No, it does not get funnier. Video via.

Last Sunday, an original comedy series about the inner workings of the Canadian government premiered on the CBC. Are you excited yet? No? Well, that’s OK. Most of the time there’s no point in paying attention to CBC's original programming unless your buddy landed a role as an extra. On the other hand, you may have seen one of the literally laughless advertisements for The Best Laid Plans during a hockey game or, I suppose, an episode of Dragon's Den. I learned of its existence because, every once in a while, the sometimes respectable CBC News Network dedicates five minutes to an execrable segment of “entertainment news,” essentially a nationwide platform for the CBC to speak in glowing, uncritical terms of whatever movie or musician happens to be popular on a given day; and while The Best Laid Plans will never be popular, they received an embarrassingly enthusiastic boost from their sister network anyway.                      

In The Best Laid Plans, Daniel Addison (Jonas Chernick) is a former speechwriter for the leader of the opposition (Mark McKinney) who quits his job because he's disillusioned with the political process, and because he catches his girlfriend, a fellow political aide, giving a blowjob to the party's energy critic. Addison—who is apparently a PhD in English literature—refers to this sexual double-cross as “lobbying the caucus.” Hilarious, right? Even the worst late-night jokes about Monica Lewinsky in 1998 hit harder than this. To think that a team of professional writers sat down and decided a line like this would make the final script is ridiculous. On top of that, the fact this scene made its way through production and editing and into the final cut should embarrass everyone involved.

During the two episodes that the CBC aired last week, Addison is blackmailed by the party leader's chief of staff into finding a candidate and organizing a campaign in an “unwinnable” riding, all while he begins his new job as a professor at the University of Ottawa. You'll notice that I haven't mentioned the party to which Addison belongs. This is because The Best Laid Plans is the type of wish-washy middlebrow garbage that's afraid to take sides. It's obvious that Addison's politics are to the left of centre, but God forbid the audience discovers if he skews Liberal or NDP. That sort of specificity may alienate viewers! Anyway, Addison's choice for a riding candidate is the colourful Scottish engineering professor (Kenneth Welsh) who is supposed to be funny—because he has an accent and he drinks a lot—but he is also supposed to be sweet because he made a water filtration device for poor First Nations people in his spare time.

That last plot point, where an elderly white intellectual deigns to make a charitable contribution to those who are less advantaged than himself, is representative of the most troubling aspect of the show. Actual First Nations people in Northern Ontario, who really are disadvantaged by Canadian politics, become a convenient plot point to demonstrate the compassionate qualities of an otherwise cantankerous character. This patronizing attitude toward anyone who isn't part of the academic or political circles of Ottawa has been infused into the show's fibre. Just look at this clip, in which “humour” is derived from the existence of young people because they are stupid and ignorant and they like pizza. Har har. The average voters of The Best Laid Plans' world are no different. They're just apathetic drones, waiting to be inspired by some centre-left sentiment delivered charismatically from an eccentric Scotsman.

Daniel Addison mimics the facial expression of just about every Canadian who has seen this dreck. Photo via.

If you're wondering why an out-of-control egomaniac like Ezra Levant can rant about the “elites” in the media (people who buy $7 lattes, apparently), it's because of the existence of shows like The Best Laid Plans, in which anyone who isn't an educated member of the political class is transformed into a caricature that delegitimizes their voice. Little Mosque on the Prairie insultingly treated small towners as racists, but it was OK because in the world of Little Mosque, racism wasn't a social and economic problem that manifested itself in systematic discrimination and prejudice, it was a harmless symptom of small-town eccentricity that could easily be cured by the tolerant values of a big city liberal. I'm sureThe Best Laid Plans will earn a small cadre of fans within Ottawa's political scene and Toronto's media players, but it won't play anywhere else, because it's not meant for anyone else. It's a circle jerk for everyone “in the know” and a big fuck you to everyone else.

In light of the rights to Hockey Night in Canada shifting to Rogers, much has been written in the last few months about the future of the CBC, with most coming to the consensus that the public broadcaster should stop chasing ratings with pale imitations of American programming. While I would love it if the CBC stopped producing crappy reality television shows and focused on programming of cultural relevance, as per its mandate, I'm not sure an argument as simple as a need for high ratings explains the poor quality of what does air on the CBC. It's not like there's any restriction against a show being both popular and, at least, watchable. But a show about Canadian parliament, like The Best Laid Plans, was never going to be a ratings success. It's also not a pale imitation of American programming like Mr. D or Cracked.

Instead, The Best Laid Plans is a poor attempt at distinctly Canadian programming that is absolutely sure to displease both general audiences and even halfway respectable media critics. Once upon a time, the CBC could deflect questions of low viewership by pointing to landmark shows like Kids in the Hall, Ken Finkleman's The Newsroom, Twitch City, or Slings & Arrows, but one has to look to a cheap cable show like Trailer Park Boys to find a memorable example of Canadian television from the last ten years.I don't know why The Best Laid Plans sucks so much. I suppose it's possible that the writers are just bad, but it's more likely that they're writing in a safe, inoffensive manner because that is the way they are expected to write. I couldn't say whether those expectations manifest themselves in explicit directions from the CBC's executive class or in a general attitude among creative employees that pushing the envelope is more trouble than it's worth, but something has to break, and hopefully the CBC breaks and fixes itself before the Conservatives use its crappy programming as an excuse to pull funding.

The Best Laid Plans is an example of the myopic culture of mediocrity that infects the CBC, in which quality standards are non-existent, risks are never taken, and no one bothers to criticize anything because hockey is the only reason anyone watches the damn channel in the first place. John Doyle is the only widely-read critic in the country who regularly covers Canadian television, and while he has problems with the CBC, he often handles any scripted Canadian content with kid gloves, as if it needs support to get any better. I don't think that's true. The CBC is like a friend with bad body odor, someone needs to tell him to use deodorant or he'll just keep on stinking up the room.

@alanjonesxxxv

Image via

As a child, my first celebrity crush was on Woody Allen, which, in light of the recent child fucking allegations against him, seems appropriate. It isn't as appropriate, however, as it would be if I were his (albeit de facto) child. We all know he famously married Soon-Yi Previn, the adopted daughter of his longtime partner Mia Farrow. And we know, or at least we should know, that Dylan Farrow, the daughter he and Mia jointly adopted, claims she was molested by him. In spite of these transgressions, Allen just received a lifetime achievement award at the Golden Globes. And, sure, I made an obligatorily shitty tweet about it afterward, but in the grand scheme of things, why did I bother? I, like many of my peers, still hang Allen-related ephemera on my walls. What else does he have to do, how many more lives does he have to ruin, before I take down that Manhattan poster above my desk?

"It's kind of hard for me to wrap my mind around the fact that 179 of the world's most captivating actresses have appeared in Woody Allen's films. And there's a reason for this. And the reason is, they wanted to. They wanted to because Woody's women can't be compartmentalized. They struggle, they love, they fall apart, they dominate, they're flawed. They are, in fact, the hallmark of Woody's work. But what's even more remarkable is absolutely nothing links these unforgettable characters from the fact that they came from the mind of Woody Allen."

 

- Diane Keaton, accepting Allen's Cecil B. DeMille lifetime achievement award on his behalf

Image via

Lisa Ann.

A couple of days ago, PornHub released what basically amounts to a chart of the planet's porn-viewing habits. In the US, two of the top three search terms were "teen" and "MILF," which are obviously the only two acceptable age groups for sexual fantasies. The majority of British viewers spend an entire minute longer—about 9:42 compared to 8:56—than the world's average, but they have nothing on American viewers, who keep going all the way up to the 11-minute mark. Almost everyone on the planet wants to jerk off to someone from their own country, but the one thing that united all the world was Lisa Ann. Turns out that "Lisa Ann" was the second-most popular search in Britain and the most popular in the world. She is the most desirable adult actress on the internet.

The star made her name in Who's Nailin' Paylin?, where she played a sexpot version of Alaskan bombshell/former politician Sarah Palin. She also has a signature Fleshlight model, voiced a prostitute in Grand Theft Auto V and was called one of the most powerful people in the adult film industry by no less an authority than Fox News.

I gave Lisa Ann a call to chat about what all that success felt like.

Results of top searches on Pornhub from various countries. You can see how much the British like Lisa Ann.

VICE: Hey Lisa, congrats. So I'm guessing you already knew you were the most popular porn star in the world, right? You didn't need some stats to tell you that.
Lisa Ann: It’s interesting. I’m surprised at my staying power, and I'm impressed by the consistency from me. When you get in an upswing in a career you’re always looking at it like, OK, this could also downswing. But the momentum has been so consistent and so fun. People often walk up to me and ask for photos, but I think, It’s just me!

What is it about your work, do you think, that literally everyone in the world loves so much?
I don’t know! I look at other girls when they’re doing scenes and think, Wow, you’re so much better at this than me. I don’t know why people like me so much. I’m not that wild, compared to what I see other girls do. I look at myself and think, Wow, you’re kinda boring.

So no one's told you why they keep coming back?
I should ask that question on Twitter, but I'd sound super narcissistic. I’m just like everybody else, you know? Every day I wake up and get on the scale and hope there’s a pound less on my body.

Do you have any ideas for niche regional pornos to cater to all these global fans?
I thought about that this morning… what should I do? I should start studying some [British] TV programs and thinking about what I could do to really connect with those fans. I’m also thinking about trying to find some agents outside the US and see if I can do appearances and meet people. I have to go to these places now that I know I’m so popular!

The results don't tell us, but what do you reckon your British fans' favorite film of yours is?
I’m not sure; I don’t know what’s super popular there. Well, actually, clearly it’s MILF. Let’s talk about that. You’ve got a lot of young college boys watching a lot of older women in porn.

Lisa Ann in Who's Nailin' Paylin?

Yeah, it seems like it from the PornHub results.
I’m writing a book right now that’s got a timeline in it about this. Around 2005 was when people started talking about it, 2006 was when it became really relevant on the internet. It created its own niche immediately. The internet dissects the scenes down and suddenly people are watching MILF porn, big boob porn, real boob porn, whatever. Then 2008 was when Palin happened for me. All those things worked together, and it just ended up growing.

And you enjoying being the world's favorite MILF?
I love shooting MILF [films]; it’s fun. We do a nicer scene than the stuff some of the younger girls are still having to do. Your scene is more aggressive when you’re younger, and it just doesn’t make any sense for an 18-year-old boy to be super-aggressive with a 41-year-old girl. I get to be the aggressor. It’s still a comforting thing for me because I’m in control of the scene. I like where it goes and I like the intimidation factor a little bit. I think it’s cute.

What do you think your average British fan looks like?
I picture him to be a sports fan, because everyone knows I’m a huge sports fan. It’s something that I have a lot in common with my fans, and I engage with people a lot about it on Twitter. So yeah, potentially a sports fan and… definitely someone who likes porn.

Sports and porn. Pretty niche. So the majority of people with internet access?
It’s a healthy habit! And one that’s way more accessible now because of the internet. When we were younger we may have looked at our parents' magazines or dug into their stashes, but now it’s so accessible and people are more comfortable talking about it. Kids aren’t afraid to say, "Who’s your favorite porn star?" They talk about it openly. In a sense that’s very healthy, because they’re able to admit to their friends that they masturbate without being made fun of. Twenty years ago we wouldn’t have talked about this, and I’ve been able to watch the whole world change and open up; it’s been very interesting.

Have you seen much British porn?
No, I haven’t. I need to do my homework on PornHub, I think.

It's a unique genre of adult entertainment with very low production values, you should check it out. Do you think, say, a video of a swingers' party in Swansea would go down well in the San Fernando Valley?
I’d love that. I think there’s a market, definitely.

The data from PornHub shows that the most popular search terms in the US were "teen," "creampie," and "MILF." Why do you think Americans are particularly fond of these terms?
You don’t want me to answer that. You might not want to print it.

I definitely do.
The US is filled with pedophiles! Everyone wants to come inside their girl, but they’re afraid to get her pregnant. And everyone wants a MILF because they want to have sex with someone who knows what they’re doing for once. The pedophile one is horrible, I know, but there’s this comedian called Bill Burr, and he does a bit on all these American shows like To Catch a Predator and how many there are and just how many predators there are in the States. We have a lot of these people.

Gotcha. Finally, being the elected authority on porn, what's the future of the porn industry?
You know, we’re in a very interesting place right now, with the condoms being a topic here in LA and with the health crisis in the industry. We’re at a big time of change. I think that when people can accept change and move forward it will all go very smoothly. I understand the pros and the cons of shooting condom porn, and I understand how the production companies and the talent feel on every level. I don’t think it’s ever going to be a bad idea to promote condom use within the world because it’s something that, if we did it and it was still sexy, more young people who are watching us would think, Hey, they’re still having great sex. Clearly they think our sex is better because we’re not using condoms. They don’t realize that our sex may just be better because some of us are actresses. Or "mattress actresses," as I like to call us.

There’s a transition going on, but porn is never going to go anywhere. People love their porn! I can watch a really bad movie that isn’t porn, and I'll tell my friends, "This movie would be great as a porn." You watch a chick flick and there are loads of different scenarios that don’t make any sense, but I make them make sense by saying, "After this scene, she’d leave the coffee shop and have sex with all the guys." Movies are much more fun to watch that way.
 

@_suziemccracken

“Roff, roff, roff, roff” and “aroooroororoororroorooroororoooroooroooro” filled the air for two straight days in Orangeburg, South Carolina, for the 49th Annual Grand American Coon Hunt. Black and Tans, Blue Ticks, Plott Hounds, and a few random terriers populated the fair grounds. It was a triumph of working animals completing tasks with efficiency and flair, and a celebration of the bond between people and their dogs.

An unusual cold snap this year kept the town under 40 degrees and everyone was bundled up: puppies snuggled in their humans' coats, and people could be seen running a warm hand along the side of their trusted companions.

The fairgrounds became a collage of camo, even more dazzling since the rise of digitally printed patterns, as approximately 30,000 people shopped, ate, chatted, and showed off their dogs. There were dog crates painted to look like the General Lee, and GPS trackers and custom belts were for sale. A young mother fit a newly purchased coonskin cap onto her daughter’s head and then chuckled, saying she better take it off so no dogs chomp on her head mistakenly. The line at the donut hut never ceased.

Freshly groomed dogs were judged by the United Kennel Club, while others came for the fun of night hunts, or the daily treeing contests. While the live raccoons used to rile the dogs up were definitely frazzled, all of them had a reprieve for the weekend for the sanctioned events.

It was thrilling to see all the history. Dogs sat in front of hand-written lineage charts that often bore forefathers with the name of Moonshine who were champions in their time. Parents showed their children how to handle their dogs in a crowd. Many daughters were perched upon their fathers' shoulders. Old men swapped stories. Next year will mark the 50th anniversary of this event, and it is easy to imagine 50 more years.

@tammymercure

Washington state cops may have to deal with budget cuts thanks to marijuana legalization. Photo via Flickr user olycopwatchphoto

According to a January 9 Wall Street Journal article, the legalization of marijuana in Washington and Colorado may mean that cops have less money to play with. When weed was illegal, police departments could cash in via civil asset forfeiture—they’d raid grow operations and dealers and seize cash and other kinds of property. Those seizures provided both a financial incentive to prioritize drug crimes and a financial perk for departments. Now, presumably, there will be fewer marijuana raids, thus less money for the cops. Washington state hasn’t earmarked any of the tax revenue soon to be coming in from the legal weed market to go to law enforcement, and Colorado may send some of their new dollars towards the cops, but not necessarily—in both states, millions of dollars normally spent on law enforcement may disappear as a consequence of the end of prohibition.

The specifics of forfeiture laws vary from state to state, but generally speaking police can take large amounts of cash (often anything over $10,000) from defendants based only on the suspicion that a big chunk of currency found during, say, a traffic stop, might be drug profits. It can also be chillingly easy for cops to take your property through asset forfeiture if a family member you live with is dealing drugs. The Department of Justice is generally very generous about sharing funds—as long as there’s tangential federal involvement in a case, the Feds take 20 percent of the assets forfeited and the rest goes to the local cops—so police departments are strongly encouraged to go after drug dealers; not only do they get photo ops with “dope on the table,” they can keep the majority of the profits from the sale of seized homes, vehicles, and property. (Not to mention that cash.) Often the onus is on the owner of the property to prove that it wasn’t involved in a crime, which can be an expensive and time-consuming endeavor.

If this sounds like bullshit, or possibly theft, or at least very bad policy, you’re not alone in thinking that. But it’s the way the law has been since the 1980s, and there hasn’t been enough of a public outcry to reform it—but as it turns out, legalizing marijuana helps slow down the asset forfeiture machine as well. The WSJ piece reports that departments in Washington and Colorado may have to make cuts, particularly to multi-jurisdictional narcotics squads like the one in Snohomish County, Washington, that has raised up to $1 million in forfeiture funds in some years. (In Snohomish, they even keep some of their law enforcement vehicles on a patch of former pot-growing land that was taken in a forfeiture operation.)

There’s a long way to go before the warped incentives of asset forfeiture laws are fixed—even in Colorado and Washington, cops can go after unlicensed marijuana growers or step up their investigations into still-illicit narcotics such as heroin or cocaine. (And no doubt some departments will do just that.) Still, marijuana legalization will have yet another benefit if it forces police departments to slim down and cut a few million dollars of drug-war fat. It could even halt the seemingly unstoppable slide towards full-on police militarization just a bit.

On to this week’s bad cops:

-A whole pile of legal precedents say that the Fourth Amendment doesn’t mean much when it comes to international borders. So a federal judge’s January 2 ruling upholding the legitimacy of US Border Patrol agents’ search and temporary seizure of a French-American student’s laptop without reasonable suspicion in 2010 is not terribly surprising, even if it is disheartening. US District Judge Edward Korman agreed with the government’s arguments and dismissed Pascal Abidor’s lawsuit, which was filed with the National Press Photographer’s Association and backed by the American Civil Liberties Union and the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers. Abidor argued that when agents spent three hours searching his laptop—they also handcuffed and detained him at the border—that constituted a chilling effect on his free speech. (Abidor, whose laptop was returned after 11 days, had been working on a project involving Shiite Muslims.) Judge Korman said that the plaintiffs didn’t have standing and hadn’t demonstrated that they had suffered from the search, and added that Abidor’s laptop was also searched when he traveled into Syria and Lebanon—a comparison that Americans might find a little upsetting.

-On the other hand, on January 9 a Massachusetts district court court ruled that immigrants in detention centers have some legal rights, at least when it comes to challenging their imprisonment. The lawsuit was on behalf of Mark Anthony Reid, who has legally lived in the US since he was 14 and was honorably discharged from the Army Reserves, but spent more than a year in immigration lock-up limbo. Basically, now the government can’t hold folks for more than six months without a hearing to determine whether they should be there. That’s what we call a minimum-standards-of-decency victory!

-Remember Elizabeth Daly, the University of Virginia student who was accosted by agents from the state’s Alcohol Beverage Control after she purchased bottled water? Daly, 20, said that six plainclothes agents confronted her and two friends in a parking lot late one evening in April, 2013. One agent allegedly drew a gun, and another tried to break Daly’s car window as she pulled away. While attempting to flee what she thought was some bizarre mugging, Daly grazed two agents with her car, which lead to her being arrested and jailed for 36 hours. The felony assault charges against her were dropped, but Daly has decided to file a claim against the state for unspecified damages based on the incident. The ABC has reportedly instituted some changes in tactics in response to Daly’s alarming treatment.

-Chicago cops got some bad press this week. First, a pair of former CPD officers who are on trial for planning to kill a strip club manager are now accused by the prosecution of planning to torture a wealthy kidnapping target. Even more alarming, more details emerged in the case of Angel Perez, an aspiring filmmaker who claims he was sexually assaulted by current Chicago cops. He hadn’t told his full story publicly before he talked to Rania Khalek for VICE, but he told her that a pair of cops raped him with a gun and forced him to become an drug informant as a result of a documentary he was making about the department.

-A Los Angeles woman who was thrown, or jumped, from an LAPD vehicle on March 17 says an officer in the car was trying to sexually assault her. Kim Nguyen, 27, who was in a medically-induced coma for six days afterward the incident and suffered bruises and shattered teeth, is suing the department for negligence. According to Nguyen, an LAPD officer confronted her and two friends at 2 AM after they’d been drinking. She was handcuffed and taken into custody for public intoxication, but her (male) friends were not. Then, she claims, an officer touched her chest and inner thigh. She tried to move away, and then the door was opened and she fell out and onto the pavement. Surveillance footage shows Nguyen on the ground, with her dress half off. The LAPD so far has no comment.

-The Texas Parks and Wildlife Department now has a SWAT team, meaning game wardens may now look like this.

-The Good Cop of the Week award goes to Andy Blimline of the Lilburn, Georgia, police department. On January 7, a man who had wrecked his car but was due in court on a traffic citation walked 29 miles in six-degree weather. The man, identified only as James, said he was worried there would be a warrant sent out for him if he didn’t show, so he got up at 1 AM and walked for eight hours to reach the courthouse, only to find that his court-appointed attorney hadn’t bothered to show up. When James left the court to start the 29-mile walk back, Blimline and some of his fellow cops pooled enough money to give the man a cab ride home instead. It’s a bummer that the man was so fearful of an arrest warrant he risked his life in such epic cold, but good on Officer Blimine and the others for making sure James got home without freezing any vital body parts off.

@lucystag

Last October, African asylum seekers living in south Tel Aviv held a demonstration demanding "security." By that, they meant refugee status and the rights that accompany it: for example, the basic police protection most of us take for granted, including the right not to be attacked by a racist mob, like the kind occasionally seen in South Tel Aviv's streets.

Three months later, Tel Aviv's African asylum seekers are back out in protest against their treatment by the Israeli government. Last week I went to a demonstration in Jerusalem and found thousands of people gathered in front of the Knesset, Israel's parliament building, chanting "We are refugees! We need protection!" Along with the already huge number of people who'd arrived over the previous few days, supporters were still streaming in by the busload, with estimates putting the total number of demonstrators at more than 20,000.

"Today we're here to find our rights," said Sumia Nadiy, an asylum seeker from Sudan. "We came to speak with the government members in the Knesset, to see and talk to them to find a solution about the situation for refugees or asylum seekers here."

The protests have been galvanized by the Israeli government's passing of an amendment to the Prevention of Infiltration Law, which—among other measures—allows asylum seekers to be detained indefinitely in an "open prison." Hey, it's not all bad: migrants taken to the "Holot" detention center in southern Israel are free to walk out whenever they feel like it; they're even allowed to get jobs if they want. Only, the jail is located in the middle of the Negev desert and detainees have to check in three times a day, which presumably makes it kind of tricky to hold down any kind of nine-to-five in any of the neighboring towns.

The legislation also increased the compensation payment for those who choose to deport themselves from just shy of $1,600 to over $3,275. It's not clear where asylum seekers fleeing war and persecution are supposed to go, even with a cool three grand in their pocket, but it's clear that Israel really doesn't want them to stay.

In December, just after the legislation had been passed, around 200 of the refugees marched out of the Holot detention camp and made the 100-mile walk to Jerusalem, sleeping outside in the cold. When they got to the capital, they held a protest, which resulted in the violent arrest of many of them, and they were sent back to the detention center or, in some cases, to a different prison from which they couldn't escape.

However, that technique wasn't hugely effective as far as preventative measures go, as, over the past weekend, 30,000 people marched in Tel Aviv to demand an end to the system of indefinite detention and a recognition of their status as refugees. The migrants, who tend to work in irregular jobs, like dish-washing or house keeping, also started a strike. The strike ends today, but more protests are expected on Wednesday.

December's new legislation is not the first hostile measure Israel has taken against asylum seekers. Less than 1 percent of those applying for refugee status in Israel receive it, making the Promised Land—a haven for Jews from all around the world—one of the least refugee-friendly countries in the world.

The irony of this situation isn't hard to miss. Yael Netzer, a Jewish Israeli activist, was at the demonstration last week holding a sign that read: "You shall love the stranger, for you were strangers in Egypt," which I accurately guessed was a quote from the Torah. "I chose to quote from the Torah because what I really mean is we were refugees in Europe, and I think it should not be a question," she said. "We should accept the refugees here in Israel, inspect their application, and give them the rights that they deserve."

All the asylum seekers I spoke with repeated the same complaint: the Israeli government refuses to distinguish between asylum seekers and work migrants. Bsow Balula, a refugee from Sudan, explained, "They call me a migrant worker. And I'm not a migrant worker. I came here because I have a different problem," he said. "Now they decide to send many of the refugees back to their country. And they face a dangerous situation when they go back there. For example, some of the Sudanese, they get killed and they get arrested."

Considering South Sudan has now spent almost a month descending into civil war, you would have thought that asylum claims from South Sudanese refugees would be viewed as legit, but Israel doesn't want to hear it.  

Many of the demonstrators are calling on Israel to either respect the UN's Convention and Protocol Relating to the Status of Refugees, of which Israel is a signatory, or remove its name from the document. Moussa Abdoulave, an asylum seeker from the Central African Republic and a spokesman for the Tel Aviv-based African Refugee Development Center, said Israel misleads people into thinking it will be a safe country for refugees.

"We have no other choice than to come into the country that we believe. We trust this is a democratic country that [has signed] this international law, so we knew that we believed [in] it," he said. "That's why we call on Israel today. If you know that you are not going to check every asylum demand according to the international standard, then just withdraw your signature… We will find a way to go to another place."

The demonstrations are showing no sign of slowing down and Balula said they plan to continue the protests until the Israeli government shows some basic human decency. "We need the government to cancel the [indefinite detention] law," he said. "We need the government to release all of the refugees whom they arrest from the street, and also we need the government to check our asylum-seekers request and to check it through the UN. Not through the Israeli government. Because we don't trust them."

Andrew Weaver, Eriel Deranger, Allan Adam, and Neil Young. Photo courtesy of Michael Toledano.

“Look at mother nature on the run in the 21^st century,” Neil Young sang to a capacity audience at Massey Hall. He modified the lyrics to one of his most famous songs for the occasion, the first stop of a benefit tour raising money for the Athabasca Chipewyan First Nation’s legal battle against tar sands expansion. He performed in front of a massive “Honour the Treaties” banner while aerial footage of the tar sands played in the venue’s lobbies. Outside the venue, the street was closed off, and an Idle No More round dance was held to thank Young for his act of solidarity.

At a press event earlier in the day, Young told reporters that an oil sands extraction site was “one of the ugliest things I’ve ever seen.” He sat alongside ACFN’s Chief Adam and spokesperson Eriel Deranger, using his celebrity to boost their message. The fact that his celebrity was needed for attention to be paid to this issue, he told the press, was “a sorry state of affairs.”

“We have seen unabated development and approval after approval being granted in the Athabasca oil sands region,” Eriel Deranger said. Her nation has launched legal challenges against several new tar sands extraction sites, including Shell’s recently approved Jackpine mine—a project that would double the size of Shell’s Alberta operation. These challenges are based on the violation of Treaty 8, a constitutionally protected agreement which indicates that ACFN must be consulted with and accommodated if their rights to hunt, fish, trap, or access their cultural grounds will be affected by projects.

“As people of the land it becomes incredibly important to ensure that our ecosystems and our waterways are protected, not just now, but for future generations. And that’s not just something that our people believe in. It’s something that is entrenched in the Canadian constitution under section 35,” Deranger said.

These constitutional rights were Young’s focus as well. When performing, he updated the lyrics of his 1979 song “Pocahontas,” relating North America’s history of colonization to Canada’s present day policies. “Maybe Stephen Harper can be there by the fire/ We’ll sit and talk about Ottawa and the good things there for hire/ And the broken treaties/ Stephen Harper, Pocahontas and me,” he sang, garnering a standing ovation from the crowd.

During the press conference, Young told media that “Canada–the name 'Canada'–is based on a First Nations’ word, the name 'Ottawa' is based on a First Nations’ word, 'Ontario' is based on a First Nations’ word. 'Manitoba,' 'Saskatchewan,' 'Quebec.' These are all First Nations’ words. That is where Canada came from. We are here. We made a deal with these people. We are breaking our promise, we are killing these people. The blood of these people will be on modern Canada’s hands. And it will be as a result of not just a slow thing but of a fast and horrific thing if this continues.”

Chief Adam mirrored this message, stating that, “As a Canadian citizen you live and breathe the treaty everyday living here in Canada.” He later told me, “I think it’s a shame on behalf of Canada to not uphold their laws that they’ve produced. The Canadian government at this point in time is looking more like a fascist government than anything else.” When I asked what Young’s support meant to him, he said, “It gives us an opportunity to have our challenges heard in the legal system. If the Canadian government and the provincial government recognize the rights that we have, we wouldn’t have to go through this procedure to get our voices heard... as taxpayers that’s where all your money is going, to fight First Nations for the protected rights that they have enshrined in the constitution. That’s what I don’t understand, why are the people allowing this government to do it?”

The panel was introduced by Vanessa Gray, a young activist from Sarnia who appeared in our documentary on the Chemical Valley. Her introduction at the Toronto event provided a local context for a discussion of the oil industry. “I am here because my nation of Aamjiwnaang faces extreme environmental racism where our health is affected. Our land is dying from industry moving in to our territory. The tar sands expansion also affects my first nation through the Enbridge Line 9 pipeline that runs along my community,” she said. “I’m here as a youth because I am worried about my kids and my grandkids to come, and what kind of future they will have if the Harper government and the tar sands projects, don’t stop.”
 

Photo courtesy of Michael Toledano.

But the ACFN panelists stressed that they were not altogether opposed to the extraction of oil from Alberta’s tar sands. It is the recklessness with which extraction has gone forward that they wished to address.

Chief Adam explained that, “I ran on a platform that we were going to cash in on the economic development in the region. And that was my mandate.” But after becoming aware of the prevalence of rare cancers in his community, and the toxicity of local water and food, his political trajectory changed. Now, the Chief said, “Our mandate is to protect our nation, to protect the next generations that are coming up.”

“The economic development that has occurred has occurred at a rapid rate. We have a runaway train without a conductor that’s controlling it,” the Chief explained. An example of this recklessness, he argued, can be seen in the federal government’s recently passed laws. Bills C-45 and C-38, he said “gutted the whole environmental act. The regulatory system is no longer there. It protected your rights as a Canadian citizen, it protected the First Nations’ rights as treaty rights holders. So it’s a free for all when it comes to industry.” He provided the example of a Sherritt coalmine accident on the Athabasca, where “On October 31^st the tailings ponds that were holding toxic material breached. 670 million litres of toxic material made its way into the Athabasca River. Until today nobody is being held responsible for it.”

To Eriel Deranger, a reckless attitude also defines the government-backed myth that the tar sands can be restored to their original state once the oil is removed. “These are areas that are pristine, untouched waterways, muskegs and marshlands, and ecological features that are unique to this region, and that cannot be reclaimed by any methods that currently exist out there. There are no proven methods for reclamation,” she said.

This ideological short-sightedness, Young attested, results from the corporate model of resource extraction. “This oil is all going to China. It’s not for Canada. It’s not for the United States. It’s not ours—it belongs to the oil companies, and Canada’s government is behind making this happen. It’s truly a disaster to anyone with an environmental conscience, anyone who is thinking about their grandchildren, anyone who can see outside of a three-month window of corporate profit has got to be appalled with what is going on,” he said.

But with Neil Young’s voice and his power to fundraise, ACFN’s legal fight just got an unprecedented boost. Its goals are crystal clear. “Until government and industry can prove to our nation that these areas can be developed in a way that is responsible, and that can ensure that there is proven reclamation standards, and that our rights will not be negated or molested by this development, we will continue to hold the line to stop development in those regions,” Derangers said, summarizing. “The legal defence fund which this concert is for is to help ACFN continue to bring forward those challenges of projects in this region.”
 

Bandz a make 'em silent. Photo via

American movies have conventionalised the ban on discussing money, religion, or politics when meeting people for the first time. In Quebec however, religion and politics tend to be our favourite topics. We rave about both, with strangers and friends alike, at the dinner table, between the sheets, or in the streets. Sometimes it’s almost as if we create opportunities to debate on either. Strangely, despite staring most controversial topics straight in their controversial faces, money always remains a skeleton in the closet; never to be brought out, or else… Or else what? That’s exactly what Bernard Derome, Former Radio Canada news anchor and recipient of the National Order of Quebec sought to find out with his new, three-part documentary Les Grands Moyens (“Great Means” play on words that signifies both wealth and power). The second part airs tonight on Tele Quebec.

In an attempt to understand why money and monetary success is one of the few things Québécois are willing to talk about in the open, he interviewed many of the province’s notoriously wealthy figures to explore how they view money—since they have buttloads of it. It features, artists, entrepreneurs, businessmen, who discuss the subject that most others keep private. I reached Mr Derome in an attempt to pick his brain on why the rest of the western world’s seemingly number one topic makes us Québécois so damn uncomfortable and what impacts this has on Quebec society.

VICE: Mr. Derome, are you a man of les grand moyens?
Bernard Derome: No, at least not compared to the people I interviewed for the documentary. They’re all extremely wealthy, and while I’ve always been treated well in my line of work there’s a difference between being well-off or rich, and actually having a fortune.

What inspired you to make this documentary?
It seems as though we are always talking about poverty in the world, and although I contribute to the cause here in Montreal through my association with La Maison du Père, a homeless shelter in the city, I became interested by the flipside. There is this incredible wealth as well, and it was highlighted by the context in which the project started, three years ago. Back then, there was the Occupy movement going on worldwide and of course the recession, which we are barely recovering from now. In Quebec particularly, we went through the Printemps Érable [student protests] that eventually touched on things beyond tuition fees. The Charbonneau Commission also started and exposed this gang of thieves who embezzled us all. That was ugly. With all of it being brought to light I thought: “Why not give a chance to entrepreneurs, these creators of wealth, to express their opinion on the topic of money?”

Universally, everyone has a personal relationship with money, but it really is a taboo subject in Quebec. I was hoping to have these people talk about their own rapport with money and discuss topics such as globalization and economic inequality. I’m not their PR guy, but I wasn’t trying to tell them they were wrong either—or rehabilitate them in any way. I just wanted to ask questions and listen to their answers. It’s up to the audience to judge.

Many of the people you interviewed mention how becoming rich isn’t perceived well in the Québécois society. In your opinion, where does this ideology come from?
Oh, it definitely has a lot to do with our Judeo-Christian roots. The priests used to tell us, about money and being rich, that it wasn’t good, it wasn’t right. That stuck. To this day, the number of young Québécois entrepreneurs is well under the Canadian average. Also, during most of the country’s development, French Canadians worked as cheap labour for Anglophones, who were generally richer and more educated. A combination of those things led us to think, collectively, that we were nés pour un petit pain [destined to get the short end of the stick]. Since then, things have changed. The Québécois have taken control of their province and we’re at the third generation of Quebec. Inc. We got to witness many local economic successes. It shows that we’re getting over the trauma caused in the past by the overbearing Anglophone presence.

In the first part of the documentary, Jean Coutu mentions that French Canadians aren’t used to having money. Do you agree with him?
Of course we weren’t used to it, not long ago fortunes like his were rare! We were serving the ruling class. Things started to change when we began establishing the school system. Now we see complete reversals, like a majority of female university students for example. In that sense, education changed things completely and people now benefit from it.


Photo courtesy of TÉLÉ-QUÉBEC.

So it isn’t necessarily part of our identity, is it?
Oh no, things are changing. Look at home grown success stories like Bombardier, CGI, or Canam, to name a few. However, the taboo surrounding money remains present. It’s seen as suspicious to collect riches and in some instances, that’s justified to a certain extent. On the other hand, not everyone’s running ponzi schemes like Bernie Madoff. The people featured in the documentary are entrepreneurs, people who have created something that generates wealth. Globally, we are in an era of never before seen wealth-creation, but there’s also unprecedented inequality. The capitalist system creates equal opportunity but not equal revenue. The thing that truly sets Quebec apart is the range of social programs offered, such as seven-dollar-day-care and inexpensive post-secondary education, although I won’t get into that one. These reduce the gap between the most and least fortunate.

Could this collective desire to reach equality be discouraging potential entrepreneurs?
I think it’s important to have these social measures, but we’re eventually going to have to sort through them. As we can see, with the current economic problems at the provincial level, it’s unsustainable. While keeping the public services we’ve agreed are necessary, there’s a need to tidy it up because Quebec is nowhere near eliminating the deficit, as we were told would happen. The province’s debt represents 50% of the GDP and we need to instil measures to remediate to this, it’s a question of solidarity.

Entrepreneurial indicators show that there’s much less dynamism in Quebec than elsewhere in Canada…
It has a lot to do with fear. That’s an issue we have here in Quebec, people are scared of failure, particularly bankruptcy. Whereas in the States and the rest of Canada to some extent it’s perceived as a learning experience, over here it’s just plain bad. So if that scares you and you’re satisfied with the money you’re making… But despite that society needs these generators of wealth, without them we won’t grow. We have to understand that the money being made can be incredibly useful. That’s something Québécois still need to work on.

So what do the successful entrepreneurs you interviewed have that counterbalances this?
Well to begin with, it isn’t easy to start your business. Entrepreneurs need help, money, support. That’s up to the successful ones of past generations to give back by mentoring. Regardless, you need nerves of steel or you won’t succeed. And you need to work, work hard and keep a level head. You have to be determined, take your work seriously. Study hard and once you succeed it’s important to give back, share the wealth.

What sets economically successful Québécois from their Canadian counterparts, if anything?
To me, reaching that level requires a similar same set of values. What differs is that Québécois success came later, during and after the Quiet Revolution, mainly. That’s when we really took charge. However, we do have the older Anglo families like the Molsons, who’ve really contributed to developing Montreal. They’re at their seventh generation here in the city and it’s interesting to hear Andrew say in his interview that giving back is their duty as such a prominent family.

Recently, there has been news of a record number of people leaving Quebec. Do you think it has a lot to do with the socialist mentality; the 50% tax rates on the wealthiest?
If that were the case, families like the Desmarais or Christiane Germain would have most likely left long ago. I think it has more to do with finding work out West for those who can’t find it here. The exodus you’re mentioning isn’t specific to the upper class, like it is in France. There, the 75 percent tax rate François Hollande imposes on earnings of over 1 million have driven many to relocate, namely to London. Here we’ve reached a point of consensus where it seems like the rates won’t exceed 50 percent and the wealthiest families are staying, giving back. Once again, it’s a question of solidarity.

@martcte

There are over 1,000 right-wing nationalist groups, or Uyoku dantai, in Japan today, with over 100,000 total members. Uyoku dentai are often seen driving around in their black propaganda vans, staging protests outside Chinese, Korean, and Russian embassies and demanding ownership of places like the Senkaku and Kuril Islands. We caught up with Masaya Kudo, a right-wing activist and leader of his own group, Nihon-no-Kai, as he explained his philosophies and concerns regarding the right-wing movement today and their ties to the Yakuza.

Photo by Scot Sothern

Brad Pitt and Bass Pro Shops are two of Springfield, Missouri’s claims to fame. Others include John Ashcroft, the Assemblies of God Church HQ, and the time in 1865 when Wild Bill Hickok shot and killed a guy in the town square. In 1967 my friend Danny was arrested and quoted on the front page of the local newspaper as saying: “There’s nothing else to do after midnight in Springfield except burn barns.”

On a short visit to the old homestead, on a breezy October afternoon, I borrow my mother’s car and drive to Bass Pro Shops, a local success story about a country boy tying fishing flies to sell in his father’s liquor store and turning it into a national chain of massive sporting goods emporiums. The flagship store, this one, takes up a couple of blocks of Ozarkian real estate. I remember this plot of land in 1965 when the faith healer Reverend Leroy Jenkins came to town and set up a canvas tent and a couple hundred folding chairs. He started off by telling the congregation they all had cancer but if they threw their packs of cigarettes up on the stage, and they loved Jesus, the cancer would go away. He scored a month’s worth of butts.

Later, with great dramatic flair, he yelled DO YOU BELIEVE and smacked an old gal in the forehead with the heel of his palm. She staggered backward a few steps, then forward to where she started, and thank God in heaven she was healed of whatever her affliction had been. It was a fucking miracle. Leroy had a Brylcreem doo with a curly forelock and he was looking sharp in a sparkly blue sharkskin suit. He zapped good God almighty into a guy with a bad leg and the guy danced a holy fit in the isle. He passed a collection plate with a deep bottom and reminded us that Lord Jesus said: “It is more blessed to give than to receive.” When the plate came my way it was heavy with coins and I tried to nab a 50-cent piece but got spotted by one of Leroy’s boys who suggested I leave now before he shows me what for. Looking back inside at the hillbillies through the tent-flap entrance I wondered if this was to be my life.

Now as I walk into the Bass Pro Shops it seems this plot of sacred land has evolved into a great cathedral, but looking around it seems the people are pretty much the same as they were 50 years ago.

Photo by Scot Sothern

A group of marines are greeting people just inside the door. They stand straight in dress uniforms and I’ve got a little Lumix camera with a zoom and I’m looking for pictures. I feel like a spy in an enemy camp. The place is 500,000 square feet and without a single item I would ever want. Huge dioramas and stuffed dead animals are frozen in action. Restaurants and aquariums, boats and all terrain vehicles, guns and hunting knives and bows and arrows and hatchets and axes and nunchucks and machetes and power saws. In the clothing section I can’t decide between a Duck Dynasty and aSecond Amendment t-shirt.

Forty-nine years after seeing the Reverend Leroy Jenkins I google him. He’s got a Facebook page and he sells little bottles of miracle water online. In 1960 Leroy’s right arm was severed through the bone by a broken shard of glass. He was a goner for sure and doctors were ready to amputate when God intervened. God mended and brought life back to Leroy’s arm with the wink of an eye and from that very moment Leroy’s been doing God’s work. He did do some jail time for arson a while back and he had some trouble that involved an older widow woman who won the state lottery and accepted his proposal of marriage two weeks after her husband died. Man of Faith, the movie, AKA The Calling, the story of Leroy’s life starring Robert Wagner and Faye Dunaway, was released in 2002. I wonder if Bass Pro Shops sells the DVD.

Photo by Scot Sothern

Walking around the shop I spy a staircase, the bannisters made of rifles, going up to double doors leading into the NRA National Sporting Arms Museum. I figure this is an opportunity to make the kind of pop liberal pictures that make the photographer look like the smartest person in the room. Fat kids and butt-cracks, mullet-headed teens with confederate flag tattoos, men in overalls with unkempt beards and cheeks full of chaws, overripe adolescent girls with soiled babies of their own, women in clown makeup, jiggles of flab and pierced navels and tight cropped tank tops.

Photo by Scot Sothern

Inside, more dioramas and a shitload of guns. The natives, here to gather culture, talk in whispers like it’s hallowed ground. They are friendly, which I find irritating. Nobody gives me a hard time about taking pictures. Everyone is polite and soft spoken. A couple of guys say “hey” and a woman with a toddler asleep in her arms smiles at me. I make a few exposures and decide this part of the story is over except to say no good has ever come from a gun.

When I was 14, after getting ejected from the Leroy Jenkins Crusade, I wanted a smoke. Across a weedy field from the tent was a liquor store where cigarettes were 25 cents a pack, which was more than I had. I wondered where the tent-show staff had stashed the cigarette donations. It wouldn’t hurt to walk around back of the tent while the show was still going on and snoop around. I walked around the parked cars, trucks, and tractors, through the dirt and weeds, chiggers, and mosquitoes. The night would have been quiet except for the generators huffing away, powering the crisscrossing strings of buzzy bulbs inside the big top.

I was about three yards away from a guy sitting on the hood of a Chevy Bel Air before I noticed. I jumped and screamed a little and he laughed out loud. He was a few years older than I. He tapped a coffin nail from a square pack, lit it with a Zippo, and blew the smoke from his nose. He wore a fedora and a suit with a black tie and tight pants. He didn’t look like any kid I ever knew—he was way too slick. “What are you doing here, queer bait? This is private property,” he told me.

“I’m not doing fuckin’ anything,” I told him, and scratched my eyebrow with my middle finger.

He laughed again, called me “tough kid” and asked if I was a JD. I told him maybe I was and could he spare a fag. He gave me an unfiltered Kool and I lit the fuse with a match. I took a drag and the menthol kicked me in the chest and Kools became my brand for the next 35 years. I asked him if he really believed that Leroy Jenkins could heal people and he said sure, why not? He asked me if I’d ever had my peter sucked and I told him yeah, no, I mean sorta, maybe a couple of times, but not yet by a girl. He tossed me the half-empty pack of Kools and told me the show was about over and I shouldn’t be here. I said thanks and I’ll see you around and he told me not likely.

Photo by Scot Sothern

The January issue of VICE features "Strange Amusements," a ten-page photography portfolio from Harry Griffin from the International Association of Amusement Parks and Attractions Convention.  When Harry came by our office in Williamsburg, we sat down to chat about what kind of pictures he was looking for, satire in images, and whether he considers himself a street photographer. After you read the interview, check out the bonus pictures he sent us.

VICE: You have an ongoing series on conventions, right?
Harry Griffin: I have a series called Convention, where I photograph at conventions, trade shows, and conferences. I get a press pass, and I convince people that I’m a press photographer. 

You are a press photographer in this context. Your portfolio in the current issue of VICE is ten pictures from a convention in Orlando.
Yes, it was a convention for anything related to the attractions industry. So, Dippin Dots, arcades, mini golf, 3D technology, everything you can imagine. 

And you thought this would be a good place to photograph because it’s people who are looking for unusual experiences?
Previously the conventions I have photographed have been on a smaller scale, industries like dentistry and home improvements. This was huge. It was basically a temporary theme park inside a convention center. I shot almost 4,000 pictures there, over four days.

What was your experience entering the convention center on the first day?
I met with the organizers of the conference, and they were really strict. They assigned someone to follow me around while I took pictures because of privacy concerns. But I escaped my handler at the last minute so I could take whatever pictures I wanted.

Most vendors I talked to were excited to have their pictures taken, but some were worried about me sneaking unreleased ideas to the Chinese. They were worried that I was a Chinese spy.

I met a German guy whose company just manufactures roller coaster seats. That’s all they do.

What kind of pictures were you looking for?
I was mostly looking for people interacting with attractions. But then I became very interested in the worlds these people create, all made out of these different kinds of neon-colored plastics and latex. It was kind of fetishistic.

Are you making fun of these people?
I create a sort of satire, though editing, after the fact. But I am genuinely interested in what people were offering and what they’re talking about. I tried out a zip line, it was friggin’ awesome.

What you're doing is almost street photography.
I’m interested in street photography. I never found myself doing it, but inside the confines of a convention center I can act out the role of a street photographer. I’m not always photographing things as they are; I’m definitely manipulating the situations to get what I want out of them. I’m also interested in the interchangeability of these events. When all of the different conventions are combined into one series, like on my website, it creates a very weird world. It’s the opposite of conventional. 

@matte_mag

I know what you’re thinking, That’s a black guy riding a horse, not John Wayne. You’re right, because Christina Choe’s short film, I Am John Wayne, depicts a metaphorical vision of the Wild West, which happens to be Brooklyn. The film opens with a memorial to the protagonist Taco’s best friend who was shot in a street dispute. The intro mimics “typical Wayne,” but after that, the short's events progress differently. There are pictures of Taco and his friend riding on horses, having fun, and enjoying the good life. That good life, however, seems to only exist in the pictures.

Now that Taco's friend, the Duke, Taco is taking over... Actually, he’s struggling to find his life's purpose in hard times and all the people around him can sense it, which is why everyone is trying to give Taco advice: His mother orders him to wear a suit to the funeral, some neighborhood kids declare how he should get revenge, the stable owner tells him when he’s allowed to ride the Duke’s horse. They all want him to grieve in ways that make sense to them, to mourn as expected. All of them tell, but none of them listen.

Taco embodies John Wayne’s most famous beliefs, “A man ought’a do what he thinks is best,“ and “Talk low, talk slow, and don't say too much.” Most importantly he rejects violence for the sake of revenge. He celebrates his friend and pays his respects in a dignified way because as the Duke says,  “Life's hard. It's even harder when you're stupid.” (I could do these quotes all day.)

The film works because it doesn’t romanticize what seems fantastical on paper—a black kid riding a horse through Brooklyn. Instead, Choe juxtaposes this sad, trotting cowboy figure against the grimy backdrop of poverty, the projects, and the once-thriving Coney Island. Yes, riding the horse is catharsis and getting to the ocean is freedom, but if you look away from life too long you’re going to lose the things that matter. 

After you watch the film, read my interview with the director Christina Choe below. Enjoy.

VICE: John Wayne was always a man who represented the stoic ideal of masculinity. What did you intend to say with the film's connection to the actor?
Christina Choe: Thematically, I Am John Wayne is a meditation on violence, manhood in America, and race in the inner city. In many ways, Taco is the underbelly and the flip side of what John Wayne symbolized—the dominant authoritative white male, and the ideals of the American dream. At the same time, Taco shares some qualities with John Wayne—the quiet stoic silence he embodies in his face and soul and his character’s lonely courage to resist violence simply for the sake of revenge.

How did you approach blending Taco's cowboy characteristics with those traits of an underprivileged black youth from Brooklyn?
As a young black cowboy, Taco is a lone figure in the wild Wild West of Brooklyn trying to figure out how to be a man. In a world where guns and violence are all too common, Taco resists becoming the stereotypical macho, gangster archetype of a young African-American man in the hood, but at the same time finds it hard to deal with his emotions when faced with the shooting of his best friend. The community around him also participates in a collective act of denial and burying his pain becomes a survival tactic for Taco, who lives in a society where random violence occurs on a daily basis.

Taco, in essence, is appropriating the icon of John Wayne as an all American hero and subverting it. Both symbolically and literally, it is an identity that is impossible to achieve. Black cowboys were invisible and under-represented in Westerns, despite the fact that one fourth of the working cowboys in the 19th century were black. The title proclaims “I am John Wayne” as a shout or proclamation of “I am Somebody”!

Do horse farms exist like that in Brooklyn? I want to go. Now.
Yes. I first became aware of these communities, when I stumbled across the Black Cowboy Federation of Brooklyn ten years ago. That day I followed them, as they rode their horses through the streets from their horse stables near East New York all the way to the Brooklyn Bridge. People would come out of the houses in awe at the sight of them. The cowboys believed that it was their constitutional right to ride in the street and that the mission of their organization was to preserve the history of black cowboys and pass it down to the youth.

They were a really positive organization that worked to get kids off the streets with horses. Years later when I was having difficulty getting permission to film there, I found out there were also urban horse stables in Philly. All of the horse riding scenes in I Am John Wayne, except for the Coney Island stuff, was actually filmed in West Philly and North Philly. For years black cowboys bought horses at livestock auctions and cared for them at stables in North and West Philadelphia built on small plots of inner-city land or in former factory and warehouse spaces. Some people estimate that just 20, 30 years ago, there were 400 or 500 cowboys in the city. Sadly that number is becoming extinct as many have been shut down due to redevelopment or mismanagement.

The film is as much about brotherhood and friendship as it is about individualism. But beyond the human and animal relationships in the film, can you talk about how you used New York and Coney Island as characters to express those feelings? Why did you choose New York?
Because Taco is such an outsider, I felt that he would go somewhere like the ocean to escape from his neighborhood. The backstory is that his best friend Jerry and he would ride out there and hang out when he was alive. The reason the story is set in Brooklyn, because it was the place that made sense geographically, that Taco could conceivably ride his horse from a horse stable around East New York to Coney Island.

What are you working on now?
I hope to shoot my first feature next spring called Nancy. It’s about a serial imposter, Nancy, who is desperate for love and connection. She creates a fake blog and catfishes a lover, until her hoaxes cause epic and tragic consequences. Nancy was recently selected for Emerging Storytellers at the 2013 IFP Week Project Forum and one of 12 projects for the 2013/14 Venice Biennale College Cinema Program.

Jeffrey Bowers is a tall mustached guy from Ohio who's seen too many weird movies. He currently lives in Brooklyn, working as an art and film curator. He is a programmer at the Hamptons International Film Festival and screens for the Tribeca Film Festival. He also self-publishes a super fancy mixed-media art serial called PRISM index.

@PRISMindex

Most people were first exposed to Michael C. Ruppert through the 2009 documentary, Collapse, directed by Chris Smith. Collapse was one of the scariest documentaries about our world and the fragile the state of our planet. It was also one of VICE's favorite films from the past ten years.

Michael was forced to leave the LAPD after claiming that the CIA was complicit in selling drugs across America, and he quickly became one of the most original and strident voices to talk about climate change, government corruption, and peak oil through his website, “From the Wilderness.”

Following the release of Collapse, Michael’s personal life underwent something of a collapse itself and he paid off all his debts, left behind all his friends, and moved with his dog Rags to Colorado, planning to commit suicide.

VICE caught up with Michael in the middle of the epic beauty of the Rocky Mountains at the end of last year. We found a man undergoing a spiritual rebirth—still passionate about the world and with a whole new set of apocalyptic issues to talk about.

Apocalypse, Man is an intimate portrait of a man convinced of the imminent collapse of the world, but with answers to how the human spirit can survive the impending apocalypse.

Apocalypse, Man is a feature-length documentary to be released over the next few weeks. 

Soundtrack by Sunn O))), Flaming Lips, Interpol, Michael C. Ruppert, and more.

Directed by Andy Capper.

A member of the Prince Philip cargo cult on the island of Tanna. Photo via

Remember Tanna, the South Pacific island home to a cargo cult whose members believe that Prince Philip is a living god? I'm sure you do, because it's not an easy thing to forget. But it's most likely been filed away somewhere with all the other internet oddities you come across every day, next to r/DragonsFuckingCars and those photos from Russian dating websites—which kind of makes sense, considering it's a tiny piece of land somewhere near Fiji full of people praying to the Queen's husband in the hope he'll return to them in spirit form.

But to Matt Baylis, a writer from Southport, England, it made a slightly deeper impression. Matt grew up with a poster of the Duke of Edinburgh on his wall; he admired the Prince's pragmatic approach to life and presumably choosing to ignore all of that mildly racist stuff he's said about Chinese and Aborigine people. So after learning that there were others who shared a vaguely similar attitude towards Phil the Greek, it was a simple next step to fly to Tanna and experience the cult for himself.

I gave Matt a call to chat about his time with the Tanna cargo cult, nights spent on a psychoactive plant called kava, and how the tribe convinced themselves that he was a sacred figure with a spiritual connection to Prince Philip.

Matt Baylis.

VICE: How did you end up on Tanna?
Matt Baylis: It started with a boyhood obsession. I was a big fan of Prince Philip when I was about ten or 11. I was very fond of him and always thought he got a bit of a raw deal. Later in my life, I ended up studying anthropology at university, and cargo cults crop up on every undergraduate anthropology course. One of our lecturers told us that on the island of Tanna, there were cults forming and regrouping all the time, and said, "Yeah, and there’s even a Prince Philip cult there." Everyone laughed, but because of my prior interest I was fascinated and wanted to know more. Later in life, I was still interested in the cult, so I thought, I should go. I had enough money, so I went and did it.

How did they take to you when you arrived?
They were very courteous and very polite, and I was welcomed and told that I could stay as long as I liked. The problem was that when you go to Tanna as a foreigner and you’re in those types of areas, the people will treat you in a way that is slightly mystical. When you walk into a village, a man will say, "Ah, hello—you’re here to see me, aren’t you?" You’ll say, "Not really," and he’ll say, "Yes you are. I had a dream about you the other week."

So there's an idea that all Westerners are mystical and somehow connected to Prince Philip?
That’s right. They see them as part of an overarching scheme in which Tanna is drawing in foreigners all the time and creating what they call "roads," which are symbolic alliances with an outside power, force, or ally. They believe that once they have created enough roads, the world will be joined up.

Women from the Prince Philip cargo cult.

It sounds like a very complicated belief system. Did it take you a long time to get to grips with it?
Yeah, it very gradually began to slot into place. One of the things that made it difficult is the fact that, in Melanesia [the part of Oceania where Tanna is located], knowledge is treated as a commodity. They are very strict about it and people have even been poisoned and killed for stealing myths from other people. I had to keep saying, "Can I ask you this?"—asking permission to ask questions.

What are the core beliefs of the movement?
They believe that Prince Philip is one of the sons of the mountain god. They already had a set of myths involving a light-skinned god who sailed away overseas before [they started to worship] Philip, which might go back to the fact that the island of Tanna is right on the edge of Polynesia, so they would have had contact with lighter-skinned people. They have all sorts of myths about Prince Philip sailing away and capturing the heart of an important foreign woman. They say that he's working in various mystical ways for the benefit of Tanna and that every good thing that happens on Tanna is the secret work of Prince Philip. They say that the fact that there are more and more instances of black and white people marrying both on the islands and everywhere else is because of him. They say that the presence of Barack Obama in the highest office in America is because of Prince Philip as well. They believe that he is reuniting everything that has been split apart.

People from Tanna posing for a photo.

And they're also waiting for him to return to them, right?
Yeah, they believe that, when the time is right, Philip will simply appear on a little rock just off the coast. The minute he sets foot on it, all manner of good things will happen. The main good things that they say will happen seem to have been influenced by Christian missionaries. The cult say there will be no more sickness and death, and that they will become young again. Free love is another important thing that they believe will come about. When I was there, they believed that you could shag your neighbour’s wife if she was in agreement, but if you got found out then you had to pay quite a hefty fine. They say that, when Philip comes, all the adultery fines will be abolished.

I heard that a psychoactive plant called kava also features heavily in the cult.
Yeah, kava is quite a revolting drink by Western standards when it’s prepared in the way that it’s prepared on Tanna. On Tanna, unmarried, virgin boys have the duty of chewing it and hawking it up onto a leaf. They then squeeze it out and mix it with water from a rusty petrol can. It tastes a bit like mud and is a basically a bowl of spit. It also tastes a bit medicated. The minute you drink it, it makes your tongue go numb and then you feel it going down your body, numbing everything in its path. It’s a very gentle experience really, though.

The kava on Tanna is probably the strongest in the world, and in the southwest of Tanna—where I was—their kava is the strongest on the island. It roots you to the spot and puts you in a reflective frame of mind. There are kava bars in the towns, where people drink loads of it just to get fuck-faced, but in the village it was more about this beautiful ritual that they did as the sun went down. The cult lit fires and caught up with each other while the kava was made. They then lined up to get their kava. Once people had drunk it, they went and sat off on their own and watched the sun going down. It was a quiet, charming, meditative experience.

Matt sitting with a cult member after taking some kava.

Was that the most memorable thing that you took part in while you were out there?
The most memorable thing was something that many people might think was a result of me taking too much kava. I lost my glasses and couldn’t find them anywhere, and I was summoned to a meeting with some prominent local sorcerers that they called the "clevers," who found them for me. In some parts of Vanuatu [the island nation that Tanna belongs to], the police use the clevers to find bodies and weapons and things like that; they are supposed to have a sort of second sight. The clevers interrogated me at length about being Prince Philip. I was then told that I could go, and then—as I left—I found my specs in the cuff of my shirt. I’ve gone back over it as many times as I can and I can’t work out how the clevers could have slipped my glasses inside the cuff of my shirt, but they were there. That, to me, remains inexplicable, although more rational people have lots of solidly rational explanations for it.

Wait—they interrogated you about being Prince Philip?
Yeah, they constantly accused me of being him, which was quite weird. People said that I was him in disguise or that I was one of his relatives. Some people got quite irate about it.

How did you handle that?
I constantly politely denied it because there wasn’t really much else that I could do.

Do you think you contributed to the cult’s beliefs in any way?
I gather so, yes. When I left, I heard that there were new stories about a person of sacred and dangerous qualities, who ate food from his own sacred plate because he was so powerful that he couldn’t touch theirs. The cult said that no one ever saw me shitting as well, which was interesting because I actually shat constantly. I think I might have been responsible for a ceremony that they do on Prince Philip’s birthday, too. While I was there, I told them when his birthday was and asked them if they did anything on it. They said, "No, why would we do that?" Now they have a big dance on his birthday. I think I sowed the seeds for that.

You can read more about Matt's time on Tanna in his book about the experience, Man Belong Mrs Queen.

We've witnessed the paradisiacal splendor of Bristol before, but nobody's put a number on the amount of times you can look at photos of people covered in their own sick and blood, have they?

I hope not, because that would be a weirdly invasive thing to do, and Theo Cottle's pictures of people doing just that are always great. Here are some of them for you to enjoy, preferably while you're eating.

See more of Theo's work here.

Does your town or city qualify for paradise status? Feel free to send us your pitches. We won't bite.

When Russian President Vladimir Putin banned gay "propaganda" in June last year, Russia's LGBT community went from being a stigmatized fringe group to full-blown enemies of the state. Homophobia becoming legislation means it’s now not only accepted in Russia but actively encouraged, which has led to a depressing rise in homophobic attacks and murders.

The main aim of the law, which essentially bans any public display of homosexuality, is to prevent minors from getting the impression that being gay is normal. Which means that, if you’re young and gay in Putin’s Russia, you’re ostracized and cut off from any kind of legal support network.

We traveled to Russia ahead of February's Sochi Winter Olympics to investigate the effects of the country's state-sanctioned homophobia.

For further information on some of the issues raised, please visit www.stonewall.org.uk/international.

An Al-Shabaab military base in Kismayo, a Somalian city where many Bajuni people live

It's not difficult to empathize with failed asylum seekers. The usual story is as follows: flee your home country and put yourself in the hands of human traffickers, risking your life to travel thousands of miles—only to find your plea for asylum falling on deaf ears. Then, after becoming the unwitting star of a government PR drive to appear tough on immigration, you're either detained indefinitely or put on the next flight back to wherever it is you spent so much time and effort fleeing. Now imagine all that, but with the threat of being deported to a country that you don't even come from.

This miserable chain of events is what's happening to the hundred or so Bajunis currently seeking asylum in the UK. Hailing from islands off the coast of southern Somalia, they spent the majority of their time in their home country fishing, and the rest of it being the victims of tribal persecution and threats from the militant Islamist group Al-Shabaab.

Having sought asylum in the UK, the Bajunis are facing possible deportation to Kenya and Tanzania, countries where they have no heritage or current familial links. This is because the British government is refusing to acknowledge the Bajunis' Somali identity, thanks to the results of Language Testing for the Determination of Origin (LADO) tests—a type of "forensic linguistics" designed to assess the validity of nationality claims.

The Bajunis I spoke with told me that these decisions were made on the basis of their interviews with language analysts, and claimed that they had to speak mainland Swahili, rather than their mother tongue of Kibajuni. 

Three Bujani refugees (Photo via Bajuni Campaign)

The Unity Center in Glasgow, a charity that has assisted the Bajunis with their asylum claims, alleges that the LADO reports have dismissed official academic guidelines and independent expert findings. They argue that political decisions are being made through the use of evidence from Sprakab, the Swedish company that conducts the reports. The center believes that this is far from a bureaucratic mistake, and instead a way of getting around the legal barriers—under EU human rights law—involved in sending people back to war-torn Somalia. Essentially, it would seem that the British government wants rid of the Bajuni refugees, and, unable to deport them back to their home country, are making selective use of Sprakab analysis in order to send them elsewhere.  

According to Jasmin Sallis, one of the centre's organizers, "It is a deliberate tactic. It is no coincidence that the [British government] insists these Somali Bajunis are from countries with no barriers to deportation. Lack of objective knowledge of the Bajuni Islands and differences between individuals from the mainland is a key reason [these] tactics work so well towards this minority group."

When I chased up the British Home Office to ask about Sprakab and its reports, officials refused to comment on individual cases, but did confirm that the company has worked for them since 2000. Sprakab also failed to comment on the questions I asked them.

A Bajuni fishing boat, photo taken on an old camera phone

"It's a huge waste of taxpayer money and resources," said Brian Allen, who is an expert witness in the tribunal courts for Bajuni language testing. Having seen over 400 Sprakab reports, he criticised their methods, saying that obscure and misleading questions are often asked in Kenyan Swahili, rather than Kibajuni. 

"You have to bear in mind that the Bajuni are a remote people, and not formally educated," he told me. "They aren't going to answer questions [about] the names of parliamentarians or the names of mainland landmarks." Referring to Sprakab's testing methods, Brian said, "It's unprofessional and intimidatory. Not only do the interviews not speak to the Bajunis in their native tongue, but a lot of the interviews were quite aggressive. 

"There's a huge lack of transparency, and complete anonymity for Sprakab analysts, whom the Home Office are keen on supporting," Allen added. "It makes it very difficult to understand how testers come to their conclusions, or the qualifications they have in the first place." Surprisingly, Allen says that, in a rare conversation with one of the company's managers, they told him that their reports shouldn't be used as an authority to make asylum decisions.

And it's not just Allen who has questioned Sprakab's practices; Alison Harvey, the legal director of the Immigration Law Practitioner’s Association, said, "Language analysis cannot tell you a person’s nationality. It is relied upon by those who prefer the comforting certainties of pseudo-science to the responsibility of exercising judgement and weighing the evidence in a particular case."

A Bajuni hut

Regardless of this expert criticism, language analysis remains a vital device in deciding the future of the Bajunis, most of whom are currently on limited support on the condition that they are making preparations to deport themselves. Nineteen-year-old Abdul Rahman, who left the islands after losing his uncle, told me that, despite attempts to prove his Somali origin, the British government still expects him to go to Kenya.

When I asked about the testing, he told me the Sprakab analyst didn't speak Kibajuni to him, but the Kenyan dialect Swahili, while the questions asked were so vague that it proved "[the analyst] knew nothing about Somalia." He added, "They try to trick you into telling them the answers they want to hear."

Like a number of other Bajunis, Abdul receives a very small allowance each week to spend on necessities, putting him in a better situation than the few who refused to accept voluntary deportation and have been left to rely on the help of charities and refugee organizations.

Difficult as life in the UK is for the Bajunis, accepting deportation isn't really an option, considering—as I was told—they are regularly subjected to beatings and lootings by gangs, and in some cases even rapes and murders. Mohammed (a pseudonym), one of the Bajunis I interviewed, left the islands in 2006 after his family "couldn't take it any more," first seeking refuge in Kenya, before eventually coming to the UK.

"They killed most of my family while they slept, and we used to hear rumors that they terrorized other island communities, too," he said. "I wanted to stay in my home for as long as possible, but we didn't have any guns or real weapons. I had no other choice but to leave." He said of his time in Kenya, "Those who went to Kenyan refugee camps were ignored most of the time—given little food and water, too. They didn't like us at all, and would only give orders in Swahili, a language that the refugees had no knowledge of. They had to learn it to survive."

Unfortunately for the Bajunis who made it to the UK, the country has only been a little more hospitable. But in spite of all the difficulties, The Unity Center's Bajuni Campaign remains optimistic. According to Jasmin, "As the campaign has gained an online presence, contact by other Bajunis also facing disputed nationalities in Germany, The Netherlands, and the Republic of Ireland has been made. The desirable outcomes are very basic: the right to work, and the right to be recognized as Somalian."

Follow Hussein on Twitter: @HKesvani