LeMons: It’s like Burning Man with Rollcages

24 Hours of LeMons, an endurance race for cars worth less than $500, was started by Jay Lamm, in response to the elitist racing industry. “Regular racing had gotten way too expensive and took itself way too seriously, ” Lamm explains. “Anyone who thinks racing is going to be their career is probably high, but that's what racing has become by and large.” This year there are more than 10 LeMon races scheduled all over the US.

My buddy Heathervescent entered one of these races this past weekend. "A friend had an '83 Toyota Supra that had seen better days," says Heathervescent. "Rather than take it to junkyard for demolition, we took it to the racetrack to participate in the 2009 Goin' For Broken 24 Hours of LeMons race at the Fernley Raceway in Reno, NV."

Click HERE to find out what happened!

It's Not Just About Gay Unions

Prop 8 is about so much more than gay marriage; It's about testing the temperature of tolerance, and nudging the moral compass to find a new north that better serves today's society. Sadly California seems to have lost its way, but ultimately I believe at its core our state is a progressive one and we'll hit the right direction come 2010. Here's hoping.

Payday Lending/Rape

The second installment in SuicideGirls' two-part special report on our nations onerous usury laws and credit crisis:

Last week we covered the horror of America’s usury law problem and how it has caused a massive imbalance of where our money should be. It has shifted dramatically to the financial sector, where it is used to produce nothing. The worst of the worst of the financial sector are the payday lenders. They are scum of the earth and should be shut down immediately. They prey upon the weak and cause endless suffering. Other than that, they are great guys....

Click HERE to read the full article from SuicideGirls' political columnist and voice of extreme reason, FearTheReaper.

Kathy Griffin Talks About Life on the D List

On the surface Kathy Griffin's "reality" show, My Life on the D-List, may be about the comedienne's relentless quest for A-List acclaim. However, in reality (of the real variety), Griffin's Emmy Award-winning Bravo show pokes fun at and undermines the very institution she purports to covet above all else: fame.

Furthermore, while other reality stars make a virtue out of their genuinely mean spirits in a desperate attempt to make the most of their fifteen minutes, Griffin delivers the wickedest lines with the kind of underlying warmth that lets all that "get it" know that no malice is intended.

It's this overwhelming sense of bonhomie that makes the show so watchable. It's also why, despite being the butt of many of her jokes, the gay community chose to honor Griffin with this years Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation Vanguard Award, which is given to those who have "increased the visibility and understanding" of the GLBT community. As Grifin says in our interview, "I'm genuinely a fan of most of the people I trash in the act." And "the gays" have no bigger fan than Griffin.

SuicideGirls caught up with Griffin by phone to get the skinny on her headline-grabbing minimal GLAAD outfit (she's the only member of the Hollywood community with the balls to accept a high-profile award in a bright blue bikini -- which revealed a hot SG photoset-ready bod). Griffin also gave us the scoop on the no-so-D-list fifth season of My Life on the D-List, which premieres June 8.

Click HERE to read the full interview.

Start your holiday weekend off the right way....

...with A-Hole F-Face Friday.

Enjoy!

Need To Go Pee In The Middle of A Movie? We Have An App For That

This is genius! Runpee.com is a site that tells you the best points in a whole database of new and classic movies to take a pee. It then has a scrambled section that will fill you in on what's happened once you return to your seat. Be sure to bring your iPhone next time you go to the pictures!

Did you know that May is Zombie Awareness Month?

What you don't know can eat you.

According to the Zombie Research Society "The Zombie Pandemic is coming. It's not a matter of if, but a matter of when." The nearly non-profit organization claims that "enthusiastic debate about Zombies is essential to the survival of the human race."

Are you prepared for the impeding Zombie infestation? (F**ked if I am!)

Click HERE to find out more before someone eats your brains.

Today I Die: A Poetic Computer Game?

I thought poetry and computer games were mutually exclusive until I read this.

American Excess: Are We Being Devoured By Debt?

SuicideGirls' voice of extreme reasons, FearTheReaper, writes:

The manner in which we have destroyed our economy is astounding. We are so far from understanding and correcting our massive fuck ups that even this current obliteration of our ways has not brought up the discussion that needs to be had: Our usury laws are insane. Our usury laws drove us into debt, sped up the loss of our manufacturing base and have directly led to the murder of the middle class. And it’s only going to get worse. The looming credit card crisis will be the next shoe to drop and with deflation a serious threat, shockingly heinous and fluctuating interest rates will make it impossible for many to get by. Even ancient Babylon had laws against the shit we allow lenders to get away with.

Quite a few successful ancient empires considered usury to be worse than murder and it was punished accordingly. We, because we are an incredibly wise country, decided to toss out centuries of law and tradition. First in the early 1900’s, we began to gut our usury laws and then under Jimmy Carter they were fully disemboweled. It’s not like we didn’t have a time period to look back on and see what would happen....

Click HERE for a brief and entertaining trip through the usury laws of ancient and modern "civilizations"....

Think we're more protected from onerous debt and the excesses of money lenders now than we were two centuries ago? Think again!

SuicideGirls In Space

SuicideGirls attended the NASA / Jet Propulsion Labs Open House the other weekend at their California Institue of Technology site in Pasadena. Members of the public were able to roam around the space flight operations and assembly facilities, and watch JPL's boffins play with very expensive remote control toys like their Mars and lunar rovers. While the Deep Space Network control room was suitably ground control to Major Tom, it was amazing how much of the research and gadgets on show relied on duct tape and tin foil.

Encouraged by the "Ask A Scientist A Question" badges on offer, SuicideGirls also ascertained that the prototype Mars rover JPL had built at great expense currently relied on wheels bought from the local bike store to get around. (Their giant spider-like ATHLETE rover, intended for use on NASA's 2020 moon mission, was far more impressive however.) When a fellow bystander asked about Virgin Galactic and Richard Branson's plans for space tourism, a JPL boffin was rather dismissive of the endeavor, saying he couldn't understand why folks would want to pay a small fortune for the flights which will only allow time for 15 minutes of weightlessness, during which time approximately 50% of the tourists would get space sick (apparently the resulting vomit would then float in globules around the fellow passengers in the craft). We helpfully explained that it was all about shags in space (Branson's always marketed his ventures using sex) -- and that some people will be willing to pay almost anything to join the 60-Mile High Club. We feel that all parties came away enlightened from this scientific encounter.

For more of our scientific musings on invisible cloaks, stars in SF, zombie ants and attack squirrels check out Science Digest 1.0.

Picture Imperfect

I'm disappointed that Obama is reneging on earlier promises to release the remaining images of torture.

By doing this, he's playing into the hands of both the Cheney/Rumsfeld cabal -- and the terrorists -- by proving that the new administration is not so different from the previous one (which I don't really think is the case but this move will make it appear that way in the minds of our enemies).

Though the release of the images may have short term ramifications, in the long term we'd be a whole lot safer if Obama sent a consistent and clear message that this behavior is unacceptable -- and un-American. This means not only full disclosure -- but prosecutions for those that ordered and perpetrated these crimes.

My buddy Mark Karlin, who contributed a post to the SG Newswire on the case for War Crimes AND Murder One charges, articulates further on the subject with Michael Eric Dyson (author of Can You Hear me Now?) and Farai Chideya (former host of NPR's News and Notes) in a GRITtv roundtable discussion hosted by Laura Flanders which I encourage you to watch.

Gavin Rossdale On The Road and On SG Radio

"It's quite a full-thrust, sexy, hot show," promises Gavin Rossdale, who is currently on tour promoting his solo album, Wanderlust, and the second single from it, "Forever May You Run," which will be released as part of a 5-track E.P. via iTunes on May 26.

Earlier this week, Gavin took an hour out of his busy touring schedule to call in to the SuicideGirls Radio studio for an exclusive interview which will be broadcast on Indie1031.com this Sunday at 10 pm PST (click HERE to listen live).

Rossdale was also kind enough to reserve 2 pairs of tickets for SG readers at his Los Angeles and Anaheim dates (4 pairs total). Winners will also get to meet Rossdale before the show. Click HERE for more on the tour and to find out how you can snag a pair of tickets.

Hit Play with PixelVixen707: Velvet Assassin

My buddy Rachael Webster, a.k.a. PixelVixen707, has just started writing a new gaming column for SuicideGirls called Hit Play. Her first post is on SouthPeak's Velvet Assassin and the real life WWII spy, Violette Szabo, who inspired the game. Violette went from working a department store counter to working special ops, parachuting behind enemy lines to sabotage roads and railways, help bombers find their targets, and rally the French resistance. Now you can live Violette's life vicariously through your Xbox.

Click HERE to read Hit Play with PixelVixen707 and the A-M-A-Z-I-N-G story of Violette Szabo.

SCOTUS: Let’s Go Gay

Obama’s going to pick a Supreme Court nominee this year. This will be the first time we are going to have a justice picked by a non-asshole since the 90’s.

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

SCOTUS: Let’s Go Gay

Chris O'Dowd: The IT Man From The IT Crowd

Chris O'Dowd's breakthrough role was playing uber geek Roy Tenneman in the Emmy Award winning British sitcom The IT Crowd. His character is well endowed in the information technology department but not so blessed when it comes to social skills. It's safe to say, however, that in real life the exact opposite is true.

The highly personable Irish actor, who's starring in three upcoming films -- The Boat That Rocked (written by Richard "Bridget Jones" Curtis), Hippie Hippie Shake (with Sienna Miller and Derek Jacobi), and Gulliver's Travels (with Jack Black and Emily Blunt) -- displayed a distinct lack of prowess when it came to dealing with digital phone technology during SuicideGirls protracted attempt to interview him.

The first time Chris called in, he'd just embarked on a hike in the cell phone black hole that is Hollywood's Runyon Canyon park. Thus our conversation was unintentionally aborted just as it had begun. It would take a total of five phone calls, including two more entirely aborted ones, before our interview was complete.

Click HERE to read.

Kirby Dick's Outrage: The Politics Hypocrisy

From the filmmaker behind This Film Is Not Yet Rated, comes a documentary about America's closeted politicians who actively vote against the interests of the GLBT community.

"It is a film about hypocrisy."
Kirby Dick

The film includes interviews with Max Linn, the 2006 Reform Party nominee for Florida governor who outted the state's current governor Charlie Crist; former New Jersey governor James McGreevey, who came out as he resigned from office; and Blogactive's Michael Rogers, who actively outs gay politicians who vote anti-gay.

Click HERE for more on the film and a Q&A with Kirby Dick.

Forgotten Proto-Punk Band Death Rises

"David believed right up until the end of his life that the world would come looking for this music one day. It's just blowing our minds that it's happening..."
-Bobby Hackney

The rest of the world is just now figuring out what David Hackney knew way back in 1974: that his band, Death, had created something groundbreaking. Death, made up of David and his brothers, Bobby and Dannis, was one of the earliest bands to make the kind of rock music we now think of as punk. The hard-rocking Detroit sound they helped pioneer would become a major influence on Bad Brains and other important punk acts, but Death themselves only ever put out one single, with only 500 copies pressed. They didn't know they had become underground legends until recently, when Bobby's sons discovered Death, and the Hackneys found themselves with all the attention they deserved, three decades on...

Click HERE for more on the amazing story of Death.

Senator Arlen Specter - Democratic Fail Whale

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

I do enjoy watching the Democratic leadership stumble and bumble their way to ineffectiveness. It's just so absurd and stupid, all one can do is chuckle. The latest ridiculousness came last week, when they opened their arms wide for former Republican Senator Arlen Specter. He’s now a Democrat! Who will vote like a Republican! How awesome is that?

“Since my election in 1980,” Senator Specter said today, “the Republican Party has moved far to the right. I now find my political philosophy more in line with Democrats than Republicans.”

Bullshit. He wanted to stay a Senator and that’s it. This is anything but a good sign. All it proves is how far the Republicans have gone to the right – to the point where they are nearly insane. They are now driving out actual conservatives and the Democrats are accepting them into their ranks – further pushing their party to the right. Awesome. He constantly voted with Bush on issues like Iraq, the Patriot Act, Bush’s insane judicial nominees, Bush’s insane department appointees, telecom immunity, warrantless wiretapping, tax cuts and has strongly been opposed to any investigation of the many Bush crimes. See, what the leadership knows that you don't is that the Democrats need another Dianne Feinstein, Joe Lieberman or Ben Nelson. Add another problematic jackass to the pile, because these are the "moderates" who force the Democratic Party to act like Republicans in order to get things passed.

Apparently, Democrats think the best way to build their majority, is to bring in people who agree with them on around 10% of stuff. And they want that guy to be from the blue state of Pennsylvania, the guy who was driven from his crazy party for being too liberal, even though he is very, very conservative. He’s just not crazy conservative. But the Democrats love it! Thanks for the trash! They'll take it!....

Click HERE to read on.

Leonard Nimoy and Zachary Quinto: The Two Faces of Spock

The makers of Star Trek can thank their lucky stars that the spacetime continuum isn't thought to be very continuous these days. The new Star Trek film turns its back on everything that Back To The Future ever taught us about time, and embraces the possibilities of infinite alternate universes that come along with the relatively recent science of string theory.

In the domain of string theory, the paradox issues created by time travel are resolved by a split in the fabric of time, with new offshoots creating alternate futures. This non-linear vision of temporal theory, which is now favored by many scientists, has conveniently allowed Star Trek director J.J. Abrams, and writers Roberto Orci and Alex Kurtzman (who worked with J.J. on Alias and Fringe), to reboot the series and open Star Trek up to a whole new world of possibilities.

The character of Spock lies at the dramatic center of the alternate universe depicted in the new Star Trek movie, with Leonard Nimoy's original Spock traveling back in time to aid a United Federation of Planets inhabited by his younger self, played by Heroes' Zachary Quinto. In this timeline, which was created by the elder Spock's leap through time, the young Spock (and not Kirk) gets to kiss Uhura (played by Zoe Saldana).

In an otherwise utterly brilliant film, it's this one storyline that may have hardcore Trekkies and Trekkers up in arms. Science fiction fans might need to remind themselves that the word "science" comes before "fiction" in this genre, where multiple alternate timelines/universes are (quite literally) the way of the future. Fans can also console themselves with the fact that a Spock/Uhura relationship is perhaps not without precedent in Star Trek's hallowed canon -- as actor Karl Urban (who play Dr. Leonard "bones" McCoy) points out in the group discussion with Leonard Nimoy and Zachary Quinto below.

Click HERE to read on.