The World According to VICE....

Book review by Sebastian Gahan 15/11/2010

If you’ve ever picked up a copy of VICE, you’ll know what it’s all about.

As divisive a publication as you could find on the high street, it’s no holds barred attitude to reporting sets it apart from the crowd in many ways. This often gives the impression that the people who read it, and the writers themselves, are immature sexual deviants with serious fluctuating persuasions. But, that’s wrong. True, the creative approach to journalism they employ isn’t to everybody’s taste, but it’s far from immature. They’re not all that obsessed with tits ‘n’ ass either, as this book proves. A diverse number of topics is covered in this compilation of the best bits from a good few years worth of magazines and anybody not possessive of an open mind should close the covers and their eyes straight away!

Yes, with articles covering such illuminating topics as the freakishly fascinating Babes of the BNP, with some classic questions aimed at some pretty clueless people, such as “When people say the BNP is a Fascist party, what do you think?” resulting in a response of “ Yes, in some ways. But there we are.” Okaaay! Other pieces that made me laugh like a hyena, grimace like a…err… grimacer or just plain look confused and befuddled include the informative and hilarious City Boy versus Anarchist piece where said persons swap lives for a working week and see what happens, the 2010 Global Fear League piece which rather generously describes the UK as being “too crippled by inadequacy and impotence to do much damage” and the many war journalism pieces. These include an article on Kalashnikov culture in Pakistan and another one on the subject of buying a gun from the mafia. In short, lot’s to get excited about.

Some may ask what VICE, with its corporate advertising and risqué content has in common with our own publication, and for me there’s a lot we have in common. True, we at Nerve don’t have a boob to issue ratio of 20:1 but we are fearless in our contents. Vice talk about the things other publications won’t touch, and that’s what makes this book a great reminder of the fact that pure journalism is still around despite the increasing commercialism of all forms of it. The plethora of pieces with a social commentary basis is food for the thought that VICE is something to be appreciated in this ever changing world. If you appreciate art, culture, movies, social commentary and the like delivered in a bold, in your face manner than VICE may just get your interest.

www.viceland.com

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