God, Please Save These Troubled States

I did it! I got it up on time! Today, we're tackling another contrast theme, but this one isn't about emotions. We're talking about texture, design, and what you think these two terms mean. How will you take a photo that best represents the ideas of "plain" and "elaborate"? Get out those cameras! It's photo assignment time.

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

OK, I swear I'm going to get better at this. Blame me missing this on Jared Leto. You can do it! I'm doing it now. Anyway, we'll have a new photo assignment later this afternoon, but I wanted to share with you the AWESOME results we got this week for our assignment, "Happy/Sad." See how your fellow peers interpreted another edition of our contrast series.

Full results to this week's photo assignment inside...

Just testing this out. I used my disgusted Twilight photo for this.

Enter the Bring Yourself contest - Create your own!

Attention Los Angeles Members: If you're not going to this year's FYF, you're missing out on a legendary line-up and the chance to help support state parks here in California. With bands such as Converge, Dillinger Escape Plan, and No Age set to play a low-cost fest next month, the fest's organizers have also provided a way for people to volunteer for local organizations and get a pair of free tickets! Could this be the best FYF EVAR?!?!?

Learn more about this year's F**k Yeah Fest inside...

On the surface, this might seem like the simplest photo assignment we've done yet, but I think it'll prove to be much more difficult when you think about it. This week, we're going to examine two contrasting human emotions: happiness and sadness. What makes you feel either? Bust out those cameras and get to snapping photos!

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

Rachel has been a constant force here on Buzznet for over two years; we've come to expect her commentary, her revealing photography, and her admirable personality. We took the time to find out more about her life as a live music fan in Dallas, Texas, what inspires her art, and how she's dealt with a difficult disease in order to remain the positive person she is today.

Learn more about Shatteredreams in today's Get To Know...

This week, we tackled the two contradictory terms of "future" and "past" for our photo assignment. Our amateur photographers grabbed their cameras and captured their interpretation of these two themes. They've also managed to create an impressive collection of images that all look at what it's like to age. Come take a peek!

Full results of this week's photo assignment inside...

It's time for another photo assignment and we're dealing with contradictions again. This week, your task is to contrast the theme of "Future/Past." How will you to interpret what has come before and what has yet arrive? Get your cameras out!

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

Tackling Biblical and spiritual themes in this week's photo assignment, Buzznet's own band of creative photographers contrasted the ideas of "heaven" and "hell." From hazy skies to frightening imagery, our series of contradictory assignments is off to a great start. Curious as to how your fellow peers responded? There's only one way to find out!

Full results for this week's Heaven/Hell themed photo assignment inside...

And the fanfare is rightly deserved: The newly-reunited Faith No More is headlining, alongside My Chemical Romance, AFI, Jane's Addiction and Paramore. Even better, the list of supporting bands is jaw-dropping. Australia, we are officially jealous of you.

See the full Soundwave 2010 line up inside...

We've come to love Emily for her witty and insightful writing that she's contributed to Buzznet's music and community pages, whether it's her live show reviews or her painfully hilarious analyses of popular scene music. What may surprise you is that Emily is an aspiring screenwriter who hopes to use her sense of humor to fill the shoes of writers such as John Hughes. We found out what it's like to move from Santa Cruz to Los Angeles, how the name Emily surrounds her life, and how she came to find herself in the Buzznet world. -- Mark Oshiro, Community Manager, panasonicyouth

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

This is, potentially, one of the most bizarre interviews ever conducted for Buzznet. If you're at all a reader of Buzznet comments, it's impossible that you haven't experienced the razor-sharp wit of JerryFetus. Hailing from the Queensland, Austrailia, she brings her own brand of humor to her writing and her photography, as well as this interview. If you'd like to know why she's funny, where her vulgarity came from, and what SRS BZNS plans she has for the future, read on!--Mark Oshiro, Community Manager, panasonicyouth

Learn more about JerryFetus in today's Get To Know...

After a brief respite, we're reading to forge ahead with a new era in photo assignments. Starting today (and continuing with the next 9 assignments), we'll be exploring the world of contrast. Each week, you'll be given two opposing terms and you'll be asked to contribute TWO photos (merged together as one or as separate entries) to represent the theme. Our first assignment for this project: "Heaven/Hell." Get your cameras out!

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

Just keeping you guys in-the-know about changes we're making to improve Buzznet for all of you!

As of yesterday (and continuing in to next week), we'll be releasing quite a few changes to improve a few functions on the site. Please check them out and provide us with feedback to let us know what you think!

Here we go:

Link posts

We've improved how link posts function. When you enter a URL to link your friends to, it will auto-complete the title, body, and thumbnail sections with information from the page you're linking to. You can make any changes you want to the link, including the option to scroll between available thumbnails.

Reporting Site Abuse

We've now made it much easier for you to contact us about any Terms violations and provide us with the information we need to properly deal with all issues. If you visit our Contact page, you'll notice a new header that asks you to read our Terms of Service and our Community Standards first before making a report. If you believe you have a valid issue, you'll be directed to our new Report Abuse page.

You can now provide the user you're reporting, the link to the page where there is a violation, and an open field to describe what's wrong. The report is immediately emailed to myself and Richard!

Managing User Galleries

By request, we've now alphabetized all of the gallery names inside your Photo Management center in the dashboard. When you manage your photos, they'll now be listed in order on the right side in a scrolling sidebar, which prevents your page from stretching to the edge of eternity. (If you're like me, you may have a ton of galleries and this small bug was kind of irritating.)

Additionally, the dropdown menu at the bottom is also alphabetical:

Global Buzz and Social Media Integration

You'll also notice that we've made Buzz buttons and Social Media tools (Facebook, MySpace, and Twitter) available in uniform across the site! We love you to share what you love on Buzznet with other people and we've made it as easy as possible for you.

Registration

We're on our way to fullt revamping the Registration process to make it simpler and faster than it is, but in the meantime, we've made a few key changes, mainly fixing some weird bugs with security codes and zip codes that were causing people to not be able to register. Additionally, we've lifted the requirement that you have to use a different email for every account. You can now sign up multiple accounts with a single email address.

That's all I have for this week! We have a LOT of stuff we are redesigning, fixing, and improving over the next few weeks and I'm excited to share them with you! As always, please let us know what you love, what you want changed, and what we can do to make things better for you.