Adult Swim just apologized for the terror scare in Boston.

[Rex]

That was the weirdest bump I've ever read.

[catzies]

1. Rats! I missed it by 2 minutes.

Time to switch between basketball and Futurama.

[Rex]

2. It was strange, I think art is imitating life.

Or the world has jumped the shark.

[MADem]

4. No, I think they actually responded to the real events of the day.

Those bumps aren't pre-done, I suspect. Or if they are, they're modifiable.

[Rex]

7. Still, it was very weird.

I don't like mixing my cartoons with shit like the BFEE's idea of terrorism.

[MADem]

13. I just turned on Adult Swim, the apology they just posted was a couple of pages long

And quite specific. They addressed the Boston Police, the mayor and the governor. Expressed deep regret...

It's a start. Now we need money to pay for the "drill" and they need to bail that poor 27 year old Frylock looking artist out of jail...

[MADem]

3. Are the bastards gonna bail out poor Frylock? They arrested him here in Boston....

27 year old starving artist, hired to place the things, did it for extra money. The kid is the spit image of Frylock, except he has dreads instead of fries on his head.



Boston police have arrested Peter Berdvosky, an Arlington, MA artist who told the Boston Globe he worked with a New York-based marketing firm to install the devices. A press conference has been scheduled for 9PM tonight. Turner Broadcasting has issued a statement explaining their actions. There's a YouTube video that shows the neon-looking devices being installed at night.

Steve Dunlevey of Boston's Regan Communications thinks Turner should fly the president or Turner Broadcasting to Boston to personally apologize to Mayor Menino, to perhaps pay for expenses the city incurred removing the devices and to offer something to Boston residents for the inconvenience it caused. A Boston Globe editorial lambastes Turner for its stunt. And on and on and on and on.

http://www.adrants.com/2007/01/turner-broadcasting-marketing-stunt-cause.php

Video from UTUBE of installation of Mooninites: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Shy6pmnDSmM&eurl=

[Shipwack]

5. So, the worker bee who put them there gets arrested...

But the ad marketing suits and executives who came up and approved the plan are sleeping in their own beds tonight.

Why am I not surprised?

Granted, -maybe- the guy should have known better, but then again, if I am hired to put up advertisements for a major corporation, I'm going to assume that all the necessary legwork, permits, and permissions have been obtained before hand.

I guess it's the kids own fault for being poor.

:mad:

[MADem]

14. The guy might have figured the suits had made some sort of deal...

Hard to say, really. They'd better not abandon him--it will look really bad if they do....

[Leopolds Ghost]

21. Who gives a -- about permits? Having worked in a public arts project I can safely say

People still would have complained -- and the city would have prohibited them from putting up the signs, rendering your "proper channels" objection totally moot.

One thing I DON'T want is people PAYING for the right to post temporary handbills, guerrilla art installations, etc. Talk about corruption of the private realm. Your recommendations in that regard would quickly become a selling off of the public realm to the highest bidder, with small bill-posters and wheatpasters excluded.

On edit: and yes, the project I worked in exercised ALL the legal loopholes we could find to enable us to do it AT ALL. In America,
it's never enough. The very zoning you guys passively accept warps the
fabric of our cities: have you ever stopped to ask yourself why
retail is restricted to "office-zoned" areas, and how this affects the cost of rent for small businesses?

[Shipwack]

26. Guess what... - I - don't want corporations putting up adverts...

...on structures that -my- tax dollars have paid for, unless it is cleared first with the appropriate people..

Which is totally different from a public arts project.

Then again, why should -you- be exempt from the rules of common courtesy just because you're an artist? Bottom line, you don't mess with things that don't belong to you, whether it's for art or profit.

[MADem]

28. I'd wager that permits are important to the taxpayers, how quaint of them to feel that way.

And it's remarkable how you can read the minds of city officials, and know how they might react when faced with a business opportunity.

We do not know if Time Warner waved enough dough at the city they'd take it after the city council votes 'yea' on it--especially if it was enough to fund a program in danger of being cut, or reduce taxes, and was plainly temporary in nature, as this effort is--that movie is likely not going to become the next "Miracle on 34th Street" and be an annual favorite. They might not have been able to slap them on private APARTMENT bulidings like they did, without permission, without paying the building owners, but along transportation lines, with notice, well that's another issue. After all, there are ads all over the subway lines, it's a major source of revenue. This is just an unusual continuation of that process. But again, they never asked. They didn't ask the City Council, and they didn't ask the MBTA. They just did not ask.

And those things are NOT art--they're advertisements. Advertisements funded by a corporate giant, not a 'cool, counterculture' guerrilla outfit.

And maybe the city would have said NO. But they weren't given any opportunity to weigh in at all, were they? How dare they care about good order in the city, anyway--gee, that's uh, facist, I reckon. :eyes:

As it is, the 'posting signs without authority' ordinance calls for a three hundred dollar fine, so it's a misdemeanor, at minimum. http://www.cityofboston.gov/isd/cep/codes.asp I assume tht is, or could be, 'per instance,' so this adventure was close to a four thousand dollar mistake, just for starters.

They also could have gone to the MBTA and hired all sorts of space from them along the lines, in the stations -- even space inside the darkened T tunnels for dramatic effect--but no, they were too cheap: http://www.mbta.com/business_center/advertising/

As for retail being limited to office zoned areas, you apparently don't know Boston or the outer neighborhoods. "You guys" indeed. We guys can walk to get groceries and assorted items from most apartments in the city. It's why people love the city--you don't NEED a car to live in Boston, in fact, in many instances, in some neighborhoods, it's a hindrance. If you knew anything about Boston's retail initiative, you'd see it is the exact opposite of the 'office zone' crap you describe. http://www.cityofboston.gov/business/eco_dev.asp

Finally, public art--which this shit clearly was not, but you brought it up, so whatever. Boston's take on it--commercial developers kick in to a fund for it, it's a defacto tax: http://www.cityofboston.gov/arts/visual/Perm_PublicArt.asp The Boston Art Commission, established in 1890, is the oldest municipal art commission in the United States. It exercises legal authority to approve and site new public art on property owned by the City of Boston. In addition, the commission preserves and protects all monuments, paintings, statues, fountains and memorials. The dynamic behind these efforts is the belief that artworks should not be limited to the - sometimes -relative isolation of museums and galleries, but should be woven into the fabric of the City itself, providing a visual focus in the urban landscape. As art is thus integrated more successfully into the experience of daily life, one hopes that one result might be an increased appreciation both for art and for the quality of the visual environment of which it becomes a part.

[Rex]

6. Good question. This all sounds fishy to me.

What really pisses me off about it is that the cops and authorities want to investigate this fully and yet NO ONE cared about really investigating the destruction of the WTC!!! Talk about stupid!

Yeah, let us all get up in arms over a cartoon, but fully investigate 911 with the same gusto? Sorry, orders NOT to look too deeply into 911.

Now let us see if we can get Space Ghost Coast to Coast arrested for...hmmm...I dunno, TERRORISM!!!! :eyes:

Fuck, what a horrible day. I'm going to bed.

[MADem]

15. Hey, APIL....all politics is local. This is a Boston thing, not a NYC and BushCo thing

We are sensitive because we lost a lot of people in 9/11. People forget about Logan Airport's role in that disaster. To say nothing of the fact that half the fucking Bin Ladin family owns condos here.

If Turner had worked with the city, and paid for a faux guerrilla campaign, this matter would have been avoided, entirely. But no, they did it on the cheap, in a city that has direct ties to the 911 mess.

[gatorboy]

16. Because they're extremely embarrassed.

The news headlines are still claiming this was a hoax (When what it really was, was a mistake) as if Adult Swim expected people to assume they were bombs.

[Leopolds Ghost]

24. Shake would have taken one look at those things and recognized them for what they are --

Bombs!

[MADem]

35. Gee, maybe the Boston Police will hire Shake, if Time Warner Corporation will let him out of his

contract!!!

Oh, but wait...Shake is a CARTOON, marketed to and targeted at juveniles between the ages of thirteen and twenty five....an iconic "faux counterculture" image owned and copyrighted by a major corporation that is putting out a MOVIE featuring that character and several others!!! A movie they're hoping will earn them a BIG PAYDAY from Shake, Frylock and Meatwad fans! A "Number One in the HOOD" movie, they're hoping!!!

Awww, the BPD can't hire Shake, I guess....but you can save up and get in line to buy your TURNER/TIME WARNER movie ticket, coming out in MARCH!!! http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0455326/

[Swamp Rat]

8. Was there terror in the streets? Were people really scared? ... gnashing of teeth and all?

:eyes:

[Rex]

10. I hear a woman passed out when she saw some made up cartoon

character shooting 'the finger'! Imagine the horror! :eyes:

Okay, NOW I'm going to bed. Dammit, why did Molly have to die? I'm so fucking pissed/depressed.

Nite.

[Swamp Rat]

12. Nite nite!

:cry:

[MADem]

29. Initially, yes. Mainly because the items were described in frightening tones

without a visual image on TV (circuit boards, tubes, wires--that was the description). And the first few were all found on BRIDGES. River Kwai, anyone??? Then, TURNER didn't call back, even after someone figured it out--and Menino wasn't about to accuse them of doing it without knowing for sure if they were in fact responsible, which delayed the resolution of the matter. Turner likely did a lawyer meeting, and when they DID tell Boston it was their shit, they didn't call directly , they did it via the FEDS.

They behaved badly--they could have stopped this shit at noon or one pm at latest, if they'd just admitted the things were theirs--but hey, what is that they say about publicity??? Any publicity is good publicity???

They got all-day, national coverage on every cable station and the nightly news. And even more coverage today, as the guys who put the things up are coming on TV in their "get out of jail" presser and acting like immature assholes, frankly. You can't pay for that--and they reached their target audience--juveniles who think it's "cool" to fuck with "the man." These same juveniles don't realize they've been totally punked by a multinational corporation, not a loosely-knit, free-spirited, counterculture outfit.

[porphyrian]

52. They Live! I love it. - n/t

[catzies]

9. There is already stuff on eBay

The orig LEDs off the street are over 3,000! :wow:

[Lex]

11. I blame Master Shake.

He's such a trouble-maker.

[CitizenRob]

17. BREAKING NEWS: Lite Brite causes end of civilization.

DATELINE BOSTON: A Lite Brite with the image of a smurf giving the finger has caused the end of civilization!

[JVS]

18. so is boston no longer "america's smartest city"?

[Leopolds Ghost]

22. No, according to another poster, it is America's cleanest and most orderly

None of that riff-raff posting signs. Could be terrorists, wouldn't be prudent.

[MADem]

32. Gee, come on there,king of the counterculture elucidators-point us to the post that says that!!!

Don't leave us hanging!!! Who here claims that Boston is the cleanest and most orderly city in America?

And golly gosh a rooney, LOVE your characterization of the TURNER/TIME-WARNER corporate suits as "riff raff." Bet they love it, too--their ad campaign totally worked on you, in less than a DAY!!! Save your money so you can catch the new AQUA TEEN movie, now!!! Because it's COOL, see!!!

Power to the people corporate-entities-masquerading-as-cool-counterculture-dudes!!!

That sound you hear is TIME WARNER separating your money from your wallet...dude!

[JackRiddler]

19. Someone please explain...

Since this was an ad campaign... didn't they have to pay for whatever spaces they were using? Or did they just do it as guerillas? What's their liability, in that case?

[Liberal In Texas]

61. I think they could be cited for littering. Kind of like "Alice's Restaurant"

another poster mentioned in one of the other flurry of threads about this.

I think the lesson here is that the terror card is still a viable thing to play, and we need to be skeptical when the media starts hyping something like this.

[REP]

20. Here's The Card

[Leopolds Ghost]

23. Caving into Fear, I see.

What is society coming to.

[MADem]

33. Oh, don't worry...there are plenty of people in society who think just like you do

Who cheerlead corporate ad campaigns! Because the character in the campaign is ....cool!!!! And a cartoon! On late night TV!!!!!

So society is not at risk of becoming monolithic, yet. We're SAFE!!! The people who were afraid of bridges being targeted, they're one subset of society, the people who were pissed that Turner/Time Warner didn't pay to play, they're another subset, the people who don't buy bullshit corporate ad campaigns disguised as counterculture/grassroots efforts, they're yet another subset.

And Time Warner has YOU, the lucky skunks...defending the freedom of corporations to hire poor young adults (who themselves look "cool" and "counterculture"--the better to appeal to their target audience, see?) at slave wages to put up gurrilla advertisements (but hey man, it's lite brites, it's MOONINATOR...that means it is art, dude!!!) illegally...that should make us all feel free!

Bought your ticket for the Aqua Teen movie yet? Thinking about buying a Shake Tee shirt, or maybe a Frylock jacket? How about a Meatwad sweater?

Number One in the HOOD, indeed!!!!

:rofl:

[mainegreen]

25. Art is dead. Long live conformity.

Fuck Boston.
Fuck the retards who are scared of the slightest thing out of the ordinary.
Fuck the sheeple.
This is the best example I've seen in a while of why if the country doesn't get the 40 foot pole out of it's metaphorical ass then this country is doomed. Creativity will go out the window, and with it will go the economy, joy, and anything of real value in this county.

Boston should be ASHAMED of itself for this absurd overreaction and it should apologize and be embarrassed for it's inability to differentiate between freedom of expression and an actual bomb.

[michaelwb]

27. Art is dead in Boston

As an actual Boston resident. I'm sorry about those of the press, politicians and otherwise reasonable members of DU around here who have reacted so extremely.

Not all of us missed the point. Some of us recognized the character and the campaign.

I wish all those folks (politicians in Boston and on-line posters alike) who are so outraged about this would spend that time being outraged and taking action about the increase in shooting deaths (especially in poor and minority communities) and problem of homelessness in Boston.

This is all giving Mayor Menino a chance to continue ducking real action about those issues and appear "tough" on "terror." But clearly lite-brite ads are the more imminent threat and require major City and State actions....

[MADem]

31. Oh, bullshit. This will be over in a day, and those issues will remain to be addressed.

I'm an old fart, I used to live in the city and live just outside it now. I use the T regularly. I go in town all the time. I am in and out of Logan several times a month.

I recognized the icon, because I pay attention to what the young kids in my family are up to. But plenty of people didn't, and besides--the media didn't SHOW the fucking thing until the evening.

You know, people CAN be outraged at the behavior of Time Warner/Turner AND be concerned about poverty and homelessness. It's not a binary thing. Walk and chew gum, yeah??? People can do it...it really isn't that hard.

Sorry, your postulation that being pissed at a corporation for pulling this shit somehow means that people can't, don't or won't care about other things is just...poorly conceived, badly reasoned, and not well thought out.

[michaelwb]

37. Then

I expect to never hear you complain about media coverage of TomKat, missing pretty blondes, etc.

Or any other media story as distracting us from more important issues - after all they will be gone within a day.

I'd have no problem with the ad campaign because that's all it is - instead why not get outraged at the press coverage and political over reaction?

Now you know what it was, and that it wasn't a bomb or a bomb hoax - yet you ARE STILL talking about it the next day.

[MADem]

43. Well, you don't hear that shit from me--my favorite expression is this

VOTE WITH YOUR REMOTE. And you should do the same. If a thread bugs you, and you don't want to play, hide it.

I do it all the time. I don't join those "Too many this" or "Too many that" whines. Click, gone. So why did you bring that up? What's it in aid of? I find this topic interesting and worthy of continued discussion, not because of the BOMB, not because of the HOAX, but because there are people on this forum who are cheerleading corporate misbehavior, while claiming to be supporting "counterculture" art--and that's complete bullshit--this is an AD campaign, not art. Are you suggesting that I should withdraw my opinion because it doesn't agree with some? I certainly hope that isn't where you're going.

FWIW, I do think the media fucked up BIG TIME, though I don't think, if you watched Menino's evening interview, the politicians screwed up--Turner refused to get back to them, and they didn't want to slander Turner/Time Warner/Comedy Central by accusing them before they knew for sure they were at the root of this mess. Turner could have solved this problem in the early afternoon, but then they might not have gotten the national news coverage on all the cables and networks, complete with the image of the MOONINATOR icon. They reached their target audience, all right....

See, again, I'm not binary, I can hold more than one thought in my head, and I actually can take issue with people who are either ignorant or corporate apologists who slavishly worship a cartoon and deny its origins, while getting annoyed at the shitty, OTT media coverage as well. AND, I can also care about things like equal rights, hunger, homelessness, and the quality of education in America. Oh, and the war, we certainly can't forget that, my top priority.... life is not either/or, and neither is this forum.

[MADem]

30. ART???? Are you culturally retarded? That's advertisement, not art.

You call a lite brite shlepped all over ten cities and put up by underpaid kids that the cheap corporate fuckers paid THREE HUNDRED BUCKS to, ART?????

Wow, you've been conned completely--by TIME WARNER. Fight the power, dude, power to the people....let the corporation put shit wherever they want!!!!! Why? Because....uh.....AQUA TEEN is .... cool, dude. :eyes:

Give me a fucking break. Art is dead, my ass. Fuck BOSTON? How about fuck idiots who don't know real art from shameless corporate advertising....fuck idiots who call corporate advertising "freedom of expression"....Fuck the SHEEPLE indeed--the sheeple that overlook the corporate nature of this charade because, ya know, Aqua Teen is COOL and all the "cool kids" like it! And if you don't make fun of people who aren't in on Aqua Teen, well, you lose your "coolness."

This is, by far, the best example I've seen of juvenile individuals getting snowed by a corporate cultural icon in a long, long time--this beats hula hoops, or Barbie Dolls, or any of the shit that corporate bastards have shoved at children to separate them from their money.

It just shows how easily some people can be led--and by a fucking CARTOON, too!! You've been HAD.

The thing that's DEAD in America is the quality of elementary and secondary education, I fear, when people actually think a huge corporate ad campaign is a counterculture art project, and "uh, freedom of SPEEEEEEECH, man" just because the company hires a couple of counterculture-looking kids (at slave wages, too) to do the installations.

You demonstrate that YOU are TIME WARNER's target audience--and that is nothing to be proud of. One of many 'sheeple' that you claim to disdain...!

Save up your ten bucks to go see that movie, now! Because it's COOL, see? If anyone should be ashamed, and embarrassed, it's you, for taking the side of the major corporation as they smear their advertising for a fucking MOVIE all over the city without PAYING for their act.

Power to the sheeple!!!! The AQUA TEEN, cool sheeple!!!! :rofl:

[mainegreen]

34. Wow. So you have the definition of art? You just invalidated yourself with that viewpoint.

Corporations can't produce art? I suppose the government cant either. Oh, and when artists are hired by the rich to to specific art, as has been going on for oh, say *10,000 years*, that's not art either?

Dude, you do not get what art is. Not really. You're like one of those people who thinks that only classical music counts as music.

[MADem]

38. Oh please. Of COURSE the intention of TIME WARNER was to PRODUCE art.

NOT.

They did not CREATE anything here, they copied an existing image. They plastered it around for PROFIT. Yeah, that's "art" alright. I'd suggest you rethink what "art" is--it involves ORIGINAL expression, and commerce is not the primary purpose of it. Hell, paint-by-numbers involves more "art" than a manufactured light box, shipped out by a corporation, put together in snap-in fashion by a couple of underpaid punks, and shoved up on bridge abutments with a telescoping broom handle for the SOLE purpose of advertising a movie.

And to suggest that I don't acknowledge progressive or abstract art expressions JUST because I don't buy that corporate advertising installed by underpaid counterculture-looking schmucks, paid by a wealthy international corporation, is art, is well, a canard. To put it POLITELY. And a lame and unsuccessful way of making your point. The "I'll BET that YOU (fill in opposite/conventional/pedestrian/not progressive example)" argument is a sure sign you've got nuthin'. Unfounded accusations and assumptions just don't cut it. You can bet all you want, but you'd be wrong.

You, apparently, don't get what being CONNED by corporate America is. That's plain. You're so fucking invested in a late-night faux-counterculture cartoon that you just can't see what is really going on here--that Time Warner wants your money at the box office. They didn't put those boxes up in aid of ART--they put them up to get ten bucks out of YOU, and the rest of the sheep, when their stupid movie comes out in March. And you defend them--they've got a live one on the line with you, hook, line and sinker. And the sad thing is, you apparently don't even SEE it. They aren't promoting art, they want your MONEY.

But hey, power to the people corporations, and keep cheerleading for them...maybe they'll hire YOU at slave wages to put up 'artistic' pictures of Meatwad someday!!! One can only dream, I guess!

[Red Right and BLUE]

42. What the fuck?

I wouldn't exactly call the idea that Adult Swim's campaign was "cool" the same as being "conned". You don't have to like ATHF. That's totally fine. But why don't you stop trashing anyone who does. We're all at DU, aren't we? I don't see any inherent stupidity here, just blatant snobbery.

If you can tell me that you honestly don't support any corporations, on a daily basis, ever, then I take it back. Jeez!

So some of us will see the movie; so what?? Get over yourself.

[MADem]

44. OK, now you're projecting. Guess what? I actually LIKE ATHF. I think it's funny.

I watch it often.

But hey, here is another example of binary thinking. Because I see who produces the cartoon, because I see what they did, I ergo must not "like" the adventures of Shake, Frylock, Meatwad and Carl.

I actually don't "support" corporations. I am aware of them, I patronize them if they have products that I want or need, but I don't lionize them as "counterculture icons' like some here seem to be doing. "Wow, dude, Turner/Time-Warner REAAAALLLY stuck it to The MAN, doncha know!!!"

And let me tell ya, those idiots who did the art installations are not helping themselves with their asinine antics--they are making it tougher for the Time Warner lawyer to get them a full acquittal. Here's hoping that the stupid remarks they are making about haircuts (supposedly to promote another CC venture) don't make matters worse--they could go over the line.

And, right now on TV, they're showing an EMAIL from the "starving artist" that refers to his communication with his BOSS at COMEDY CENTRAL telling him to not TELL anyone about the installations--in order to get more publicity???--while the terror alert was ongoing. He KNEW what was going on, and he didn't tell anyone--now THAT could get him in real trouble, more than the installations themselves.

[Red Right and BLUE]

46. My problem with your posts is that you seem to think

that people don't recognize an ad campaign when we see one. If that's not the case then I stand corrected. The outrage over ads as art was a little much. Doesn't really matter, if you happen to like the product... I just don't understand the relevance. Counter-culture or no, art is art if the viewer thinks that's what he or she is looking at. I guess I don't believe that we can define "art" for anyone but ourselves.

I can't help but be empathetic to the "artists" who aren't taking the "OMG SERIES!!!!!!"... seriously. Even if they are acting like teenage idiots at the moment.

Cheers.

[MADem]

49. I'm not speaking of you, but look around. There are people who are not making the connection at all

The "kids" came out of the courtroom mocking the process and touting a new Cartoon Network show that is supposedly called "Perfect Hair." Clearly, they are ON the corporate payroll. They behaved like smartasses--that kind of conduct won't be helpful to them, I suspect--and it could be they're just stupid, which might not be such a wild speculation, and are simply tools of Time-Warner. They'll probably get the "high end" rather than the low end of the fine spectrum if they keep that shit up. Of course, Time Warner will pay that bill, and likely groom them as they newest "faux counterculture" heroes for people who are just too lazy to see how they're being marketed.

But still there are some who insist that these kids are "unassociated" with Turner, that they're just innocent contractors. Well, apparently, they're connected enough so that Mister Dreadlocks was getting email from his "boss" to KEEP QUIET while the city was freaking out. Real smooth move, there...

As Boston Reeled, Was Artist Asked to Keep Quiet?

Feb. 1, 2007 — One of the two men charged in connection with the advertising campaign that turned into a terror scare was asked to keep quiet as the stunt sent the city of Boston into chaos, according to two fellow artists who provided ABC News with an e-mail from the man supporting their claim. ...But friends and fellow artists Toshi Hoo and Travis Vautour said it's not Berdovsky and Stevens who should take the fall for this.

According to Hoo and Vautour, the New York-based guerilla marketing firm, Interference Inc., which was running the advertising campaign in Boston; New York; Los Angeles; Chicago; Atlanta; Seattle; Portland, Ore.; Austin, Texas; San Francisco; and Philadelphia, asked Berdovsky to keep his involvement quiet as the event was playing out.

"We received an e-mail in the early afternoon from Peter that asked the community that he's a part of to keep any information we had on the down low and that was instructed to him by whoever his boss was in this advertising campaign gone wrong," Vautour said. "I don't know if it was for security reasons or it was to buy them some time or to buy Peter some time."

In an e-mail obtained by ABC News sent from Berdovsky to Hoo at 1:26 p.m. Wednesday, the artist writes, "My boss at the Cartoon Network's ad agency just called — she is asking that I pretty please keep everything on the dl (down low; quiet)." The e-mail, supplied by Hoo, contains a large swath of blacked-out text that he claims contained personal information....No one at Interference Inc. answered the phone or responded to requests for comment on the authenticity of the e-mail, and the company's Web site appears to be down.

Shirley Powell, a spokesperson for Turner Broadcasting, said she was unaware of the e-mail and that it was "nothing I've heard." Powell said that at this point the company had no comment on the e-mail or allegations Berdovsky was asked to keep quiet.....
http://abcnews.go.com/Technology/story?id=2841646&page=1



I dunno. I don't understand the childish cheerleading for a craven corporate effort to separate people from their money, first of all. And I find the snarkiness towards people who don't stay up till three in the morning to watch a fucking cartoon childish, too. Like people who recognize Shake and Frylock are somehow superior to these poor middle aged and older working people who DON'T recognize them. And then, when it is revealed that these (not kids) ADULTS in their LATE TWENTIES deliberately let it play out when they KNEW what was happening, at the written direction of their boss, who was delaying notification either for free publicity, or to circle their lawyers, well, that's disgraceful.

This shit started before SEVEN in the morning. It could have been over by noon, had Turner/Time Warner/Cartoon Network just CALLED the damn mayor back--but no--Cartoon Network wanted to let it ride, so every media outlet in the country would hop on it.

If anyone is pushing or facilitating the "terra" agenda, it's Time-fucking-Warner. And we've got a whole crowd of incredibly juvenile and hubris-laden cartoon watchers cheering them on, and making fun of people who don't share their particular interest, in essence. That, to me, is incredibly juvenile.

[michaelwb]

39. Agreed.

The ignorance of art and art history here is just appalling.

Quick tell the art museums that Toulouse-Lautrec's advertisement posters aren't art - they better take them down from their exhibit halls.

Or Alphonse Mucha's posters advertising plays - they aren't art either - they have to be scrubbed from all the art history books.

As the Residents so rightly said: "Ignorance of your own culture is not considered cool!"

[MADem]

41. Uh, sorry pal--old Toulouse was ORIGINAL. He didn't COPY from a cartoonist

who created the original work. Alphonse's stuff was ORIGINAL too. False argument, poorly executed, too.

But hey, way to support the corporations!!! And way to ignore reality!! Say, if I reproduce a copy of Michaelangelo's DAVID, is that ART? Nooooo??? How about if I copy something Warhol did? A soup can? A Marilyn? Is that art, if I copy it? How about if I make a David or a soup can with a LIGHTBOX, and put it all over Boston? Is that ART? Or is it a cheap, lousy copy of something???

Art, schmart. You've been totally conned, and yet, you are so INVESTED in "The CARTOON" that you ignore its source, and cannot let go.

Buy that movie ticket, now, sucker!!! Power to the corporation!!! Number one in the Hood!!!!

[mainegreen]

45. Dude, you just said copying an item isn't art and then called Warhol an artist. *snort* *snigger*

:rofl:

[michaelwb]

47. Oh heah

:toast:

:rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl:

No kidding. It's just brilliant.

[MADem]

51. Uh, Warhol didn't copy things LINE FOR LINE.

It's a fucking STICK FIGURE, not a complex item represented in a different dimension or media. But go ahead, call that shit art. Enjoy! Set that bar at that level, and you'll be easy to please in the cultural sphere.

Maybe you can get a job with the corporation, too...like these guys:

http://abcnews.go.com/Technology/story?id=2841646&page=2

Number one in the HOOD, there....

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

53. Actually, it's a series of dots. Not lines.

Maybe you're familiar with pointilism?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sunday_Afternoon_on_the_Island_of_La_Grande_Jatte

[MADem]

57. Lines, points--like it matters?

And Warhol wasn't SELLING SOUP....

These stupid things are selling tickets to movies. Or trying to. And corporate apologists are lapping it up just like the marketers hoped they would. Get in line! Have your ten bucks ready! Because....it's COOL, man. And the geezers who think this whole stunt was idiotic AREN'T!

But say, if your HAIR is PERFECT, you're number one in the HOOD!

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

59. Andy Warhol sold lots of things.

Shoes, mostly.

"And the geezers who think this whole stunt was idiotic AREN'T!"

Oh, please. Being old has nothing to do with being out of touch.

"But say, if your HAIR is PERFECT, you're number one in the HOOD!"

Yikes. Apparently you know as much about Adult Swim as you do about art history and appreciation.

[MADem]

60. We're all getting an education, courtesy of Time Warner....

Hey, tell ya what. I'll GIVE you the idea that the stupid Lite Brite is "ART." Happy? Hell, let's even call it "high" art, to give it some respect, OK?

It's art that was made by a giant corporation--it's purpose was to advertise a movie. But the corporation is INCREDIBLY clever--they've managed to make suckers defend it, to insult those who think it is stupid, to conceptualize it as an "in" thing for the "groovy" types (that word is bound to come back--didn't you hear those counterculture spokesmodels say, at their presser, that we're going back to 70's hair? They're already working their NEXT Time Warner gig, just for you guys!).

Here's why they spread that "art" all over ten cities--so that suckers, sheep ready for the fleecing, would line up for tickets to a movie featuring the stupid character, thinking that they were "counterculture cool" and not lemming-tools of a GOP corporate entity...that'll be ten bucks, enjoy the film...and don't forget to buy the cool pre-aged, weatherbeaten, "alternative" tee-shirt, too, only $19.99 plus S+H!!! Hey, we have ball caps and coffee cups too!

How much of that ticket fee will end up at the RNC, when they're done making their contributions?

So you get your wish, it is (cough) 'art', OK. Art like "Highlights For Children" is FUN. Fun....with a PURPOSE. And the purpose of the art you hold on high is to separate your cash from your wallet.

Which, to my appreciative eye, art history lessons or no, makes it crap.

But hey, free country, enjoy!! Number ONE in the Hood!

[michaelwb]

48. Changing the goal posts is a weak argument.

First you say: "That's advertisement, not art."

I point out that advertisement can in fact be art - a perfectly accurate refutation of your point. Even you acknowledge that those ads were art.

Now you strive to move change your argument by saying that copying something is not art and then you talk about Warhol - breaking your new argument even as you make it.

[MADem]

56. Oh please, if you want to call that shit ART, go ahead.

Here's some more of that same kind of ART--it's art with a PURPOSE, see, it wants you to DO something, be it buy a ticket or join a uniformed service--let's put this art in YOUR apartment building, ok? On every street corner on your way to work! On the billboards outside your window!! In every subway car, and on every bridge abutment--does this "art" work for you? Heck, at least it couldn't possibly be mistaken for an advertisement...because it's ART, see? Someone created it!!!! Maybe they copied that star thing from someehere else, and had a goal of persuading people to do something, but it's ART, man, just art!

[bohemianguy]

62. art

Art is more than just something that can be put in a museum. Sometimes it can be a performance. Maybe the corporate shilling, as it was, wasn't really art, but the reaction it received, the uproar and furor a few light-brites caused... I dunno, it's art to me. :)

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

36. I'm sorry you're so stupid, Boston.

:rofl:

[Atmashine]

40. It only took 2-3 weeks to find a sign and compare it to a bomb

[Fire Walk With Me]

50. This has entered the realm of really successful promotion.

(I'm going back to making up ads in magazines requesting donations to put diapers on dogs)

[porphyrian]

54. The media made this into a terror scare, they are to blame.

Every other city this same advertisement ran, they figured out what they were. For whatever reason, Boston's media ran with it and made it a terror scare. The media terrorized you, Boston, not a low-res alien light.

[KoKo]

55. They can go FUCK THEMSELVES! n/t

[nam78_two]

58. A real apology? Are you series?

Nah...it has to be tongue in cheek...

[MADem]

63. The starving artist has changed his tune and issued a formal, written apology

I guess he's a little worried about his green card.

He's hired a CRIMINAL attorney, too.

Gee, it must not be so funny anymore...the ho-ho-ho from his press conference has faded away, it would seem.

[Rex]

64. Reality has a way of doing that to people.

It's just a shame it was over a cartoon.

[MADem]

67. You know that charge, about placing "hoax" devices that's in the law? I think that is his problem.

Yesterday I averred that there would be no way the kid would get nailed under that law, because the stupid Lite Brites were an ad for a stupid MOVIE, and the idea was to reach the 13-30 crowd who is the Turner target market for Aqua Teen. No "intent" to cause panic, there, of COURSE not--right???

Well, then today, out comes that email--the one where Mister Dreadlocks wrote to a dozen of his closest friends and told them that his Cartoon Network "boss" had advised him, with the City of Boston freaking out, to NOT TELL THEM that the devices are from Cartoon Network, to "keep it on the QT." OK, now, it would seem, we go from "no intent" to, at a minimum, "sitting on your ass while the city that sent two planes into the WTC freaks out in fear, and doing NOTHING, when you have the power to stop it."

(And as an aside--two pipe bombs were also found while this Aqua Teen shit was going on--they turned out to be fakes but they looked very real--unrelated to this mess, but one was found hanging from a bridge.)

Thus, the kid quickly finds criminal lawyer. Thus, he issues, no doubt at the insistence of the mouthpiece, the PROFOUND apology, a complete switch from that idiotic, immature, flat-out stupid display in front of the courthouse.

He's realizing he's in serious trouble. His stupid pal, Stooge Number Two, apparently didn't send any emails and is a US citizen, so the Flannel Mouthed dreadlocked nitwit is the one taking all the heat.

Ya wonder if Time Warner will stand by the guy???? Or will they try to discard him, seeing as he's deadweight on the corporation at this stage?

There well could be a federal inquiry directed at the boss of this guy...even Mayor Menino referred to these two punks as just the "gophers"--he wants Turner, Time Warner, the CN suits, and the marketing firm. He ain't playing, and I don't blame him.

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

68. Except that charge is going to get thrown out.

The judge said as much today.

:shrug:

[MADem]

70. The judge did not know about the emails at the time. It ain't dismissed yet.

The judge told the prosecution he had a loooooooong row to hoe to get to the panic and fear element. The prosecutor's row just got substantially shorter.

Te email demonstrates that this guy was told by his bosses to shut up, and he then emailed all his pals and told THEM to shut up. He KNEW that the devices were causing panic and fear, and not only did he not correct the situation, he emailed all his pals and told them not to, either.

The playing field has shifted now.

Thus, the criminal attorney. The kid came out of the courthouse laughing with a civil attorney, and now he's battened down with a Sopranos-style mouthpiece and has issued a florid apology.

What changed?? That damning email, that's what.

[Rex]

69. It just proves to me that smoking pot and 'being creative' will eventually

lead to a really, really stupid idea. I still can't understand WHY they would think light brights were bombs...but I guess anything is possible in the Land of Stupidity.

[MADem]

71. The first report came in "at dawn's early light"

Someone saw the thing from a train, and they saw batteries, tape, some crap oozing out (the stuff they used to stick the things up, maybe?) and what looked, quickly, like a circuit board. The LITE BRITE aspect only works at night, not during the day, and at dawn, hell...it just looks like a goofy thing.

But hey, people hide bombs in teddy bears and bird cages....

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

65. link?

[MADem]

66. I just saw it on Boston's News Center Five, on my television set.

I'm sure it will hit the internet eventuallly.