by Nicole Powers

On the surface, The Last Mountain is a documentary about the dirty business of coal, the highly destructive and toxic practice of mountaintop removal mining, and one community’s fight to preserve their homes, their livelihoods, their health, and the last great mountain in the region. However, the story of Coal River Mountain in West Virginia is allegorical of much that is wrong with America, which is why during our roundtable conversation with the film’s champion, renowned environmental lawyer and activist Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., he barely mentions the four-letter word that is coal. Instead, Kennedy focuses on the underlying history and climate that has allowed corporations to rape and pillage our environment, and poison and kill our citizenry with impunity.

In The Last Mountain, Don Blankenship, the former CEO of Massey Energy (he retired at the end of December 2010), is typecast in the role of modern day robber baron. As the largest coal producer in Central Appalachia, his company is only able to function on the scale it does by subjugating democracy. Mountaintop removal mining is cheaper and less labor intensive than traditional underground coal extraction methods, but it causes such an affront to the landscape, water and air, that it can only be done when the authorities charged with protecting the public interest are willing and able to look the other way.

Between 2000 and 2006 Massey chalked up a staggering 60,000 EPA infractions, but has suffered little in consequences beyond much belated and pitifully low fines that serve the government’s need to be seen to be doing something while maintaining the status quo. Of course, Massey is not the only corporation and coal is far from the only industry that is using and abusing our severely compromised shell of a democracy. In light of the Citizens United Supreme Court ruling allowing corporate campaign donations (and a subsequent one that makes direct-to-candidate payments permissible), our government couldn’t be for more up for sale if it were posted on eBay.

Though there will inevitably be dark days ahead for our democracy, it’s not all doom and gloom thanks to a groundswell of grassroots activism as witnessed in Coal River Valley and documented in The Last Mountain. As for the environment, Kennedy points out towards the end of this interview that there’s an (LED) light at the end of the tunnel, and ironically it’s capitalism in its cleanest and purest form that may end up saving the day.

Read our interview with Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. on SuicideGirls.com.

The Last Mountain opens in Los Angeles* on Wednesday, June 15, and in Irvine, Pasadena, Philadelphia, San Francisco*, and Berkeley on Friday, June 17.

*Bill Haney and Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. will appear in person at the Landmark opening night screenings in Los Angeles and San Francisco – visit the Landmark website for more details.

Manko Suicide in Dead End

• INTO: People who have notes written on the back of their hand in blue biro pen.
• NOT INTO: That question: “What lies beyond the fierce surface? Who is the girl behind the image?” It is the straightest path to my sod-off list. If I open my legs wide enough you reckon you’ll see the real Manko shining through? Well honestly darling, you can suck my cock.
• MAKES ME HAPPY: The smell of hair bleach, the sound of semi in Tokyo heat, jinxing people on my blacklist and getting mistaken for a tranny.
• MAKES ME SAD: That David Bowie ruined his fabulous Ziggy Stardust fangs in the States in the ‘80s.
• HOBBIES: Collecting tart cards.
• 5 THINGS I CAN’T LIVE WITHOUT: A handful of people and plane tickets to see them. The rest can sod off.
• VICES: I trust you’ll find that in any given moral system Manko is perfectly 100% vice-free.
• I SPEND MOST OF MY FREE TIME: Dressing up, wallowing in self-obsession, excessively drinking, mocking things, making things, entertaining my alter ego, not being very nice, dreaming.

Get to know Manko better over at SuicideGirls.com!

by Blogbot

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by Blogbot

If you get off on cosplay as much as we do, you may want to come over to the dark side to view this special photo set featuring VooDou Suicide. You can take a peak at the complete Real Dark Side gallery for FREE for a limited time (warning: there’s NSFW images after the link).

If you like what you see – JOIN HERE – and come play dress up in our fun lovin’ community.

XOX

by Daniel Robert Epstein

It’’s 2007 and Simon Pegg has become a bonafide movie star. Pegg’s breakout role in the surprise cult hit Shaun of the Dead has led to bigger roles such as the lab tech in Mission: Impossible III and the lead in the Run, Fat Boy, Run written by Michael Ian Black. But Hot Fuzz is the film that Pegg and his long time collaborator, director Edgar Wright, have wanted to do since they wrapped Shaun.

Shaun of the Dead is one of my favorite films of recent years, but Hot Fuzz surpasses it in acting and humor, and technically the film is a marvel. Wright and Pegg have crafted a tight screenplay that lovingly satirizes elements from some of the best/worst action films of all time. Amazingly they’’ve incorporated those ideas into pivotal and often emotional scenes.

In Hot Fuzz, Pegg plays super cop Nicholas Angel, who does such a good job of arresting bad guys that he is making his department pale in comparison. He is then transferred to the rural sleepy hamlet of Sandford. At first he spends his time trying to whip the lazy police department into shape but soon Angel realizes that Sandford is hiding a dark secret…

Read our exclusive interview with Simon Pegg on SuicideGirls.com.

Dwam Suicide in Parallelism

• INTO: Like a storm, I’ll arrive in your life with lots of noises and thunder. I’ll shake your ideas, mess with your world, open all the doors. I’ll make you giggle and whirl in the winds. I’ll make you feel dizzy and excited. You’ll lose your balance, and suddenly I’ll run away and disappear as fast as I came. And all that’s left will be a weird silence, and this vague and nauseous feeling of being upside-down in a devastated unknown place.
• NOT INTO: Feelings.
• MAKES ME HAPPY: Something something in the month of May.
• MAKES ME SAD: Why you are not naked?
• 5 THINGS I CAN’T LIVE WITHOUT: Either you have sex with me…Or you have sex with me.
• VICES: I’m a sexual tiger.
• I SPEND MOST OF MY FREE TIME: Neurotically making lists, overanalyzing, and daydreaming.

Get to know Dwam better over at SuicideGirls.com!

by Morgan

I’ve spent long stretches of time the last couple of months without a computer, which means that when I had a working one in my apartment again I devoured new games with more enthusiasm then usual. And I usually have a lot of enthusiasm for games! I also spent a lot of time playing games on my brand new iPad. So for this casual game review column, I’m going to offer a grab-bag of different games for both PC and iPad. Also, to make up for the absence of a column last month, I’ll include a few quick recommendations at the end of this one!

1. THOR: Son of Asgard

First, there’s THOR: Son of Asgard. I know, I know, games based on movies are most often somewhere from mediocre to gorram terrible, but I really enjoyed this one. The tutorial level will get you comfortable with the easy to use, intuitive controls that allow you to use basic attacks and awesome foe-smashing special powers. The graphics are excellent and the game play engrossing. One of my favorite aspects is the storytelling cinematics, which play out in comic-book art form and are very nicely rendered. There are some downsides here though. I got the game for $.99 on sale, but it usually costs $4.99. The game does feel short and I generally do not like dropping five bucks on a shorter game, but for this one I probably would have as I could see myself replaying it several times. Also, from my understanding the game currently does not work well with iPods, so buyer beware if you don’t have an iPad!

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