Fact or Fiction? - The Art of the Prank

November 25, 2025December 12, 2025

Santa Claus is coming to town!

You better watch out…

“‘Most hated event on the planet’: New movie shows the rise of San Francisco’s SantaCon,” by Dan Gentile, SFGATE, October 31, 2025.

The trailer just dropped for ‘SANTACON,’ which premieres at the DOC NYC film festival on Nov. 13.

There are few San Francisco events as divisive as SantaCon. The yearly, debauchery-filled bar crawl features hundreds, if not thousands, of costumed Santas rampaging through cities across the country, leaving a trail of inebriated chaos in their wake. But it wasn’t always this way.

A new film is set to premiere on Nov. 13 at the DOC NYC film festival and is simply titled “SANTACON,” directed by Seth Porges, whose previous work includes “Class Action Park” and “How to Rob A Bank.” The first trailer, released on Friday, begins with footage of violent Santas and also shows Jimmy Fallon mentioning the New York Police Department’s understanding of the event as “the nightmare before Christmas.” Local news anchors declare that locals want the event to be canceled, and text appears on the screen proclaiming SantaCon the “most hated event on the planet.” Read the whole article here.

November 12, 2025

The Bush is Trying to Make a Comeback

Comes with dental floss in matching colors.

“Follicular Follies,” by Flora Gill, AirMail, November 1, 2025.

The Bush Is Back, Baby! But there’s a catch. Welcome to the wild world of “merkins”.

Before women leave the house for a night out, there’s a routine we all follow. We check that our makeup isn’t smudged. We add a dash of perfume to the nape of our necks. And … we carefully comb out the faux pubes on our underwear. No? Is that last bit not part of your evening checklist at present? Well, it might be, if Kim Kardashian gets her way.

Following her release of the viral “nipple bra” a few years ago, the reality-TV star turned business mogul has brought out yet another Internet-breaking item through her $4 billion intimates company, Skims. This time, it’s a “merkin.” Read the whole article here.

November 12, 2025

Rooting Out an Underground Legend

But they still bite…

“Researchers trace the ancient origins of an urban mosquito species,” by Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute, News-Medical.Net, October 23, 2025.

New research has uncovered the ancient origins of an urban mosquito species, Culex pipiens form molestus, also known as the ‘London Underground mosquito’ – disproving a long-held theory of when it first evolved.

Published today (23 October) in Science, researchers from Princeton University, the Wellcome Sanger Institute, the Natural History Museum in London and their collaborators extracted and analyzed hundreds of mosquito DNA samples to trace the emergence of the urban insect species.

The result of the study revises one of the ‘textbook examples’ of urban evolution and adaptation, and it carries important public health implications regarding the spread of diseases. Read the whole article here.

November 12, 2025February 16, 2026

The New Art Critic – Conform or Go Away

The upcoming scrotum exhibition will probably be cancelled as well.

“School Nixes Exhibition Criticized by Turning Point USA,” by Isa Farfan, Hyperallergic, October 16, 2025.

The Fletcher Exhibit of political art was hosted at East Tennessee State University for 11 years until it came under attack from right-wing figures.

A long-running art exhibition of political artwork at East Tennessee State University (ETSU) was not invited to return to the school this year after a wave of right-wing backlash, including from a Tennessee chapter of Turning Point USA.

The Fletcher Exhibit of Social and Politically Engaged Art, held annually at ETSU’s Reece Museum since 2013, came under intense scrutiny from conservatives during and after the November 2024 presidential election. The show has been organized by the family of Fletcher Dyer, who was an art student at ETSU when he died in a tragic accident in 2009, for over a decade.

Read the whole article here.