VICE - Willis and Geiger

Next time you cram your silicon nylon jacket into a tiny stuff sack or throw on your favorite Marmot fleece, think of Willis and Geiger, a company that pioneered expedition clothing. The company was born out of an arctic expedition in 1903 and continued to produce excellent adventure clothing until the late 1970's when they briefly went out of business, only to be revived by Burt Avedon and continued for another twenty years until their current owner, Land's End (yep, the crummy Sears brand), liquidated it in 1999. VICE recently interviewed Avedon. You can read the whole thing here.

VICE: Peruvian Scissor Dancing

The folks at VICE produce a lot of really great videos highlighting cultural practices around the world. I've been a fan of their Americana series for awhile now. Their new travel/adventure series "All the Wrong Places" features exactly what you'd expect from the title - visiting people doing some far out stuff. Take, for example, Peruvian scissor dancing. It's a dance, a test of strength, and a heavy dose of exhibitionism as men - dancers and musicians - perform acts of increasingly cringe-worthy self-mutilation. The part that got the hair on my neck up is when a dude lays down on some cholla cactus. I've felt those before myself - in my legs - and I'm not looking to run into them again, let alone drive dozens of their spikes into my back. Ouch!