by Damon Martin

Veteran actor Michael Rooker has starred in dozens of films including Tombstone and the cult hit Mallrats, as well as making several guest appearances on TV in shows like Chuck and Criminal Minds. What Rooker has been best known as lately is the redneck knife wielding and now armless badass Merle Dixon on The Walking Dead.

Rooker was a regular on Season 1 of the popular AMC series, and made a brief appearance in a dream sequence during Season 2, but with his character’s current whereabouts unknown, is there a Merle Dixon sighting coming in Season 3?

Check out our interview with Michael Rooker in wich he reveals if Merle Dixon will be back when The Walking Dead returns in October.

Damon Martin: First before we get to anything else, it’s the question that’s on everybody’s mind. Are we going to see Merle in season 3?

Michael Rooker: You going to see more Merle than maybe you ever wanted to see.

DM: During Season 2 you had a fantastic appearance alongside Norman Reedus (Daryl Dixon). What was it like being back on the show and did you have fun going back for that dream sequence?

MR: I was totally stoked. As soon as I walked on set, everyone was like ‘Merle is back’. They’re big fans of Merle as well, so when we got a chance to do the scene – Norman and I are good friends – and really when you think about it out of the first season and the second season, that’s the only time we ever interacted on camera before, so it was awesome. I had a great time. It was tough love. It’s big brother motivating little brother, motivating him to save his own life and sometimes you’ve got to be tough with people like that.

DM: We’re all excited you’re coming back for Season 3, but one of the interactions I always wanted to see was between Shane and Merle, but now Shane’s gone.

MR: Isn’t that a bitch? I was hoping they’d save Shane for me, but it didn’t happen and that’s just the way it is. I’m letting people know I’m coming back, Robert Kirkman (executive producer/creator) says I’m coming back, as a matter of fact Norman Reedus has stated in several interviews that his big brother is coming back.

DM: I think everybody knew when The Walking Dead came out that it had a chance to be a huge show, but it really has become a cultural phenomenon.

MR: Dude, it’s killer and it’s so amazing and I’m pretty damn honored to be involved with a group of actors, directors and producers and all these guys. I’m having a great time. Even playing the cat-and-mouse thing over this past season in my interviews, I can’t really say anything, so I’ve gotten really good at talking for an hour without saying a damn word and giving anything away.

DM: I know you weren’t directly involved in all of Season 2, but I know you watch the show. What did you think of the movement of the storyline this year?

MR: I enjoyed it because I like the fact that we get to know these people, almost too well. We know them so well that it’s going to really hurt when even the ones that we don’t like that much get eaten, whatever. It happens, it’s a post apocalyptic zombie world, we humans can get eaten, we’re not the head of the food chain anymore.

DM: So this is kind of a two-part question. Online everyone was asking when is Merle going to come back? Is Merle the Governor, the character coming up in Season 3? And now we know that you are coming back, the speculation continues to run. What does that mean to you as an actor to see the fan outpouring for your return, and can you give us any spoilers about what Merle will be doing in Season 3?

MR: No spoilers coming from this mouth, but I’ve got to tell you, the fan base is phenomenal. Even from Season 1 when I first appeared, there were fans that jumped on the bandwagon for Michael Rooker and Merle Dixon, and the Dixon brothers overall. We have several online groups, the Dixon’s Vixens, the Rooker-holics, Rooker Nation, I mean you can get Rooker’d online now. It’s very cool and I really, truly appreciate it.

DM: Season 3 starts filming in May and I’ve got to ask how excited are you to be back as a regular cast member? I know that so many people that have left have said how hard it was because The Walking Dead cast and crew is like a family, but that’s a huge dynamic of this show – no one’s safe.

MR: It’s good that no one’s safe. I don’t want to be safe. I think not being safe makes you hungry and makes you fight more. I love everybody there. This is the first real show that I’ve been involved with. I did another one called Thief, we did six episodes, but I hardly ever worked with all the other actors. This time round we hang out, we live in a similar area so we go have coffee, and chill out and talk, so it is a good family atmosphere.

DM: Now that Season 2 is over we can all just get that much more excited for Season 3 of The Walking Dead when Merle walks back onto the canvas. I think everybody is super excited for what’s coming next.

MR: It’s gonna be awesome. Right on brother, we’re going to have a damn good time.

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by Blogbot

SuicideGirls hosted a party and model search at Hotel Vegas in Austin, TX on March 10th during SXSW. Photographer Dustin Downing was manning the SG photo booth, so we thought we’d share some of the silliness he captured with his camera over the course of the evening.

Fernanda Suicide in Black Debut

• INTO: Yes, everyone loves party…But that’s not all in life!!! I love to read a good book, to watch a good movie…to lose my time just doing silly things with my friends or feed my brain with something new…Design is my passion, to read, my hobby.
• MAKES ME HAPPY: My friends, my family, rain, dancing, and LOVE makes me happy…Oh, and chocolates!
• MAKES ME SAD: Any kind of cruelty…Wars!!! When my beloved ones are sad 🙁
• HOBBIES: Reading, designing, painting.
• 5 THINGS I CAN’T LIVE WITHOUT: My laptop, chocolates, my family, my friends, and MUSIC!
• VICES: I used to smoke a lot, now I smoke like 1-2 cigars per week. I’m trying to quit – I really am.
• I SPEND MOST OF MY FREE TIME: Breathing.

Get to know Fernanda better over at SuicideGirls.com!

by Blogbot

Come party with SuicideGirls at Lo-Fi on April Fool’s Day. Tita, Bella, and Rydell Suicide will be hosting a special SG soiree to mark the closing night of Emerald City Comic Con. They’ll be playing all the SG movies while DJ Jay Battle spins local and old school hip-hop till last call. A guest performance by Seattle’s own Mello Drama will be the backdrop for a crazy evening with Suicide Girls from all over the world. Come one. Come all. Because the con only happens once a year! Come support local music and a few of your fave painted ladies!

Where: Lo-Fi, 429 Eastlake Avenue, East Seattle, WA
When: Sunday April 1st, 2012 – 8 PM til 1 AM
Entry: $5 before 10 PM / $7 after / 21 & over.
Advance Tix: brownpapertickets.com/event/235985
Info: facebook.com/events/284689248268082/

Tweetup: Tweet and post Twitpics / Instagrams using the #SGTAKESTHENW hashtag and we’ll include our favorite comments and pix from the night in a special post party wrap up here on the blog. And be sure to follow Tita (@Cupcakedujour), Bella (@Bella_Suicide), Rydell (@BooMockingbird), and Aadie (@AadieLee) for the latest on SuicideGirls Take The Northwest!

SuicideGirls Take The NorthWest Membership & VIP Special: If you buy a membership – which will be available at a very special $30 / 1 year price! – at the door at Lo-FI, you’ll get into the SG night for $5 even after 10 PM AND preferred VIP access (ie. no waiting in line).

by Nahp Suicide

Zoetica is a photographer, painter, the proprietress of the popular art and style blog Biorequiem, a co-founder of Coilhouse Magazine, and an occasional cosmonomad. She hails from Moscow, but resides in Los Angeles, California. She has been a photographer for SuicideGirls since 2006, and has shot more than 100 sets for the site.

How did you first get involved with SuicideGirls?

Fractal (a friend of a friend at the time, now a good friend of mine), had scouted me to model. I explained that I was actually in search of a steady job at the time, and she suggested I come in to interview for an intern position. I quickly became a design assistant and, eventually, Sean suggested I try my hand at shooting sets. For a time I also worked as the SG photography coordinator, style technician and in-house photo-editor.



What’s your background photography-wise?

I’m self-taught, having taken photos obsessively my entire life. Before digital, I took cheap little film cameras everywhere – and have seven scrapbooky photo albums to prove it! 



What was the first photo you had published?

I honestly don’t remember. Probably something in one of my schools’ yearbooks or something in a zine.



How would you describe your style?

Obsessive. When I work with SGs, I often ask them to hold a pose for several minutes at a time, while I capture every nuance.
 In my other work, this is true as well. I look at every detail, search for secret spaces and details, whether I’m shooting a portrait, an editorial, a forest, or a steaming breakfast plate (I love food photography – I even break out a macro lens for that sometimes!). My goal is to capture the feeling of the moment, the texture, the energy. The smell, too, if possible. 



What gear do you use?

Generally, I keep it simple: Canon 5D and a 35 1:4 lens, available light only.




How important is Photoshop in your final images?

It depends entirely on the image and the mood I’m after that day. For SG, I tend to stick with minimal retouching and color correction for the most part, but some sets call for a more stylized approach. 



What gives you ideas and inspires you to create such amazing sets?

I feed my brain as much as time allows – good input yields good output.




What is your favorite image?

It has to be this one (see above) of Radeo, from our set called, Prisoner.

Tell us why it’s your fave and how you achieved it?

I think it still might be my favorite set of mine. There was almost no light aside from a far-away overhead fixture, and it worked out perfectly in helping us create the foreboding atmosphere we had in mind.



Is there anybody or anything you would love to photograph that you haven’t?

No – I want to shoot everything, all the time. Like I said – I’m obsessive!

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by Blogbot

Every week we ask the ladies and gentlemen of the web to show us their finest ink in celebration of #TattooTuesday.

Our favorite submission from Twitter wins a free 3 month membership to SuicideGirls.com.

This week’s #TattooTuesday winner is @goldenguigui from France.

Enter this week’s competition by replying to this tweet with a pic of your fav tattoo and the #tattootuesday hashtag.

Good luck!

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!

by Daniel Robert Epstein

Boy Richard Gere is handsome and though he’’s best known as an actor he is also a very intelligent humanitarian. His latest flick is Bee Season, a film which goes to the heart of what he is most passionate about, religion.

Eliza Naumann [Flora Cross] has no reason to believe she is anything but ordinary. Her father Saul [Richard Gere], a beloved university professor, dotes on her talented elder brother Aaron [Max Minghella]. Her scientist mother, Miriam [Juliette Binoche], seems consumed by her career. When a spelling bee threatens to reaffirm her mediocrity, Eliza amazes everyone: she wins.

Her newfound gift garners an invitation not only to the national competition, but an entrée into the world of words and Jewish mysticism that have so long captivated her father’s imagination. But Eliza’s unexpected success hurls the Naumann family dynamic into a tailspin, long-held secrets emerge and she is forced to depend upon her own divination to hold the family together.

Read our exclusive interview with Richard Gere on SuicideGirls.com.