[body_image width='1500' height='877' path='images/content-images/2015/03/25/' crop='images/content-images-crops/2015/03/25/' filename='after-surviving-a-suicide-bomb-attack-an-israeli-artist-and-his-partner-are-turning-shrapnel-into-powerful-new-media-art-body-image-1427300363.jpg' id='39724']

All images courtesy of the artists

When a suicide bomber grabbed Omer Golan in a deadly embrace, Omer didn't immediately think "bomb." It was a lazy Friday afternoon in the northern West Bank, and Omer was a 20-year-old soldier doing mandatory service with the Israeli Army. He was a young man with dreams of becoming a musician. That afternoon in 2000, he was playing a game of backgammon with a female soldier when a Palestinian man standing near a bus stop charged at him, shouting something incoherent.

"I had a suicide bomber hugging me with 15 pounds of explosives between us," Omer said. "It felt like a hug. Maybe he didn't want to die alone."

But when the man grabbed Omer, he paradoxically saved Omer's life. The trajectory a bomb traverses is upwards and outwards, Omer explained, and Omer's proximity to his attacker meant that while the suicide bomber was ripped apart by the explosion, Omer's body was left mostly intact. When he came to minutes later, his back was on fire. To put it out, he laid down on the only wet thing the dry landscape presented him with—pieces of the suicide bomber's dismembered body.

Three weeks later, Omer woke up in an Israeli hospital with shrapnel embedded throughout his body, chronic tinnitus, and a left hand that he could no longer feel. Becoming a musician was now out of the question. Omer had to find another means of artistic self-expression. Today, 15 years later, he is one of the most interesting artists experimenting with new media.

In some ways, Omer Golan's journey started a couple of years after the suicide bombing that almost claimed his life, with a woman named Tal Kertcher. Now Tal Golan, Omer proposed to her after the couple had been dating for a mere five days. The couple has been together for 13 years and goes by OMTA—an acronym of their names. They stand at the forefront of new media art: art that engages the viewer through a variety of digital technologies. With a Google collaboration and a commission from the Tel Aviv Museum of Art under their belt, OMTA are creating some of the most innovative art to come out of Israel. If Omer's body was once the site of a deeply intimate act of terrorism, OMTA's work makes the personal political, and the political deeply personal.

[body_image width='2220' height='1500' path='images/content-images/2015/03/25/' crop='images/content-images-crops/2015/03/25/' filename='after-surviving-a-suicide-bomb-attack-an-israeli-artist-and-his-partner-are-turning-shrapnel-into-powerful-new-media-art-body-image-1427300251.jpg' id='39720']

I met Omer and Tal Golan at the IMC Gallery, a media lab in the Flatiron District, where they are artists in residence. Tal is intense, with blue eyes and light hair. Her body seems to emphasize her thoughts, as though her posture is asking you, "Are you hearing what I'm saying?" Omer is a big man, with dark eyes, an a-symmetrical haircut, and a gentleness that suffuses the space around him. The couple have a dialectical dynamic, perfected over 13 years of personal and artistic collaboration. Though they don't agree on everything, they frequently finish each other's sentences. Both grew up in the suburbs of Tel Aviv.

"We started as painters," Omer told me, passing Tal the cup of coffee he was drinking from.

"That's not accurate," Tal interjected, sipping from the cup and passing it back.

She reminded Omer that he started as a writer of short stories and poems before his injury. But after the attack, he became deeply disenchanted with his homeland, and he stopped writing in Hebrew. "Many things about the country got mixed together with the negative feelings and PTSD that I was starting to feel and experience about the place," he explained. He needed a new medium.

Omer and Tal became painters together. Omer went to see a half-uncle living in an artist village in the Northern Israel, who had visited Omer when he was in the hospital. When Omer saw the half-uncle's paintings for the first time, it was a turning point.

"And all of a sudden, I saw a medium that could replace music for me," Omer recalled.

But Tal hesitated to take up painting. "I didn't feel safe with this medium," Tal explained. "What if I'm not good enough?"

Meanwhile, Omer had gone out and purchased canvases, brushes, paint. "He took himself so seriously," Tal recalled, which baffled her at first. "How can you say you're an artist?" She remembers thinking. But Omer told her, "Look, I'm just an artist, because that's just what I do, it's all I do, so I'm an artist."

They spent that first night painting for 14 hours straight. "It was magical, it was fun, it was everything I was looking for in creation," Omer said. "So we started painting every day."

A curator saw the work, and was impressed. She told the couple to come back with 50 paintings and she would throw an exhibition for them. So Tal moved in with Omer and the couple started painting nonstop. They would drink wine and paint side by side on the balcony of their south Tel Aviv apartment, the voices of drunken prostitutes drifting up from the street. Sometimes they would paint on the same canvas, sometimes on different canvases. Tal tended to paint naked women, while Omer's paintings were more abstract, often involving poems he had written, the first in what would become a career of radical intermediary works. "The painting was the poem," Tal explained.

But the couple found the art culture in Israel discouraging. It was a young culture, they said, a cynical culture. Even worse, people wouldn't talk about their art, a conversation the couple desperately wanted. People seemed afraid to express themselves, afraid of sounding stupid.

[body_image width='1000' height='625' path='images/content-images/2015/03/25/' crop='images/content-images-crops/2015/03/25/' filename='after-surviving-a-suicide-bomb-attack-an-israeli-artist-and-his-partner-are-turning-shrapnel-into-powerful-new-media-art-body-image-1427300421.png' id='39725']

So they left. After an unsuccessful trip to India (the couple were too bothered by the suffering, the "Biblical diseases in the streets," to paint), Tal and Omer moved to the Netherlands, and for four years, they painted. They were very poor. They lived hand to mouth. An Iraqi baker would shovel extra loaves of bread into their bag, and told them to come at the end of the day for leftovers. Omer gave him a painting. And then someone would show up and buy six or seven paintings and suddenly there was money for six months.

Meanwhile, as they searched for ways to make the situations they were painting more "real," the couple found themselves eager to venture into new media. In the Netherlands, their friends included a computer science student. One day, while fantasizing about an artistic project, the friend said, "I can do that with code." "I said, 'Code?'" Omer recalled. It was another turning point for the couple.

In 2006, forced to return to Israel for more surgeries for Omer, the couple took a course in coding for artists, and began to venture into the art form that would make their name.

In 2012, they collaborated with Google on an artwork. They approached Google and suggested creating the worlds' first net-based artwork for Liquid Galaxy. The result was Plant a Comment, a multi-dimensional virtual world into which the viewer sends a text message with a thought or message, which is immediately transcribed into words that appear as the branch of a tree in the virtual world. The comment is analyzed semantically, and the trees grow based on topic—topics more frequently commented upon have bigger trees. "In that exhibition it was sex," Omer said with a laugh.

"No, it was love!" Tal corrected.

"Physical love," Omer insisted.

Either way, it was the perfect antidote to Omer and Tal's frustration with the Tel Aviv art world. If people were reluctant to discuss their art in the past, in Plant a Comment their discussion was the art. The couple, so hungry for conversation and for a window into the minds of their viewers, so anxious to turn viewers from passive consumers into active participants, had now turned that desire into the artwork itself, creating a virtual forest of public opinion (the couple also used a stork flying through the virtual world to tell their parents that Tal was pregnant). The piece is not only interactive, but joyous, modern, calming, and vibrant. Google later donated the piece to the Jerusalem Bloomfield Science Museum for a permanent exhibition.

The couple used new media to explore a darker side of human nature in a piece commissioned by the Tel Aviv Museum of Art. Between You and Me is a digital portrait that gradually transforms into a portrait of the viewer as she stands before it. The piece, an unassuming, 40-inch screen, was hanging at the back of an exhibit full of famous paintings by storied artists, but the line that wrapped around the gallery was for OMTA's piece. People literally lined up to see themselves as art. They took selfies of the portrait, and posted the photo as their profile image to Facebook.

"People are infatuated with their own image," Omer explained. "But it was great because they created a performance."

"We were collaborating with the audience," Tal said.

"A collaborative performance of human narcissism," I suggested.

"Exactly that!" Omer agreed, but Tal disagreed.

"It's a huge part of modern human life," she said. "Look at Facebook. People are exposing themselves, they want to show me, me, me. I want to get likes! I want to get comments about me!"

As opposed to the paltry reaction to their paintings, the couple found that viewers engaged the new media projects, were excited by them. Another work exhibited in Russia featured a screen shot of Youtube with the video box replaced by a live video feed of the gallery. Visitors began to behave in incredible ways, believing themselves to be on Youtube. Men did push-ups. Women danced topless. The promise of millions of viewers had them vying for attention not from the artist but from the camera they believed to be trained on them.

"People connected to it immediately," Omer said.

"They feel safe," Tal agreed. "It reminds them of their television show, their computers."

[body_image width='1024' height='768' path='images/content-images/2015/03/25/' crop='images/content-images-crops/2015/03/25/' filename='after-surviving-a-suicide-bomb-attack-an-israeli-artist-and-his-partner-are-turning-shrapnel-into-powerful-new-media-art-body-image-1427300127.jpg' id='39716']

My first encounter with new media art happened when I sat down in OMTA's studio. An invisible camera was aimed, by accident or intention, right at the spot where I sat. On a screen poised before me, hanging over the artists heads, a version of myself—jerky, in two second delay, on repeat—accosted me repeatedly throughout the two hours I spent with OMTA. It was unnerving, disturbing, and deeply flattering at the same time.

Later, Omer walked me over to a corner of the room with enough light to show me Between You and Me. The portrait of Omer slowly morphed into a portrait of me in autumn colors that were extremely flattering. The intimacy of being painted by an artist had been replaced with an erotic spark between me and myself, mediated by a computer screen. It was instantly clear to me why people had taken photos of themselves rendered so well, so justly, by Omer's code. It was also terrifying.

[body_image width='1200' height='675' path='images/content-images/2015/03/25/' crop='images/content-images-crops/2015/03/25/' filename='after-surviving-a-suicide-bomb-attack-an-israeli-artist-and-his-partner-are-turning-shrapnel-into-powerful-new-media-art-body-image-1427300233.jpg' id='39718']

The couple now live in New York, because despite their success, living in Israel was difficult. "Everything was tarnished because of my injury," Omer said. He didn't want to raise his family in Israel. He had severe PTSD which was exacerbated by being in Israel and would come up unexpectedly. He couldn't bring himself to ride buses, because he knew they could blow up. He wouldn't even stop his car near a bus. But a performance piece he and Tal were working on would force him to encounter his worst fears.

The piece was called Jerusalems, and what the artists hoped to achieve was two halves of an orchestra playing a piece of music on either side of the West Bank wall that separates Israel from the Palestinian territories, with the other half projected via camera feed onto the wall. The wall, which originally gave Omer comfort in its promise to keep out terrorists, had come to symbolize the dehumanization of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict on both sides. For Jerusalems, Omer needed to find a spot on the Palestinian side of the wall that would work, and he didn't trust anyone else's judgment. He forced himself to travel to the West Bank, where he spent a long weekend with Palestinians. It worked as a kind of prolonged exposure therapy. At first, seeing everything in Arabic and walking amongst Palestinians, Omer got flashbacks of the attack and felt horribly panicked. But pretty soon, the panic let up. "Things kind of slowed down," he remembered. "You start speaking to people and you realize, they're the same people." The prolonged exposure cured him of his anxiety attacks, even when he returned to Israel.

While in Palestine and back in Israel, Omer met Palestinians who have a lot of pain and anger towards Israelis. Nevertheless, privately, when hearing Omer's story, many apologized. Some cried. Omer met a man who had built a bomb that didn't detonate, who then felt remorse and went to jail for four years. "It was surreal, being in Palestine, speaking to a guy who used to be a terrorist," Omer said. But he was overwhelmed by how similar he was to the would-be bomber. More importantly, he realized how difficult life on the other side of the wall is.

"Their reality is so extreme," Tal explained. "We in Israel can't even imagine."

Jerusalems eventually fell through. Omar attributes this to the Palestinian musicians getting pressured by activists not to participate.

Their current project, now in development, returns to Omer's traumatic episode 15 years ago. We Live for Tomorrow is a model for a children's playground made from large-scale replicas of the shrapnel pulled from Omer's body.

[body_image width='1192' height='980' path='images/content-images/2015/03/25/' crop='images/content-images-crops/2015/03/25/' filename='after-surviving-a-suicide-bomb-attack-an-israeli-artist-and-his-partner-are-turning-shrapnel-into-powerful-new-media-art-body-image-1427299979.jpg' id='39711']

To explain the new piece, Omer pulled out a small plastic container with a green top. He unscrewed the top and poured onto his desk four pieces of shrapnel retrieved from his body that he carries with him in his backpack. I picked one up. It was black and smooth and heavier than I had expected.

Still, We Live for Tomorrow is not a political project. It's personal, built from Omer's body. The piece is about searching for transformation. "How do you take objects that cause you grief and anxiety and stress and trauma, and make them something with positive connotations?" Omer asked. "How do you break the connection between trauma and the object? One way is to make it beautiful." OMTA started by playing around with the X-rays, making them into beautiful photos. "Then we thought, let's take it to the next level, a physical object you can touch and experience. From there, an idea of a playground arose, something kids can play on."

The piece continues their earlier model of participatory art, but it's less cynical than the early works. It's an invitation to transform pain into play, rather than an exposure of narcissism.

Over time, Omer has come to view the terrorist who tried to kill him in a different light. While he never justifies what the man tried to do to him, he says he understands him. "I can understand being desperate," he explained. "Maybe not to that level, but that's because I'm privileged." And though he paid for that desperation with his body, Omer has found reserves of understanding within himself. "I guess if I was Palestinian now, I would probably be in some kind of resistance."

Follow Batya Ungar-Sargon on Twitter.

[body_image width='1024' height='687' path='images/content-images/2015/03/27/' crop='images/content-images-crops/2015/03/27/' filename='erotic-hypnosis-body-image-1427467539.png' id='40525']

Illustration via Flickr user Esther Kirby

Does the idea of a deviant witch putting you under an erotic spell turn you on? Being kept in a mental prison by transgressive powers that far exceed your own resistance, begging, transforming, and coming at the snap of her fingers? Your mind turned to putty, warped in any direction, a plaything for someone whose hypnotic abilities transcend the laws of time and space?

Yeah, probably not. That's a little intense for most people's taste. But there's enough fantasy-tinged erotica out there that you can't write it off completely. Man created the siren and the succubus: man has always dreamed of a devilish, otherworldly woman to come along and steal his control.

Unfortunately, we don't live in a world of succubi, or witches, or sirens. No spells, no sleight-of-hand hexes, just the mundanity of imagination. So where do you turn when you can only get off through magical interference and the slash-fics aren't cutting it anymore? That's where your hypnodomme comes in.

Erotic hypnosis is exactly as it sounds. A hypnotist (usually a woman) puts you under a trance and makes suggestions that get you all hot and bothered. It's classic dominant/submissive kink, but with a metaphysical bent. Getting bound and gagged might be fun, but erotic hypnosis delves into more abstract concepts like mind control or feminization. The vendors take on appropriately gothic names (Isabella Valentine, Nikki Fatale, to name a couple) and offer their services in MP3 downloads. You browse, and select the trance that seems to appeal to your sensibilities. Do you want to be hypnotized on a beach? Perhaps a spa? They can make that happen. Some of the more austere options include penis enlargement and the mythical hands-free orgasm. Allegedly you just plug in, lean back, and let the words make you come.

"I see it as their perception, that they'll feel like their penis will get bigger, or smaller, or whatever it is they're going for," says Jenny Demilo, a veteran hypnodomme. "I do all sorts of crazy stuff. I have a series on premature ejaculation, like men wanting to prematurely ejaculate, and that was really popular."

Demilo has been a sex worker for a long time, starting as a call girl before becoming a traditional dominatrix. It was in those years that a friend in the industry mentioned she was making ends meet doing erotic hypnosis work on the side. At first she was hesitant, but eventually gave it a shot on a website called NiteFlirt.

"I did a lot of research, read a lot of hypnosis scripts, put up my first files and they sold like crazy," says Demilo. "At first they were little five minute things, and now I do full hour-long files. It was a natural progression. I don't have to see clients anymore. I saw them as a call girl, I saw them as a dom, but now I can still make a living without the physical interaction."

Like many of the other hypnodommes on the internet, Jenny is not a certified hypnotherapist. Self-taught, taking cues from other vendors, Jenny puts her own spin on an established formula. She's known for her feminization files. Hypnotic trances designed specifically to "force" grown men to feel like sissies. A couple samples from her website include "Cross Dressing Party Slut," "Obey Cock," and of course, "Cum Bath."

"The clients are interested in exploring that, but are comfortable because, well, they're not really doing it—I'm forcing them," says Demilo.

"A domme has to be active," an erotic hypnosis client who prefers to remain anonymous told me. "When you're conditioned, you will crave her words. The direct contact with your Goddess will amplify your feelings, and you will fall deeper under her spell and feel more pleasure. To me, a domme has to be caring and honest. I wouldn't engage in a relationship with just anybody. Trust is the key word here. You can never fully let go if you don't trust your Goddess."

That's the thing about hypnosis. It's impossible to force anyone to do something against their will. The standard line is "all hypnosis is self-hypnosis." If you listen to, say, "Sissy Cock Slave," you won't become a sissy cock slave unless that's what you want. Terms like "force" and "mind-control" are just buzzwords to elevate the kink. You don't go see a dominatrix for mutual conversation.

"This scene is not for everybody. You have to train and practice in order to achieve something. Some people are more suggestible than others and experience trance differently," says the client. "Through training and repetition, you will probably reach your goals, but if you go into the adventure half-hearted, your rewards might be limited."

Erotic hypnosis files tend to be pretty hefty, averaging around $50 for a full, hour-long session, going up to the high $70s from some merchants. It's expensive enough that it's given rise to a pretty substantial torrent economy in the scene.

"When people create fetish videos they charge by the minute," says Demilo. "Audio is generally longer, and I used to go price-per-minute, but eventually it just matters if the market will care. Financial doms charge crazy amounts of money for their files. If you build it, they will come."

The anonymous customer agrees.

"The sessions I've bought have been between $25 and $35. It's completely fair. They bring me so much pleasure, and I don't think my Goddess cheats me, or rips me off in anyway," he says. "After all, it takes time to produce a nice session. You need the proper gear, you've spent countless hours training your tone of voice, writing a script, and recording and editing it yourself. The dommes are artists who put a lot of time into their craftsmanship. I still enjoy sessions I bought a year ago, so I feel like it's a bargain."

I decided to give erotic hypnosis a try, choosing "Jackpot" by Isabella Valentine, perhaps the most famous artifact in erotic hypnosis history, or at least the one most readily available. You can find it free on DailyMotion if you're curious. The idea is Ms. Valentine takes you into a deep trance, and anchors, well, an orgasm to the word "jackpot." The science behind that is dubious at best, but I appreciate the effort.

I'll give her this: the trance part of hypnosis totally works. I felt warm, cozy, and, yeah, entranced halfway through.

The sexy stuff didn't quite do it for me, but that's no fault of hers. It's just not my scene. The femdom mind-fuckery would almost certainly work on someone more inclined toward these vibes, but for me they just happily glided by. So no orgasm, but a pretty nice nap.

And honestly? After talking to Jenny Demilo, any residual sexiness that erotic hypnosis might have was kind of ruined. She likes doing erotic hypnosis because she can pay the bills without touching clients in person.

"I get great stories from erotic hypnosis, but I'm just making a living," says Demilo. "The clients believe that I'm getting something out of it, and sometimes they're correct, but that's just part of the fantasy. I'm amazed occasionally why they want this. It's generally not my fetish, it's my job. Turning men into sissies doesn't get me off. But if they believe it, I'll let them believe it."

I ask the client if he needs to suspend his disbelief, and instead engage in the fantasy that his domme isn't just doing her job. He seems resistant to that idea.

"Nobody is pretending anything. Everybody likes to be praised. Imagine if you got a bunch of fan mail everyday about how amazing you are, and how powerful you are, and how much pleasure and enjoyment you're giving another living creature," he says. "It's a huge ego trip, and these dominant women get off on that."

I suppose that's the best you can do in a world without succubi.

Follow Luke Winkie on Twitter.

"Wait, you ain't seen Bad Boys II?!" asks Nick Frost's can't-get-right small town cop character in Hot Fuzz. It's a valid question, and any time it comes up in conversation with a new acquaintance who thinks they're above the lowbrow shit, I ask the same thing. It might be a crass action-comedy film stuffed with a million explosions and some dead naked people, but that doesn't change the fact that Bad Boys II is a transformative piece of black cinema.

The original Bad Boys was the first in an unstoppable wave of Jerry Bruckheimer/Don Simpson/Michael Bay hits in the mid-and-late-90s that all shared a big dickin', go-hard aesthetic. Lots of attack choppers, lots of sweaty dudes in filthy tank tops exchanging heavy weapons fire, lots of brawny hypercars shouting a big "fuck you" to the established laws of physics and the ozone layer.Bad Boys got a sequel in 2003 for the same reason many films get sequels. Call it a cash grab (the original did make its budget back seven times over after all), call it the death of originality, call it whatever the fuck you want. But the fact remains that art has to meet commerce at some point, and if Michael Bay is involved, that meeting will most likely involve a gigantic fucking explosion.

This film's most striking aspect isn't its vivid Miami palette or the chases or related flash and flesh. It's that it exists as a buddy cop movie where both officers are black. One need only look at the Wayans Brothers' White Chicks to get a glimpse of what Hollywood thinks of the notion of two strong black leads enforcing the law in tandem. I can't judge that film too harshly, but I also can't take the "black foolishness" canon for anything more than what Spike Leecalls"coonery and buffoonery," a schtick the Wayans brothers have used to make millions.

Throughout their careers, both Smith ( Enemy of the State, Independence Day, the Men in Blackfranchise) and Lawrence (Christ, where do I begin?) have been paired up with white leading men to whom they would play the colorful (see what I did there?), shoot-from-the-hip foil to the straight-laced white alpha. Bad Boys II isn't Sidney Poitier-level shit obviously, but the black foolishness is kept in check to an extent that even Martin hasn't been able to resist elsewhere in his filmography. (I'm looking at you Big Momma's House trilogy.)

For the uninitiated, the film picks up years after the events of 1995's Bad Boys, duh. The strained yet symbiotic partnership between Miami supercops Marcus Burnett and Mike Lowrey has landed them a promotion to Miami's TNT (Tactical Narcotics Team). That Henry Rollins is said team's tactician is about all you need to know as to how hard these cats go.

As for our protagonists, Lawrence's Marcus is the family man on a quest for serenity and balance by any means necessary, serving as the yang to the yin of Smith's Mike, the manchild trust-punk lothario, an "I don't want no pigeons" type of brother with a fade that would make your mama's mama blush. Indeed, Smith played the walking manifestation of "Don't hate the player, hate the motherfucking game." Say it with me now: Mike Lowwwwwwreeeeyyy.

With this cop love thang established, a plot begins to unfurl surrounding TNT's hard-on for taking down drug kingpin Johnny Tapia. This villa-bound cross between Tony Montana and a telenovela antagonist has a soft spot for his mama and daughter, but he won't hesitate to peel one's cap back if you "fail him for the last time." He's been flooding the city with bomb pills, and it's attracting all the worst kinds of attention. As is wont to happen with these types in such a situation, conflict develops and lots of dudes get blown away by Uzis and MAC-11s. There's a highway chase thrown in for good measure involving Mike in his Ferrari 550 Maranello and car-hurling Haitians on a car carrier that's like watching an episode of "Martin" spliced with The French Connection.

Later in the film, Marcus accidentally hits a tab of ecstasy and manages to sell it perfectly, an outlier in such scenes. Every time I take in the unpleasantness of him running through traffic on Ventura Blvd., wielding a pistol and yelling "Fight the establishment!" at strangers, I get the sense that this is actually what it would be like to watch Runteldat-era Martin roll. He plays the scene a lot like how he played the best bits of his sitcom, which is to say: All the way. Sweating bullets and slurring his speech, there's a point where you actually worry for his safety on set, as though he was actually dosed with the type of Superman pills that can take the party to the ER real quick. The term "action-comedy" gets thrown around a lot today, but the Marcus and Mike tag-team doesn't let the comedy get drowned out by the explosions, redlining engines, and AK-47 fire.

The film also offers a compelling portrayal of black cops—one that counters the trope seen in 90s-era films like Boyz N the Hood, where the black officer is so filled with self-hatred, he's more racists than the whites.

Black cops with something to prove to their white counterparts have long been the closest thing I've ever had to a proper nemesis. On more occasions than I'd like to remember, black cops were there to remind me of my blackness, lest the white officers forgot to. When stopped by police while strolling through the "wrong" neighborhoods at the "wrong" time, it's been the black cops who've called me "boy" rather than the white ones.

It's hard to understand why a black man would even want to join the police, considering they help lock up one in every 15 adult black males, according to the Pew Center. Not to mention, Black kids are ten times more likely to be arrested for drug crimes than white kids (as Yeezy said, "Jerome get more time than Brandon"), despite the fact that white kids are more likely to abuse drugs. Still, Bad Boys II is great enough to make me think that some cops, as unlikely as it is, might not be universally horrible people.

[body_image width='1280' height='704' path='images/content-images/2015/03/28/' crop='images/content-images-crops/2015/03/28/' filename='bad-boys-ii-saved-my-life-327-body-image-1427558067.jpg' id='40733']

It was until a few years ago, at a 35mm screening of BBII hosted by Dan Deacon and video artist Jimmy Joe Roche, that the full power of the film hit me. On the edge of my seat during the kinetic 147 minutes, that sense of shock-and-awe that I had after I saw the film for the first time in 2003.

In the years since that initial viewing, I've become more jaded, have seen tons of "real" films, and I've even thrown my hat in the film criticism ring here and there. Yet in an age where self-serious Oscar bait contends with unapologetically hollow blockbusters and overhyped indies, Bad Boys II still holds a special place in my heart because it does not give a fuck. Its unheralded greatness is the kind that Vin Diesel is thinking about when he claims that Furious 7 deserves the Oscar for Best picture. And he's right. If there were any justice in this world, a movie likeBad Boys II—that defies expectations and shifts the paradigms of race and cinematic genres—deserves to be winning the awards.

Follow Kasai on Twitter.

[body_image width='665' height='953' path='images/content-images/2015/03/27/' crop='images/content-images-crops/2015/03/27/' filename='how-to-make-it-as-a-modern-day-cowboy-689-body-image-1427469601.jpg' id='40546']

All photos courtesy of Parker Flannery

Lately, I can't help but think that all the single men in New York should stop playing the city's dating game: leave all text messages unanswered, toss out their pretty-boy cologne, and pack up their bags. The sexier thing to do is to skip town and become cowboys.

For a city-dweller like myself, the word "cowboy" invokes images of vintage Clint Eastwood, racist football mascots, or lavish rodeo competitions. Although the sport's governing body, the Professional Rodeo Cowboys Association (PRCA) isn't shy about latching onto the term "cowboy," I learned there's a distinct separation between professional rodeo athletes and the grittier version who actually herd and tend to ranch animals (often in addition to competing in their own, local rodeos). It turns out the latter exists, but in an era of cowboy boots on the Chanel runway, they're much harder to find. Curious about making it as a cowboy in 2015 and the extreme lifestyle that comes with it, I spoke to modern-day cowboy Parker Flannery about the difference between real and arena cowboys, breaking colts, and the relationship problems that arise when you drop off the grid for six weeks at a time.

VICE: So what's the difference between a "real" cowboy and a rodeo cowboy?
Parker Flannery: We call them arena cowboys. Or "straw hats." Arena cowboys are obviously rodeo guys, and a lot of time you'll find that they're not actually cowboys at all. They're all like welders and electricians and stuff. They pick one [rodeo] sport and get good at it. But most of the bull riders probably can't ride a horse and a lot of the bronc riders can't even string a fence. They're the guys who show up, drive to the arena, and put on their cowboy hat for an hour. Then there's guys out west who a couple of times a year get together to compete at their local rodeo, and the rest of the time they're breaking horses, doctoring cows, and running fence.

And you do both, right?
I spent a lot of time in the Southwest. After going to A&M [Texas A&M University], I was down on, well, it's not a huge ranch, but 4,000 acres, I was breaking wild horses. The government does a thing called the Trainer Incentive Program where they're running mustangs that have been caught. And you've gotta break 'em. And then I went to Australia and I've been working down there on a 10,000 acre, 3,000 head a year cattle ranch. And I raised 80 horses a year.

[body_image width='720' height='960' path='images/content-images/2015/03/27/' crop='images/content-images-crops/2015/03/27/' filename='how-to-make-it-as-a-modern-day-cowboy-689-body-image-1427469623.jpg' id='40547']

Are there issues of respect between the rodeo guys who swoop in for the weekends and those who live the lifestyle you do?
They're two worlds. It's so separate. For working cowboys, you don't brag about how hard you work but you make sure you outwork everyone else. For arena cowboys, when you're rodeoing and stuff, you don't want to have to get a job. Because if you get a job then you're no good at what you do. The mentality's a bit different. And now with rodeo the guys are starting to turn into more athletes. And for myself, I'm only 26 now. I've been going to [physical therapy] trying to get my hips opened up just from old injuries already. When I'm working, shit, we just ride. I break a lot of colts every year that smash you up. At the end of the day you get drunk, go to bed, wake up, and do it all over again.

So what's a typical day like? What did you do today?
I'm back in the States now. I got back about a week ago. Right now all I'm doing is rodeo. So today I went with my friend Rudy to buy a truck and then I got some physical work done on my legs—I'm having a really hard time turning one of my toes out because my leg's messed up. I've got physical work the rest of the week and then I drive down to Tennessee over Easter for a rodeo. Then I'm going out to Texas to hit the circuit out there for the rest of the summer.

What made you leave the States for Australia?
I was breaking colts in North Carolina. I was just over it. The job kept getting worse and the pay never got better, so I said fuck this and went to Australia. I always wanted to go. A friend knew a guy who had a big ranch down here. He got me a start for two or three months and I ended up staying for three years. I just got my permanent residency to live there. But after three years, I got out of my contract with that ranch and now I'm a horse breaker. Guys in Australia will call me and say I've got 40 horses for you to do or 30 horses for you to do and I'll just take the 40 or 50 horses and then go onto the next place.

When do you think you're happiest: doing the rodeo or the "real" cowboy work?
I've got to have a balance. There comes a point when you're working really hard all the time, just bone-breaking stuff out in the middle of a pasture somewhere. It kind of gets annoying because you work hard every day and then you have some sort of crazy 90-point bronc ride where the horse turns inside out. On the other side, you go to rodeos and you're constantly surrounded by people, you don't get that isolation. I've got to have both.

[body_image width='604' height='402' path='images/content-images/2015/03/27/' crop='images/content-images-crops/2015/03/27/' filename='how-to-make-it-as-a-modern-day-cowboy-689-body-image-1427469640.jpg' id='40548']

How much of the year are you traveling?
Pretty much all of it. I spend no more than a couple of months in any one place. And then I come back here to rodeo. I'll hit the circuit in two weeks and I'll be in a different town every week.

Does your work tie into the broader history of cowboys?
Absolutely. The coolest thing of my entire job is that with everything that changes and everything that goes on in the world, I still throw a chunk of leather on a bronc and have to go ride it. Nothing's changed. People did it the exact same way that I do. The blindfold is the same. The saddle's the same, bucking rope is the same. You just got to step on and do it. No matter what else in the world changes, it's like it was 200 years ago. It's fantastic.

Follow Sophie St. Thomas on Twitter.

[body_image width='1024' height='498' path='images/content-images/2015/03/25/' crop='images/content-images-crops/2015/03/25/' filename='to-form-a-more-perfect-universe-an-interview-with-outer-space-lawyer-body-image-1427319032.jpg' id='39823']

Photo via NASA Goddard Space Flight Center

Half a century since our first "giant leap for mankind," some of science fiction's most outlandish adventures have started to look like rather reasonable. Talk of lunar colonies, asteroid mining , and commercial spaceflight, for example, no longer seem far-fetched.

The second space age has arrived, but until clearer regulations take hold, no one knows what that it will look like in practice. William Gibson once observed, "the future is already here––it's just not evenly distributed," to which we might now also add: it's not evenly regulated, either. Will only spacefaring nations reap the rewards of manna from heaven? Who owns the rights to asteroids? What, legally speaking, is an asteroid anyway?

Space Lawyer Joanne Gabrynowicz, one of the preeminent experts on the limits of our infinite, final frontier, has been grappling with these questions since 1987. Editor emeritus of the Space Law Journal , Director of the International Institute of Space Law, and author of over 50 articles on national and international space law's intricacies, histories and future, Gabrynowicz has frequently been called on to testify as an expert before the UN, the State Department, NASA, and the Hague. Last September, she testified before Congress on the legal aspects of asteroid mining outlined by the ASTEROIDS Act bill introduced in July.

In between teaching in Beijing last fall and heading to Washington in March for a meeting at Department of the Interior, Gabrynowicz spoke to VICE from her home in Mississippi.

VICE: Where did your interest in outer space, and space law in particular, take off?
Joanne Gabrynowicz: My interest in space came from a number of things, but the most important thing was my passion for history. I began to see analogues between the founding of the United States and what we would need to do to go into space. I want to point out very, very strongly that this analogy between the founding of the US and space law is not a call for United States dominance or Manifest Destiny in space. It's a model of something that worked that I can see applied in modern times in a modified way.

You once said in a speech that "peaceful purposes" originally attracted you to space law.
Remember my age. I grew up during the Cold War, when everybody had the threat of nuclear warfare hanging over them. Space became a place where both the Soviet Union and the United States competed, but they also were competing to show how peaceful they were. In my eyes, space became something that could be an arena for learning how to work with one another. If you look at the space station, for example, it has 16 countries participating. We're learning to work with one another, and that's what attracted me to space.

For a while after the Cold War, not much happened in space. Now we're talking again about entering a second space age or space race as private commercial development has begun serious work on new spacefaring technology. In your perception, how quickly does the law get dated?
The law––and just about any kind of law, not just space law––is by nature a conservative institution. That's "conservative" with a small "c." That's especially true in the Anglo-American legal system, where we rely so much on precedent and analogy. Our system is to have the law respond to needs as they arise rather than to go out and try to write one big comprehensive law that tries to imagine a whole bunch of things that you can't imagine yet because the technology or the experience is not there yet.

Our issues involving space are seen through the lens of geopolitics on the Earth. Our problems originate on Earth, not in space.

Would the high seas or Antarctica, given their status as global commons, serve as useful analogies for asteroid mining?
Well space, like those two, is a global commons. That's crucial. And those global commons have systems about resource extraction that might be analogues for space, but no agreement has been reached about that yet.

It seems that one of the issues still hanging over this whole international conversation is whether the Outer Space Treaty necessarily bans private ownership rights.
The Outer Space Treaty [of 1967] is completely silent. It doesn't disallow them. It doesn't forbid them. The driver for the Outer Space Treaty was to prevent nuclear weapons from going into space, and the minute they had that agreement they stopped and everybody accepted it and went home.

Now, the Moon Treaty [of 1984] sets up the possibility for what's called an International Regime, and this is where the epicenter of the controversy is. It's Article 11 of the Moon Treaty that says––and I'm badly paraphrasing here––that the rules for this international regime will come about when exploitation becomes feasible. Well, the politics of the last 30 years or so was such that we didn't want to do that. We didn't want to negotiate. By "we" I'm meaning the global community, although there certainly has been a resurgence of interest in doing that over the last few years. Our issues involving space are seen through the lens of geopolitics on the Earth. Our problems originate on Earth, not in space.

[body_image width='701' height='360' path='images/content-images/2015/03/29/' crop='images/content-images-crops/2015/03/29/' filename='to-form-a-more-perfect-universe-an-interview-with-outer-space-lawyer-333-body-image-1427643277.png' id='40787']

Looking at both the positives and negatives of this, what kind of material and humanitarian challenges might space exploration solve and which does it raise?
If we go back to the Outer Space Treaty you're going to see a lot of language about humanity and the benefits of all humankind. Let me just pull out a sample phrase: "The benefit of all peoples irrespective of the degree of their economic or scientific development." Now, that's not a legal obligation because it's in the preamble, but that's the standard language.

You know, it's like our preamble. In our Constitution's preamble, we want to create "a more perfect union." In the Outer Space preamble, it's "for the benefit of all peoples." Where it gets difficult is how you interpret that. It is governments––not industry, not companies––that have the responsibility to do this under the Treaty. But, because governments are internationally responsible for the actions of their nationals in space, they should be interpreting how to govern them with this in mind to some degree. And there's a lot of ways that can go.

I've seen some proposals for internationally redistributive models of wealth derived from space, given that there are some estimates that the minerals found in the Asteroid Belt could be worth more than $100 billion for each of the six billion people on earth. Have you seen any space lawyers or activists making calls for something like space justice, similar to what's now being called climate justice?
Yeah, there's a lot of it. And you hear that call coming from developing countries and from nations that are recently technologically advanced, or not technologically advanced at all. That's a perfect example of what I mean by saying that our issues in space are seen through the geopolitics on Earth.

As space activities illuminate economic and technical differences between developing and developed nations, how will non-spacefaring nations be assured the use of outer space or its resources in the coming years as our capabilities develop?
Well that's where I think effective diplomacy comes in. Our diplomats who are responsible for these issues need to be speaking with their counterparts in other countries and saying, "This is what we're doing and why we're doing it. And, no, it's not our intention to exclude the whole world. We understand your needs, we'll address those, and let's talk about it." But that's a need for diplomacy. It's also a need for philosophy.

You've written about how the Outer Space Treaty codified, in many ways, the Cold War's hopes and fears. What might contemporary laws reveal about our current political situation?
I think the current political situation in space is what the whole world is dealing with. We have gone from a dangerous bipolar world of the Cold War to a dynamic, globalized era where the landscape is constantly moving and we're all trying to figure that out right now.

What does a treaty in the era of globalization look like?
It looks like a blank sheet of paper. And this is not just space. This is a lot of areas. Look at what's happening in the environment, how hard it is to get any agreement there.

There is a statement of principles [for space] that have now been adopted by the General Assembly, but they're not legally binding. But they're out there and nations have accepted them in some form. And so I think my successor 200 years from now is going to look back to this time and say, "You know way back then in the early 2000s? That's when the blah-blah system emerged."

It might be called the corporate system ...
Do you know Star Trek? I think one of the brilliant things about Star Trek: Next Generation is they had the Ferengi . And with the Ferengi, the makers of Star Trek were saying, "Hey, there's this other side of things. It's the money-making side. It's not just governments. It's not just scientists. It's not just going where no person has gone before. It's about the profit motive."

Commercial space travel is having its pop cultural moment. What do you think about the Mars One reality show mission? Given its demonstrated unfeasibility, what does our excitement about Mars One say about our willingness to believe in impossibilities instead of trusting hard science? It seems that Mars One, more than it represents going to Mars, represents this moment where science is being devalued at the same time in which it's being turned into a fantasy.
You've got two interesting threads going on there. One is the anti-scientific mood of the moment: " There's no such thing as evolution. There's no such thing as global warming. You can't trust the science it's only opinion." That mood is a problem because science––good science, peer-reviewed science, internationally-shared science, science that is not censored, not politicized—is what we need for so many problems of the human condition. And saying the science is not real or it's irrelevant... I don't even have words for how much of a mistake that is.

But the other thread is the power of aspiration. Don't ever underestimate that. It is real, it is powerful, and it's not the same thing as poo-pooing science. It's the human spirit that has accomplished so many things. It's the human spirit that ended slavery, that gave women the right to vote, that established the United States in order to create a more perfect union.

The Declaration of Independence: that is aspiration. You know, when you read those words carefully, Jefferson refers to the laws of nature and nature's God. Now, this is a man who is accused of being an atheist, but what he was was a deist. And what deism meant was that human beings have an intellect, and if they use that intellect, they can observe the universe and they can figure it out.

Newton was such a big deal because he told us how the planets moved. Before that, it was all darkness and superstition. Newton and the Founders wanted to have a better life. They wanted to use that intellect in the service of aspiration. You've got to have both the science and the aspiration.

This week, VICE meets Mark "Marty" Rathbun, a former senior executive of the Church of Scientology who left the church in 2004. He is a key subject of Alex Gibney's new documentary Going Clear: Scientology and the Prison of Belief, which is being released March 29 through HBO Documentary Films. We discuss his past in the Church of Scientology, auditing, and the harassment techniques allegedly used by the church.

[body_image width='900' height='1200' path='images/content-images/2015/03/28/' crop='images/content-images-crops/2015/03/28/' filename='raes-latest-art-show-takes-place-in-the-basement-of-a-defunct-chinatown-butcher-shop-body-image-1427559542.jpg' id='40734']

All images courtesy of the author

On Friday night I found myself in a concrete basement, sitting on a cushioned bench inside a bathroom-sized fridge that used to store meat. In front of me a flat-screen television played interviews with Brooklyn residents, on loop. I wasn't lured there by some Tinder date gone awry, but by artist RAE on the occasion of his new exhibition, titled Trunk Work, on view now through April 19 at 94½ Bayard Street.

The show is the culmination of 15 years of work, but by no means a retrospective. It took RAE five of those years just to recover the art from his former studio apartment in Midwood, Brooklyn.

The story behind Trunk Work is one familiar to many New Yorkers: the unpleasant experience of an unreasonable landlord. RAE's former landlord hated his taste in hip-hop as well as his artistic practices. The last straw broke in October 2010, when RAE caused a "small" explosion with his microwave. RAE was forcibly evicted and not allowed to access the building. Unable to enter, RAE's trunk filled with sketches, artwork, and personal items was left behind. Last year, he was finally able to retrieve the trunk when the apartment building was evacuated due to cracks in the facade caused by construction work next door.

[body_image width='900' height='1200' path='images/content-images/2015/03/28/' crop='images/content-images-crops/2015/03/28/' filename='raes-latest-art-show-takes-place-in-the-basement-of-a-defunct-chinatown-butcher-shop-body-image-1427559554.jpg' id='40735']

Full disclosure: I am a big fan of RAE, and have been since I moved to New York eight years ago. I was introduced to his work by chance, simply on the street à la Peru Ana Ana Peru. It just seemed to be everywhere, like breadcrumbs I would follow throughout the city. His murals can be seen from Cleveland to Africa. His sculptures have been installed in a Brooklyn subway station and in the streets of Berlin. I've even run into his work at the annual Arts Night Out, a chichi event held at the Park Avenue Armory.

RAE's work feels tangible. At times it reminds me of Basquiat without the drama. He considers his genre Urban Folk Art, but states that he "tends to go off of the materials" he's presented with. "Found paint or objects dictate what the next piece will be like," RAE says. "I'm influenced by things that are made crudely and for practical use."

[body_image width='900' height='1200' path='images/content-images/2015/03/28/' crop='images/content-images-crops/2015/03/28/' filename='raes-latest-art-show-takes-place-in-the-basement-of-a-defunct-chinatown-butcher-shop-body-image-1427559563.jpg' id='40736']

The extraordinariness of RAE lies in the presentation of his work. He likes to be in complete control of the story he is telling, and will retell it by transporting you to the place where the work was first conceived, way back when.

In 2013, I covered his solo show in an East Village bodega, where his work was displayed alongside an old beef-patty cooking tray. One of RAE's motivations when building a show is making the space become "an extension of the painting."

The basement in Chinatown, where Trunk Work will be housed for the next month, used to belong to the now-defunct butcher shop upstairs. "This place was a mess," a friend of RAE's told me. "I don't know how we did it."

[body_image width='900' height='675' path='images/content-images/2015/03/28/' crop='images/content-images-crops/2015/03/28/' filename='raes-latest-art-show-takes-place-in-the-basement-of-a-defunct-chinatown-butcher-shop-body-image-1427559572.jpg' id='40737']

RAE wanted this show to have the pristine quality of a gallery space while also replicating the experience of unearthing his treasured art trunk. Even when I finally had the address to the show, I still couldn't locate it. I knew it was a basement, but the ½ part was peculiar.

The steps that lead down to the basement are carpeted. When I finally got downstairs, I was met with a spotless, concrete space. Gallery-style lighting showcased the art, some of which was behind custom-built glass, atop dressers. Other pieces, like a sculpture titled "Snob" made out of a reclaimed air humidifier and constructed with wood, a metal drain pipe, plastic typewriter keys, and other found materials, sat inside an empty steel fridge.

[body_image width='900' height='1200' path='images/content-images/2015/03/28/' crop='images/content-images-crops/2015/03/28/' filename='raes-latest-art-show-takes-place-in-the-basement-of-a-defunct-chinatown-butcher-shop-body-image-1427559588.jpg' id='40738']

Also on display, aside from paintings, sculptures, journals, old Nikes, and video installations, is what's left of the busted microwave (the cause of his eviction) and the actual tin trunk that carried his art.

One thing you won't find at this show is RAE himself. The reclusive artist never attends his openings and will not be photographed next to his work. "I rather not have the spotlight on me," RAE says. "I rather have the spotlight on the work because if that were the case, I'd be dressing myself up. I'm here to have the people have an experience from top to bottom. When you come in, you are in the show. You are now part of the show."

Trunk Work runs until April 19. The exhibition will be open Thursday-Sunday (except Easter) from 1-6 PM.

[body_image width='1000' height='1533' path='images/content-images/2015/03/13/' crop='images/content-images-crops/2015/03/13/' filename='being-gay-is-beautiful-in-madrid-405-body-image-1426283383.jpg' id='36071']

Based on the news cycle, you'd think LGBT people all lived in a sparkly version of hell. It's true that in many ways, being queer can suck, but besides dealing with a whole lot of crap, LGBT people are living beautiful, diverse lives in a variety of cities across the world. Our photo column "Being Gay Is Beautiful in..." explores this idea, showcasing photos of a different city's LGBT community every week to display how being queer is fucking awesome.

[body_image width='1000' height='611' path='images/content-images/2015/03/13/' crop='images/content-images-crops/2015/03/13/' filename='being-gay-is-beautiful-in-madrid-405-body-image-1426283558.jpg' id='36073']

This week, photographer Zak Krevitt takes us to Madrid, Spain, where he was visiting for the opening of a group show his work was included in. Luckily, one of the owners of the gallery where the show was held took Zak out on the town.

"Adrian is the co-owner of the gallery Combustion Espontanea in which I was exhibiting in the group show 7 on Main Street, my reason for being in Madrid," Krevitt told VICE. "He was the leader of a pack of very fun boys who took me out to Stardust Club, where most of these photos were taken. They're a tight knit group, very passionate about beauty and art and life."

The plein air portraits above were taken in a park outside the city center called Casa de Campo. "I wasn't sure but the park felt very cruisey," Krevitt guessed. "There were several men wandering about alone with intensity in their eyes. These two boys, Will and Darius, were hanging out on this churned up dirt road in the park when I found them."

[body_image width='1000' height='652' path='images/content-images/2015/03/13/' crop='images/content-images-crops/2015/03/13/' filename='being-gay-is-beautiful-in-madrid-405-body-image-1426283407.jpg' id='36072']

[body_image width='1000' height='1533' path='images/content-images/2015/03/13/' crop='images/content-images-crops/2015/03/13/' filename='being-gay-is-beautiful-in-madrid-405-body-image-1426283592.jpg' id='36074']

[body_image width='1000' height='652' path='images/content-images/2015/03/13/' crop='images/content-images-crops/2015/03/13/' filename='being-gay-is-beautiful-in-madrid-405-body-image-1426283605.jpg' id='36075']

[body_image width='1000' height='1533' path='images/content-images/2015/03/13/' crop='images/content-images-crops/2015/03/13/' filename='being-gay-is-beautiful-in-madrid-405-body-image-1426283618.jpg' id='36076']

[body_image width='1000' height='652' path='images/content-images/2015/03/13/' crop='images/content-images-crops/2015/03/13/' filename='being-gay-is-beautiful-in-madrid-405-body-image-1426283629.jpg' id='36077']

[body_image width='1000' height='652' path='images/content-images/2015/03/13/' crop='images/content-images-crops/2015/03/13/' filename='being-gay-is-beautiful-in-madrid-405-body-image-1426283646.jpg' id='36078']

[body_image width='1000' height='1533' path='images/content-images/2015/03/13/' crop='images/content-images-crops/2015/03/13/' filename='being-gay-is-beautiful-in-madrid-405-body-image-1426283658.jpg' id='36079']

[body_image width='1000' height='1533' path='images/content-images/2015/03/13/' crop='images/content-images-crops/2015/03/13/' filename='being-gay-is-beautiful-in-madrid-405-body-image-1426283675.jpg' id='36080']

[body_image width='1000' height='652' path='images/content-images/2015/03/13/' crop='images/content-images-crops/2015/03/13/' filename='being-gay-is-beautiful-in-madrid-405-body-image-1426283690.jpg' id='36081']

[body_image width='1000' height='1533' path='images/content-images/2015/03/13/' crop='images/content-images-crops/2015/03/13/' filename='being-gay-is-beautiful-in-madrid-405-body-image-1426283707.jpg' id='36082']

[body_image width='1000' height='652' path='images/content-images/2015/03/13/' crop='images/content-images-crops/2015/03/13/' filename='being-gay-is-beautiful-in-madrid-405-body-image-1426283725.jpg' id='36083']

[body_image width='1000' height='652' path='images/content-images/2015/03/13/' crop='images/content-images-crops/2015/03/13/' filename='being-gay-is-beautiful-in-madrid-405-body-image-1426283736.jpg' id='36084']

[body_image width='1000' height='1533' path='images/content-images/2015/03/13/' crop='images/content-images-crops/2015/03/13/' filename='being-gay-is-beautiful-in-madrid-405-body-image-1426283748.jpg' id='36085']

[body_image width='1000' height='1533' path='images/content-images/2015/03/13/' crop='images/content-images-crops/2015/03/13/' filename='being-gay-is-beautiful-in-madrid-405-body-image-1426283765.jpg' id='36087']

See more photos by Zak Krevitt on his website.

[body_image width='960' height='720' path='images/content-images/2015/03/29/' crop='images/content-images-crops/2015/03/29/' filename='lgbt-little-people-729-body-image-1427664924.jpg' id='40851']

Damian Fatale

Dwarfs have a few things in common with the LGBT community. Historically, both have had a pretty hard time of it, marginalized and ostracized despite the fact there's not really a huge amount you can do about your size or sexuality. So you'd expect there to be some mutual understanding there, right?

According to the gay dwarf drag performer Damian Fatale: no. He says homophobia is as rife among little people as prejudice towards dwarfs is in the LGBT community, meaning if you're a gay dwarf you're subject to bigotry from both sides. This, of course, is just one man's experience—it's safe to assume that not all dwarfs are raging homophobes—but Damian is adamant that more should be done to promote acceptance of different body shapes and sizes among gay people.

I recently spoke to him about some of the problems facing LGBT little people.

[body_image width='612' height='612' path='images/content-images/2015/03/29/' crop='images/content-images-crops/2015/03/29/' filename='lgbt-little-people-729-body-image-1427664982.jpg' id='40853']

Damian in drag

VICE: What do you think are the unique obstacles that gay little people face?
Damian Fatale: When you're a little person, you feel like you're alone in a world that wasn't made for you. When you add homosexuality on top of that, that feeling of being different from everybody else becomes even stronger. It can be a difficult thing to overcome. Being homosexual and being a little person are two completely different things; dwarfism is a physical condition and homosexuality is all about who you're attracted to. I feel like homosexuality simply isn't relevant to the rest of the little people community, and that they don't comprehend the idea of a gay little person or understand what it means to be a part of the LGBTQ community.

And, in your experience, that works both ways, right?
When I was in high school, I would get bullied by the Gay-Straight Alliance members. They would constantly be on me, trying to make sure that I fit impossible standards because they thought I embarrassed all the gay kids at that school. I think it was because I was obviously different and they wanted to be seen as regular people.

So you think the desire to be viewed as "normal" within the LGBT community can sometimes act as an obstacle to the acceptance of minorities within the community?
Deep down, everyone wants to be accepted by their peers. Unfortunately, the desire to be viewed as a "normal person" leads to bullying within the gay community. People think that if they associate with someone different, like me, everyone around them will think that they're different too. It's an obstacle that a lot of gay people have to face.

Has that made dating harder?
I've got one of the rarest types of dwarfism; it's called Schmid metaphyseal chondrodysplasia. The most common type of dwarfism is achondroplasia. I would imagine dating would be much harder for people with achondroplasia because they're smaller. I have little to no difficulties with dating because people who have my form of dwarfism are taller than those with other types of dwarfism.

What do you think could be done to remove the stigma that LGBT little people are sometimes faced with?
More media attention could be given to us. Little people have a lot of stereotypes. I think if we got our voices out to the people, more of them would understand. The reason we are mistreated is because people don't understand. We live in a world where people think that "midget" is the proper medical term. It's time to change that.

Yeah, plenty of mainstream newspapers and TV channels still use that word.
The problem is that our voices aren't being heard. People use derogatory terms without even realizing how hurtful they can be. Most people who ask me about my dwarfism use the term "midget" without realizing it's politically incorrect.

[body_image width='720' height='960' path='images/content-images/2015/03/29/' crop='images/content-images-crops/2015/03/29/' filename='lgbt-little-people-729-body-image-1427665159.jpg' id='40855']

How do you respond to that?
If someone were to come up to me and say, "Are you a midget?" instead of getting mad and defensive I'd say, "No, I'm a chibi," and they would laugh. If you can make people laugh, they will listen.

A chibi?
Yeah, it's a Japanese slang word meaning "short person" or "small child." The word has gained popularity among fans of manga and anime. I dress up as an anime character and call myself the drag chibi in my performances.

That's cool.
I was born with a gift, not a problem. I wouldn't change my dwarfism in any way if I had the choice. It gives me an edge that other queens wish they had. I'm four foot nine and my shoes are a size seven, so I have no problem buying clothes in my size. I feel bad for the drag queens who are much taller, because they have to order special shoes and clothes to fit them. My clothing is also less expensive than theirs.

Anyway, getting back to the topic, a lot of people still think it's OK to make fun of little people. When people think of dwarfs, they still think of us with a freak show mentality. We need to get the general public to understand that dwarfism is merely a medical condition, and that we're normal people like everybody else.

There are other problems in other parts of the world. For example, little people have been confined to a camp in North Korea. The government originally planned to kill them all for being "undesirables." The general public there thinks these people have dwarfism because of sins that people in their family have committed. It's disgusting. In places like that, there's still a lot of work to be done.

There's not exactly a great amount of media representation of LGBT little people. Do you think that contributes to the problem?
Yes, the LGBT media tends to portray only a few body types. Look at our advertisements: You either have the body of a Ken doll, or the physical characteristics of a Spartan warrior. We should explore the idea that all bodies are beautiful. Gay people aren't just performers and models; they have normal jobs, too, and are normal people. To suggest otherwise is very unrealistic.

Finally, what changes do you feel could benefit LGBT little people?
I think that LGBT little people need to be open, come out of the closet and let the world know that they're here. Life is hard, but it can also be wonderful. If there isn't a space available for you, create it. I want everyone to know that they are beautiful – that there is nothing wrong with the way you were born.

[body_image width='960' height='639' path='images/content-images/2015/03/28/' crop='images/content-images-crops/2015/03/28/' filename='maple-spring-breakers-quebec-students-are-back-on-strike-in-a-big-way-body-image-1427564965.jpg' id='40740']

A student protester outside of Quebec's the National Assembly who was shot in the face with a tear gas cartridge by police. Photo by Gabrielle Duchesne courtesy of 99media.org.

Spring has definitely sprung in Quebec and seasonal offerings of warmer weather, maple syrup, and student strikes abound.

Tension has been mounting for some time now and on Monday, 62,000 students in the province voted to go on strike—40,000 of which will remain on strike for the next two weeks—meaning no class and lots of protests for a significant chunk of Quebec's student body.

Anti-austerity marches, spearheaded by student groups, are becoming a daily (and nightly) fixture, as students demand an immediate end to cuts in public spending championed by Philippe Couillard's Liberal government.

On Tuesday night, thousands marched through downtown Montreal under the banner of the "Esti de grosse manif de soir" which translates roughly to the "Fucking huge nighttime protest." The theme, once again was austerity and there were inevitably some clashes with police, but in the end only four arrests were made. The vibe was entirely different in Quebec City though, where on the same night, 274 arrests were made by virtue of a municipal by-law.

La capitale nationale was also the scene of probably the most brutal display of crowd control so far.

On Thursday night, 18-year-old CEGEP student Naomie Trudeau-Tremblay was shot in the face with a tear gas cartridge at almost point blank range as she joined a crowd of students who had gathered in front of the National Assembly following the release of the government's latest provincial budget.

[youtube src='//www.youtube.com/embed/9ZO0npVU3Ew' width='640' height='360']

Though the young woman injured by the projectile plans to sue for her injuries, Quebec mayor Régis Labeaume is defending his police force by suggesting that they were provoked by the demonstrators: "What are they doing two inches from the nose of the police?"

Obviously, all of this talk of students strikes and heavy-handed police tactics makes for easy comparisons with the Maple Spring that rocked the province in 2012. But that was three years and two governments ago and, back then, the main issue and catalyst for mass protest was a $1,625 tuition hike.

Protest groups are now aiming to be part of a larger social movement, not just a student movement.

We spoke to Fannie Pommier, a political science student at Université de Québec à Montréal (UQAM) and member of Comité printemps 2015, a group that helps organize and mobilize protesters.

"In 2012 there was a fight against the $1,625 tuition increase, which itself was an austerity measure. We've been cutting back on public services since the 80s (and) what we've seen is global impoverishment. We are demanding the immediate withdrawal of all austerity measures proposed by Couillard's government."

And it's not just budgetary matters that have students fired up.

Petroleum extraction, tar sands, and the environment have become an integral part of protest rhetoric in the province, which could become a new hub for tar sands transit, much to the detriment of the environment and First Nations territories. There is even a rap battle for "climate justice" taking place Saturday night in Montreal called Slam the Tar Sands.

[youtube src='//www.youtube.com/embed/vq_C0EWOx00' width='640' height='360']

"What the government is doing right now—selling our land to corporate enterprises—it's not only anti-democratic, but it's dangerous for the next generation, and irresponsible. It's not even our land, it belongs to the First Nations. And meanwhile they are telling us they don't have enough money for state-funded daycares," Pommier said.

Pommier was hesitant to say that the current wave of strikes and protests will reach the same critical mass that Maple Spring did in 2012. But, according to her, the movement is still very much in its early stages. Instead she put the emphasis on long-term goals.

"We are launching this as a long term struggle against a government that is trying to ruin our living conditions. He (Couillard) can expect us to struggle against for the years to come."

In 2012, 300,000 students (75 percent of the province's students) went on strike. Pommier said that ideally the movement would reach critical mass like the Printemps Érable, but she is cautiously optimistic.

"It's a longshot, but we still have to be ready to be impressed because you never know what we can pull off when we all mobilize together."

At the time of this writing, 102,000 Quebec students are scheduled to go on strike on Thursday April 2.

[body_image width='1200' height='900' path='images/content-images/2015/03/29/' crop='images/content-images-crops/2015/03/29/' filename='bad-guys-fashion-shoot-040-body-image-1427657048.jpg' id='40814']

Christopher Shannon jackets, custom handkerchief from Amy's Gifts

PHOTOGRAPHY AND SET DESIGN: ALEX DE MORA
STYLING: BRIDI FODEN

Hair: Johnnie Biles at Stella Creative Artists
Make-up: Lucy Wearing using Clinique for Men
Photographer's assistant: Theo Cottle
Second assistants: Bertie and Mr. Smiley
Stylist's assistant: Grego After All
Models: Joshua, Zibby, Kaine, Carl King, and Aaron Miller at AMCK Models

[body_image width='1200' height='1600' path='images/content-images/2015/03/29/' crop='images/content-images-crops/2015/03/29/' filename='bad-guys-fashion-shoot-040-body-image-1427658009.jpg' id='40816']

Kit Neale jacket and pants, Reebok trainers

[body_image width='1200' height='1600' path='images/content-images/2015/03/29/' crop='images/content-images-crops/2015/03/29/' filename='bad-guys-fashion-shoot-040-body-image-1427658087.jpg' id='40818']

Parka jacket, Ambush ring, pants from Rokit, Nike trainers

[body_image width='1200' height='1600' path='images/content-images/2015/03/29/' crop='images/content-images-crops/2015/03/29/' filename='bad-guys-fashion-shoot-040-body-image-1427658135.jpg' id='40819']

Penfield jacket

[body_image width='1200' height='1600' path='images/content-images/2015/03/29/' crop='images/content-images-crops/2015/03/29/' filename='bad-guys-fashion-shoot-040-body-image-1427658172.jpg' id='40820']

Kappa vest

[body_image width='1200' height='1600' path='images/content-images/2015/03/29/' crop='images/content-images-crops/2015/03/29/' filename='bad-guys-fashion-shoot-040-body-image-1427658197.jpg' id='40821']

Shaun Samson apron, Joyrich joggers

[body_image width='1200' height='1600' path='images/content-images/2015/03/29/' crop='images/content-images-crops/2015/03/29/' filename='bad-guys-fashion-shoot-040-body-image-1427658238.jpg' id='40822']

Joyrich jumper, Kit Neale pants

[body_image width='1200' height='1600' path='images/content-images/2015/03/29/' crop='images/content-images-crops/2015/03/29/' filename='bad-guys-fashion-shoot-040-body-image-1427658272.jpg' id='40824']

Jacket from Beyond Retro, Alex Mattson shorts

[body_image width='1200' height='1600' path='images/content-images/2015/03/29/' crop='images/content-images-crops/2015/03/29/' filename='bad-guys-fashion-shoot-040-body-image-1427658305.jpg' id='40825']

T-shirt from Beyond Retro

[body_image width='1200' height='1600' path='images/content-images/2015/03/29/' crop='images/content-images-crops/2015/03/29/' filename='bad-guys-fashion-shoot-040-body-image-1427658346.jpg' id='40826']

Paks doo-rag, Alex Mattson shirts, Ambush jewellery, bandana stylist's own

[body_image width='640' height='640' path='images/content-images/2015/03/27/' crop='images/content-images-crops/2015/03/27/' filename='grace-gundrum-is-a-12-year-old-grappling-prodigy-who-can-kick-your-ass-327-body-image-1427490787.jpg' id='40646']

10th Planet Jiu Jitsu in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, sits in a small strip mall next to a sandwich shop. It's a one-room gym lit with fluorescent lights and there's a box of sweaty gloves that you can borrow for kick boxing. In the back, there's a futon where co-owner Zach Maslaney used to crash when he first opened the place with partner JM Holland two years ago. Here, 12-year-old prodigy fighter Grace Gundrum trains twice a day, six days a week, preparing for matches like the one she fought on the 22 of this month, at the Eddie Bravo Invitational, one of Jiu Jitsu's most widely watched events.

Grace, ten pounds lighter than her opponent Alyssa Wilson (who is considered by many to be the best in her age in the world), was an underdog. When she stepped out into the bright lights onstage at the Orpheum Theater, it was not hard to imagine her, with her understated gait, staring down as she walked, as an underdog. Wilson, on the other hand, bounced into the match with a half-shaved haircut and plenty of eye contact with the crowd.

"She's just a quiet kid and doesn't like to be the focus of a lot of attention. This is all weird for her," said Grace's mom, Mary Jo Gundrum, three days later, back at the gym in Bethlehem. "The venue was gigantic and huge. I don't know if she was as worried about the match as she was about the venue and Pay Per View and this huge theater with all these people staring at you, and lights and cameras, and I think that was the most stressful for her. I was nervous just being there. She didn't really say anything about it. Not 'I'm scared, I'm nervous.' She sort of processes it all."

At the start of the match, Alyssa swiftly took down Grace, but Grace immediately and calmly regained dominance, holding Alyssa down with an almost perfect stillness.

"We call her the Silent Assassin," said Maslaney, because of what he, Holland, and Mary Jo all refer to as her "all business" attitude on the mat.

As Alyssa pounded Grace with a series of fast motions to pry herself away, Grace held still, without a single discernible change in emotion. "She'll be able to sit in a move or just get stuck in a move and stay patient, hang out, really not show any emotion, and then eventually work her way out and get to a better position," said Maslaney. "I think that's something that sets her aside from a lot of people—her patience. She taught me that. Usually, I would just do something dumb, jump into a move."

Maslaney and Holland began the slow and exhausting process of running their dream business two years ago when they quit their day jobs to focus on the 10th Planet gym full time. The duct-taped mats of the office space gym are now constantly crowded with men and women in the Bethlehem area, who show up for Maslaney and Holland's rigorous but lighthearted classes. Rap plays softly over small speakers as the adults pound their work week and past due bills into punchbags. They have tattoos and a habit of cussing, and among them, always, is Grace.

She has to train with the adults, since there is no one else at her level. "There are no girls in the area that we can just be like 'Hey! wanna come train with her? Or even boys. It's tough. That's why she trains with the men a lot," said Maslaney.

Grappling with the men has earned Grace the unusual role of being both their little sister figure and their inspiration. In order to cover the cost of getting Grace and her trainers and family to Los Angeles for last week's match, the team set up a GoFundMe account, which was funded in large part by local businesses and members of the gym. "She was kind of weirded out about it. She's like me. I don't like taking things from people. I don't like taking money from people," said Maslaney.

"Everyone knows how hard Grace works. They see her at the gym all the time," said Holland. "They got the Pay Per View, having drinks and shit. People were telling me they were at home watching it if they weren't there. They were all into it."

[youtube src='//www.youtube.com/embed/MxgJNylNtQs' width='640' height='360']

Throughout the regulation time of the EBI match, Grace's devout training kept her neck and neck with Alyssa, who matched Grace's slow and calculated moves with rapid fire displays of strength and speed. The match was so close—Alyssa's agility perfectly foiled by Grace's stability—that broadcast announcers were quick to call it "the fight of the night" on a card of primarily adult fights, before noting that "both of these girls regularly beat up boys all across the country. That's what Jiu Jitsu is all about."

"Little girls are way smarter than little boys," said Holland. "I've never met a boy who listens like Grace does." Her focus and discipline extend so far beyond the mat that it's hard to spot a 12-year-old girl anywhere between those intense and nervous eyes. According to Mary Jo, "She's motivated in lots of different aspects of her life. She's type A, like, 'I want to get it all done, I want it set up a certain way.' She's very organized, disciplined, that's just her personality."

Unlike many kids her age, Grace "doesn't care about Facebook, Twitter, pop music people, anything like that." She has harnessed all of her pre-teen enthusiasm into a quiet and steadfast drive that keeps her drilling without complaining and patiently accepting the sport's lessons as they're pummeled, sometimes aggressively, into her body.

"She's not lost the same way in a match again," said Mary Jo. "If someone's caught her at something it hasn't happened again. She will be upset, but then she shakes it off. It's all part of it." Still, Grace has little to say when it comes to articulating what drives her passion for the sport.

"I don't know really at all," said Grace, when pressed about her motivations in the sport. She's a little more animated when it comes to Minecraft, the world-building video game that she plays constantly, including in the hours leading up to a big match like EBI. "You can just build a bunch of creations...There isn't really a goal, you can just do whatever you want in the game."

In the first round of overtime after regulation, Alyssa got Grace into an X hold that left Grace on her stomach, a position the announcer's described as "the dead zone." Grace's face became red and strained, but her eyes betrayed no frustration or defeat. Alyssa then flipped Grace around and smothered her face in a face crank. For a handful of drawn out seconds, Grace made slow and ineffective attempts to pry herself out from Alyssa's grip, enveloped in her muscle mass like caught prey.

She escaped, not in one climactic release, but slowly, over the course of a minute, in barely visible motions.

Grace started the next overtime round on Alyssa's back, but was unable to hold what seemed like a substantial lock on her when Alyssa quickly released herself using her speed and unfettered strength.

As the yin and yang match rolled into its third round of overtime, Alyssa started behind Grace, who calmly allowed Alyssa's arms to wrap around her neck. Taken to the mat and stuck in a hold by Alyssa, Grace's face, once again, became bloated with tension. Her teeth stuck through her tightened lips. She slipped out from Alyssa's grip, surprising everyone except herself.

During her turn to start behind Alyssa, Grace used her slight body to pounce on her into a body triangle, pinning her down with her legs. Alyssa, her confidence unbroken, continued to make breakneck attempts to pry herself away from Grace's grip.

Then, Grace, who had laughed with disbelief when she was told she'd been invited to EBI, flipped the reigning world's best grappler and got her into a choke hold. After flashing an involuntary disappointed grimace that reminded everyone that for all her confidence, she was still also a 12-year-old girl, Alyssa tapped out.

The crowd, finally able to breath, was swept to its feet.

Grace, looking relieved and shocked at the same time, shook Alyssa's hand. Alyssa nervously tugged at her hair and shirt before flashing a professional smile as Grace was officially named the winner of the match.

Officials shook Grace's hand and crowned her with a cap that said "Choke."

Grace's smile was small, but it was genuine.

Follow Tess Barker on Twitter.