Forget 10,000 songs in your pocket. Forget the Apple iPod. The latest gadget fetish--if you believe what you see advertised-- is the "iRaq," which offers, as its poster's tagline reads, "10,000 volts in your pocket, guilty or innocent."

While the iRaq poster is a brilliant street-level spoof on the nearly ubiqituous ads for Apple Computer's immensely popular portable MP3 player, it also refers to the all-too-real Abu Ghraib prison abuse scandal in an all-too-real country. As guerrilla street art goes, this is as political-activist as it gets.

This isn't the first time that the iPod poster has been treated to a third-party guerilla marketing campaign. Last year, an iPod owner, frustrated at Apple's poor handling of a then little-known battery flaw in the device, created a campaign in which he stencilled an anti-Apple message over New York City iPod posters.

So are we just seeing some clever street art? Or is this just an artful form of protest? Or both? Is it vandalism or fun for fun's sake? Whatever your take, it's a powerful example of culture-jamming made more potent by the Internet's exponential reach.

--Instamatic

RELATED LINKS

The Massive kicked off the Memorial Day weekend in New York with a visit to the Turntables on the Hudson summer opener at Pier 63 and the Frying Pan.

This wasn't just any ol' night on the Chelsea waterfront, it was also the first Turntables in two years in which the main event (and dancing) was allowed outside on the pier itself. Plus, it helped that the weather was perfect!

Hundreds of people were buggin' on the football-field-long wharf as Mario and Nickodemus manned the one's and two's and rocked Pier 63 with searing Latin-house beats and retro-80's mash-ups, while Nappy G. was in da hizzouse with live percussion.