INFOMERCIA: hostile takeover of Boing Boing Gadgets
I'm not sure what's going on over at Boing Boing Gadgets today, but you really ought to have a look. Snip from the "takeover" post:
Welcome to Infomercia, a massive super-conglomerate turned government on an alternate Earth in which indiscriminate technological consumerism and promiscuous corporate partnerships have become the backbone of an oppressive, Orwellian dystopia.Whatever you do, they say -- "always stay calm, and keep shopping!" Boing Boing Gadgets explains: "Just How The Hell Did I End Up In Infomercia?"In Informercia, propaganda-driven consumerism is the method by which the masses are mollified, kept swollen and subdued by the government's encouragement of the blind pursuit of incrementally improved technology and the accumulation of crapgadgets. There is no money in Infomercia: instead, income is taxed at 100 percent, and technology is purchased from a monthly stipend of Informercian Pegasus Rebates, the official currency.
Infomercia is not our world's only super-conglomerate, but is one of a triumvirate of equally matched powers: Engasia and Gizmoldovia. Infomercia has "always" been at war with Engasia; Gizmoldovia is its ally.
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It's annoying, frankly.
This is so many kinds of awesome. Part scifi, part wry commentary on rampant gadget consumerism.
Pity some people can't take the joke, nor the alteration to their normally scheduled Joelbits.
Infomerica rules! Literally.
I guess it's a Love/Hate relationship.
Kind of heavy-handed for an ARG.
...As I said on another thread, this sort of stunt belongs only on April Fools' Day.
keeping it real makes it better. Too much unexamined gadget fetishism leads to minds that miss the out-of-left field innovation that makes tech fun. Admit it; a large part of the pleasure is knowing you how something works that most people don't. Humour is good. Now someone pass out the ear-shavers for all those geeks that left something behind when they grew up.
I'm surprised to see so many people frustrated by this obviously brilliant bit of comedy. Are so many of you really, genuinely not getting the humor in this one? (You probably watched Monty Python and wondered, "Why are they laughing about this dead parrot thing? I don't get it.")
Is satire really that difficult to grasp? Hm.
I'm surprised to see so many people acting like everyone who doesn't think this is uproariously funny simply doesn't understand satire or lacks a sense of humor.
Oh, wait... No, I'm not.
Consider the possibility that some of the unamused do get it, but think it's poorly done and/or that 3 full days of it is overkill. And count me among them.
Is satire really that difficult to grasp?
My wife loves Dinosaur Comics. I hear her howling with laughter every time she reads a new one. I, on the other hand, cannot find much humour in them. Which of us is right and which is wrong?
Perhaps a better demonstration of how different people react to apparent comedy is the following joke, told to me long ago by a dear friend:
Two penguins are sitting in a bathtub. One says to the other, "Please hand me the soap." The other replies, "What do I look like, a radio?"
This made me laugh so hard I was in tears. Another friend in the room (a guy with a great sense of humour, I hasten to add) scratched his head and said, "I don't get it? Why is that funny?"
Sometimes the joke just isn't funny to everyone.
Well, it's a site that I look at every day. So if they want to take three days out of pure gadget-blogging and do something original and fun, I've got no problem with that. Normal service will be resumed shortly, huh?
I get it.
Please make it stop.
I got it. It's just annoying. No hits from me for a week. I wonder what your sponsors will think?
that you are really cranky?
Reminding us BB is part of consumer ecology >> TV (internet)>> super-market magazines >> identity >> gregarious human need to belong >> moulded-plastic crap to define oneself>> is an awful feeling.
Sometimes it hurts to have someone hold a mirror in your face when you have not taken a look at yourself in a while.
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I hear Riddley Scott may be tempted to make A. Huxley's Brave New World into a film.
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Sorry, i'll try to wrap my tin-foil a little tighter tomorrow.
For what it's worth, I think it's awesome.
I pretty much only read BBGadgets for the lunatic prose anyway, and this means I get an extra dose of loony this week.
@8: Is satire really that difficult to grasp? Hm.
I don't so much think of that as the issue, as much as it is those that might normally tune into Boing Boing Gadgets for interesting gadget-related news -- myself included -- are becoming an unwitting audience to a performance art project. Cute for some, annoying for others.
your story has become tiresome! Would you like to touch my monkey?
Have you been channeling Bob Dobbs? "Eternal salvation or your money back" And I particularly liked "BuyCrime".
I found it pretty annoying and not all that funny, but it was easy enough to ignore in my RSS feed. I only ever visit the pages if I want to comment any way. :)
This game grew tiresome quickly.
Stop having fun!
Or, if you must, at least have the decency to do it somewhere the rest of us don't have to watch!
we have the right to recreate ourselves.
Why did it abruptly stop? I was totally waiting for the conclusion...