Read more about this here.

American filmmaker Vikram Gandhi examines gurus and gullibility. In the process, he goes undercover as Kumaré, an enlightened spiritual leader from the East who develops a following in the West. His documentary The True Story of a False Prophet premiers in the US this summer. Read more here.

Movie Trailer:

Kumaré is a wise guru from the East who indoctrinated a group of followers in the West. Kumaré, however, is not real–he is the alter ego of American filmmaker Vikram Gandhi, who impersonated a spiritual leader for the sake of a social experiment designed to challenge one of the most widely accepted taboos: that only a tiny “1%” can connect the rest of the world to a higher power. Concealing his true identity from everyone he meets, Kumare forges profound and spiritual connections with people from all walks of life. At the same time, in the absurdity of living as an entirely different person, Vikram, the filmmaker, is forced to confront difficult questions about his own identity. At the height of his popularity, Kumare unveils his true identity to a core group of disciples who are knee-deep in personal transformation. Will they accept his final teaching? Can this illusion reveal a greater spiritual truth? KUMARE, at once playful and profound, is an insightful look at faith and belief.

In theaters: June 20th, 2012

Defense Ministry employees in classified roles use actors in superhero disguises in order to protest against worsening in terms of their employment

Dozens of employees at a secret unit within the Defense Ministry chose an original way to protest in front of the Kirya base in Tel Aviv, using actors dressed up as Batman, Superman and other superheroes.

The employees could not protest in person due to the secrecy that is imposed on their role and identity.

The employees claim that the Defense Ministry is taking advantage of that limitation and other limitations that come with their job, like the lack of unionization, in order to worsen the terms of their employment.

The employees said that they were in a labor dispute over the terms of their pension funds which were hurt by a recent change in the law which has harmed them financially.

Attorney Ofer Bartal who represents the employees said: “Sadly, they have signed an agreement that obligates them to keep their personal information secret, which has led them to demonstrate wearing masks, and now, to hire the actors.”

The lawyer added that the contribution of the employees to state security was extremely important and they “continue to work in the ministry but it is unthinkable that the terms of their employment continue to be hurt.”

He added that these employees are responsible for one of the most sensitive and classified projects in the State of Israel, and answer directly to the defense minister…

Photos from Skaggs’ Monday, April 23, 2012, action in front of Goldman Sachs in New York:

Some early photos from yesterday’s demonstration at Goldman Sachs in New York to protest greed and corruption in the financial sector.

photo: Deborah Thomas

Event Summary:

A police van filled with officers parked across the street from our staging area and waited for us to depart. As we did, officers on foot walked with us, but across the street. When construction caused us to change our route, I approached an officer and asked the best way to go. From that point on, they functioned as a police escort. When we hit West Street, which is a highway with heavy traffic, the police van, with lights flashing, stopped the traffic for us. We entered the bicycle lane and it was a clear shot down to the Goldman Sachs office at 200 West Street. The police van, with flashing lights, accompanied us the entire way. They were amazingly coordinated, without every having talked with us.

The police presence grew as we approached Goldman Sachs. When we got there, there were at least 20 more officers, plus a full fleet of Goldman Sachs security guards lined up at the door. It was quite impressive. The fox is safe in the chicken coop. He has employed the uniformed chickens to protect him. I was personally greeted by the “hipster cop,” Community Affairs Detective Rick Lee.

Tactically, we kept moving and obeyed all the traffic and bicycle laws. We made a continuous loop in front of the building, with the muppets singing and dancing the Mobile Homeless Blues, an original song created for the event by the Fresh Juice Party band. Having made our point, we then marched through downtown Manhattan, visiting Zuccotti Park, Washington Square Park and Union Square. The reactions we encountered from people along the route, was encouraging and very touching.

As soon as we left Goldman Sachs, the police presence melted away. The police were only concerned with protecting the power center, the white collar criminals with blood on their hands, who have exploited the public. The bankers, who control the politicians, will continue to get away with their crimes against society until we, the people, make stronger demands. Let’s keep the pressure on. Fight for awareness and for change with creativity and humor.

Will post video soon.

photo: Deborah Thomas

photos: Joey Skaggs Archive

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:

Outraged Homeless Muppets to Converge on Goldman Sachs

“Homelessness is a great American tragedy. Our financial system and government have let us down and we, together, must take a stand to change the way the system works. With over 11 million homes underwater and millions in foreclosure, people are frightened, distressed and angry,” says Joey Skaggs.

Although not a cure, Mobile Homeless Homes (MHH) offers a temporary solution — low cost alternative living spaces for the millions of upside-down, underwater or foreclosed homeowners who have lost their houses due to the banking crisis that caused the real estate collapse. The MHH centerpiece is a camouflage, stealth, mobile home made from a series of connected plastic garbage cans, propelled by a tricycle, that will be undetectable by authorities. It blends into any urban environment.

This trojan house was designed by artist Joey Skaggs. “I’ve created this to focus attention on the disastrous effects of government deregulation on the welfare of the general public and to underscore the fact that people are not powerless to create change; that people should not be afraid to use their First Amendment rights to denounce actions they believe are unethical and criminal,” says Skaggs.

On Monday, April 23, 2012 beginning at 11:00 a.m. at 287 Spring Street (between Varick and Hudson) in New York City, Skaggs will parade his Mobile Homeless Homes prototype down to Goldman Sachs. He will be accompanied by his troupe of costumed muppets including the Fresh Juice Party band, performing their original “Mobile Homeless Blues” ballad (lyrics). They will head from Spring Street to West Street and then down West Street to Goldman Sachs at 200 West Street. Other targeted sites will be announced at a later date on the MHH website.

Goldman Sachs has been selected as the destination for the MHH debut. The muppets are there to help hold them accountable, because Goldman Sachs employees commonly have disrespectfully referred to their clients as muppets. The word muppet in British slang is a derogatory term commonly used to mean idiot or loser.

“I’m not a bank regulator. I’m not a legislator. I’m not a politician. I’m an artist. I believe it’s my responsibility to do what I can to bring attention to the issues and inspire our lawmakers to make the critically necessary changes to protect the public from greed and fraud,” says Joey Skaggs.

The MHH performance has been designed to be a fully legal public expression of individual rights. With the current rash of arrests of Occupy Wall Street protestors and the forcible removal of personal belongings from people sitting peacefully in parks, Skaggs says the MHH procession will be on the move at all times, except when waiting for street lights to change. And, since Mayor Bloomberg just the other day kissed Ms Piggy and announced that the Muppets (of Sesame Street fame) are now the official New York City family ambassadors, it might prove embarrassing if the police arrest Ms. Piggy as she exercises her First Amendment rights.

For more information, contact:
Joey Skaggs
info@mobilehomelesshomes.com
http://mobilehomelesshomes.com

Mobile Homeless Homes

The Art of Joining the Party
Balkan Insight
Nemanja Cabric BIRN Belgrade
April 13, 2012

Two playwrights who joined a number of political parties, using a modified speech by Goebbels as their agenda, have turned their experience into a performance called Oni Zive, (They Live).

Annoyed by unsolved burning issues in Serbian cultural policy as well as in society in general, Maja Pelevic and Milan Markovic, artists with no permanent job, came up with an unusual idea – to become members of almost all political parties at once and tackle them from the inside.

Their artistic performance resulted in a dramatic text, audio-visual materials, and a blog.

“Our main thesis is that political parties have taken over the space for performing arts and have contributed to the fact that there is almost no budget for culture. In these circumstances, when theatres face bankruptcy, and the independent scene lacks financial support – we decided to turn political parties into our space for performing arts,” Maja Pelevic told Balkan Insight.

From February 13 to 21, these two screenplay writers applied for membership of the Democratic Party, the Liberal Democratic Party, the Progressive Party, the Democratic Party of Serbia, United Regions of Serbia, the Social Democratic Party, and the Socialist Party of Serbia.

As a cover letter for their application, they used a changed version of a 1928 speech by Goebbels called “Knowledge and propaganda”.

The text with a name “Idea-Strategy-Movement” was slightly adapted to suit political parties’ public image. Instead of “Hitler”, the artists inserted the name of the party leaders or ideologists. Instead of “National Socialism” they’ve used “democracy” or another suitable term. Instead of the word “propaganda”, which was frequently used by Goebbels, the artists came up with the word “political marketing”.

Markovic: It’s no bluff

“It was exciting when we signed our Application Form, but when they called us to join and participate more immediately in councils, and boards for culture… I didn’t feel so good anymore.

I wasn’t sure who was using whom, because we didn’t have a clear plan of what to do after we joined parties as a part of our performance, so I didn’t have the need to bluff. To me, the value of what we do lies in the sole fact we are not bluffing, because this divides it from investigative journalism”

A quote by Milan Markovic from “They live”.

“We just wanted to point out the problematic nature of belief in ideological neutrality. An ideology that is not perceived as an ideology is in fact the most dangerous one,” Markovic said.

The feedback from the parties was surprisingly positive. Soon Pelevic and Markovic became members of the culture councils of most of the parties and got a chance to stand for election in various city and municipal party councils.

“[Parties] weren’t bothered with all of the ideological standpoints that the author [of the text, Goebbels] fought for, and which are apparently worth fighting nowadays: gaining power no matter the cost; spreading one’s idea into society’s pores, conducting ruthless propaganda,” Markovic said.

The authors say their performance aims to spotlight issues of “party-ocracy”, corruption and nepotism in culture.

As a part of the artistic performance in Dom Omladine on April 8 they read a dramatic text “They live” that mostly consists of their instant messages (chats), conversations, and similar material gathered at the time of their idea’s realization.

The performance was followed by audio and visual material, including a short movie.

“This project is above all an artistic performance, and we wanted to avoid dealing with this issue through investigative journalism, the sensationalism of daily political life,” Pelevic said.

She noted that the first public reading of “They live”, planned for March 17 at the Yugoslav Drama Theatre’s Studio, was cancelled as the manager of this institution didn’t like it.

“It was cancelled under the excuse that the project wasn’t structured and provocative. This kind of soft censorship is present every day on the cultural scene, when politically unsuitable projects are turned down for alleged artistic irrelevance,” Pelevic said.

Navy Man, Lost at Sea in 1908, Surfaces at Parties; ‘The Project’

Washington—In a Pentagon hallway hung an austere portrait of a Navy man lost at sea in 1908, with his brass buttons, blue-knit uniform and what looks like meticulously blow-dried hair.

Wait. Blow-dried hair?

The portrait of “Ensign Chuck Hord,” framed in the heavy gilt typical of government offices, may be the greatest—or perhaps only—prank in Pentagon art history. “Chuck Hord” can’t be found in Navy records of the day. It isn’t even a real painting. The textured, 30-year-old photo is actually of Capt. Eldridge Hord III, 53 years old, known to friends as “Tuck,” a military retiree with a beer belly and graying hair who lives in Burke, Va.

Most military officers who climb the ranks or command daring battles only dream of having a portrait hang in a corridor of power at the Pentagon alongside the likes of Patton, Nimitz and Eisenhower. Capt. Hord’s made its way to the Pentagon’s C-ring hallway via several parties, an alliance of British and Canadian military officers and a clandestine, predawn operation later dubbed “THE PROJECT.”

The picture came into existence after Capt. Hord graduated from the U.S. Naval Academy in 1982. During a visit to then-Ensign Hord’s hometown of Kingsport, Tenn., his proud parents suggested he sit for a formal portrait. Wearing midshipman’s garb and an Annapolis class ring, he posed for the town’s best-known photographer in front of a cloth screen with his arms resting on an antique-looking chair.

The photographer liked the photo so much he framed several copies and hung them in stores around Kingsport to advertise his business, Capt. Hord says. Some were textured and signed to resemble oil paintings.

Colleagues say Capt. Hord has always been something of a prankster. His 1982 Naval Academy yearbook says he “never let academic problems interfere with his two favorite pastimes, drinking beer in dives and playing the ponies.”

After his graduation, he went to sea, captained a guided-missile frigate in the Pacific hunting for drug runners and studied at the National War College.

In his first stint at the Pentagon starting in 1997, his slapstick sense of humor earned him the title of the “George Costanza” of the Joint Staff, a reference to a character from the sitcom “Seinfeld.”

Over the next 20 years, some of the portraits found their way back to the Hord family. In 2004, Capt. Hord says his sister surprised him by bringing the largest one—3 feet tall—to a party at his Virginia house. She left it by the front door.

Capt. Hord at the time was director of the Multinational Interagency division, a new Pentagon office designed to coordinate military logistics between the U.S. and its closest allies.

Office colleagues say Capt. Hord developed close bonds with his British, Canadian and Australian counterparts. Their office boasted its own beer fridge.

Several of Capt. Hord’s work colleagues attended the 2004 party, including a British captain who smuggled the portrait into his car and put it on display at the office. Capt. Hord, amused, called it an act of “buffoonery.”

The portrait then started making surprise appearances at events when Capt. Hord was in attendance. It attended his 2005 farewell party when he left the Pentagon office to take a new post in Diego Garcia, an Indian Ocean atoll where the Navy has a base.

He left the portrait with his officemates, who placed it on the wall above his old desk.

In 2009, British Naval Capt. Mike Bullock, now a commodore, lugged the heavy portrait past armed Pentagon security guards, onto a subway train and to Capt. Hord’s retirement party at Washington’s Navy Memorial.

“I was expecting to be questioned by the Pentagon police why I was taking the picture out of the building and instead was helped through the barrier!” Commodore Bullock recalled.

After the party, Capt. Hord refused to take ownership of the portrait, Commodore Bullock said. “I think the contrast between the Ens. Hord and the retiring Capt. Hord was too much for him!” he added.

Back on the wall in the office, visitors often asked who it depicted. “They all looked at it and said, ‘Man, what year was that? It looks like the 1800s,’ ” said Canadian Lt. Col. Brook Bangsboll.

That was the light-bulb moment. On one of his last days at the Pentagon, Lt. Col. Bangsboll went to a jewelry shop to have a brass plaque engraved, egged on by colleagues and co-conspirators. “We didn’t know what to do so we said, ‘Let’s just lose him at sea,’ ” Lt. Col. Bangsboll said. “It makes it interesting and kind of mysterious.”

He kept the circumstances of the ensign’s death vague because he thought some nosy Navy historian would spot the ruse if the plaque cited a specific battle.

The jeweler made a typo, engraving “Chuck” instead of “Tuck.” Lt. Col. Bangsboll felt that was fitting, given the surreptitious nature of his endeavor. It read:

ENS CHUCK HORD

USNA, CIRCA 1898

LOST AT SEA 1908

Lt. Col. Bangsboll scouted the halls for the right spot. He planned to put the portrait in a foyer dedicated to logistics—the office’s specialty—but feared those responsible for displays in the area would catch on.

He settled on a previously unadorned hallway which gets less foot traffic. At 6:15 a.m. on July 29, 2011, Lt. Col. Bangsboll spirited the portrait to the hallway and drove a large screw into the wall.

“The place was quiet,” he recalls. “No one noticed.”

For the next seven months, the portrait attracted little attention. One Pentagon official, as he walked by the photo, said it had never crossed his mind to look twice.

Unfortunately for Capt. Hord, the gag is up.

After The Wall Street Journal asked Pentagon officials about the long-lost sailor’s suspiciously modern hairstyle, Lt. Col. Bangsboll, who has returned to Ottawa, received what he described as a “fairly frantic email” from an American major still in the liaison office.

“They’re onto you, sir,” U.S. Army Maj. Brooke Stull told Lt. Col. Bangsboll. “We’ve had to take the picture down.”

A Pentagon official explained by email why Capt. Hord’s picture was removed from the public hallway. “There’s an approval process for Pentagon portraits and this beautiful picture has not been approved for display ”

Capt. Hord makes no apologies.

“A little bit of alcohol and a whole big dose of irreverence plays into it,” he said. “Plus you feel like you’re getting one over on somebody.”

But he also seems a bit sad. “I started that office and this was going to put me in perpetuity in the Pentagon,” he said with a sigh.

The portrait, whose frame was badly damaged after its removal from the wall, now sits on the floor of the office where Capt. Hord once worked, leaning against a cubicle wall.

—Julian E. Barnes contributed to this article.

The pranksters at Chill Hill Media decided to treat one of their own like a celebrity, and mall security unwittingly signed on:

And now Thomas Elliot actually is sort of famous:

The eXile did a more elaborate version of this before:

Blood Diamond

Africa has had a devastating history of blood diamond wars. Blood diamond refers to a diamond mined in a war zone and then sold to finance an invading army’s war efforts, usually in Africa where more than two-thirds of the worlds diamonds are extracted. This site specific social / political word play was painted on the exterior wall of Johannesburg’s largest diamond trader Jewel City. Jewel City is a six-block mega-precinct that serves as a base for some 300 diamond traders as well as South Africa’s Diamond Board and State Traders Association. Jewel City is the largest diamond exporter in the southern hemisphere with over R7-Billion worth of Diamonds being exported every year.

I was able to get away with this diamond wall heist because I told the owners I would paint in big letters “Diamonds are a woman’s best friend” on the exterior of their building.

The owners loved the idea and all quickly agreed. The next day I had started painting but what the owners didn’t know is that I lied to them and was hijacking their wall. Like any premeditated robbery, situations are not what they seem and shit can flip from best friends to worst enemies in a few moments.

I assume the owners were too busy trading diamonds inside the mega centre they never took the time to come out and see I was painting a controversial word play about the diamond trade and how it’s fueled so much bloodshed in wars making it one of man’s worst enemies.

SF Bay Area ‘Tacocopter’ Deliver Service (Unfortunately) Fake
by David Murphy
March 24, 2012

Never get between a Silicon Valley geek and his or her tacos. That’s the lesson learned from the flurry of reporting this week surrounding the rumored “Tacocopter”— a San Francisco Bay Area delivery service that was alleged to have been able to deliver one’s taco order by way of an unmanned quadrotor.

Any rational individual might start to wonder about the authenticity of a service that’s supposed to air-drop one’s lunch in any given location around the San Francisco Bay Area. First off, that presumes there’s an army of people sitting in a control room somewhere all practicing their flight skills across a roughly 50-mile stretch of land (assuming a Tacocopter could deliver from San Francisco to San Jose).

And then there’s the legality. Specifically, you can’t just up and fly an “unmanned aerial vehicle” in the U.S. — that, much like the food business itself, requires a special permit. And it’s a permit that’s allegedly extremely difficult to get, reports Wired’s Christina Bonnington.

It’s for these reasons, and others, why Bonnington and a number of Wired staffers started to question the legitimacy of the “private beta” Tacocopter site. Even though a hungry user could enter an email address and describe a reason why he or she should be allowed into the delivery service, or even apply for a job at Tacocopter, that doesn’t mean that anything was actually happening on the site’s back end. In other words, the site sure looked real — and managed to generate plenty of buzz, with more than 25,000 Facebook likes and over 5,000 Twitter messages directly referencing Tacocopter.

But all good meals must come to an end: Even the Tacocopter.

Bonnington tracked down the site’s author — none other than Star Simpson, the same Star Simpson who strapped a circuit board and lights to a sweatshirt and walked into Boston’s Logan International Airport in 2007 (to disastrous results). Simpson verified that the site was indeed a hoax: There’s no Tacocopter, no Tacocopter business, and no indication of what Simpson plans to do with all of the “sign me up!” emails she’s undoubtedly received.

So why the site?

“Partly it was so I would keep thinking about how to make something like this work, and partly it was to do the same for other people. A vision. Like what cyberpunk did for the Internet — mull the possibilities, give people things to think about,” Simpson said in instant message conversation with Bonnington. “The other motivation is that we basically only hear about quadrotors in scary contexts, and I think it does give that fear and emotional tension a safe and hilarious outlet.”

Unless, of course, the Tacocopter accidentally drops your meal onto the 101.

Related link:

Marco Tempest spins a beautiful story of what magic is, how it entertains us and how it highlights our humanity — all while working extraordinary illusions with his hands and an augmented reality machine.

A magician and illusionist for the 21st century, Marco Tempest blends cutting-edge technology with the flair and showmanship of Houdini.

Related link:

, by Marco Tempest, July 7, 2007

Here’s a list of goings on around the world. We’ve been adding to this post throughout the day:

MODERATOR’S NOTE: This blog post could go on and on. There’s oh so much more out there. Enough, you say! Well, we agree.




And, since the New York Annual April Fools’ Day Parade went off without a hitch and the revelers have just reached Washington Square Park, the after parade festivities are about to begin. So, get out, get some fresh air, and join in the fun!

Tom Tom announces a new navigation voice guaranteed to keep babies happy in the car:

On the 1st April 2012, we will announce the results of months of meticulous research in our NavLab. Our experts have found a solution to stop babies crying in the backseat. For a safe and stress-free journey, let Darth Vader entertain your baby in the backseat. A TomTom navigation voice, guaranteed to make your baby happy!

TomTom makes babies laugh

Sir Richard Branson to launch “Journeys to the Centre of the Earth” through Virgin Volcanic

Only 500 people have been to space, only three people have been to the bottom of the ocean, but no one has ever attempted to journey to the core of an active volcano. Until now. Using patented carbon-carbon materials pioneered for deep space exploration, Virgin is proud to announce a revolutionary new vehicle, VVS1, which will be capable of plunging three people into the molten lava core of an active volcano. In its first three years of operation, VVS1 will target the five most active volcanoes in the world: Etna, Stromboli, Yasur, Ambrym and Tinakula.

Read more at http://www.virginvolcanic.com/

Google rings in April Fools’ Day with over a dozen April Fools pranks in addition to those already mentioned, including:

The Google Fiber (bar)

and

Google Street Roo – exploring the outback one bounce at a time: Over the next four weeks, more than a thousand Big Red kangaroos will be equipped with a 360-degree head camera that will automatically capture images when the marsupial is on the move during daylight hours.



Conan O’Brien takes over Mashable.com

Conan O’Brien Buys Mashable, Ousts Pete Cashmore as CEO

Now you can browse the web with two mice at the same time. Try it out at http://google.com/chrome/multitask

So Far The Supposed Anonymous “Operation Blackout” Is Looking Like a Hoax

…If you are still reading this that means the internet is still up, and so far they either have not been successful in their attempt, or as the title says, “it’s looking like a hoax”

Here’s more on the subject.

Google and Nascar team up and create a self-driven race car.

Google Announces Google Racing

via 3d-Car-Shows

The History of April Fools Day… maybe

Uploaded by jeremiahjw

Google’s April Fools’ Day Prank: 8-Bit Google Maps

From Mashable.com: Google couldn’t wait for April Fools’ Day to prank the web with its 8-bit version of Google Maps, temporarily replacing its standard version. Shortly after the “upgraded” Google Maps went live, Reddit users posted world landmarks and historic sites that could be viewed on the map: the Parthenon, Area 51, Mount Everest (with a Yeti or hiker, say commenters), and many more “Easter eggs…”

The YouTube Collection: The Magic of YouTube in Your Hands

All of YouTube – Every YouTube video uploaded ever – delivered to your door by a fleet of 175 YouTube trucks.

Written and Directed by: Rhett & Link
Produced by: The Collective

BMW’s Driverless Running Coach

Nick Burcher reports: As an official sponsor of London 2012, BMW has been inspired to develop a new technology helping customers to boost their fitness in the run up to the Games. The new driverless Running Coach feature uses a combination of ConnectedDrive technologies and surround view cameras to enable the car to follow the runner, at a safe distance, while pounding the pavement. To help with motivation, integrated exterior speakers play encouraging words while the Lock Out Logistics feature makes sure that any distance set is completed without cheating.

April Fools Day 2012: 9 Epic Food Pranks from Huffington Post, including Toothpaste Oreos, Irish Potato Gum, Wasabi Guacomole and more. Watch the videos here.