Boing Boing tv Update: OFFWORLD, YES MEN, and THIS IS THE FIRST.

In this week's Boing Boing TV update, we discuss what's ahead with the launch of BOING BOING: OFFWORLD, and we speak with the YES MEN about their EPIC STUNT last week in which they printed and distributed lots and lots of copies of a New York Times fantasy-edition, with the headline IRAQ WAR ENDS. Mark blogged about this last week, with video.

We speak to three of the guys who made this event possible over a multi-channel iChat session that gets kind of melty sometimes. They are: Steve Lambert from the ANTI ADVERTISING AGENCY, Andy Bichlbaum from the YES MEN, and Scott Beibin from THE LOST FILM FEST. Some of those names might be aliases, who knows, caveat lector.

They say they received a cease and desist over email from HSBC over a parody HSBC ad that appears in both the print and online editions of their Faux NYT, but oddly, the C&D (they showed us a copy) is addressed to the REAL New York Times. We have not yet been able to confirm the lawyergram's validity with HSBC, but the email headers suggest it's legit.

In this Boing Boing TV update, you will hear music from Q-Burns Abstract Message and Eighth Dimension Records, and you'll hear me talk about BBtv's new programming changes. (Special thanks to Eddie Codel, Sean Bonner, and Scott Beale, who covered the Yes Men item early on).

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Link to Boing Boing tv blog post with subscription instructions, and here is a direct link to an MP4 file.

• [wolfiesma]

  Dude, the Yes Men are hot. Even the guy with the melting face. Also… nice soundtrack!

  • [Xeni Jardin]

    @wolfiesma, I like to think of that as Scott Beibin’s digital burqa. It’s awesome how the video-over-internet distortion only happened on the lower part of his visage, as if he were sneakily trying to disguise himself.

    This was the first time we’d tried 4-way iChat in video production, it was like a big cosmic grilled cheese sandwich of faces. But the cool factor overrides the HEY IT’S MELTY problem.

• [David Carroll]

  Wow Xeni! I can’t wait. This interview with the Yes Men reminds me of your previous chat with Star Simpson. Just like Ms. Simpson, I am guessing that the Yes Men consented to your interview precisely because they knew you understood what they were all about.

  PS. That purple jacket is gorgeous.

• [Hamish MacDonald]

  Thanks for this! I must admit, this is the first time I’ve watched a video on BoingBoing (like five minutes is a giant commitment on the Web or something). Totally off-topic, but Xeni, it’s nice to finally know now how to say your name in my head. And your speaking voice is just the coolest. I’m a gayer on another continent, so I’m just sayin’. It’s nice to hear someone on the Web who sounds smoky instead of dental-drillish, and who’s saying things of substance.

  More to the point, thanks for the in-depth discussion with The Yes Men. I think their prank was not only a brilliant-executed, epic win, it was also an act of great vision and hope to articulate what “the solution” would look like. It’s not just culture-jamming, it’s a real contribution to the collective imagination.

  Congrats on the new format.