FYI.

This story is over 5 years old.

Vice Blog

Brazil Issue extras: Literary


This month's brain food mostly concerns: Nato, squat parties, graffiti, misery, humour, drawings, biography, philosophy and the significance of the goat in black magic.

NATO – THE MILITARY CODIFICATION SYSTEM FOR THE ORDERING OF EVERYTHING IN THE WORLD
Suzanne Treister
Black Dog Publishing

Imagine running NATO. Sure, it would be fun for a while, but think about the hassle of having to order stationery, or amphibious assault vehicles, or organising food for a starving nation. What a nightmare. And that is why you, just as NATO did, would devise an ingenious filing system that allots a four-digit code to everything in the world. Yes, everything. They actually did that. Then Suzanne Treister did an encyclopedic series of watercolour paintings of the items listed. There is a lot of clever stuff involved, like referencing western fine art traditions, specifically in terms of the use of watercolour as a scientific illustrative tool, but I haven't got round to that yet. I am still marvelling at the fact that NATO has a code for "saddlery, harness, whips and related animal furnishings."
blackdogonline.com

Advertisement

BETTER OFF DEAD, ISSUE 2

This comes from the same stable as the great Raid Pace and Raspberry magazines. Following the excellent first issue, the collection of photographers and artists who lovingly cobble this together have once again made a zine that reminds me why people bother with publishing their own stuff at all. Stills from films, portraits and landscapes are scattered among other peculiar images of tampons and dead bunnies. And, as usual with the stuff these guys put out, it looks amazing. I tried to work out if I could rip them off and do a zine like this with my own photos, but I am pretty sure it would look total shite and no one would care. So in conclusion I would say, get everything this lot make, and never get anything I make.
blog.betteroffdead.co.uk/

THE URBAN TRAVELLER'S SKETCHBOOK
King Adz and Hush
Thames & Hudson

"Over 180 pages of top-quality sketching paper for your own creations + some seriously original artwork by Hush." For argument's sake, let's pretend that I want to see Hush's artwork (be it original or "seriously original".) Well, if I did I would be sorely disappointed by this book. There are only about three pages of art in here sandwiching a ton of blank pages. This is a glorified sketchpad. For £10. With a cover that is really great if you want everyone to know that you are into graffiti yet abide by the rule of only practicing said graffiti in properly branded urban sketchbooks.
Thamesandhudson.com

Advertisement

Bill Schelly
Fantagraphics There is a time, place, and mood where Adrian Tomine, the Hernandez brothers and whoever else does thoughtful graphic fiction can happily come and entertain me. But then there are times when I just want to read about rugged GIs smashing the living shit out of tanks, throwing grenades 200 metres, and burning whinging Fritz and his white flag. And if that's the mood I am in then Joe Kubert is my guy. Kubert is the man behind Sgt. Rock, Hawkman, Tarzan, numerous tough-guy Vikings, warriors, cops and ghouls and has his whole career laid out in this book. Considering it started in 1938 and he is still at it, it is as concise as it is amazing.
Fantagraphics.com

Reuters
Thames & Hudson

This is a lot like the first volume except of course totally different because it chronicles the whole of 2008, not 2007. One thing that strikes you immediately about this collection of work from Reuters' vast global network of snappers is that there's a lot of violence, pain, war and misery going on. Frankly though, that shouldn't come as much of a shock. The other thing that stands out is that the only things that happen on this planet that aren't cruel and/or evil are celebrities laughing and politicians dancing, apparently.
Thamesandhudson.com

Torkel Sjöstrand, Tobias Barenthin Lindblad, Björn Almqvist
Dokument I went straight to the London section at the back to read the chapter on TOX. I couldn't really give a toss about some guy doing 400-foot 3D pieces in Europe, but as I have to look at TOX's tags every day of my life I was pretty interested in reading up on him. I'm not sure if the writer went to a different London from the one I've been living in for the last 20 years, because his one sounds terrifying: The Man is spying on you through your Oyster Card, "crack use is widespread", and all the kids have pistols and shoot bikes. Yup, that's London. Anyway, while the Urban Traveller's Sketchbook is total shite if you are actually interested in graffiti, this is mildly interesting. So get this one if you absolutely must get a book about graffiti which has been reviewed on Viceland in May 2009.

Advertisement

THE PLEASURE AND SORROWS OF WORK
Alain De Boton
Penguin

I am not going to sit here and lie to you. I have not read this. Nor will I ever read it. You want to know why? OK, here's why: I dislike the guy. Dislike is in fact perhaps far too light a word for my feelings towards Alain de Boton. The twat inherits millions from his dad and then never touches any of it, he has a sparkling academic career, shits books out every couple of years like it ain't no thing, has a nice family and a pretty cool-looking house. Oh yeah, and he has the power to distill the most complex far-reaching philosophies into sugar-coated child-friendly fun-size nibbles of enlightenment. Yep, I admit it. I want to be Alain de Boton and for that I hate myself. De Boton, you can make me feel suicidal by just existing sure, but you can't make me read your bloody book.
penguin.co.uk

ON'T ROAD 11
Self-released

I have this friend called Tom Lamb who used to have a postcard stuck on his fridge that would always make me giggle. It was a photo of a sign somewhere in the countryside that said: "Beware. Lamb's On't Road". Since then, every time I've driven around Yorkshire I've kept my eyes peeled for a similar sign, but I've never found one. And then I turn up to work one day and this is staring at me. I don't even know where it came from. If you gave it to me, can you let me know? Just email: james@viceuk.com. OK, so there's little about lamb in it, but it is full of stuff about two of my other favourite things: punk rock music and travelling. If you like either of those things this comes highly recommended, even if only for the spot-on Wanky's review.
Ska1ska@yahoo.com

Advertisement

UNLOVEABLE
Esther Pearl Watson
Fantagraphics Books

Hopefully you remember Esther Pearl Watson as the co-author of Watcha Mean, What's A Zine?. If not, then all you need to know is that she is an artist, writer, and illustrator from Fort Worth who moved around a lot as a kid because her dad built giant UFO sculptures out of salvaged car parts – which pissed the neighbours off. Everything she does is amazing to the power of googleplex. This comic is based around the diary of a girl called Tammy Pierce who was a high school student in 1988 and for some reason left her diary in petrol station bathroom. Esther found the diary and drew its contents. Unloveable flies from milk-out-your-nose funny to dust-in-your-eye sad and it's never less than perfect. I wonder if Tammy and Esther have met since?
fantagraphics.com

SQUINX!
Self-released

This little sheaf of stapled fun is bought to you by the debauched Squallyoaks gang. You may know them from running everyone's favourite disco for girls who like other girls, Girlcore, or for bands like Chupucabara, or even just for living in a big squat in South London that is almost certainly a health and safety hazard to the whole surrounding area. This is a great read in places and limited to the fairly bizarre figure of 276 – which is charming.
squinxzine@gmail.com

THE UNHOLY HAND 2
Self-released

When the first one came out I was blowing around all manner "best zine in the UK" claims, but guess what? This one might just be a notch up from the debut. Sure, it took them a while to get it together but how are you going to argue with a handmade hardbound cover, interviews with Pulling Teeth, the excellent (and overlooked) Mentally Challenged, and Mike Williams from Eyehategod, as well as a short story about pigeons, an introduction to savant metal, an essay on the image of the goat in black magic, a bit on Blood On Satan's Claw and a heap of tastefully twisted illustrations? I'm not sure that you can. Go. Buy. Now.
myspace.com/theunholyhandfanzine

COLUMBINE
David Cullen
Old Street Publishing

Remember? "Marilyn Manson did it!" Michael Moore! All that kind of stuff. Believe it or not, it has somehow been a whole ten years since Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold walked into their high school, killed twelve of their fellow pupils, hurt twenty-three more and then turned the tools on themselves. If you really want to know every agonising detail of the personal trauma that led to the spree, then here it is in under 500 pages. The detail will give you goosebumps and at points you might want to look away, but I defy anyone not to gorge this in a single sitting.
oldstreetpublishing.co.uk

VICE STAFF