Because I don’t believe in scheduled art, I have been following this story for a couple of days.  I emailed it to Bryan last night, because we adore Aqua Teen Hunger Force, the Mooninites being particular favorites of ours.

I heard the story mentioned this morning on the Mojo Radio Show (y’all know how I adore morning talk radio in Huntsville), and not only did they incorrectly state that this was a planned publicity stunt by Turner Broadcasting (it had been released yesterday afternoon that it was artist Peter Berdovsky, and NOT a campaign for Cartoon Network), but when on to pontificate how they don’t know the show because it’s on Cartoon Network.

First of all, know your audience.  You just made yourself FAR less cool to half of them because you missed an opportunity to open up the phone lines.  It would’ve taken five seconds to do a quick Google on “Aqua Teen Hunger Force”, and you could’ve appeared in the know.

Then again, if you had gone to that much trouble in the first place, you may have been able to adequately report the story.

Second of all, don’t talk down to the supposed campaign and say that it instilled fear in the heart of the city.  It was 10 LED-lit Lite Brites, dearhearts.  And they had this guy on them:

 

 

 

 

 

 

And perhaps even more disturbing is that, yes, the media actually blurred out the three LEDs that created a middle finger. 

Those poor people! the djs said.  They were probably terrified. Yes, I know that if I left an Urban Outfitters and saw this thing, I would immediately cry “Terrorism!” and call 911.  Or perhaps, just perhaps, I would’ve stopped and thought about it.

But seeing as how I’m already ahead of the curve here (knowing the character and the show), I’m going to be quite confident in saying: Been There, Done That, and Got the T-Shirt.

Edit – From CNN:
Two men pleaded not guilty today to charges they created panic by placing “bomblike” electronic light boards displaying a cartoon character with an upraised middle finger throughout Boston. Assistant Attorney General John Grossman called the light boards “bomblike” devices and said that if they had been explosive they could have damaged infrastructure and transportation in the city.

Um, so would pigeons.  If pigeons were explosive, they could damage infrastructure and transportation in the city.