A former junior hockey player convicted of sexual interference of a 13-year-old girl will not start his three-month jail sentence until May so that he doesn’t have to miss any school.

Connor Neurauter, 21, pleaded guilty to sexual interference for soliciting nude photos of the teenage girl and later using them to threaten her to keep their relationship a secret, Kamloops This Week reports. He was sentenced to 90 days in jail last week but that sentence is being pushed off until May so it doesn’t cut into his current semester at the University of Calgary.

Neurauter was originally facing an additional charge of child pornography. According to Kamloops This Week, he had a 2016 court date adjourned because he was at camp with his hockey team.

Over the course of Neurauter’s relationship with the girl, she told police he once choked her with his hands and later asked her for naked photographs in texts and on Snapchat. Eventually she told a girlfriend who is 14; the friend sent Neurauter nude photos of herself in an attempt to get him to leave the victim alone. Neurauter was arrested after the friend told her mother what was going on and she called police.

The girl read aloud a victim impact statement in court saying she was paranoid that she would run into Neurauter when out in public.

“I was very scared because he knew where I lived and knew where my room was,” she said.

The victim’s mother told the Calgary Sun she’s frustrated by how many concessions the court has made to accommodate Neurauter’s schedule.

“‘Sorry, he’s unavailable for court because he has a hockey tournament. He’s unavailable for court because he has exams. He’s unavailable to come do his plea on his own because he’s in the middle of studying’,” she said.

“Let’s postpone his jail sentence until May so he can finish his year of university. Nobody has stood up and said no, during the whole thing—there was not one time where the judge or even the Crown said ‘please, this is not right.’ The victims are the ones who have been paying over and over, every time we went to court.”

The case seems to be part of a trend through which the courts accommodate young men guilty of violence against women.

Last month, VICE reported on a case out of Newfoundland in which a 21-year-old man was given an absolute discharge after pleading guilty to assaulting his ex-girlfriend. Judge Lori Marshall said the abuser, Lancelot Saunders, will be “very successful in life.”

“You’re a young person with your whole life ahead of you and the implications of a criminal conviction, a permanent criminal record, could have longstanding repercussions for you,” she said, noting a conviction would prevent him from getting into university.

Hockey player and Queen’s University student, Chance Macdonald, who assaulted a teenage girl at a party, was not sentenced unti last September so that his internship at Deloitte would remain in tact.

Barb Macquarrie, community director at Western University's Centre for Research and Education on Violence against Women and Children, told VICE the justice system is sending the message that these crimes aren’t serious enough to be dealt with immediately.

“I’m sure it took a lot for her to come forward, a lot,” she said of Neurauter’s 13-year-old victim. “She got very minimal validation from the system. It’s almost as if the system is apologizing to the offender.”

Macquarrie said she would like to see more straight talk in courtrooms so that offenders like Neurauter understand the gravity of their actions. The alleged choking is a very high risk behaviour that doesn’t appear to have been addressed by the court, she said.

“We’re potentially missing some warning signs of somebody who could become a much more dangerous offender,” she said.

In sentencing, judges factor in mitigation and rehabilitation, though Macquarrie was skeptical that non-athletes and men of colour would be treated with the same leniency as offenders like Neurauter and Macdonald. While Macquarrie said there’s no problem with allowing an offender to continue their education, “unless they really, really come to terms with how problematic this behaviour is, they don’t have much a future anyway.”

Neurauter's sentence, which includes two years of probation, will commence May 4. He will also have to register as a sex offender and his DNA will be included in the national database.

Follow Manisha Krishnan on Twitter.

A petition online has surfaced with thousands of signatures protesting what’s been advertised as an all-ages naked swim event in Calgary. A Meetup.com page says the event—"Naked Water Slides and Wave Pool"—is to be held on Sunday, January 14 and will be hosted by a group that calls itself Calgary Nude Recreation. It claims tickets to the event are sold out.

Calgary Nude Recreation describes itself as “a group for like minded people who enjoy being in their birthday suit! Family friendly, non-sexual social nudity” on its Facebook page. The page appears to have been active since early November 2017, around the same date that the group’s website was registered.

The page for the event states that the group’s meetups “are not a place to show off your body to others, compare or stare, but rather a place that you can enjoy being naked, in your rawest self expression in a safe and welcoming, non judgmental environment.”

Comments on the Change.org petition, started by someone calling themselves April Parker, range from “This is gross” to strongly worded concerns about children’s safety. One comment reads: “I think any parent who brings there (sic) child to an event like this needs to be investigated as well as the event coordinators. Who are they and why would they allow kids there hmmm. This is so wrong in so many ways!”

The petition itself, which aims to get the event shut down, lists a number of perceived concerns, including “Children with previous sexual abuse traumas will be heavily effected (sic.) if they attend the event” and “Sexual predators will be on the prowl - having an event like that is just like Christmas to them.” Worries over the risk of photos and videos being taken at the event is also listed—though the event prohibits such things.

Though the event page does not list a location, an earlier post on Calgary Nude Recreation’s Facebook mentions Southland Leisure Centre in Calgary, a public facility. The centre’s schedule does not include the event.

In an interview with CBC News, though, Jarret Hoebers, recreation regional manager with the City of Calgary, discussed how the centre is available to be booked out by citizens.

"We get all kinds of bookings from all kinds of groups of citizens," Hoebers. "Whether it be special-interest [groups], sport, recreation, leisure; it doesn't matter what it is,” he told CBC News. “We deal with them all the same way and respect their opportunities to have recreation."

Hoebers even said in the interview that since the naked swim event is after-hours, staff had to volunteer to work it—which he claimed was a non-issue. “We've got a huge variety and diversity in our workforce and booking for any special event isn't really an issue,” he said.

The group supposedly hosting the event, Calgary Nude Recreation, also appears to be involved with promoting naked book readings in the Alberta city via its Facebook.

Requests for comment from the group went unanswered other than an auto-response—”There is a serious shortage of nudity in Calgary and we need YOU to help fix that! We will respond to you as soon as we can!” The group’s most recent Facebook post seeks an “on air radio interview in studio to have a conversation about social nudity, why it’s healthy, and why it’s important that this event goes on as planned.”

“Social nudity” is related to naturism, a cultural and political movement.

Another recent post from the group following media attention reads: “The suggestion that our events should be marketed as ‘adult only’ entertainment illustrates the disconnect between what people THINK social nudity is about versus what social nudity is ACTUALLY about.”

The group also posted about altering its nudity policy at the event after media attention: “Men are REQUIRED to be naked. Women are REQUIRED to be topless at minimum, or fully naked should they choose. Other genders need to make the decision themselves.”

VICE requested comment from the Southland Leisure Centre over the phone multiple times. Other than an employee saying that they weren’t able to confirm nor deny that the event was happening, the centre provided no further comment at the time of this story’s publish. (If they end up responding, we will update this story.)

Later this month, HATE THY NEIGHBOUR returns to VICELAND, chronicling comedian Jamali Maddix's journey across the US to confront the country's extremist hate groups. Last season, Jamali trekked around the globe to meet up with fascists in Ukraine, anti-multicultural activists in the UK, and beyond. But this time around, the Brit is sticking to the States, taking a long look at the faces of intolerance in the US.

Check out the season two trailer above for a look at a few of the factions Jamali meets, from the white supremacists fighting against Black Lives Matter, to the conservative Christians looking to crack down on abortion and the "nasty homos."

Give the trailer for HATE THY NEIGHBOUR a watch above, and make sure to catch the season two premiere on VICELAND January 23. Want to know if you get VICELAND? Head here to find out how to tune in.

Poor old Stoke. The North-West doesn't want it, and neither do the Midlands. So, since the fall of British industry, it's been left to fester in a sort of no man's land, known only for Robbie Williams, being sort of near Alton Towers and the fact people there call each other "duck".

But there has to be more to it than that. Some shit clubs, say? Let's find out, by touring the worst-rated nightspots Stoke has to offer, according to the actual humans who spend their spare time writing TripAdvisor reviews (all reproduced here verbatim).

The Reginald Mitchell, Wetherspoons - Ranked #376 of 469 Restaurants in Stoke-on-Trent, via

"One Wetherspoons to avoid. First impressions are of a typical wetherspoons however it soon became apparent that tables were not being cleared and at least 2 beers were off line but the gents toilets were stinking of urine and clearly had not been serviced for some hours."

"Pig hole"

"Worst Pub Ever!"

"Poor Reginald Mitchell would be truly mortified."

I mean, yeah, it's quite a dull place for an adventure into the unknown to begin; a place anybody in the country could draw from memory, despite having never stepped foot inside. But according to the reviews, this is a remarkably bad Spoons.

Standing at the bar, though, this could be any Wetherspoons in the country: objectively average. There has to be something wrong with it; people on the internet don't just lie. I need to look closer. I pace around, searching, and return to my seat to find something worrying.

What is this? The world's most slapdash whoopee cushion? Is someone trying to stitch me up?

Everything feels a bit iffy – I'm starting to see what all those anonymous keyboard smashers were on about – so I make a move for our second location, which is exactly 60 paces away. Say what you will about Stoke, but there's something beautiful about not having to get two sobering night buses to reach a place you half want to go to.

Chicagos – #4 of 11 Nightlife in Hanley, via

"Selling watered down Stella Artois. £4 entry fee followed by £1.90 for a Stella in a plastic piss pot. Friends also claimed Vodka was also watered down. Avoid."

"Disgusted by the poor service with security on Saturday night when I went for a nice night out with my friends after a busy week, when a girl started a fight with me for no reason what so ever, and the security men didn't even come over to get her off me. Disgusting!!"

"The place needs shutting!!!!"

HELLO, Chicago! What have you got for me, baby?

A bride to be and a dick straw. Good start. And from what I'm tasting through this plastic bellend, the drinks are absolutely not watered down.

As for the fighting, I can't spy any trouble, but I can spy something else.

You know how, in London's clubs, everyone dresses and acts like a teenager, but they're always just a severe camera flash away from looking like Eamonn Holmes, because actually-young people can't afford to go to clubs?

In Stoke, young people really are young. Stood next to them, I look like microwaved bacon.

Furthermore, these Bono, Springsteen and 2009-era Jesse J tapestries hanging from the walls prove that Chicagos Stoke really is a bastion of youth culture.

But it's midnight, and I'm up for a snack, so I'm off to the next spot on the list.

Reflex - #303 of 469 Restaurants in Stoke-on-Trent, via

"Listed on Trip Advisor as a Japanese Restaurant"

"A mix of neanderthal teens, inbred bottom dwellers and lecherous middle aged men tended to be the compliment of this fine establishments clientele"

"I was going to the toilets some one had smashed the glass on the door on the way to the toilet to fix this they just put a bit of cardboard on it there was dried blood on the cardboard, toilets very dirty discussting one toilet had a huge hole in the wall inside there was brown toilet rolls and very very dirty, urinals"

"Dirty filthy toilets stunk as soon as we walked in our feet stuck to the floor why environmental health have not shut it down I never no disgusting place"

I'm at Reflex, which, according to TripAdvisor, is a Japanese restaurant.

With its A-Team DJ booth, Solero Shots colour scheme and visibly extremely drunk patrons, however, it's unlike any sushi joint I've ever seen. Mind you, who am I – a man gagging for a midnight miso soup in Stoke – to be picky about where I find it?

"Evening! Can I get some miso soup please?" The bar lady looks puzzled, so I repeat myself. She nods, before pouring me a cup of something.

Maybe it's just my unsophisticated palette, but this tastes more like Febreze than miso. I'm now fairly certain this isn't a Japanese restaurant, but instead an 80s-themed club with a Christmas twist?

As the night plods on, I shake my hips to the tick-tock of "Barbie Girl" and "Cotton Eye Joe". Which, obviously, is fun – but I can't get the idea of the floors being sticky enough to warrant a visit from environmental services out of my head. I simply must sample them!

DEBUNKED. Besides the whole broken arm thing and the teeny receipt stuck to my elbow, having very little problems getting up here, and the locals are happy to give me a hand.

On top of that, the people in this place are generous with their booze and happy to let you ahead in the toilet queue if you're desperate. That "neanderthal teens, inbred bottom dwellers" comment clearly just came from a killjoy Tory.

In fact, maybe we could all learn a lot being a little bit more like the people of Reflex?

Sugar Mill - #20 of 64 Nightlife in Stoke-on-Trent

"It's new like a nursery than a night club, drugs are been sold every time there is a club night on, people been sick on the floor people fighting other people getting hurt. Dirty place clothes get ruined. This place needs closing down"

"You'll return home with a combination of booze, piss and if your luck maybe a little bit of sick on your shoes. If your a male out on the pull and looking for a girl who's pretending to be 'Indie' because she likes 'I Bet That You Look Good On The Dance Floor' by Arctic Monkeys then you'll be like a kid on Christmas morning in this place. There is a really hunky DJ in the main room though, he looks a bit like Steven Tyler from Aerosmith in his prime."

With the blend of miso soup and TVX Blue edging me higher, I'm ready to try the spot where the most hardcore Stokies do their partying. I'm ready for Sugar Mill.

Inside the toilets, there are no locks, but it's not the sniffle symphony of every Zone 1 or 2 pub loo from Thursday through Sunday. Just upset stomachs and arguments about who the stinky fucker is.

Beyond that, this is like being caught in a Kopparberg advert from 2006; Fratellis on the speakers, heavy shearling coats on the dancefloor, a happy place for anyone who spent their youth drinking Foster's and playing Ring of Fire to those Best New Bands CDs the NME used to give away.

And if there's one person responsible for creating this vibe, it's a man mentioned in a number of reviews: a man who needs no introduction.

Stoke's premier "Steven Tyler lookalike" DJ! As it reaches 2:30AM, Stevie has got me buzzing, ready to tackle what is apparently the Final Boss of any Stoke night out worth its salt.

Fiction (formerly known as Liquid) - #7 of 11 Nightlife in Hanley

"I'm currently stood in the que I was told I would not have to stand in as I payed £20 earlier, total joke I'm freezing and will miss the midnight countdown.... Wankers...duck"

"The staff are demotivated and unenegaged. They don't make you feel motivated for a good night at all haha."

"Absolutely atrocious. Avoid like the black plague"

First off: very into the fact someone was so incensed with this place that they logged into – or, better, created a new account for – TripAdvisor while still in the queue, and left a scathing review. Also into the person who signed off a roundly negative appraisal with "haha".

Anyway, the first face I meet as I enter proves that this, without doubt, is my kind of place.

Each generation of university goers has a middle-aged man with whom they associate drunk-to-the-point-of-liver-failure student union piss-ups with. For anyone who went to uni from about 2003 to 2010, it's Pat Sharp, Dave Benson Phillips or Chesney Hawkes. These days, weirdly, it appears to be Phil Mitchell.

Inside, it's half-first night of a lads' holiday at elrow, half end-of-year school disco, full of people living like they're never going to set foot in this place again. This, naturally, teases out:

The good night.

And the drying tears of a bad one.

And this, I feel, captures Stoke pretty well. A mish-mash of a city that embraces the weird and – whether you're a rock bar, student bar or an old man pub – lets you get on with it. At 3:30AM, that's exactly what I'm going to do.

Farewell, Stoke.

@Oobahs / @CBethell_Photo

This story originally appeared on thump

This is a story which includes a largely forgotten 1980s singer0songwriter, bare bottoms and a sweating, salivating former prime minister. It's a story of regret, longing and the short-lived effects of sudden fame. Along the way we'll meet movie stars and aerobics instructors. We'll learn about ourselves and the lives of others. This is the story of the video for "Call on Me" by Eric Prydz.

Every story has a beginning. Ours takes place in a flat in London. Huse Monfaradi, a director at the start of his career, was put forward for a music video job by a friend working at Ministry of Sound, the label which released Prydz's chart-busting filter-house smash hit. "The commissioner from MoS was a friend of mine," Huse tells me over the phone, "and he said, 'Look, this is a good opportunity, it's going to be a big track, you should do it.' I wrote a really throwaway idea, about sexual aerobics. It was that simple."

The idea that came to him within a minute of hearing the record for the first time went on to become one of the most significant pieces of public art of the 21st century.

"Call on Me" is a video that lives long in the memory. Even now, hearing just a split second of it on the radio is all you need to be transported to that sweaty, sexy, lewd and incredibly crude aerobics class. While we've become so desensitised to sex that you half expect Antiques Roadshow to feature a bukkake scene or two, there's something so genuinely real about the video, something almost tactile about it, so genuinely filled with priapic longing and lycra-encased lust that watching it now feels like an act of genuine transgression.

To find out exactly how and why the video for a relatively unknown Swedish progressive house producer entranced and seduced a nation, I set out to track down its key players.

"In pre-production, in shooting, in post production, even in editing, I don't think anyone really felt it was over the top, or extraordinary, or even erotic," Huse remembers. Now, given that this is a video in which an aerobics instructor, played by Deanne Berry, and her crew of nimble bodied dancers virtually fuck a sweat-soaked lone male, played with gusto by Juan Pablo Di Pace, over a thuddingly monotonous, MDMA-spangled soundtrack, that might seem like a slightly naive attitude. After all, this is a video so saucy that disgraced warmongering former-PM Tony Blair actually fell off his rowing machine while watching it for the first time. For a second, if I can be so bold, imagine that scene: Blair, in his little white Donnay socks and shiny PE shorts, probably wearing a grubby old T-shirt with some Labour slogan on the front, pumping away on the machine, his biceps glistening with sweat, his teeth clenched, his whole body arching and straining, like a dolphin trying to break free of one of John West's infernal nets, a semi billowing around his boxers, eyes on stalks watching "Call on Me" for the first time. There's a fall and a thud and Cherie arrives, barging into the No.10 gym, aghast at the sight that's unfolding. That's how salacious a video it was, and still is.

The video, for all of Huse's efforts, wouldn't have been the video it is had it not been for the fundamental thing that makes "Call on Me" as memorable as it is: the dancers. Now, dancing and dancers are an elemental part of pop music and have been ever since Elvis started shaking his dick around on stage so much that American broadcasters had to film him from the waist up. Pop music makes people want to sing, cry, fuck and dance. "Call on Me" probably makes a certain kind of person want to do all of those at once. So, like any rational person writing an article about the video for "Call on Me" by Eric Prydz, I tried to track down those dancers. Things didn't pan out as planned.

Aside from a quickly turned around cash-in workout DVD – this was when people still bought workout DVDs by the truckload, and in every home there was a copy of 5 Step Fat Attack with Claire Richards from Steps – churned out by Ministry of Sound, Pump It Up! The Ultimate Dance Workout, the cast were never reunited. Which meant tracking them down was difficult. The search for Deanne and Juan, for Laura More, Franky Wedge and Laura Jayne Smith, Rosy Hawkins and Laura Bowle led me to deeply sad, strange parts of the internet, parts of the internet I knew always existed but was too afraid to search out for myself.

This is the thing about "Call on Me" that makes it such an interesting pop culture phenomenon, one that was spoofed by cancer charities, the Royal Marines and this terrible metal band – it is a perfect example of Physical Anonymity. No one in the video is named. Really and truly, no one in the video is anything other than a lump – a taut lump admittedly but still a lump – of bronzed flesh. The camera longingly and lovingly gazes at breasts and buttocks, to the point where even faces are nothing more than mere accessories. This preoccupation with physicality is interesting for a few reasons. Firstly, because it boldly frames the participants as purely physical, purely sexual objects, rather than pretending to imbue them with anything as troubling as a "personality." Secondly, because it demonstrates the pure potency of flesh on screen and forces us to consider our inherently scopophilic relationship to video as a medium, which is always important when you're watching the video for a third rate house record. Thirdly, and most vitally, this physical anonymity is a means by which the self is eradicated and replaced by a body in its purest form, which in turn means that nearly everyone involved in the video seems to have sunk without a trace.

Before beginning the research for this article, I thought I knew what a sad sentence was. I'd read enough novels to have a slight grasp on what a bleak, destructive, genuinely depressing and depressing collection of words was. Now I know I've been wrong all this time. The single darkest thing you can ever, ever read is thus:

There is no information about this dancer – please let us know anything you know.

Fuck Hemingway and his baby shoes, this is the real miserable deal. In a world where everything about you as a person – every whim, desire, predilection – is searchable and retrievable, the lack of concrete information available about a group of people who are otherwise enshrined in the permanency of this music video is about as depressing as it gets. Especially when that news is delivered to you via a website that looks like this:

The final resting home for most of the "Call on Me" cast was here, at Music Video Babes, a website dedicated to cataloguing the various babes who've appeared in music videos over the years. The site has little time for anything that even resembles traditional biography, preferring to stay firmly rooted in the realm of Physical Anonymity, where all that matters is those all important vital statistics. There's something, probably mildly significant, to be said about the reduction of a human being to a set of numbers, but this is a piece about a tawdry bit of masturbatory nonsense that sold a lot of records and kept Kleenex in business for a while so we'll leave that article to someone a bit brighter.

The point is thus: despite being in possession of bodies which thanks to their brief moment of fame are almost instantaneously recognisable, these dancers are nothing but anonymous cyphers, empty vessels. And so what? Most of us go through life without making a mark. Most of us live and work and die and are remembered only by a select few who go on to die themselves, and eventually, our name, all of our names, become nothing more than a whisper in the wind. It doesn't matter that Franky Wedge didn't go on to become a massive celebrity. Because that isn't the point of art. Art does more than that. Art makes us immortal. Art is both a way of celebrating corporeality and totally destroying it.

And, to any doubters out there, "Call on Me" definitely is a work of art. It is amazingly lurid, amazingly tacky, amazingly brash and amazingly bold. It takes life and turns it up to 11, instilling a mundane situation – the act of going to an aerobics class – with an incredibly potent sense of primal sexuality. This is its power in a nutshell: it takes the everyday and finds something incredible in it. Sure, as a piece of art "Call on Me" verges on the problematic – all that bare flesh, presented baldly there, without context, without any sense at all of it belonging to anyone, presented as pure object – but come on: anything that has such a pervasive, wide-reaching impact on a nation's psyche deserves to be valued on some level, and maybe even cherished.

It should play on a permanent loop at the entrance of the National Gallery, for this is the real art of the people. It is a perfect capsule, a pristine embodiment of early 21st century desire. It is fetishistic and inclusive at the same time. It speaks to all of us, whether we'd like to admit it or not.

The best thing about "Call on Me?" It nearly never happened. We were very, very nearly robbed of its throbbing delights. "Half an hour into shooting it," Huse tells me, "we lost all power. A digger cut through the power lines and we nearly scrapped it for an insurance job." A world without the video for "Call on Me" is a world that's nigh on unimaginable. Deanne and Juan and the rest may have vanished, but they'll always be there, in our hearts and in our minds.

The week isn't off to a great start for Trump. Michael Wolff's book about the president's batshit first year is flying off the shelves, Mueller is reportedly set to drag him in for an interview, and the McDonald's lover is about to face his first physical since taking office. Oh, and Trump Tower caught on fire.

A few days after Trump launched his unsuccessful battle against Fire and Fury from Washington, the FDNY waged a much more successful war against an actual fire. On Monday morning around 7 AM, Secret Service agents at Trump Tower spotted smoke and called in the FDNY to investigate, the Washington Post reports. More than 70 firefighters responded to the small fire blazing on the roof of the high-rise, which apparently started in a heating a cooling unit and sent plumes of smoke billowing across Midtown Manhattan.

Eventually the crews managed to get the blaze controlled, extinguishing the fire after an hour. According to the fire department's statement on Twitter, two civilians and one firefighter sustained non-life-threatening injuries in the process.

The president was not in the building at the time of the fire, but his son and recent birthday boy, Eric, tweeted his thanks to the fire department's speedy response.

The fire was pretty small, didn't trigger an evacuation of the building, and no one was seriously injured, but the incident gave everyone a good excuse to stop obsessing over Oprah's potential presidential bid and crack a seemingly endless slew of jokes about Trump's pants being on fire, so there's that. Check out a bunch of footage of the blaze below.

Welcome to Evesplaining, politics writer Eve Peyser's column about why everyone else is wrong and she's right.

After she delivered an inspirational Golden Globes speech, the idea of Oprah Winfrey running for president in 2020 immediately began to gain traction. "Nothing but respect for OUR future president," NBC wrote in a now-deleted tweet. "You could close your eyes and imagine that speech being given in Iowa," pundit king Chris Cillizza said on CNN.

“She launched a rocket tonight. I want her to run for president,” Meryl Streep told the Washington Post. "Call me @oprah. I've got some Iowa county chairs who would love to hear from you," Obama's 2012 Iowa campaign manager tweeted. Even conservatives John Podhoretz and Bill Kristol have voiced support for an Oprah presidency, proof that 2018 isn't shaping up to be any more sane than 2017 or 2016.

I'm not going to deny the power of Oprah's speech, which was undoubtedly the highlight of a sometimes awkward Golden Globes. "We all know the press is under siege these days," the billionaire media mogul in one particularly rousing bit. "But we also know it’s the insatiable dedication to uncovering the absolute truth that keeps us from turning a blind eye to corruption and to injustice, to tyrants and victims, and secrets and lies."

And I'm not going to criticize Winfrey's politics, which seem fairly progressive. What's more, she's done more than most celebrities to actually effect change: In the 90s, for instance, she helped lobby for the National Child Protection Act, which created a database of known abusers and became known as the "Oprah bill."

But can we let celebrities just be celebrities? Or to put it a little more pointedly, have we learned nothing from Donald Trump?

Weirdly enough, in 1999, Trump himself suggested that if he ran for president, Oprah would be his first choice for running mate. "Americans respect and admire Oprah for her intelligence and caring. She has provided inspiration for millions of women to improve their lives, go back to school, learn to read, and take responsibility for themselves," Trump wrote in his book.

Trump isn't wrong about Oprah, but being an "inspiration" doesn't mean someone should run for president. Trump himself was "inspiring" to many Americans who voted for him despite all his obviously disqualifying traits. We don't need any more "inspirational" politicians, we need people who have actual experience governing.

Oprah, unlike Trump, is actually a self-made billionaire. She doesn't traffic in openly racist rhetoric and hasn't been accused of sexual assault, either. She'd be a step up from Trump for a lot of reasons. But like him, she has no political experience, and no obvious platform beyond her (incredible) personal appeal.

Here's what we know about Oprah's political views: She's seemingly pro-Israel. She believes in the American dream in a sort of Obama-esque way. She endorsed Obama for president in 2008 and Hillary Clinton over Trump in 2016. She donated $10 million to Hurricane Katrina relief efforts. Where does she stand on healthcare? Weed legalization? Foreign policy? Housing?

Importantly, even though the media has spent the last 12 hours spinning its collective wheels about an Oprah campaign, the candidate herself is actually not a candidate, at least not yet. As recently as June, Oprah has said, "I will never run for public office," but since the Golden Globes she might have had a change of heart. On Monday morning, CNN reported that according to two sources close to Oprah, she is now "actively thinking" about running for president.

If Oprah wants to run for political office, she should go for it—but not the presidency. She should start small, which for her would mean a cabinet post in a Democratic administration or a governorship. We don't have any idea about how she would fare in that sort of job; maybe she'd be amazing at it, but maybe she's more suited to her current incredibly powerful job. If you have enough hubris to want to run for presidency with zero political experience, it's a good indicator that being president probably isn't the right gig for you. And if Trump's presidency has taught us anything, it's this: Don't trust a billionaire to do the job of a politician.

Follow Eve Peyser on Twitter.

When Milton Tootoosis was younger he used to love watching old black and white westerns.

But Tootoosis recalls something odd happening while watching the movies that John Wayne made famous. The young boy found himself rooting not for his own people but for the cowboys and the cavalry slaughtering them.

"I was thinking 'those Indians are nothing but savages ruthlessly killing white women and children, they must be bad,’” Tootoosis told VICE. “That had an imprint on my psyche for many years and it wasn't until my early twenties that I took my first Indigenous Studies class in University and I thought 'oh my goodness, this is totally opposite from what popular culture has conditioned and programmed my young mind to believe.'"

“It's not a pleasant feeling.”

Now, decades later, Tootoosis, the Poundmaker Cree Nation Headman, has found himself at the heart of a debate over Sid Meier's Civilization, the long-running PC franchise.

Now, in case you didn’t know, Civilization is a turn based strategy game in which you play as a nation’s leader—Abraham Lincoln for the United States, Gandhi for India, etc.— and attempt to take over, for lack of a better term, the world (although you can technically do so without resorting to violence—you can win via your nation’s science, religion, or culture—it’s very difficult to do so without fighting your rival nations at some point). In an upcoming expansion pack for the game, Civilization VI: Rise and Fall, the Cree Nation finds themselves as a playable squad. They will be led by Poundmaker Cree Nation namesake, Pîhtokahanapiwiyin or, as he is known in the English-speaking world, Chief Poundmaker.

The thing is, Tootoosis says, Chief Poundmaker was the antithesis of the colonial and imperialist aspects of the Civilization series and the Poundmaker Cree Nation is unhappy about his portrayal.

When the Poundmaker Cree Nation in Saskatchewan first heard about his appearance early last week, Tootoosis said his nation was excited about the prospect of the game teaching scores of young people about their way of life and their former leader. However, that all changed when they learned that the goal of Civilization is essentially colonialism.

"Without knowing what the narrative of the game was we thought 'oh man, that's kinda cool that our cultural icon is even referenced in this game' especially because it is an international company,” said Tootoosis. “Upon further investigation and understanding of this war game about the inclusion of messages and ideals related to imperialism and colonialism, this doesn't sit well with many of us because that's not what Poundmaker represents."

A screenshot from the Civilization 6 trailer. Youtube.

Furthermore, the publisher behind Civilization, 2K Games, did not seek permission of the first nation or consult the elders in regards to the use their namesake as a character.

2K Games did not respond to VICE’s request for comment. We will update this story if they do.

Tootoosis said he would have liked to see “any company doing this” to “approach the correct officials and to make a visit.”

“Maybe we would be honoured to be part of it but there has to be dialogue and discussion and a full understanding of what it is we're agreeing to,” Tootoosis said. “In the past, and we're not alone in this, there has been some exploitation of our culture and in this case our cultural icon who we hold very highly."

“There was no consent. That’s a key word here, consent.”

Tootoosis said the consensus among the elders in their community is that they are unhappy with the portrayal of Poundmaker and will be asking the youth their thoughts in the near future. While the game portrays Poundmaker in a positive light—the narrator of the trailer saying he “judicially (tows) the line between aggression and diplomacy” and is remembered for “his work to secure peace between the Cree and the Canadian government”—Tootoosis is still worried about “a potential danger of brainwashing a person to believe a certain culture is this way or that way.”

Chief Poundmaker was a peacemaker who worked tirelessly to, in a time of upheaval, maintain calm between the Cree and Blackfoot population and Canada in the 19th century. He is perhaps best known for his arrest and three year imprisonment for treason.

Chief Poundmaker. Photo via Wikimedia Commons.

This occured when Poundmaker’s people feared for starvation after their traditional food, the buffalo, was hunted to near extinction. Fearing this, Poundmaker set out with some tribesmen to get rations from the government. When the government wouldn’t meet with the Chief several of his people looted the town—something that the tribe’s oral history says Poundmaker was opposed to. This resulted in the government attacking Poundmaker’s camp and being repelled by the Cree.

Poundmaker apparently stopped his nation from attacking the government forces while they retreated and is credited with saving many lives. A few weeks later he turned himself in and was sentenced—he died shortly after being released. The Poundmaker Cree Nation are currently petitioning the government to exonerate the Chief.

Civilization games are no strangers to taking liberties with the real tales of historical figures, something probably best illustrated by the fact that Gandhi is portrayed as a nuclear bomb loving maniac that will decimate your city at the slightest drop of a hat. This particular game function started as a glitch but has been kept due to the fan’s love of the character's juxtaposition to the real-life pacifist.

Civilization VI: Rise and Fall is due out early next month.

Follow Mack Lamoureux on Twitter

In Early Works, we talk to artists young and old about the jobs and life experiences that led them to their current moment. Today, it's Arnold Schwarzenegger, who certainly needs no introduction. Late last year, he starred in Killing Gunther, which you can catch now on VOD.

Going to a movie was almost unheard of as kids. We were poor and living in a village where there was no theater. We had to go to the main capital to do so, maybe once a year. The first movie I ever saw—I didn’t know what it was, a John Wayne movie. My brother and I had no idea how the screen worked, so we were really frightened that we were going to get run over by horses and and nailed with arrows. We were ducking and jumping under our seats. It was a frightening experience, but my mother and father were laughing their head off. It was a wild experience.

Austria was too small for me. I felt the opportunities were not there, and that I was in the wrong place. We were occupied by Allied forces, and there was a lot of crime. Every time I saw pictures of America, I thought, That’s where I belong. My big dream was to come to America—the question was just, “How?”

When I stumbled onto bodybuilding, I felt that it was an American sport and a means to the end. My vision was, if I won Mr. Universe and all the titles, America would eventually invite me over. At 21 years old, my vision became a reality. I became Mr. Universe for the second time, and I got this telegram from the publisher of Muscle, Joe Weider. He said, “Arnold, you’re the new sensation. I want to you to come to America. I’ll put you up in Muscle Beach, you’ll train with the champions, you can write for our magazine, and we can get you into the movies. That’s why I’m a big believer in having a vision, no matter how young you are. The more clear you are about your vision, the more clear you can be with the action you can take to turn it into reality.

I’m not an expert in meditation, but I once worked out with someone in the mid 1970s that was an expert in transcendental meditation. He invited me to the center in Brentwood, where they taught me how to meditate. At the time, my life had a lot of pressure. I was bodybuilding, training to compete for Mr. Olympia again, doing construction work for extra money, going to acting classes, and attending college. There was a lot of stuff on my plate, and I needed to find a way to calm down from my anxiety.

Transcendental meditation really helped me. Ever since, I started seeing different goals in my life that I could sort out calmly and emphatically. People always say there’s a lot of Eastern philosophy in me—I don’t know about that, because I’m not an expert, but you can learn a lot from all the different approaches.

Everything I visualized—to become rich and famous—happened. As I pursued those dreams, other things started happening that were not my dream. I had no idea I’d do comedies—I just thought I’d be one of those muscle guys in Hercules movies, but I did comedies, dramas, and I had the most successful movie of the year with Terminator 2: Judgment Day. I didn’t dream that I’d get involved with charitable organizations and help kids, or hang out with presidents. I didn’t dream I’d become governor of California. I had no idea I’d be a crusader for the environment. When you grow up, your vision changes and you dream about other things. It’s part of evolving as a person—growing up, becoming more mature and interested in issues that are bigger than yourself.

I don’t think America’s changed that much since I moved here. When I came here, it was the land of opportunity, and it still is. When I travel around the world, people still want to come to America, California specifically. America was number one, and it still is. Look at how people help each other when there’s fires, floods, and hurricanes, how people help each other. It’s the American spirit, and that’s what I love about this country.

There is, of course, upheaval and confusion. When I came over in ‘68, there was the Democratic convention in Chicago, with the riots. The Vietnam war, with people dying everyday on the battlefield—total chaos. The hippie movement, people smoking dope trying to getting rid of the problems. Patty Hearst getting kidnapped. Watergate. Carter coming in and creating an economic disaster. I’ve seen America go through some very difficult moments, and we’re going through difficult moments now, in a way—but I don’t think anyone should ever confuse it with the deterioration of America.

I’m a person that doesn’t believe in whining—I believe in action. Don’t sit in front of the TV and say, “Something’s wrong.” Go out and solve problems—for after-school kids, the environment, gerrymandering and redistricting. Instead of complaining, let’s do something about it. Some people say, “Love it or leave it.” I say, “Love it or change it.” That’s me.

This New Year's Eve at Man's Country, a Chicago bathhouse open since 1973, hundreds of men, women, transgender and nonbinary people showed out for a dance party celebrating the last hours of a queer American landmark.

Appropriately titled "Loose Ends," the closing event was part funeral, part rebirth and all hedonistic rager. Patrons danced, cruised, drank, caressed, hallucinated, sauna'd and paid their respects from before midnight to well past 11 AM. It was both a throwback to the venue's heyday, before the internet made many bathhouses feel obsolete, and a glimpse at what could have been had they thrown more events like this, which balanced sleaze with sociability and made the place appealing to those beyond the aging gay generation for which it was once a mecca.

Man's Country wore its history on its walls, with portraits of famous patrons, nude men, and other artwork throughout reminding visitors that this wasn't some staid, humorless bathhouse. In the basement (dubbed "The Pit,") a huge sauna—once billed as the largest in the Midwest—sat opposite a shower and wet area modeled after Parisian sewers. In its past, part of the cavernous Man's Country space was transformed into a dance club called Bistro Too, where acts like Boy George, Divine, and major disco stars performed, shifting some focus away from sex in the wake of the AIDS crisis. It also played host to a leather bar called the Chicago Eagle, one of many titanic contributions its founder, the consummate leather daddy Chuck Renslow, made to the leather community.

After Renslow's death in 2016—following years in which Man's Country failed to turn a profit—its end seemed all but inevitable, as it has for many of America's aging LGBTQ venues. Following its final night, the owners held an estate sale for everything and anything inside, from architectural elements to artwork to the disco balls that patterned its dance floors for decades. Before the big teardown, VICE sent photographer Brittany Sowacke to tour the club and capture what made the space charming, otherworldly and utterly unique—the kind of atmosphere increasingly disappearing from antiseptic LGBTQ venues today.

Follow Brittany Sowacke on Instagram.

There exists an obscure genre of porn in which an actor dressed in a mass-market sea monster costume has his slimy, scaly way with terrorized female performers.

More than 100 clips of this niche fetish exist on various websites, shot by different production teams. But in each video, they use the same costume, made by Zagone Studios in Illinois. The videos aren't produced by traditional adult entertainment studios, but are part of a cottage industry that makes porn commissioned by private fans. Much of this consumer-driven smut consists of foot worship, faux-incest, face-sitting, femdom flicks, and other more recognizable fetish categories. But what makes the sea monster genre unique is that the entire canon appears to have been commissioned by a single patron.

“There’s just this one German guy,” said Guda*, who co-runs Bitch Slap Studios and its “monsters, aliens, superheroines” imprint, Xxxtremecomixxx. Guda explained to me that this mystery man “has spent who knows how much money” to produce possibly all of the existing sea monster porn content.

It's impossible to say definitively that this man is the only person creating sea monster porn, but at the very least we know that he's creating the vast majority of it. It’s hard to tell exactly how many films the superfan has ordered because some custom videos are never released for general sale and others are tough to locate. But Cory Chase, of Ted Cruz Twitter porn fame, who runs the porn studio Cory Chase Customs, says he has made around two dozen films for the fan in recent years. Guda, who also works as a producer, director, and actor, has made about five dozen films for the fan since 2009. Guda also told me one of his colleagues, who used to produce clips at his own studio and now works at Bitch Slap Studios, has worked with the fan for even longer than that. But Guda couldn’t give me a specific range of years or number of films.

From $100 to upwards of $15,000, custom porn studios will make almost anything a fetishist wants (think: necro porn), so long as the customer provides them with a few specifications and the cash upfront to cover the costs. In this case, this mysterious fan sends a producer like Guda a script detailing the monster fucking that he wants to see and the costume from Zagone Studios.

(When I emailed Zagone to ask if they were aware that one of their costumes had become a feature of a sub-genre of fetish porn, a member of the sales and marketing team responded, “We did not know that our Sea Creature Costume was being used in pornographic films. We hope the actors find the costume comfortable, easy to wear, and that the audience enjoys the artistic beauty of the costume.")

I wanted to speak directly to the mystery fan and find out exactly what it is about monster fucking that he enjoys. So, I asked some of the studios he's worked with to pass along an interview request. Unfortunately, but perhaps understandably, he declined to talk about these videos or his interest in the scenarios they depict. And none of the producers I spoke with have ever discussed with the fan what he finds so alluring about the sea monster, either. He simply sends notes, the suit (if the company doesn’t have one already), and email clarifications when necessary.

However, Bitch Slap Studios provided me with notes he submitted to them for a recent hour-long sea monster shoot, which offers a little insight. “I just want wide open regular missionary without any fancy variations. Just a lot of angles from that basic pose,” reads the notes. "Either all of the girl and monster, mostly the girl and some monster, but never mostly the monster and some girl.” He takes great pains to specify that the girl should be naked throughout the shoot. He wants to see as much torso as possible, and he always wants to be able to see her face. Sim fucking, in which one performer just dry humps another, is fine. But if a cock is shown, he prefers the production team use a strap-on monster dildo (like something from Bad Dragon). The important thing, it seems, is seeing the woman reacting to the monster.

Ultimately, the final products vary significantly by studio, especially when it comes to their interpretation of the monster. In clips like The Horny Monster from Beyond (2014), Peachy Keen Films—a studio from which I’ve found about three dozen monster clips via one of their distribution channels—plays the character campy with the monster making wavy arm motions and screaming, “Nya nya!” Guda plays it more serious, with growling and menace in Sea Monster Got Me (2017) or Out of the Abyss (2017). Chase, who often plays the monster herself, uses a bright green strap-on for fucking in Alli Rae in Swamp Monster vs the Beauty (2014) and Melanie Hicks in the Swamp Monster Attacks (2016). The studio Chris’ Corner, on the other hand, just has a male performer dangle his pink, human dick out of the black slacks he wears under the monster shirt in A Monster Rape (2016). (This is the only monster video I have found from Chris’ Corner, but their archives are not easily searchable.) Although Chase’s videos almost always feature penetration with a dildo, Guda and others usually just stick to sim fucking.

The fan appears less fond of campiness, though. “I want a horror feel without any goofy/funny monster behavior,” he writes in the same order form. The abbreviated blow-by-blow of the scene specifies that the monster should roar and hiss. The actress “is terrified, so crying, pleading, struggling, etc. She hates it and shows it but lets him have his way with her from fear. Obvious looks of shock, terror, and fear from her... The monster gets off on her fear!”

We don't know what drives the customer behind the sea monster genre. But every producer I interviewed about monster fetishes like this—there is a broader canon out there of more widely consumed witch and vampire fuck films—suspected that their customers’ desires stemmed from some hardwiring that happened after watching a horror movie in their adolescence. In this fan’s case, seeing a beast carry away a breathy maiden, who is terrified at first but succumbs to the creature’s animalistic force—á la Dracula, King Kong, or Creature from the Black Lagoon—could have been a formative erotic experience. This makes some intuitive sense, because these creatures and their films are often sexually charged. The beast-eroticism connection theoretically gets baked-in and becomes a strong turn-on later in life.

Mark Griffiths, an expert in the psychology of sexual fetishes at Britain’s Nottingham Trent University, agreed with this broad speculative explanation. He told me, “Most research into the origins of paraphilias and fetishes suggests that it starts in childhood and adolescence via associative pairing of something sexual with a fetish object that is not normally considered sexual.”

Whatever’s driven this fan’s habits for so many years, he probably can’t keep the sub-genre afloat forever. Chase, in fact, said that orders have dropped off in recent years. Guda credits this to the fact that some studios, to make up for losses due to piracy and intense competition, have had to raise their rates. “He only orders from us when we have a local model that he likes, because it’s less expensive for him,” said Guda, rather than paying to fly in a performer from Los Angeles, Miami, or New York for a week of shoots.

Studios, however, may not miss the super fan’s business entirely. According to everyone I’ve spoken to who’s worn the costume, it's hot and hard to see out of, making even simulated fucking difficult. Plus, it involves growling and acting like a convincing monster-movie beast while trying to grind away on someone. “We had this one model who was wearing the costume for us, and she just quit altogether,” recalled Guda, “because she was just hating life” while wearing it.

While Chase said the sales on monster porn in general are pretty good, Guda notes that sea monster scenes sell like crap. His best-performing clip has seen maybe 80 or 90 downloads in five years. More people have probably accessed it via pirated copies, but that’s barely enough to cover basic pay for his cast and crew, which go beyond the production costs the fan's payments cover. For him, the sub-genre breaks even at best.

Basically, if this one patron ever drops out of the market, the entire sea monster porn genre would probably dry up. In some ways, it makes the genre unimpressive: It didn’t spark a trend, awaken widespread desires, or change even a niche audience’s perceptions of sexuality. But it does show how disruptive the custom porn model can be. All you need is one person with a few thousand dollars and a very specific kink. If they have the time and the desire, they can flood the market with content, making it seem to unsuspecting searchers as though their singular desires are legion.

“Sometimes I wonder,” said Guda, about what drives custom porn consumers. “But I could probably get into all sorts of crazy hypotheses about this stuff.” Best, he maintains, not to think too hard, and just roll with it.

*In the fetish world, some performers, producers, and directors go by mononyms or aliases. In those cases, we've used their preferred monikers.

Follow Mark Hay on Twitter .

One grim inevitability of our fame-obsessed culture is that one day all of our idols will die. And as their bodies pile up, the world will become one big celebrity boneyard.

And not just the humans. Toto is buried in LA's Hollywood Forever Cemetery. Keiko from Free Willy is decomposing off the coast of Norway. Harambe was donated to science. Air Bud is... huh. Where’s Air Bud’s grave?

A search on findagrave.com offers few details. The site—essentially a big database of gravesite locations—has an active community, with users regularly uploading photos of graves to the service, like a goth Instagram.

Air Bud’s page on the site features his black and white headshot. Users have posted over a thousand tribute comments, mostly small GIFs featuring images of puppies and rainbows. One user, named Pieter, has logged six comments in the last year. Under “burial location,” the page says, “Cremated, ashes given to family or friend, specifically: Ashes are buried in an undisclosed area by his owner.”

The location of Air Bud’s grave is important. After all, you can tell a lot about a society by how it honors its fallen heroes. Did he get only a crummy cement plaque? An elaborate tomb filled with valuable trinkets and comical booby-traps? Was he covertly rolled off a military ship into the Arabian Sea?

For those unfamiliar, Air Bud is a 1997 kids' movie about a golden retriever who can play basketball. It was made as a platform to showcase the skills of a dog called Buddy, who could actually sink baskets.

It isn’t the first movie to portray an animal playing a sport. There’s a whole genre of such films. Others include Bonzo Goes To College (1952), in which a chimp plays golf and football; Gus (1976) in which a mule from Yugoslavia plays football, Matilda (1978) in which a Kangaroo boxes, and Ed (1996) in which a monkey plays baseball.

Air Bud is by far the most successful film in the genre, making $27 million box office against a $3 million budget. And it remains relevant in pop culture; in recent years, a line from the film—“ain’t nothin’ in the rulebook that says a dog can’t play basketball”—became a meme, getting an XKCD reference and its own TV Tropes page.

(I reached out to numerous NBA refs to attempt to fact check whether there is anything in the rulebook that says a dog can't play basketball, but none of them answered. So I looked at the official NBA rules, and there is indeed nothing in the rulebook about dogs. So, as long as Buddy followed all the other regulations, it’s conceivable he could ball.)

The movie kicked off a fourteen-film franchise, including four “official” Air Bud films, focusing on the dog’s role in various other sports (football, soccer, baseball, and volleyball), and additional “Air Buddies” spin-off films in which Air Bud’s children (Buddy fucks) get into all sorts of crazy hijinks, eventually rocketing off into space.

It could be argued that none of the subsequent films in the franchise are canon. For one, they use digital effects to show the dogs playing sports, and they don’t star the original Buddy; all of the sequels were released after Buddy's 1998 death.

I started my search for Buddy's grave on Google Street View. My initial guess was that the ashes were buried on the property of Kevin DiCicco, the man who rescued and trained Buddy.

I found what I believed to be DiCicco’s address via an old real estate listing for a plot of land outside of San Diego.

I zoomed around in 3D view. The property has a football field and a basketball court. This seemed promising, the ideal location for training a new line of Air Buds. But stoned internet sleuthing can only take one so far. I couldn’t spot any obvious dog graves.

Buddy with Kevin Zegers in a scene from Air Bud. Photo via Walt Disney Pictures

The appearance of Air Bud is nearly as mysterious as the location of his remains. DiCicco was hiking in northern California when Buddy suddenly walked out of the woods, hungry and disheveled. After taking him home to San Diego, DiCicco decided to do what anyone else would: teach him basketball.

On August 21, 1990, after months of training, Air Bud sank his first shot. It should be noted that he only played basketball in a technical sense. That is to say, his central skill was shooting—though it’s kind of a stretch to call it that. The move went something like this: (1) A ball was passed to Buddy at the appropriate speed/trajectory (2) he “bumped” it with his nose and (3) the ball bounced off the backboard into the hoop. He was not able to dribble or aim or pass or play defense, and doesn’t appear to have understood the overall objective of the game.

Which isn't to say the trick was unimpressive. It definitely isn't easy to perform. You try standing on your knees below a regulation-sized rim, and clunking a basketball into it using only your big dumb head with any kind of proficiency. Besides, how many other basketball-playing dogs have you witnessed in your lifetime?

DiCicco rented a video camera, filmed Buddy completing his trick, and mailed two copies of the footage to the Late Show with David Letterman and America’s Funniest Home Videos. Both shows booked him.

The trick was a hit. DiCicco started getting offers to have Buddy to appear at NBA halftime shows, in marketing stunts for Pedigree dog food and Big Dogs clothing, and on Full House. DiCicco was eventually able to leverage this fame into a film deal with Disney, resulting in Air Bud.

Unfortunately, Buddy didn’t have much time to enjoy his success. According to a book about himthat DiCicco wrote, in late 1997, he developed a limp in his right hind leg, and a vet diagnosed him with synovial cell sarcoma. He had his leg amputated, and began undergoing chemotherapy treatments. After that, his decline was swift. In 1998, while taping a segment for Access Hollywood with his Air Bud co-star, Kevin Zegers, Buddy had a seizure, defecating and urinating on himself. It’s not clear if Access Hollywood caught it on film, but it’s possible that, like Brandon Lee’s death footage or the rumored racist Trump Apprentice tapes, it's still locked in a studio vault somewhere.

The cancer had spread to Buddy’s brain, and he was left blind in one eye. According to DiCicco's book, a skittish Disney was no longer interested in having Buddy help promote their hit film, as they feared the dog’s brush with mortality might traumatize children. DiCicco began planning his own sequel film, which he described to Entertainment Weekly as a “cross between Ferris Bueller and Home Alone” and would potentially star Pamela Anderson. It was never made.

Over the next few months, Buddy’s symptoms worsened as the cancer spread to his lungs. While picking up some new puppies in Cleveland, DiCicco got a late night phone call from his dogsitter back west: Air Bud had died.

After fruitlessly searching far and wide for contact details, I was eventually put in touch with DiCicco by a friend of mine who'd heard from him after writing a piece about Air Bud last year. I was nervous. It’s uncomfortable to call up a stranger and ask them where they buried their dead dog.

But that's what I did. DiCicco told me that, after Buddy died, he had a falling out with Disney. He didn’t want to go into detail about the litigation—which concerned who created the Air Bud character—but ultimately he had nothing to do with the sequels. This includes the direct-to-DVD sequel Snow Buddies, during the film of which five puppies died.

Watch:

DiCicco sounded tired when talking about the Air Bud experience, and said he wanted to move on. “We’ve already done everything we can with it,” he said. “There’s nothing left.” He’s working on a program outside of the Air Bud brand, that teaches shelter dogs various sports, the idea being that learning a skill like basketball might make the otherwise unwanted dogs more appealing, and help get them adopted. He’s been pitching the concept as a reality show or a potential brand tie-in with a pet store.

DiCicco also froze eleven vials of Buddy’s semen. There are still a couple vials of Air Bud cum left, stored in a freezer at the International Canine Semen Bank (Dicicco said Buddy has posthumously fathered three litters of puppies).

After Buddy passed, DiCicco planned on taking his remains to Northern California. “I was going to bury him at my cabin, where he came from.” Unfortunately, the timing didn’t work out. It was in the middle of winter, and there was too much snow on the ground. “I mentally wasn’t prepared for that.”

DiCicco no longer owns the land I'd been trying to find on Street View—which he calls "Buddy Farm." I asked if that was where they spread his ashes. “No, we did not do that there,” he said, “that was more of a beach thing, but that’s something I don’t really make public.”

I tried to ask him the location several times, but he’d only give me vague answers, then change the subject. He talked about his dream of one day buying Buddy Farm back (if he can get his shelter dog training concept off the ground), about maybe one day opening an Air Bud museum (“we have all this memorabilia…”), and about the complications of getting Buddy a star on the Walk of Fame (though he definitely deserves one).

Eventually, he told me he'd spread the ashes on Pacific Beach in San Diego, but wouldn't be more specific. It wasn’t an exact location, but it was good enough. I started to feel cruel for asking. He was obviously still affected by the death of Buddy. Who isn’t?

We might never know the exact location of Air Bud’s tomb. Maybe that’s okay. Heroes are more than their corporeal forms. Their myths live on long after their withered bodies are covered in topsoil. Still, I like to think that after his ashes were spread on that beach—wherever it was—they made their way into the air and sea, and now Air Bud is a part of us all.

Follow Joe Veix on Twitter.

After Oprah's incredible Golden Globes speech on Sunday, some people started pushing for the entertainment mogul to run for president in 2020. VICELAND's Desus and Mero, however, wholly disagree.

On Monday's episode, the hosts talked about fans' social media bid for a Winfrey administration and why it'd be a very bad idea to elect another Hollywood president.

You can watch the latest episode of Desus & Mero for free online now, and be sure to catch new episodes weeknights at 11 PM on VICELAND.

Everything you need to now about the world this morning, curated by VICE.

US News

Mueller Reportedly Wants to Interview Trump
The president’s lawyers are considering an interview with the special counsel team looking into Russian election interference, according to anonymous sources. One described negotiations over the format as a “collaborative approach.” Trump’s legal team is reportedly exploring alternatives to a sit-down interview, including written answers or a signed affidavit.—NBC News

The Department of Homeland announced Monday that around 200,000 people from El Salvador in the US with Temporary Protected Status must leave the country by September 9, 2019 or face possible deportation. The special status was granted back in 2001 after earthquakes devastated the Central American nation. El Salvador’s Foreign Minister Hugo Martínez said his country would “focus on the US Congress” in the hopes legislation might prevent mass deportations.— VICE News / The Washington Post

A new report by the National Centers for Environmental Information (NCEI) said the cost of dealing with last year’s extreme weather and climate events in the US amounted to $306 billion—the highest toll on record. The nation was hit with 16 different billion-dollar events last year. The report also noted 2017 was the third-hottest year ever recorded in the US.—VICE News

SpaceX Might Have Lost Its Secret Government Satellite
The Zuma satellite launched Sunday by Elon Musk’s company on behalf of an unknown government agency did not go into orbit and is believed lost. Lawmakers in Congress have reportedly been briefed on the failed mission. Northrup Grumman, the contractor who constructed the satellite, said: “We cannot comment on classified missions.”—The Wall Street Journal / CBS News

International News

North Korea to Compete in Winter Olympics
Officials from North and South Korea have agreed that Pyongyang will send athletes, delegates, journalists, and supporters to the Games next month following talks in their demilitarized zone. South Korean officials said they had proposed further discussions about the North’s nuclear program. The talks, the first between the two countries since 2015, resumed Tuesday.—BBC News

Syrian Military Says Israel Attacked Arms Base
Israel launched air missiles and ground-to-ground rockets at a weapons stash near the capital of Damascus. Syrian armed forces claimed their own air defense system blocked some strikes and that at least one Israeli rocket was shot down. Israel had not addressed the claims.—Haaretz

France Launches Investigation into iPhone Slowdown
A leading official consumer watchdog will lead a probe into Apple’s admission that older iPhones perform increasingly slowly over time. A prosecutor was looking to investigate the allegation made by a French consumer rights group that the feature is part of the company’s deliberate “obsolescence” of products. Lawsuits have already been filed in the US.—Reuters

Tunisian Demonstrator Dies After Protest
One 55-year-old man died and five others were hurt after anti-government campaigners clashed with police in Tebourba outside the Tunisian capital of Tunis. The interior ministry said it was likely the victim died after inhaling tear gas. Protests have taken place across the country following tax hikes in the January 1 budget.—Al Jazeera

Everything Else

The Weeknd Cuts Ties with H&M Over Racist Ad
The artist said he was “deeply offended” by the clothing retailer’s ad showing a black boy wearing a hoodie that read “Coolest Monkey in the Jungle." The Weeknd said he will no longer work with the company. H&M apologized for the now-deleted ad, which appeared on its British website, and has also pulled the product.—Noisey

TBS Cancels Louis C.K.’s Animated Comedy
The network has officially ditched The Cops, a C.K.-produced show initially suspended after he admitted the sexual harassment allegations against him were true. The show’s production company FX has also severed its connection to the comedian.—The Hollywood Reporter

‘The Shape of Water’ Leads BAFTA Nominations
Guillermo Del Toro’s movie received 12 nominations for the British Academy of Film and Television Arts’ 2018 awards. Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri and Darkest Hour are both up for nine awards at February's ceremony in London.—Variety

‘Get Out’ College Course to Become Webinar
The UCLA course on Jordan Peele’s acclaimed movie, entitled “The Sunken Place: Racism, Survival, and Black Horror,” is to be made available as a public webinar. The six, non-credit lectures cost $348 to view.—i-D

Billionaire to Spend $40 Million in Bid to Impeach Trump
Former hedge fund manager Tom Steyer said he will spend $30 million on boosting youth turnout and another $20 million on his “Need to Impeach” campaign. Steyer has already spent $20 million on TV ads since Otober.—VICE News

Make sure to check out the latest episode of VICE's daily podcast. Today we’re revisiting the FCC’s net neutrality repeal and taking a look at how states are fighting back.

There are plenty of great national anthems out there—the Brazilian national anthem is beautiful, "O Canada" slaps, and "La Marseillaise" is so good that it can double as a movie musical number. "The Star-Spangled Banner," however, is notoriously hard to sing because of its overly wide range filled with confusing lyrics about an old military skirmish. Still, it's America's national song, and everybody is expected to learn it even if they don't know what a rampart is.

Everybody except Trump, apparently.

On Monday, the president tried to sing along with the national anthem at the college football national championship game in Atlanta—and it seemed like the guy could barely remember the words.

As the Zac Brown Band played "The Star-Spangled Banner" before kickoff at the Mercedes-Benz Stadium, Trump stood on the field and fumbled his way through the song. Unfortunately, the president wasn't mic'd, so we can't actually hear him sing, but ABC News caught him attempting to mouth some of the lyrics and trailing off for others.

From the look of the footage, Trump misses the first few words of the anthem, jumping in for a strong "...you see" and mumbles his way through the song until the line "at the twilight's last gleaming" completely throws him off. He appears to try to jump back into the song a few times, but never quite nails it.

Whether he forgot the words, or was just having strange issues with his teeth again, it's not a great look for a guy who spent the weekend ranting about how "like, really smart" he is. But even if Trump does actually know all the words to the national anthem, he gave a pretty low-energy performance of a song he continually says deserves respect.

Watch the bizarre rendition above, via ABC News.

Michael Wolff’s book encapsulating the insanity of the first year of the Trump presidency proved to be so popular that it’s causing other books to be best sellers as well.

That’s the case for a decade-old book written by University of Toronto professor, Dr. Randall Hansen, about the Allied bombing of German forces in World War II which finds itself back on three history bestseller lists on Amazon.

Hansen, who is the interim director of the Munk School of Global Affairs at the U of T, published the book in 2009. To give Hansen credit, it’s time first out the book was a well-received Canadian bestseller and even nominated for a Governor's General award but none of that is driving the sales these days.

What is driving the sales are people—hungry as hell for the messy ass White House drama between America’s special boy and his army of sycophants—who can’t tell the difference between a book about World War II and Trump’s face. Wolff’s book—which has itself been bolstered by media hype, a White House cease and desist, and Trump tweets—is doing massive sales (even the pirated copies online are rivaling TV and video games in a way that few books outside of Harry Potter ever do).

A screenshot on the Fire and Fury's Amazon page. Photo via Screenshot.

Hansen said that he first saw the spike in sales late last week when, after joking about his book doing well he decided to check. Upon doing so he saw that it had shot up three Amazon bestseller lists. Hansen said he doesn’t currently know just how many copies of his book moved but will know how much his book gets when he gets his royalty check next month.

In a nice twist, Hansen told the CBC that an underlying theme in his book is the morality of war and that he hopes people reading about Trump—a man no stranger to threatening to bomb the shit out of far away places—will walk away with a newfound understanding of the horror of war.

“It’s amusing but my sales don’t matter,” said Hansen. “What I hope will happen is that at a moment where we have this unstable demagogue threatening war that people who read my book will reflect on the morality of war on and the horrific consequences of war for civilians.”

“If that happens, this all would have been not only fun but also worth it.”

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The loneliness and longing one feels in the wake of a fresh breakup can be overwhelming. What better way to relieve the misery and pain than by reconnecting with the one who broke your heart?

A recent study showed that nearly 50 percent of young adults have attempted at least one reconciliation with an ex. While it can be a recipe for disaster if done hastily or for the wrong reasons, getting back together isn’t always an Emoji Movie-level terrible idea. If both people have spent time working through their issues, a reconciliation might even make sense. But it’s a big decision that should be met with careful consideration.

Before you rush into your ex’s arms (or inbox), it’s essential to have a strategy. We asked dating coaches, relationship experts, and therapists about what to keep in mind when getting back together with a former flame. Taken together, the experts’ advice offers a useful roadmap for anyone who’s interested in giving their boo another go. Answers have been edited for length and clarity.

Time Is On Your Side

You know you’re ready when you've had enough time away from your ex to work through what went wrong in the relationship. This is months or years, not days or weeks. Another time to consider it is when you see signs of positive change in yourself and in your partner, change that pertains to whatever split you up in the first place. For example, if you split up because one partner didn't want to get married and the other did, one partner has to have changed their view on that, or a rekindling won't work. Learn from the past. If you think the passage of time or "some time apart" is enough to solve the problems, you'll probably wind up broken up again. If you want to know that your partner has changed, actions speak louder than words. If he or she has changed, you'll see it in their behavior and actions. – Christie Hartman , Dating and relationship expert

Want Success? Look for Signs of Change

Although there are a myriad of reasons that cause a relationship to break, being confidant that those circumstances have changed is key to future success. Internal changes such as self-awareness, breaking old patterns, renewed vulnerability and trust, and healing from the past sets us up for a new experience with a familiar person. Also, external changes such as career, effective communication, and overall timing support a successful second chance. Getting back together with an ex partner can be likened to repairing an emotional injury. A successful relationship is not disqualified because it did not work initially, success comes in how you repair it. Repair it well! – Akua Boateng , M.S., LPC, Licensed Psychotherapist

Brutal Honesty is Key

Think long and hard before you try to get back together with an ex. You really need to be brutally honest with yourself about why you’re trying to get back with them. Is it just a case of golden-aging your previous relationship? Why did you break up with them in the first place? Have you actually healed from things or are you still holding onto the hurts and grievances? If you get angry, are you going to throw their past sins back in their face? Are you absolutely sure you’re ready for a relationship with the person who they are now, rather than who they used to be? If the two of you can’t talk about what happened and each own your part of the break-up––as well as forgive one another and yourselves––then all you’re doing is guaranteeing you’re going to have a rerun of the old conflicts. - Harris O'Malley aka Dr. NerdLove , Dating Expert

Making a New (Old) Relationship Work

For any great relationship, you need a combination of things: honesty, empathy, compassion, loyalty. But if you are starting over with a past love, you'll need all that plus a few critical things, which all relationships need: open, honest communication, a willingness to be wrong, discussing and releasing the past, and surrendering control. You can get back together with love, listening, acceptance, and empathy as your guides. Just keep your eyes open so you can avoid past situations and mistakes. – Charles J. Orlando , relationship expert and co-host of “Seven Year Switch” on Lifetime

Slow Your Roll on Social Media

If you’re thinking about getting back with your ex, take it slow. Enjoy creating new memories and respect the different perspectives you might have. Don’t rush into changing your relationship status to “in a relationship” or start posting pics all over social media until you both know for sure and you think it will stick. No one really wants to know “it’s complicated." It’s easy to recycle an ex at the holidays or after a fresh breakup. But before you start to follow, friend, and obsess about your ex and your new bright future together on social media, take it one step at a time. – Julie Spira , Online Dating Expert and Dating Coach

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This article originally appeared on VICE Denmark

Rachid Moutiq is 29 years old, has a BA in journalism and lives with bipolar disorder. About 40,000 Danes and 4 million Brits have had the same or a similar diagnosis, but as is often the case with mental illness, there's still a lot of stigma around it.

Rachid and I went to high school together, where he did exceptionally well. I always considered him a genius, one of the smartest and most promising people I knew. But life, so far, hasn't turned out for him the way we all expected; being bipolar has made it difficult for Rachid to hold down a traditional job.

Recently, he moved from Copenhagen back to the countryside to be closer to his family. I spoke to Rachid to hear how the disorder has affected every aspect of his life.

VICE: What was it like to get your diagnosis?
Rachid Moutiq: I got it about a year ago, and it was such a relief, at first. I'd been misdiagnosed so often over the years, so it felt great to finally know what's going on with me. But that feeling subsided when I realised how serious the diagnosis is. When you're bipolar, you feel like a pendulum swinging between being extremely self-critical and awkward, and suddenly having the most immense confidence. I convinced myself that I always had to feel great, confident and energetic, and it was tough to face the fact that my mania is as harmful as the depression. In order to be healthy I have to find balance, but that balanced state doesn't come naturally to me, and the thought of it bores me a bit.

What's it like to be manic?
Early on in my manic states, I am the best version of myself. I do everything faster and don't get tired or sad. I'm not able to sleep, but I also don't feel the need to. It's like living in an upbeat movie montage: you don’t have to think – you just do, and everything is awesome. You talk a lot and have a hard time waiting for people to answer. You're superhuman, you're hilarious, you're the centre of attention and loving it. If someone isn't giving you their undivided attention, you don't take it personally – you just think they're missing out. I guess that, in many ways, it's like being on cocaine.

Rachid. Photo by Roseann Sabla

Why is the mania as bad as depression, then?
There are two main reasons. The first one is that if you're manic long enough, eventually the same thing happens as when you're doing coke for a few days straight – you become paranoid, out of control. After a manic episode, my brain just snaps and the depression hits. Secondly, you do things that are out of character when you’re manic. You make important decisions about your life, money and relationships in a split second, and that can ruin your life.

I once gambled away 15,000 DKK [£1,790] and the bank closed my account. Hyper-sexuality is also a symptom – I've had manic sex in public spaces with people whose names I didn't even know. It can ruin your relationships, your friendships and your career. It’s not uncommon for people to quit their jobs when they're manic because they don't want to be tied down, only to deeply regret it when the episode is over.

How does being bipolar affect your day-to-day?
This diagnosis affects everything. I often can't sleep – I was awake for two-and-a-half days once, and when I finally fell asleep I slept for 20 hours straight. You lose control of your body. When I’m manic I have to remind myself to eat – and when I do eat, I have to remind myself to stop.

Then, when I'm depressed, I interpret everything completely differently. Simply getting up in the morning and going to work is a challenge. Your reflexes aren't great, so you can hardly drive a car. I have experienced depression so severe that I was struggling to even slice off a loaf of bread. I had so little energy that it seemed impossible to hold the bread and slice it with the knife. When you feel like that you don't have the energy to shower – you don't even think you deserve to be clean.

WATCH: 10 Questions You Always Wanted to Ask an Undercover Drugs Cop

How does being bipolar affect your relationship to other people?
It's difficult to be close to people, because you can't give what you are expected to in social exchanges. When I’m depressed I feel people are wasting their love on me – simply meeting someone you know on the street and saying hi can be very hard. And that's if you even manage to go outside. When you're depressed it doesn’t matter how much your friend wants you to come to a party, you're not able to leave the house regardless of how hard you try. You are dealing with very low energy and very high anxiety.

What's dating like?
When you're manic or depressed, a partner can easily take your mental state personally, feel like they've done something wrong. The inconsistency of your mood can make them nervous around you. People have told me, "I never know what to expect from you," which makes sense – I also don't know what to expect from me. It's understandable that your loved ones get frustrated, angry and sad when you start shielding yourself from the outside world, but it also means that you become more isolated, which makes you feel worse.

In what way has the illness affected your career?
I have no on/off switch, so I can’t regulate how much energy I use. A lot of people with bipolar disorder are extremely creative and skilled, but they can only work in a constant creative stream that doesn't end at 6PM – and if you don't manage your work flow, you'll burn out. A traditional workplace expects you to be consistent, to get up at the same time every day and to handle the same amount of work. I don't think people are meant to do that every day – you don't need a mental disorder to feel that way – but it feels more trying with bipolar disorder. I'll never be able to attend work that regularly or always have the same productivity, but I can see myself in a proper job in the future – though it'll be difficult.

Rachid and a colleague on location in the Philippines during the filming of a documentary in 2014. Photo: Gabriel Lorenzo Pagcaliwagan

Are you worried that your children might have bipolar disorder?
Oh yeah, absolutely. It can be hereditary, so I'm giving a lot of thought to whether I should bring children into this world. I've felt life wasn't worth living so many times. Being born is not a choice you make yourself, so I'm always wondering whether I can justify giving life to a person who may some day resent their existence, just as I have.

What are the worst prejudices you deal with?
People tend to be quite understanding in general. But the worst is when you're told that you can just snap out of depression, that it's just a matter of pulling yourself together. I think every depressed person has internalised that idea in some way. Despite having lived with this for years, I still sometimes wonder if my depression isn't just a case of me being lazy.

There's a lot of that sentiment in the media, too – you hear "experts" explain how they were depressed, but then started working out and read some motivational quotes and then it all worked out. If that's what solved it, they didn't actually suffer from depression. Another specific prejudice about people with bipolar disorder is that they can't be trusted, that they're manipulative liars. When you're bipolar, you're definitely not completely reliable, but that’s not the same thing.

Can you be cured of bipolar disorder?
It's a chronic illness, so that won't happen. It's one of the most important lessons I have to learn – it never stops, it won't go away. If you think you're over it and start ignoring the signs, you run the risk of falling into deep depression or severe mania. I'm still haunted by the idea of life being unbearable, but I’m getting better. I’m optimistic, but the most brutal aspect of being bipolar is the fact that you can be on the right path, but one single slip-up can catapult you back to square one. It's like drug or alcohol abuse, in that regard.

The 24-year-old Canadian man who allegedly killed his former girlfriend and confessed to the crime on Reddit is now in court. Ager Hasan, of Hamilton, Ontario, had previously been arrested in Texas while on the run following the stabbing death of 22-year-old Melinda Vasilije. Hasan returned to Canada via police escort on Friday, January 5 after a Texas judge ordered him to be extradited in November.

He is facing second-degree murder and three counts of breach of recognizance.

Hasan appeared in a Canadian courtroom for the first time in relation to the case Monday morning. He was wearing brown pants and a white shirt and was seen speaking with his lawyer, CBC News reports.

Vasilije was found stabbed to death in the apartment she shared with a friend on April 28, 2017 in Kitchener, Ontario. That same day, Hasan crossed the US border around 6 AM and was later spotted allegedly swapping licence plates with another vehicle in a Walmart parking lot in Erie County, Pennsylvania. A Canada-wide warrant was issued for Hasan.

On May 2, a Reddit post claiming to be authored by Hasan appeared. It included detailed information about the murder, a number of photos of Hasan and Vasilije, and screenshots of text message conversations.

"The fact is no one is more destroyed than I am. She was more than a girlfriend, a soon to be fiance, she was my everything. What happened that night was nothing but tragic," read a portion of the post, which was removed and the user (Redasblue101) suspended. According to the post, Hasan and Vasilije had been going through a breakup and were fighting.

In addition to Hasan’s alleged Reddit and Instagram posts while he was on the run, he also supposedly kept in contact with investigators on social media and via email.

A screenshot of an Instagram post appearing to be authored by Hasan (screenshot via Instagram)

After a sighting of Hasan was reported in Tennessee, cops had said that the murder suspect might be headed to Mexico. This statement led to Hasan taking to his Instagram in June to deny this claim, as well as to post a selfie video with no sound, a photo of him and Vasilije captioned "I regret everything negative I ever did to you" (deleted soon after), and a dark gif of a human figure turning to liquid.

Hasan was eventually arrested in San Antonio on July 11, 2017.

His next court appearance is scheduled for Monday, January 15. There is a publication ban on court proceedings.

The airport is a goddamn nightmare this time of year. Brutal winter weather has wiped out hundreds of flights, left JFK flooded, and stirred up a horde of pissed-off passengers in its wake. With stress levels at an all-time high this travel season, it's no surprise that fed-up airport patrons around the country have started to take matters into their own hands.

A prime example: On Monday, police in Florida responded to a man who had somehow wound up sprinting across the tarmac at Miami International Airport, WSVN reports. At first, people were worried the incident was some kind of terrifying security breach, but it turns out that the guy was just lost.

Miami-Dade Police said the man, who was spotted sprinting across the runways after hopping a fence, had been dropped off at the airport in the afternoon to fill out a job application, but apparently wound up in the wrong place. That's when he reportedly decided he had to scale the airport's perimeter, hop down onto the tarmac, and high-tail it across in what he claimed was a "shortcut," cops said.

The whole thing prompted cops to arrive in minutes, while local news channels sent choppers flying overhead to check out the scene. A handful of officers managed to track the man down and detain him, and he was cuffed, questioned, and then placed in the back of a cruiser.

According to CBS Miami, the FBI is helping local police get to the bottom of what went down on Monday, and authorities insist MIA isn't under any kind of threat. It's not clear what charges the guy could face for making a mad dash through a restricted airport area, or if his short-sighted determination will have any bearing on whether he gets the airport job or not.

Follow Drew Schwartz on Twitter.

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