BLACKPOOL: LAS VEGAS OF THE NORTH

Meet Vickie and her vibe. Leo Leigh bought her from a gift shop in Blackpool, which is a seaside town in the Northwest of England. Every time I look at it I’m overcome with lust. I went to Blackpool with Leo in January 2009 to make a film called Blackpool: Las Vegas of the North, which you can watch on VBS this Wednesday! But to get yourself all excited, click through to see the trailer. 

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Nicaragua has been hit with the beautiful nature stick. There’s (almost) untouched beaches, jungle, around twenty volcanoes (some active), weird lakes, mountains, and a good bunch of Noah’s finest and wildest animals. It’s a success bound to happen, as my friend Nicolaj told me. When he does something, he likes to go all in. He’s had his fingers in IT, fashion (still is) and this real estate project in Central America, including Nicaragua. I guess he’s what you’d call an entrepreneur. From what I’ve heard and know he’s not a mean business type who clear cuts land and displaces people for profit. He’s a good man, the kind of guy that you would want by your side at a casino. I’m sure he can even count cards and shit like that. Navigating in the Nicaraguan business world is no smooth sail though, so here’s what he had to say about his exotic adventure.

In Marburg, Louis Vuitton just sued a Red Cross outpost for selling a fake Louis Vuitton bag for as little as three Euros and almost caused that place to shut down because they couldn’t afford a 2,600 Euro penalty. At least the company went back on this after realizing that this would result in a public image of pure evil. But it’s a fact that Louis Vuitton is the world’s most counterfeited brand.

We can think of other countries more fucked up than Chad. Neighboring Sudan, for example. Eritrea. But we don't know any soldiers who are stationed in those countries and write us emails to tell us about how screwed they are from their POV. Alexei is a pilot with the Spanish Airforce who recently spent two months in the sandy hellmouth supporting a UN peacekeeping mission to Darfur, bartering with the host French army for use of the internet and writing songs to play in his hardcore band back home.

Our intern Hanson is spending the next six weeks living in Paris, taking classes as part of a study-abroad program. We asked him to tell us what it's like over there, being all bright-eyed and new to the international community at large, and apparently the first thing he did was visit the Eiffel Tower...
I'm completely overwhelmed. The next time world leaders get together to agree on things like banning land mines or lowering global emissions, they need to pass a law that requires all cities to be numbered and on a grid. Today I went to the Eiffel Tower, where there were two main events going on: A protest being held by what I can only assume were supporters of the Tamil Tigers (the protesters were holding the Tamil Tiger Flag and they didn't not look like they could be related to M.I.A.), and a tribute to the life and works of Michael Jackson.

On a recent trip to Egypt I went on a cruise going from Luxor in the north to Aswan in the south. One day when I came back to my hut there was a mysterious creature lying in my bed. It was made out of towels and wore my sunglasses, my hat, and the Egyptian soccer shirt I’d bought the other day. The next day I was greeted by a new creature. This went on for the next couple of days. On the fourth day I tracked down the identities of the mysterious towel artists.

On my way to a design conference in Jeddah last month the Air Canada ticket lady begged me not to get on the plane, claiming that I would be tossed in a dungeon upon arrival because my skin is pink. She was, of course, retarded. After spending a week in Jeddah, what I found to be most shocking was not the dress code or the peculiar security measures (photographing official buildings is technically espionage punishable by beheading) but more than anything, the place looked and felt almost exactly like a gated suburban community in Arizona, just with less golf and more praying.

While the rest of us were grieving over our broken financial instruments last October, there was a man somewhere on the Asian side of Istanbul, or perhaps scooting around the Bosphorus in his yacht, who realized something awesome.

We can’t believe we’re saying this but now that we’re down to the last 6 Beers episode, we’re actually going to miss this weird bunch of hero seeking misfits. So much so that we’re hoping this sixth episode will go badly for everyone, thus necessitating an extra seventh chapter. Having seen just how many fuck ups there’ve been along the way, we wouldn’t put it past any of them.

The old Watarase Keikoku railroad that runs through the Tochigi Prefecture a few hours north of Tokyo claims to end in the tiny mountain village town of Mato, but that’s a lie. Check things out from outer space and you’ll see that the tracks continue into the mountain wilderness to one final destination no longer acknowledged by the mapmakers.

DOING BUSINESS IN NICARAGUA

Nicaragua has been hit with the beautiful nature stick. There’s (almost) untouched beaches, jungle, around twenty volcanoes (some active), weird lakes, mountains, and a good bunch of Noah’s finest and wildest animals. It’s a success bound to happen, as my friend Nicolaj told me. When he does something, he likes to go all in. He’s had his fingers in IT, fashion (still is) and this real estate project in Central America, including Nicaragua. I guess he’s what you’d call an entrepreneur. From what I’ve heard and know he’s not a mean business type who clear cuts land and displaces people for profit. He’s a good man, the kind of guy that you would want by your side at a casino. I’m sure he can even count cards and shit like that. Navigating in the Nicaraguan business world is no smooth sail though, so here’s what he had to say about his exotic adventure.

BERLIN - THE WORLD OF LUXURY REALLY DOESN'T CARE

In Marburg, Louis Vuitton just sued a Red Cross outpost for selling a fake Louis Vuitton bag for as little as three Euros and almost caused that place to shut down because they couldn’t afford a 2,600 Euro penalty. At least the company went back on this after realizing that this would result in a public image of pure evil. But it’s a fact that Louis Vuitton is the world’s most counterfeited brand.

SPAIN - PASSING THE TIME IN CHAD

We can think of other countries more fucked up than Chad. Neighboring Sudan, for example. Eritrea. But we don't know any soldiers who are stationed in those countries and write us emails to tell us about how screwed they are from their POV. Alexei is a pilot with the Spanish Airforce who recently spent two months in the sandy hellmouth supporting a UN peacekeeping mission to Darfur, bartering with the host French army for use of the internet and writing songs to play in his hardcore band back home.

PARIS - WHAT GOES ON AT THE BASE OF THE EIFFEL TOWER

Our intern Hanson is spending the next six weeks living in Paris, taking classes as part of a study-abroad program. We asked him to tell us what it's like over there, being all bright-eyed and new to the international community at large, and apparently the first thing he did was visit the Eiffel Tower...
I'm completely overwhelmed. The next time world leaders get together to agree on things like banning land mines or lowering global emissions, they need to pass a law that requires all cities to be numbered and on a grid. Today I went to the Eiffel Tower, where there were two main events going on: A protest being held by what I can only assume were supporters of the Tamil Tigers (the protesters were holding the Tamil Tiger Flag and they didn't not look like they could be related to M.I.A.), and a tribute to the life and works of Michael Jackson.

SWEDEN - HAUNTED BY TOWELS

On a recent trip to Egypt I went on a cruise going from Luxor in the north to Aswan in the south. One day when I came back to my hut there was a mysterious creature lying in my bed. It was made out of towels and wore my sunglasses, my hat, and the Egyptian soccer shirt I’d bought the other day. The next day I was greeted by a new creature. This went on for the next couple of days. On the fourth day I tracked down the identities of the mysterious towel artists.

CANADA - DON'T BE BAD IN SAUDI ARABIA

On my way to a design conference in Jeddah last month the Air Canada ticket lady begged me not to get on the plane, claiming that I would be tossed in a dungeon upon arrival because my skin is pink. She was, of course, retarded. After spending a week in Jeddah, what I found to be most shocking was not the dress code or the peculiar security measures (photographing official buildings is technically espionage punishable by beheading) but more than anything, the place looked and felt almost exactly like a gated suburban community in Arizona, just with less golf and more praying.

ISTANBUL - THE ECONOMY'S FORTUNE TELLER

While the rest of us were grieving over our broken financial instruments last October, there was a man somewhere on the Asian side of Istanbul, or perhaps scooting around the Bosphorus in his yacht, who realized something awesome.

6 AND OUT – 6 BEERS FINALE NOW SCREENING

We can’t believe we’re saying this but now that we’re down to the last 6 Beers episode, we’re actually going to miss this weird bunch of hero seeking misfits. So much so that we’re hoping this sixth episode will go badly for everyone, thus necessitating an extra seventh chapter. Having seen just how many fuck ups there’ve been along the way, we wouldn’t put it past any of them.

JAPAN - COMMUNISM'S PORNOGRAPHIC STRONGHOLD

The old Watarase Keikoku railroad that runs through the Tochigi Prefecture a few hours north of Tokyo claims to end in the tiny mountain village town of Mato, but that’s a lie. Check things out from outer space and you’ll see that the tracks continue into the mountain wilderness to one final destination no longer acknowledged by the mapmakers.