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Vice is nothing but quality. Wish more people were aware of them, and the really wide variety of excellent documentaries they produce

by jmadsen 13y ago

twentysix 13y ago
Not all of them. Watch this documentary https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yCYglCDgpu0 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yCYglCDgpu0 It might just change your mind.
- skore 13y ago
  I voiced my criticism of Vices QC in another post, but I actually enjoyed that particular documentary. I can appreciate Hamilton as pure oddball fun (despite a vocal fry that can make heads explode). What's actually problematic are things like this[0]. Not to mention the sometimes-ok, most-times-(well, the few times I checked to be sure)-god-awful "oh look at us rascal cooks being all alternative, cool and hip with our outlandish exploits" Munchies. [0] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vmk3kSvxBEQ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vmk3kSvxBEQ
rdl 13y ago
They had a video team at the Bitcoin conference; talked to the producer and expressed how amazed I am at their consistently high quality. Usually when I see news about something I know a lot about (say, the Jalalabad region weapons manufacturers, or the PI underground arms people), I'm full of wtf. But everything I've seen from Vice to date has been "oh, yes, that's exactly how it is" or "I wish I could have gone over there and seen that".
skore 13y ago
> Vice is nothing but quality. I agree that they have lots and lots of quality stuff, but they also have a quality control problem for good parts of their portfolio. The great ones offset the bad ones by leaps and bounds, for sure. But for every documentary like this one, there seem to be a couple hipsterish driveltaries that I close after a few minutes. Sure, I suppose you cannot break new ground without landing some misses and sure, it's not like everything has to be mindblowing and perfect or even deeply valuable. But some of these misses make me wonder how anybody ever thought they were a good idea in the first place. I think Vice has an aversion to "self censor", trying to get as much stuff out there as they can simply for the heck of it and as a means to retain credibility - and I applaud them for that. But it's not as black and white and doesn't help when your expectation of quality gets rather deeply disappointed at times. It's a form of brand dilution that might become a problem in the future.
- subsystem 13y ago
  A lot of their ealier stuff was more 'spectacular' than insightful. It wasn't just the style either, it really was lacking in quality.
  - skore 13y ago
    Absolutely agree. I think what bothers me with some of their recent content is that it is still produced with the same aspiration to quality, but it's simply wasted on the subject matter.
    - rdl 13y ago
      What do people think of the Ibogaine episode (S01E07)? I'm sort of familiar with the politics and some of the pharmacology, but have never been an addict, particularly to heroin, and aside from MAPS, don't know much about the ibogaine anti-addiction groups.
      - skore 13y ago
        I found that to be kind of a mixed bag. I definitely think that to get rid of addiction, you cannot simply take addiction away from a person because you leave a hole that they filled with drugs precisely because they are unable to fill it with anything else (if only at that time in their lifes). Whether it is a good idea to fill it with some curious mix of African rituals and some even more curious psychedelics is questionable, but I think it's reasonably straightforward why it works. Snap them out of it, bring them into an empathetic community. A lot of approaches go like that. It's probably mostly placebo, but hey, placebo works 20% of the time.
negrit 13y ago
I was thinking the same thing until I watched a documentary about France's Toughest Rappers. And unfortunately I know very well the rape scene and this documentary was nothing but a big joke: Lies, bullshit, ... So know I'm a bit suspicious.
- rdl 13y ago
  I wonder which producer did it. They have a lot of independence, so they are probably pretty inconsistent.
- namdnay 13y ago
  I hope you're referring to the "rap scene".. Yeah that documentary was slightly exploitative: "oh look, let's send a cute young girl into the ghetto and film a bunch of knuckleheads trying to get in her pants!" Then again, nothing too different from the usual late night TV "documentaries" about the police/the ghettos/the jet-set..
  - negrit 13y ago
    Yes I am referring to the rap scene. My bad.
moconnor 13y ago
The material in this piece appears to have been part of a BBC panorama documentary: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-21547542 http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-21547542 - the BBC refer to Ben Anderson as a "BBC panorama reporter". On the other hand, in his AMA he refers to himself as a "filmmaker for VICE." Regardless on who produced the documentary, Vice should still get credit for curating and hosting it like this.
geon 13y ago
> Vice is nothing but quality. There are exceptions. This video ( http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RcIMuoUcc1s http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RcIMuoUcc1s ) was ridiculously bad. Like one commenter on Reddit put it; > That was like watching ignorant children play with fire indoors.
baggers 13y ago
> Vice is nothing but quality < Like their waragi episode, where they spent a few scant minutes on the topic of the endemic drinking problem (which is very prevalent) and the entire rest filming drunk people and trying the brew themselves... oh and they sent a person that couldn't pronounce the name of the drink properly. Well done Vice. Quality

Vice is nothing but quality. Wish more people were aware of them, and the really wide variety of excellent documentaries they produce

by jmadsen 13y ago

Vice is nothing but quality. Wish more people were aware of them, and the really wide variety of excellent documentaries they produce

twentysix 13y ago

Not all of them. Watch this documentary https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yCYglCDgpu0 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yCYglCDgpu0 It might just change your mind.

skore 13y ago
I voiced my criticism of Vices QC in another post, but I actually enjoyed that particular documentary. I can appreciate Hamilton as pure oddball fun (despite a vocal fry that can make heads explode). What's actually problematic are things like this[0]. Not to mention the sometimes-ok, most-times-(well, the few times I checked to be sure)-god-awful "oh look at us rascal cooks being all alternative, cool and hip with our outlandish exploits" Munchies. [0] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vmk3kSvxBEQ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vmk3kSvxBEQ

rdl 13y ago

They had a video team at the Bitcoin conference; talked to the producer and expressed how amazed I am at their consistently high quality. Usually when I see news about something I know a lot about (say, the Jalalabad region weapons manufacturers, or the PI underground arms people), I'm full of wtf. But everything I've seen from Vice to date has been "oh, yes, that's exactly how it is" or "I wish I could have gone over there and seen that".

skore 13y ago

> Vice is nothing but quality. I agree that they have lots and lots of quality stuff, but they also have a quality control problem for good parts of their portfolio. The great ones offset the bad ones by leaps and bounds, for sure. But for every documentary like this one, there seem to be a couple hipsterish driveltaries that I close after a few minutes. Sure, I suppose you cannot break new ground without landing some misses and sure, it's not like everything has to be mindblowing and perfect or even deeply valuable. But some of these misses make me wonder how anybody ever thought they were a good idea in the first place. I think Vice has an aversion to "self censor", trying to get as much stuff out there as they can simply for the heck of it and as a means to retain credibility - and I applaud them for that. But it's not as black and white and doesn't help when your expectation of quality gets rather deeply disappointed at times. It's a form of brand dilution that might become a problem in the future.

subsystem 13y ago
A lot of their ealier stuff was more 'spectacular' than insightful. It wasn't just the style either, it really was lacking in quality.
- skore 13y ago
  Absolutely agree. I think what bothers me with some of their recent content is that it is still produced with the same aspiration to quality, but it's simply wasted on the subject matter.
  - rdl 13y ago
    What do people think of the Ibogaine episode (S01E07)? I'm sort of familiar with the politics and some of the pharmacology, but have never been an addict, particularly to heroin, and aside from MAPS, don't know much about the ibogaine anti-addiction groups.
    - skore 13y ago
      I found that to be kind of a mixed bag. I definitely think that to get rid of addiction, you cannot simply take addiction away from a person because you leave a hole that they filled with drugs precisely because they are unable to fill it with anything else (if only at that time in their lifes). Whether it is a good idea to fill it with some curious mix of African rituals and some even more curious psychedelics is questionable, but I think it's reasonably straightforward why it works. Snap them out of it, bring them into an empathetic community. A lot of approaches go like that. It's probably mostly placebo, but hey, placebo works 20% of the time.

negrit 13y ago

I was thinking the same thing until I watched a documentary about France's Toughest Rappers. And unfortunately I know very well the rape scene and this documentary was nothing but a big joke: Lies, bullshit, ... So know I'm a bit suspicious.

rdl 13y ago
I wonder which producer did it. They have a lot of independence, so they are probably pretty inconsistent.
namdnay 13y ago
I hope you're referring to the "rap scene".. Yeah that documentary was slightly exploitative: "oh look, let's send a cute young girl into the ghetto and film a bunch of knuckleheads trying to get in her pants!" Then again, nothing too different from the usual late night TV "documentaries" about the police/the ghettos/the jet-set..
- negrit 13y ago
  Yes I am referring to the rap scene. My bad.

moconnor 13y ago

The material in this piece appears to have been part of a BBC panorama documentary: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-21547542 http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-21547542 - the BBC refer to Ben Anderson as a "BBC panorama reporter". On the other hand, in his AMA he refers to himself as a "filmmaker for VICE." Regardless on who produced the documentary, Vice should still get credit for curating and hosting it like this.

geon 13y ago

> Vice is nothing but quality. There are exceptions. This video ( http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RcIMuoUcc1s http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RcIMuoUcc1s ) was ridiculously bad. Like one commenter on Reddit put it; > That was like watching ignorant children play with fire indoors.

baggers 13y ago

> Vice is nothing but quality < Like their waragi episode, where they spent a few scant minutes on the topic of the endemic drinking problem (which is very prevalent) and the entire rest filming drunk people and trying the brew themselves... oh and they sent a person that couldn't pronounce the name of the drink properly. Well done Vice. Quality