By David Seaman

Judge Napolitano on FOX Business Network has a great on-air rhetorical device, “What if?”

I’m going to blatantly steal — er, borrow — that device for this column because it does a brilliant job of covering one’s ass completely, while still pointing out obvious truths. Here goes, take a deep breath.

WHAT IF your government has lost all legitimacy to lead?

WHAT IF the media, once the American people’s last safeguard against corruption, is now corruption personified?

WHAT IF there was a protest of thousands of people converging on Capitol Hill tonight, January 17th, 2012, and the corporate broadcast media barely even mentioned it as of 1:12pm Eastern, save for a below-the-fold hat tip on msnbc.com?

WHAT IF there is a quiet battle brewing right now between dying TV broadcasting dinosaurs, and vibrant Internet companies like Google, Facebook, and Reddit?

WHAT IF that battle finally becomes public knowledge tomorrow morning, when the homepage of Google.com will display a message blasting the SOPA/PIPA Internet censorship legislation that Congress seems absolutely hell-bent on passing in one way or another, regardless of how many phone calls they receive from outraged constituents.

WHAT IF there was a separate battle, waged online and via telephone by tens of thousands of Americans…a battle we’ve already lost?

WHAT IF that battle was a desperate cry against the NDAA’s indefinite detention provisions, which President Obama quietly signed into law on New Year’s Eve, while the rest of us were drunk and distracted?

WHAT IF, as a result, your own government — according to some of the planet’s foremost legal minds — now has the very real ability to detain you without trial, access to an attorney, and without bringing formal charges against you.

WHAT IF suspicion alone is enough.

AND WHAT IF some government insiders, such as Colin Powell’s former chief of staff, have gone on record stating they believe this indefinite detention power will be used to silence political protesters, including Occupiers.

Makes today’s Occupy Congress seem rather important given all of that context, no? So where’s the media attention?

Image courtesy of Dustin M. Slaughter

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 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 field of entrants was so strong, we picked not one, not two, but three winners, and they are…

@rdominguezjr.

@DirtyRawkstar.

@natcLe.

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 Nahp Suicide

IvyLlamas is from Barcelona, Spain, and has been shooting for Suicide Girls since 2007.

How did you first get involved with SuicideGirls?

It was in 2007. I was studying photography. One day, I had the pleasure to meet Albertine and Diaz-Arri (two staff photographers). I was seeing how they work and I thought it was really interesting and funny. Then I met some Spanish SG models and they trusted me to shoot a set for the community. Since them, I’ve shot more and more sets. At first I shot many creative sets, but you can see the line where I now try to work with SG in a soft style. Really, I love both styles.

What’s your background photography-wise?

I’ve studied art all my life, but I never finished my formal education. Yes, I was a “bad boy” in the school. You know, drinking… smoking… I was born in a suburb. This was not easy. I started to study the arts ‘cause the only thing I was interested in was music and art. I had many problems in the school with teachers. I think we had different points of view. Finally, I tried to find my own way. And here I am. I can’t live without creating things – music and art.

What was the first photo you had published?

I think around 2006 or 2007 in some Barcelona fanzine.

How would you describe your style?

It’s really hard for me to describe my own style. I was always a fan of surrealism and metaphorical images. I want to feel seeing a picture. Sometimes you see a picture, and probably you don’t understand what it means, but I ask, what do you feel? That’s the most important for me. On SG, my style is really soft (lately) but I try to express the atmosphere. Cold, hot, loneliness, melancholy, sensuality… Like I said before, I want you feel.

What gear do you use?

At the moment I use a Canon 5D and a 50mm 1.4. Then for my personal or clients work I use 400w flashes and a million self made inventions.

How important is Photoshop in your final images?

Good question. It really is important, of course, but it’s SO important to have a perfect capture first. I think when you obtain a good capture it’s amazing to work with it in Photoshop. But if you have a bad concept to work with, bad light, bad model, Photoshop can’t do miracles. Photoshop is a good tool if you think before.

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

Daily life. I love to take the reality of daily life and transform it into a metaphor. I want to talk in your same language, with the difference that sometimes you haven’t the words to explain it. I love to crash these words and make you feel what I’m talking about. Sometimes a simple smile in the underground can inspire me.

What is your favorite image?

Wow! Hard question. I have to say I’m really critical with my own work. I shoot a set and two days after I think it should be better. But I have to say I’ve done some interesting sets for SG. For example, I’ve worked many times with DeeDee and I think we did and amazing work. She’s really creative and always invites me to play to her games. Then I have to say my favorite work is the last one. Devushka, Lullabee, Lyona, Tupou, Ukka, and for me, one of my favorites, the last one I shot with Crysta. Yes, she’s my partner, but “Atrapada en el Blanco” is one of my best works. Really special and real

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

With Dee Dee we did the most creative sets I made for SG. Devushka has this kind of mystery, which is so easy to make into poetical and beautiful atmospheres. And finally, with Crystal, she’s hot and fragile, and a perfect model to feel these feelings.

Is there anybody or anything you would love to photograph that you haven’t? (And tell us why)

I always think to shoot more fashion stuff, but it’s hard to work it…I have to say that photographers need to live. At the moment my work doesn’t allow me to dedicate time to personal projects, but this next year I’ll start to do new personal works. There are so many things I want to shoot. Every day I want to shoot new things.

For more on IvyLlamas visit his SG Profile and website.

Related Posts:

In Focus: The Photographers of SuicideGirls feat. Lavezzarro

by Blogbot

This Sunday, January 22, 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 in-studio by Mad-Max-meets-punk-rock performance art/percussion troupe Street Drum Crops, a trio of musicians who have a talent for being able to bang the shit out of anything and make it sound good – really freakin’ good.

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 anytime on Facebook and Twitter.

[..]

By Daniel Robert Epstein

Early on in his career everyone knew that Steven Soderbergh was an innovative and brilliant filmmaker. But no one had any idea that he would eventually have such an effect on the business side of making films. Bubble is the first film in a series of six that will be shot on high definition video and be released on three platforms at once, theatrical, DVD and to air on HDNet.

Bubble is about three people who work at a doll factory in a small town in rural West Virginia. One is an older woman named Martha [Debbie Doebereiner] who obviously has a crush on a young factory worker named Kyle [Dustin James Ashley]. But when a young and sexy single mother named Rose [Misty Dawn Wilkins] comes to work to the factory Martha doesn’’t like her…

Read our exclusive interview with Steven Soderbergh on SuicideGirls.com.

Ackley Suicide in Pinkerton

• INTO: Skateboards, bass, animal rights, grassroots activism, The 1st, 2nd, and 4th Amendment, NPR.
• NOT INTO: Gun Control, animal abuse, child labor, parking enforcement, taxes!
• MAKES ME HAPPY: Good live music, slapin’ the bass, being with friends, adventure.
• MAKES ME SAD: Animal abuse, broken dreams, saying goodbye.
• HOBBIES: Spin the bottle.
• 5 THINGS I CAN’T LIVE WITHOUT: Chapstick, skateboard, Vans, Mac Book, bass.
• VICES: A good sales man.
• I SPEND MOST OF MY FREE TIME: Not doing what I’m supposed to be doing.

Get to know Ackley better over at SuicideGirls.com!

by SG’s Team Agony feat. Salome

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

Q: About two years ago my ex-girlfriend broke up with me. Looking back, I realize that it wasn’t really a sudden breakup but a long-drawn out one (the last time I was at her apartment, about a month before she ended it, the sex was un-enthusiastic and she didn’t really initiate any cuddling). For about 3 months after the breakup I was in a pretty dark place, made worse by the fact that she didn’t want anything to do with me – odd because it wasn’t a bad breakup, just tough.

Thanks.

A: I am really sorry to hear about your breakup. It sounds like she was an incredibly important person to you and the breakup affected you really badly. That kind of heartbreak is terrible for anyone to go through, and you have my sympathy for that.

However, I think that the solution to your problem does not involve contacting her. In fact, not only do I think you should eschew contacting her, but I think you should proceed with your life as if she has fallen off the planet forever and ever. Much like she did after you broke up, actually, and in a minute I’ll get to why that was a very good thing.

It sounds to me like a part of you has never given up hope that you’ll get back together. Maybe you don’t even realize this is what you ache for, and that’s why she stalks your dreams. You may think you want to get in touch with her to get some closure, or so that you can be “friends,” but it really seems like you just long to hear from her again, period. Honestly, why would she care what you’ve been up to since the breakup? What purpose would telling her this serve?

It’s been two years, and you haven’t done anything more than hug another girl! You can’t live in this purgatory anymore. You HAVE to let go of her. You need to tell yourself that you will never see her again, never hear from her again, and that you must reconstruct your life wholly and completely without her in it. And then you need to do exactly that. Contacting her would simply reopen the wounds that have never fully closed, and dreaming of what you would say to her when you see her again is what’s keeping them open. Let her go. Delete her from Facebook and Twitter, move all your pictures of her to an external hard drive then bury it in the back of a closet. She moved to Mars and there’s no wi-fi there.

You never made a clean break from her and this is why you have been unable to move on. This is why she “wanted nothing to do with you” after you broke up. She needed space to figure out how to live her life as an independent and healthy person, and she couldn’t do that with you, or reminders of you, or daily texts from you around to prevent that, especially if you still wanted her back. It wasn’t “odd” – it was exactly the right thing to do.

I’m not saying you can’t ever be friends in the future. Maybe you can. But in order for that to happen you have to become a strong, healthy, whole person in your own right again, and that includes not clinging to the hope that you might somehow work her back into your life. You need to do this for yourself and for your future relationships. Two years is a long time and it will probably be hard to undo these destructive ways of thinking on your own. I strongly recommended finding a therapist who can help you imagine a fulfilling life without your ex.

I understand how scary it can be to imagine life without someone you loved so much. My wife left five months ago and some days it feels like my heart will never be whole again. But it will, and yours will too. You just have to let it.

Good luck.

Salome

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