Articles.
Latest
“Two Fathers,” Esquire: Their sons were among the sixteen people who were killed in a bus accident in Saskatchewan. Chris Joseph and Scott Thomas lost their sons in the same way, but in grief, their roads diverged. (Summer 2022)
“Knives Outback,” Truly*Adventurous: In 2017, a man and his dog vanish from the tiny Outback town of Larrimah. Bad blood is everywhere and wild theories fly: Was he fed to a croc? Cooked in a meat pie? In a town of 12, everyone's a suspect. (August 2021)
Travel & Adventure
“The Reddest Carpet,” GQ: Kim Jong-il loved the movies, and his passion lives on at the Pyongyang International Film Festival. In 2014, I attended the ceremony, and found that North Koreans are more like us than we think.
“Superman of Havana,” Roads & Kingdoms: The untold story of Cuba’s most famous cabaret performer of the 1950s, who disappeared after the revolution.
“Anthony Bourdain’s Wandering Spirit,” Maxim: I sat down with the late, great chef, writer, and adventurer to talk tattoos, Japan, and ghost stories.
“American Daredevil,” Gen: The tragic story of Kirk Jones, the first man to survive a stunt over Niagara Falls with no protection whatsoever.
“Slow Boat From China,” Roads & Kingdoms: After six years of living in China, I embarked on a 15-day adventure across the Pacific on a cargo ship.
“Hostage Camp,” Slate: I attended a kidnap survival school in Florida to learn a most valuable lesson: Don’t get kidnapped.
“A Supposedly Stupid Thing I’d Totally Do Again,” The Atlantic: A harrowing two week adventure across India in an auto-rickshaw.
“Rent a White Guy,” The Atlantic: In 2009, I was paid to pretend to be an American executive at a Chinese company. No experience necessary.
Sports
“The Great Fan-Run Football Experiment,” GQ: In Salt Lake City, a group of owners handed control of an arena football team almost entirely over to its fans. It’s like Madden and fantasy football come to life—and it almost works.
“Creole Hoops,” Grantland: After a devastating earthquake, Haiti attempts to build a national basketball team.
“Letter of Recommendation: The Canadian Football League,” The New York Times Magazine: An ode to my hometown Saskatchewan Roughriders, and why the CFL provides a noble alternative to the American game.
“How to Dunk a Basketball in Ten Weeks or Less,” GQ: After playing the worst basketball of my life, I embarked on a mission to dunk a basketball again for the first time in a decade.
Movies
“The Many Faces of Cao Cao,” The New York Times Magazine: I visited a massive movie studio in China to get to know the most famous American movie star in the country.
“Sunk,” The Atavist Magazine: The inside story of Empires of the Deep, a $100 million blockbuster that was supposed to be China’s Avatar but ended up a ten-year movie making fiasco.
“The New Pornographers,” Roads & Kingdoms: I attended a feminist, sex positive, do-it-yourself erotic film school in San Francisco. Things got interesting.
“Chollywood Confidential,” The Atlantic: Some people toil for years to break into the movie industry. In China, it took me five hours.
Misc.
“Letter of Recommendation: Revolving Restaurants,” The New York Times Magazine: I wrote about my fondness for revolving restaurants—a little space age audacity in a world that lacks it.
“Do Avatars Dream of Electric Sheep?” The Walrus: In the lead-up to the Beijing Olympics, I entered the game Second Life to interview a Chinese artist and social critic.
Theater.
Last Room: A Play Inspired by Anthony Bourdain
Book.
Apologies to My Censor: The High and Low Adventures of a Foreigner in China (Harper Perennial): The story of the six years I lived in China—working in state media, traveling across the country, and getting rejected on a Chinese dating show.
Newsletter.
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