…Exploring the role of the prankster as artist, activist and social observer and the significance of the prank in society.
Where: 280 W. 46th Broadway & 8th
Morning, June 4. Escape June 5, 2007
Illusionist and escape artist Criss Angel will be manacled in a 4 x 4 x 4 glass box and suspended 40 feet in the air above Time Square Monday, June 4, 2007. He has 24 hours to escape from the box while it is slowly filled with concrete. If he is unsuccessful, the cube will drop to the ground.
Criss’ new season on the A&E Network premieres Tuesday. Could there be a connection?
Controversial Kidney Show Is A Hoax
Sky News
June 1, 2007
A controversial Dutch reality TV show featuring a contest to win a kidney was a hoax, producers Endemol have admitted.
The Big Donor Show was supposed to have featured a terminally-ill woman choosing a recipient for her kidneys.
However, at the last minute the programme’s producers, who also make Big Brother, revealed on air that the woman starring on the reality show was a healthy actress.
But the contestants trying to win the kidneys are genuine and are still in need of organs.
All knew the programme was a hoax before they agreed to participate.
Programme makers Endemol said their show was intended to focus on the shortage of donor organs in the Netherlands. Read the whole Sky News story here.
Read about the initial outrage on media.guardian.co.uk and iol.com
It’s that time of year, when the competition is fierce to see, as the New York Times calls it, “the World Series of competitive frog jumping”: the Calaveras County Fair and Jumping Frog Jubilee.
Based on the famous Mark Twain short story, The Notorious Jumping Frog of Calaveras County
Photo: Jim Wilson, NY Times
Illustration: Twain Quotes
Mural of the side wall of the Englewood, Colorado Headed West smoke shop put there to deter taggers.
From FOX 31: “Some say it”s art, some say it”s promoting drug use. A mural on the side of an Englewood building is creating controversy… on South Broadway.” Video here.
More on this story from: News2 KWGN and The Denver Channel
From Futility Closet: The Great Crush Collision
Apparently bored in 1896, Texas railroad agent William G. Crush decided to make his own fun. He got two train engines, painted one green and one red, and set them at opposite ends of a two-mile track. Then he sent them toward each other at 45 mph:
Viewed strictly as a publicity stunt, it was a great success: Crush’s advertising had attracted more than 30,000 spectators. Unfortunately, falling debris killed two of them. Moral: Stick to pinochle.
