God, Please Save These Troubled States

If you live in Los Angeles, enter to win a pair of tickets to see Bruno on the opening day with me and The Gay Blades. (No. Seriously!) Although I can not reveal the exact movie time, you must be available to meet at the Burbank AMC around 11:45 am. Winners will be notified the evening of July 7th. (That's Tuesday.) Hurry up and enter; time is precious!

Win tickets to Bruno inside... 

So this week's photo assignment (suggested by Seb) isn't really theme-based as we've done in the past. This time around, we're sort of making it into a game. Time to get creative: your task this week is to take a photo of something, but only give us the smallest, most close-up piece of it. Then, next Wednesday, after I post all the submissions, we're going to try to guess what you took a photo of. Sound fun? Then let's dig in and get started!

Full instructions for this week's photo assignment inside... 

Kerri (HideDontSeek) is a prime example of the power created when art meets community.  Through her use of Buzznet, she’s become so inspired by the collective photography of various users that she’s now enrolled in college courses to develop her own natural talent. Find out what photography is like in college and how Buzznet has changed her world views.

Learn more about HideDontSeek inside today's Get To Know...

Why? WHY? Buzznet's band of photographers came forth to answer this question with their cameras. This week, as with every week, we're left surprised and in awe of this community's creative talents. Come on in to see how your fellow peers responded to this week's assignment, "Why?"

Full results inside...

To the untrained eye, Madison (EyelinerSmudge) may seem like a walking contradiction. Her political views don’t always jibe with her emotions and her musical favorites seem out of sync with one another. But we learned this isn’t quite so. In a candid interview with the aspiring writer/photographer, we learned how she’s embraced her own differences, how art keeps her alive, and why the Manic Street Preachers are the greatest band on the planet. –Mark Oshiro, Community Manager, panasonicyouth

Learn more about EyelinerSmudge inside today's Get To Know....

We once did a QOTD about that simple question: Why? Given no other context, it was surprisingly successful. And why shouldn't we do a photo assignment about it? So here's your assignment for this week: Get out your camera. Ask yourself one question: Why? Then snap a photo. Post it on Buzznet and let's have some fun!

Full instructions for this week's photo assignment inside...

Shiona (UnsceneUnheard) is living the life most kids dream of: she travels all over the globe to photograph bands that she loves, both for Buzznet and her own digital music mag, Viva La Scene. But this isn’t something she merely stumbled into. Even cursory look through the stunning photography she’s shared with Buzznet shows the almost otherworldly gift she possesses. In our candid conversation with her, we learned a couple tricks of the trade, and chatted about the influence of a close friend — and fellow Buzznet member(!) — her Mom.

Learn more about Shiona inside today's Get To Know...

This week, we used a Garbage song ("I Think I'm Paranoid") as inspiration for our photo assignment. As usual, the community of Buzznet photographers came up with a set of submissions that are both fascinating and creative. Come on in and browse through all 40 photos to see how your peers responded to this week's assignment.

Full results of this week's Garbage-themed photo assignment inside...

Huldaholm quickly became one of Buzznet’s most popular members, thanks to her kaleidoscopic photography and for her passion for music. But then, to our dismay, she nearly vanished from our midst a year ago. Ever since, we’ve been wondering what became of one of our most distinctive voices. After a long, cold hunt across the ocean, we caught up with the Icelandic photographer, learned about her quest for inspiration and found out what the future has in store.

Find out more about the legendary Huldaholm...

Seb had a great idea for this week's photo assignment. Drawing inspiration from one of Garbage's most popular songs, "I Think I'm Paranoid," we're going to expand on the theme of paranoia. Grab your cameras, put on your thinking caps, and let's get creative this week!

Full instructions for this week's photo assignment inside...

In continuing this week's look at Buzznet staff members, we decided to take a peak into the world of ElRich, Buzznet's community admin and moderator. He loves LOLCATS. He ignores grammar and spelling in pursuit of lulz. He finds humor in the worst of the Internet. We wanted to give you an in-depth look into what he does every day whilst on Buzznet, what drives him crazy, and how life as a bicycle commuter has given him so much joy. Oh, and LULZ. So, so many LULZ.

Learn more about ElRich inside today's Get To Know...

When it's time to party, Buzznet will always party hard. This week, we tackled, arguably, one of the greatest songs of our generation. We honored the almighty Andrew W.K. with a photo assignment that celebrated the art of partying. How did your fellow Buzznet photographers react? There's only one way to find out!

See the results of this week's photo assignment inside...

It's an undeniable fact that the same people who have no joy and happiness in their lives also hate Andrew W.K. Seriously. So let's celebrate the art of simply having a good time with this week's photo assignment: "Party Hard." Bust out the party hats, the confetti, and your dancing shoes. Grab a camera and let's get to partying!

Full instructions for this week's Andrew W.K.-themed photo assignment inside...

There’s no missing TaraAshlee on Buzznet. Her infectious cheerfulness is only matched by her love for Buzznet. She helps run the Buzzmob and she’s one heck of a fine photographer to boot. Yet there’s even more to her story: we found out what keeps her brain ticking, how she was influenced to become a photographer, and how her first Buzznet meet-up came about. –Mark Oshiro, Community Manager, panasonicyouth

Find out more about TaraAshlee in today's Get To Know...

Oh, we're totally going to tackle a few aphorisms in this batch of photo assignments. And this week, we're going after a popular statement about want, jealousy, and coveting your neighbor's...well...whatever it is they have. Your theme: "The grass is always greener on the other side of the fence." Your task: pull out those cameras and go wild!

Full instructions for this week's photo assignment inside...

I'm writing this to let you know that starting tonight, I will be COMPLETELY UNAVAILABLE BY ANY MODERN MEANS OF COMMUNICATION until June 6th! After 8 months of training and fundraising, I'm heading to San Francisco to participate in my second AIDS/LifeCycle ride with our other community admin, ElRich. I'll be riding all the way down to Los Angeles over the course of 7 days, startin on Sunday, May 31st.

Thank you SO MUCH to everyone who has donated and helped spread the word. I'll be contacting people about prints and t-shirts once I get back! If you have a chance, please help Richard out with a donation if you can! He's still on his way to reaching his fundraising goal.

Now, onto the nitty gritty!

Buzznet Originals will continue while I'm gone. Question of the Day will be revisiting some old classics, as chosen by our group of wonderful mods. Daily Music Dose will continue to rock as well! There will be a new Photo Assignment on Friday, as well as my second entry in my "Please Explain To Me" series. I'll apologize in advance for that one, as it's sure to cause controversy and I'll be NOWHERE NEAR A COMPUTER TO DEFEND IT. OH THE TRAGEDY!

If you have any community issues, please feel free to contact Breesays or email support: support [at] buzznet [dot] com. But only for EMERGENCIES. Don't email her because someone called you a douche or something. PLEASE DO NOT GIVE HER UNNECESSARY WORK. kthx guys.

If you want to follow along on my adventure, please make sure to follow my Twitter account.

Again, thank you all for the support and I'll see you on June 8th when I get back to work!



AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!

I think this week's photo assignment produced some of the most hilarious AND the most touching entries I've seen in a while. Who knew? We tackled the issue of fame with our cameras and the results are stunning, as usual. How did you peers interpret the phrase, "I'm famous"? There's only one way to find out!

Results to this week's fame-themed photo assignment inside...

I swear, I need to get better at these: here's a friendly update from your Community Manager! We've partnered with Rockband (which is, like, seriously the best game on the planet and is destroying my social life) to release a new feature on Buzznet and offer $500 in an exclusive photo contest. You can now post photos directly from your webcam!

Learn more about your new webcam feature and enter the Rockband Contest...

Claire (MusicIsCool) is, relatively speaking, fairly new around here at Buzznet. But she’s quickly impressed us with her photography, her passion for the music, and her penchant for sending us mixtapes compiled by the Buzznet community. (No, really.) We dug beneath her bubbly surface and found out how much her mom has influenced her, why she’s so attached to music, and learned of her quest to travel the globe.

Learn more about MusicIsCool inside today’s Get To Know…

Ok, continuing with the non-song lyric assignments, we're going to get silly this week. Your task: Take the phrase, "I'm Famous," and create a work of photographic art that explands upon this theme. What are you famous for? How are you dealing with your fame? Are you legit famous or e-famous? IDEAS! So many ideas! Get to it, my fellow photographers.

Full instructions for this week's fame-inspired photo assignment inside...