RYNSA: WORDS

They’re at it again, god bless ‘em! Those rascally Yes Men, masters of the fine art that is ‘culture jamming’, have hoaxed the American media. This time their ruse involved printing and distributing a fake version of the New York Times, predated to July 4th of next year, and chock-full of unlikely, progressive ‘if only’ scenarios otherwise uncommon to corporate news outlets. The headline of this imposture edition, for example, simply reads, “Iraq War Ends,” a short three-word sentence that seems to sum up the hopes and dreams of many concerned citizens around the country (maybe the world?) in the post-election, Obama era of American politics.

(See Rocketboom, Boing Boing, The Huffington Post, or the NY Times online Arts section for more details and imagery.)

I am particularly fond of the fictitious editorial, presumably written by NYT columnist Thomas Friedman, brilliantly titled “The End of the Experts?”  In it the phony Friedman declares, “I will keep my opinions to myself.”  He goes on to aks:

“…why are newspapers like the New York Times letting people like me make fools of themselves, mislead the American people, and, worst of all, give their wives a lifetime of ammunition? To err is human, but to print, reprint, and re-reprint error-mad humans like me is a criminally moronic editorial policy.”

Here, here, faux Thomas Friedman!  For once, I couldn’t agree with you more.  Let’s hope the publishers of the fake New York Times can inspire the publishers of the real New York Times to get real for a change.

Last month (I’m obviously behind the times here), the BBC reported on the opening of a memorial for slain journalists. The all glass, cone-shaped sculpture currently sits atop the BBC Broadcasting House in London, and includes a beam of white light that will be illuminated every evening at 10pm. The memorial, entitled simply Breathing, is a creation of Spanish artist Jaume Plensa, and is intended to honor journalists as well as their support colleagues (drivers, translators, etc.).

This is somewhat similar to the Freedom Forum’s journalists memorial at the brand new ‘Newseum’ in Washington, DC, which opened in April of this year. Unlike the BBC, however, the Newseum’s version (I can’t say that name with a straight face, by the way), is focused more on the sacrifices and contributions of American journalists.

I hope someday to see both of these memorials. Until then, a tip of the proverbial 40 oz. for our fallen reporters.

From the so-called ‘Steampunk‘ Department (with apologies to Gizmodo), check out this very simple, but effective, interactive art exhibit, which features an ‘underground’ telescope linking London and New York City. Passersby on both sides of the Atlantic ocean can apparently see each other in real-time. More info at Engadget, and again at CNN or CoolHunting.

The creator of the project is a British artist named Paul St. George, who refers to his telescope as a ‘Telectroscope’, referring to the electronic aspects of the piece. The thing even has a blog, on which web followers can track Mr. St. George’s movements underground (via Google Maps and beneath the ocean, in fact) as he builds his epic observational machine. The myth is taking on storybook-like aesthetics.

Whatever you call it or however you describe it, I think this ‘telectroscope’ is very, very cool. It’s kind of a magical artifact, really, and I regret that I wont be in either New York or London to go check it out.