Boston was thrown into a tizzy when an attempt by Cartoon Network to promote its upcoming “Aqua Teen Hunger Force” feature film backfired into a perceived terrorist plot.
Apparently little electronic blinky devices based upon the ATHF character “Mooninite” have been showing up in major cities all across the country. But only in Beantown did citizens suddenly start worrying that these promotional devices were, in fact, part of an insidious terrorist scheme. As a consequence, the bomb squad has been spending its time running around the city defusing harmless toys, and now police have arrested the poor hapless bášŧárd who was hired to put the things up around the city.
The reason it’s of particular interest to this blog is that New England Comics (which, by the way, I’m told is having a 50% off sale that ends today) was one of the sites to receive one of the devices, and hilarity ensued. My daughter, Gwen, a store employee, was interviewed by local TV news. Click on the site link below and go to the section “Comic Book Store Employees Discuss Hoax.”
http://www.thebostonchannel.com/video/index.html
PAD
• 
I thought the offending comment was within that boundary.
It wasn’t apparent to me the comment would be seen outside of that boundary, but it is your perception that makes the offense authentic. I do not reserve the privilege of repeating that mistake, and I am sorry.
I just want to say that i found it amusing that the best coverage of this story i ran across today was on CNN.
I just want to say that i found it amusing that the best coverage of this story i ran across today was on CNN.
“I thought the offending comment was within that boundary.”
Now you know otherwise.
“It wasn’t apparent to me the comment would be seen outside of that boundary, but it is your perception that makes the offense authentic. I do not reserve the privilege of repeating that mistake, and I am sorry.”
Okay.
PAD
I cant help but think it was a overreaction in insane ways, and these city leaders are just making things worse for themselves. These things were in how many cities, I cant help but think that everyone that was in on the joke and knew what these things were harmless innocently figured others would catch on. It’s sad that Boston city leaders just dont drop this, it just makes them look stupid that they were the only ones in 10 cities that actually made a big deal out of this.
First off–PAD, your daughter showed a great amount of poise and thoughtfulness in that interview. I don’t recall there being a single “Uhm, er, well…” kind of a thing in there. Speaking as someone who works in TV, she handled herself really well. Better, in fact, than most of the people I know who work in TV.
Second off, not too many of the media news outlets that I’ve seen have mentioned that the BPD actually did find a pipe bomb or two, so their reaction versus other cities is almost understandable.
Haven’t read all the comments yet, so this may have been mentioned already: I think Cartoon Network was trying to reproduce something I read about that occurred in Japan, where an artist places ‘space invader’ type figures on the sides of buildings and bridges and the like. I think that Toon Network should have stuck to simple paint instead of flashing billboards, just in case someone panicked.
In the (ironic) coverage of this on CNN yesterday, it’s illuminating to see what the artists/advertisers are being charged with. They are being charged with committing a hoax, which is defined (I’m writing from memory here, so I’m paraphrasing) as an action intended to create fear, confusion, or the impression of danger. And like it or not, this does not apply in the slightest to the artists/advertisers. They wanted and intended to promote the show AQUA TEEN HUNGER FORCE; they didn’t use this as a fake explosive (“Watch out show or we’ll detonate this package”) or design the products to look like bombs (more like Light Brite). So from a legal standpoint, these charges are totally warrantless.
(Of course, I’m sure those involved in the CBLDF have plenty of stories about the loose interpretation of laws to “get” people for whom there is an agenda.)
I gotta say, what this shows to me is that we’re not vigilant enough in worrying about bombs. Several people plant strange electronic devices all over a city without telling anyone what they’re doing, and everyone’s claiming the police “overreacted”? Read about Ireland in the 1980s, and you’ll see that we live in a world of absolute blithe obliviousness to the potential dangers of bombs.
The idea of, “Oh, the police should have _known_ they were safe because they had cute cartoon characters on them!” terrifies me much more than the police’s reaction does. Terrorists rarely put “Mr. Yuck” stickers on their bombs. 🙂
Do I think these guys intended this to be taken as a bomb threat? Of course not. I don’t think they thought at all. But I certainly don’t want to encourage people to be less suspicous of strange devices planted in public places, and laying a bit of legal smackdown on people who did something extraordinarily stupid should help in that regard.
Realistically there is virtually nothing that can be done to prevent smeone from planting bombs, other than catching them before they do it. Bombs can be the size of coke cans or look like a crumpled paper bag. We should be so lucky that the terrorists would be dumb enough to thoughtfully add blinking lights.
The fact that there actually WERE bombs found mitigates the verreaction smewhat but it’s still no excuse for the way they are treating these guys.
I find it humorous that out of alllll the cities that they did this ad campaign, only one had an issue.
Here in Texas (a most conservative god fearing, terrorist hating, paranoid state of states) we had no problem.
But it was in Austin and I am sure all those stoners and hippies knew very well what the Mooninite greeting of a pixelated middle finger means.
My only problem is that there has been talk that the Marketing company new the panic was ensuing and told one of the guys arested to keep quiet. It was not until someone notified the CN directly that the CN’s marketing was causing this panic in Boston that anyone notified the police. And if the two gentleman arrested and the third party marketing company knew about their harmless boxes being the cause and kept silent? That’s pathetic and they should be punished, they could have ended it earlier and chose not to.
Have seen the two guys hired to hang those signs? What a couple of greasy stoners. I’m now convinced more than ever that the biggest problem was that they were too baked to remember to tell the city government what they were doing.
Being aware of suspicious objects is like knowing not to take candy from strangers, walking alone in a rough neighborhood, or looking in both direction when you’re crossing the street. You accept it as part of your life, learned from an early age, but without living in constant fear from everything and everybody. Such advice is not guarenteed to protect you from every threat, but it’s still useful to practice.
Um, Peter?
Where’s the exclamation point?
I was watching the news clip with Gwen, and wondered, has she abandoned the exclamation point at the end of her name as a relic of her childhood, decline to include it when speaking into the microphone to avoid confusion in the viewing public? Or did the graphics editors simply go, “Um………………uh-uh. I’m not putting that in there.”?
As someone else who uses an exclamation point in their name, I can tell you that it is very difficult to get someone else to do it anywhere, let alone a news broadcast. Sure, they’ll give anyone with some weird spelling of their name a pass (I saw a “Karyl” once, as opposed to “Carol”), but those of us who use some punctuation get no respect.
*sigh*
-eD!
And I suppose, next time, I should close my style tags properly, so that my post doesn’t look stupid.
This is what I get for posting a comment when I’m in a rush to get to work, I suppose.
*double sigh*
-eD!
“My only problem is that there has been talk that the Marketing company new the panic was ensuing and told one of the guys arested to keep quiet.”
To be fair, that’s only a part of an email that they were sent. There have been other snippits of it read on the news that takes the punch out of the first reports of that line being held up as some form of intent to let the scare keep going. Even one of the MSNBC guests that was roasting these guys over the fire over this said that the entire email didn’t read the way it was being played on some newscasts.
At this time I haven’t seen the entire thing printed anywhere. I still think that those two guys and the ad company that hired them are dumb as bricks, but I’m holding off on accusing them of trying to keep the scare going.
Jerry,
Really? Thanks for that update.
I think in an era where bombs have blown up in cities, like London, and we hear about foiled plots to bomb airports and train stations, Boston had every right to come down hard on the dumb bells who arranged this promo piece. If they want to promote a show, take an add out in TV Guide
I thought Gwen had purple hair! I was looking forward to seeing how it’d show up on camera. 🙁
Den said:
“The King always freaks me out.”
—–
I think The King is really Chuckie.
AHHHHHHHHhhhhhhhhhhhhh…..
Unfortunately, one of the two artists arrested in Boston for placing the signs could be facing deportation over the incident–Peter Berdovsky is a Belarussian seeking asylum in the United States: “Under federal law, a non-citizen convicted of any crime of moral turpitude or aggravated felony in the United States is subject to deportation, and asylum is generally not granted in crimes with terrorist implications. Even if Berdovsky were given some kind of court-authorized plea bargain which would allow him not to be convicted, acknowledgment of complicity in a crime is tantamount to a conviction under federal immigration statutes, and would still lead to deportation. The only recourse Berdovsky would have is to either go to trial and be found not guilty or to have the state drop its case against him entirely.”
In the back of my mind I wonder if Cartoon Network wasn’t secretly hoping for an overreaction in one of the ten cities as just happened in Boston, as now everyone knows the words “Aqua Teen Hunger Force.” On the other hand, I learned a long time ago never to ascribe malice to a situation that’s best described as stupidity, and certainly Boston’s reaction counts as stupidity. 😉
Frankly, if I were Turner Broadcasting I’d pay for the costs Boston incurred, perhaps offer some sort of art program to the local school district, and hope that these two moves soothe ruffled feathers. And if the ruffled feathers aren’t soother, just pull the plug on broadcasting to Boston, as clearly they wasted their money on the Boston market. 🙂
El Hombre Malo posted:
“…ehrm…Peter, I mean, Mr.David…
…How old exactly your daughter is?”
—–
Think about it. Would you really want to date a woman whose father is good friends with Lou Ferrigno, whose father is smarter than most of the guys she would ever meet, and whose father undoubtedly bowls better than you?
Craig J. Ries posted:
“I’m already seeing comments from other people in MA wondering why the city is so full of dûmbáššëš.”
—–
‘Cause they’re Red Sox fans?
??
??
Think about it. Would you really want to date a woman whose father is good friends with Lou Ferrigno, whose father is smarter than most of the guys she would ever meet, and whose father undoubtedly bowls better than you?
Worse yet, he could tuckerize you in a most unflattering manner. 😉
Seriously though. Aside from the qustions arising from the situation itself, brava to Gwen for her poise in front of the camera. One could almost see a future for her there.
-Rex Hondo-
Bladestar posted:
“Natural Selection at work.”
—–
That was cold, sir.
True also.
I said:
“I think The King is really Chuckie.”
—–
Jeez, that might make more sense if I spelled it correctly.
Chucky.
AAAAAHHHHHHHHHhhhhhhhh! (again)
And, in a related development, cartoon character Daffy Duck has been placed on Logan International Airport’s “no fly” list.
*rim shot*
Now, guys, this is really not a joking matter. As well as the city of Boston managed this particular situation, how thinly stretched and harried is the BPD going to be over all the suspicious “bouquets of flowers” and “boxes of chocolates” sure to be spotted over the next couple of weeks? Any of them could be a bomb or filled with anthrax! Heck, even if they focus only on the “Secret Admirer” packages, that could be hundreds, or even thousands of exploded roses, teddy bears, and Russell Stover’s variety packs.
-Rex “Ever Vigilant” Hondo-
I saw this video on youtube and guessed that she was your daughter based on looks, vocation, and skill in the English language. Then when I watched it again I got all excited that I was right.
I’m going to save you any “dude, your daughter’s hot” comments, out of respect.
Peter, I hope you don’t feel that my saying your daughter is “lovely” falls under the category of “dude, your daughter’s hot.” Someone once told me my sister is “cute” and I simply thought it was a nice compliment. I didn’t punch him in the face until he asked me to hook them up. 🙂
(Besides, I’m 36. I don’t know precisely how old Gwen is, but I believe I’m old enough to be her father. So when I look at the video, I find myself thinking, “There’s a young lady who would make any father proud.”)
(Shìŧ, did I say that? Christ, I think I just became OLD!)
BTW, when I was in my early 20s, I worked part-time in my friend’s comic-book store to help defray the costs of my comic-book habit. It was the most fun job I ever had. Whenever I stocked the shelves, put away back issues, or did inventory, it was like getting paid for doing my shopping. Those were the days…
Probably not. Sovereign immunity.
Kathleen may recall the incident at a ChattaCon back in the late 80s/early 90s when a con attendee who was (illegally) sleeping in his van in the parking garage across the street from the hotel forgot that he had left a costume prop – a long plastic tube partially filled with a Dayglow yellowish-green fluid and decorated with radiation and biohazard warning stickers – leaning against the van.
Next morning when i woke up and glanced out my hotel window, the entire street was full of assorted emergency vehicles and cops and firemen and CDC personnel from Atlanta and AEC personnel from Oak Ridge…
The guy sleeping in the van woke up, glanced out, saw the commotion, and “Br’er Rabbit he lay low and he don’t say nothin’…”
Shut down half of downtown Chattanooga for hours on a Saturday morning.
// On one hand, it’s kind of funny, but on the other, you can’t be too careful. If the city wasn’t aware that strange objects were going to be installed under bridges, then they were right in checking it out. //
Absolutly they should be checked out, but checking them out and shutting down a city, causing a panic are not even remotly the same thing.
// How dangerous do you think that could actually be?
Colleen Doran, creator, writer, and illustrator of “A Distant Soil,” has offered her own unique perspective at her blog (www.adistantsoil.com/blog). She is the daughter of a police officer, and she says toys have been used to lure people to bombs before. So the people who reported the “Mooninite” devices weren’t necessarily overreacting. //
And I agree, the people who reported it weren’t overreacting, the officals who shut down the city were.
All I know is somewhere in the Universe Orson Welles is laughing his ášš off.
Signs of sanity.
I’ve caught a couple of news blips that said that the charges against the stoners are being dropped. Good for them. I would have still fined them for some minor offenses, but the stuff being thrown at them by the city was just foolish.
“All I know is somewhere in the Universe Orson Welles is laughing his ášš off.”
🙂
Posted by: Darren J Hudak at February 3, 2007 11:52 AM
Absolutly they should be checked out, but checking them out and shutting down a city, causing a panic are not even remotly the same thing.
The vast majority of Boston wasn’t “shut down” and I have yet to read about actual “panic” on any significant scale. So I’m not sure what incident or which city you’re referring to, but it certainly can’t be the “Mooninite attack” in Boston.
And it’s funny how all of a sudden everyone with a PC and an Internet connection has become a bomb detection and removal expert. As opposed to Jerry Chandler, whose only piddly little credential is that he’s, y’know, an actual bona fide police officer.
To be fair to everyone else, I’m no bomb tech or K-9. I’m getting some of my stuff from academy training and later classes, but anything advanced that I might ever add to an explosives discussion is from my picking the brain of our explosives K-9 guys. I’m kinda doing what others here are doing and turning to the experts for information before commenting.
Still, I will agree that I know enough (or am biased enough) to think that BPD didn’t get too crazy in their response. They were dealing with an unknown device that no one was claiming ownership of and had, from what I’ve seen so far, no easily identifiable ownership markings on the device. I’ve also not seen anything yet on who was calling the shots by the time things reached their full blown silliness. Did the decision to go nuclear come from the Chief of the BPD or from the Mayor’s office?
You’ve also got to realize that we get more stuff dumped on us about what nuts on the net are talking about doing then you might think. Some of them are sharing tips about stuff that you could find in the Anarchist’s Cookbook, but others are putting up how-to guides on bomb attacks from other countries where bikes were turned into pipe bombs and stuffed animal toys were used to house an explosive device. Add to that level of almost daily paranoia inducing information feeds the fact that we get about ten to fifteen “law enforcement only” alerts and homeland security terror warnings for every one that you hear about and you have a situation where coincidence may put all the wrong things together in the wrong place at the wrong time. I don’t know what the Boston area may or may not have been getting lately, but that is one possibility or what happened here. No one got hurt, killed, hit with a 50,000 volts or OC sprayed here, so I’m on the side of cutting them some slack unless some news breaks that puts them in a bad light about what they knew and what they did.
Oh, I’m also not sure at the moment if my above post is correct. It was on MSNBC late last night and this morning that I saw them say that the hoax device stuff and the other more extreme/silly charges against the two stoners were being dropped. Just now, they were discussing the situation on an MSNBC roundtable as if the charges hadn’t been dropped but may be plea bargained or dropped down the road.
Jerry, you are correct that I was being a bit simplistic. I did note that you were not an explosives expert. But the fact that you’re a cop, that you studied explosives as part of your training, and that you know a guy on the K-9 unit gives you far more credibility in my eyes than “Joe Q. Anybody” declaring, “They should’ve known it wasn’t a bomb.” And to be fair, some people have been making statements similar to that.
Oh, and you wanna talk about overreacting? Bill Mulligan called the bomb squad and had them detonate a fruit cake I mailed to him for Christmas. It was in an unsuspicious package clearly marked “Fruit Cake for Bill Mulligan From Bill Myers.”
I mean, if you don’t like fruitcake, Bill, you could’ve just said so.
Bill, Mulligan just knows your COOKING. Not an overreaction at all. And he’s still talking to me, so he can’t be COMPLETELY against fruitcake, right?
My, are those loud crickets I hear?
Something that’s been bouncing around in my head is asking to come out. Did the BPD REALLY overreact to this, or is the overreaction actually by the news media? I’m willing, more than willing, to give the police the benefit of the doubt, the fact that they didn’t have anyone that recognized ATHF notwithstanding. Still, I think CN should’ve had either a contact number on the backs.
Oh, and you wanna talk about overreacting? Bill Mulligan called the bomb squad and had them detonate a fruit cake I mailed to him for Christmas. It was in an unsuspicious package clearly marked “Fruit Cake for Bill Mulligan From Bill Myers.”
What Mr Myers conviently leaves out is that chunks of the destroyed fruitcake badly injured two people and caused serious damage to a lovely car. What was that thing made from–concrete and bullets?
That’s a good point about recognition, Sean. I’m a total geek. As a matter of fact, I’m far and away the biggest geek in my department. I’ve seen the odd ep of ATHF before, but never really took to it. Even being a total geek and having seen it, I didn’t know what the hëll I was looking at until the newsreader holding the Space Invader Light-Brite up to the camera said that it was a Mooninite mock up ad for ATHF: The Movie. Can anybody say for sure that anybody at work for the BPD that day could even tell you what the hëll ATHF even was?
Count your blessings, Mulligan. I’ve seen fruitcake related incidents that would wake you from a sound sleep screaming like a new born. You didn’t overreact at all.
If anything, you didn’t go far enough. What foolish dolt thought that a mere standard detonation would destroy such a threat? Only by journying to Kitchen Doom and returning it through the gawping mouth of hellish oven from which it was spawned and into the fires within can one finally destroy one of the dámņëd things and break its reign of terror.
You got off lucky, my friend.
Okay, now I’m frustrated. Having heard so much of the inestimable Ms. David here, I followed the link – and can’t find the video in question. So I tried YouTube, as mentioned above – and can’t come up with any search terms (including the clip’s original designation) that will cough it up. Does anyone have a current link to the video?
Jonathan,
Go to the link, look on the right side of the site for the search tag over the video selections and enter “comic store employees” (without the quotes) into the search engine. Look for the one about the hoax. Should be the first or second that comes up.
// Absolutly they should be checked out, but checking them out and shutting down a city, causing a panic are not even remotly the same thing.
The vast majority of Boston wasn’t “shut down” //
That’s the way it was described in more then one news source. Shuting down an major roadway and shutting down a city can be a spiltting hairs thing, especially if you sitting in the traffic that’s cause as a result, or you losing bussiness because of the roads being closed.
// and I have yet to read about actual “panic” on any significant scale.//
Then you must of missed all the news headlines with catchy phases like, “panic in boston”. or “Terror scare brings city to standstill”. And it wasn’t the boxes that caused whatever panic and shutdown there was, it was the media and the officals. Even after the boxes were found to be harmless officals from the city were on the news saying things like this could be a terrorist dry run.
// So I’m not sure what incident or which city you’re referring to, but it certainly can’t be the “Mooninite attack” in Boston. //
Again, not the way it was presented in most news account, nor the impression given from the city’s own officals.
Posted by Darren J Hudak at February 3, 2007 07:07 PM
That’s the way it was described in more then one news source. Shuting down an major roadway and shutting down a city can be a spiltting hairs thing, especially if you sitting in the traffic that’s cause as a result, or you losing bussiness because of the roads being closed.
That’s like saying the difference between one and one thousand is “splitting hairs.” Shutting some major roadways is a far cry from shutting down an entire city.
I live in the Rochester, N.Y., area. About 16 or 17 years ago we had a bad-ášš ice storm that really shut the city down (hëll, it shut down multiple COUNTIES). Authorities were ticketing anyone dumb enough to try to drive on the ice-covered roadways. EVERYTHING was closed except for emergency services. EVERYTHING. THAT is shutting a city down. What happened in Boston didn’t come close. That is not splitting hairs, that is pointing out two vastly different situations.
Posted by Darren J Hudak at February 3, 2007 07:07 PM
Then you must of missed all the news headlines with catchy phases like, “panic in boston”. or “Terror scare brings city to standstill”. And it wasn’t the boxes that caused whatever panic and shutdown there was, it was the media and the officals. Even after the boxes were found to be harmless officals from the city were on the news saying things like this could be a terrorist dry run.
I used to be a reporter. I know how to spot typical media spew, and that’s what that was. Looking past the hyperbole, I read NOTHING to indicate there was an actual mass panic. Nobody was fleeing the city in terror, looting stores, or anything like that.
Posted by Darren J Hudak at February 3, 2007 07:07 PM
Again, not the way it was presented in most news account, nor the impression given from the city’s own officals.
That’s the difference between spew and substance. The media and city officials were spewing, but if you look past the spew to see the actual substance, there was no mass panic. Fear, maybe. Concern, certainly. But no panic.
I think the people who are really overreacting are the people accusing the BPD of overreacting.
To Bill Mulligan, Jerry Chandler, & Sean Scullion: Fine. No fruitcake for you next Christmas.
Bill Mulligan and Jerry–
SEE? Toldja it’d work. But NO, don’t believe me…
Okay, more things bouncing around in my head that wanna come out and play. Could it be that the hair-driven news conference was the two guys’ attempt to point out that in addition to their not being able to discuss this, there are bigger things going on in the world than a couple of guys putting up light boards? Or am I just being too generous?
// That’s the way it was described in more then one news source. Shuting down an major roadway and shutting down a city can be a spiltting hairs thing, especially if you sitting in the traffic that’s cause as a result, or you losing bussiness because of the roads being closed.
That’s like saying the difference between one and one thousand is “splitting hairs.” Shutting some major roadways is a far cry from shutting down an entire city.
I live in the Rochester, N.Y., area. About 16 or 17 years ago we had a bad-ášš ice storm that really shut the city down (hëll, it shut down multiple COUNTIES). Authorities were ticketing anyone dumb enough to try to drive on the ice-covered roadways. EVERYTHING was closed except for emergency services. EVERYTHING. THAT is shutting a city down. What happened in Boston didn’t come close. That is not splitting hairs, that is pointing out two vastly different situations. //
It’s all a matter of perspective. I live in NJ, where a few years ago a water main break on the New Jersey Parkway, (one of the two major highways in the state), that happend just as the morning rush hour was starting brought things to such a standstill that many people were 5 hours late for work. (I was one of the lucky ones, I was only two and half hours late for work). A radio new announcher described it as “practically bringing the state to a halt” and advised people who didn’t have to get to the office to “stay home”. If someone had said it “closed down the state for a while” I certainly wouldn’t have argued, nor would others who were sitting in traffic, unable to move forward or turn around, nor would private bussiness or government offices that found themselves unable to function because thier employees litterally couldn’t get there. Technically things weren’t “Shut down”, in reality they might of well have been. OTOH, on 911, NYC was really shut down, as shut down as any city could be, yet many bussiness, (like supermarkets, some of which are owned by the company I work for) stayed open. And I have friends who live and worked in Manhatan who managed to make it into NYC or out of NYC, (depending on where they were), even though it was “Shut down”. (Mind you they had to do it on foot but……). So again I would argue that there are different levels of “Shut down” and that it’s sometimes a matter of perspective.