God, Please Save These Troubled States

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...

Sometimes, I like to think that the Buzznet community keeps me up-to-date on my pop culture knowledge. I haven't had cable in years, so I've missed out on a great deal of what people are paying attention to these days. However, last week I was exposed to perhaps the worst excuse for a television show that I have ever seen. It's inspired a new weekly blog, "Please Explain To Me," and I'm asking you to help me out this week: Please explain to me how you can find love on a reality TV show.

[cut=Help explain all these "love" reality TV shows inside...]The show in question? The vomit-inducing "Daisy Of Love."

Now, I know that these shows are aimed at being as pointless, trashy, and as stupid as possible. I know that there's an entire legion of people who watch this garbage because of the entire "train wreck" philosophy. It's so terrible, you just can't look away.

But this....this is beyond terrible. In fact, watching this show, I actually felt like our society had declined in quality.

If you've never seen a moment of this show, let me share with you some highlights. In this scene, Daisy (who is...some girl...who did something?) is having contestents, which I will refer to as "Toolbags" from here on out, give reports to the class about themselves. No, I'm not even joking; this is some elementary bullshit.

This particular toolbag, which I will expand on in a minute, shared his rapping skills with the class.

For real. He's for real.

Now, we haven't heard Daisy talk yet. It's what makes this so horrifying:

WHAT IS SHE SAYING. Please translate, someone.

I didn't understand why this girl had her own show, so I asked my friend who had me watch this. She then spouted off a complicated and detailed geneology of VH1 Reality TV shows based solely on a person who no one cares about trying to find someone to care about them. Huh? Confused, I set out to do some research, because I am that ridiculous and I honestly spent HOURS going through Wikipedia and reference links to figure out why this form of entertainment was so pervasive.

I remember long ago when all there was on TV was The Bachelor. A single guy with too-good-to-be-true looks is put in a situation where he gets to "date" 16 women who will do anything to demean themselves on national television. Cheesy, slightly offensive, and completely ridiculous. Oh, and I've got the stats to back it up: After 13 seasons, only two bachelors are still in a relationship with the woman they chose. None are married. SO MUCH FOR FINDING LOVE IN A CONTROLLED ENVIRONMENT FULL OF INSINCERITY AND TELEVISION CAMERAS.

Then there was the first spin-off. Oh, spin-offs, how I will come to loathe you. Next came The Bachelorette. (Actually, to be fair, the first season of that show produced a successful couple who are married and actually have two kids. So....does this disprove my whole argument? WHO CARES MOVING ON.) The Bachelorette reversed genders and had men pawing for the attention of one woman. Just as embarrassing? Oh my god, yes.

HUGE GIGANTIC LOL AT 0:53. I must win this woman's heart.....by shaving my chest.

Frosted highlights. God bless the world.

Here's what I don't understand: if The Bachelor and The Bachelorette were absurd, unbelievable, and decidedly shallow, then the wave of love-finding reality TV that came after this is akin to swine flu: possibly life-threatening, but generally just overhyped garbage. So why are people still watching this?

We've got Flavor of Love, which almost made me want to trash all my Public Enemy records. (Chuck D's blog changed my mind.) Still, this is what that show gave us:

__-=end-bn-cut=-__

Amy (FallOutFry) has, in a way, found out who she is through Buzznet. In  the couple years she’s been here, she’s made a quite an impressive collection of banners for members’ pages and turned her photography from a hobby to a passion.  We found out which members inspired her to pick up a camera, why she’s so obsessed with facial hair, and what the future holds for her talent.

Find out more about FallOutFry's photography inside...

Coffee. Coffee coffee coffee coffee coffee. Coffee? Buzznet is (rightfully) obsessed with the addictive beverage. Hot or cold? Iced, blended, or expresso? Americano or expresso? So many options and yet our group of photographers was still able to capture what it is about the drink that captivates people all over the world. The coffee photo assignment was a rounding success!

Full results for this weeks coffee-themed photo assignment inside...

Adam (known ‘round these parts as BulletProofHeeb) is a fan of the subversive. His love of comic books and the heroes within has inspired his life as an artist, a photographer, and his interest in “real” piracy. Find out what comics have to offer the disenchanted, why Adam started snapping photos in the first place, and who really wins that whole DC vs Marvel thing.

Find out more about BulletProofHeeb inside...

I was really surprised by the volume of submissions we got last week for Lost, especially since everyone was just given a single word to go off of. So let's try this again, only this time around, we're going to investigate the wonderful world of COFFEE. That's all you get. Think about the word, grab your cameras, and start taking photos!

Full instructions for this week's coffee-themed photo assignment inside...

Nearly 10 million people sat in front of their televisions last night, transfixed by the mind-melting events of the sci-fi, philosophical smorgasboard that Lost has become. We watched the impossible become possible, we learned that everything we thought about the island was dead wrong, and we were left with a dizzying final scene that mirrored the end of the very first season. Will the next eight months be just as painful for you as it will be for us?

Read more about last night's finale of LOST...

Ok, so I knew we had some obsessed Lost fans onboard, but I was shocked that we had over 70 submissions to this week's photo assignment. Given a single word ("lost"), the community explored themes of the show, of loss, of isolation, and of loneliness. I'm impressed and I'm sure you'll be impressed too. Dive in and check out the madness.

Full results for this week's LOST photo assignment inside...

Ikkyg has come to be known for a few things on Buzznet: her obsession with LOLcats, picspamming, trolling trolls, and then knocking us out with a witty and wise editorial rant every so often. She braved some truly terrible music to christen Brokencyde as the worst musical act of all time, so she’s clearly willing to take one for the team. But we wanted to find out where this overt LMFAO-inducing sense of humor came from, why she started taking photographs, and how (or if) she fits in with a Buzznet community that’s so different than she is. –Mark Oshiro, Community Manager, panasonicyouth

Find out more about Ikkyg in today’s Get To Know…

Lost’s twisted journey from wacky TV experiment to forehead-slapping sci-fi wonder has been both shocking and, at times, beyond confusing. One of the show’s few constants — and most compelling characters — has been the mysterious presence of Benjamin Linus, played ably by the actor Michael Emerson. On the eve of this season’s eagerly awaited finale, Buzznet scored an exclusive interview with the actor, who spoke candidly (well, as much as he could) about this season’s final episode, how Ben’s life can occasionally creep into his real life, and the last time he felt like a rock star.

Find out more about Lost’s season five finale inside…

In honor of the fifth season of Lost coming to an end next Wednesday, we're going to do our first photo assignment (roughly) based on a television. Don't worry; you won't have to have seen a single episode of the show to participate this week. Just grab your cameras, jot down a few ideas, and get to shooting! We're about to get lost!

Full instructions for this week's Lost-themed photo assignment inside...

Ok, so the Buzznet LOLcat project was an overwhelming success, mostly because...well, they're LOLcats. Do you know how easy and fun they are to create? That being said, we were drowned in lulz reading these captions over adorable photos. Come join in on all the fun and see how your peers responded to the BuzznetLOL Photo Assignment.

Full results for our LOLCATS photo assignment inside...

Bizarreland represents exactly what’s so surprising about the Buzznet community. Joanne has spent years perfecting her photographic craft and we’ve come to love her for her joyous wildlife photography. If you’ve ever wondered how she manages to capture squirrels each Wednesday, how her macro work is so detailed, and what brought her to the world of Buzznet, dive in. The trip’s worth it. – Mark Oshiro, Community Manager, panasonicyouth

Learn more about Bizarreland inside…

We're going to try something different this week. After Richard made a joke about having our Photo Assignment be nothing but LOLcats, I realized how genius that is. So here's the deal: We are going to spend the next five days creating a batch of macros. You will have absolute freedom to use whatever photo of yours you have. You are free to write whatever caption you want. Your goal is to make Buzznet laugh out loud.

Full instructions for this LOL-inspired photo assignment inside...