Hi everyone,
This is a really momentous week for us here at VBS. A watershed point in our fledgling little video site's history one might say. On an enormous, 14-part edition of the Vice Guide to Travel, our cameras travel where precious few news crews have gone before: the hermit kingdom of North Korea. This trip is easily the biggest and most dangerous adventure we've embarked upon so far and has been nearly two years in the making. It goes without saying we are really psyched to present it to you. The series kicks off today with a visit to the bottom edge of the Demilitarized Zone in South Korea, the closest most people will ever get to setting foot inside Kim Jong-il's impregnable fortress.
We've also got a brand-new installment of Thumbs Up!'s journey to the North Pole. And to top everything off, Wednesday is the first anniversary of our launch. We aren't sure if it feels like this year's been excessively long or excessively quick, but suffice it to say something about it is a little bit weird. Anyways, keep your eyes peeled for a big birthday overhaul of the site in the next couple of days, our present to ourselves and also to you.
Thanks for watching/reading,
VBS
Hey guys,
Happy bissectum. Today we've got the 10th installment of Epicly Later'd's exhaustive chronicle of John Cardiel. We know the past few segments have drifted a little heavily into "other guys" territory, but this one brings us firmly back into Cardiel country and throws in a couple real doozies of slams to boot.
Next week, we embark on one of our channel's biggest adventures yet, a journey inside the unimaginably zany and depressing world of North Korea. Also, High Shredability covers the 2007 Banzai Pipeline Masters.
Have a good weekend,
VBS
PS: If nobody's come up with anything better, we'd like to offer up "a doozy" as the collective noun for slams.
Watch episode 9 | Watch episode 10 | Watch episode 11 | Watch episode 12
There isn't much left to say about Cardiel that hasn't already been said, but did I mention this is coming out as a free DVD in a few weeks? You can watch all 83 minutes in a row on your TV. I think when the DVDs come in, I'm gonna fed-ex some free copies to some pro skaters that I feel are doing it all wrong—you know, guys who sit around and complain about spots, paychecks, tours, filming ,or getting second in a contest—just so they can see how Cardiel approaches it all. I'm serious, John Cardiel is the world's most perfect pro skater. So many things he's said in these interviews have rattled around in my head for weeks, truly inspiring.
Hi everyone,
We have finally passed the halfway point on the John Cardiel episode/feature-length documentary of Epicly Later'd. In today's edition, John reflects back on a few of his more harrowing encounters with Sick Boys skater turned cop, Mickey Reyes. Look out for one of the most casual incidents of projectile vomiting we've ever seen on tape about halfway through. We mean that in both the "keep your eyes peeled" and the "warning" sense.
Also, in honor of the 18-minute song's release as a 12" by Vice Records UK, we've got the second part of Fucked Up's concert premiere of "Year of the Pig" at last year's Pop Montreal festival. No puking in that one, just a little bit of forehead-blood.
Sorry,
VBS
Hello,
Today we've got a special treat for those of you into music: a video of Fucked Up playing their 18-minute opus "Year of the Pig" at Zoobizarre in Montreal last October. Or rather a video of them playing a convenient four-minute selection from their 18-minute opus. Come on now, none of you was seriously going to sit at your desk and watch them play the whole song. Get real. And besides, do you have any idea how badly a video that big would have gummed up your connection? The comments section would be an absolute madhouse.
In any case, there's another clip from the show going up tomorrow. For right now though, we've also got the second part of Art Talk!'s with AA Bronson. In this edition, AA shows us some of the collaborative pieces in his most recent show. Highlights include Michael Dudeck's asshole sigils and Terence Koh's dual-toilet cubicle, replete with functioning glory hole.
Try to enjoy yourself,
VBS
Anyone who's been to a Fucked Up show knows that Pink Eye/Damien smashing things against his already profusely bleeding forehead is pretty much a given. During the band's first perfomance of their 18-minute epic "Year of the Pig" at Pop Montreal, Damien charged all the way to the back of the bar, near where I had stationed myself presumeably "out of the thick of things," to perform the requisite smashing with an empty beer bottle. Right as it exploded across his dome, I felt a sharp little beesting in my eye. Reaching delicately into the eyelid, I fished out a piece of glass the size of a jujube. I shit you not, it was enormous.
Thankfully I was able to admire this little souvenir with both eyes, and could therefore witness this amazing and grueling landmark in the history of hardcore in its entirety instead of scuttling off to the emergency room. Now you can do the same from the comfort of your desk or couch, albeit free from the danger of deadly missiles. Enjoy.
The "Year of the Pig" 12" is out on Vice Records UK and What's Your Rupture in the US.
Hi guys,
Jesus, how long's it been since we had a new episode of Practice Space? Two months? Three? Well, the dry spell ends today as we stop by the New York apartment of Mike Bones for a little late-night, living-room serenade. According to everyone Mike is the single best guitar player in New York. However, unlike the vast majority of shredders, his ability to go "neenleneenleneeenle- neenleneenleneeNEEE" with his fingers hasn't gotten in the way of his ability to sit down with an acoustic guitar and hammer out an album's worth of understated folk tunes with smart, unembarassing lyrics. (PS: if you're interested in the skills he's more or less hiding under a bushel here, you should check out Soldiers of Fortune, the group he was in with a couple of the guys from Oneida and Jah Division).
There's also yesterday's episode of Art Talk! with AA Bronson in case you missed it. Part two goes up tomorrow.
See you then,
VBS
We've said this a million times in the mag already, but Mike Bones is the hero of all your rock 'n' roll heroes. He's played in/with a bunch of bands that I'm not going to repeat because I said it in the intro to the video, but suffice it to say the guy is a legitimate shredder. His long-awaited solo record, however, is a soft and pretty little collection of smart singer/songwriter fare, so we figured it was the perfect opportunity to switch up the Practice Space M.O. for an evening.
Instead of lots of dudes, beer, and a basement, we went over to Mike's (immaculately clean) LES apt for a one-on-one chat and a chance to hear some songs—including one he'd written, oh you know, a few hours earlier that happened to be totally awesome.
We went to visit 61-year-old artist/healer AA Bronson’s newest gallery show at John Connelly Presents, called “AA Bronson’s School for Young Shamans,” where he gave us a whirlwind tour of his artwork, part and present, and the works of his ten young collaborators in the show. We really want him to give Thomas from “Balls Deep” one of his famous “butt massages” but we’re not sure if television is ready for that yet, even on the internet.
In the meantime, you can read about how it might have played out in this engrossing Butt magazine interview. Oh, and here's his website.
Hey everybody,
This week we continue with the weird, music-art-music-art alternation we've picked up since the beginning of the year. Have you noticed that? It totally just occurred to us. Anyways, in keeping with said rhythm, we have a new two-part edition of Art Talk! with AA Bronson, the only founding member of General Idea not to die of AIDS and probably the greatest gay sexagenarian art-healer operating in New York at the present time. After you've watched it, you should check out AA's site for more of his works and links to a dozen or so equally good interviews (the one with Butt magazine's our favorite).
And on Thumbs Up!, David and Harry forge onward through solid clouds of mosquitos into the Alaskan wilderness.
Bye now,
VBS
|
|
