The Times They are Changed

Who says there’s never any good news in the papers? The Big Apple awoke last Thursday to discover that the Iraq War was over, George Bush had been indicted on charges of High Treason and the Patriot Act had been repealed.

Unfortunately, the 250,000 copies of the new free AM edition of the New York Times handed out to commuters transpired to be an elaborate hoax perpetrated by The Yes Men, a mischievous band of culture jammers who live online at www.theyesmen.org.
The subject of a corking 2004 documentary, which can be perused at www.unitedartists.com/yesmen, they’ve managed to dupe numerous news organisations by posing as spokespeople for the World Trade Organization, McDonald’s and Dow Chemical who were none too pleased when supposed Dow representative Jude Finisterra told BBC World that the company was finally admitting responsibility for the 1984 Bhopal chemical leak, which killed 3,000 Indians and left hundreds of thousands more with serious health problems. You can see how convincing they were at www.ie.youtube.com/watch?v=LiWlvBro9eI.
Meanwhile, UK indie types The Hours have come up with a well nifty video for their ‘See The Light’ single, which is directed by Damien Hirst and finds Sienna Miller smearing herself with cow’s blood whilst writhing in a glass box. Her reasons for doing so are revealed at www.ie.youtube.com/watch?v=R9Li3voetSQ.
From there it’s but a mere mouse-click to sleepwalkingthroughthemekong.com where you can get the lowdown on so-hip-it-hurts L.A. outfit Dengue Fever and their tour of Cambodia, which was the first by a western band since the rise of Pol Pot. And by the way, their new Venus On Earth album is a belter.
Which just leaves time for quick visits to www.lacoste.com/michaelstipe (REM mainman designs two-tone photographic shirt for French fashion house); tinyurl.com/5gtv99 (hot Peter Griffin sex action); tinyurl.com/5ko4ge (David Katz’s genius Obama photos); www.ireport.com/docs/DOC-139133 (America has a bit more work to do before it’s a paragon of liberalism); and bohemianfroghunting.blogspot.com (Concern Ireland development worker’s fascinating Congolese blog).