If anyone tries to stereotype the greater Boston area as a bastion of higher education and free thinking, be sure to cite the Boston Herald’s Howie Carr as an example to the contrary.
Peter œBorat Berdovsky is officially a victim now. The poor newcomer to our shores, this wannabe political œrefugee, is being persecuted by The Man, made a fall guy by Big Animation for the moronic Turner Broadcasting terror stunt.
He™s a refugee all right – from a Beavis and Butthead episode. This nerd is the full slacker package – Mass. College of Art, a goatee, stringy hair, a self-described œartist with an avant-garde rock band. The only fact that™s out of place is that he actually has his own place, but then, his mother is still in Europe (a long commute) and we™ll add a few points back to his overall slacker score for the fact that he lives in a œloft.”
So they were out there this morning at the Charlestown District Court, Borat Berdovsky™s fellow œartists, the synonym for which is œunemployed.
The artists were protesting his incarceration, and holding signs saying œNever Forget.
Dude, that™s easy for you to say. Never forget? You haven™t had any of this weed, man. It™s, like, totally. Uh, I lost my train of thought.
That™s one of the things about this moronic cartoon show, Aqua Teen Hunger Force. It™s only 15 minutes long, but if you™ve done a couple of bones, man, it seems like an hour. The œartists are saying that the cops and the reporters are hopelessly lame because they don™t get off on a show in which one of the main characters is named œMeatwad.
Dude, we™ve got, like, jobs. And kids.
œAnyone under the age of 35, said one of the protestors, who was somehow able to get a day off from work, œknew this was a joke the minute they saw it.
Yeah, anyone under the age of 35 who still lives at home with Mom, wears a baseball cap backwards and is saving money for a new tattoo
Hey Borat, you™re not a citizen? That™s too bad. How does five years at Cedar Junction sound, followed by a steerage-class flight back to the Third World hellhole from which you came, to annoy the taxpaying citizens?.
Dude, how sophisticated is it to call a immigrant to this nation, “Borat”?
Has anybody called out the Boston cops and the media for their hysterical overreaction to this yet? I’m sure that terrorists really have Boston high up on their list of places in which to fuck shit up.
So you’re saying it’s cool for a major media corporation to put up corporate trademarks on bridges because it’s hipper than buying a billboard? Aren’t these guys more or less one of those puerile bands that snags an opening slot for a good band and tries to work the crowd as if they’re there to see them? Haven’t we seen this kind of pranking travel with the alternative scene, creating nothing, and then spending 6 months in jail for LSD possession and moving back home for the last 30 years? In the 1980s a U of MD artist (as I remember the story) was questioned by police on shaky charges of “satanism” when he created a large cross out of dead cat skulls (yes, dozens of skulls) and while most of the punx had a larf at the satinism charges, the reality was some d*ck played with dead animal parts (ala Dahmer) in an effort to freak out his neighbors. Usually when it comes to playing with dead animal flesh, I’m willing to break any ties of underground allegiance. Usually when it comes to vandalizing public property with corporate advertising, I stop thinking these guys are underground and start thinking of them as The Man’s interns. Am I that off-base?
sorry, I missed the part where Adult Swim was killing furry critters.
just because Time Warner is a mega corp godzilla doesn’t make the Err light-up signs any less funny. And were it not for the current OTTP post 9-11 hysteria, words like prank, hoax etc. (I realize you didn’t say hoax, Don) wouldn’t even enter into this. This was an advertising campaign. Perhaps there was some hope of the odd person saying “what the fuck?” (as they might if they stumbled across ATHF itself) but I sincerely doubt the adult swim crew had any intent of inspiring such panic. They trade in absurdity, sure, but I think this qualifies as wilfully playful compred to mr. cat skull.
Perhaps that was naive on their part. But “hipper than buying a billboard” is neither here nor there. There was a huge mooninite flipping the bird billboard across the street from my house in November and I witnessed at least one traffic accident — a guy in a Ford F-150 plowed into a parked while trying to take a phone-cam pic while driving.
Not that I wish injury upon anyone, but it was kind of like seeing Carl come to life before my every eyes.
Honestly, I think this was less about an effort to freak anyone out and more about entertaining the converted.
I won’t disagree that their motivations were… prankish… absurdist… even entertaining the converted. I’m just not entirely positive their actions were. I think they disconnected from reality. I’m ambivalent toward this yelling in a crowded theater. Did they yell “fire?” Did they simply yell, “Booga Booga Booga!” and wait for the reaction? You got me.
i think only the most paranoid persons would see this has as yelling fire in a crowded theatre. The only difference between the ATHF campaign and every inch of real estate in NYC being covered with billboards, video screens, etc. is that these signs were errected without permission. But there’s all sorts of outdoor media. The whole point of such a (seemingly pointless) campaign is that if they have explain in big letters THIS IS AN ADVERTISEMENT, the signs aren’t nearly as striking as, I dunno, just seeing a Mooninite while you’re on your daily commute.
So in that respect, I suppose they are meant to be provocative. But there’s a world of difference between provoking a mild laugh and trying to freak out an entire city. I suppose such differences are in the eye of the beholder, but my own opinion is that the City Of Boston wasted the $1 million, not Turner.
Maybe fellows like Don don’t understand how huge mega-corporations function, anyway. Dick Parsons didn’t personally approve this shit, some intern at Cartoon Network hired a self-described ‘guerilla ad company’ to promote one project. I hate hysteria in all its forms, Donald. I hated the gross mis-use of public funds to fight this form of supposed ‘terrorism’ as much as I hate people blaming the corporate parent for the sins of one dreadlocked Counting Crows look-a-like.
I recently heard this called “Real-world Spam.”
I may be in a minority here, but I still find it sophomoric.
And no intern decided to spend money with Interference.