by Lee Camp

Hopefully you’ve heard mentions of the LIBOR scandal – the biggest banking scandal in years. I need to tell you two things about it. 1) It’s not as complicated as it sounds. 2) It does not stand for “Ladies Intimately Bending Over, Rearview.” If it did, you would see a lot more coverage of it on the mainstream media.

– Lee Camp, July 2012

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Moment of Clarity: The Shadows Are Taking Over

by Milloux Suicide

I was lucky enough to stumble across the music of Bloomington, Indiana’s Murder By Death almost 10 years ago and since then they’ve grown to be my absolute favorite band of all time. I’ve logged countless hours falling into their heavily visual and moody music. With every album comes new concepts and sounds. Spanning genres from post rock to alternative Americana with strong elements of story, Murder By Death possesses the ability to attract listeners from all ends of the musical spectrum.

After five full length albums, many EPs and splits, and even a soundtrack to sci-fi novel Finch by Jeff Vandermeer, Murder By Death has announced the release of Bitter Drink, Bitter Moon on September 25th via Bloodshot Records. Recorded and mixed by Grammy-nominated producer John Congleton (Explosions In The Sky, Modest Mouse, Amanda Palmer), this album is much-anticipated, and follows their 2010 release, Good Morning, Magpie.

The band are also one of the hardest working bands I’ve ever known. Logging over 1,200 shows in their touring career worldwide, and countless hours traveling, it’s never short of enthralling to see them play live. This summer, they are back on the road, playing not only songs from the new album, but celebrating the 10 year anniversary of their very first album, Like The Exorcist But More Breakdancing, which was released in the summer of 2002.

During their summer tour last year, I spoke with bassist Matt Armstrong about iabout doing an nterview for the site once they announce the new album. Matt has been a member of Suicide Girls since 2007, so he was excited to speak with me.

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by Alex Dueben

“Painting has the potential of expressing with a single gesture.”
– Luke Chueh

Luke Chueh studied graphic design and worked as a designer for many years, but he made his name as a painter. Chueh emerged from the Los Angeles art scene as one of the major painters of his generation and a major player in the contemporary lowbrow art movement. His use of simple characters and minimal color schemes may make what he does look easy, but his imagery and the emotions they evoke are incredibly complex. Few artists are able to make something look simple and cute at a distance, but upon closer inspection reveal itself to be a deeply disturbing scenario.

People may know him from the underground art show Cannibal Flower or Gallery 1988 where he’s been a major exhibitor. Chueh’s work has been transformed into vinyl figures and he created the album art for Fall Out Boy’s album Folie à Deux. Chueh also regularly posts his new work on his website lukechueh.com. His newest project is The Art of Luke Chueh, published by Titan Books in association with Gallery 1988. Chueh spoke with SG about his approach, the artwork he loves, and hints at a few possibilities for the future.

Read our exclusive interview with Luke Chueh on SuicideGirls.com.

by Nicole Powers

“Why are we giving any credence to anybody who says ‘I would like to reduce the number of abortions and the way that I want to do that is to remove all access to birth control.’”
– Lizz Winstead

Lizz Winstead is one of the bravest comedians around today. She talks about abortion with a rare candor, as is a staunch supporter of Planned Parenthood. Her work raising awareness and funds (over a million dollars to date!) for the organization has not surprisingly raised the ire of the religious right, but she stands firm, fighting for women’s reproductive rights at a time when in recent history they’ve never been more in peril.

In her new book, Lizz Free Or Die, she devotes a chapter to her own experience as a frightened and bewildered teenager who discovered she was pregnant, and who was even more frightened and bewildered by the reactions of the adults she trusted to give her honest advice, help, and support.

The book also features essays, which are poignant and hilarious in equal parts, on her upbringing in a conservative Catholic family, her coming of age as a stand up comedian in Minneapolis, the roots of The Daily Show which she co-created, and the rise and fall of Air America which she co-founded.

We caught up with Lizz by phone. Though the native Minnesotan currently calls New York home, she spoke to us from Texas where she’d just done one of her numerous Planned Parenthood stand up fundraising shows. This particular one raised money for a clinic that had recently lost every penny of its state funding for essential community services such as teen pregnancy testing and health care.

Read our exclusive interview with Lizz Winstead on SuicideGirls.com.

There’s no better day to “party hard” at Comic Con than Friday 13th – especially when cosplay’s involved. We’ll be rockin’ our horror, sci-fi, and superhero outfits with the Spin and iHeartComix crew. The event, which kicks off at 9 PM at 4th & B, will feature performances by Andrew W.K., Peanut Butter Wolf, Hottub, Alexander Spit, and Franki Chan. We’ll also be hosting a cosplay contest with our friends from Bubble Punch and Meltdown, so be sure to come suitably (un)dressed!

Tix are $22 and can be purchased here. For more details visit the Facebook event page.

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Dirty Laundry: Cosplay 4 Comic Con

by Bob Suicide

It’s crunch time. You know, that crispy-coating that surrounds the ooey-gooey center that is the 5 geek-tastic days of ComicCon. These last few days leading up to the start of the convention involve making lists, checking them twice, re-checking them a third time, packing, hyperventilating into a bag, and obsessively refreshing that online check-in for your flight. Or, is that all just me?

Regardless of your preparation ritual, there’s something behind the scenes you may not know when you walk up to booth #1730 (a.k.a. the SuicideGirls’ booth) and that’s how much time and effort all of the Suicide Girls put into this exciting event.

So, here’s a list of the things the girls wanted to highlight to make sure you’re just as prepared as we are for next week!

Make Sure You’ve Got ALL Of Your Costume!

For each of the days, SuicideGirls will be wearing different outfits: Star Wars, Dr. Who, Battle Royale, and even a wild-card day where girls can dress up as whatever they choose. Some girls have even made up their very own superheros! Consequently there has been tons of glueing, sewing, and well, spandex-ing in preparation for each day.

No one wants to get to San Diego only to find out their perfectly crafted pair of N7 armor pants aren’t anywhere to be found in their suitcase. Well, someone might enjoy it – but that’s a whole different con. It’s really difficult to find anything in San Diego during convention time – even seemingly simple things like the bathroom or toothpaste! And if you do, there’s always a long line for it. So it’s best to make sure you’ve packed all the essentials before you get there. You don’t want to waste precious time that could be spent in the Hasbro line for an exclusive (MY PRECIOUS!) at the mall picking out replacement pants.

For bonus points: make sure your costume is Con-appropriate. SuicideGirls is all about teh sexy, but the con is all-ages and we know that zero-suit Samus doesn’t mean you can walk around without pants on. Keep the Con classy!

Pack Comfy Shoes

You’ve seen every booth babe in mile-high heels that make their legs look fantastic – but SGs aren’t booth babes. We’re hardcore fans who are at The Con for the long haul. As a result, even if our cosplay calls for it, we generally know better than to don anything with an incline. If you’ve got to dash from panel to panel, the only thing heels are good for is to defend yourself against the hoard between you and that front-row seat.

Protip: Don’t actually shank anyone with a high heel.

Bring Hand-Sanitizer

But don’t be Hayden Panettiere about it. It’s a large group of people from all over the universe; there’s bound to be some germs. And, if you haven’t heard, there’s a zombie outbreak going on! It’s better to be prepared and lightly lemon-scented, than undead during the five greatest days of the year. There’s a difference between protecting yourself from the H1Nerd1 that plagued Penny Arcade’s PAX not so long ago and hating the soft touch of your fellow nerds…SuicideGirls definitely love the personal touch! Be sure to stop by the booth and give us a hug and a high-five.

For bonus points: bring some deodorant too. Sometimes you’re out late at an event and up early to get in line for a panel. Q little stick can go a long way to freshen up the day.

Have Fun

I may joke about hyperventilating into a bag before ComicCon because of all the stress of prepping and planning, but it’s best to look at the upcoming days as part of the ComicCon adventure. Find fun ways to take the stress out of the preparation and make your to-do list into a ta-da list! Make a fun countdown, get together with your friends and have a pack and prep party where you help make sure everyone’s prepared whilst screening some geektastic movies. Or maybe, just take a couple moments to relax and breathe before the whirlwind (and your plane) touches down in San Diego.

by Lee Camp

My latest Moment of Clarity rant could easily have been entitled “Distractions Will Be The Death Of Us” because we are allowing the distractions to take us away from the important conversations. Some would argue that this is hypocritical of me, since I myself am a comedian. However, I hope my comedy can act as a gateway drug to the important topics. I try to bridge the deadly canyons between distraction and crucial issues…You can decide if I succeed.

– Lee Camp, July 2012