…Exploring the role of the prankster as artist, activist and social observer and the significance of the prank in society.
From The Yes Men, April 19, 2010:
Dow Throws a Dismal Party, Few Attend
On Sunday April 18th, 2010, Dow Chemical sponsored the “Dow Run For Water” in cities around the globe. The event was shut down in London and Stockholm due to protests, but not in New York, where protesters were faced by an army of Yes Men posing as Dow Chemical public relations spokespeople.
Ads in New York Show State Animals Trying to Resign
1010WINS
March 10, 2010
Albany, N.Y. (AP/ 1010 WINS) — A coalition of environmental groups has a new ad campaign urging lawmakers to restore money to the state’s Environmental Protection Fund.
The ad features the state’s “official” animals — bluebird, snapping turtle, beaver and brook trout — submitting their resignations.
Click here to learn more about the campaign
It’s sponsored by a broad coalition of groups including the Adirondack Council, Audubon New York, Environmental Advocates, Scenic Hudson and others.
The Environmental Protection Fund was established in 1993 to provide a reliable source of money for projects such as landfill closure, recycling facilities, and open space protection.
Citing an $8 billion looming budget deficit, Governor Paterson proposes cutting the Environmental Protection fund by about one-third to $143 million.
Submitted by W.J. Elvin III as seen on Posterchild’s Blade Diary and Jason Epping’s flickr page:
For several years, a leaky pipe on 33rd Street beneath the Hell Gate Bridge viaduct approach has submerged more than a hundred square feet of heavily-trafficked sidewalk under a festering cesspool of standing water. Astoria Scum River, as it’s called, stretches the entire width of the sidewalk, and as winter approaches, the river ices over and becomes particularly hazardous to cross.
Astoria Scum River Bridge was constructed to offer Astorians an opportunity to safetly cross this hazard. The unauthorized bridge is a gift to the pedestrians of Astoria in the absence of successful municipal efforts to ameliorate the problem.
Continue reading “The Short Life of the Astoria Scum River Bridge”
Too Cold for Nude Protest, NY Bikers Switch Gears
1010WINS
December 19, 2009
New York (AP) — Bicyclists who planned to go topless to protest the removal of a Brooklyn bike lane have switched gears. Some pinned plastic breasts over their jackets as they rolled into a snowstorm.
Dozens of protestors biked through an Orthodox Jewish neighborhood of the Williamsburg section on Saturday.
Bike messenger Heather Loop organized the event. She says the lane was removed because the neighborhood’s Hasidic Jews “can’t handle scantily clad women.”
Some Hasids say the issue is not showing leg, but safety for children being dropped off by school buses.
The protestors had said it would ride through the streets without their tops, but wintry weather forced them to stay dressed.
The bikers’ plastic tactics did not amuse faithful Hasids leaving synagogue services with their families on the Sabbath.
photo: BackPorchShots
Nude on ice
New York Post, Page Six
November 23, 2009
There will be no sequined costume for champion figure skater Tai Babilonia tomorrow — in fact, there will be no costume at all. As part of PETA’s iconic “Rather Go Naked Than Wear Fur” campaign, the two-time Olympian will skate on the ice rink at Rockefeller Center wearing just a tiny flesh-colored thong, and carrying a sign across her chest. The champion skater is stripping off to encourage shoppers to cross fur off their Black Friday shopping lists.