In Chapter 7 of the Vice Guide to Liberia, VBS ventures to a cemetery filled with graves emptied by ex-combatants who used them as sleeping quarters. Joshua gives us a lesson on the consumption of human flesh before taking us to his Pentecostal church. We watch as Joshua delivers a sermon about his personal transformation from pre-pubescent murderer to redeemed holy man. Watch it here.
VBS Meets Noam Chomsky, is something of a spoiler title, because in it VBS meets, unsurprisingly, Noam Chomsky. Obviously he’s of the most respected, influential and inspiring figures in the world of political activism, as well as a figurehead of linguistic academia and an all round intellectual icon. Chomsky met up with VBS’s Kate Albright-Hanna at Belfast University in October 2009, beside a lovely fire. It’s really very interesting, so watch it.
To learn more about Liberia’s recent history of atrocity, we pick up General Rambo and take him to the compound where he once commanded his own rebel faction. Rambo convinces us that the Liberian rebels who lay in wait outside Monrovia could take over the city in two hours if the UN leaves the city. The UN is scheduled to begin pulling out next year. Watch it now.
While Liberia’s former president Charles Taylor’s trial for war crimes and sundry other atrocities continues at the Hague, the ex-warlords of Liberia remain in their native country. Some are harassed by cops; others are hunted by vengeful gangs. The lucky few still maintain control over some territory. In this chapter, VBS meets General bin Laden, so named to strike terror in the hearts of his enemies. After springing bin Laden from jail, VBS is invited back to his compound, where bin Laden leads us to his roof and tells us about his neighbourhood improvement plans. Mid-interview, after a suspect group of men unfamiliar to bin Laden assembles in the courtyard down below, VBS is forced to flee. Check it out.
Hey Vice
Have you guys seen these “Tech & Talk” commercials for MetroPCS? Am I right to think these are a pretty major rip-off of you guys’s Tech Talk? Seemed a little close for comfort.
JENN S.
Secaucus, NJ Read more »
OK, so I know it’s a little late in 2010 for more 2009 lists. And I know that all we’ve done over the last couple of weeks is take the piss out of lists, buuut, this is a list worth ingesting. Basically, VBS made oceans of good films last year, from Richard Kern’s shoots, to the epic story of donk, to Ben Anderson’s documentary in the Helmand Province, to me shooting a deer (that one’s the best), to us travelling into the jungle to taste psychotropic frogs. There are loads and you can watch it all here.
God Americans are obsessed with oil. VBS just went to LA to Beverley Hills to look into the latest crazy LA fad, ‘urban oil welling’. It’s a cross between hide and seek and Monopoly and it’s pretty weird. Click here to watch Oil of LA.
Swansea has seen a 178 percent jump in registered heroin users over the last four years. Somewhat unusually, it is the supply that is driving the demand, as the high unemployment made the lucrative profession of dealing drugs more attractive than ever. Directed by Leo Leigh and Andy Capper, Swansea Love Story, the newest installment of the Rule Britannia series, follows young heroin users in the city, their families and their daily routines. The film will be premiering at the ICA on 8 December. Go here for tickets (they’re free, but limited.) Click through for the trailer. Read more »
We’re looking for an intern with solid shooting and editing skills to work on the Viceland video blog. You must be able to film under pressure and deliver edits quickly and efficiently. You will have access to a laptop complete with Final Cut, a camera kit (P2) and an opportunity to become a permanent member of the Viceland or VBS Team, which will be sweet because maybe you’ll get to make something like this, or this, or this. Drop us an email if you’re interested. But please don’t bother if you’re crap.
The latest installment of VBS.TV’s Shot by Kern is an in-depth, behind-the-scenes look at how the master coaxes seemingly shy girls-next-door like Amelia here out of their underwear and onto green velour couches, where he gets up close and personal with their crotches and areolas. It’s also about the double voyeuristic irony of having someone shoot Kern while he’s shooting Shot by Kern. Think about that while you watch the newest episode.
Earlier this year we hosted a night at the Curzon in Soho, where we screened some of the best stuff from VBS.TV (as well as the breathtakingly brilliant documentary Streetwise) and it was very nice indeed. So we’re doing something very similar on 11 October at the Old Blue Last.
There will be free popcorn and cheap booze and you will get to watch a selection of our favourite recent VBS stuff. Check below for full details. Read more »
Adora Svitak is a child genius. Not one of those “I’m also a little bit insane” child geniuses like this kid, but one of those straight and narrow child prodigy types. The precocious little 12-year-old learned to read at three, published her first novel at seven, and has even been declared “the most clever child in the world”. Following this natural upward progression, Adora is now the host of VBS’s brand spanking new Motherboard series. Read more »
New York is practically a brimming cesspit full of rat-infested abandoned shit. I guess New Yorkers are just so incredibly busy being brash, loud and eating enormous pizzas that they forget about the existence of buildings. Easy mistake. Very few people are aware of these places, apart from the select few that make their hidden living traipsing through hidden buildings. Today, VBS goes exploring with these people, architectural salvagers – people who seem to make a pretty good living reselling old lamps other such decrepit artifacts. Oh, and there’s also some guy named Joe who calls himself a topophiliac. Basically, he just spends his weekends drifting through old buildings taking pictures of dilapidated things. “You’ve gotta keep your wits about you!” warns Joe in his ridiculously geeky accent. Head here to check it out now.
Thank God all these college dorks have gone back to Madison for the summer. They were starting to make the rest of us look bad.
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I have had exactly two erections in the last 90 days, but seeing a girl who looks like a sprite that came out of a magical forest filled with other moderately hip chicks makes my little Jewish dick very hard. If her bicycle had a basket filled with fresh vegetables and a Charles Bukowski novel I could legitimately achieve an orgasm to this.
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