MIND THOUGHTS… WITH MICHAEL IAN BLACK - LET’S NOT FUCK, SHALL WE? Here’s the thing, ladies: I don’t want to have sex with you. I know I’m supposed to. I’m supposed to want sex the way a guy in a beer commercial wants a brew: consuming my every thought, driving my every impulse, fueling my workouts, rousing me from slumber, inspiring my creativity and propelling me through Abercrombie & Fitch with my credit card out, saliva dribbling from the corners of my mouth and semen leaking from the pant legs of my skinny jeans. But I don’t. And I bet a lot of other guys don’t, either. Read the full article here

MIND THOUGHTS… WITH MICHAEL IAN BLACK - LET’S NOT FUCK, SHALL WE?

Here’s the thing, ladies: I don’t want to have sex with you. I know I’m supposed to. I’m supposed to want sex the way a guy in a beer commercial wants a brew: consuming my every thought, driving my every impulse, fueling my workouts, rousing me from slumber, inspiring my creativity and propelling me through Abercrombie & Fitch with my credit card out, saliva dribbling from the corners of my mouth and semen leaking from the pant legs of my skinny jeans. But I don’t. And I bet a lot of other guys don’t, either.

Read the full article here

Posted | 17 notes
THE ‘I’M SO BEAUTIFUL’ BACKLASH Like Samantha Brick, for me the past 24 hours have been – to be blunt – among the most beautiful of my life, but also the saddest. But then, the 4,510 (at the time of writing) people who have left comments on VICE.com, and the billions who have done the same on Twitter, would probably say that it’s all God’s fault for building me with such a pretty mouth and a heart strong enough to take the slings and arrows when my truths start to hurt people. Yesterday, I wrote an article on this website, screaming for answers: Why do women hate me for being wonderful? The response it provoked has been extraordinary in its velocity and venom, and crueller than any injustice I can recall from any period of history. Read the rest of the article here

THE ‘I’M SO BEAUTIFUL’ BACKLASH

Like Samantha Brick, for me the past 24 hours have been – to be blunt – among the most beautiful of my life, but also the saddest. But then, the 4,510 (at the time of writing) people who have left comments on VICE.com, and the billions who have done the same on Twitter, would probably say that it’s all God’s fault for building me with such a pretty mouth and a heart strong enough to take the slings and arrows when my truths start to hurt people.

Yesterday, I wrote an article on this website, screaming for answers: Why do women hate me for being wonderful? The response it provoked has been extraordinary in its velocity and venom, and crueller than any injustice I can recall from any period of history.

Read the rest of the article here

Posted | 16 notes
PAINTBALLING WITH HEZBOLLAH We figured they’d cheat; they were Hezbollah, after all. But none of us—a team of four Western journalists—thought we’d be dodging military-grade flash bangs when we initiated this “friendly” paintball match. Read the full article here.

PAINTBALLING WITH HEZBOLLAH

We figured they’d cheat; they were Hezbollah, after all. But none of us—a team of four Western journalists—thought we’d be dodging military-grade flash bangs when we initiated this “friendly” paintball match.

Read the full article here.

Posted | 4 notes
SYRIAN SLAUGHTER UPDATE - WEEK FIVE Since the fall of the Baba Amr district in Homs, the Syrian regime has laid siege to other rebel districts such as Khalidiyeh and Inshaat. Thousands of civilians have fled into Lebanon as the regime arrests anyone suspected of involvement in the revolution, and tales from fleeing civilians talk of the regime getting rid of any evidence of the slaughter. On Wednesday, a group of Syrian Red Crescent volunteers was finally able to enter Baba Amr and reported that it’s completely deserted and devastated, though Syrian state TV would have you believe otherwise. See the news report and read more here.

SYRIAN SLAUGHTER UPDATE - WEEK FIVE

Since the fall of the Baba Amr district in Homs, the Syrian regime has laid siege to other rebel districts such as Khalidiyeh and Inshaat. Thousands of civilians have fled into Lebanon as the regime arrests anyone suspected of involvement in the revolution, and tales from fleeing civilians talk of the regime getting rid of any evidence of the slaughter. On Wednesday, a group of Syrian Red Crescent volunteers was finally able to enter Baba Amr and reported that it’s completely deserted and devastated, though Syrian state TV would have you believe otherwise.

See the news report and read more here.

Posted | 4 notes
MEN IN FUNNY HATS STILL RULE THE WORLD My relationship with Freemasonry started the day I was born, courtesy of my grandfather. He was once a Mason in Liverpool, but eventually turned his back on the society and its activities. The main reason he defected was because my grandmother, as a woman, was forbidden to know anything about what went on at the meetings. Being that a bunch of his relatives were associated with the Masons, he and his wife became estranged from his part of the family and never really spoke to them again and so I have many relatives out there whom I’ve never met. Read the rest of the article here.

MEN IN FUNNY HATS STILL RULE THE WORLD

My relationship with Freemasonry started the day I was born, courtesy of my grandfather. He was once a Mason in Liverpool, but eventually turned his back on the society and its activities. The main reason he defected was because my grandmother, as a woman, was forbidden to know anything about what went on at the meetings. Being that a bunch of his relatives were associated with the Masons, he and his wife became estranged from his part of the family and never really spoke to them again and so I have many relatives out there whom I’ve never met.

Read the rest of the article here.

Posted | 3 notes
STEVE DRAIN OF WESTBORO BAPTIST CHURCH REALLY LIKES “OK COMPUTER” Arguing about music is one of my favourite pastimes. So, when I heard the regularly inflammatory Westboro Baptist Church was weighing in on the Great Radiohead Debate, I jumped at the opportunity to talk shop with them. Do they think they’ve sold out? Has the mystical glimmer left Thom’s lazy eye? Well, it turns out that I, a fornicating atheist black dude who writes for a magazine called VICE and lives in a modern version of Sodom, and Steve Drain, a Southerner who does media outreach and marketing for Westboro (one of the most offensive political-religious groups ever), have a little in common when it comes to the postmodern English rock band: We both think OK Computer was the shit, and it just hasn’t been the same ever since. Read the full article here

STEVE DRAIN OF WESTBORO BAPTIST CHURCH REALLY LIKES “OK COMPUTER”

Arguing about music is one of my favourite pastimes. So, when I heard the regularly inflammatory Westboro Baptist Church was weighing in on the Great Radiohead Debate, I jumped at the opportunity to talk shop with them. Do they think they’ve sold out? Has the mystical glimmer left Thom’s lazy eye? Well, it turns out that I, a fornicating atheist black dude who writes for a magazine called VICE and lives in a modern version of Sodom, and Steve Drain, a Southerner who does media outreach and marketing for Westboro (one of the most offensive political-religious groups ever), have a little in common when it comes to the postmodern English rock band: We both think OK Computer was the shit, and it just hasn’t been the same ever since.

Read the full article here

Posted | 1 note
CONSPIRACY NEWS: OSAMA NOT BURIED AT SEA! I do my best to keep abreast of the latest conspiracy dramas, after all, if I don’t listen to the paranoid voices living in the internet, who will? Today’s breaking news comes from the acceptable face of conspiracy, WikiLeaks. Remember Osama bin Laden? Of course you do; he was the first domino in that Illuminati spring clean which also claimed Brother Gaddafi and Brother Jong-il. Well, remember when the American troops rather bizarrely claimed that they’d thrown Osama’s body into the sea? No one on the internet believed that at the time, and they’re all still looking for reasons to doubt. WikiLeaks has just published trillions of boring emails stolen by Anonymous from Stratfor, an American security agency. Some of these are being held up as proof that Osama bin Laden’s corpse wasn’t thrown into the sea, but that it was in fact taken by the CIA to a military base in Dover, Delaware. Read the full article here

CONSPIRACY NEWS: OSAMA NOT BURIED AT SEA!

I do my best to keep abreast of the latest conspiracy dramas, after all, if I don’t listen to the paranoid voices living in the internet, who will?

Today’s breaking news comes from the acceptable face of conspiracy, WikiLeaks. Remember Osama bin Laden? Of course you do; he was the first domino in that Illuminati spring clean which also claimed Brother Gaddafi and Brother Jong-il. Well, remember when the American troops rather bizarrely claimed that they’d thrown Osama’s body into the sea? No one on the internet believed that at the time, and they’re all still looking for reasons to doubt.

WikiLeaks has just published trillions of boring emails stolen by Anonymous from Stratfor, an American security agency. Some of these are being held up as proof that Osama bin Laden’s corpse wasn’t thrown into the sea, but that it was in fact taken by the CIA to a military base in Dover, Delaware.

Read the full article here

Posted | 3 notes
SCANDALOUS, CHIC, AND RICH PIERRE CARDIN HAS MET EVERYONE AND DESIGNED EVERYTHING Pierre Cardin is one of those names everyone knows, even if you have no idea who he is or what he looks like. For the clueless, he is the man behind and the designer of one of the most famous logos in fashion – the entwined pc splashed across more than 800 products: neckties, collapsible bicycles, car upholstery, chocolate, cigarettes, ice buckets, frying pans… You get the idea. Read the full interview here

SCANDALOUS, CHIC, AND RICH

PIERRE CARDIN HAS MET EVERYONE AND DESIGNED EVERYTHING

Pierre Cardin is one of those names everyone knows, even if you have no idea who he is or what he looks like. For the clueless, he is the man behind and the designer of one of the most famous logos in fashion – the entwined pc splashed across more than 800 products: neckties, collapsible bicycles, car upholstery, chocolate, cigarettes, ice buckets, frying pans… You get the idea.

Read the full interview here

Posted | 8 notes
FREE RANGE FUR IS IT STILL MURDER IF YOU TRAP IT, SKIN IT AND SEW IT YOURSELF? Years ago, I worked for a fashion designer who had a penchant for fur dyed in bold colours that ranged from acid-green to plum. Most of them were for very expensive jackets that looked like they were made of Muppet skin. Only fox fur – specifically that of the American red fox – was left in its natural state. It was perfectly gorgeous on its own. And while I admit that I’m somewhat vain – I like fashion and will endure uncomfortable clothing on the right occasion – with fur that discomfort goes deeper. The thought of farm-raised animals being executed via anal electrocution is hard to shake once it enters your mind. Surely, there had to be alternatives. My attempt to survey the literature about this ethical grey area turned up nearly zilch, so I decided the only thing left for me to do was to go hunting and see just how difficult it would be to transform dead animal skin into haute couture. As it turns out, it’s a macabre but doable task, given some expert assistance. Read the full article here

FREE RANGE FUR

IS IT STILL MURDER IF YOU TRAP IT, SKIN IT AND SEW IT YOURSELF?

Years ago, I worked for a fashion designer who had a penchant for fur dyed in bold colours that ranged from acid-green to plum. Most of them were for very expensive jackets that looked like they were made of Muppet skin. Only fox fur – specifically that of the American red fox – was left in its natural state. It was perfectly gorgeous on its own. And while I admit that I’m somewhat vain – I like fashion and will endure uncomfortable clothing on the right occasion – with fur that discomfort goes deeper. The thought of farm-raised animals being executed via anal electrocution is hard to shake once it enters your mind. Surely, there had to be alternatives.

My attempt to survey the literature about this ethical grey area turned up nearly zilch, so I decided the only thing left for me to do was to go hunting and see just how difficult it would be to transform dead animal skin into haute couture. As it turns out, it’s a macabre but doable task, given some expert assistance.

Read the full article here

Posted | 16 notes
YSL’S STEFANO PILATI EXPLAINS WHY FASHION MAY NEVER BE FASHIONABLE AGAIN It’s not hyperbole to say that Yves Saint Laurent is the greatest, most evocative name in the history of fashion. Stefano Pilati has been the company’s creative director for the past decade, defining yet another era with his analytic eye for design and plainspoken opinions about fashion’s place in modern culture. Before taking the helm at YSL, Stefano worked closely with Tom Ford and Miuccia Prada, perhaps the most innovative figures in Italian fashion of the past 20 years. I conducted the following interview with Stefano via Skype. He was sitting in his office in Paris, dressed to the nines, while I wasted away on my bed like a Nan Goldin photograph. Read the full interview here

YSL’S STEFANO PILATI EXPLAINS WHY FASHION MAY NEVER BE FASHIONABLE AGAIN

It’s not hyperbole to say that Yves Saint Laurent is the greatest, most evocative name in the history of fashion. Stefano Pilati has been the company’s creative director for the past decade, defining yet another era with his analytic eye for design and plainspoken opinions about fashion’s place in modern culture. Before taking the helm at YSL, Stefano worked closely with Tom Ford and Miuccia Prada, perhaps the most innovative figures in Italian fashion of the past 20 years.

I conducted the following interview with Stefano via Skype. He was sitting in his office in Paris, dressed to the nines, while I wasted away on my bed like a Nan Goldin photograph.

Read the full interview here

Posted | 116 notes
QUANGO - JOHN PRESCOTT’S COMING AT YOU WITH A TASER It is every young, black male’s worst nightmare. You’re driving around central Hull in an upmarket German sports car, minding your own business, just listening to the stock market report on Radio 3, and thinking about Puccini. Then: a flash of blue lights, a siren, a hand gesture. You pull over. A face in your window. John Prescott’s face. His endless, jowly, unhappy face. “Hello, Lord Officer John,” you announce. “License, please, sir.” He drawls the last word and in a heartbeat, you realise you’ve just been racially profiled by the newly elected police commissioner of Hull. Read the full article here

QUANGO - JOHN PRESCOTT’S COMING AT YOU WITH A TASER

It is every young, black male’s worst nightmare. You’re driving around central Hull in an upmarket German sports car, minding your own business, just listening to the stock market report on Radio 3, and thinking about Puccini. Then: a flash of blue lights, a siren, a hand gesture. You pull over. A face in your window. John Prescott’s face. His endless, jowly, unhappy face.

“Hello, Lord Officer John,” you announce.

“License, please, sir.” He drawls the last word and in a heartbeat, you realise you’ve just been racially profiled by the newly elected police commissioner of Hull.

Read the full article here

Posted | 2 notes
JAPAN’S SMELLIEST SEX CITY This is a short tale of how one man exploited Japan’s awkward relationship with sex to build an entire city dedicated to the possibility of seeing a breast, at a location that happened to constantly stink of a fat man’s Lucozade and Soba farts. And, if that doesn’t have you hopelessly aroused already, I’ve also thrown in some stuff about the collapse of the Japanese economy and some photos of a dilapidated hotel that I found. If you’re reading this on a bus, I’d pretty much wait until you were somewhere a little more private before continuing. Read the full article here

JAPAN’S SMELLIEST SEX CITY

This is a short tale of how one man exploited Japan’s awkward relationship with sex to build an entire city dedicated to the possibility of seeing a breast, at a location that happened to constantly stink of a fat man’s Lucozade and Soba farts. And, if that doesn’t have you hopelessly aroused already, I’ve also thrown in some stuff about the collapse of the Japanese economy and some photos of a dilapidated hotel that I found. If you’re reading this on a bus, I’d pretty much wait until you were somewhere a little more private before continuing.

Read the full article here

Posted | 2 notes
THE BRUTALITY REPORT - STUPID PEOPLE WHAT DON’T KNOW THEY’RE STUPID Stupid people are more complex than we give them credit for. A 1999 Cornell University study, “How Difficulties in Recognizing One’s Own Incompetence Lead to Inflated Self-Assessments,” reached one inescapable conclusion: stupidity bolsters confidence to, more or less, the same degree that smartness weakens confidence. The less you know, the less you don’t know what you don’t know. Read the full article here

THE BRUTALITY REPORT - STUPID PEOPLE WHAT DON’T KNOW THEY’RE STUPID

Stupid people are more complex than we give them credit for. A 1999 Cornell University study, “How Difficulties in Recognizing One’s Own Incompetence Lead to Inflated Self-Assessments,” reached one inescapable conclusion: stupidity bolsters confidence to, more or less, the same degree that smartness weakens confidence. The less you know, the less you don’t know what you don’t know.

Read the full article here

Posted | 9 notes
I USED TO LOVE WOODY HARRELSON, BUT NOW I THINK HE’S A SCUMBAG I used to be a huge Woody Harrelson fan. I’ve seen almost all of his films and agree with many of his views on politics and culture. So it is with great sadness that I must tell the world he is a complete and total asshole. I made this discovery last Friday, during a press junket for his new movie, Rampart (which is pretty good, by the way). The guy setting up the interviews gave me 20 minutes to shoot the shit with Woody. And while I still think he’s a damn good actor, our short interaction left me traumatised and feeling like a piece of meat. Combine this with the fact that the interview before mine consisted of Reddit-user-submitted questions (aka an “AMA” – Ask Me Anything) during which Woody only wanted to answer questions related to Rampart. This, of course, meant he didn’t take kindly to someone asking him about crashing a prom afterparty in LA, at which he reportedly took some poor girl’s virginity and – gasp – NEVER CALLED HER AFTERWARD! (More on this later.) Read the full article here

I USED TO LOVE WOODY HARRELSON, BUT NOW I THINK HE’S A SCUMBAG

I used to be a huge Woody Harrelson fan. I’ve seen almost all of his films and agree with many of his views on politics and culture. So it is with great sadness that I must tell the world he is a complete and total asshole. I made this discovery last Friday, during a press junket for his new movie, Rampart (which is pretty good, by the way). The guy setting up the interviews gave me 20 minutes to shoot the shit with Woody. And while I still think he’s a damn good actor, our short interaction left me traumatised and feeling like a piece of meat.

Combine this with the fact that the interview before mine consisted of Reddit-user-submitted questions (aka an “AMA” – Ask Me Anything) during which Woody only wanted to answer questions related to Rampart. This, of course, meant he didn’t take kindly to someone asking him about crashing a prom afterparty in LA, at which he reportedly took some poor girl’s virginity and – gasp – NEVER CALLED HER AFTERWARD! (More on this later.)

Read the full article here

Posted | 2 notes
GIRL NEWS - GIRLS AND WORK Listen up, Teen Girl Squad. Avoid having a job as long as you can. Actually, summer jobs that aren’t in malls are fun. I recommend the kind where you take children swimming and have cute neighbourhood skaters as your “leaders in training”. Maybe drive them home after. Anyway, try to live without money or off your parents until you get too old (25 is too old). Until then, stack up those internships and unemployed couch days and vague, unrolling maybe-ideas as long as you can, because once you get jumped into work culture you’re preeetty much in for life, and either you’ll appreciate work and understand it as one of the two things that matters (Guess the other one!), or you’ll baby-la-la your way out of it because you hate capitalism (valid), waking up (valid), or trying (you’re the worst). Read the full article here 

GIRL NEWS - GIRLS AND WORK

Listen up, Teen Girl Squad. Avoid having a job as long as you can. Actually, summer jobs that aren’t in malls are fun. I recommend the kind where you take children swimming and have cute neighbourhood skaters as your “leaders in training”. Maybe drive them home after. Anyway, try to live without money or off your parents until you get too old (25 is too old). Until then, stack up those internships and unemployed couch days and vague, unrolling maybe-ideas as long as you can, because once you get jumped into work culture you’re preeetty much in for life, and either you’ll appreciate work and understand it as one of the two things that matters (Guess the other one!), or you’ll baby-la-la your way out of it because you hate capitalism (valid), waking up (valid), or trying (you’re the worst).

Read the full article here 

Posted | 2 notes
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