Long ago, in a land far far from here, I lived in a punk rock group house with a lot of fans of Steve Purcells’ Sam and Max characters and their unsavory pals. Sam and Max was a hilariously antisocial comic strip. Assuming one thinks punk humor is hilarious and freelance talking animal police are a good source of humor.

Some time later, LucasArts decided to make a game based on the Sam and Max comics. The internet tells me that LucasArts was Steve Purcells’ day job and Sam and Max were a long-running LucasArts in-joke, which is the sort of little fun fact to know and share that tended to be unknown pre-internet. I could comment on this more, assuming I read all of the background info (which I haven’t yet), but suffice it to say that LucasArts actually made a pretty pleasingly unsavory game based on Sam and Max. The internet also tells me that the characters were eventually made into a television show which aired on a secondary FOX channel called FOX Kids. Which is weird both because it is simply weird and because I’ve never watched it, despite my affection for Sesame Street and Back at the Barnyard.

I’m excited to report that the awesome old Sam and Max comics are all back in print now. Full disclosure: the source of the new mega-packs of Sam and Max comics, DVDs, XBox, swag, etc. is an advertiser on Blue Blood. I haven’t checked out the new game yet, but the printed stuff is definitely worth picking up. Watch out for the bunny.

So we posted the whole sexy series of Superna serving a couple pounds of weed in the BlueBlood VIP some time ago and, in honor of 4/20, we posted a free 420 photo gallery here. What we have not been able to share with you all, because her and Individual’s case was still pending, is that her home was raided shortly after this. Superna is someone who just lights up a room. In my experience, Superna makes everyone around her smile, so I am shocked and appalled that someone would do this to her. She always radiates a certain beautiful infectious joy and it broke my heart that she had to go through this. I guess I should probably also have been freaked out that Forrest Black and I shot this photo set at her home, actually during the time period her house was under surveillance, but at least the photos had nothing to do with her arrest.

Superna: Oh my god.. .it was like a movie! 20 swat officers with machine guns at 7am.. my 2 roommates were there, but Individual and I were in Louisiana . . . They kicked in the door while Willie was watching FOX News getting ready for work.. they also kicked in the two fences to the back yard. They expected a HUGE bust, which did not happen, so they looked like idiots! When we got back to Cali . . .. they arrested me and Individual there to save face for all the cash they spent on their “huge drug stakeout”. My roommates took a deal with the DA and have to do drug classes and probation for 16 months, Individual and I are still battling it in court because we are actually innocent (even though that term doesn’t really mean anything once you’ve been arrested. It’s like guilty till proven guilty). Because it was our name on everything we are the ‘alleged’ big drug lords of the universe with 18 plants. Funny thing though, they got less than an ounce total off of all those plants :) Our house was supposedly under surveillance when our car was stolen too. Cops didn’t help with that one… we lost our house while we were in jail and . . . Individual told them he was innocent and won’t do any . . . drug classes because he did nothing wrong… so they told him he couldn’t stay in the house over night. He is now sleeping in a tent in the back yard !! (heeeee) .. so …. carless… homeless… broke …. and I still can’t be stopped !! Someone has it out for me bad though. The police report is all based on testimony from a “confidential informant” who called the cops . . . HATERS!!! The best revenge will be my triumphant success!! . . . I love you.. and I can’t wait to see those shots of me and Individual’s jizz fest at our former house ;) . . . I’ve been out of touch while in the slammer ;)

[Fast forward many moons . . .]

Amelia G: What finally happened with your case?

Superna: After the State of California spent thousands dollars trying to make a “case” against us, the case was DISMISSED :)

Amelia G: After smashing your totally cool living situation, did the State of California determine that actually you should have a pot prescription?

Superna: Yes we both have physicians recommendations for the use of medical cannabis, and the federally approved synthetic TCH “Marinol” (which is available in every state and at every Wal-Mart pharmacy in the country by the way). As a matter of fact, when we were drug tested every week during our probationary period, we were allowed to have THC in our system because the state of California recognizes the use of medically prescribed cannabis (prop 215), and the state and county judicial system is required to adhere the laws of the state. If this were a federal matter, it would have been handled differently.

Amelia G: You have such a sunny and warm personality all the time around other people. You always make everyone smile. Do you feel smoking at one point in time can make you more positive at another or is your sunny disposition mostly philosophical?

Superna: I think it is definitely a philosophical point of view, also a CHOICE to be happy at all times. I think for its medical use, it can help someone with easing anxiety, stress, boosting creativity, relieving physical pain… Let me put it like this : If you are a naturally easy-going person it can help you to be a “really” easier-going person. Likewise, if you are an extremely paranoid person, it will also enhance your paranoia. Sort of a mood enhancer, but also with dozens of other medical applications.

Amelia G: What do you personally find good and/or bad about smoking?

Superna: Personally, I don’t find smoking to be good, I find it to be great. Seriously, it helps so much with stress and anxiety, appetite problems, stomach disorders, high-blood pressure, tension, insomnia.. on the other hand, it is also a creativity enhancer – making creative endeavors flow with much more ease from the source. Every medical study that I have reviewed on the subject shows it to be non-addictive with no lasting or permanent unwanted effects. A natural remedy, as opposed to the chemical cocktails in the pills that are created artificially in a pharmaceutical laboratory with life-threatening side effects. As far as the “bad” aspects, its definitely hard being coined a “criminal” for choosing a homeopathic route as opposed to the so-called “legal” drugs peddled out of your local pharmacy and hospital. It boils down to it not being as popular yet with the general public…and they aren’t making any tax dollars off of the home grown remedies, so they push what will make them (and the lobbyists) the most money.

Amelia G: Do you think the rest of the country will eventually legalize all smokables or at least medical use?

Superna: I hope so. I think as everyone progresses in their thinking (away from the antiquated religious dogma),medical use will become more accepted, as will other choices of a personal nature. Things are changing so fast right before our eyes, and I have a very positive outlook for the future. Happy 4:20 :) Thank you, and remember to love one another!!

Hey everyone, we are “Hollywood’s most dark and offbeat counterculture” according to FOX News. Not that we haven’t been on various FOX shows online and on television a number of times, but I thought I’d share.

There are a couple of things which bother me about this piece, but they are probably only a thing to me and like six other people, and it’s always nice to be recognized. Then again, a segment about why Lindsay Lohan and Samantha Ronson are splitsville follows.

And I’m pleased the Adam Lambert coverage was not negative. I’m saying no to anyone who contacts me wanting to do any sort of hit piece using the photos Forrest Black and I shot of Adam Lambert. We even got Star Magazine to play nice in their article about him and that doesn’t happen every day.

So Linda Holmes of MSNBC just posted an article where she called FOX’s American Idol front-runner Adam Lambert “self-indulgent and not particularly creative”. I know FOX and MSNBC are competitive with one another, but I just think Linda Holmes is way off-base. She goes on to say:

“But what, exactly, is the Adam Lambert constituency of the future? He would be popular with fans of … what? The judges seem to think that the answer is “Twilight,” but what kind of sense does that really make? . . . But before anyone goes anointing him some kind of highly marketable future star, take another look at that performance of “Ring Of Fire,” and ask yourself whether you’d hear that on the radio.”

First off, I feel like Twilight and Adam Lambert are two of the only major mainstream pop culture phenomenons of the new millennium which actually are made for an incredibly underserved demographic. When I look for Blue Blood appropriate subject matter which is new, Twilight and Adam Lambert are two of the only things on the radar there. The Twilight soundtrack has been in the Billboard top 10 for twenty-two weeks now. Carter Burwell’s freaking score for Twilight entered the Billboard charts five weeks ago and is still hanging in there. So, if MSNBC doesn’t see the relation between Adam Lambert and Twilight and what a lot of people would like to be entertained by, they need new pop culture analysts. (I’m expensive, but I invite them to get in touch.) American Idol winners also hold multiple spots in the current Billboard top 100 with Kelly Clarkson, David Cook, and Carrie Underwood all charting. So American Idol fans do buy music.

Secondly, turn on the radio or MTV and listen to the most recent Trent Reznor Nine Inch Nails or Marilyn Manson David Bowie or Ministry or Combichrist or VNV Nation or Depeche Mode or Godhead or KMFDM or Marc Almond or Sisters or Mercy. Oh wait. You can’t. If you like either a goth-industrial and/or glam sound or a goth-industrial and/or glam look, you probably still don’t know which of those acts have new albums out. Because radio is not playing them. Yet many of those artists still movie significant units without radio airplay or MTV support.

Yet the MSNBC writer goes on to say:

“For all the discussion of Adam’s originality and freshness and relevance, his aesthetic is an inky-haired, nail-polished cliché — perhaps appealing and perhaps not, but certainly nothing you couldn’t see in New York, Seattle, or, for that matter, Akron. The sulky glower, the whimper-face, the moaning, the Sad Elvis sneer … there’s nothing wrong with it, per se, but to praise it as particularly creative screams, “I do not watch MTV.””

Does Linda Holmes watch MTV? I love music videos and I get multiple MTV channels, Music Choice downloads, and FUSE. And I’ve been publishing work with a dark glam gothic vampiric aesthetic for more than sixteen years and doing rock journalism, including covering the 80’s glam scene for a bunch of years on top of that. So I feel pretty qualified to say that MTV has very little to offer those who like inky-haired and nail-polished men. In point of fact, I must sorrowfully admit that the only options for that general taste are Fall Out Boy, My Chemical Romance, and Rev Theory. Maybe Good Charlotte and Avenged Sevenfold if any of the video channels were currently playing them, which they are not. I would also include Queens of the Stone Age based on musical talent and approach. And that is about it. Not that the music and merch sales there are poor.

I don’t have an iTunes account at the moment, so I can’t confirm this, but I hear that Adam Lambert’s performance of the Tears for Fears song “Mad World” was a top download. The voting on American Idol this year breaks a new record every episode. And both Vegas bet-makers and internet data analysts are pretty sure Adam Lambert is going to win American Idol this year. So somebody is interested in Adam Lambert, beyond the average American Idol audience.

I didn’t really have a lot to say about Adam Lambert’s performance of “Mad World” last week on American Idol, but, in light of today’s MSNBC article, I’m going to comment on it now. The show ran a bit overtime, but I always set my TiVo to record a few minutes extra at the end of live shows like sporting events and at the end of shows on networks like Comedy Central, Showtime, HBO, and NBC who have trouble telling time. So, unlike a few million Americans whose TiVos were not set for extra time, I saw Adam Lambert’s stripped down “Mad World”. He did the song bathed in blue light, without costuming, and with very little motion, and it came off powerful. Personally, I like guyliner and swivel hips, but I understand entirely why sometimes it is necessary to demonstrate that the eyeliner and pelvic moves are sizzle on an excellent steak. Otherwise, a genuinely talented performer who employs costume and drama can be dismissed as all sizzle.

The “Mad World” ode to teenage depression and alienation was originally written and recorded by Tears for Fears in 1982. That’s a bit before my time, but I was still a bit surprised that I had not recognized it when Adam Lambert performed it. Apparently, the version he sang was one redone for the Donnie Darko movie. I’ve never seen Donnie Darko, but I understand it is an aesthetically pleasing and depressing update of the James Stewart vehicle Harvey. (Not really, but they both have big rabbit phookas advising the main character.) I’m entertained that Richard Kelly, the writer/director of Donnie Darko, is one of the producers for the upcoming Tucker Max movie, I Hope They Serve Beer in Hell. (If only Tucker Max wore eyeliner.) At any rate, Richard Kelly had wanted to use a U2 song for the closing credits, but U2 were too pricey to license, so he had a gent named Gary Jules cover the Tears for Fears song instead, in order to stay within budget. The spare and emotional Gary Jules version turned out to be very popular and successful and has been used in a number of sountracks since.

So technically, Adam Lambert was supposed to perform a song on American Idol from the year he was born, 1982, but he kinda sang a song from 2001ish when Donnie Darko was released. But it did sound and look nice. Tears for Fears bassist Curt Smith who sang the original synthpop version of “Mad World” tweeted on his Twitter:

“Morning tweeps, still spring break in the Smith household. Ton of twits and e’s about Adam Lambert’s Mad World, for the record I thought his vocal performance was pretty great bar a wobbly last note. Sobering that the original was released year he was born. I must officially be an old man ;)”

I guess Curt Smith did tweet from TweetDeck, instead of Spaz, which is what all the cool kids are using, but still:

From MTV, Tears for Fears “Mad World” lyrics by Roland Orzabal and originally sung by Curt Smith:

All around me are familiar faces
Worn out places, worn out faces
Bright and early for their daily races
Going nowhere, going nowhere
And their tears are filling up their glasses
No expression, no expression
Hide my head I want to drown my sorrow

No tomorrow, no tomorrow
And I find it kind of funny
I find it kind of sad
The dreams in which I’m dying
Are the best I’ve ever had
I find it hard to tell you
Cause I find it hard to take
When people run in circles
It is a very, very

Mad world
Children waiting for the day they feel good
Happy birthday, happy birthday
Made to feel the way that every child should
Sit and listen, sit and listen
Went to school and I was very nervous
No one knew me, no one knew me
Hello teacher tell me what is my lesson
Look right through me, look right through me

I thought this interview was really interesting and worth sharing with people who might not have otherwise caught it on FOX on their own. Russell Simmons accepted Bill O’Reilly’s challenge to appear on the network, but I guess Bill’O chickened out, so the interview was conducted by former Arkansas governor, and conservative Presidential candidate, Mike Huckabee.

Some right leaning pundits have complained that the interview was ‘a softball’ promotional piece, but I thought it was simply interesting and even a little informative. Simmons shared his views on the influence of the hip-hip culture and the positive outcomes achieved by it’s powerful artistic community, in part relating to his newish GlobalGrind.com social networking site.

I found it refreshing to see a conservative actually engage with insightful and potentially tough questions without resorting to the more predictable tantrum like attack mode we’ve all gotten so used to hearing lately.

Lakeshore Entertainment, the creators of Crank, are bringing us Pathology, now out on DVD. Crank is the sort of quality enjoyable-but-won’t-change-your-life movie that I’d expect Hollywood to put out tons of, but which actually rarely gets produced. The movie banked largely on the appeal of Jason Statham’s ability to project manly manliness and a simple but tight script. And it worked.

Pathology stars Milo Ventimiglia, best known for playing the intelligent and sensitive, yet brooding and multi-powered Peter on NBC’s Heroes. In Pathology, Milo Ventimiglia plays a brilliant med student who others are trying to lure into a deadly game of murder as only medical lab experts could commit it. I haven’t seen the flick yet, but, from what I hear, I expect that it is a good solid watch. And, with the world going to Hell in a hand-basket at the moment, we can all use all the pleasantly engrossing diversion we can get.

Check out our Pathology gallery courtesy of Fox, if you just think Milo Ventimiglia is cute. Watch the trailers to get more of a feel for the movie, but be forewarned they are redband trailers and contain some gorey R-rated material. In all fairness, I can’t personally decide if I think Milo Ventimiglia is a hottie and a half or I just have a thing for uber-powerful conflicted superheroes.

Has anyone besides me noticed that too many episodes of The Simpsons lately have the same theme: Marge is hot for some guy other than Homer but somehow ends up back with him.

One of the things which I felt always made The Simpsons really work was that Marge and Homer had a good relationship. Lots of sitcoms have had similar themes and jokes, but they were mean-spirited and short-lived. The Simpsons boasts more than 400 episodes, so they had to have something right to start off. The animated family at Evergreen Terrace was perhaps a bit of a menace to the neighborhood, but they loved each other. Marge kept Homer grounded and Homer gave Marge excitement. Homer might mess up extravagantly from time to time, but he’s still a good provider. How many men, in 2008, can support a stay-at-home wife and three kids and own their home and two cars?

Lately, Marge seems to be finding Homer more and more of an oaf. Tonight’s episode, rewrote the history of the Simpsons family in order to mock Kurt Cobain’s legacy. As part of the stupidity, Marge miraculously gets a retroactive college degree and a radically different set of values. And a crush on her womanizing womynist professor. She does this while Homer is working at his father’s Laser Tag establishment (which we’ve never heard of before) in order to pay for her college. For the moment I will leave aside the part where FOX’s send-up of the 90’s makes the VH1 I-Love-the series look positively academic in its depth and accuracy.

Just now, let’s look at how much Marge has stopped appreciating Homer over the last few years. In January, she had an affair while Homer paid for her personal enrichment. In November, she tortured Homer for not knowing her eye color, when her eyes are freaking hazel. In November, Homer and Marge also go the Mr. and Mrs. Smith route of being contract killers on opposing sides. In September, Homer becomes a celebrity and Marge begrudges him his success. Back in March, Homer showed a documentarian that his life had meaning because of what a wonderful family he has. Last January, Marge was thinking she might be happier with another man, so Homer revitalizes an entire beach town to make her happy. Last November, Homer briefly became an ice cream man and Marge begrudged him that and decided to make popsicle stick sculptures and was sure the entire time that Homer was deliberately sabotaging her budding art career. Last September, Marge decided she wanted to be a carpenter and she had Homer act as a front for her and then got furious at him for getting credit for things she told him to take credit for. A prior carpentry-themed episode featured Marge abusing Homer for not fixing the roof and being sweet on Ray the roof guy. In January of 2005, Marge flirts with having an affair with Moe. In April of 2004, Marge checked out Krabapple and Skinner’s impending nuptials and decided she was trapped in a passionless marriage. In January of 2004, Marge wrote a book where the villain is obviously a thinly-disguised Homer and the lust object is (ew) Ned Flanders.

Looking at the most recent episodes, maybe Marge just has a 12 month itch she longs to scratch at the start of every year. Hmm, January 2000, Marge is all hot and bothered over a prison inmate with painting talent. In all fairness, in January of 2001, Homer got drunk and married a floozy in Vegas.

I know they are cartoon characters. But I used to really love the show. If Homer is really wrong for Marge, I want her to grow a spine, and do what she needs to do, in order to live the life she requires. It makes me crazy when real people keep complaining about the same problem, without taking steps to fix it. But I don’t think Homer is wrong for Marge. I think some upper level writer at FOX is having personal problems and should keep them out of The Simpsons. I feel the Marge of the first decade of the show was not all hot to have an affair with every single male character.

If the kids don’t age, then I don’t think Homer and Marge’s relationship should sour.