…Exploring the role of the prankster as artist, activist and social observer and the significance of the prank in society.
Submitted by Emerson Dameron:
The pranksters at Chill Hill Media decided to treat one of their own like a celebrity, and mall security unwittingly signed on:
And now Thomas Elliot actually is sort of famous:
The eXile did a more elaborate version of this before:
From a reliable source: A sports talk radio employee, posing as Christopher Walken, fans the flames of a re-opened investigation into the 30 year old death of Natalie Wood. AP picks up the story and then kills it, claiming they were hoaxed.
First the retraction:
AP-US–Natalie Wood-Investigation, KILL,57
^BULLETIN STORY REMOVED: BC-US–Natalie Wood-Investigation
Eds: BULLETIN KILL. Do NOT use BC-US–Natalie Wood-Investigation. A kill is mandatory. The story was based on a purported interview with Christopher Walken that was a radio station hoax.
Los Angeles (AP) — The Associated Press has withdrawn the 12th and 13th Ld-Writethrus of its story about the Natalie Wood investigation. The story quoted Christopher Walken telling Washington, D.C. sports talk radio station ESPN980 about his recollections from the night that Wood died. The station now says that it was a hoax involving a station employee who was impersonating Walken.
(Copyright 2011 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.) APTV 11-18-11 1259PST
and here’s the story that was killed… Continue reading “Christopher Walken Impersonated in Natalie Wood Death Case”
From editor Joey Skaggs: I recommend this piece from The January/February 2010 issue of Tikkun written by Christopher Hedges about the cultural phenomenon of celebrity-ism. Parts are excerpted from his 2009 book, Empire of Illusion: The End of Literacy and the Triumph of Spectacle
Celebrity Culture and the Obama Brand, by Christopher Hedges
Barack Obama is a brand. And the Obama brand is designed to make us feel good about our government while corporate overlords loot the Treasury, armies of corporate lobbyists grease the palms of our elected officials, our corporate media diverts us with gossip and trivia, and our imperial wars expand in the Middle East. Brand Obama is about being happy consumers. We are entertained. We feel hopeful. We like our president. We believe he is like us. But like all branded products spun out from the manipulative world of corporate advertising, this product is duping us into doing and supporting a lot of things that are not in our interest.
What, for all our faith and hope, has the Obama brand given us?
Read the rest of this article here.