Feedback
November 5, 1997
New ones Monday through Friday
Reader mail: Volume
5
The price of fame
October 28: Stock
Swindle
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Dear simpleton,
Today's simpleton was very informative.
I don't know what you're aiming for anymore? You have set up the
categories for each day but only you really know what they are. What I'm
saying is I don't have idea what simpleton is going to be from one day
to the next. Will it be humorous, witty, insightful, delightful,
satire, parody or just plain cooooolll!!!!
It might not seem like it's very important but most readers already have
an expectation for what they are about to read and I think in most cases
when they don't get what they expect, they are disappointed or not as
pleased.
You're in a service industry, and don't you forget it.
Sincerely,
Henry
henry@novomedia.com
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Dear Henry,
Rest assured that every day, you can expect simpleton to
be humorous, witty, insightful, delightful,
satire, parody and just plain cooooolll!!!!
Since the first week of simpleton publication, we have hewed more or
less to the following schedule:
Monday: A series of cartoons (read "humor and insight")
Tuesday: An essay detailing our bottomless pomposity (read
"insightful
and delightful")
Wednesday: Reader Mail (you're reading it right now)
Thursday: A prank or joke of some sort (read: "humorous and
witty")
Friday: Parody day (read "all of the above")
This Thursday, however, we will be deviating somewhat from the above
schedule;
in place of the aforementioned prank, tomorrow's issue will highlight a
witty and insightful report from one of our far-flung correspondants.
Stay
tuned. It'll be just plain cool.
Sincerely,
simpleton
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______________________
October 27: How did
you
spend the extra hour?
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Topic: Fighting corporate censorship with a meme
Artist Mark Napier is the author and creator of The Distorted Barbie, a
web-based exploration in words and images of the impact Barbie and all
her
baggage have had on our bodies and culture. The site is a poetic and
potent
piece of Internet art.
While Napier's site has been online for quite a while, it's only
recently
attracted the attention of Mattel, Inc., who have issued a cease and
desist
notice -- they want the site taken down by October 22, 1997 [Note: this
date has passed, and Napier re-posted the site with heavily distorted
versions, renaming the site The Distorted Barblie. Mattel lawyers are
still
not satisfied].
It's all about trademark law, which draws capricious lines between
acceptable and unacceptable usage of brand identies in parody and
artwork
(did Brillo sue Warhol?) No reasonable person could assert that Napier's
site is going to affect Mattel's business, or even measurably dent the
sale
of Barbie dolls. Barbie is a molecule of the air Americans breathe.
While Napier has decided not to fight the Mattel request as an
individual,
there's a much more effective technique we can use to drive Mattel
lawyers
crazy: turn the Distorted Barbie site into a free-travelling meme. Place
copies of the site all over the net, then sit back and wait for Mattel
to
find them. When the company asks us to cease and desist, we will. But by
that time, dozens more copies of the site will have sprung up elsewhere
to
take its place. The lawyers' bogus squirrel hunt will turn into an
endless,
crazy-making pursuit of a target that multiplies exponentially by
digital
mitosis. Eventually, they'll give up and realize that the Internet is
not a
very good place to try and squelch free expression.
If you have available space on your Web server, consider downloading and
installing a mirror of the site in .zip or .tar format from
http://207.159.135.123/zips/
Please feel free to redistribute both the site and this message,
replacing
the sender's name and email address, and replacing the mirror addresses
above with your own. If you choose to mirror the site, be sure and
mirror
the downloadable archives as well!
VIVA LA DISTORTED BARBIE! VIVA LA MEME!
Sincerely,
banano@geocities.com
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Dear Banano,
Didn't Victor Lazlo make a similar speech in Casablanca? "If you strike
one of us down, ten more will rise up to take his place" or words to
that
effect? Somehow, resisting the Germans seemed so stirring in that
context,
while needling Mattel in this context seems not stirring at all.
I happen to agree with those capricious copyright laws, and the
jockstrap-sized
protections they provide to makers of intellectual property. And
Napier's revelation
that Barbie distorts our sense of body image is, um, not exactly a state
secret. And frankly, the smug tone of embattlement that informs this
Barbie Meme
campaign makes my head hurt. But I'm all for sticking it to The Man, so on the
off chance
that one or two of simpleton's 11 or 12 readers haven't heard about this
business,
I've reprinted your letter. Best wishes to you and all the other geniuses
who are exposing Barbie's True Agenda.
Sincerely,
simpleton
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______________________
October 30: Laffen
SS
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Dear simpleton,
Subject:this is more fun than work (equals freedom)
It was cool for a while, and then she got all Hitler on me!
I can't go out tonight, I'm reading a novel by Goebbels.
Do you want to be part of the problem, or part of the final solution?
Yeah, I read about how all the Nazis cross-dressed and mainlined
morphine, too. I still think what they did was wrong.
Too much Hitler, too little time.
In English, Mein Kampf translates to My Kampf.
Auschwitz! I slammed my finger in the oven door!
Mr. Spielberg, is it true the Jews in "Schindler's List" were
animatronic?
If you can't stand the Hitler, get out of the kitchen!
Sincerely,
Sam Lipsyte
lipsyte@feedmag.com
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Dear Sam,
Since our original Hitler list contained more than a few clunkers, I've
reprinted your
excellent list. Any other contributors out there? Now a floating Hitler
meme - that's
something the American people might get behind (if we can just find
somebody who wants
to shut us down).
Sincerely,
simpleton
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Dear simpleton,
I'm pretty sure that today's issue redefines bad taste. I may be forced
to:
a) Change my email signature
ii) Not send any email today
Bruce
brucek@reef.com
Please read http://www.simpleton.com so he'll leave me alone...
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Dear Bruce,
I was actually expecting some umbrage over this one, and hesitated about
running it,
but was forced to act when I read an article praising The Residents for
their daring
decision to put out an album called Third Reich and Roll. At that
point I decided
people have been getting away with this Hitler dodge way too long. And
where lesser
men would have sat silent before tyranny, simpleton acted.
Sincerely,
simpleton
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______________________
An
Invitation
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Dear simpleton,
Me and my friends are Exhibitionist and would like to show you how
naughty we can get.
You can see us Live and spend some Free time in our special little
private rooms. You will be viewing us with
a big viewing screen and fast clear video just like T.V. There are also
3 Live Rooms where you can
see me and my friends 24 hrs a day. Plus there are hundreds of wild
streaming videos, pictures , games, and stories.
If you have a Quickcam you can plug it in to your computer and we can
see you as well.
Me and my friends would love to see you.!!!! Doing you know what @@@@.
Hurry up and visit our website, me and my friends are desperately
waiting for you.
http://38.216.110.215/eskimo.htm
P.S. Me and my friends will also do a two girl show for you!!!!
XOXOXO
Alyssa
ksantos6@hotmail.com
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Dear Alyssa,
Listen, me and my old lady are into this kind of shit, but what say we
skip this
lame quickcam and streaming video and all that and just get right down
to laying
some pipe?
I mean, don't get me wrong, I'm Mr. Foreplay and all, it's just that
this watching
it all on computer ain't my bag. I mean, don't get me wrong (jeez, how
many times
am I gonna say that, huh?), I'm all for watching, and you and your
friend sound like
you got some holycrap imaginations. So, you know, anything goes. You can
even bring a
guy along - I know the Mrs would grok that, cause she gives as good as
she gets, you
know what I'm saying? We're way openminded.
So we should definitely have a good time, since we're all consenting
adults and everything - I mean we are all
adults here, right? (heh heh) Oh, that reminds me of something I heard
one time at the old perverts
home: "One time I had a nine-year-old with the body of an
eight-year-old." ;->
That's just a joke of course. I'm not even remotely into that kid thing.
I mean to
each his own, and you know our society is soooo uptight. Grass on the
field = play
ball, that's my
philosophy. But if I were into something
underripe (not that I am, just supposing) I sure wouldn't say it here.
Cause, I
mean for all I know you could be a cop or something, right? And fuck,
you're probably
thinking the same thing about me. And who can tell, cause we haven't
even met (is this online, cyber hightech shit a total mindfuck or
what?).
Which brings me back to square one. I think we're all on the same page
with this stuff,
but let's can the internet garbage and do it in person. Really, what
beats a little one-to-one
action (or 6 to 1 action for all we care ;->)? So give me a call, doll.
We'll definitely make
some shit happen.
XOXOXO
Buzz Perskie
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Alyssa is waiting for your
letter.
In the next installment of Reader Mail:
Solve the first weekly simpleton puzzle!
Track the growth of simpleton's readership!
Savor the wit of simpleton's fans!
Send your own letter and watch it become a meme!
Coming in one week!
And there'll be a new simpleton tomorrow!
Previously in simpleton:
Tuesday: King's Ransom:
Why it's good to be the King ... of Horror!
Monday: Day of the Dead:
Minor versions
Friday: A simpleton Hallowen
Thursday: Laffen SS:
A blitzkrieg of comedy
Wednesday: Reader Mail:
Volume 4
Tuesday: Stock
Swindle:
The stock footage industry and its discontents
A century of simpletons in the simpleton archive.
Tomorrow:
One of our far-flung correspondents reports in
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