Author: Andrew Boyd

Andrew Boyd is an author, humorist, and a 20-year veteran of creative campaigns for social change. As "Phil T. Rich," he was Schmoozer-In-Chief of the 2004 media sensation "Billionaires for Bush." He has written a few books, including two books of "serious" humor published by W. W. Norton: "Daily Afflictions" and "Life's Little Deconstruction Book." He's at work on two others: "Wherever You Go, They're Already There," about the ironies of adventure travel when there's no elsewhere anymore; and "Enlightned Machismo," about the odd challenges men face in a "post-feminist" world. His writing has appeared in The Nation, The Village Voice, Salon.com, and elsewhere. For part of his bread and butter he does trainings and speaking engagments at campuses and conferences across the country. For another part, he's a founding partner in Ruckus Productions, a "subvertising" agency specializing in cutting edge New Media support for environmental & social justice campaigns. Last year he co-produced "The Oil Enforcement Agency," a mini-mockumentary on global warming (think Inconvenient Truth meets Spinal Tap). He lives in Brooklyn with his wee laptop.
Posted on

Billionaire Activism

Submitted by Andrew Boyd:

We lowly activists have done shit like this before, but this is the second richest person in the world and geek-in-chief doing it…

Bill Gates releases swarm of mosquitoes on TED audience
by Georgina Robinson
theage.com.au
February 5, 2009

Microsoft chairman Bill Gates has released a swarm of mosquitoes into an audience at a technology and design conference in California.

Bill Gates Releases Mosquitos at TED Conference

High profile members of online networking service Twitter reported the incident on Wednesday (US time), which reportedly occurred during Gates’s talk on malaria eradication, a cause the entrepreneur is pushing through his philanthropic foundation.

“Bill Gates just released mosquitos into the audience at TED and said ‘Not only poor people should experience this’,” Facebook manager Dave Morin wrote on Twitter. Continue reading “Billionaire Activism”

Related posts:

  1. Projecting Solidarity for Hong Kong Protestors
  2. Toilet Etiquette 101
  3. ALS Ice Bucket Challenge: Best Fails So Far
  4. 29th Annual New York April Fools’ Day Parade
Posted on

Sarah Palin Gets Pranked by The Mask Avengers

Submitted by Andrew Boyd:

A Canadian comedy duo called The Masked Avengers from CKOI 96.9 FM in Montreal, Quebec pranked Sarah Palin, convincing her (and her team) they were receiving a call from French President Nicolas Sarkozy.

Related Articles:

  • Palin takes prank call from fake French president, AP, November 2, 2008
  • Comedy duo prank-call Palin, by Jessica Murphy, The Canadian Press, November 1, 2008

    • Related posts:

    1. Gone Phishing at the White House
    2. A Chat With Bob Schriner, the Prankster Behind the Wendy’s Deep-Fryer Call
    3. Get Off My Phone: A Toast to Scharpling and Wurster
    4. Fonejacker
    Posted on

    Don’t Bomb Iran (Agit-Pop’s latest)

    From Andrew Boyd and John Sellers of Agit-Pop, May 21, 2008:

    Bush & Cheney & McCain & Fox News & the whole neo-con cabal have been rattling their sabers about bombing Iran for nigh on a few years now. Yesterday, the Jerusalem Post confirmed it :

    “US President George W. Bush intends to attack Iran in the upcoming months, before the end of his term,” Army Radio quoted a senior official in Jerusalem as saying Tuesday.

    And now the entire Bush team is denying it in The New York Times. We think they doth protest too much. And so, we’ve launched our latest, ass-kicking mini-video:

    Don’t Bomb Iran

    It’s currently being featured on YouTube Politics. And our partners at True Majority are using it to build rapid support for Senate Resolution 356: “Any offensive military action taken against Iran must be explicitly approved by Congress before such action may be initiated.”

    P.S. A new trans-partisan coaltion – The Campaign for a New American Policy on Iran – is following the lead of Republican Senator Chuck Hagel and others in calling for “immediate, unconditional, and comprehensive talks” with Iran. Many of their member groups will be using our video soon.

    Support them here: http://www.newiranpolicy.org

    Related posts:

    1. Behold Instagram’s Digital Conmen
    2. Fake News Is the New Real News
    3. Giuliani: Fast and Loose with the Facts
    4. Free Voice of America
    Posted on

    Stop the Clash of Civilization

    Submitted by Andrew Boyd and John Sellers:

    Agit-Pop’s video Stop the Clash of Civilizations has won the coveted 2007 Youtube Video Award for the best Political video of the year!!

    As you can imagine, with the ascent of Generation Youtube in this critical election year, we were up against some real electoral heavy weights. But Obama Girl couldn’t lay a glove on us. Neither could that whuss Chuck Norris or his boy Mike Huckabee.

    Related posts:

    1. French Haiti Reparations Hoax Cloaked in Mystery
    2. Guerrilla Marketing: Dante’s Inferno Revisited
    3. Instructions for Billboard Liberation
    4. The Cacophony Society
    Posted on

    Rogue Government Agency Tackles America’s Oil Addiction

    Posted by Andrew Boyd:

    On the first day of the 2007 New York Auto Show, SWAT-team-like uniformed agents from the Oil Enforcement Agency (OEA) surprised visitors and convention center security when they impounded a Toyota Tundra on the showroom floor.

    See Plenty Magazine article and watch a video about the action:

    As they secured the perimeter with “Global Warming Crime Scene” caution tape and announced to a growing throng of onlookers that, at a measly 14 MPGs in the city, the Tundra fell well below the agency’s fuel-efficiency standards, many in attendance wondered whether the government was finally taking the threat of climate change seriously.

    Oil Enforcement Agency

    In fact, the OEA is an elaborate prank just launched by the coalition of environmental groups at FreedomFromOil.com (with some help from me, pictured above). The idea is to heighten pressure on the Big 6 automakers to increase fuel efficiency as well as model of what the government SHOULD be doing to reduce tailpipe emissions.

    OEA “field offices” are starting up around the country, and anyone can join. It’s simple and fun: Choose a code name. Order your hat and uniform. Download the secret training manual. And you’re good to go.

    The new web site at http://www.oilenforcementagency.com has everything you need, including a hilarious video of OEA action hi-jinks.

    View a trailer for the video:

    Related posts:

    1. Homo Velamine Interviews Joey Skaggs “Maestro of the Farce” [Spanish and English]
    2. White House Email Prankster In His Own Words
    3. Trolls are Eating the Internet
    4. Taking the Bot Bait

    Back to top