Michael Nagle for The New York Times reports on artist Steve Powers’s simulated display of waterboarding:

“Some people look at Coney Island and see a paradise of carefree entertainment. Others see a cesspool of gritty squalor. Few are those who gaze upon its shrieking kids, grizzled wanderers and fast-talking flimflam artists and see an opportunity for engaged political discourse.

In Steve Powers’s ‘Waterboard Thrill Ride’ in Coney Island animatronic figures simulate an interrogation method used in Guantánamo; visitors view the scene through a barred window.”

Link

Controversial political artwork featuring robots? Mandated roadtrip.

“The Crisis of Foster Care” by former Time reporter Timothy Roche is my all-time favorite investigative reporting work. The introduction is brilliant: horrible, heart-wrenching, and then straight to the point. The reporting is thorough and the composition beautiful. It draws you into the issue with case studies but doesn’t hold back data. From the article

“The autopsy photo shows a little boy who looks relieved to be dead. His eyes are closed. A hospital tube protrudes from his broken nose. He has deep cuts above his right ear and dark linear scars on his forehead. The bruises on his back are a succession of yellows, greens and blues. On the bottom of his tiny feet are unhealed third-degree burns. He had been battered and tortured. He had been tied with panty hose and belts to a banister by the woman who had become his foster grandmother. The state of Georgia had taken him away from his mother, then abandoned him in the woman’s care. Little Terrell Peterson had so many injuries that the medical examiner gave up counting them. The child was six years old. He weighed only 29 lbs. The foster-care system is not working in Atlanta.“

The article was noticed, and I remember seeing a string of similar stories in broadcast form following this article. But seven years later, the foster-care systems in most states are still very much in crisis. Unfortunately, disadvantaged children don’t vote. Which is one of the reasons I admired Time and Roche so much for doing this story.

Why hasn’t Time had anything on par with this article lately? General media consolidation? Priority shift caused by…? General print media problems caused by lower readership and subsequent lower ad revenue? I couldn’t tell you, but I am curious. Probably not one thing.

The District, a new Long Beach alternative weekly heavily staffed by ex-OC Weeklyers, premiered this week. The paper was financed by OC Republican attorneys, which, to anyone whose familiar with the writers and editor, might come as a bit of a shock. It did to me.

The paper’s editor-in-chief (and my former boss) Will Swaim quit the OC Weekly ten weeks ago, like many who left, citing “philosophical differences” with New Times (now Village Voice Media) after they became the weekly’s new owner. More on that in the LA Times story.

I have nothing but good things to say about Swaim. He was a great editor and it was a pleasure to work for him. I wish everyone over there the best of luck.

I just discovered that my favorite food porn site, Pimp My Snack, received a cease and desist letter from Viacom International Inc. advising them that Viacom considers their website name to be a breach of Viacom’s trademark application number E4279493, which covers usage of the words ‘Pimp My’, and also E3992724 for ‘Pimp My Ride’.

It seems to me that the ‘Pimp My Snack’ site name is clearly satirical and, therefore, protected under free speech provisions of the First Amendment. The site is non-commercial—users submit photos of and instructions on how to make pimped out snacks—and no reasonable person would mistakenly believe the website was associated with the MTV show.

So why, Viacom, why? Why pick on a bunch of junk food nerds? Don’t you know they’re chubby and malnourished? They can’t adequately defend themselves!

The website formerly known as ‘Pimp My Snack’ has temporarily adopted the ‘Pimp That Snack’ name, but even that may change. Their trademark application for the new name was rejected on the basis that it still violates the ‘Pimp My’ trademark owned by Viacom.

They’ve posted all the details and legal exchanges they’ve had with Viacom and the trademark office online here, on the site that once housed the community itself.

In a commencement address at Oklahoma State University, President George W. Bush warned graduates against becoming slaves to technology, according to a report by Sploid.

The story attributes this wise little tid-bit to Mr. Bush:

“My advice is, ensure that science serves the cause of humanity, and not the other way around,”

More from the Sploid story:

“He also pointed out that logging long hours on the Internet can interfere with a person’s social life.

‘With the Internet, you can communicate instantly with someone halfway across the world and isolate yourself from your family and neighbors,’ he told an adoring crowd of 20,000 in the Boone Pickens Stadium.

. . .

He also pointed out that the dictionary is a big book with lots of words in it.”

Link (via Sploid)

According to Raw Story, the Center for Public Integrity has obtained more than 900 emails from former FEMA head Michael Brown’s account in the days leading up to Katrina that put him in a pretty bad light. These e-mails are new, and has not been made public up until this point.

From Raw Story:

“The Center for Public Integrity will assert, ‘The emails begin Aug. 26, the Friday before the storm hit, and end Sept. 8, ten days after the storm. Although some messages were previously released by Congressional committees investigating the storm response, this group of messages is a more complete look at the actions of Brown and his inner circle while they were in the eye of what turned out to be their own media storm.’

The emails once again cast unfavorable light on Michael Brown, then head of FEMA.

‘I’m at HQ but down in the studio most of the rest of the a.m…. Here we go!’ Brown wrote the Saturday before the storm arrived as he prepared for a round of TV and radio interviews. At 6:21 a.m the Monday Katrina hit, Brown was preparing for another major round of interviews.

‘Sitting in the chair, putting mousse in my hair….’ he wrote to Patrick Rhode, FEMA’s chief of staff.

And, on the day Katrina slammed into New Orleans, a former U.S. senator who had become a registered lobbyist, was trying to get Brown to schedule a meeting to complain about a no-bid contract that was heading to his client’s competitor.”

The Raw Story article says more is to come within the hour, so keep checking back.

Link (via Raw Story)

Another great ad from UNICEF, this one a commercial advocating education for women in Islamic countries.

From UNICEF’s website:

“UNICEF’s aim is to get more girls into school, ensure that they stay in school and that they are equipped with the basic tools they need to succeed in later life. As part of its on-going efforts to ensure every girl and boy their right to an education, UNICEF’s acceleration strategy is speeding progress in girls’ enrolment in 25 selected countries during the 2002-2005 period.”

Credits:

CD: Joachim Glawion, Patrik Partl
AD/Concept: Tolga Büyükdoganay
Text: Patrik Partl, Joachim Glawion
Director: Linus Ewers
Production Company: PPM Film

Link (via AdverBox)

This image is from a series of ads produced by UNICEF to discourage the purchase and wear of goods produced by children in sweatshops.

The ads are both clever and poignant. They depict clothing items with cartoon images depicting the child labour that made them possible.

For more information on child labour or UNICEF’s efforts to combat it, visit their website here.

Link (via AdverBox)

This “tank cozy” was produced and displayed for a Copenhagen peace protest. Knittastic!

The Photo was taken by Flickr user mms. This is prettier than but reminds me of Adam Ellyson’s Hummer cozy.

Link

A video produced by Nancy Reagan to encourage the youth of America to put down the dope has just been added to web archivist Ethan Persoff’s website. He’s got a link to the video, lyrics, and a swell promotional picture all uploaded and available for download.

The video features the musical talents of such greats as Whitney Houston, LaToya Jackson, Herb Alpert, Toni Basil and (in her first ever rock video performance) First Lady Nancy Reagan.

David Hasselhoff, the Goodyear Blimp and even Governator Arnold Schwarzeneggar all make brief cameos.

From Ethan Persoff’s website:

“Sort of the ‘We Are the World’ that wasn’t, ‘Stop the Madness’ is the only 80s music video ever to be sponsored by the White House. It’s also a total piece of nearly unwatchable crap. But a beatiful one in every possible sense.”

Link (via Boing Boing)