Rose Fox - The Art of the Prank

June 29, 2008January 15, 2019

Man Arrested for Having Sex with Table

From Rose Fox:

Typical slanted news story; no mention of whether the table was over 18 or had given its consent.

Police: Man Had Sex With Picnic Table
NBC10.com
March 28, 2008

Anonymous Tip Led Police To Arrest

Bellevue, Ohio — Police said an Ohio man has been arrested for allegedly having sex with a picnic table.

Police arrested Arthur Price Jr. after an anonymous tipster dropped off three DVDs that reportedly showed Price in the act.

According to NBC Toledo, Ohio, affiliate WNWO-TV, the videos show Price tilting the metal round picnic table on its side and then laying up against it to have sexual intercourse with the table. Afterward, he can then be seen cleaning the table and the deck.

During questioning, he reportedly admitted to having sex with the table. Police said he also admitted to bringing the table inside his home for sex.

Price faces four counts of public indecency. He was freed after posting $20,000 bond, authorities said.

April 19, 2008January 15, 2019

Abortion Art Project: Who’s Hoaxing Whom?

Submitted by Rose Foster:

Yale student claims to make art from her induced miscarriages–but it’s a hoax [Editor’s note: see updates at the end in which she claims it is not a hoax]

Aliza Shvarts ‘Abortion Art’ Project a ‘Creative Fiction,’ Yale Says
by David Emery
About.com: Urban Legends
April 17, 2008

Yale art student Aliza Shvarts delivered a one-two punch to the media on Thursday, beginning with the announcement of her senior project: an exhibition chronicling a nine-month period during which she impregnated herself “as often as possible” with semen from voluntary donors then videotaped herself inducing miscarriages and preserving the bloody byproducts thereof. “I hope it inspires some sort of discourse,” Shvarts was quoted as saying in the Yale Daily News. She got her wish in spades. The announcement sent shock waves through the blogosphere, eliciting disgust and outrage from every quarter, expressed via headlines on the order of “The Art of Murder” and “Aliza Shvarts Is a Monster.”

Hours later came an announcement from the Yale University Office of Public Affairs stating that the art project was just that — art. “The entire project is … a creative fiction designed to draw attention to the ambiguity surrounding form and function of a woman’s body,” read the statement by Yale spokesperson Helaine Klasky. “She stated to three senior Yale University officials today, including two deans, that she did not impregnate herself and that she did not induce any miscarriages.” Continue reading “Abortion Art Project: Who’s Hoaxing Whom?”

March 28, 2008January 15, 2019

Wombat Love Story Untrue

Submitted by Rose Fox:

Man said ‘wombat rape’ led to accent change
by Nick Squires
Telegraph
March 28, 2008

A New Zealand man who claimed he was raped by a wombat and that the experience left him speaking with an Australian accent has been found guilty of wasting police time.

Arthur Cradock, 48, from the South Island town of Motueka, called police last month to tell them he was being raped by the marsupial at his home and needed urgent assistance.

Cradock, an orchard worker, later called back to reassure the police operator that he was all right.

“I”™ll retract the rape complaint from the wombat, because he”™s pulled out. Apart from speaking Australian now, I”™m pretty all right you know. I didn”™t hurt my bum at all.”

He pleaded guilty in Nelson District Court to using a phone for a fictitious purpose and was sentenced to 75 hours”™ community work. Continue reading “Wombat Love Story Untrue”

March 22, 2008January 15, 2019

Anonymous Attacks

Submitted by Rose Fox:

The Guardian explains the internet phenomenon of “rick-rolling”. Don’t miss the exclusive interview with Rick Astley where he tells them just what he thinks of the whole thing.

Taking the Rick
by Sean Michaels
guardian.co.uk
March 19, 2008

Twenty years after “Never Gonna Give You Up”, Rick Astley became an internet phenomenon – and an unlikely weapon against Scientology

It was more than twenty years ago that Rick Astley’s Never Gonna Give You Up first topped the charts. “Never gonna say goodbye,” he crooned in his surprisingly basso voice – and who knew how right he was.

Today we’re in a different century, a different millennium, a very different era than the one that first offered up twerpy, earnest, high-waistbanded Astley. But his song, and its video in particular, have found new life in the time of YouTube. Never Gonna Give You Up is at the centre of one of the internet’s hottest memes – and if you haven’t already fallen victim, it’s only a matter of time.

Watch the video:

It’s called the “rick-roll”. You’re innocently browsing an apparently useful website and see a link to something else that might be of interest, but when you click through to that destination you instead find yourself confronted with Astley’s boyish smile, his manly croon, his awkward 1987 dance-moves.

The link was a fake, a trap, a dummy with the nefarious purpose of… bringing you face-to-face with the ridiculous. Continue reading “Anonymous Attacks”