easy to see why film buffs are raising money to send Shyamalan back to NYU. After they have raised the funds, they plan on filming the occasion as they present Shyamalan with a check. If he refuses to take it, they will use the money to start a film scholarship at NYU in his name.

However, Shyamalan isn’t the only multiple offender to be found guilty of making mediocre movies. Hollywood is overflowing with shitty directors who keep serving up the same crap, or worse regressing artistically with each successive release. There are several big name directors who desperately need a lesson in the basics. I therefore propose that all of the following head to NYU with Shyamalan.

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by Aaron Detroit

Al Jourgensen has just released the last chapter in the annals of his nearly three decade-long career as the self-professed “maniac” behind industrial godfathers Ministry. It’’s appropriately titled The Last Sucker and also serves as the final piece in Ministry’s trilogy of albums attacking the Bush Administration and the United States’ current political system. Al is also throwing one last party, in the shape of a world tour and a “party album” of covers, before he splits to allow fans a chance to say goodbye and dance with him on Ministry’’s grave.

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by Morgan

After replaying Dragon Age II twice this past month, I’ve never been more convinced that casual gaming offers a really refreshing break from hardcore gaming. It also offers something for gamers who aren’t into level grinding for hours or first-person shooters. And if you have a portable device, they can provide quick bursts of entertainment when you’re sitting on a train or waiting in an office – or sitting on a couch, bored by whatever’s on TV. This month I’m bringing you some quick hits of mobile games I love!

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by Erin Broadley

Before punk and new wave erupted in New York City in the late ’70s, female pop singers were like carefully crafted charms dangled from a bracelet; they were chanteuses whose sexuality was packaged as the ultimate pop commodity. When the tokenism of ’60s rock finally gave way to the rebel yell of late ’70s and early ’80s punk, female singers pushed a brazen, me-first attitude and redefined tough-girl with a heart of gold, or in Debbie Harry’s case, the romantic she is, a heart of glass. And though some said she was too beautiful for punk, Debbie Harry was more than just somebody’s darling.

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by Aaron Colter

Portland, Oregon’s Stumptown Comics Festival, featuring poster image by Brandon Graham, was a lot of fun. I was able to pick-up quite a few incredible books, many of which I’ve yet to read. The festival itself had awards for some of the best, the recipients of which are listed here.

I’ve narrowed down my Top 10 choices, so far. All of these artists are independent creators, many don’t even have a publisher. So, please support them by purchasing their fine books.

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by Mur Lafferty

SuicdeGirls presents the fourth 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).

We join Marco shortly after he lands on the Moon. Accompanied by Heather The Red Granny and her Li-Jun bodyguard Seven Blue, Marco sets off to House Blue to meet up with his new patron. On the way, the trio are “greeted” by The Red Granny’s “fans” bearing signs with messages like “RED GRANNY IS OUR SAVIOUR” and “HOW MUCH MORE BLOOD WILL SHE SPILL?” – and a sense of unease rears its ugly head in Marco’s mind.

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by Keith Daniels

Hunx and His Punx are a Bay Area punk band fronted by Arizona transplant and sometime hairdresser Seth Bogart, a.k.a. Hunx, that have a Ramones-like musical philosophy: take ‘60s Phil Spector-ish girl group music and simplify and speed it up. Their songs are mostly direct odes to love and sex, sung in Hunx’ distinctly nasal delivery, supported by the lovely harmonies of his all-female backing group. Having just released their first full-length album, Too Young To Be In Love, and played a solid week at SXSW, Hunx and his punkettes are now embarking on a nationwide tour — so I was lucky Seth found a few minutes to talk with SuicideGirls about why SXSW sucks, getting stoned, and French perverts.

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