An Afternoon At the Torrington Gopher Hole Museum
In the ass-end of nowhere, Calgary, is a little dark room filled with taxidermic gophers. Seventy one to be exact, snuffed and stuffed, then dressed up and posed in 44 little scenarios. A Pennywise-esque clown with a red nose and neck ruffle clutches a bunch of balloons in its furry paws. A Sandra D, complete with poodle skirt, stares into the cold, unblinking eyes of her Danny under a full moon. A haughty Lutheran reverend steps up to the podium while his choirboy sleeps and a rodenty angel circles above his head. This is the “World Famous” Torrington Gopher Hole Museum, and I’ve been wanting to go for ages.
I think it’s gradually coming out now that they’re more malevolent than even I imagined. Mike Rinder – I had no idea that he was being subjected to brutal beatings. Rinder, Marty Rathbun, and others have talked about how they were routinely beaten by [Scientology World Head] David Miscavige. This was part of what they endured in order to be top staff in Scientology. I had no idea of the pain that was going on behind the scenes.
— Cult buster Rick Ross (not the rapper)
THE DUCHESS OF YORK - On the Town With Bloody Wounds
Bloody Wounds is a strange person, and she makes strange music that is so undefined by conventional genre, you end up finding yourself in it. I hear a helpless, distorted-thinking, ambitious little person up against a vicious town with nothing but music as a shield, because that’s who I was as a kid. The photographer I took with me to Bloody Wounds’s hometown of York, Pennsylvania, noted her obsessive need for control over her environment—the towels folded military-style in threes in her bathroom—because he’s that way. A pop-culture referencer saw William Hung. An ugly, unimaginative woman I know remarked simply, “Hideous!” Well, that’s my whole opinion about that woman too! A guy who grew up overweight and repressed and then, through drug abuse and sex with strangers, transformed himself into someone rich and chic and perfect and now sees potential anywhere he goes said, “She’s so beautiful!”
ACRASSICAUDA RELEASE SONG FROM FIRST US RECORDING SESSION
Obstacles seem to find their way into everyone’s lives. Some people falter the moment they come across them, others push through and overcome anything that stands in their way. Over the course of six years, we’ve been able to connect with a band that has faced difficulties that most bands could never fathom. While other bands dealt with creative differences and arguments, Iraqi heavy metal band Acrassicauda faced death threats, bombings, and had to worry about the safety of their families and relatives. Now residing in the states, the band is proud to announce their first release, Only The Dead See The End Of The War.
DON'T SAY CHEESE
Thomas Ruff Is Not Interested in Photography
Thomas Ruff is one of Germany’s best living photographers. He has his roots in the type of sterile, objective photography that loves water towers, silos, and other vertical piles of industrial cement that somehow became a big part of German photography’s legacy. He did it better than most.
But then in the 80s Ruff starting shooting massive half-body portraits of people sitting there staring intensely into the lens, and it was a total revelation.
We tracked him down and asked him a lot of questions about his work and internet porn.
Is this a DO or a DON'T?
…And if you’re feeling creative, leave your best caption to go along with it. The best one gets a prize!
Click here for the results. And don’t cheat, it’s for losers and we’ll know if you did.
JIHAD MILKSHAKE
Anjem Choudary, the man behind Islam4uk, wants to turn Buckingham Palace into a mosque, impose sharia law in the UK, and destroy Britain’s porn industry. We took him for a milkshake (his favourite is chocolate). Click here to watch a movie of our date.
