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'Twenty Years Ahead of the World': Talking to Legendary Performance Artist Penny Arcade

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Penny Arcade on stage, via Steve Zehentner

"What does gentrification mean? It means the erasure of history, it means cultural amnesia, it means that younger people who come along will not be able to see the places where things happened—or places where things are still happening—that are alternative to the totalitarian, capitalistic drool that's going on out there. It's hard enough to be a young person trying to find your way in the world and in culture, without having any landmarks—because if everything is going to be a Starbucks, if everything is going to be a high street brand like Topshop, then, where is the alternative?"

I'm on the phone to Penny Arcade, real name Susana Ventura—a relic of New York's avant-garde performance scene. An actress, playwright, and comedienne, Penny's work is driven by the need to document and catalogue her own unusual existence, the landscape of underground New York, and the lives of the queer artistic community of which she was and is a part. At 65, she's been performing for five decades, and has worked with the likes of Andy Warhol, Jack Smith, and Quentin Crisp. She's currently touring a show called Longing Lasts Longer at Edinburgh Fringe.

Penny is arrogant and unapologetic—something she's built a career out of. She claims that she never knew she wanted to be a performer, because—coming from a working-class Italian-American family—there "just wasn't a format for that." Still, it was her witty one-liners and social commentary that got her noticed when she was a teenager on the streets of Downtown New York—"In the 60s lots of life took place on the street, people were milling around. People actually talked to one another."

The story goes that a guy named Jamie Andrews would follow her around and ask her, "Who writes your material?" She tells me about it: "I saw him one rainy night when I was quite homeless, I was just sort of crashing around at places, and he ran into me and said, 'You don't look that good, I think you need to come and live at my house.'" She coughs down the phone. "He was a 27-year-old gay man and he took me in! Show me the 27-year-old gay guy who's taking a 16-year-old girl off the street now—not gonna happen, right?"


Patti Smith, Jackie Curtis, and Penny Arcade in 1969. Image via YouTube

Andrews introduced her to John Vacarro, who ran the Play-House of the Ridiculous. Penny describes it as "the glitter, glam, rock-and-roll political theater of 60s New York that created the downtown punk movement." It was a genre of itself, made up of parody takes on pop culture performed by drag queens and brash outsiders. Culturally, it bridged the gap between Warhol's Factory and what would later be CBGB. This was where Warhol first saw her perform and, as she puts it, "decided to make her a superstar."

Warhol asked her to be in his film, Women in Revolt, and she obliged, but later turned down a role in one of his plays, PORK. When asked why, she said she found Women in Revolt kind of boring. "No one will ever say it but it really wasn't that interesting. What it was really about was... Andy Warhol had a tremendous fascination for the very wealthy. You can say a lot of things about very wealthy people but that they're interesting is not one of them." Instead, she went to Europe with the Theatre of the Ridiculous.


Related: Watch our film, The Wolfpack Goes to Hollywood


Penny's solo performances kicked off in the 80s with While You Were Out, but it was Bitch! Dyke! Faghag! Whore! of the early 90s that came to be her most famous one-woman show. The performance—which I saw a couple of years ago in London—features autobiographical monologues soundtracked to music, erotic strip teases from the backing dancers, and Penny undressing down to nothing on stage. The whole thing is a "fuck you" to censorship in the arts, and brings in Penny's personal stories of the AIDS crisis that started in the late 1970s and is ongoing today.

Penny toured Bitch!... again in 2012, which is when I saw it. I wonder if it was received differently 20 years after it was written and first showed, given that it was largely penned as a response to Senator Jesse Helms's banning of government arts grants for work deemed too obscene. "No," she barks. "There's as much censorship going on now as there was then. The thing is, when you're 20 years ahead of the world, which I am—anything that I talked about 20 years ago, is going to be relevant now." I can't help but laugh nervously—a little bit scared of Penny and a little bit in awe of her. She carries on, undeterred:

"We're living now in a time when people are very afraid to say their opinion, a time of great consensus, of crowd-think; you can't talk about anything without people getting upset with you. The censorship is actually in the culture now. It's not coming just from the government, or from the church, or from some group of maniac right-wing Tories, it's in the drinking water! It's college students themselves who are calling for trigger warnings for anything that contains violence, or racism, or rape, or colonialism. So please don't tell me that censorship is over, there's more censorship now than there was 20 years ago."

The Jewish lesbian author Sarah Schulman writes in her book The Gentrification of the Mind about how ideas can become gentrified, about how people psychologically assimilate to the mainstream, about how an alternative way of thinking was erased when a whole generation of artists died of AIDS in the 1980s. She quotes Penny's 1990 play Invitation to the Beginning of the End of the World, in which the mother of Rita Redd, a fictional drag queen, cries out on the streets of New York to all the yuppies who don't know who her son was, even though they occupied the same spaces. They're ignorant.

This tableaux is at the crux of what Penny Arcade does. In the 1980s, when the gay experimental filmmaker and artist Jack Smith was dying of AIDS-related illness, he asked Penny to burn all of his belongings. "He was very angry with the world and he wanted me to destroy all of his work," she remembers. But Penny convinced him otherwise, before salvaging his films from his apartment. She got what she describes as "a lot of shit for it for the first ten years." Does she regret it? "No!" she barks again."Now you can see all those people in their young teens, early 20s, and 30s that adore Jack Smith. Without me that wouldn't have happened."

Another example of Penny's commitment to preserving alternative culture is her oral history project, Lower East Side Biography Project: Stemming the Tide of Cultural Amnesia, which she runs with long-time collaborator Steve Zehentner. "I interview highly self-individuated people, and then we edit me out of it," she explains with pride. "The public get a one-on-one interaction with an amazing person. And like Jack Smith once said: 'To be in the presence of a genius even for an hour is enough.'"

Penny's own Lower East Side Biography interview

Penny believes we're living in an era where different age groups just don't communicate with one another. "I do this project because, for the 60s and 70s, and until the mid 80s, you could meet amazing people every week. Now you don't because you live in a mono-generational era. You don't have that inter-generational experience which makes life exciting. Life is exciting when all ages are participating. Who would ever believe that everybody who's doing one particular thing is the same age—that sounds stupid, doesn't it? "

As part of the project Penny has interviewed artists like the French photographer Michael Auder—Cindy Sherman's husband; Jayne County—one of the first transgender rock stars; and Bina Sharif—an incredible Pakistani playwright and artist. Penny posts the films on Facebook—"I'm not some kind of luddite!"—so that young people have access to the people that she interviews. If gentrification is the erasure of history, and ignorance is gentrification, Penny is doing everything in her power to stave it off.

"You need to be able to see the alternative in order to live the alternative," she tells me. "For me as a young person, I locked into the alternative. But we don't come with software when we're young, we don't know what we're looking for, we have to bump into it. And what's being done now in all of the cities—all over the world—is removing the alternative, removing the bohemian, taking the rock and roll, the funk, the poetry right out of it. So, that's why I do the work that I do, for the young people that are coming up: I want to offer an alternative."

Follow Amelia Abraham on Twitter.

Check out the Lower East Side Biographies Project on Facebook.

Penny's show Longing Lasts Longer is currently showing at Edinburgh Fringe, and will come to the Soho Theatre in London in November.


The Drug-Addicted Male Escorts Who Get Pressured to Take Mephedrone and GHB at Chemsex Parties

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Illustrations by Nick Scott


"The first time I ever tried mephedrone was with a client," says Gabriel*, a 29-year-old male escort in London. "And as I kept working, it's just become far more normal. Now, even with incredibly wealthy clients, most of them are using mephedrone."

Part of the sex work industry for the last half a decade, Gabriel's witnessed firsthand the way drugs—namely crystal meth, mephedrone, and GHB (or "G," a liquid solvent)—have flooded London's gay scene. Predominantly used during sex, there's now a growing portion of the gay community involved in "chemsex," as it's colloquially known, and going to the "chillouts"—drug-fueled sex parties—at which chemsex tends to occur.

Though chemsex is by no means a new phenomenon (see our past coverage here), less than a decade ago escorts could have avoided it. But the proliferation of mephedrone and G—both of which are cheap, easy to source, and highly addictive—has made using substances an almost unavoidable aspect of male sex work. Now, if they want to make enough money to get by, they don't have much of a choice but to partake.

"Out of ten clients over a weekend, I would say about 80 percent would want chems during the sex," says 33-year-old Dan*. Though he started using mephedrone for pleasure, it began to feature so regularly in his sex work that a recreational habit transformed into an addiction, not to mention a gateway to harder substances.

"It was the sex industry that got me into slamming [injecting] and into the harder forms of doing drugs," he says. "It's something that you just had to get used to. I've actually had to get into slamming myself to fit with the trend, because that's what people are into. They want to see that someone slams and gets a rock hard cock."

With such a high proportion of jobs now involving drugs, few escorts can afford to turn down substance-based sex work. And while Dan and others do charge more for chemsex—his normal rate is £300 [$470] and he charges an extra £100 [$156] for chillouts—he's often expected to source the drugs himself. Even then, there's no guarantee of financial gain.

"Most of the customers expect you to bring the chems," he says. "You fork out for them, and you have to supply the pins [syringes] as well, and everything like that. And then, once you've done all the running around and everything, you're out of pocket. Some clients don't actually end up paying back; they have all the fun, and then they basically just get rid of you when they're done."


WATCH: Our documentary about getting high on HIV Medication.


Sometimes the clients forgo the sex entirely. "There are people who've actually asked me, 'Do you know where I can get some stuff?'" says Dan. "I'll bring it round to them, then that's it—they've actually turned round and said, 'Well, you can go now.' So I've been made to feel like a drug dealer a few times. It's very common."

After eventually accepting his addiction was out of control, Dan went into rehab. Though chemsex has become a substantial element of escorting, he's now better equipped to refuse work that would see his addiction resurface.

"I'll admit that I did become addicted to crystal meth and mephedrone, where I was slamming it so much," he says. "But I know my personal limit because I got to learn how to say no, and went into rehab. Unfortunately, money is a big aphrodisiac. The more money people are paying to shag you when you're off your face on these drugs, the more drugs people will do."

Mephedrone and G in particular have proved especially popular across the gay scene, and their arrival marks the start of chemsex's inexorable integration with escorting. Compared to the cocaine that's available in London, they're more accessible, more potent, and cheaper. Coupled with the rise of hook-up apps like Grindr, which have made organizing or finding chillouts much simpler, it's easy to see how chemsex has embedded itself into both the gay and escorting scene. It's now so prolific that even the BBC is taking an interest.

"Back in the day, like ten years ago, ecstasy was the big thing and people were having fun in the clubs," says Patrick, who's been working as an escort for over a decade. "I was doing that, but I certainly wasn't during the week. And then it slowly changed. As soon as the G came on the scene, the whole clubbing scene changed completely."

More and more of Patrick's clients paid for him to have chemsex, and eventually he became addicted to G. Like Gabriel's relationship with mephedrone, he transitioned from using it with clients to using it recreationally. After seeking professional help for his addiction, he spent six months in rehab.

"I left rehab and I relapsed straight away with alcohol, and I've kind of masked how the G was," he says. "I was taking it every hour and a half, and I don't think any kind of treatment can get you over that. Originally I started taking it for work... and then, of course, you get addicted to it so fast. So I replaced it with the alcohol and I'm getting there slowly."

As London's only sex-worker support service, the SWISH Project is one of the few places escorts can turn to for help with addiction. Over the last 18 months it has seen a huge increase in the number of male escorts accessing their drug services.

"Before, with 'club drugs,' we would normally see a small number of escorts accessing drug services. We are now seeing more and more male escorts coming in for support and treatment with injection injuries, and quite often physical health problems, from using GBL, crystal meth or meph," says Paul Doyle, addiction liaison at SWISH.

"One of the growing issues we are facing is the growing number of escorts who are not entitled to government support like detox, rehab, and housing," he continues. "To properly support sex workers with chemsex we need better access to support and treatment, improved provision for mental health services and improved referrals to specialist sex work projects. We also need to make sure that clients are aware of the legal issues, as well as the emotional and mental health issues of using drugs."

Like many of London's escorts, Gabriel's reliance on chemsex-based work began to take its toll. "My mephedrone use, I have to admit, was at one point... I wouldn't say 'spiraling out of control,' but it was becoming an issue. I was finding probably about twice a week I was using. Often it would start with doing the client for a couple of hours, which involved drugs, and then I would go out and party with friends, or go to a chillout or something like that. I also know a lot of guys who will do at least a dose of G before every client because they're not necessarily dealing with the escorting particularly well, mentally."

In some cases the drug dependency has become so strong that escorts have found themselves going to chillouts for the drugs rather than the money. Others have found themselves unable to perform sexually without the drugs. There are sexual health issues too, as drugs like mephedrone remove inhibitions and nullify concerns such as condom usage, which is a huge risk in a city where one in eight gay men are estimated to have HIV.

The addictions also manifest physically. "I've seen it with lots and lots of boys, when I go to do a duo with a guy, they look completely drug fucked, or nothing like their pictures," says Gabriel. "They look great and muscular in the photographs they're advertising, but when you actually meet them in real life they're quite often underweight or out of shape because their drug use on the whole is out of control. And they're constantly partying, either with each other or with clients."

As well as the long-term impact of addiction, chemsex also presents more immediate dangers. G is notoriously easy to overdose on; just a few millimeters too much could induce a comatose state for hours, and Gabriel's witnessed instances where clients have purposefully tried to overdose escorts to take advantage of them, whether it's sexually, so they lose track of time or so they can slip out without paying.

"The one particularly bad experience I had with a client was I went over to Stockwell to do an outcall at the client's apartment, and he'd taken a little bit of mephedrone," he says. "I wasn't taking anything that night as I had other commitments later, and all I can assume was he put some crystal meth into a little bit of lube and dissolved it, and then slipped it up my arse, because I was completely off my face and then subsequently off my face for a very, very long period."

Gabriel now says he's grown wise to the occasional subterfuge and tricks of clients. When he does engage in chemsex he self-doses, sticks solely to cocaine or mephedrone and only does it with clients he trusts. As an experienced escort, he's reached a stage where he rarely advertises and can count on his regulars to sustain him financially.

"A lot of the boys don't speak particularly good English, so that kind of booking doesn't tend to happen, and I think they get a lot more of the drug-based stuff instead," says Gabriel. "It's one of the other reasons I can do quite well: because I'm English and I don't have a huge amount of competition. A number of clients, particularly American or English clients, prefer to see English, Australian, or American [boys], where English is the first language."

Gabriel's situation is a rarity. Not every escort is in a position where they can dictate the amount of drugs-based work they accept. For most, particularly those new to escorting or even the country, it's usually the only work on offer. Even British escorts like Patrick struggle, and while he's now managed to get himself off drugs, he is still dependent on alcohol. To avoid relapsing completely, he feels his only option is to leave sex work entirely.

"I'm trying my very best to try and find a way out," says Patrick. "I've kind of weaned off everything now; the mephedrone, the G, and everything. But it's a massive part of the scene. I can't see how it's gonna change. There's a massive part of me that wishes I never really got involved with it all. I'm trying my best to get out of it all.

"And I'm praying to God for my life, really, that I can kind of go and do the transition of life, basically. But it just takes you back to the same place all the time. It's a pretty brutal world, really."

*Names have been changed.

Look out for VICE's upcoming feature-length documentary about chemsex, which will be released in October.

Never Thirsty: A Week in Chicago with Mick Jenkins

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Never Thirsty: A Week in Chicago with Mick Jenkins

Intelligence Officials Flag 305 Hillary Clinton Emails for Possible Classified Info

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Intelligence Officials Flag 305 Hillary Clinton Emails for Possible Classified Info

The Strangest Parts of the Northwestern Football Unionization Decision

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The Strangest Parts of the Northwestern Football Unionization Decision

I Went to an International Sailor Moon Day Event and I’m Scared for the Future

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Photos by Sierra Bein

It's been 20 years since North America was introduced to a klutzy 14-year-old girl named Sailor Moon (or Serena), who somehow managed to kick ass when she wasn't eating or crushing on all the cute guys surrounding her.

Loads of people went head over heels for Serena and her friends, and the fandom was born. These "Moonies" were in their prime from the late '90s to early 2000s. Did people ever take it too far? Maybe at times. Did Rule 34 apply? Of course it did. Though there was rarely ever a question of which version of the show was better, because the answer will always be the Japanese OG subtitles.

On August 15, meetups and events were running all over the world for International Sailor Moon Day. But at Toronto's event for International Sailor Moon Day, where it said on Facebook that 3,200 people were going to attend, only 12 people showed up to the meetup (like, the same amount of people have actually been to the moon). And I was one of them.

Group shot! Of... literally the whole group.

When a dozen people show up to an event that was meant for thousands, do you blame the coordinators? Or the lazy people who couldn't make it across to Toronto Island on the ferry? It didn't matter. The day was going to have to go on without them.

While everyone was pulling out the lunches that they had packed for the day, my friends and I pulled out a couple mickeys of assorted dark liquor (naturally) and got down to celebrating Sailor Moon—although we weren't dressed up, some of the others were.

People complimented each other's handmade cosplay, and talked about their favourite episodes—making jokes about Sailor Moon parodies. Generally, no one seemed upset by the low turnout.

Sailor Mars strikes a pose.

Some posted pictures on Instagram and others' images were saved for more prominent social feeds. ANNND that was about it. Everyone went home after about two hours. Maybe we will see each other again, someday.

Don't get me wrong, I love Sailor Moon. She was a sort of role model for me while I was growing up. But this day made me question a lot of things. Is Sailor Moon still relevant? Do the people not care about her anymore? Will the Moonie go extinct? Will I accept any assignment?

These were some of burning questions that I was able to ask some of the loyal Moonies on Toronto's Centre Island.

Tuxedo Masc and Bear Sailor Moon

Stefan Maroni, 29, and Noel Scott, 30, were dressed as "Tuxedo Masc" and "Bear Sailor Moon" respectively, to put a twist on the characters. It might have been their first time cosplaying together but they knew more about the Sailor Moon scene than most. They have faith that the moonie will survive in the future.

"It's been over 25 years now, the kids who were kids at the time have turned into adults, and have given it to their kids," said Maroni. "I hope it will [survive] at least, because I need something to do."

Wayne Good shows off his Sailor Moon-inspired back piece.

With the Crystal reboot of the series released this past year, it's given a younger generation the opportunity to watch the series. This new wave of animation doesn't come without controversy though, as a lot of people just don't like the way it looks. Combined with unfamiliar character voices from new actors, the new show isn't sitting well with some.

"I think it's fantastic. I know a lot of people are kind of dogging it because the animation isn't the greatest but then again, we're getting it for free," said Scott. "It really shows Sailor Moon in a new light, which is a strong character and you can see why the manga was switched over to give females a more positive role model."

Good's Sailor Moon tattoo

Wayne Good is 34 years old and has been watching Sailor Moon for almost 20 years. He's also decorated himself with five major tattoos of the main scouts, because he wanted to be the first guy to get all the full-body sailors tattooed on him.

"There will always be some remnants of Sailor Moon somewhere. It's just like Atlantis, it just doesn't go away. You will always find small pieces of it everywhere," he said.

Trista and Tiarra Mar strike a pose

There was one family there. Trista Mar is a 24-year-old mother who knew she wanted to raise her daughter with Sailor Moon, because it was something she loved growing up.

However, it was Trista's daughter, eight-year-old Tiarra, who was the only one who straight up told me that the Moonie will stop existing some day. She said that kids are going to start watching new shows, and will forget Sailor Moon eventually. Not everyone even knows who Serena is on the playground: she's seen it.

Maybe she's right, she is the generation that we're worried for. Maybe today's attendance was an indicator that Sailor Moon was always doomed to become nothing more than a symbol, an icon of cuteness and strength all wrapped into two balls of blond, spaghetti-like hair.

Follow Sierra Bein on Twitter.

The VICE Guide to Right Now: Watch Dads React to Their Daughters Getting Catcalled on NYC Streets

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Read: I Love Wolf Whistles and Catcalls; Am I a Bad Feminist?

Last October a video of a woman being catcalled by a bunch of minorities while walking in New York City went viral. In addition to inspiring a dialog about the way men approach women, it was rightfully called out as being at least a tad bit racist. It also spawned a whole host of knock-offs like10 Hours of Walking in NYC as a Man,10 Hours of Walking in NYC as a Woman in a Hijab, and 10 Hours of Walking but This Time She Talks Back. For an internet video, it had impressive staying power, but by the time 2015 rolled around most people had moved on.

Then, on Monday, a video called "The Scene" popped up and took the concept to its next logical step—getting fathers to sit down and slowly fill with rage as they watch their daughters being harassed on the street.

The video, which could be fake but seems pretty believable, shows three fathers grimacing and tensing up as they realize what their daughters have to deal with when strolling around the streets of Manhattan.

"Have some fucking respect!" one of the fathers shouts at the screen.

"[My daughter's] bag is pretty full and it does have a clasp on it," another dad named Richard says, calmly. "So she wouldn't lose anything if she had to smack anybody with it."

You can watch the full video above.

A BC University Will Teach Students How to Grow and Sell Weed

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Finally, you can talk weed in school without getting in trouble. Photo via Flickr user Michael Coghlan

Gone are the days when Biggie Smalls' Ten Crack Commandments were the only career advice a drug dealer required.

Now, those who want to sell medical marijuana in Canada at least, need to brush up on Health Canada's Marihuana for Medical Purposes Regulations, a far more stringent (and less entertaining) set of rules.

To help wannabe pot producers wade through potential legal pitfalls, Metro Vancouver's Kwantlen Polytechnic University is offering Introduction to Professional Management of Marijuana for Medical Purposes in Canada, a 14-week online crash course, this fall.

"There is in fact a big gap in the knowledge base in the industry and so there's a need for this training," Jim Pelton, executive director of continuing and professional studies at KPU, told VICE.

The syllabus is broken down into four major areas: plant production and facility management theory; legalities and regulations; marketing, sales and patient acquisition strategies; and medical conditions and drug development processes.

There are 25 licensed medical marijuana producers in Canada, including 13 in Ontario and six in BC. But course instructor Tegan Adams, who works as a business development manager at Experchem Laboratories Inc., a cannabis testing firm, estimates Health Canada is sitting on at least another 2,000 applications.

"It's a pretty low success rate," said Adams, pointing to a need for more education.

The course was created with input from industry experts, including experienced legal pot growers.

According to the KPU website, "students will learn to identify the key differences in plant characteristics. They will become skilled at identifying healthy plant roots and unhealthy plant roots; learn treatment techniques, and how to optimize the environment for healthy root production."

Adams admitted the subject matter could benefit growers looking to sell in the black market, but "that's not the focus." Much of the interest, she said, comes from people who are "passionate about it from a medical perspective because they either lost a loved one to cancer or they use it to treat another illness."

"This isn't a gardening course," added Pelton. "This is really all about how to do it legally."

Pelton told VICE the first class is currently half-full, with about 25 students signed up. It runs Sept. 8 - Oct. 23 with a $1,249 price tag (about 6.25 ounces of weed in street value).

Follow Manisha Krishnan on Twitter.


The VICE Guide to Right Now: Alberta Man Fined for Displaying ‘Fuck Harper’ Sign on Car, Threatens Charter Defence

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Photo via Facebook

Read: Canadians Don't Love Stephen Harper's Baby Bursary, Poll Finds

He's not a man of subtleties, and recently Albertan Rob Wells outfitted his car with a bold message: "Fuck Harper."

The all-caps, hot-pink-and-black sign, placed in the back window of Wells' hatchback, attracted plenty of attention, including that of Alberta RCMP, who pulled him over Sunday just south of the city of Leduc and handed him a $543 fine for distraction, according to CTV News.

"Harper supporters are very offensive to me, so being offensive is not illegal in this country," Wells told CTV.

Claiming he'd cleared the sign with lawyers before displaying it, he took to Facebook to vent about the run-in.

"When I refused to let [the officer] trample on my Charter rights, he gave me a ticket. I'll be pleading NOT GUILTY and raising a Charter right defense," he wrote. "I'll also be filing a complaint against the officer for political harassment."

This isn't the first time dissing the prime minister has gotten Wells in trouble with the law; he claims he was previously threatened with "criminal prosecution" due to an anti-Harper bumper sticker.

The distraction law is a traffic violation, not a criminal offence. It was used in May to charge a man who screamed "Fuck her right in the pussy" at a CBC News reporter in Calgary.

Follow Manisha Krishnan on Twitter.

Among the Tarkovsky Fanatics at an Underground Retrospective in Berlin

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Still from 'Stalker' (1979) by Andrei Tarkovsky

For the past 30 years, an underground movie theater in Berlin has hosted an annual summer retrospective of all seven of the feature-length films of Soviet auteur Andrei Tarkovsky. By underground I mean that the theater, Arsenal, is literally subterranean. You descend via the glass elevator outside the Billy Wilder restaurant, and the doors slide open to reveal a narrow basement room with a glass-ceilinged view that reconciles itself, after a vertiginous second or two, as Potsdamer Platz's garishly psychedelic circus tent.

In this bizarre space—beneath what was once a barren, bombed-out stretch of Berlin Wall and is now a triumphant carnival of market capitalism—we enter into a tunnel of time. Tarkovsky time. You can't talk about Tarkovsky without harping on time. (For one thing, there's the title of his book-length manifesto, Sculpting in Time, along with the documentary about the making of Nostalgia, Voyage in Time—and even his diaries, published with what I can only assume were no feelings of superfluity as Time Within Time.) One goes to some movies—Mission: Impossible—Rogue Nation, say—to waste time, others to experience the quiddity of time itself. A Tarkovsky film slows your pulse and maybe even Earth's orbit, as your senses readjust to their new powers of receptivity.

Related; Alan Smithee Is Officially the Worst Hollywood Director of All Time

So it goes with Arsenal's Tarkovsky retrospective, which receives minimal advertising and as far as I know doesn't even have a special name, and which is nevertheless a time-bending tradition of its own, especially for Berlin, a city that sometimes seems allergic to its own past. Berlin looks forward, the thinking goes, always in the process of becoming, never of being or reflecting. Yet the retrospective is perennially popular. "Tarkovsky's back at Arsenal—it must be August," Berliners are known to quip (or so I'm told). International filmgoers book their flights as soon as the schedule is released, some in order to see the same set of films they saw last year. Judging from my seatmates at several screenings, the appeal crosses generational as well as national divides. The people want Tarkovsky, they want him on celluloid, and they want him whole: the complete and unabridged oeuvre.

To a non-novitiate, such devotion year after year might seem a bit surprising. After all, Tarkovsky is famous for his long and not exactly toe-tapping stories of Dostoevskian spiritual crises. But he has a special history in the German capital owing to the Arsenal Institute for Film and Video Art—formerly Friends of the German Film Archive—a cinema and distributor founded in 1970 and relocated to Potsdamer Platz in the 2000s. It was as a distributor that their relationship with Tarkovsky began, as members secreted a copy of Stalker into the West to screen at the 1981 Berlinale.

"At the time it was very difficult to get the prints of Tarkovsky out of the Soviet Union, and there was huge interest in them," Milena Gregor, one of Arsenal's artistic directors, told me.

In East Berlin, too, Tarkovsky was a favorite of intellectuals. Science fiction was popular throughout the GDR, and Tarkovsky's exploits in the genre were unlike anything then available. Not only was the Soviet filmmaker delivering masterpiece after undeniable masterpiece, but to anyone with a liberal-arts education, his films were filled with coded doubts about the competency of the Communist state—doubts shared by many viewers. The mother of a friend of mine who moved from the country of Georgia to Prenzlauer Berg in the 1980s recalled that she followed Tarkovsky's Eastern Bloc output religiously. It was her expression of dissent.

In 1985, a year before his death, Tarkovsky came to West Berlin on a prestigious DAAD arts fellowship and presided over screenings of his work; so began the retrospective, Gregor said. The 1987 program was already describing the event as Arsenal's "traditional summer festival."

Now it's August again, and if you're in Berlin there's still time to catch a few final screenings. When I first moved here a year ago, I'd just missed the retrospective entirely, and had to endure endless (you might say Tarkovskian) conversations about its singular excellence, or its excellent singularity, with other cineastes at the strange Hollywood-themed watering hole I lived across from, unimaginatively named Filmbar. "You have to go," a young bartender and film student pleaded with me. "It's one of a kind."

For a certain type of sensitive melancholic, Tarkovsky's movies are infectious. You see one and have to track down them all, a true cinephilic quest in the decades before DVDs, Netflix, and Karagarga, the obscurantist torrent site where I downloaded my way through his body of work in grad school. In 2015, however, everything from his student films to his final feature is available for free on the website Open Culture.

Still, there's nothing like the big screen, and nothing like warm, fuzzy-edged film stock, accompanied by the sprocket hum of the filmstrip's perforated Chiclet gutters. Arsenal keeps their own Tarkovsky prints in the vaults ("They've had a long run, but the quality is no longer good," Grego said), but they have sourced other reels from around Europe for the annual showings. Even these are scratched and unstable. With every screening, they disintegrate a little more. One day they'll be gone, leaving only Criterion DVDs and the original negatives locked in their Moscow vault.


VICE Talks Film with Joshua Oppenheimer, director of 'The Look of Silence' and 'The Act of Killing':


At Arsenal I was most excited to see Ivan's Childhood, Tarkovsky's first full-length feature and a breakthrough 1961 war film. Its realism and brutality know none of the limits propagated in Hollywood in those days by Hays Code propriety, and in later years by the self-censorious sensibilities of Steven Spielberg and company. The story of a war orphan on Hitler's eastern front, Ivan's Childhood depicts not only random, useless acts of wartime violence but also the general miasma of violence—its mental anguish, its sour boredom—that war less spectacularly engenders. The film prefigures by almost two decades the vocabulary of Vietnam-era war films that has long since passed into self-parody (Tropic Thunder, Animaniacs cartoons). Flares expire in weak parabolas over a bleak and devastated landscape; soldiers mope around, play records, and force themselves on women. The plot gyres; characters die off-screen without ceremony. In the final act, an inscrutable mission demands a midnight raid through waist-deep bog, past ruined tree stumps and the flash of falling shells. Only Kurtz's "the horror, the horror" is missing.

Tarkovsky's next film, Andrei Rublev, the story of Russia's greatest icon painter, stretches on for more than three hours of 15th-century action. Yet it managed to establish the director as the Soviet Union's foremost filmmaker—and a favorite at Cannes—even though the film was initially banned in his home country for its sympathetic depiction of Eastern Orthodox Christianity.

Solaris is Tarkovsky's most famous film—particularly now, thanks to the Soderbergh update—and it was by far the most crowded screening I attended at the festival. Adapting a Stanislaw Lem novel, Tarkovsky found himself filming inside a gritty, disused space station set that looked like something out of Star Wars, and as a result the film, which is often billed as "the Soviet response to 2001," was the director's least favorite. But the power of its central narrative of memory and desire (featuring a dead wife's eternal and uncanny return to her husband) is undiminished, even if the sets have aged. At the end of the screening, I noticed an old woman in the theater wearing an exact copy of the wife's iconic shawl.

With the autobiographical Mirror, Tarkovsky leaped into new cinematic space-time, leaving many fans behind. In Sculpting in Time he recalls the incensed letters he received from filmgoers after its release, and quotes from them liberally: "Half an hour ago I came out of Mirror. Well!!... Comrade director! Have you seen it? I think there's something unhealthy about it..." Mirror is a montage-like assemblage of moments from the director's childhood, interspersed with scenes of adult life and his father's poetry—all of it astonishing. Not a single frame is out of place. It's one of those films for which you thank the Soviet powers that be for its creation, a film whose commercial prospects were nonexistent, a film—according to conventional wisdom—Hollywood could never have produced.

Mirror's follow-up, Stalker, is if anything less accessible, although it's a great brooding road movie of the soul, The Wizard of Oz as written by Samuel Beckett and filtered through woozy Kodachrome. The plot, however, is thin: In a distant country, a meteorite has created a forbidden area of uncertain dangers, the innermost sanctum of which zone is reported to grant any visitors their deepest desires. Three men go to visit. Yet within this undercooked premise the film manages to produce moments of purest cinematic wonder.

All of Tarkovsky's films—excepting the last two, Nostalgia and particularly The Sacrifice, which even I have to admit muddles through a lot of forgettable spiritual pabulum before its conflagration of a finale—are basically free of cliché or convention. Each proceeds as though it were the very first work in a newfound genre, a celluloid Upanishad or Pilgrim's Progress. Watching all of them over a period of a month proved to be a pretty grueling experience, not because the films aren't brilliant and world-blossoming, but precisely because they are, and because they test your deadened heuristics of sensibility so exhaustively. And they resist the sort of sense-making a quickie review like this ought to provide. If Tarkovsky does lean on any stylistic tic or predilection, it is probably the long and virtuosic single-shot scenes at the very ends of his last five films— Solaris, Mirror, Stalker, Nostalgia, and The Sacrifice—all of which present some irreducible image to simultaneously fill the mind with beauty and empty it of whatever interpretive gloss you may have hoped to leave the theater with. After each screening I reemerged into the throngs of tourists at Potsdamer Platz without much to show for my effort, only the memory of time spent in various zones of exclusion from the familiar and banal.

For information on the Tarkovsky Retrospective at Arsenal in Berlin, click here.

Follow Ben Mauk on Twitter.

The VICE Guide to Right Now: George Zimmerman Makes Confederate Flag Paintings and You Can Get Them at a 'Muslim-Free' Gun Store

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Thumbnail image via Florida Gun Supply

Read: The Burden of Being a Black Man in America

Florida Gun Supply is now selling prints of a Confederate flag painting by Trayvon Martin's killer George Zimmerman, the Washington Times reports.

According to the store's website, the prints are selling for the low, low price of $50, and if you order online in the next four days, you'll even get free shipping. But wait, there's more: Anyone who buys a print is automatically entered into a contest to win the original, because who doesn't want the mediocre painting of a racist symbol handcrafted by a guy who became famous for shooting an unarmed black kid?

You might remember Florida Gun Supply from stories last month about owner Andy Hallinan dubbing his store a "Muslim-free zone" in response to the shooting in Chattanooga, Tennessee. He even took to CNN to discuss the ban, where he said the kinds of stuff you would expect from someone teaming up with George Zimmerman. Islam is "evil at its core," Hallinan said, adding that he wants to "offend as many people as possible."

Some of the people Hallinan offended were members of the Council on American-Islamic Relations, which quickly filed a lawsuit against Hallinan. That's when Zimmerman stepped in to do his pal a solid.

The proceeds from the Confederate flag print sales will go towards the various legal fees the two face, as well as their "mission for change," whatever that is. The duo is also going to kick a bit of cash to the Boys and Girls Club of America to "help support the next generation!"

Why Aren't Young Guys Going to the Gay Paradise of Key West?

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Cedric Moore, a volunteer for the Key West Gay and Lesbian Community Center, at the Tropical Heat festival

Beyond breathtaking sunsets and sour, gelatinous pie, Key West, Florida, has historically been famous for its gay culture. Queer icons from Divine to Leonard Bernstein used to slut it up at the many gay bars and men-only guesthouses the island was known for in the 1970s and 80s. Tennessee Williams, the ultimate daddy, lived for years in a small house on Duncan Street with his "secretary" Frank Merlo .

"Now please don't hurry down here: the island has finally run out of coral rock extensions into the sea," Williams once wrote of Key West. "Almost no one plays bridge, and there is almost nothing to do but drink or swim or —."

One of many cardboard cutouts of Tennessee Williams at the Key West Business Guild's Gay and Lesbian Community Center

But many are claiming this historical gay paradise is no longer the hot hangout for homos it used to be. In 2005 the New York Times accused Key West of "going straight," and in 2012 The Advocate dropped Key West from its list of America's top 25 gayest cities. So I went down to the island's Tropical Heat festival, a weekend of nude pool parties and fetish balls engineered to draw a big gay crowd, to see for myself just how hetero Key West has gotten.

Related: Can Young Gays Enjoy Fire Island?

Sushi, Key West's most famous drag queen

That question was easy to answer—Key West is so fucking gay. The sky there literally shits out a rainbow every time it drizzles. As soon as I arrived at the airport, which was decorated like the set of Golden Girls, I turned on Grindr and started asking questions. Immediately, a VGL local bear told me I needed to talk to Gary "Sushi" Marion, the grand dame of Key West's thriving drag scene who descends from the sky in a giant red shoe each New Year's Eve. Her authority was confirmed by many others throughout my time in Key West, where Sushi is revered for her sharp wit and fishy realness.

I found her presiding over the 801 Cabaret on Duval Street, one of the three gay bars left on the island's main drag, where she is house queen. Within moments of talking to her, she cut to the heart of the problem facing Key West's gay scene: "Young gay culture here is dying because it's so expensive to live here. It's much cheaper to go to Fort Lauderdale or Miami," Sushi explained. "When I first moved here 21 years ago there were eight or nine gay guest houses. Now there are two." My question then became not whether the island is still a gay destination, but if young gays could still enjoy it.

Guests at the Island House

The most well known of these remaining gay guesthouses, the Island House, was to be my home for the week. It's been open since 1976, making it the longest-running men-only guesthouse in the country. When I arrived there late last Tuesday night, I was greeted by Gordon Ross, the night desk clerk. Gordon moved to Key West in 1970, and has witnessed the shift in gay culture firsthand. This experience is documented in his self-published book, Key West: Dancing at the End of the Rainbow 1970–1990, which chronicles the local gay scene leading up to the AIDS crisis, which decimated the island's gay population and led Ross to organize 19 years of annual fundraisers for AIDS help.

A spread from Gordon Ross's book featuring photos of Divine performing in Key West in the 70s by John "Ma" Evans

The Island House is a clothing-optional resort that features a swimming pool, two hot tubs, a gym, a restaurant, and in-room TVs that play gay porn 24/7 on three different channels. The inn is known locally as "the gay country club." To get a membership, townies only have to spend $60 in food and drink per month, and that gets them access to all of the facilities, including the gym. It's a place where locals and visitors mingle by the pool late at night, and many consider it a main hub of gay culture in Key West. Still, it has had some trouble attracting younger clientele, as have other gay-centric businesses on the island.

Late night at the Island House

Part of my question in coming to Key West was this: As homosexuality becomes acceptable in the mainstream, what is the purpose of places like Island House? Since the 1940s the island has been marketed as a gay destination, a remote place where undercover homos could go to be themselves. But in a time when gay people can get married just like breeders, are places like this that are specifically gay still necessary? I became interested in this subject last summer, while on a similar assignment on Fire Island with VICE's Mitchell Sunderland. "I wanted a gay mecca because I was sick of being one of maybe three faggots everywhere I went," was Mitchell's answer. "At work, at school, often even at home, gay people live in straight people's world." Amen, sister.


Watch: Gay Conversion Therapy


Another reason I can think of for no-hetero places to exist is that permissive gay sex is still not permissible in the mainstream. Try rimming a hairy stranger by the pool at the Hilton in broad daylight, and I'm sure they'd show you the door. But this kind of activity is allowed and even encouraged at Island House. Upstairs there is a dark room divided by black rubber curtains like a kinky version of those you'd see in a grocery store's meat department. Inside, an assortment of gay porn plays from four screens on loop, and all the furniture is covered black vinyl.

A poster outside the video room

"The video room is 24 hours a day, all gay porn going on TVs—it's very much the bathhouse aspect of Island House," Jeff Smead, director of marketing at the resort, told me. "This scares young gays. They freak out. They don't know what bathhouses are, they don't understand. They've been labeled gross. They come to Island House and they figure this out, they have a few cocktails and decide, I shouldn't judge this, this is just like any day out at the gay bars in West Hollywood. It's not different. It's just easier. And you don't have to do anything. You can have your steak and lobster downstairs, or you can have a dick sandwich. It's whatever you make of it."

Hors d'oeuvres at Island House's kickoff party for Tropical Heat

Jeff was right. For me and other gays of my generation, if you mention a bathhouse, you might as well just call it an AIDS buffet. But this one was immaculately clean, bowls of free condoms were everywhere, and lube could be purchased at the front desk and charged to your room. As far as rooms dedicated to sex go, this one seemed relatively innocent. I wandered into the video room a couple of times during my stay (because journalism), and decided it was kind of fun to watch strangers fucking in the shadows. I wasn't allowed to photograph, but I did bring my notebook. Once, the outline of a short, spherical man drifted over my way, and I could see his hand beginning to reach out for my crotch. This was the only unsolicited advance anyone at the hotel ever made, but it was totally harmless, and easily sidestepped by lightly swatting his hand away and whispering, "No!"

Lacey Camper at the Key West Gay and Lesbian Community Center

The next day I went downtown to the offices of Key West's Business Guild, which doubles as the town's Gay and Lesbian Community Center. Behind the front desk was Lacey Camper, who agreed that friskiness might be part of the reason all-male guesthouses still had a purpose. "I think men might be more open-minded sexually," she suggested. "You don't see a lot of female-only places. But we do have Womenfest in September!"

After being stationed in Key West during her service in the military before Don't Ask Don't Tell was repealed, Lacey decided to stay in Key West. "They don't care what your sexual orientation is so long as you're good to other people," she explained. She works two jobs, helping organize at the Business Guild and as a night guard at the courthouse.

Guests at the opening pool party of Tropical Heat

I wanted to find more people around my age (I'm 27) to talk to about their experience as gay tourists. So I went back to the hotel for their kickoff party for Tropical Heat, a naked pool party. The average age of the crowd of guys in the pool ("man soup!" as one patron described it) was probably 40, but there were really all ages of gay people in attendance—lots of shapes and sizes—which is really rare in the gay community, or at least it is in Brooklyn, where all the gays seem to be young, emaciated part-time models. Across the pool, I spotted a cluster of younger guys who had sort of a "Broke Straight Boys" appeal, and decided to ask their opinions.

Tristan

They were in town from Atlanta and staying with a friend who runs a vacation rentals company and had a free house with a pool. They'd come last year for Tropical Heat, and were back a this year for more. "The attention is not bad, if you're a younger guy, from the older crowd," one of them, named Tristan, admitted when I asked them why they'd returned. "It gives you an idea of what's to become, you know what I mean?"

Kyle

Another, Kyle, liked the instant community aspect of the events: "I'm in college now, and I'm involved with the student gay groups, and a lot of people pass you up. Over the summer we've been doing tabling to try to recruit new members. You see these gay boys, totally gay, and they just walk right by because they're like, I don't need that anymore.I have Grindr or I have whatever. I miss that family camaraderie aspect of the gay community that was necessary in the past, but now it's kind of going away now that gay is becoming mainstream."

The Island House's indoor spa, complete with an original Matisse painting

Do we gays no longer want to be part of any club that would have us as a member, or is the club just no longer members-only? I thought of myself as a Carrie Bradshaw–esque figure typing that last sentence into my laptop last night while sipping a bright pink cosmo at the pool bar, my feet dangling in the tropical breeze. Then I thought, God, I'm such a fag . And this place is so, totally down with that.

Follow Matthew Leifheit on Twitter. Learn more about the Island House here and see more photos from Key West below.

Tennessee Williams's former house

Tennesee Williams and his partner of 14 years, Frank Merlo

Bourbon St. Pub

Bourbon St. Pub

801 Bourbon Bar

801 Bourbon Bar

801 Bourbon Bar

801 Bourbon Bar

The "Big O" fetish party at Bourbon St. Pub: in back they have an all-male guesthouse

Flyers for gay activities at Island House

Island House's "Wall of Fame"

Locals at the pool

Bourbon St. Pub

VICE Vs Video Games: ‘International Track & Field’ Was the Game That Broke Me

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A bunch of men, we think, under starter's orders. Screencap via YouTube

My teeth are clenched and the palm of my right hand is on fire. It's a good sign.

Cartwheeling against a sky of midnight blue, the ball and chain arcs toward its destination and the crowd, pixelated as potpourri, goes mental.

I glance round at the screen-washed faces behind me, raising my eyebrows triumphantly. My friend Chris shakes his head, arms folded. "Not enough," he declares.

As the hammer strikes the luminous green pitch and the men in the turquoise jackets jog in, I hold my breath. The tight little circle of pain in my hand throbs and the announcer's voice, staccato and American, echoes through the stadium.

"The distance of the third attempt was 96.25 meters... meters... meters..."

Chris's face drops. It's enough.

This dude isn't German, but he's definitely about to toss that. Screencap via YouTube

On screen, the German hammer thrower turns his mustache and muscles and swaggers away like he's just ridden a motorbike over the Grand Canyon. Game over.

In the days after our International Track & Field: Summer Games sessions on the N64—the game was also known as International Track & Field 2000 (and, in Japan, Ganbare Nippon! Olympics 2000)—all of us would face blisters. Big, watery, unsympathetic opals that popped at the worst conceivable moments, flooding exam papers, and dampening handshakes. Broken skin, mild RSI, and hallucinogenic dreams about obscure sports were also symptoms of what, frankly, was a minor obsession.

To this day, I have never played a video game as physically grueling as Track & Field. This was, to quote from the movie Rocky Balboa, good old-fashioned blunt force trauma. Indeed, to master the game your fingers needed to weave, stretch, jab, pound, and pummel with all the versatility of a world-class boxer. No pain, no gain.

If it sounds like I'm exaggerating, consider this. In a gloss of Nintendo-related injuries, British Medical Journal research from 2014 linked the N64's distinctive grooved joystick with ulcers on the palms of the hands. In a brilliant mash-up of medical speak and pop culture creole, the condition was termed ulcerative nintenditis. "Nintendo thumb"—classified as a form of RSI—was another health concern in circulation at the time.

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Related: Watch VICE's film about the world of eSports


Track & Field wasn't even the most prominent N64 game to jeopardize players' appendages in the name of a good time. In 2000, Nintendo committed $80 million to provide free protective gloves for owners of Mario Party, a game also responsible for excessive joystick abuse.

In a sense, the N64 epitomized the tail end of a certain period in gaming, when consoles were still—to an extent—viewed as toys. They were lifestyle statements, too, after the PlayStation's edgy marketing had smuggled gaming out of the nerdy/kiddy ghetto with panache in the mid-1990s. But, in classic Nintendo fashion, the philosophy at the heart of the N64 was simple, knockabout fun. It was a chunky, tactile beast you could chuck in a plastic bag, take to a friend's house and, should the need arise, bash the bejesus out of.

Read on VICE Sports: Why Pole Vaulters Risk Everything for an Extra Half-Inch

Titles like International Track & Field: Summer Games truly embodied this.

Arriving on the N64 in characteristically late fashion, the sports sim was ported to cartridge in 2000 after its 1999 PlayStation release. The format essentially aped an Olympic tournament, featuring a series of sporting challenges spread over consecutive days. Each of these demanded a range of motor skills, and I still wonder if Konami hired sadomasochists to ensure the standard was as brutal as possible. First-time outrage after button bashing your way to 11th place in the 100-meter swimming was a bittersweet rite of passage.

While the hammer throw made blisters blossom, weightlifting just took the piss. In a recreation of the "clean and jerk" Olympic method, players had to rhythmically tap buttons at high speed before slamming the Z trigger at the precise moment to execute the lift, three times in a row. A fiendish cocktail of stamina and hand-eye co-ordination made this the Marquis de Sade of Track & Field events, the undisputed harbinger of finger torture. Controllers were hurled at walls, their plastic shells dented in fits of anguish. Never have I called a jerky clump of pixels the c-word with such bitter vitriol.

The Marquis de Sade of 'Track & Field' events. Screencap via YouTube

As teenagers, there's little doubt that regular jerking sessions contributed to the hand conditioning. But Track & Field upped the stakes, demanding palms of granite and digits of spun steel. Injuries incurred in the pursuit of sporting glory became badges of honor. As you sat through another biology class, seeing your hand tremble from the night before's exertion brought with it a fierce rush of kudos. It was like Fight Club, for 15-year-old virgins who had never been in a real fight.

In the games mags of the time, outlandish techniques were recommended for success. Hammer throw caning your hand? Wrap a Velcro wallet around it! Can't smash the 100m dash? Try the pen method!

You may have guessed by now that none of us were into sport. But Track & Field provided a vicarious gateway. The intense rivalry and punishment meted out by the game somehow translated the thrill of sport into a language we could all understand.

Read on Motherboard: Achilles' Wrists: Meet the Doctor Who Is Saving eSports Careers

Returning to the game now, at age 28, is like opening a time capsule containing a neat distillation of my teenage friendships. A slightly pungent yet familiar sense of humor greets me on the memory card, where longstanding world records are enshrined. Apparently, Stalin was a major contender in the breaststroke, while an athlete simply named Cockboy is a javelin legend. In the pole vault, Clitlick and Dicko are undisputed champs.

Puerile: yes. Dumb: undoubtedly. But also just another part of the messy process of growing up.

As with so many teenage boys, our sense of masculinity wasn't first seized on soccer fields or in sweaty clubs, but in suburban bedrooms, hunched over TVs, insulting and congratulating each other as we hammered at pieces of plastic. Looking back, all those blisters were a trade in: the price paid for a glimpse of something much bigger.

Follow VICE Gaming on Twitter.

Hardpop: Shopping Mall Clubbing in the Murder Capital of the World

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Hardpop: Shopping Mall Clubbing in the Murder Capital of the World

What Does the Police Killing of a Local Drug Lord Mean for Rio de Janeiro?

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Until two weeks ago, a man called Playboy was among Rio de Janeiro's most wanted drug lords.

Not only had he dodged a 15-year prison sentence for robbery, drug trafficking, and homicide since 2009 by taking off while on family leave from a "semi-open" prison, but the 33-year-old fugitive flaunted his escape in the face of Brazil's troubled police force. Still on the run with a roughly $15,000 bounty on his head, according to his Most Wanted police profile, Playboy masterminded narcotics sales in a favela for one of three rival factions that control Rio's notorious drug trade.

But on Saturday, August 8, Playboy was cornered at his girlfriend's home by a massive police operation that included 80 officers, armored cars, and a helicopter. Real name Celso Pinheiro Pimenta, Playboy was shot in the chest and leg, and died in the hospital. Images of his shirtless, blood-smeared body quickly emerged online.

It was a big trophy for Rio police, who claimed Playboy was shot because he resisted arrest, and said a Glock pistol and a .762 semi-automatic rifle were found nearby. The drug trafficker had taunted police for years, making cameos on stage at funk parties and posting videos online. In one stunt, he reportedly ordered his henchmen to break into a public pool where they performed a synchronized swim with their rifles.

"Hey, look, it's Playboy speaking," the voiceover says on a clip showing the prank. "I loved the pool, I loved the pool. Owned, you know? The whole complex, it's all dominated." (Playboy was also said to have ordered gang members to steal 200 motorbikes from a state facility before demanding they be returned, apparently just to flex his muscle on the street.)

Within days of his death, the often-brutal cat and mouse game between the police and drug gangs resumed. Taking Playboy out was a significant coup for cops, but gang culture in Rio's favelas is so deeply rooted that bringing down its most charismatic leaders isn't enough to undermine the grip of violence. Even as Pimenta's family was burying his body in a cemetery in downtown Rio, police were setting their sights on potential successors. Within a week, Playboy's right-hand man, Jean Piloto, was also killed in a police operation and several other gang bosses arrested.

So while Playboy may have been the most high-profile police target, he was arguably little more than a prominent pawn in the violent drug wars that have blighted Rio over the last three decades. His reign speaks to the enduring power of Rio's criminal underworld, where a never-ending army of recruits pose a constant challenge for security forces, which have struggled to contain gang violence and taken heat of their own for what critics say is a pattern of excessive force.

Pimenta's family claimed he was unarmed at the showdown two weeks ago, and said his death was essentially a police execution. A lawyer for the family indicated photographs from the scene did not show a gun near Playboy's body, while a police official told local press, "He was with four guards and tried to shoot."

"He surrendered," his uncle, 62-year-old Cosme Pinheiro, told the local press. "He chose to be arrested but he was assassinated.

"Was he a criminal? He was. But he had the right to stay alive and pay for his crime. The police went there to kill him."

According to Amnesty International, police in the state of Rio killed almost 8,500 people between 2005 and 2014. In the past five years, nearly one in six killings in the city were "homicides as a result of police intervention," the official term used by local law enforcement.

The Civil Police have indicated that Playboy's death is being investigated. "The police went out to arrest him, they don't go out to kill," a spokeswoman told VICE. "He resisted and so he was killed. The officers involved are still working, they are not being accused of anything."

Meanwhile, Amnesty has questioned the police's record of investigating these kinds of killings. According to the human rights group's report, of the 220 killings at the hands of cops in 2011, about 80 percent are still under open investigation, with only one of them resulting in charges against an officer.

"The belief that we are living a war on drugs and that killing 'traffickers' plays a part in this fight has been used as justification for police that use excessive, unnecessary and arbitrary force, acting outside of the law," Atila Roque, executive director at Amnesty in Brazil, told reporters five days before Playboy's death. "The lack of investigation in homicide cases involving police contributes to the impunity and cycle of violence." Roque was speaking earlier this month as Amnesty released its report on killings by police, focusing on the high number that came in the same neighborhood where Playboy was killed.

"A police force that kills is incompatible with the fundamental principles of human rights and the rule of law," he added.

While Rio's state secretary for security dismissed Amnesty's report as "reckless and unfair," he admitted in a recent interview that the government's war against drug trafficking was not working. "Today, police don't have the structure to fight the suppliers, whether they're on the border of their own states or at the border with neighboring countries," José Mariano Beltrame told Trip magazine in an interview published on August 10.

Playboy's gravesite in Rio. Photos by Priscilla Moraes

He added there was no doubt that some officers engaged in excessive violence, but said Rio's security forces were lucky not to be up against a single dominant criminal organization like the First Command of the Capital in São Paulo.

"We have to criticize the police, speak of their shortcomings," Beltrame said. "But we have to ask: what does the state offer a young, vulnerable person? A country where 52,000 people die in violent crimes is, forgive me, a barbaric state. But is it only through lack of policing? No." He said there were also social and judicial failings that contributed to high crime rates.

Born into a middle class family in the affluent neighborhood of Laranjeiras in south Rio, Playboy fell into crime as a teenager. With low grades in everything except sports, he began by stealing cars before joining a criminal gang led by another middle-class kid, Pedro Machado Lomba Neto, a.k.a. Pedro Dom.

His gang broke into apartments in Rio's upper class neighborhoods and robbed them for years before Pedro Dom was killed in 2005. Having been in and out of prison since 2002, Playboy said in an interview last year that he had tried to begin to earn an honest living, but faced discrimination. In a clip from a conversation with José Junior, who founded cultural group AfroReggae, Playboy said he was a "human being who tried to be a working man but life's circumstances didn't allow him." He claimed his dream was to go back to having a "normal life."

"I tried," he said. "I was arrested the first time, paid what I owed and after that I tried to work, but I was discriminated against."

His family has indicated they plan to sue the state over his killing.

In an emotional Facebook post last week, Playboy's mother, Rosa Maria Pinheiro de Araújo, wrote: "I was not part of and did not approve of his choice but I realized how much he was loved. May God calm my heart and give wisdom to move on with life and health to help in raising my grandchildren following the last wishes of their father."

In the aftermath of the killing, 400 officers flooded the Morro da Pedreira favela where school lessons for almost 6,000 children were cancelled as a security precaution. Businesses in the community reportedly remained closed as a mark of respect to Playboy.

A week after his burial, there were still streams of yellowing flowers on the unmarked tombstone in Catumbi cemetery, the most ostentatious of which came from the "Friends of Pedreira," the favela where Playboy ruled.

"Many are posting photos of him, cursing him, without even knowing him," Sarah Araújo, Playboy's cousin, wrote on Facebook in a post that has apparently since been deleted. "If you'd known him, you wouldn't think this of him. Even though he was a criminal, he didn't wrong anyone who was innocent and to the contrary, he helped them.

"Even though he didn't belong to the church, he was always faithful to God, God-fearing. Let him rest in peace...after all, he was a human being."


What Would Happen if America Actually Adopted Donald Trump's Insane Immigration Plan?

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In the two months that Donald Trump has been running for president, the billionaire real-estate mogul has had quite a lot to say on the subject of immigration. But while he's caused cranial explosions across The Americas with his insistence that the Mexican government is "sending" its drug-dealers and rapists across the US border, Trump has said little about what he would actually do to deal with the issue.

That is, until now. Earlier this week, Trump unveiled his plans for policy reform, laying out his ideas to curb both legal and illegal immigration into the US. Posted on his campaign website under the title "Immigration Policy That Will Make America Great Again," the proposal promises a rough existence for undocumented immigrants under President Trump.

Looking for more in-depth coverage of The Donald? Check these out:
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In addition to building a border wall—and making Mexico pay for it, of course—Trump wouldbeef up border security, increase deportations, and generally make it harder for unauthorized workers to get jobs or send money home. The plan would also impose elaborate new hurdles on the legal immigration system. And it would repeal at least part of the 14 Amendment, that part of the Constitution that guarantees birthright citizenship.

The whole thing is predictably draconian, showcasing the nativist alarmism and Trump-style outrage that has pushed The Donald to the top of the GOP's presidential field. But what would happen if Trump's nativist fantasies actually came true?

To find out, we called Duncan Wood, director of Woodrow Wilson Center's Mexico Institute at the Smithsonian. A former international relations professor at the Mexico Autonomous Institute of Technology, Wood's research focus on Mexico's North American relations—and he has some interesting thoughts on whether Trump's immigration plan will make America great again.

VICE: Will Trump's plan make America great again?
Duncan Wood: I think that the plan would be hugely damaging to America, both in terms of its economy, and in terms of its relations with the world.

It involves some economic strong-arming aimed at getting Mexicans to pay for a border wall. Won't that squander goodwill between the two countries?
That's the height of an understatement. I love it. It's beautiful. Is it worth calling for the Mexicans to pay for a wall, in terms of the goodwill that it will use up? Well, the Mexicans have already said they're not gonna pay for the wall.

But if Trump could make them pay for the wall, would it be worth it?
Oh, absolutely not. I don't really understand what the logic is behind the wall to be honest with you. A wall seems like a very 20th century approach to controlling immigration—one that was wrong from the very beginning, just simply because if you build a wall, people build ladders to get over it, or they dig tunnels to get under it. I think that's what the experience has shown us over the years: Every time you put up physical barriers to people's movements, they go around them, over them, or under them.

So just how bad would Trump's plan be for the US-Mexico relationship?
The fact is that Mexico and the United States have worked hard on developing a more positive relationship over the last 30 years. It used to be a relationship based upon antagonism, where Mexico saw the United States as an enemy. And now, Mexico sees the United States as a partner. And the United States sees Mexico as a partner. That's an enormous, qualitative change in the relationship, and you have to think long and hard about how much of that goodwill you want to risk.

Trump has also proposed tripling the number of Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers. Would that actually deter illegal border crossings?
Recent experience in this area is actually quite informative. When regulations on undocumented immigrants began to be more closely enforced [around 2008], and new regulations were put in place by local authorities in the United States , making life more difficult for immigrants, word spread very, very quickly that the attitude in the United States had changed.

I think we have to be honest in saying that that was a deterrent for some people. But it's very difficult to say how big of a deterrent that was, because it coincided with the uneconomic downturn, or economic crisis in the US.

If Trump did manage to deter immigration, what kind of effect would that have in the US?
One of the things that we've seen in recent experience is that a lot of farmers [in the US] have been unable to recruit Americans for the jobs that they have available. They've been unable to find the migrant labor that they want, so the jobs have gone unfilled, which means that crops have been left to rot in the field, which means that American farmers have been losing income. I think part of the logic here is that if you just keep out the immigrants, then Americans will fill the jobs, and that has been shown time and time again not to be true.


Check out VICE News' documentary about immigrant labor on America's farms.


Can Trump fulfill his promise to deport 76,000 "criminal aliens" released by Obama?
Oh yeah, you can certainly do that. [But] when you talk about 11 million people, it becomes incredibly difficult.

Trump hasn't been totally clear on how those deportations would work. What would the process be?
You couldn't do it all at once. It would take time, and you would have to go through due process here. So this is assuming you can bypass all the procedures of the American legal system, the court system, the appeals process, and all the other things. But supposing that you could sort of wave the magic wand and get past all of that and say, 'Today we're going to start deporting people!', you've got to work out where they come from. You can't just deport them across the border into Mexico. Not all of them are Mexicans.

Then you've got to figure out how to actually fly them to their country of origin. So you've got to come to a collaborative agreement with other governments. It's not impossible to do. It's gonna be expensive, and it's going to use an awful lot of bureaucracy and administrative capacity.

He clarified part of his plan this weekend, saying he would "keep the families together, but they have to go." It sounds like he plans to deport "anchor babies," who are born to undocumented mothers but are themselves US citizens. How could he manage that?
Unless you change the 14th Amendment, that is illegal. You'd have to change the wording of the 14th Amendment to take out that constitutional right to citizenship if you're born in the United States.

Yeah, he says in the plan that he wants to get rid of birthright citizenship. Is this some weird thing the US does?
That's the norm around the world. If you're born in the United Kingdom, if you're born in Canada, if you're born in Mexico you're allowed to claim citizenship. There are some countries where that's not the case. For example, Japan doesn't offer citizenship if you're born in Japanese territory. But [birthright citizenship] tends to be the norm around the world.

Trump also wants to crack down on H-1B visas, for skilled immigrant workers. Would this open up jobs for American workers?
It seems to me that the basic idea is to make sure that Americans aren't available to take those jobs before they're actually offered to foreigners. There are some kinds of employment here in the United States where they do this [before the visa process can begin]. And that's fair enough. In certain businesses in the United States, if you're going to hire a foreigner, you have to really try to find an American first of all. I get that. That makes sense. I understand. But even when that's the case, [businesses] still end up hiring foreigners.

Trump would also put up hurdles for legal immigration, including requiring that people who want to move to the US be able to prove that they could pay their living expenses. What kind of effects would that have on the system?
Insisting that [immigrants] have a plan, or a family member, or guaranteed employment for a certain amount of time—in other words, that [they] have a sponsor—that makes sense. [But] a lot of other countries make it more difficult, and they're suffering. They're not able to find the young talent that they want. So you want to strike the right balance between making sure that the people coming to your country are not a burden on society, and making sure that it won't be so difficult that people don't come.

I think Trump would like people to not come. So what happens if he gets his way?
I've had the chance to speak to so many immigrants throughout my life, and you hear about what they went through to make it to North America. People are incredibly brave and willing to put up with all kinds of hardship to make their children's lives better. That's what people do for their kids—some people are willing to make enormous sacrifices for their kids, and I think that's something that's kind of common in the immigrant experience.

Follow Mike Pearl on Twitter.

How New York Gang Culture Is Changing

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The gang landscape in modern urban America can be tough to wrap your head around. Most of us have heard something about the Bloods and Crips, but those gangs have plenty of factions and rivals.

In New York City, cops attribute much of the lingering gun violence to a relatively small group of men wrapped up in localized gang activity, as the New York Times reported last month. As violence began to move into tourist-frequented areas earlier this year, officials responded with grassroots initiatives led by former gang members. Meanwhile, as VICE recently reported, the NYPD has arguably gone off the deep end in its efforts to rein in gang activity, targeting dance teams for special treatment.

Related: How the Gangs of 1970s New York Came Together to End Their Wars

To get a sense of just how real the gang threat is, VICE reached out to renowned New York State gang expert Ron "Cook" Barrett—he has served as a gang prevention specialist in Albany—and Kevin Deutsch, the award-winning Newsday crime reporter and author of The Triangle: A Year on the Ground with New York's Bloods and Crips.

Here's what they had to say.

VICE: What are some of the biggest gangs in New York today, and why are they the most prominent?
Ron "Cook" Barrett: The biggest gangs in NY are obviously influenced by the Department of Corrections (DOC) and filter to the streets. Traditionally, since 1993, the Bloods have been the power within Rikers Island and many state correctional facilities. Sets like the Mac Ballers, G Shine, Brims, and Gorilla Brims have been active and constantly fight for control of facilities. They outnumber many rivals. There are Crip sets, Latin Kings, Trinitarios, Gangster Disciples, MS-13, and others active.

Every nationality is represented within the gang culture... and with the African-American population in New York State prisons being the largest, the gangs will reflect that. In California, for example, because of the Mexican population, the Mexican Mafia (Sureños, Nuestra Familia) are the power groups. With the Hispanic population growing in New York State, these groups are starting to become more visible in our state. The largest ethnic group in the area will dictate what type of gangs you see.

The staying power of many local Bloods sets—despite scores of gang sweeps and crackdowns over the years—has been remarkable.

The biggest trend in New York State has been the influence of hybrid gangs—these groups are known and represent in their cities only... They represent local housing projects, parks, city blocks, and streets.... Buffalo, Syracuse, Albany, Newburgh, Poughkeepsie, and obviously the boroughs of New York all have a heavy presence of local territorial hybrid gangs with nontraditional names like Wave Gang, 4 Block, YGz....Brooklyn, Queens, the Bronx, Mount Vernon, Washington Heights, you name it... they all are seeing a rise in hybrid gangs that are not connected to the traditional "super-gangs" (Bloods, Crips, Kings, etc.).

Kevin Deutsch: During my reporting In New York City and its suburbs, I've found that the Bloods and Crips are likely the largest gangs in the region, with each boasting dozens of sets across the five boroughs and Long Island. The Bloods appear to have more members, due to especially high membership rates in and around low-income housing projects in the Bronx, Brooklyn, and Queens, as well as on Rikers Island. The Bloods boast higher membership numbers largely because of their decades-old presence in impoverished pockets of the city—areas that have withstood several waves of gentrification. The staying power of many local Bloods sets—despite scores of gang sweeps and crackdowns over the years—has been remarkable. Collectively, however, the number of young men belonging to independent neighborhood cliques and crews still outnumber Bloods and Crips. They are so abundant, and densely spread across the region, that it's difficult to say which of them is the largest in terms of membership.

How do the gangs affect the neighborhoods, schools and other institutions where they're active?
Barrett: Gangs provide protection, belonging, and respect. They have replaced the traditional family. They obviously rule on intimidation and fear. Kids today believe in power by numbers and have two choices: join the power group or form a group to go against the power group. As far as the neighborhoods, usually gang-related graffiti increase and property values decrease. Poverty plays a major role in the formation of gangs and neighborhoods reflect the poverty... neglected homes, shuttered buildings, etc. Schools become more violent, metal detectors become the norm, increased security and after school issues (fights, etc) ripple back to the community.

Deutsch: A gang's effect on a neighborhood can vary widely, but residents generally say their impact is overwhelmingly negative. Members and associates of local gangs benefit from drug-dealing proceeds and other illicit rackets in these communities, while those not affiliated with the gang generally see less economic opportunity due to that gang's presence in their neighborhood. Open air drug markets—the cornerstone of New York's urban underworld economy—drive away law-abiding small business owners and entrepreneurs searching for new properties. They also hurt sales at existing neighborhood businesses, putting a tremendous strain on local economies. The more successful a gang's drug operation, the more the legitimate, legal economy around them tends to suffer. Schools in the community also suffer, because the gangs look to them as centers of recruitment. In my reporting, I've found that the larger presence a gang has in a given community, the lower the graduation rate will be at local schools.


Check out our documentary on the subway gangs of Mexico City:


What kind of involvement do these gangs have in the drug trade, and how do they run their operations?
Barrett: Because of the social issues described above: broken homes, poverty, etc., drug sales have become the leading source of income for gangs. Heroin has replaced crack cocaine as the drug of choice, high-grade marijuana now sells for $20 a gram, MDMA (Molly), crack... all are prevalent and bring in good money. [Drugs are packaged at] weed houses, trap houses.... Soldiers hit the blocks, money filters up the food chain, same game as before.

When a territorial infraction occurs, the offending crew is often targeted for retaliation in drive-by shootings or walk-up assassinations.

Obviously guns have become the equalizer and the homicides and shootings in urban communities reflect this. Community guns (placed in areas such as under stoops, mailboxes, etc) are used and passed around. A high percentage of the shootings in urban communities are connected to drug gangs fighting over territory and turf wars. Prison gangs such as Sureños (Mexican Mafia) still control the flow of drugs on the streets and tax dealers for selling in their hoods. Their street soldiers will filter the proceeds back to the prisons... California is huge with this.

Deutsch: New York City gangs generally control outdoor drug markets and associated locations (stash houses, shooting galleries, crack dens, etc.) in communities with high heroin and cocaine addiction rates. A Bloods set I tracked in Queens, for example, controls drug markets in several housing projects in the Rockaways by using runners, lookouts, and touts on designated corners or near specific buildings where they keep larger stashes of drugs. They run their operations like a legitimate business, giving discounts to their best customers, using promotions like two-for-one vials or baggies to increase daily sales and attract new customers, and utilizing word-of-mouth advertising about their products' potency. They use force—and the threat of force—to keep rival gangs and start-up crews out of their territory.

When a territorial infraction occurs, the offending crew is often targeted for retaliation in drive-by shootings or walk-up assassinations. In my reporting, I found that this particular Bloods set and others used rape as a weapon to control civilian populations in territories they control, not unlike occupying armies. An enemy gangster's girlfriend or sister might be sexually assaulted; or a would-be snitch's niece raped, in order to send a message to those working against the gang, or considering doing so.

Finally, who's calling the shots here? How are these organizations making decisions?
Deutsch: Most of the Bloods and Crips leaders I interviewed in the city exerted a significant amount of control over their respective sets. The gangs resemble paramilitary organizations in terms of their hierarchical structures. While some sets are less rigid than others when it comes to chain of command, younger members generally take orders from mid-level soldiers, who answer directly to the gang's highest-ranking members/leaders. This kind of command structure tends to inoculate set leaders from legal exposure at the street level, ensuring that younger members carry out shootings, assaults, on-the-ground drug deals, and other gang-related actions at their behest. Of course, the leaders were once low-ranking gangsters themselves, putting in work at the behest of their superiors. The younger members of today's gangs tend to view their set leaders with respect, even awe, and aspire to exert the same kind of power over their fellow gangsters one day.

Barrett: Traditional, powerful super gangs like MS13 and Sureños still have that mindset and have that military set-up... soldiers, lieutenants, generals. But with the rise of the hybrid gangs, that's losing its momentum. These kids operate off of emotion, and if someone in their group gets shot... it's eye for an eye. They used to have to get permission to retaliate and answer to someone, [but] not today... It's the wild, wild west. These young kids have no fear and older heads see that... they don't care about someone's status, the guns have empowered a 13-year-old to pull out on a 25-year-old.

Also, federal RICO charges are now being instituted with street gangs in the hood, and that dynamic is affecting their actions. Loyalty is just a tattoo! The more loose-knit version of gangs is now here. Some gangs still have shot callers, big homies, OGs that oversee and maintain day-to-day operations. [That's] more so in the prison system, where accountability is more frequent. Most hybrid groups have no formal hierarchy and sometimes it's just the craziest individual who wields the most respect.

Follow Seth Ferranti on Twitter.

Everything We Know So Far About the Bangkok Bombing

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On Monday night, at 7 PM local time, a pipe bomb exploded outside Bangkok's Erawan Shrine, killing at least 22 people and wounding more than 120 others. The blast charred much of the surrounding area, mangling the shrine's wrought iron gates and obliterating several vehicles in the blast zone. No one has claimed responsibility for the attack, but police are now hunting for a man in a yellow shirt who was caught on CCTV leaving a backpack on a bench, then walking away. "The yellow shirt guy is not just the suspect. He is the bomber," a police spokesman told the Associated Press.

After the explosion, two other bombs were located with sniffer dogs and safely defused, and while there were rumors of other explosives downtown, none were confirmed and there have been no further incidents.

Defence Minister Prawit Wongsuwan said the authorities had no idea about the attack, and Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha described the bombing as "the worst incident that has ever happened in Thailand."

Located in a popular tourist area, the Erawan Shrine is dedicated to the Hindu god Brahma. It's extremely popular with Buddhists and Chinese tourists, and is considered a symbol of Thailand's deep religious beliefs and culture.

At least three Chinese people, two Singaporeans, one Philippine national, and two Hong Kong residents are believed to have been killed. The number of Chinese-speaking casualties is so large that hospitals have put out calls for Chinese speakers to come in to assist with translations.

Deputy Prime Minister Prawit Wongsuwan confirmed to the press suspects had been identified, saying, "It is much clearer who the bombers are, but I can't reveal right now." Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha has been quoted as saying the suspect is believed to be from an "anti-government group based in Thailand's north-east"—the region at the center of the movement that opposes the military junta.

The shrine is close to the area that was occupied by anti-government protesters for several weeks in 2010. That occupation was violently broken up by the army, and several people were killed in the civil unrest that followed. Four years later, the same area was again the site of the anti-government demonstrations that resulted in the removal of the Yingluck Shinawatra–led government and a military coup. The country's current military government has banned protests and suspended democracy for the past year.

Concerns have surfaced over the effect the bombings will have on the tourism industry, with the government calling the incident a bid to destroy the economy. Last year, hospitality was one of the country's only sectors that showed growth. Much of that tourism was from China, but following the deaths of four Chinese and two Hong Kong nationals, Hong Kong travel advisories are recommending citizens cancel any nonessential trips to Bangkok.

In the wake of the bombing, the Thai baht has fallen to a six-year low.

Carly Rae Jepsen: She's Really Nice!

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Carly Rae Jepsen: She's Really Nice!

Talking to Real-Life Cyborgs About the Future of Body-Hacking

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Talking to Real-Life Cyborgs About the Future of Body-Hacking
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