Happy New Year.

Christmas Subway Platform Sign Hack in Boston

Via subwayart:

A transit employee was responsible for this awesome prank on the red line in Boston. Unfortunately, the MTBA had said they were going to reprimand the employee. Have some holiday spirit MBTA! Check out this article on The Globe for more info.

I took this video on 8th Avenue this evening.  It’s a box truck whose sole purpose is to advertise the Hustler Club.  How is this legal?  I’m not upset with what is being advertised.  I just think it’s absurd that you’re allowed to drive a vehicle that is essentially an enormous television set through city streets.  My iPhone didn’t pick it up so well, but there was loud audio as well.

If we’re going to ban hands free cellphone use because it leads to distracted driving, maybe we should also ban huge trucks with speakers and bright video screens that are solely on street to distract.

I should qualify this by admitting that if the truck was an art project instead of an ad, I probably would have loved it.  A contradiction, I know, but I think advertising, which serves no public good, should be regulated more heavily than art.

Great article exposing the sham GOP argument that the wealthiest Americans are “job creators” and therefore shouldn’t pay their fair share of taxes:

The most important reason the theory that “rich people create the jobs” is absurd, argues Nick Hanauer, the founder of online advertising company aQuantive, which Microsoft bought for $6.4 billion, is that rich people do not create jobs, even if they found and build companies that eventually employ thousands of people. What creates the jobs, Hanauer astutely observes, is a healthy economic ecosystem surrounding the company, which starts with the company’s customers.

The company’s customers buy the company’s products, which, in turn, creates the need for the employees to produce, sell, and service those products. If those customers go broke, the demand for the company’s products will collapse. And the jobs will disappear, regardless of what the entrepreneur does.

Full article: Finally A Rich American Destroys The Fiction That Rich People Create Jobs

I had seen a clip of this Romney encounter on TV a few times, but seeing the full version here, including the man’s comments after Romney leaves, really tells the full story.

It is fascinating to watch politicians have to look gay people in the eye as they advocate for their inequality.  The abstract “gay” is very different from the gay veteran sitting at a diner with his husband, or a lesbian mother showing off her ridiculously cute daughters in the face of a mayor who made a derogatory statement about “queers” on Facebook.

It is really starting to feel like the politics have changed so much since 2004.  If marriage equality becomes a major issue in 2012, I think it’s actually going to be a really bad thing for Republicans.  Though Obama better keep “evolving” if he’s going to be on the right side of history.

(via chriskelly)

Matt Adams has started a Kickstarter campaign to complete the documentary he’s making about Improv Everywhere.  To kick off the campaign, Matt created a teaser for the film, embedded above.  Enjoy!  And if you can help him out, donate to the project.  There are lots of great rewards for donors.

Via NPR:

Just in time for the holidays, Improv Everywhere has a brand new DVD out.  And a t-shirt too.  Thanks to Andrew Flynn Soltys for putting it together.

This seems like wonderful news.  I hope he’s right.

Here’s a video from Michael and Evan of The Gregory Brothers that they shot while working on our Mall Santa Musical video.  I would call it a “behind-the-scenes” video, but it’s more a “hilarious-tangent-near-the-scenes.”  If you’re not already subscribed to their hit YouTube channel, you should probably go do that now.