Update on ‘Barrel Monster’
When I posted the above photo before, I didn’t quite realize what a cause celebre the ‘Barrel Monster’ had become.
From the Raleigh News-Observer:
In the week since Joseph Carnevale, a student at N.C. State University, was arrested June 10, both he and the Barrel Monster have attracted attention from around the country, and even the world.
The monster’s image was broadcast on national television networks Thursday amid coverage of the mass street demonstrations in Iran to protest the disputed election there. An interview with Carnevale aired that afternoon on National Public Radio’s “All Things Considered,” a national radio program.
Nearly 3,000 people have joined a page on Facebook, the social networking site, urging Wake prosecutors to drop the charges. The Barrel Monster, which was created under Carnevale’s nom d’art, Uliveandyouburn, has hundreds of Internet admirers, some from as far away as Brazil and South Korea. The page includes a doctored photograph showing the monster standing in for Jack Ruby as the killer of President John F. Kennedy’s assassin, Lee Harvey Oswald, in an iconic image.
Carnevale may have tapped into a growth industry:
At Hamlett Associates, the company that owned the barrels, staff members have repeatedly said they never wanted to press charges. Instead, they’d like to have a Barrel Monster of their own to display either at their Guilford County office or at a job site.
Steven Hussey, the company’s president, said he has turned down offers from Barrel Monster supporters who have called the company offering to repay him the less than $400 in barrels it took to create the statue. Send the money to charity instead, Hussey tells them.
“For a small amount of money, we got a ton of publicity,” Hussey said.
Perhaps the NYC DOT could erect a few at the gates of the newly closed section of Broadway at Times Square?
(thanks Daniel)
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This entry was posted on Friday, June 19th, 2009 at 2:03 pm and is filed under Traffic Engineering, Traffic safety, Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
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June 20th, 2009 at 8:56 pm
>Perhaps the NYC DOT could erect a few at the gates of the newly >closed section of Broadway at Times Square?
I have to say that is brilliant.
Although, maybe the barrel monster is not in keeping with the “new friendliness” that is sweeping the national culture lately, including streets. Is the recession resuling in a more positive or negative view of auto traffic?
“A recession will be tough. But it might turn us into a friendlier - and even happier - society”
I’ve seen a few articles lately about how statistic come up showing blog posts are using friendlier words, companies are changing their logos to be more friendly to keep up with the trend, and so on… I’ve noticed people have even been unusually friendly lately at work. something is going on, I’m convinced. But how does this play out in traffic… it seems people are taking a more negative view of auto traffic.