by Flux
Every week we ask the ladies and gentlemen of the social web to show us their finest ink in celebration of Tattoo Tuesday; our favorite submission from Twitter and Tumblr each wins a free 3 month membership to SuicideGirls.com.
Check this week’s winners below.
by Steven-Elliot Altman (SG Member: Steven_Altman)
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 first installment of Killswitch, then continue reading after the jump…)
“There is nobody involved that I don’t trust”
– Slug of Atmosphere
There are striking simularities between the evolution of SuicideGirls and the career of underground rapper Sean Daley, better known as Slug from the Minneapolis hip-hop duo Atmosphere. Slug has been a supporter of SG for years, contributed his music to the Black Heart Retrospective and even name-drops the site in a song title on Atmosphere’s 2003 record Seven’s Travels. But there are also more subtle career links to be explored. Like Suicidegirls, Atmosphere are known for their punk-rock ethos and DIY approach to distribution. They have been touring for over a decade now; winning over heads and hearts one city at a time. It seems like Slug is finally reaping the fruit of his efforts.
by Laurelin
I’ve never thought of myself as a particularly crazy person. I don’t yell or scream at people I’m dating, I’m not jealous, I don’t nag, and I don’t get upset when ex- girlfriends are still in the picture. I was horrified by the female lead in He’s Just Not That Into You, and I am a firm believer in the idea “if it’s not fun, why do it?” Relationships are supposed to be fun. If it’s not fun, why the hell are you still dating? I’m not a crazy girl. Or, at least that’s what I have been telling myself for as far back as I can remember. I guess if you break it down, I’m just as crazy as the next girl. I just hide it damn well.
I have been caught being crazy once about six years ago, and let me tell you, it whipped me into shape. As much as I like throwing myself under the bus when I write these articles, what I did was so absolutely insane that I can’t even think about it without my cheek burning in shame. All I know is that I was busted, and the look on my boyfriend’s face when he caught me red handed was enough for me to realize then and there that acting like an untrusting maniac was the most un-sexy quality a girl can have.
I had stepped out of the room and he had jumped on my computer to check his e-mail, and as I walked back into the room our horrified eyes met over the glow of the screen and my heart fell like concrete into my stomach. The digital age makes it too easy to have access to whatever you want, and I had left whatever I wanted to know about him right up on the screen for him to find. It was all there, e-mails, conversations with ex girlfriends, everything. He should have broken up with me on the spot, and I’m not sure why he didn’t. I guess I got lucky. Unfortunately, that experience engrained something in me, and from that moment on I didn’t act anything but totally laid back about everything, ever. I didn’t ever want anyone looking at me the way my boyfriend looked at me that day.
by Blogbot
SG / Artist Name: Sucette, but I usually use Miss Sucette as my artist name.
Mission Statement: I began to draw when I was a cute lil’ girl. My father is an artist as well. I admired him and I wanted to draw like him. I spent all my childhood drawing, and I never let it go. It’s something that has come naturaly to me since I was a child. I just can’t live without art.
I grew up surrounded by old horror movies (the kind of movies where the car always broke down in the middle of nowhere…) and old cartoons. As a result, I began to create my own world, my own stories. Painting was just a result for me of an overflowing imagination, a way to exorcize my childhood fears.
With my own universe, I create art to propel you in a fantastic world and to talk about what I like the most. Animals, nature, science, and symbolism are central themes for my work. Through my paintings, I contemplate life, death, evolution, technology, loss of innocence, cruelty, and more. The messages I deliver are often tragic. I don’t like to show only what is good in the world. I want you to think about what’s wrong with us, what’s wrong in our world.
“I’ll be real bold and blunt.”
– Travis Barker
I should admit this right off the bat: I’m not a huge fan of Travis Barkers music. The only work of his I’ve really gravitated to is The Transplants; I’m still spinning that disc ever since I interviewed Skinhead Rob nearly a year and a half ago. But Barkers new band +44 is good and a lot of fun. He’s teamed up with another former member of Blink 182, Mark Hoppus, as well as former Transplants touring guitarist Craig Fairbaugh and the lead guitarist of The Nervous Return, Shane Gallagher. I had a very open and honest conversation with Barker about the new band and his trials and travails with the paparazzi and various famous blondes.
Read our exclusive interview with Travis Barker on SuicideGirls.com.
by Secretary
This past Sunday, I woke up in a different London to the one I know and love. On Saturday night, a peaceful protest about the shooting of Mark Duggan in Tottenham had turned into a violent riot. The riots morphed into looting and violence, and it spread like a virus.
That Saturday, I’d been at two fellow SG member’s apartment in North London. We’d heard of the Tottenham riots, but had assumed it would die down once the police got there. Since we were also in the company of an SG member living in Germany, talk turned to what we loved about London. We talked about how it is truly a diverse city in every sense of the word; about how people from every walk of life live side by side, and about how this makes the city feel so alive.
Earlier in the day, I’d briefly dived through the Brixton Splash, an annual community street festival that’s a celebration of diversity in an area famed for past troubles and tensions. Free food was cooked and handed out, there was rap, reggae and people drinking and dancing in the streets under the blazing sunshine. It was happy and relaxed, and it had ended peacefully at around 7 PM.
As myself and SG member Vermin made our way back from North to South London that Saturday night, we passed again through Brixton. We had no idea that just two hours later a gang of 200 youths would descend on the place, looting businesses and starting huge fires as they rampaged down the high street
We awoke on Sunday morning to find shops had been broken into. The police had cordoned the affected area off, tube stations were closed, busses were diverted, and the air was thick with a shared sense of unease. Shops closed early and people hurried home in the daylight. Rumors started to spread, of looting and riots planned in other areas.
Nobody was quite prepared for just how out of hand it became.
