AMSTERDAM - THE GLOWIEST PLACE IN TOWN

Meet Nick Paladino, a Hendrix-obsessed American who drained an Amsterdam basement all by himself in order to create Electric Lady Land, a museum where everything but Nick is fluorescent--although we haven't seen him in the nude. Mieke Lindeman traveled to the museum for further inspection. Here's what she came home with.

VBS - A SHOT BY SHOT HISTORY OF WODKA

The 1891 Treaty of Madrid was the first bilateral agreement to recognise France’s sole right to use the word Champagne. Since then, a slew of other rulings have followed, cementing that agreement in pretty much every market in the world. That’s why these days, when you think of Champagne, you think of France. What this is getting at is that in 1977, when Poland tried to claim the sole production rights of its national drink Wodka, it wasn’t such a crazy idea. Certainly not as crazy as Cadbury trying to trademark the colour purple. Sadly for them, the superpower formally known as the USSR saw it differently, successfully contesting and defeating Poland in an international court. Naturally, poor Poland has been griping about it ever since. (That and everything else, seriously, what’s with Polish people and griping?)

All racial stereotypes aside, what if that ruling was wrong? What if the Poles was robbed?

JAPAN - THE RELUCTANT NORTH KOREAN FILM STAR

On January 4th, 1965, a confused young sergeant in the US military named Charles Jenkins drank ten beers before setting off on his nightly patrol duty along the demilitarized zone between North and South Korea, where he had been serving for the past year. Having previously been shuffled back and forth between South Korea and US outposts across Europe, he feared his next deployment would be in war-torn Vietnam. Replaying in his mind the horror stories he’d heard of the battles going on in south-east Asia and afraid of dying in the jungle, in his boozy haze he made a snap decision. Drunkenly he stumbled over the border into North Korea with his hands in the air, giving himself up to his communist enemies. He would remain there for 40 years before escaping.

JAPAN - HOLIDAY OR HOMELESS?

Japanese office culture is strange. People in business together don't talk, ever, except for a couple times a year when they spend five obligatory days getting absolutely smashed and passing out all over the city because it's expected of them. Afterward, they revert to how things were and don't discuss what happened. In the middle of this wave of festivities, I woke up at 4:30 in the morning headed into Shinjuku, land o' plenty when it comes to hostess bars, love hotels, and nightclubs... and right now drunken salarymen napping in the street with homeless people. If it weren't for the sort of clean clothes I probably couldn't tell them apart. Let's play a game called Holiday or Homeless!

LONDON - TOUCHING PLANES FOR CHANGE

At a thrash metal gig in Kilburn I was introduced to Deborah Grayson and Tamsin Omond, two of the founders of Climate Rush, a gang of ecological activists who spend most of their time invading parliament and super-glueing themselves to things. We talked about the run up to the Copenhagen climate talks this December and how everyone ought to be out protesting like mad, demanding our leaders grow some green balls and actually do something meaningful about climate change. They invited me to spend September walking with a horse and cart across the southwest of England, organizing protests and doing activist stuff along the way. I thought, Why not?

NEW YORK - LONG LIVE THE KING

This might not seem like a big deal if you're not from down South, but, if you are like I am, then you'll understand that what I'm about to say actually is a big deal. Growing up, I didn't like barbecue. Not ribs, not chicken, not pulled pork--nothing.

IT HAPPENED - ROOTING IN BUNK BEDS

There are moments in life when you know you’re making a bad decision but you do it anyway. Take the other night, for example. Completely aware of the inevitable regret that would follow, I fucked a 6ft 3 guy in a bunk bed. Don’t get me wrong; bunk beds are great for building forts and kicking your brother between the slats while he’s trying to sleep, but when you’re 22, they’re pretty much up there on the turnoffs list with AIDS and leprosy.

Just so you know, I’m not one of those weird adult babies you see on the internet. When I arrived in Toronto, I took the first clean room I found that was downtown and within budget. The room happened to come with bunk beds. Not ideal, but whatever. I just swore to myself I’d never bring anyone back home and nobody would ever know. This is all very well until the guy you want to sex lives on the other side of town and it’s 3am and you’re both drunk and horny. This is how it went down.

RUSSIA - TEA PARTY WITH SERGIY, THE SOVIET TERROR PRIEST

Look at big fat Father Sergiy with his big rosy cheeks, bathing smugly in the Lord's all-encompasing glory as he thinks about another chocolate biscuit, or maybe about reciting a psalm. But just because he looks like a hill in a cassock, don't be fooled, as Sergiy is Moscow's first Holy Father of Fury, and not someone to fuck with. In his teenage years, before God found him, Sergiy Rybko led a grassroots anti-Soviet terror unit against the old communist government, before being steered toward a hippie sect that sent him traipsing across the desert, where he was nearly massacred by the Muslim gurus he'd come to visit.

NEW YORK - THE ALMIGHTY DEFENDERS ARE HERE FOR YOU

It's a pretty widely known fact that Vice outsources all of its blog posts to India. So when the Black Lips came to my country earlier this year, I was pretty pumped on experiencing some sweaty American rock 'n' roll. Unfortunately, the Black Lips were kicked out before I had the chance to see them. Instead, they flew to Berlin, where they recorded an album with their friends King Khan and BBQ. Needless to say, the album kicks ass (and they recorded it in under a week!). 

AFRICA - DEEP IN THE CONGO JUNGLE, WHERE TIN COMES FROM

Sometimes solutions create their own problems. In 2004, legislation was passed in the United States barring the use of lead in electronics. In stride, manufacturers switched to tin to solder their parts together. A third of the world’s tin resources—specifically the ore cassiterite—come from the Democratic Republic of Congo, which has an unregulated, corrupt, and brutal mining industry. In particular, child labor is rampant, controlled by men with guns, which is generally not what you want to encourage when you buy that new laptop.