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  • From: Carrie McLaren <carrie AT stayfreemagazine.org>
  • To: stayfreemagazine AT lists.ibiblio.org
  • Cc: mbenton AT kiva.net
  • Subject: Stay Free! | February 18
  • Date: Tue, 18 Feb 2003 13:32:58 -0500

ILLEGAL ART UPDATE

Ah, winter. Seeing as the snow has confined me to the apt., I thought it'd be a good time to tell you about new additions to the Illegal Art Exhibit website (http://www.illegal-art.org):

* Bill Barminski's "Mickey Gas Mask" (a personal favorite)
* Packard Jennings' "Fallen Rapper Prototypes"
(Pez dispensers of Easy-E, Biggie Smalls, and Tupac)
* Ai Kijima's Spiderman-laced quilt
* Andrew J. Epstein's "Self-Portrait on Prozac"
* Michael Hernandez de Luna's "Viagra" and "Prozac"
(fake postage stamps bearing the trademarked pills)


Mr. de Luna's work, it bears pointing out, violates not only trademark law but postal laws as well -- he has actually used his stamps to send mail. On the website, we wrote about the stamps' ability to fool postal workers. But, apparently, that's not the case. A postal worker who recently visited our website writes:


<<<<< About Michael Hernandez de Luna's postal stamps and how they "fool" postal workers. I am a postal service electronics technician, and service the automated cancelling and sorting machines (gotta make a living). I see hundreds of thousands of letters canceled every night in automated cancelling machines. There are things that one can do to fool this machinery into thinking a real stamp has been placed on the letter. Also, if you are aware, the postal service has a LONG tradition of treating it's workers poorly, so that even if a lot of workers saw fake stamps, they probably wouldn't even mention it to a supervisor. In fact, I'm sure that if some workers saw fake stamps, they would probably be VERY interested in making sure they got cancelled as though they were real stamps, and possibly even showing a few co-workers. There is also the idea that the folks cancelling the letters are pushed so hard to get the mail cancelled as quickly as possible that no one really looks at the stamps. But, I like the fake stamps, and Michael isn't the only one doing them.

thanks,
Mark Benton >>>>>





IN OTHER NEWS


Thanks to those of you who passed on the story about the British company paying college students to display ads on their foreheads:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/Print/0,3858,4600434,00.html

Ads on your head? Sure, why not. What really gets me are these guys who agreed to appear in a new TV ad campaign for Marshall Fields and Kohl's. In a nod to "reality" programming, each commercial features an actual human being proposing marriage to his girlfriend (who, we're to presume, is watching elsewhere). So Jason Stone, for example, stares into the camera and, looking all sensitive and doe-eyed, effuses: "Kelli, I love you with all my heart and all my soul and all my being. I'm ready to start a new life with you, and that's why I'd like to ask you if you will marry me and be my wife." Then the words appear onscreen: "Kohl's Bridal Aisle."

Mr. Stone tells the Wall Street Journal that he was "a little concerned" about how the retailer would use his video lovenote, explaining, "I didn't want it to come off as commercial." Well, I've got news for you, pal: it is not only going to come off as commercial, it *IS* A COMMERCIAL.
From the Wall Street Journal:
http://www.stayfreemagazine.org/public/kohls.html



NEW YORK'S TACKY TAXIS

New Yorkers may have noticed that many taxi cabs are now equipped with advertiser-supported video screens. The one I saw was playing a tourist guide to the city, so those who would rather look at a televised version of NYC than the real thing now have that choice.

If you'd like to let the city know what you think of the in-taxi advertising, here's an official survey:
http://www.nyc.gov/html/tlc/html/taxivideo_survey.html


all for now,
carrie


--
Carrie McLaren
Editor, Stay Free!
718.398.9324
www.stayfreemagazine.org
www.illegal-art.org
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Man, this war stuff is so depressing. All I seem to read about in the business press is how much advertising will be lost. Many corporations plan to keep commercials off the air for the first few days of bombing... after which they will trickle back in as circumstance warrant. What I can never figure out is -- If it's tasteless to run commercials the first week of bombing why isn't it tasteless them the second or third week?

Everyone expects the networks to return to business as usual soon. No one wants to be tacky but, hey, the show must go on. So ABC will broadcast the Academy Awards as planned but the celebrities will be sure to "dress down." Even that small concession has some fans riled. An editorial on the front of Oscarwatch.com reads:

<< It is shameful to deny us (the fans) that only opportunity into the dream factory just because some celebrities feel unease about the situation in Iraq - there is always strife going on somewhere in the Globe and this one is not more important than the others. It is cowardly to deny people enjoyment of that brief moment of fantasy -- which is what the Oscars are about. >>>


I hear echoes of this sentiment from students complaining about cancelled school trips, from sports fans worried about the fate of ball games. If it were up to me, I'd cancel it all: the commercials, the Oscars, the ball games, school outings, the spring break trips -- even if there's no apparent reason to. Traffic in Manhattan is said to be a nightmare now. Good! I say barricade the streets, forbid right turns on red, bring traffic to a standstill!

These petty annoyances are all some of us have to keep from forgetting what our government is doing in Iraq. We need to feel uncomfortable. Every hour, every day.


::::::::


WHAT IS VICTORIA'S SECRET?

I recently had the pleasure of sitting in on a "contagious media" course taught by Jonah Peretti, co-creator of the very fine BlackPeopleLoveUs.com. As part of a class project, some of his students presented this site, which some of you may appreciate: http://www.whatisvictoriassecret.com

If you're looking for photos of scantily clad women loosing control of their bowels, you're in luck! Lots of vomiting, too. This parody probably won't be up for long, so if the link stops working, chalk up another victory for the trademark police. (the bastards!)



::::::::::::


SCHMIO AWARDS IN NEW YORK ON APRIL 10

On Thursday, April 10, New York University shall present the 6th Annual Schmio Awards, wherein critics, comics, and carping eggheads (including yours truly) will present awards for the worst in commercialized culture: in-your-face war-marketing, promotional carpet-bombing, take-no-prisoners corporate propaganda,
and plain old-fashioned jingoism.

Presenters & performers include:

(MC) Mark Crispin Miller
Carrie McLaren of Stay Free! magazine
Gulf War Vet Charles Sheehan-Miles
Chelsea and Jonah Peretti of BlackPeopleLoveUs.com
La Lutta New Media Collective
Radical Cheerleaders from the Children's Media Project
Robin Andersen

and more!

Sakland Auditorium, 7:30 pm
421 First Avenue (at East 24th Street)
Tickets are $5 for students, $10 general admission. Arrive early since it always sells out. For more info: Schmios2003 AT yahoo.com


::::::::::::



In light of the protests going on tomorrow, here are some of my picks:

TOP FIVE SIGNS (SEEN AT THE 2/15 NYC PROTEST)

* How did our oil get under their water?
* Have another pretzel, asshole
* A village in Texas has lost its idiot
* Re-elect Carter [ one of my favorites 'cos it was mine!]
* Another Feitelberg against the War [ my friend Amy Feitelberg ]



happy weekend,
carrie




  • Stay Free! | February 18, Carrie McLaren, 02/18/2003

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