So in this series of nicely shot videos, Vice goes looking for the lead singer of a Norwegian Black Metal band, a guy named Gaahl who supposedly tortured someone 15 years ago. The Vice guys proceed to scare the daylights out of themselves, like a bunch of school girls at a slumber party, cuddling underneath a sheet. But watch, and by the fourth and fifth episodes, the Big Bad Boogie Man seems like a libertarian without any friends—which is really what Satanism boils down to, once you strip away all the makeup and angst. (By in large, the commenters buy the ruse.) BTW, Black Metal is what inspired Banks Violette’s church made of salt—the New York Times piece about it, and Black Metal, is excellent.

Look, we all hate tourists. But did you ever stop to think that those tourists also hate themselves? An interesting article in New York Mag:

A surprising number of people who kill themselves in the city come here from out of town, and many appear to come expressly to take their own lives…nonresidents accounted for 274, or 10.8 percent, of the 2,272 suicides in Manhattan during that time…The researchers didn’t look at comparable data from other cities, but, says the study’s lead author, Charles Gross, “One in ten people that commit suicide in Manhattan don’t live here. That’s a big chunk.”

…The glamour of New York can play a role. Just as the city’s glittering, outsize reputation attracts many people for happy reasons, it attracts others for tragic ones. People who are suicidal may want to die in a way that gets them attention they felt they never got when they were alive, says Herbert Hendin, a New York–based psychiatrist and the president of Suicide Prevention International. By this logic, New York can be the perfect stage.

I’ve wondered: Given those scary-ass bridges at MoMA, how long will it be until some ends it all, under the watchful glare of Monet and Twombly?

Image: Bidibidobidiboo by Maurizio Cattelan.

A guide to the artists shortlisted for the 2008 Turner Award.

What ever happened to Mr Gay UK, 1993? Oh yeah, he’s been eating people.

The Vatican says it’s okay to believe in aliens. (What would an Alien Jesus look like?)

A documentary called Cannibal Tours, which follows a bunch of tourists journeying into a fake Heart of Darkness.

An Aussie, busted for buckling up his case of beer and leaving his kid unstrapped.

In Japan, eating innocent people can make you a star.

Image: Cathy Wilkes, one of the new Turner Prize finalists.

YES:

Three Kingwood teens have been arrested and accused of digging up a secluded grave and removing a skull in Humble. According to court documents, they removed the skull from the coffin and converted it into a “bong,” to smoke marijuana.

And it’s not even an isolated incident!

That pic looks like a bunch of superfun bumper cars right? They’re actually coffins from Ghana—love that PT Cruiser. Original story:

The coffins are designed to represent an aspect of the dead person’s life — such as a car if they were a driver, a fish if their livelihood was the sea — or a sewing machine for a seamstress. They might also symbolize a vice — such as a bottle of beer or a cigarette.

Ablade Glover, an artist who works with the carpenters, says the coffin acts as a home in the afterlife, so it must be beautiful. But he laments that after putting so much time into creating the coffin, it gets hidden underground.

More images:

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Man, what is it with the Germanic countries. Probably the most horrifying story ever:

Austrian police have arrested a 73-year-old man who they say kept his daughter locked in a cellar for 24 years and fathered seven children with her, three of whom never emerged into daylight from their prison until now.

Remember that story of the German penis-eating cannibal?

Image: Todd Hido, from his ongoing houses at night series.

UPDATE: The Times has a longer report up now.

Sam Sanfillippo was wounded five times in W.W.II, and left for dead twice on Omaha Beach during the Normandy landing in 1944. Now he runs a roadside attraction in Madison, Wisconsin. Dead animal dioramas are his specialty and judging by this short profile/interview he’s a real character. DG field trip destination acquired.

Field review/interview @ roadsideamerica.com (photos are weak but worth the read)
Flickr Set of photos from Sam’s dead animal haven
Another Flickr Set of photos from Sam’s dead animal haven

Thanks Higa

For you to wear with your bullet necklace while you sit on your Fully Loaded chair waiting for your Chanel guillotine.

Via Agenda.

DG superfriend Zack Soto pointed me towards this photo set of bow and arrow warfare in Kenya. It’s amazing how the tribes people seem to exist in two moments in time; one where bows and arrows are still a way of life and another where swatch watches and Abercrombie gear gets worn to the battlefield. Check out the link at the end of the post to the poor guy who got one in the face, or click here. Warning, graphic.

The first set of Seven Deadly Sins made a lot of sense, especially if your flock included medieval, cousin-humping brutes. Here’s the new set:

1. “Bioethical” violations (birth control)
2. “Morally dubious” science (stem cell research)
3. Drug abuse
4. Polluting the environment
5. Contributing to widening divide between rich and poor
6. Excessive wealth
7. Creating poverty

It’s easy to detect a weird (unholy?) mix of modern awareness (eg, widening income gaps, no pollution) and bullshit orthodoxy (ban on birth control and stem cell research). The modern and the orthodox contradict directly—banning birth control, for example, directly creates poverty. And banning stem cell research extends the suffering of many who would benefit from new drugs. So kudos, Vatican!

Image: Goya/from the “Los Caprichos” etchings.