Huck’s Most Popular Reads, Apr 10-18, 2015

A roundup of the hottest stories on the site this week — Check out a year of London skateboarding, see if you could live for a whole year for free and more.

Earlier in the week there was a bit of a heat wave, we were told. People laughed, played and made the most of the glorious rays bathing their skin while their bodies unconsciously produced vitamin D so everyone was in a pretty great mood. Well, that lasted for all of two days and now it’s gone. It did, however, look like it was fun while it lasted for the people who walked by our office’s windows. Meanwhile, we’ve been hard at work producing a magazine and making sure you’ve been kept entertained by our online work. We hope you’ve enjoyed it and you seem to have done.

So, for your viewing pleasure and general merriment, here’s the articles that have got you guys clicking on Huck this week.

1. Is this the most controversial image of the 21st century?

Maybe it is, maybe it isn’t. The World Press Photo awards decided to withdraw an award for Italian photographer Giovanni Troilo. This basically raised a question about everything that we’ve ever understood photojournalism to be about. So where does that leave us?

2. Could you survive without any money at all?

You probably say all the time about you’ve got literally no money at all, but could you live with literally no money at all? These people are and they’re showing that it to live a life free from the almighty dollar.

3. Are New York’s eccentric street characters being pushed out?

Gentrification looms large over NYC as it threatens to trample everything in its path. The romanticism is slowing being squeezed out of the city as are its most colourful characters. Gentrification, stop. Now.

4. The return of the free dial-a-rave

Need a party? Call ‘em up. It’s a fun, free and funky service for your modern-day sort of person.

5. This what a year of skateboarding in London looks like

Of London is the latest in the Of series and explores what this grand old cities skate scene looks like over the course of 365 days. Alex Irvine curated the snaps and the book will be launched at our 71a Gallery this Saturday (April 18).

6. An American town that’s totally hooked on legal drugs

Oceana, West Virginia, looks like a pretty messed up place through Sean Dunne’s camera focusing on this community’s struggle with legal drug addiction. Oxyana, nicknamed after Oxycontin, has never looked so dark.

7. Jordy Smith on the future of surfing

Jordy Smith opens up about where he sees surfing going as people pull of bigger tricks and push the sport to its absolute limits.

8. Paddle Against the Flow

Need some wisdom imparted on you before you step out the door today? Check out our book full of inspiration. It’ll change your life.

9. Joe Lauder, Satta

This dude lived with a shaman for a month. Have you ever lived with a shaman? No. Didn’t think so.

10. Cobain: Montage of Heck digs deep into Kurt’s inner conflicts

Kurt Cobain will always be one of youth culture’s pre-eminent figures. He might have rejected the tag but it will forever be thrust onto him. Get inside the mind of the man who tried to get inside the mind of Cobain.

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Capturing life in the shadows of Canada’s largest oil refinery

The Cloud Factory — Growing up on the fringes of Saint John, New Brunswick, the Irving Oil Refinery was ever present for photographer Chris Donovan. His new photobook explores its lingering impacts on the city’s landscape and people.

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Susan Meiselas captured Nicaragua’s revolution in stark, powerful detail

Nicaragua: June 1978-1979 — With a new edition of her seminal photobook, the Magnum photographer reflects on her role in shaping the resistance’s visual language, and the state of US-Nicaraguan relations nearly five decades later.

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A visual trip through 100 years of New York’s LGBTQ+ spaces

Queer Happened Here — A new book from historian and writer Marc Zinaman maps scores of Manhattan’s queer venues and informal meeting places, documenting the city’s long LGBTQ+ history in the process.

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Nostalgic photos of everyday life in ’70s San Francisco

A Fearless Eye — Having moved to the Bay Area in 1969, Barbara Ramos spent days wandering its streets, photographing its landscape and characters. In the process she captured a city in flux, as its burgeoning countercultural youth movement crossed with longtime residents.

Written by: Miss Rosen

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In photos: 14 years of artist Love Bailey’s life and transition

Dancing on the Fault Line — Photographer Nick Haymes’s new book explores a decade-plus friendship with the Californian artist and activist, drawing intimate scenes from thousands of pictures.

Written by: Miss Rosen

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Dalia Al-Dujaili: “When you’re placeless, nature can fill the void”

Babylon, Albion — As her new book publishes, the British-Iraqi author speaks about connecting with the land as a second-generation migrant, plants as symbols of resistance, and being proud of her parents.

Written by: Zahra Onsori

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