April April 2013: William Shatner in Star Wars, Gmail Blue and Twttr
Hier sammle ich wieder Pranks und Aprilscherze 2013 aus Blogs und Webseiten, so wie jedes Jahr: 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010 und 2011 (12 war ich unterwegs). Tipps und Links bitte in die Comments, ich werde das Posting heute ständig aktualisieren und editieren, Highlights hau ich nochmal per Twitter und Facebook raus, ich sortiere das später dann noch in irgendeiner Form (Google, Blogs, News, etc)…
[update] Reuters: April Fool crushed by hi-tech marketing.. The April Fool is dead.
Oben Youtubes Contest und 2023-Relaunch-Ankündigung, mehr dazu und jede Menge Quatsch von Shatner bis Twttr nach dem Klick: Gib mir den Rest, Baby…
The bioengineered Stingray-Sneaker Hoax
Die Sache mit den Sneakern aus dem Leder von genetisch modifizierten Rochen hat sich aufgeklärt, der Hoax kam von Next Nature, einer Bande niederländischer Futuristen, die sich vor allem mit Konsum in der Zukunft beschäftigen (siehe auch ihr Nano Supermarket). Well played!
Rayfish Footwear is a fictional company that offered personalized sneakers crafted from genetically modified stingray leather. The launch of the company website http://www.rayfish.com catalyzed a debate on emerging biotechnologies and the products it may bring us. It also questioned our consumptive relationship with animals and products in general.
While such discussions often remain abstract, we aimed to make them tangible in a concrete product you can love or hate.
The Rise and Fall or Rayfish Footwear
Vorher auf Nerdcore:
Genetically Engineered Sneakers from Stingray Leather
Activists „liberate“ genetically modified Sneaker-Stingrays into the sea
Shell really really wants you to see this Video
Shell wurde heute Opfer eines Hoaxes einer Truppe, die eine Fake-Party fingierten und dort einen „Bohrturm-Kuchen-Unfall“ zeigten. Das Video ging schnell rum, wurde aber von Gawker ebenso schnell als Hoax entpuppt. Soweit, so uninteressant. Jetzt legt sich allerdings nochmal Shells PR-Abteilung ins Zeug und will sicher gehen, dass auch wirklich alle Leute dieses Video sehen.
Lawyers operating on behalf of Royal Dutch Shell plc. (Shell) are considering formal action against unknown activists who staged a counterfeit campaign launch event at the Seattle Space Needle.
The groups released a stream of social media content, with the defamatory hashtag #shellfail, which deliberately misrepresents the safety of Shell’s drill rigs heading to the Arctic, and extensively violated Shell’s intellectual property rights.
Shell is monitoring the spread of potentially defamatory material on the internet and reporters are advised to avoid publishing such material. [Hervorhebung von mir]
Shell sends legal intimidation to journalists who might report on #shellfail hoax video
Iraqi Terrorism-Punk’d
(Brightcove Direktterrorism, via Dangerous Minds)
Im Irak läuft eine Fernsehshow, nicht unähnlich unserem „Verstehen sie Spaß?“ oder eben MTVs „Punk’d“. Nur verarschen die die Leute mit Terrorismus und Fake-Bombs. Das ganze ist natürlich so dermaßen wrong, dass es rauscht. Und ich würde mir das auf jeden Fall ansehen. Sick, sick world.
An Iraqi reality television program broadcast during Ramadan has been planting fake bombs in celebrities’ cars, having an Iraqi army checkpoint find them and terrifying the celebrities into thinking that they are headed for maximum security prison.
The show “Put Him in [Camp] Bucca” has drawn numerous protests but has stayed on air throughout the fasting month, broadcasting its “stings” on well-known Iraqi personalities.
The Story of the Time Traveller-Advertising-Hoax
Ihr kennt die Anzeige. Garantiert jeder einzelne von Euch hat die schonmal gesehen: „Wanted: Somebody to go back in time with me. This is not a joke.“ Diese Anzeige macht alle halbe Jahre ihre Runde und das seit Jahren, ist eine Legende unter den Internet-Funnies.
Jetzt hat der Schreiber der Anzeige, John Silveira, die Geschichte dahinter erzählt. Die ursprüngliche Adresse in der Anzeige ist echt und sie erschien als Füller in einer Ausgabe vom Backwoods Home Magazine 1997. Der Mann bekommt bis heute Post von angehenden Zeitreisenden. Sehr viel Post.
Over the years, I’ve gotten responses from every state and every continent, including Antarctica.
What have the people who’ve responded wanted? Most seemed to have believed the ad. Several hundred, while admitting maybe it was a hoax, hoped it wasn’t and wanted to go back in time for the sheer adventure. Though pay was offered, many of those said they’d do it for nothing. (Hell, I would, too.)
Some letters came from guys who gave me a list of some pretty sophisticated weapons they could bring along with their credentials: black belts in martial arts, explosives expertise, language skills, etc., along with assurances they can pretty much take care of themselves. I believe ‘em.
But many letters came from people who wanted me to correct a past tragedy. Dozens, in prison, asked me to go back in time and talk them out of committing the crime that put them away. Others (and not a few) were from people who begged me to go back and save a loved one from a tragic death. Those letters were so heartbreaking I almost couldn’t read them and I felt a certain amount of shame for not anticipating the false hope I placed in so many hearts.
On the other hand, I also got letters from people who, despite postal regulations, threatened me with either bodily harm or death if the ad turned out to be a joke or a scam. I guess it all balances out.
Neil Armstrong: I wasn’t on the fucking moon
Neil Armstrong hat in einer Pressekonferenz bekanntgegeben, dass die Verschwörungstheoretiker Recht haben, die ganze Mondlandung ein Fake war und er keinen einzigen Fuß auf den Erdtrabenten gesetzt hat. Jesus H. Christ in an Onion chickenbasket!
LEBANON, OHIO—Apollo 11 mission commander and famed astronaut Neil Armstrong shocked reporters at a press conference Monday, announcing he had been convinced that his historic first step on the moon was part of an elaborate hoax orchestrated by the United States government.
According to Armstrong, he was forced to reconsider every single detail of the monumental journey after watching a few persuasive YouTube videos, and reading several blog posts on conspiracy theorist Ralph Coleman’s website, OmissionControl.org.
“It only took a few hastily written paragraphs published by this passionate denier of mankind’s so-called ‘greatest technological achievement’ for me to realize I had been living a lie, ” said a visibly emotional Armstrong, addressing reporters at his home. “It has become painfully clear to me that on July 20, 1969, the Lunar Module under the control of my crew did not in fact travel 250,000 miles over eight days, touch down on the moon, and perform various experiments, ushering in a new era for humanity. Instead, the entire thing was filmed on a soundstage, most likely in New Mexico.”
Conspiracy Theorist Convinces Neil Armstrong Moon Landing Was Faked
Radical Jesters – A Film with 11 pranksters, provocateurs, culture jammers, and Situationists
(Youtube Direktprankster, via Wooster)
„Radical Jesters – A Film with 11 pranksters, provocateurs, culture jammers, and Situationists“ ist eine Doku von Tim Jackson, in dem in Interviews 11 Culture Jammer und Prankster zur Sprache kommen, die erklären, wie sie öffentlichen Raum benutzen, um subversive Botschaften zu verbreiten (oder auch einfach Unsinn zu machen). Einige von ihnen hatte ich schon hier auf Nerdcore, zum Beispiel Improv Everywhere, Alan Abel oder Ron English und das beste: Der Film kann komplett auf der Website zur Doku angesehen werden.
Introduction
Performers, Provocateurs, Pranksters, Philosophers, Interventionists, Reality Hackers – why we need them as a foil to the media spectacleHoaxers
Improv Everywhere, Alan Abel, and Charlie Todd practice the fine art of the media hoax and the urban prankCulture Jamming
The Guerrilla Girls and Dyke Action Machine use Graphic media to insinuate themselves into public spaceThe Situationists
Re-appropriating media and reclaiming public space in the work of the Billboard Liberation Front, The Surveillance Camera Players, and the Institute for Infinitely Small ThingsPerformance
The practice of agit-prop theater and performance art are found in the work of The Living Theater, Bread and Puppet, and Czech performance artist Milan Kahout
Kim Jong Il bringt den Mond nach Nord Korea
(Youtube Direktmoon, via BBGadgets)
Aaah, The Onion: In diesem Video verkündet Nord Korea, man werde den Mond mit fünf Raketen auf die Erde schleppen und dort mal richtig untersuchen.
Doku: Abel raises Cain – Die Geschichte eines Pro-Hoaxers
(Youtube Direkthoaxer, via Wooster)
Mein Vater war Ausbilder in der Kupferschmiedewerkstadt einer großen Chemie-Firma. Väter von Freunden sind Architekten, Beamte auf dem Arbeitsamt oder Restaurant-Besitzer. Über die kann man Filme drehen, die werden aber wahrscheinlich nicht so interessant, wie Jenny Abels Dokumentation „Abel raises Cain“ über ihren Vater Alan, einen laut seiner Website „professional Hoaxer“. Das reisst mich zwar nicht ganz so sehr vom Hocker, wie Eels Doku über seinen Quantenforschervater, ist aber immer noch wundervoll genug.
ABEL RAISES CAIN is an unprecedented glimpse into the life and bizarre career of infamous underground media prankster, Alan Abel. Over the past half-century, Abel has made a name for himself several times over with stunts that are just ridiculous enough to be believable, especially to a media that feeds on salacious, far-fetched stories. Alan’s daughter, Jenny, tells her firsthand account of what it was like growing up with this lovable but slightly demented prankster for a father. ABEL RAISES CAIN takes the audience on a roller coaster ride through the myriad of elaborate hoaxes and schemes that Abel pulled off over the years, all of which were designed to provoke and amuse…while at the same time, make people question everything that they see, hear and read.
Abel raises Cain komplett auf Joost
Film-Website „Abel raises Cain“
Homegrown Spaghetti
Das hier ist ein Aprilscherz der BBC von 1957, darin erntet eine Familie aus der Schweiz „homegrown Spaghetti“ von ihren Spaghetti-Bäumen. Nach Ausstrahlung der Sendung riefen hunderte Leute beim Sender an, um zu fragen, wie man selbst wunderbare Spaghetti-Bäume pflanzen könnte und ehrlich: ich wüsste das auch gerne. Alleine der Term „Homegrown Spaghetti“ ist schon so dermaßen fantastisch, I want one!
The Great Moon Hoax
During the final week of August 1835, a long article appeared in serial form on the front page of the New York Sun. It bore the headline:
GREAT ASTRONOMICAL DISCOVERIES LATELY MADE BY SIR JOHN HERSCHEL, L.L.D. F.R.S. &c. At the Cape of Good Hope
The article began by triumphantly listing a series of stunning astronomical breakthroughs that the famous British astronomer, Sir John Herschel, had apparently made “by means of a telescope of vast dimensions and an entirely new principle.” Herschel, the article declared, had established a “new theory of cometary phenomena”; he had discovered planets in other solar systems; and he had “solved or corrected nearly every leading problem of mathematical astronomy.” Then, almost as if it were an afterthought, the article revealed Herschel’s final, stunning achievement: he had discovered life on the moon!
