Gavin Hood: The Politics of Wolverine

"Any movie that is simply about good versus evil...is in my view putting out into the world and certainly into a mass audience and young audience's mind a rather dangerous philosophy, which is that there is good and evil in the simplistic and easily defined way...I think that for the last eight years, we've had that philosophy very much prevalent in the Bush administration that if you're on the side of good, at least as you perceive it, then you can do no evil."
-Gavin Hood, Director of Wolverine

Click HERE to read SuicideGirls' exclusive interview with Gavin.

El Flu Is Going To Murder You

More from my favorite political commentator and voice of extreme reason...

FearTheReaper: El Flu Is Going To Murder You - Or is it?

Fischerspooner's Casey Spooner

"Conceptual perfection equaled career suicide."

Fischerspooner emerged from the ultra hip electroclash scene in 2001, bursting forth in a ball of glitter with their debut album, #1, and a live show that was part disco, part art-house and 100% entertainment. Visual and performance art student and showman Casey Spooner was front and center expressing partner Warren Fischer's pulsating soundscapes with dance, makeup, costume, and elaborate staging effects.

As they embarked on a major label venture with Capitol Records, who released Fischerspooner's follow up album Odyssey, Warren and Casey chose to embrace the culture the company represented. Their songs became more structured, and their stage show got a whole lot bigger. So big that after completing a European tour, Fischerspooner found themselves without the funds to tour the show fully in North America.

Disappointed that artistic success had led to financial failure, Casey retreated to his theatrical roots. He joined experimental New York performance ensemble The Wooster Group, taking on the role of Ophelia's brother Laertes in their production of Hamlet (which featured two Fischerspooner songs that were composed for the show).

Though he enjoyed his relatively simple life as an actor, Casey found he missed the creatively all-encompassing and fulfilling odyssey that was Fischerspooner. Taking inspiration from Shakespeare's rhyming couplets, a third Fischerspooner album began to take form.

Called Entertainment, the album, which is released on the band's own FS Studios label, explores what happens when art and pop culture collide. Is entertainment art? That's one of the many questions Casey asked himself when SuicideGirls called in.

Click HERE to read the interview.

A Viticultural Mash-Up: Wines Paired With Led Zeppelin Songs

In this month's edition of Food Coma, Anthrax's hard rocking viticulture expert Scott Ian talks about the rather unlikely wine-pairing event he's been asked to participate in. Ian's pal, restaurateur Joe Bastianich, who is Mario Batali's partner in an eatery empire that includes the hip NYC gastronomic joints Babbo, Del Posto, among others, is organizing a wine tasting evening that pairs wine with the music of Led Zeppelin.

"Led Zeppelin lends itself to wine; Hearty, robust reds match Page's raw riffs and Bonham's thunderous double bass pedal, while the band's lighter, more playful work calls for tamer, yet complex whites," explains Bastianich, who goes on to give an example. "We're pairing 'The Song Remains the Same' with two crispy acidic, chalky, mouth-tingling whites. Think about the opening guitar riff, that jangling makes me think of the bubbles rising in a glass of Champagne. We really captured the spirit of these wines, the acidity, their raciness, the treble. It's all about the treble."

Bastianich wine & Led event will be held on Saturday May 2 at Manhattan's City Winery (a music & wine venue which was the brainchild of Knitting Factory founder Michael Dorf). Scott Ian will be taking to the stage with Led Zeppelin cover band Six Foot Nurse to provide live music for pairing with the appropriate liquid.

Tickets rage from $55 to $75 and include 6 different pours paired with light bites. Click HERE for more info.

Channing Tatum: From Step Up Dancer To Fighting and G.I. Joe

Channing Tatum's big break was Step Up, the little dance movie nobody foresaw becoming a franchise (Step Up 3D is currently in development). Now he's a box-office headliner, with leading roles in both this weekend's action-drama Fighting and this summer's tentpole movie G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra.

Despite the testosterone-heavy nature of these two roles, the good-looking athlete-turned-dancer-turned-model-turned-actor is rapidly proving he's able to deliver mature, nuanced performances well beyond the scope of his earlier two dimensional Abercrombie & Fitch and Dolce & Gabbana ad campaigns.

In 2008 he was seen on screens in the MTV-backed Stop-Loss, a powerful film about the Army’s controversial practice of forcing troops who have completed their terms of service back into action. The following year, Channing set the critics buzzing with his small but significant part in Dito Montiel's (of punk band Major Conflict) autobiographical film about his tough upbringing on the streets of Astoria, NY. The film, A Guide to Recognizing Your Saints, which starred Robert Downey, Jr. and Shia LaBeouf, was Montiel's first as a write/director. It speaks volumes that for his second such venture, Fighting, Montiel chose Channing as his lead.

Click HERE to read Fred Topel's interview.

A Doggie Dilemma

My favorite advice columnist, MissTruth Hurts, deals with a doggie dilemma in her column today:

Q: I've had my dog Sweetie for three years. I've had my boyfriend for six months. I love my dog. I love my BF. My BF doesn't love my dog. And my dog positively loathes my BF. We were in bed the other night and Sweetie bit him in the ass at the most inopportune moment. BF says, "Sweetie goes or I go." I'm leaning towards keeping Sweetie but my friends say I'm nuts. The BF is gorgeous, talented, brave, sober, well-off, and worships the ground I walk on. Sweetie? He's truly been my best friend. What would you do?

-Sad in Seattle

A: Dogs over dudes my friend. Dogs are more loyal, loving, and faithful, and generously lavish their owners with affection. They come when they're called, they like to spoon and cuddle, and they always stay the night. And, let's not forget dogs are a good judge of character. If your dog is not digging your dude, then maybe he's onto something. I would trust your companion's instincts on this one instead of your hormones. And, besides, if the guy really loved you, he wouldn't ask you to make this heart-breaking choice. What kind of guy makes his girl get rid of something she loves? Especially a little pooch?! A good guy and a true animal lover would never put you in this position, and his ultimatum shows what kind of person he really is. Put your beau up for adoption and tell your girlfriends to stop thinking so desperately.

-MissTruth Hurts

Do you agree with what MissTruth Hurts has to say?

SuicideGirls On The Loose At Fangoria's Weekend of Horrors

This past weekend SG was hanging out at Fangoria's Weekend of Horrors at the Los Angeles Convention Center. Though you can't help but have fun mixing with folks dressed up as their fave horror film characters, vendors who sell all manner of bloodcurdling merchandise, and movie types such as Tony Moran (Halloween), Bill Moseley (Repo!, Devil's Rejects), Corey Haim (Silver Bullet, Lost Boys), Robert Hall (writer/director Laid To Rest) and Paul Solet (director of Grace), after three days manning the SG booth boredom can set in -- thus our ever resourceful girls came up with the following off-schedule Fangoria activities. Hit the link below to read their...

Top 5 Things To Do When You're Bored At A Horror Convention

Medieval Tea Party

More from my favorite political commentator and voice of extreme reason, FearTheReaper:

"Lord Marat has to pay a whole 3% to the King?!?!?"

SG's lowly muckraking serf, FearTheReaper, comes to the defense of his master against the tyranny of tax increases for the wealthy.

Click HERE to read.

Switching The Internet Off: The Cyber-In-Security Act

WTF? The Cybersecurity Act of 2009, which Democratic Senator Jay Rockefeller and Republican Olympia Snowe have authored, will allow the government to shut down the Internet during times of “declared emergency.”

"It’s really great when a Democrat and a Republican come together to propose something horrible....Taking away people’s best source of information and a main communication tool is always the best way to not cause a panic during an emergency."

Click HERE for more from my favorite political commentator and voice of extreme reason, FearTheReaper.

The Rich Teabagging The Poor

Take a look at the image above, which was taken at a recent "tea bag" tax protest rally. How many of the people in the photo do you think even hit the 39% tax bracket? I'm guessing probably none. The sad thing about this tea bag protest movement is that it's the rich manipulating the poor and under-educated, getting them to do their dirty work, while those fortunate enough to be included in the 39% club sit back and watch from the luxury of their penthouses and McMansions.

Ben Affleck: State of Play

"I don't think that we hold anyone to a particularly high standard anymore. I think we've become accustomed to the frailty of all public figures. We start to traffic in scandal so much, people with shortcomings, and the train wreck has become such a popular exhibit. We like the underbelly. We chase these stories and oftentimes find them. I think that politicians should be held to a certain standard. They are elected officials, for God's sake. If they aren't going to keep it together then who is?"

Ben Affleck talks candidly and intelligently about Obama, politics, political sex scandals, the press and the ethics of new media to promote the new political thriller State of Play (which portrays echos of recent Washington indiscretions).

Click HERE to read the full interview.

Wil Wheaton: Atari Action

Professional geek Wil Wheaton shares some heartwarming father/son Atari love in this week's Geek In Review column on SG.

Continuing the Atari 2600 gaming theme, he's also posted a companion piece at LA Daily.

Atari aficionados should check 'em both out.

Jury Finds Glenn Beck Guilty of Insanity

"Just sit back and enjoy the madness of Glenn Beck, it couldn’t be better advertising for the left."

More gems from my favorite political columnist, SuicideGirls voice of extreme reason, Fear The Reaper:

I have to admit, the greatest thing since Obama took over the presidency is watching Glenn Beck’s quick descent into insanity. It really is epic theater and could easily have been a movie, or a television show. He is completely out of touch with reality – and it’s fucking awesome. It’s as if the crazy conspiracy guy at the coffee shop got his own show. It may actually end with him pulling a Smith & Wesson out and blowing his brains out on live television. And I am not in any way kidding. That’s how crazy and awesome Glenn Beck has become.

Becks’ ratings have been skyrocketing, much like Mister Rodgers would have if he had begun smearing his trains with feces and ranting about how Mr. Greenjeans was going to put us in camps. A couple of weeks ago, the kids at Morning Joe on MSNBC decided to take a closer look at Glenn and they found a man on the edge of sanity, weeping openly on television.

The man has taken fear and consumed it. Fear is Glenn Beck’s bitch.....

Click HERE for Fear The Reaper's full post.

Headbanging With Keanu Reeves, Dustin Hoffman and Scott Ian at the Anvil Movie Premiere

This summary is not available. Please click here to view the post.