by Damon Martin

It was all Dave Matthews doing.

As Kevin Smith took the stage at the Scotiabank Theater in Toronto while he was streamed out to hundreds of movie theaters across North America, the Clerks director admitted that it was years ago when he was at a movie, he saw a special announcement about a one night only Dave Matthews Band concert that would show all over world simultaneously in cineplex after cineplex.

The inspiration stayed with Smith for years. He dreamed of being able to go to his audience in a similar way, and this week he finally got his Dave Matthews moment. Kevin Smith: Live from Behind debuted on Thursday night, when the writer/director, along with good friend Jason Mewes, performed live in front of an audience in Canada, while reaching an audience of millions around the globe.

The concept was simple; Smith and Mewes would conduct a live taping of their podcast Jay and Silent Bob Get Old, and then they would move to a question and answer session. The questions would come from the live audience in Toronto and also via Twitter.

The 3-hour plus event showcased Smith and Mewes in their element. From a disturbing story about how Smith got obsessed with taking care of his daughter’s tortoises, including how he stopped turtle rape (you had to see it to understand it) to Mewes waxing intellectual about the first time he penetrated a vagina, and how girls don’t really have bushes anymore.

To look back, there really was no starting point to the show, but Smith and Mewes played brilliantly off of each other, and what was nothing more than a casual conversation between friends, turned into over an hour of entertainment for a live audience.

From there, Smith went into what most believe is his most perfect form of storytelling. His Q&A sessions, which are stuff of legend, including his iconic Hall H performance every year at San Diego Comic Con, and it’s undeniably where he really shines.

For two hours straight, Smith, along with Mewes, answered question after question from the live and internet audience. Smith didn’t shy away from anything. From funny and self-deprecating to serious and uplifting, Smith held the audience in the palm of his hand for over 180 minutes. When it was over, everyone would have gladly stayed for another three hours.

Smith has openly stated that after he makes his next move Hit Somebody, which begins filming later this year, that he is retiring from filmmaking. While many became sad at the prospect of losing such a funny and unconventional filmmaker, Smith’s true talent lies in other areas.

He’s built a podcast empire, with shows that typically rank as some of the most downloaded on all of iTunes, his public speaking gigs routinely sell out, and then he comes up with gems like Live from Behind where the audience can literally be anywhere and enjoy Smith’s own brand of humor and candor.

The film generation may look at names like Tarantino or Scorcese when speaking about the greats of the last 25 years, but when all is said and done, with ideas like Live from Behind, Kevin Smith may be the most creative mind the entertainment world has seen in the last few decades.

If you missed Live From Behind the only thing I can say is the next time Kevin Smith does a live show, podcast or video stream in your town, run don’t walk to see it. Even if you’ve never seen Clerks, Chasing Amy or Mallrats, just sit back and enjoy because it’s really a viewing experience everybody should have at least once.

By Daniel Robert Epstein

When talking about the new generation of horror directors Eli Roth’s name will invariably come up. He has directed two of the most exciting horror films for the new generation, Cabin Fever and Hostel, and is also one of the most visible having appeared in Bravo’’s The 100 Scariest Movie Moments and even gotten Quentin Tarantino to present his new flick.

Hostel is certainly a big change from the disease horror of Cabin Fever. It’s about three backpackers in Amsterdam who are so damn horny they leave the sex capital of the world to travel to a small Slovakian city to find even looser, hotter women. They have some of the best times of their lives until they are kidnapped by a company that specializes in killing stupid backpackers.

Read our exclusive interview with Eli Roth on SuicideGirls.com.

Boom Suicide in Mau5trap

• INTO: Art, illustration, music, video games, road trips, being a homebody most of the time, crossfit, nerds.
• NOT INTO: Cinnamon scented/cinnamon flavored anything, cilantro, small talk.
• MAKES ME HAPPY: Making other people happy, my doggies, beach days, killing people on video games, breakfast in bed, Bonnaroo!
• MAKES ME SAD: Cold weather, being taken advantage of (and yet I continue to let people do it — why?!?!?).
• HOBBIES: Playing video games, drawing.
• 5 THINGS I CAN’T LIVE WITHOUT: Boyfriend, my doggies, music, video games, sunshine.
• VICES: Too many.
• I SPEND MOST OF MY FREE TIME: Daydreaming.

Get to know Boom better over at SuicideGirls.com!

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.

Last week’s winner is @Rose_Morrison.

We’re also awarding a special honorary prize to @KittyBambi, who got this ribbon tattoo on her thumb to support her best friend and his fight (he’s winning!). Sometimes it’s the thought that counts. And to celebrate his recovery, we’ll throw in a bonus 3 month membership for Kitty’s friend too!

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 David Seaman

SG political contributor David Seaman is in New York this week. When he asked if there was anyone we’d like him to chat to, the first name that came to mind, without hesitation, was Patrick Bruner from Occupy Wall Street. We were first introduced to him last November at NYC’s New School, when he participated in a panel discussion alongside Michael Moore, Naomi Klein, The Nation‘s national affairs correspondent William Greider, and Colorlines publisher Rinku Sen. The event, sponsored by The Nation and moderated by the magazine’s executive editor Richard Kim, was called Occupy Everywhere. It aimed to explore the new political paradigm brought about by Occupy, and the possibilities presented by the movement to redress the overbearing reach of corporate power.

Though the caliber of intellects assembled on the New School stage that evening was undeniably high, we were actually most impressed and inspired by what Bruner had to say. We are therefore thrilled that we got a chance to reconnect with him via Seaman and his video post above (which was produced with the help of Lindsey June Miller). We have a feeling we’ll be seeing and hearing a lot more from Bruner in the future, both as a skilled orator within this proudly leaderless movement, and as someone with great potential as a next generation politician.

During the course of their conversation, Seaman and Bruner discuss the misnomer that Occupy doesn’t have a message, how much of what those in the mainstream know about the movement is framed by just a handful of media conglomerates, and how the real issues are being buried by their propaganda. The pair also talk about the future of Occupy and some of the key agenda items the movement needs to bring to the fore – such as the fact that student loan debt has surpassed credit card debt, or that there are 24 foreclosed homes standing empty for every one homeless person in America.

We’ve also embedded the full Occupy Everywhere panel discussion below, which we highly recommend you view. – Nicole Powers, SG Ed.

David Seaman is an independent journalist. He has been a lively guest on CNN Headline News, FOX News, ABC News Digital, among others, and on his humble YouTube channel, DavidSeamanOnline. Some say he was recently censored by a certain large media corporation for posting a little too much truth… For more, find him on G+ and Twitter.

[..]

by SG’s Team Agony feat. Rin

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

Q: My best friend fucked my ex boyfriend the day we broke up. We weren’t really friends before he and I broke up, and a week later she tried to convince me to have a threesome with her and her boyfriend. When I told her I wasn’t interested she told me that she fucked my ex. Should I be alright with it since we weren’t really friends until the next week after he and I split? Should I be mad? Because I’m fucking furious and I’m not sure if I should be mad at her, but I know I should be at him because he lied to me and told me that he was still in love with me. What should I do? And I’m aware that this doesn’t have much to do with SG, I just don’t have any girlfriends that I can talk to about this and it’s tearing me up.

A: Your friend sounds like kind of a jerk! First off, she tries to ‘convince’ you to have a threesome (instead of just asking and then accepting your answer) and when you say no, she tells you about having sex with your ex. It seems like she did it to hurt you after you turned her down, and that is never cool. Although you said you don’t have many girlfriends, perhaps you should start looking for a best friend who has more respect for you than this current one seems to! It’s worth investing in friends who treat you like gold.

As for the dude, what a total dickbag. It’s emotionally manipulative for him to say ‘I love you’ when he fucked someone else the day you broke up! That kind of behavior is so destructive and because of it he doesn’t belong in your life in any capacity.

Your anger at both of them is completely legitimate. They acted in ways that were completely hurtful! My advice to you is to allow yourself to feel anger from the situation, but then to let it go and move on. If this was just a one-time douchey move for your best friend, then it’s worth discussing with her why her actions were so hurtful to you. Really examine your relationship with her, though: girlfriends are there to support and care for us when we need it, not to have sex with our exes and throw it at us later. It might indicate a long-term pattern of disrespect and that is absolutely not what friendship is about.

Rin

Got Problems? Let SuicideGirls’ team of Agony Aunts provide solutions. Email questions to: gotproblems@suicidegirls.com

By Daniel Robert Epstein

Rob Corddry is best known as one of the clueless correspondents on The Daily Show with Jon Stewart. But like many of people involved with that comedy institution, Corddry started out in improv and sketch comedy with roots in the famed Upright Citizens Brigade theatre. Corddry is also a founding member of the sketch group Naked Babies that also includes John Ross Bowie, Brian Huskey and Seth Morris. We spoke with him about The Naked Babies, The Daily Show, and more.

Read our exclusive interview with Rob Corddry on SuicideGirls.com.