This Sunday (April 1st) on SuicideGirls Radio we have a real treat for music aficionados. SG Radio host Nicole Powers (SG’s Managing Editor) will be chatting with Buzz Osborne of The Melvins. He’ll be delving into his personal music collection, spinning tracks from the band’s new EP, The Bulls & The Bees, and giving us an exclusive preview of cuts from their forthcoming album Freak Puke.
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!
Guitarist, singer and songwriter Buzz Osborne is the founder and driving force behind seminal post punk band the Melvins, an outfit beloved by music fans that has defied definition for close to three decades.
The Melvins have just released a new EP, The Bulls & The Bees, which is free to download thanks to sponsorship from Scion. The band will be heading out on tour to support the new EP from April 11 to May 11.
Freak Puke, a new full-length album by Melvins Lite, a new incarnation of the Melvins that features Buzz, longtime drummer Dale Crover, and stand-up bassist Trevor Dunn (from Mr. Bungle, Fantomas and Tomahawk) will be unleashed on June 5.
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…)
INTO: Bicycling, ceramic animals, collecting old stuff, records, vinyasa, a good rhyming thesaurus, word masters, traveling.
NOT INTO: Mosquitos and casseroles.
MAKES ME HAPPY: My dogs Igby and Fred, sex, cuddles, autumn, making things.
MAKES ME SAD: Friends who live far away, the world we live in.
5 THINGS I CAN’T LIVE WITHOUT: My dogs, caffeine, iPhone, bicycle, paint.
VICES: Tattoos, olives, Jackie-Os.
I SPEND MOST OF MY FREE TIME: Raping department stores and designing synthetic hairballs for ceramic cats. I also river dance the shit out of spiders from time to time.
Artist / SG Member Name: My real name is Gary Mike, and my SG member name is Guss1470. Guss is just a name I like and used while online but I am starting to use my real name more often.
Mission Statement: For my art I really don’t have one. I just like to draw and find out what I can do. The first and main purpose for my art is my own enjoyment, challenge, and to see people enjoy my work. I want to see if I can do it. I like to try different styles just to see if I can.
Medium: Well anything I can get my hands on. I think anything can be a medium but the main one I use is pencil and pen. With my computer it’s a Bamboo and Photoshop. I draw my art on paper first then scan, touch up or trace in Photoshop then color. In the past I have worked with watercolor, color pencil, acrylic, chalk, and clay. I even thought of buying a load of makeup from Mary Kay just to play with skin tones in my art.
Aesthetic: I really don’t know. I like sketchy style, clean style. It’s like the question “who is your favorite band” – it just depends on your mood, what your doing, and how your feeling.
Notable Achievements: I think just making people smile with my art. I really am not aiming for anything when I do my art except to challenge myself and make you smile.
Why We Should Care: Not to sound mean, but you don’t have to. If no one cared about my art I still would be doing the same thing. I have been doing this since I was 3 or 4 and this is what I do for fun. I don’t know any other way. I don’t consider my work special. I draw all the time and throw away my sketches and finished work cause I can do it again. I have given away sketch books to friends, my ex, and to random people because I’m done with them and have no reason to keep them. I think it’s the people that see my art that consider it special so the question goes to you: Why do you like my art???
I Want Me Some: I don’t do contests, I don’t sell my art, I have no political agenda. If you want me to draw something I’ll do it for free. If I have time, all you have to do is ask. You can also check out my work on DeviantArt.
“Most of today’s successful provocateurs draw from Gypsy’s playbook.”
– Karen Abbott
Karen Abbott’s first book was Sin in the Second City: Madams, Ministers, Playboys and the Battle for America’s Soul, which needles to say, was not the kind of history book you read in school. Centered around the Everleigh Sisters who ran a prominent Chicago brothel for more than a decade, Abbott explored not just the sisters and their many famous clients, but the religious and political figures who collaborated with, fought against, and made their names, locally and nationally, around this issue. Abbott’s most recent book which has just been released in paperback is American Rose: A Nation Laid Bare: The Life and Times of Gypsy Rose Lee.
You know Gypsy Rose Lee. The legendary striptease artist and burlesque performer, author of the novel The G-String Murders, which was turned into the Barbara Stanwyck film Lady of Burlesque, who authored a largely fictional memoir (before writing such a tome became popular) that was turned into one of the great musicals. What’s clear from reading her book, is how much we don’t know about Gypsy Rose Lee.
American Rose isn’t a biography, but uses Lee and her career as a way to look at the thirties when vaudeville died and burlesque took over, and when culture as a whole was in a state of flux. It’s fascinating portrait of the theater-owning Minsky Brothers, moralist New York City mayor Fiorella La Guardia, author Carson McCullers, and America in the midst of an economic Depression but a cultural revolution.
A new Avengers trailer promoting the IMAX 3D showings is out. A batch of behind-the-scenes photos have been released as well. The Avengers is only about a month out, but we’ve got some reassurance the group’s adventures won’t end then. Black Widow has been confirmed for Iron Man 3, so we know there will still be cross overs amongst The Avengers team.
Despite the poor performance of The Green Lantern, Warner Bros. hasn’t given up on making a movie for The Flash. The company is finalizing their marketing strategy for the DC heroes, but Flash is apparently high on the list. There will likely be more information about upcoming DC hero films after the release of The Dark Knight Rises.
During the Empire Awards, Michael Fassbender (Magneto) and James McAvoy (Xavier) took a moment to discuss the upcoming sequel to X-Men: First Class. While McAvoy seems to be out of the loop, Fassbender expects the film to start shooting soon.
The superhero movies this summer will have their work cut out to compete in a market where The Hunger Games made box-office history with the third largest opening weekend, taking the spot from Spider-Man 3 and falling just short of The Dark Knight. Hunger Games opened at $155 million in the Spring season and is the first movie in a trilogy. Most movies that make that kind of money are usually sequels released during the summer, so it has set the bar extremely high for movies like The Avengers, The Dark Knight Rises, and Amazing Spider-Man.
The upcoming RoboCop remake will be less robot and more cop, well more human at least. Joel Kinnaman, who has been chosen to play RoboCop, suggests the costume will be little more than an exaggerated sci-fi cop costume. This goes along with some of the new ideas that director Jose Padhila has suggested that concern new breakthroughs in neuroscience.
While some try respect the history of the works they are remaking, others seem to go out of their way to upset the apple cart. After fan outrage at Michael Bay’s announcement that the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles would now be aliens, the director did some damage control suggesting that could mean as little as “the ooze was from space.” Now there is a fear that they won’t be teenager as the movie’s name has been changed to Ninja Turtles. This doesn’t mean they won’t be teenagers, but it has caused some concern.
Terra Nova’s last hope, Netflix, won’t be saving them after all. Talks concerning Netflix’s attempt to pick up the show for a second season have fallen through. Netflix is however still considering picking up The River for a second season. In future, you can expect to see online networks like Hulu and Netflix pick up an increasing number of popular cancelled shows as they work on building up their own programming schedule.
You can now follow along with the activities on the set of Ender’s Game at the project’s production blog. Only two entries have been posted so far, but one is of a utility deck panel from the ship set.
The first trailer for the new Doctor Who series was leaked after a convention in Wales. The pirated trailer hasn’t been taken down yet so watch it while you can. In related news, the Time Lord’s new assistant has also been unveiled. Former UK soap actress Jenna-Louise Coleman will play Matt Smith’s companion, though little else is known about her role.
As for another Doctor Who spinoff, Steven Moffat isn’t against it, but he doesn’t have the time to be the one making it. Moffat might not be opposed to a Doctor Who spinoff, but he has voiced his issues with the American version of the BBC’s Sherlock. He is upset that CBS is moving forward with Elementary even though they were denied rights by the BBC. Ultimately, he worries the CBS version will be bad and discredit the source show.
