By Fred Topel

Quentin Tarantino discovered Rie Rasmussen when he was presiding over the Cannes Film Festival in 2004. Her short film, Thinning the Herd, was nominated for the Palme d’Or in the shorts competition. Her first feature film, Human Zoo, opened the Berlin Film Festival in 2009, and Tarantino is bringing it to the states.

Rasmussen herself plays Adria, an immigrant from Kosovo in Marseilles. While opening up to an American romantic, Shawn (Nick Corey), Adria remembers her escape from military rape and a crime spree with a former soldier (Nikola Djuricko). Filled with the kind of blood and sex that would strike Tarantino’s fancy, it’s the voice of a woman with worldly thoughts. Standing 5’11” with Danish features, Rasmussen was a model for Gucci, Yves Saint Laurent, Dolce and Gabbana and more.

She appeared in the film Femme Fatale and starred in Angel-A. I met her on the Femme red carpet where she laughed at my questions about her height. Again speaking about Angel-A, I recalled her itching to speak out about her passions after years of being paid to stand there silently. So I was interested to see what those artistic ideas would be. To speak about Human Zoo, Rasmussen hung out in the offices of The Weinstein Company, essentially Tarantino’s home base. Dressed in all black with leather jacket, she dropped F bombs, talked dirty and got political all in the same breath. Finally, a woman I can talk to.

Read our exclusive interview with Rie Rasmussen on SuicideGirls.com.

by Blogbot

This Sunday hosts Nicole Powers (SG’s Managing Editor) and Lacey Conner (our resident recovering reality TV star from VH1’s Rock of Love and Charm School) will be joined by David J (of Bauhaus and Love & Rockets) who’ll be chatting about his new musicals, Silver for Gold (The Odyssey of Edie Sedgwick) and The Chanteuse And The Devil’s Muse (which sheds new light on the Black Dahlia Saga).

Tune in to the world’s leading naked radio show for two hours of totally awesome tunes and extreme conversation – and don’t let yo momma listen in!

Listen to SG Radio live Sunday night from 10 PM til Midnight on Indie1031.com

Got questions? Then dial our studio hotline digits this Sunday between 10 PM and midnight PST: 323-900-6012

And cyberstalk us on Facebook and Twitter.

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by Steven-Elliot Altman (SG Member: Steven_Altman)

Our Fiction Friday serialized novel, The Killswitch Review, is a futuristic murder mystery with killer sociopolitical commentary (and some of the best sex scenes we’ve ever read!). Written by bestselling sci-fi author Steven-Elliot Altman (with Diane DeKelb-Rittenhouse), it offers a terrifying postmodern vision in the tradition of Blade Runner and Brave New World…

By the year 2156, stem cell therapy has triumphed over aging and disease, extending the human lifespan indefinitely. But only for those who have achieved Conscientious Citizen Status. To combat overpopulation, the U.S. has sealed its borders, instituted compulsory contraception and a strict one child per couple policy for those who are permitted to breed, and made technology-assisted suicide readily available. But in a world where the old can remain vital forever, America’s youth have little hope of prosperity.

Jason Haggerty is an investigator for Black Buttons Inc, the government agency responsible for dispensing personal handheld Kevorkian devices, which afford the only legal form of suicide. An armed “Killswitch” monitors and records a citizen’s final moments — up to the point where they press a button and peacefully die. Post-press review agents — “button collectors” — are dispatched to review and judge these final recordings to rule out foul play.

When three teens stage an illegal public suicide, Haggerty suspects their deaths may have been murders. Now his race is on to uncover proof and prevent a nationwide epidemic of copycat suicides. Trouble is, for the first time in history, an entire generation might just decide they’re better off dead.

(Catch up with the previous installments of Killswitch – see links below – then continue reading after the jump…)

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by Daniel Robert Epstein

In the early ’90’s after a few albums and a lot of hard work Matthew Sweet broke into the mainstream with the hit song and record, Girlfriend. Since then he’s been able to flit from project to project gaining talented new friends and collaborators. Now he’s teamed up with The Bangles vocalist Susanna Hoffs for the album Under the Covers, Vol. 1. The new release has Sweet and Hoffs covering their favorite 60’s pop hits.

Read our exclusive interview with Matthew Sweet on SuicideGirls.com.

by Daniel Robert Epstein

Even casual music fans recognize the name Nick Cave and realize how important he was and is to the music. His influence has reached the point where new bands may not even realize how much of an influence he is on them. Though even hardcore Cave fans may not remember the movie Ghosts… of the Civil Dead which he wrote, he’’s written another screenplay, The Proposition, for director John Hillcoat. This time it’’s an Australian western starring Guy Pearce, Danny Huston, Ray Winstone and Emily Watson. Pearce and Huston are brothers who are vicious killers in the late 19th century and are being hunted by Ray Winstone’’s character. He captures Pearce and promises him his freedom if he agrees to turn on his brother.

Read our exclusive interview with Nick Cave on SuicideGirls.com.

Blackboards In Porn is a highly amusing site that claims to celebrate “pornographers who go the extra mile when set dressing classroom porn and actually write something on the blackboard.”

Its anonymous but obviously British editor and webmaster, who we’re reliably informed has a BEng in Electronic Engineering and an MA in Screenwriting, focuses his or her considerable analytical and creative skills on the equations, diagrams, and notations drawn on said boards, checking for accuracy and scouring for greater meaning.

Though not a porn site ourselves (we like to think we’re naughty but not nasty, and pinup rather than pornography), we thought it’d be fun to set BiP some homework. Thus we challenged ’em to set their logical prowess loose on the chalk boards of SuicideGirls. Here’s what BiP came up with while checking out Nina Suicide’s Back To School photo essay…

WORK HARD AND DO YOUR BEST

Lessons in Life – universal
Computer Science – A-level/undergraduate level

There can be few better exhortations to students than this. Working hard and doing one’s best will always produce the finest possible results, either in the classroom or on the playing field. After any exam or sporting challenge there is no failure if one can say afterwards “I did my best.” (England footballers please take note.)

A game of Noughts and Crosses is underway on the blackboard. If this has been done by a student then it should have been rubbed off immediately (see post #9 re Wilson and Kelling’s broken windows theory). But if this is actually part of the lesson then a gold star should be awarded as Noughts and Crosses is a great introduction to many mathematical and computer science concepts from combinations and symmetry to artificial intelligence.

A first question to pose to the class would be how many games of Noughts and Crosses are possible (the game tree size)? A naive answer would be 9! = 362,880 (assuming X always goes first). However, many games will be over before all the squares are filled, and many more are simply rotations and reflections of others (in effect there are not nine, but only three starting places: corner, centre and edge). Taking these into account gives an answer of 26,830.

Devising an algorithm to produce perfect play is also a favorite challenge, exploring ideas such as backwards reasoning and recursion. These can then be applied to other, more complex games such as Connect 4 and draughts, through to unsolved games such as Reversi, chess and Go (with its game tree complexity of 10360).

However, if this is an attempt to teach the strategy of perfect play then one must hope that the teacher has picked a very poorly played game to illustrate what not to do. Assuming that X’s first move was in the corner (always the best start: of the then 73 possible games, assuming perfect play on X’s part, 71 result in victory and two in a draw), then O has immediately blundered by playing the far edge instead of the centre (where his/her only hope of a draw can come from), resulting in what should be certain victory for X. X could then force a win by playing the centre, but has him/herself blundered by playing middle bottom. O can now snatch a draw from the jaws of defeat by playing centre or top right, leaving X to harp on about how the Wags should have been allowed to stay in the team hotel.

Despites its pedagogical pedigree, Noughts and Crosses quickly becomes futile when both players can easily force a draw. This was well-illustrated in WarGames, when the military supercomputer, equating the game to global thermonuclear war, evaluated all possible outcomes and remarked, “Strange game. The only winning move is not to play.” Failing that, just work hard and do your best.

8/10 An inspired choice of teaching material.

Visit blackboardsinporn.blogspot.com/ for more case studies on mathematics as featured in erotica.

by A.J. Focht

The internet exploded early Monday morning when Variety announced that David Yates, director of the final four Harry Potter films, was “teaming up with the BBC to turn its iconic sci-fi series Doctor Who into a bigscreen franchise.” The only problem with this was the BBC didn’t even know about it. A tweet from the BBC’s official Doctor Who Magazine said:

To those hearing Doctor Who movie rumours, it’s just the same rumours which have been going round for years. Nothing’s currently happening!

So for those of you who were hoping that the Doctor would finally make it to the big screen, it looks like you’ll have to wait a bit longer. Still, Yates seemed rather adamant; maybe something will come of it.

Thor director Keneth Branagh has revealed his reasoning for not returning to Thor 2. Turns out it was simply an issue of timing. Branagh didn’t have time to get back into the project quickly like Marvel needed. He also generously noted that he, along with many others, is excited about the new director Patty Jenkins.

The first previews from Middle Earth will likely hit this December. According to Andy Serkis (Gollum), the first trailers for The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey should be in theatres this holiday season.

In a recent interview with TV Guide, Bruce Campbell talked about the decision to cut the role of Ash from the new Evil Dead. Campbell said that while the decision pissed many off, ultimately, they decided it was best not to run a direct parallel to the character, even though this is a remake. Campbell also notes that he wouldn’t have wanted to put any actor in that position, and I don’t blame him. Following in the footsteps of Campbell in his most famous roll would be rather daunting.

DC heroes aren’t just storming the comic stores, Cartoon Network is adding a block program called DC Nation that will feature several DC cartoons. During the sneak peek to the new Green Lantern animated series, Cartoon Network aired a teaser for the block program. It looks like many of the classic heroes, as well as some new ones, will be featured in the segment.

Geek news has been a bit lacking this past week. It might be because everyone has been stuck inside playing Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3. The newest game in the COD franchise broke its own record selling more than 6.5 million units in less than 24 hours. While the game might have been the best seller, it wasn’t the only major game released this week; it was also competing with The Elder Scrolls: Skyrim and Assassins Creed Revelations.

Modern Warfare 3 is getting the sales, but it is one of lowest ranked games of the month generally pulling 8/10 and ‘B’ ratings. Batman: Arkham City, Skyrim, and Assassins Creed have been pulling in higher 9/10 and ‘A’ ratings. All of these games are likely to land one Game of the Year prize or another, although Skyrim and Arkham City have managed the highest reviews.

The Xbox 360 is the oldest system of the current generation on the market. After six years on the shelf, everyone is wondering when it will get a replaced for real and not just upgraded with accessories like the Kinect. That time might be closer than you think. New rumors report the next Xbox will be called the Loop. Those who claim to have the inside scoop say the system is smaller and cheaper than the current Xbox system, yet more powerful and next generation. We’ll just have to wait and see what comes of these rumors.

Finally, the final episode of Dragon Age Redemption starring Felicia Day is now live. For those who haven’t been following, it is an excellent web series based in the Dragon Age universe. If you haven’t tuned in, now is your chance to watch all of the episodes without the week wait in-between.