As much as we love Burning Man and the creativity on display there, we also have to admire this piece of now-viral satire from the folks at Cultivated Wit.

Unlike most anti-Burner temper tantrums, it doesn’t stick to low-hanging fruit-–it also pokes pointed fun at crowdfunding, techno-libertarian utopianism, and economic tensions in the Bay Area.

Brian Janosch, the Creative Director of Cultivated Wit and the star of the spoof video told us that, despite the rash of media coverage the Burning Man Wall has received, this is the first time he’s been asked for an interview about it.

What is Cultivated Wit and what does it do?

Well, one thing we are not is a comedy troupe. 😉 We’re a small company created by three of us who all left The Onion around the same time. The biggest thing we do is produce Comedy Hack Day, an event series that brings together comedians and developers to build hilarious and insane tech products. The best creations from every event get showcased in a comedy show that concludes each event weekend. Our about page is a little outdated and needs refreshing, but it has some more.

Why is Burning Man such a fat target?

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From Marc Schiller: I hope you will join our Kickstarter campaign to help fund our new documentary, Deep Web: The Untold Story of Bitcoin and Silk Road. This is not just a tech movie, but an examination of a significant moment in cultural history that will shape our future. Here’s an article from Mashable.com about it:

Deep Web Film Will Go Inside the World of Bitcoin, Silk Road and Beyond
by Fran Berkman
Mashable.com
November 20, 2013

There’s a shadowy corner of the Internet where real names give way to aliases, and “.com” is conspicuously scarce. In this space, privacy and anonymity are dogma, and government-imposed laws draw scoffs more than reverence.

The “deep web,” as it’s known, is where users ranging from do-gooders to cybercriminals employ cutting-edge technology to mask their identities and interact with others around the globe. As you might expect, not many camera crews are allowed meaningful inside access to this world. Despite these challenges, director and producer Alex Winter said he is shooting interviews for a feature-length documentary he plans to call Deep Web: The Untold Story of Bitcoin and Silk Road.

“The film is about linking all of these people who exist unseen on the web, who are connected technologically and philosophically The film is about linking all of these people who exist unseen on the web, who are connected technologically and philosophically,” Winter told Mashable. “The movie is about, essentially, the cultural implications of having a massive global community online that’s doing good things, bad things and things in between, that’s out of reach of the law and is not public.”

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From Emanuele:

Second City Network presents: How to help Obama kickstart WWIII

‘How Do I Land’ Skywriting Prank Brought To You By Kurt Braunohler
By Anna Almendrala
The Huffington Post
May 15, 2013

It’s probably something a pilot should ask long before getting into the cockpit. But one professional skywriter traced the cheeky message above downtown Los Angeles on March 23 as part of an elaborate prank by comedian Kurt Braunohler.

Photo by Robyn Von Swank

If you blinked, you missed it — Braunohler wrote in a Tumblr post that the message lasted only about 20 minutes before disappearing. But the prank got a second wind on Monday when a photo of the message, taken by Robyn Von Swank, was uploaded to Reddit’s image hosting site Imgur. (more…)

SILENCED Kickstarter campaign: Only 6 days to go and the producers are within $2,000 of their goal to raise funding for post-production.

Telling the truth becomes a dangerous act when four federal whistleblowers reveal the darkest corners of America’s war on terror.

SILENCED is new documentary now in production from Academy Award nominated director James Spione.

Trailer:

The War on Whistleblowers

SILENCED follows a group of high-profile truthtellers who dared to question official national security policy in post 9-11 America, and have endured harsh consequences. (more…)