O/T Too much time on their hands 12/10
AGC Queen
Mustang exclusively in Pepsi product cans. His goal is to completely cover his
"Pop Can Car" by Jan. 3, when he'll drive to North Carolina to visit friends.
To deter copy artists, Fetzer won't disclose the glue he uses. His car only
halfway covered with Pepsi cans, Fetzer sometimes uses an air horn in traffic
to get attention -- and hopefully catch the eye of a Pepsi advertising exec.
You have a Coke fridge full of Pepsi. Is that an intentional irony?
I found the cooler sitting by a dumpster at the Amoco station by Station
Square. I'm not necessarily a Pepsi fan; it's good. I thought having the Coke
fridge was kind of funny.
How many cases do you have to drink to have enough cans to cover the car?
We gotta kill 10 cases. About two months ago Pepsi was up at Ross Park Mall
doing some promotional thing and I showed them my car. They let me fill my
trunk up with free Pepsi. They took a couple pictures so …
You're hoping for a commercial?
Yeah, there's that slight bit of fame I want. I could really use the money.
There's a lot of people around here that if they saw it, it's like, "Holy shit.
That's Nick Fetzer?" In school, I had a smart mouth on me. I'd always pick
fights with bigger kids just because I was an asshole, and I'd always get beat
up. I learned to shut my mouth and be quiet but people still know the old me.
Hopefully it'll just fix things. People'd see the car and be like, "Hey that's
pretty cool. He's not an asshole after all."
Do the cops give you problems when you're out driving?
About a month ago I actually got pulled over right in front of your [City
Paper] building Downtown. I have a friend that goes to Pittsburgh Technical
Institute and I usually pick him up and take him to school 'cause that's more
people that get to see the car. I was circling the block waiting for him and of
course this cop on a bike was like, "What the fuck?" I waved at him and he
smiled and pulled me over. He didn't get three words into a sentence before I'm
like, all right, this guy's a dick. People were laughing at him, crowding
around my car. This little old guy came out of the crowd and took a picture.
How do most people react to the car?
Either people like the car or they hate the car. When I'm on the highway, there
are some people who get in front of me just to see the car. It really pisses me
off. These guys are all laughin' and lookin' in the mirror. I'm like, get the
hell out of my way. You know, look at it as I go by.
Do you ever get any detractors?
I get lots of people who say, "What did you do that for?" I'm like, "Do you not
see the side of the car? Look at the paint. It's not even paint, it's primer.
Do you not see the rust? Do you think that I care?" Some people get offended,
"Your car's supposed to be your prized possession." That makes me sick. No,
it's not. It's a piece of metal.
I look at it like, "This is my paint job. Why don't you like it? Because it
says 'Pepsi'? Your car's just red."
http://www.pghcitypaper.com/vocal.htm
* * *
By Matt Avery/Alligator Writer
Most students never give the 10-foot tall rock standing outside Turlington Hall
a second thought.
Justin Valiquette would like to change that.
Valiquette and a group of UF art students will transform the monument into
possibly one of the world's largest baked potatoes today as part of a
performance art project.
"I'll never forget Turlington Rock," Valiquette said. "This rock is going to
get so much publicity that it's never had before."
Valiquette said this project is for the UF art course called Workshop in Art
Research Practice. Students spend weeks researching an artist of their choice
and then produce their own project "incorporating our style with their style."
Valiquette said he studied an artist named Christo, who is known for his
wrappings. Christo has wrapped statues and buildings, and during the 1980s he
covered several islands of Key Biscayne entirely with pink tarp.
"Basically (Christo) does things for his own pleasure," Valiquette said. "A lot
of it looks really neat.
"There's not too much significance ... basically he just likes to see things
done."
Valiquette said he set out to imitate Christo's style, but he threw in his own
sense of humor. He said many of the students he talked to already thought
Turlington Rock resembled a potato; he just decided to help the image along.
"I just thought it would be pretty funny," he said.
Valiquette said he and a group of art students will begin transforming the rock
at noon today. They plan to completely cover the monument with tinfoil and
surround it with orange heat lamps. Valiquette said Gator Dining employees from
the Racquet Club will be providing 15 of the students with white jackets and
chefs' hats to complete the image.
Valiquette said he expects many students to view the wrapping throughout the
day. He said the potato will be left intact until about 6 p.m., though the
actual work will only take about two hours.
"I've talked to a lot of people," Valiquette said. "A lot of people want to
come out and watch."
Students have UF's full support to carry out the project, Valiquette said. He
said it took a "chain of events" to get approval for it, but it is "kind of
neat that the university is helping me out."
http://www.alligator.org/edit/issues/99-fall/current/b08potato8.htm
* * *
By Joe Williams and Meg Jones/of the Journal Sentinel staff
A group of advertising students at the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire is
attracting the attention of the U.S. Census Bureau with an idea to educate
college students about the importance of the 2000 Census by placing stickers on
condoms.
"Safe sex is big right now, and we just had AIDS Day a week ago," said Adam
Kinkel, a senior at the university and part of the team of students that
presented the idea to the Eau Claire County Board this week. "We thought this
would be a good way to get the message to a lot of college students."
The county's Census 2000 Complete Count Committee asked UW-Eau Claire
advertising professor Timothy Leutwiler and his class of 28 seniors to come up
with ideas to increase the reach of census counters in areas of the county
where residents are less likely to return census forms.
The class divided into seven competing mock advertising agencies. Several of
them have already made their presentations to county officials.
The condom wrapper suggestion, in which a Census 2000 sticker is placed on a
prophylactic and attached to a brochure about the importance of being counted,
was presented this week.
If the idea flies, it would likely be the first time condoms have been used to
encourage participation in the census.
"It's a unique program, one that we don't know has ever been tried in the
country," said Ardell Ladd of the U.S. Census Bureau, which is overseen by the
Commerce Department.
County Supervisor Brian Fisher, chairman of the board's Census Committee, said
some residents complained that by promoting census stickers on condoms the
county would be using taxpayer money to promote birth control.
"Right now, it's just an idea. We aren't promoting or condemning the idea, it's
just brainstorming by college students," Fisher said Thursday.
The County Board committee has lots of ideas to consider from the advertising
students before selecting ideas for real-world use. The board has budgeted
$4,900 to promote the census in Eau Claire County and voted earlier this week
to apply for additional state funding.
"Is (the condom idea) possible? We haven't reviewed it yet. We have seven
teams' ideas to sift through," Fisher said. "I personally think it's a really
good idea. The problem is you're dealing with a political body."
Fisher, 24, who is in his first term and is the second-youngest person ever to
serve on the County Board, acknowledged it might be tough to get the board to
sign off on the idea.
Putting census logo stickers on condoms has attracted national attention, said
Fisher, who has fielded calls from journalists from around the country.
County Board Chairman Howard Ludwigson said the committee will present its
recommendations to the board, and "if the committee picks (condom stickers) as
their proposal, it would be kind of an interesting County Board meeting."
But he doubts the County Board will decide to hand out free condoms.
"I wouldn't count on that, but there are some other really clever" ideas,
Ludwigson said.
http://www.jsonline.com/news/metro/dec99/census10120999a.asp
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