Props to the Babes + Issue 7 Preview

MINIONS!

Long time no whitter!

It's been a crazy couple of months here at the Headquarters, what with finishing the calendar and putting together The Epic Issue 7 -- Issue 7 will from this day forward always be referred to as The Epic Issue 7 because it is going to be an incredible 60 advert-free pages -- as well as maintaining a very sensible "normal person" job and catching two kinds of flu, we are plum tuckered out!

So how on earth are we going to manage to fill 60 pages without publishing a single advertisement? Well, there's going to be a little of this...



and this...



and some of this...



a disproportionate amount of this...



as well as a buttload of reviews of some amazing new releases from Fat Wreck, Alternative Tentacles, and some other folks we love to hear from AND all of the regular features you know and love. We've got a completely thrilling interview with Austin Lucas, an introduction to Craig Jeffrey, The Exposed, 10 Minutes with Alexis from rockin' bespoke retailers Smarmy Clothes, and the long-awaited interview with the BWB calendar's Ms. March, musician, model, and all-around awesome chick, EnglanE.

*takes breath*

Wow!

Speaking of sexy things, thank you so much to all of you who helped with the 2011 Babes with Brains Calendar! We managed to raise £100 for Women's Aid, and given that this is our first calendar and we had no real publicity outside of the old FB, that's not too shabby. We're already getting volunteers to model for 2012 and I cannot WAIT to get started.

In other news, congratulations go out to our COTC columnist Jen Johnson and arch villain Keiran for getting married -- they had an awesomely weird, cupcake-filled, Rick-rolled (yes, really) wedding, and good times were had by all.

And we're also very sorry to have to extend condolences to the very same Jen (and her family) for the loss of her mother this week. We love you, dude.

And then there's Arizona. We've been glued to the newspapers all week since we heard about the shooting in Tucson and although it didn't directly affect anyone at the Headquarters or our vast network of contributors (as far as we know), we're thinking of the victims and wishing good things & fast recoveries for the wounded. Although it's true that it might not be completely fair to blame the actions of one obviously disturbed individual on anyone or anything, we sincerely hope that everybody (regardless of political persuasion) takes this as an opportunity to take a step back and stop being horrible to each other. Obama is not ruining the world, and all Republicans do not share the sentiments of Glenn Beck. Sometimes you've got to turn off Fox or MSNBC or whatever and just be nice to people. Is that too much to ask?

Probably.

Nevertheless, Fox news is issuing a "challenge" to all Americans via Glenn Beck to renounce all violence. Nice move. Too bad for them that, contrary to popular belief, not all Americans listen to Glenn Beck. If they really wanted to get through to people, they'd put it on the Simpsons.

Cardiff is relatively unaffected. It feels crazy to me that I'm here while all America continues to experience these crises. It's the kind of feeling you get when you don't personally experience a huge change but know that it happened -- did it really happen? If I go back, will everything be different?

Probably not. People don't change.

It's kind of comforting in a way.