Aqua Teen Hunger Force Cripples Boston
I'm sure most of you don't know what Aqua Teen Hunger Force is and if you do, you probably think it is stupid. I'm one of the few people that find it funny. I don't know what it is, but the randomness and weirdness of the cartoon is hilarious. On the show, they have 2-dimensional pixelated beings known as the Mooninites (who incidentally come from the moon). Well, the Mooninites crippled Boston yesterday.
Here is a CNN story regarding the incident.
http://www.cnn.com/2007/US/02/01/boston.bombscare/
For those two lazy to read, here is the story in short. The Aqua Teen Hunger Force movies is coming out in a few months. In anticipation, Turner (the company who owns Cartoon Network) has been working with fans to do a guerrilla marketing campaign have been putting up electronic billboards that display the Mooninite characters all over. These billboards though have wires and batteries attached to it, so someone in Boston reported it as a potential bomb. The media picks up on it and makes it a huge deal. They arrest two guys and currently they are undergoing legal proceedings. Now, the great thing is their press conference from today. They apparently would only answer questions about their hair. I couldn't stop laughing:
There are a few things I find funny about this case. They are being treated as if they called in a bomb scare. Despite the fact that the things have been up there for a few weeks and these things have been seen around in many different cities without incident, the overreaction of someone who saw it and called it in sends a whole city into a frenzy. I just think it is completely and utterly ridiculous how big it became. I love the response from the two guys who were arrested.. they obviously think the whole thing is ridiculous.
The unfortunate and sad thing is that the guys will be punished and most likely Turner as well. Turner probably should bear the brunt of the blame because it was their marketing idea... but damn... I swear certain people in this country are so damned paranoid. If people ever wanted to know whether terrorism is succeeding in this country, look no further. It has made us so paranoid, that a goddamn Light-Brite can shutdown bridges and roads for a period of time.
Oh well, still looking forward to the movie. And hell, if nothing else, this did more for their marketing campaign than they originally intended. It's great. :)