God, Please Save These Troubled States

Ok, seriously, it was bound to happen. Bound to happen! We are tackling the lyrical mastery of The Smiths this week with one of my absolute favorite songs of all time: "Please Please Please Let Me Get What I Want." Take that phrase, my fellow artists, and go forth and create!

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

This week's photo assignment, taken from a suggest by NewAgeAmazon, found Buzznet's photographers tackling a tough subject. Given the words, "How Can You Save Me?" (a reference to a Shivaree song), this batch of submissions was particularly bleak. That doesn't mean they weren't as creative as ever!

Full results of this week's Shivaree-inspired assignment inside...

Here's our first user-suggested photo assignment. Newageamazon is diggin' on Shivaree's "Goodnight Moon," so she sent me a lyric and I thought it would make a great theme for the next assignment. Here's your full lyric: "Well you're up so high; how can you save me when the dark comes here tonight?" Get on it!

Full instructions for this week's Photo Assignment inside...

Yes, that's right; this loser is almost a month late in posting the results of our 1st Annual Buzznet Awards. Quite a few of you submitted ballots and voted for the best of the best on Buzznet in the 2008 calendar year. And after much tallying, some bickering, some executive decisions, and a few black eyes, we have the results. Trust me; you will be surprised.

The Buzznet Awards' results can only be found inside...

Apologies for this being delayed a day; my schedule's been a bit hectic. But it's totally worth it, as this week's images, inspired by a Jawbreaker song, are particularly evocative and amazing. Given the phrase, "I Love You So Much It's Killing Us Both," Buzznet's artists came up with 77 unique interpretations!

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

Oh god, whyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy. This is going to be nuts.

I'm at Kron's house with ElRich, Breesays, and Mendoza. OH MY GOD SO EXCITED. It starts in half an hour.

NOTE: There are MASSIVE spoilers coming up. Enjoy!

8:32pm: They're doing that weird clip show/summary. BAH. Get to the episode!

8:50pm: PLEASE HURRY UP.

9:00pm: OH MY GOD IT IS STARTING!!

9:02pm: Dr. Marvin Candle is on the screen. oh my god oh my god OH MY GOD ????SD?AF?AS?

9:04pm: What the fuck is going on. Time travel and energy bursts?

9:05pm: OH MY GOD DANIEL FARADAY.

9:07pm: This is seriously nuts. Was that a flashback?

9:10pm: Ok, so why does Locke get left behind? Does Faraday know what is going on?

9:11pm: Ok, my head just fucking exploded. "Your camp hasn't been built yet." Holy shit, this is literally the best show of all time.

9:15pm: Oh daaaammmmnnn, baby mama drama!

9:19pm: SHUT IT GINGER. Amazing. Also, the island is MOVING THROUGH TIME. Fucking amazing.

9:22pm: Oh my god. Mr. Eko's brother just crashed on the island. OH MY GOD. They're in the past!

9:24pm: ETHAN WHAT THE FUCK.

Also, Karen is blogging too.

9:27pm: The island just moved again.

9:29pm: And Sun meets Mr. Widmore AGAIN. AMAZING.

9:30pm: Hahahaha, this just keeps getting better and better. HURLEY ON THE RUN!

9:33pm: HAHAHAHAHA this show is simultaneously super gory and super hilarious. I love it.

9:37pm: Ok, so the hatch is destroyed....man, this nuts.

9:40pm: Oh man, WHAT IS GOING ON.

9:42pm: Ok, I love Richard Alpert. He is on screen and made things a million times more confusing and incredible.

9:50pm: OH MAN. Sawyer is going back into the hatch. This rules.

9:54pm: Daniel Faraday and Desmond. This is incredible.

9:56pm: YES. Desmond is off to find Daniel's mom!!!

10:02pm: Episode 2!!! AHHHH!

10:05pm: OH MY FUCKING GOD. ANA LUCIA. This is seriously nuts.

10:06pm: I miss Libby. :( :( :( :(

10:12pm: I'm calling it now. Sawyer and Juliet are gonna bone. Just sayin'.

10:16pm: Oh man, what "friend" is Kate meeting? MYSTERIOUS.

10:17pm: Did Ben just insinuate that Locke isn't dead?

10:28pm: Sun and Kate are totes hanging out. I like where this is going.

HOW DOES BEN KNOW THIS GIRL

10:32pm: This new guy Neil is totally gonna die.

10:33pm: Yep. Flaming arrow to the chest.

10:43pm: I hate not knowing if Ben is a good guy or a bad guy.

10:48pm: I love Hurley. He's such a great character.

10:50pm: Oh my lord. THE DHARMA INITIATIVE!!!!!!!

10:55pm: Ben is SO SO SO CREEPY.

10:58pm: GOD BLESS THE WORLD FOR JOHN LOCKE.

11:00pm: HOLY FUCK WHAT A CLIFFHANGER. This is the best show ever.

Rise Against's world just got that much cooler. The political melodic hardcore band just announced that the legendary Rancid will be taking them out on the road during the summer of 2009. No, seriously. Rancid and Rise Against. Playing the same show. For an entire tour. Trust us, you will not want to miss this.

Details about the Rancid/Rise Against tour to be found inside...

On January 20, 2009, Barack Obama will be sworn in as President of the United States of America. And while we're certainly not naive enough to think everything in the whole world will change on the morning of January 21, we certainly think there's reason to have an internet party: because Barack Obama is going to be sworn in as our next President. OMGWTFBBQ.

Full Inauguration liveblog goodness can only be found inside...

A Fire Inside have now moved on from producer David Bottrill to finish their follow up to Decemberunderground with a new producer: Joe McGrath (Morrissey, Alkaline Trio, Blink 182). Contrary to rumors this weekend, the band have NOT scrapped any previous material and will finish the record with their new producer.

The future of AFI is inside...

There are not enough people in the world who listen to Jawbreaker. So I'm changing that. This is probably the best song off of "Dear You." So your assignment this week is to create a photo based off this song title: "I Love You So Much It's Killing Us Both." Have fun and remember: always listen to Jawbreaker.

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

You really should love The Smashing Pumpkins. No, really. You should. Well, even if you don't, we got a whopping 95 submissions to our Pumpkins-themed photo assignment. 95. Sheesh! They're as creative as ever, so take a gander at what your peers captured to best represent the assignment, "All By Myself."

Full results of this week's Photo Assignment inside...

So, a long time ago, you may remember that Hulda and I ran a group called Your Daily Music Dose; every week day, a different person would suggest a band we should all listen to and then explain why. There was a brief history of the band, what the band sounded like, and then videos/links to music so that you could listen to the music yourself.

Well, I'd like to bring this back in the next week or two, and I'd love for it to be written entirely by the community.

If you want to write for Buzznet, read on...

This week's indoctrination photo assignment takes cues from the absolute greatest song written by the almighty Smashing Pumpkins. Your song: "Soma." Your lyric of inspiration: "I'm all by myself, as I've always felt. I'll betray myself to anyone, lost, anyone but you. GET INTO IT!

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

WHOA. 89 photos in 4 days? That's how many submissions we got for this week's Muse-inspired photo assignment. Given a cue from "Knights of Cydonia," our resident photographers and artists addressed themes such as personal strength, death, and zombification through their work. Check it out!

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

Boy, Hunter sure is a busy bee, no? Macbeth has announced that Hunter Burgan (of that one band you might know, AFI) has just been crowned their "Vegan Ambassador," in addition to announcing a second shoe that was designed by him. Vegans, AFI fans, and shoe addicts rejoice!

Find out what Hunter will be doing as Macbeth's vegan ambassador...

Holiday is over and so is our brief hiatus from our photographic creativity! I know quite a few of you scored some pretty sweet gear over the holiday season (myself included!), so let's bust out it and see what it can do. This week's Photo Assignment is inspired from Muse's song, "Knights of Cydonia," which I'm slightly obsessed with. Let's get to it!

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

Even though I plan on making some fairly standard lists like I did last year (top 10 records, top 10 worst album covers, etc.), I thought I should do something that's a bit more personal and reflects moments in 2008 that are memorable to me. And it's become pretty common for me to slam my fist on the keyboard to type an all-caps jumble that looks something like this:

;KLSDAFJLADFS8@#$43GF LJDAFGJKL@#$$%#QAJGFKLS;

Take a look at Panasonicyouth's 2008 review...