The group announced that their Nicole Montecalvo drone, named after the hot PR woman who works for the company that donated it, has helped them locate and intercept the Nisshin Maru, a Japanese factory ship. On its website, the group says the enemy escaped when “harpoon/security ships” moved in on their vessel, the Steve Irwin, but that doesn’t mean they can’t find it again, thanks to their unmanned aircraft:

“This time, however, the Japanese tactic of tailing the Steve Irwin and the Bob Barker will not work because the drones, one on the Steve Irwin and the other on the Bob Barker, can track and follow the Nisshin Maru and can relay the positions back to the Sea Shepherd ships.”

Godspeed Shepherds!

Goldsmith is responding to a discussion on an experimental film listserv with a heart-felt open letter. He fesses up to “poaching” the web and fishing in private file-sharing communities to build UBU’s amazing archive:

Because we have no money, we don’t ask permission. Asking permission always involves paperwork and negotiations, lawyers, and bank accounts. Yuk. But by doing things the wrong way, we’ve been able to pretty much overnight build an archive that’s made publically accessible for free of charge to anyone.

“Ubu is a friend, not a foe,” he adds. “Ubu doesn’t touch money. We don’t make a cent” or take grants, just University-donated server space. Plus, any artist or copyright holder can have their work removed immediately, if they want, but many have their work legitimately hosted on the site, by their own request. And so, UBU has created a passionate community and fostered mass cultural exposure to rare, out-of-print, hard-to-find and up-and-coming artifacts.

Kudos. Plunder on!

The New York Post reports that the 19-block path—which replaced a lane of car traffic and some parking spots four months ago—has inspired dueling rallies. Supporters and opponents have already held other rallies, answered Surveymonkeys, attended meetings, and protested or supported the lane electronically. The anti- side is particularly tenacious, because they are fighting a war on TERROR:

“Hundreds of residents say they feel considerably less safe since the installation of the bike lane,” says Louise Hainline, who founded a group called Neighbors for a Better Bike Lane. “It is now hazardous to cross the street, to park a car, and to open a car door into traffic lanes. It is, in fact, terrifying.”

It’s terrifying because of how the bikers ride around like assholes, said 71-year-old Joane Taylor to the New York Daily News, in so many words:

Taylor … said she was almost knocked to the ground on the path near First St. when a biker zoomed by, pushed her back and didn’t stop to see if she was okay.”I jumped back, pulled the dog’s leash back [and] I lost my footing and fell on the trunk of a car,” said Taylor, who bruised her hip in the encounter. “I don’t want to be overly dramatic…but if I was the mayor, I’d be worried about lawsuits.”

There wouldn’t have to be any lawsuits if the city just made bikes illegal. Then the roads would be safe again—for the babies, and the stroller moms, and the grandmoms, and the cars.

A city DOT spokesman told the Daily News that his agency “hadn’t observed” any crashes involving bikes and pedestrians. Maybe he was wrong? Because it’s really hard to believe that this bike lane isn’t just killing everybody who dares to approach it.

They also threatened police for threatening them in ninja-esque ensembles, had their mikes unfairly turned off by a chastising talk show host and commenced retaliatory flashing, and attempted to protest the closure of a democratic television station, but where thwarted by a wedding crowd and some sort of manure accident.

And so, the FEMEN girls continuously go wild, publish their antics’ visuals and then proceed to make coy, half-ironic commentary on their LiveJournal about using their “primary weapons” for the sake of activism. Whether they’re drawing attention to their cause of the day with tits or vice versa, the more you gawk, they more they win.

Some visuals below:

Photos: FEMEN’s Livejournal

Over the years, Voina staged many actions: police station take-overs, anti-homophobic faux-lynchings in malls, stray cat throwing into swanky restaurants, anti-Medvedev public orgies and all kinds of ruckus. Their most recent target: the headquarters of FSB, the offices of Russia’s KGB incarnate Federal Security Service. Our source: Voina themselves.

In the early morn of Che Guevara’s birthday, the group psyched out bascule bridge guards and made their way onto Liteiny Bridge. In 23 seconds flat, Voina painted a 213-feet-tall, 89-feet-wide phallus dubbed “Giant Galactic Space Dick.”

Voina’s President (a.k.a. Bucket Man) was captured and roughed up by the guards after painting the right testicle-orb. Unfortunately, the activists who were to write out an acronym directing the obscene gesture specifically at FSB got left behind, but as the bridge rose at 1:40 am directly in front of the FSB headquarters’ windows, the symbol could be seen across the city.

At 2:00 am, the Galactic Dick stood as high as the bridge would go, threatening the FSB as planned. Brigades of firefighters assembled below. Citizens happily made their way to the bombed bridge for photo ops and cheers.

The group did not release their hilarious, culturally un-translatable statement until their President was freed from jail. As the water hoses fired at the Galactic Dick, representatives were on hand to shout “They destroyed a spectacular work of art by the group Voina!”

And that is how it’s done.

New York City Naked Bike Ride 2010 went over well this Saturday, that is no one got maced, seriously trampled or raped (that we know of). There was a bit of an anti-BP theme in the mix with the usual Green pseudo-exhibitionism: “More Ass! Less Gas!”

The riders met up at Grand Ferry Park, painted up their nipplage and dirty bits and took off partially naked across the Williamsburg Bridge. To avoid cop trouble, the route was secret and most riders kept their lower procreation tools covered. Through the LES, East and West Villages to the Christopher Street Peer, stopping to frolic in the Washington Square Park fountain and loiter loudly at the BP gas station on Houston and at the UN HQ, then back to Brooklyn they went, leaving visual artifacts a plenty. Enjoy:

And more:

Main photo: Tatyana Kildisheva

Various artists have created anti-SB 1070 posters in protest of the recent immigration bill legalizing racial profiling. Swastikas seem to be the prevailing motif. See more and contribute at Alto Arizona.