viz.

A year ago today, the city of Boston was brought to a standstill by led advertisements for the Aqua Teen Hunger Force movie. Here’s how I described the incident way-back-when in viz.’s first blog post:

on Jan. 31, 2007, some members of the the Boston police force interpreted some electronic, guerrilla marketing devices for the movie Aqua Teen Hunger Force Colon Movie Film for Theaters as bombs. The city closed down bridges and shut down the river to boat traffic. In the ensuing fallout, video artists Peter Berdovsky and Sean Stevens were arrested and the president of Adult Swim resigned over the incident.

Today, graffiti artists and other pranksters have commemorated the incident by posting similar LED art all over Beantown:

Some of the installations included special warnings:

Apparently, Berdovsky and Stevens ended up receiving a slap on the wrist—they had to do some community service—but the incident has become infamous among technology-types as an example of the wonderful things we can accomplish as a society through a steadfast reliance on our vast reserves of ignorance and fear.

Happy Aqua Teen Day.