VICE Today

A Few Impressions

'Leviathan,' I Love You

How did the film’s makers achieve this poetry? Because, if anything, this movie exemplifies the art of poetry without words, the art taking real life and framing it in such a way that it becomes greater than fiction. It holds up a mirror to nature, but this mirror came from a funhouse and in its distortions reveals a deeper truth.

A Chat with Janicza Bravo (and Brett Gelman) About Her New Short Starring Michael Cera in a Wheelchair

Janicza’s new short 'Gregory Go Boom' stars Michael Cera as a wheelchair-bound dorkface and Brett Gelman as his older degenerate brother. It’s funny and slightly depressing, and you can watch the whole thing here. A couple weeks back I chatted with J&B over baba ghanous about the new film and why they did such a thing.

Listening to Kanye's "New Slaves" with White People

Let’s be clear: "New Slaves" is explicitly racial. It is also 27 times better if you’re black. Everyone wants to talk about how Kanye would rather be a "dick than a swallower," but it seems like the song’s true message is getting lost in the general hysteria surrounding Yeezy’s return to music.

May 23 2013 Ernest Baker Noisey

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Deportee Purgatory

Tijuana’s El Bordo Is Home to Thousands of Heroin-Addicted Mexican Deportees

About 40 percent of Mexican immigrants deported from the US are sent back through Tijuana. Many of the deported border crossers have established a makeshift shantytown inside a dry, concrete riverbed where the Tijuana River once flowed—called 'El Bordo.'

Pump It Up

Photos by Anna Ryon, styling by Lola Chatterton.

Watch Japanther's Kaleidoscopic New Video for "Stolen Flowers"

Japanther just sent us their new video for "Stolen Flowers," a song that sounds a lot like the other scuzzy pop-punk coming out of Brooklyn loft parties right now (this means that it is inherently good).

Amy’s Baking Company's Grand Reopening Nearly Bored Me to Death

In some kind of misguided attempt to renew their brand, Amy and Samy of the infamous Amy's Baking Company hired a PR guy and decided to have a relaunch. Since I work right down the street from the restaurant, I decided to drop in.

Juggalos Are OK, Cupid

Don’t Be a Tumblr Asshole to People Trying to Find Love

OkCupid Juggalos is a Tumblr devoted to pointing and laughing at people who get panic attacks, work at McDonald's, run possum adoption agencies, and happen to be Insane Clown Posse fans. Why are people cool with it?

Rave and Hardcore YouTube Comments Will Restore Your Faith in Humanity

It's commonly held knowledge that most YouTube comments rank up there with Houellebecq novels and Somme fatality statistics as some of the most depressing things you can read. But, thankfully, there are a few diamonds of decency in that online hate-pit, and they usually arrive beneath music videos.

The Loneliness of the Village at the End of the World

Last year, director Sarah Gavron and cinematographer David Katznelson visited Niaqornat, a tiny village in Greenland, and made a documentary centered on the collision between the old and the new, and the residents’ struggle with climate change and government policies.

Fightland

Pakistan - Part 2

Pakistani MMA got its start in an apartment above a real estate office. It's come a long way since. Fightland traveled to Lahore to meet Bashir Ahmad, a professional fighter and founder of the country's first-ever mixed martial arts team, PAK MMA. In part two of the series, Bashir shows us traditional mud-wrestling pits and late-night "smokers."

May 22 2013 Fightland Staff Fightland

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I Don't Have the Stones to Be a Crime Reporter

Last summer, I filed a story about a 12-year-old girl from London who'd failed to return home one Friday. People go missing all the time, so, although obviously sad, it was nothing that remarkable. In the days that followed, however, Tia Sharp's disappearance became England's most reported-upon news story.

Teens Are Being Trapped in Abusive 'Drug Rehab Centers'

The methods used at these facilities are arguably traceable to an anti-drug cult in the 60s called the Church of Synanon. Their method was to abduct addicts and then “rehabilitate” them through beatings and humiliation. Former patients have been airing their stories on the internet, so I contacted a few of them to find out more.

Alexis Neiers’s Pretty Wild Road to Recovery

The Former Celebrity Thief and Drug Addict Who Inspired Sofia Coppola’s ‘The Bling Ring’

Alexis Neiers's life has been turned into a meme, a magazine article, a book, a symbol for millenial narcissism, and now a movie directed by Sophia Coppola and starring Emma Watson. But she's trying to escape all that.

Jodorowsky's 'Dune' Would Have Been More Insane Than You Can Even Imagine

In 1974, Alejandro Jodorowsky set about turning the classic sci-fi novel 'Dune' into a major motion picture. He recruited Orson Welles, Pink Floyd, H. R. Giger, David Carradine, Salvador Dali, and Mick Jagger for the project, completed 3,000 pieces of story art, and spent millions of dollars preparing for production. Investors balked when he asked for more, and the project was ultimately shelved.

May 21 2013 Brian Merchant Tech

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The Worst Restaurant in the World

Where do all the horrible crawling things in LA congregate, make weekend plans, and compliment one another's handbags? Answer: the Jack in the Box on the corner of Sunset and Cahuenga.