Shrapnel — December 2004

Looking for a way to pay off those Christmas bills?

Why not become a human billboard?

It's a Sim world after all

One of my favourite artists is Jon Haddock, who created this gallery of iconic images as filtered through The Sims. The pics are a bit old now, but they still stand up.

Resistance is futile

The authors of Rebel Sell argue that anti-consumerism is a charade, and that it's not whether or not we consume that matters, it's how we consume.

What we see in films like American Beauty and Fight Club is not actually a critique of consumerism; it's merely a restatement of the "critique of mass society" that has been around since the 1950s. The two are not the same. In fact, the critique of mass society has been one of the most powerful forces driving consumerism for more than 40 years.

But Fear Factor is still real, right?

In a shocking turn of events, it turns out reality television is not so real. But how could we have known?

"The Simple Life" is so unreal that people who produce the show refer to it as a "hybrid sitcom" or a "soft-scripted show," a fact Fox does not deny. This fall, when the entire season's gimmick was that Hilton and Ritchie slept in trailer parks, they checked into hotels all but two nights.

In an upcoming episode, I found out, Hilton and Ritchie tell some kids that the best present for their daddy is to get him laid by their mom. So the women go to a bar to score some condoms. The producers had pre-interviewed a guy in a baseball cap who would agree to take them to his apartment to give them some rubbers. But the ever-confused Hilton and Ritchie went up to the wrong guy, who, not surprisingly, happily agreed to take them to his place.

The producers, however, yelled, "Cut," confusing everyone in the bar, who thought they were at a reality show taping. Then Hilton and Ritchie started the scene again and approached the baseball-cap guy, because the producers had already lighted his apartment. It seems they had momentarily forgotten how effectively Hilton can act in night vision.

Who buys these things?

EBay has been the host for some very odd auctions, from the Virgin Mary grilled-cheese sandwich to human souls. Now there's a ghost for sale. And then there's the matter of reflectoporn.

Roadside attractions

A few years ago, I rode through the South as a passenger in a cargo truck. I was struck by the number of homegrown churches there, and the weird, apocalyptic feel to religion. Churches beside gun, ammo and liquor shacks, burned-out churches and, in one memorable moment, a glowing cross hurtling toward me out of the night (it was attached to the front of a semi). And roadside crosses everywhere.

But crosses and giant Jesus statues aren't the only roadsite attraction in the South, or anywhere in America for that matter. It's a roadside nation, from American Stonehenges to the world's largest ball of paint (echoes of DeLillo's White Noise here).

Rogue taxidermists

Rogue because dead animals ain't art, dammit. Or are they...?

If you are looking for approval for this so called"art", I am afraid you have come to the wrong place. Displays of wounded,bleeding or mangled animals is not in any form,"art."