Thousands in anti-Putin protest
Belfast Telegraph
January 29, 2012

Thousands of cars flying white ribbons and white balloons have circled central Moscow in a protest against Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin.
The cars jammed the inner lanes all along the 10-mile Garden Ring, which has as many as 16 lanes of traffic at its widest points.

More protesters stood along the side of the road waving white ribbons and flags as the cars passed, their horns blaring. (more…)

Joey Skaggs will be in Oakland for this open space Whistleblowers conference, February 17-19, 2012. Admission is free and open to the public.

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From the conference website:

“There is no truth existing which I fear or would wish unknown to the whole world.” – Thomas Jefferson

Transparency needs your brain. Whistleblowers need your protection. Fresh Juice Party, Courage to Resist and Bradley Manning Support Network invite you to bring your ideas.

Please join journalists, former military personnel, academics, activists, policy makers, media experts, filmmakers and whistleblowers for an open discussion designed to encourage unexpected interdisciplinary alliances and action.

This will be a unique participant driven environment where we will co-create the agenda for the day. [It] will be a first of its kind activist/expert un-conference mix so expect to be surprised. Sharing, networking and creating new alliances will be central to providing strategies and support for whistleblowers.

Come and enjoy the freedom of discussion and mobility of an unconference where serious discussion interplays with an open space atmosphere of creativity and play.

Check the conference site for more information. Register at Event Brite & Check for updates on Facebook and Twitter @OccupyTruthCon #TruthCon

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UK’s Coventry University Department of Media and Communication presents this Creative Activism Guest Podcast.

Listen here:
The Art of the Prank and Culture Jamming with Joey Skaggs

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From the CreativeActivism.com website:

Welcome to the Creative Activism Open Class – Now in Session

This class, presented by the Coventry University Department of Media and Communication, is exploring the potentials of creative media activism through encouraging ‘live’ creative interventions and participation in cultural, political and social debates.

Throughout the 10 week class we will be exploring how media activists and campaigners have used their media knowledge, connections and skills to ask difficult questions, provoke debate and raise awareness of important issues and problems in their local, national and international communities. We will be putting up a number of lectures, tasks, podcasts and other resources online to help you.

It is an activity-led class where participants will be choosing an issue that is important to them and working on a series of real and situated tasks that will aim to provide them with a number of and skills and abilities. (more…)

Submitted by Deborah:

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Doll ‘protesters’ present small problem for Russian police
by Miriam Elder
Guardian.co.uk
26 January 2012

Police in Siberian city ask prosecutors to investigate legality of protest involving display of toy figures holding miniature placards

Russian police don’t take kindly to opposition protesters – even if they’re 5cm high and made of plastic.

Police in the Siberian city of Barnaul have asked prosecutors to investigate the legality of a recent protest that saw dozens of small dolls – teddy bears, Lego men, South Park figurines – arranged to mimic a protest, complete with signs reading: “I’m for clean elections” and “A thief should sit in jail, not in the Kremlin”. (more…)

Student prank sees giant haggis travel to Inverness
Deadlinenews.co.uk
January 26th, 2012

College students caused a Burns Night stir after putting a 5ft model haggis on a train.

The madcap students put the papier mache haggis on the 2pm Kirkcaldy to Inverness service yesterday, hoping an amused passenger might collect it at the other end for a Burns Night supper.

Sure enough, the haggis – complete with a pink kilt – was rescued by a businessman in the Highlands capital and whisked away to a celebration of the Scottish Bard’s life.

The haggis, made by students at Adam Smith college, Kirkcaldy, Fife, even sported a Paddington Bear-style tag with contact information for the college, in case he got lost.

The 5ft model was placed in the luggage department in the last compartment of the busy train.

A businessman, named by local press as Kit Fraser, collected the haggis from the station to be his guest of honour at a Burns Night supper for an accountancy firm. (more…)

Austin (January 24, 2012) The grassroots organization Patriots for Self-Deportation, formed last year in response to legislative inaction on the issue of birthright citizenship for children of illegal immigrants (also known as the “anchor baby” problem), announced today the launch of their website, SelfDeport.org. The group describes SelfDeport.org as a resource for patriotic Americans who wish to set an example of responsible citizenship by proving their own rights to remain in this great nation.

The group hopes the website and issue benefits from Republican candidate Mitt Romney’s endorsement of self-deportation as a solution to the problem of illegal immigration, according to spokesman Stephen Winters.

“A surprising number of authentic patriots have found in their own genealogical searches that one or more of their ancestors came here or stayed here illegally, and yet continued to make a living in this country and have children who in turn became instant citizens,” said Winters. “Some patriots, faced with this moral dilemma, have decided to set an example for others. Knowing that their own presence in this country is not on moral solid ground, they have decided to demonstrate the highest level of civic dedication and sacrifice, and engage in self-deportation.”

For example, Alex is self deporting to Poland

(more…)

As featured on Huffington Post:

Clark Stoeckley, famed most recently for his escapades with his Wikileaks truck, and EIDIA House announce this performance and in situ installation:

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Collateral Torture
January 20 to February 18, 2012
Live 24-hr continuous performance
Reception: 7pm, Friday, January 20
EIDIA House Studio

Clark Stoeckley’s 24-hour live performance will portray a day of Private First Class Bradley Manning’s tortured imprisonment—commencing at 5pm on Friday the 20th and concluding at 5pm on Saturday the 21st. This performance will be recorded, and the documentation will be projected in Plato’s Cave for the remaining duration of the exhibition.

EIDIA House
14 Dunham Place, Basement Left
Williamsburg Brooklyn, NY
646-945-3830
http://www.eidia.com/

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(more…)

Submitted by Joshua Darrah: Here’s a prank I pulled on my friends and family recently:

STEP 1: Secretly shave off your two year long hair.
STEP 2: Glue it into a wig.
STEP 3: pull it off to freak your friends. 40 of them.

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I had been growing my hair for a couple of years, and wanted to go back to a shaved head, but I wanted to make it a surprise to my brother that i was suddenly shaving my head. I have NO IDEA where the idea came to me from, but i wondered if I would be able to cut off my long hair, keep it, then hot glue it into a wig. I would then wear that wig of my own hair (yes this is slightly serial killerish i know!) and while hanging with my brother, suddenly pull off my ‘hair’ and be shaved headed in a split second.

I told him I was filming a video project, that way I could film his reaction. And man it went down a treat! I then realised I could wear my wig to every visit with friends and family over the coming 2 months, I eventually pranked over 40 of my close friends and family. I’m editing it into a long version for Youtube in the next couple of weeks, but for now I hope you enjoy this 30 second clip.

I’ve entered it into an Australian prank competition (which is why it is constricted to 30 seconds only, argh!).

Competition link for voting: http://www.messinwithmates.com/entry-selection.html?video_id=494

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From Ars Technica
January 18, 2012

Today is SOPA Resistance Day at Ars. Sites across the ‘Net, from reddit to the Internet Archive, from Wikipedia to Google, are protesting the excesses of the Stop Online Piracy Act. SOPA remains a flawed bill that treats piracy as an existential threat to the US economy and to a sacred class of rightsholders—and in doing so loses all perspective on appropriate remedies. The discussion is absolutely unbalanced.

Many sites have chosen to go dark (i.e., offline) today, a stance we respect—but it’s not the right path for us. Ars Technica has, for 14 years, tried to be an information resource, and the most appropriate response from Ars is to provide even more information on the legislation, how you can fight it, and what’s really at stake. (more…)

From “Big Penis” Jon:

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Ana Kasparian and Cenk Uygur of Current TV’s “Young Turks” show discuss C-SPAN’s prank calls about Mitt Romney’s penis size:

From Stefano Cicconardi:

You know, when Christmas comes everyone feel good, even us, ready to hoax folks and media for a good cause…drinking.

We created the Rednoze, an anti-breathalyzer medicine to fool police checks and protect your privacy when you’re drunk

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A guerrilla marketing campaign by KOOK Artgency, Rome, Italy:

REDNOZE, How to Fool Breathalyzers and Hoax Media and Consumers to Avoid Drink-Driving.

An innovative strategy to interact with people who don’t drive responsibly and are always in search of shortcuts to avoid police checks. A 7-days campaign which reach more than 40,000 views and 10 millions contacts with coverage on Italian tv newscasts, newspapers, magazines, radio programs and buzz on web. The 10,7% of total consumers really wanted to buy Rednoze, a proof of how the fear of checks and measures still matters instead of their own safety.

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“Protect your privacy when you are drunk”. This is the claim of the fake medicine Rednoze launched in Italy through the website www.rednoze.it to let media and young people rethink about drink-driving issue. The hoax, designed by KOOK Artgency for the non-profit organization Modavi, started before Christmas 2011 when the fake medicine was “released” on internet with a captivate pocket-size packaging and videos of successful trial stunts outside disco clubs. Rednoze was communicated as “killer product” to fool breathalyzers and to keep the inebriation. Italian media and thousands consumers quickly express outrage or enthusiastic reviews about Rednoze as a big loved and hated product. The reveal message “Don’t cut corners. Let your mind drive you” was showed at the end of the online order form.

Some media [Italian]:

Leggo

Wired.it

Autoblog.it

Al Volante

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Colbert Super PAC Releases Romney Attack Ad In South Carolina
January 15, 2012
Huffington Post

A fake run for president is nothing without fake attack ads, and “Definitely Not Coordinating With Stephen Colbert Super PAC” is wasting no time in getting its hysterical message out to South Carolinians [voiced by John Lithgow].

In a press release announcing the ad, Jon Stewart spoke about his new role as head of the Super PAC:

Hi again, it’s me, Jon. When I took over this Super PAC, I had no idea there’d be so much email-writing. Also, there are a lot of plants around Super PAC office with extremely specific watering schedules. Seriously, does a Northwood Spotted Fern really need to be watered “thrice fortnightly at dusk”?

Anyway, The Definitely Not Coordinated With Stephen Colbert Super PAC made an ad, and I figured you’d want to know. I’ve attached the press release below, so hopefully your mouse’s scroll-wheel isn’t broken.

The spot takes Romney’s claim that corporations are people, along with his history of buying companies and breaking them apart, to its comedically logical conclusion: Mitt Romney is a serial killer.

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Stephen Colbert readies for presidential run
by Kim Geiger
LA Times
January 13, 2012

After hinting that he might jump into the South Carolina presidential primary race, satirist Stephen Colbert on Thursday moved one step closer to becoming a presidential candidate, declaring the formation of an “exploratory committee” and turning over his super-PAC to fellow Comedy Central host Jon Stewart.

The move is largely symbolic – Colbert missed the Nov. 1 deadline to join the GOP primary ballot and has not qualified for the ballot in any other states. It’s unclear how he plans to win votes in South Carolina, where write-in votes “are not allowed in political party primaries or for president and vice-president,” according to the South Carolina State Election Commission.

But it allows Colbert to press forward with what has become a running skit mocking federal campaign laws.

(more…)

Submitted by Roger:

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Mister Wrong
by Carl Swanson
NY Magazine
October 23, 2011:

After he’s done dangling his oeuvre from the Guggenheim’s atrium, Maurizio Cattelan plans to retire from the art world. It’ll be like being dead—or resurrected.

Maurizio Cattelan’s first show in New York, in 1994, consisted of a self-­portrait in the form of a live donkey wandering around a gallery under a chandelier, braying inconsolably. That show wasn’t up long—there were noise complaints—but even now, when his always-wry sculptures sell for millions and his unbelievably elaborate full-rotunda Guggenheim retrospective is about to open, he retains that same posture of self-­suspicion. “Today I would say I don’t know how I arrived at this point,” he says, sitting on a bench near a playground on West 28th Street, not far from the West Chelsea galleries, cocking a knowing eyebrow at a sudden whiff of marijuana in the air.* “I don’t know how I arrived at this point, at the Guggenheim. There must be something wrong somewhere.”

Article continues after this announcement:

The Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum presents Maurizio Cattelan The Last Word Seven-Hour Finale
Saturday, January 21, 6 pm, to Sunday, January 22, 1 am
in the Peter B. Lewis Theatre
Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum
5th Ave at 89th St
New York City
guggenheim.org/publicprograms

Continue… (more…)