In this week's Boing Boing TV update, we discuss what's ahead with the launch of BOING BOING: OFFWORLD, and we speak with the YES MEN about their EPIC STUNT last week in which they printed and distributed lots and lots of copies of a New York Times fantasy-edition, with the headline IRAQ WAR ENDS. Mark blogged about this last week, with video.

We speak to three of the guys who made this event possible over a multi-channel iChat session that gets kind of melty sometimes. They are: STEVE LAMBERT FROM the ANTI ADVERTISING AGENCY, ANDY BICHLBAUM form the YES MEN, and SCOTT BEIBIN from THE LOST FILM FEST. Some of those names might be aliases, who knows, caveat lector.

They say they received a cease and desist over email from HSBC over a parody HSBC ad that appears in both the print and online editions of their Faux NYT, but oddly, the C&D (they showed us a copy) is addressed to the REAL New York Times. We have not yet been able to confirm the lawyergram's validity with HSBC, but the email headers suggest it's legit.

In this Boing Boing TV update, you will hear music from Q-Burns Abstract Message and Eighth Dimension Records, and you'll hear me talk about BBtv's new programming changes. (Special thanks to Eddie Codel, Sean Bonner, and Scott Beale, who covered the Yes Men item early on).

Today on Boing Boing tv we reprise our ongoing SPAMasterpiece Theater series featuring author, PC, and minor television personality John Hodgman. His new book, MORE INFORMATION THAN YOU REQUIRE was released just a couple of weeks ago.

Hodgman himself describes this series as the dramatization of "true tale[s] of romance, adventure, infamy, and low-cost prescription drugs, all culled from the reams of actual, unsolicited emails, received here by us and people like you -- what we call SPAM."

Today's installment: V1V4 M3X1CO., in which we explore supply chain management solicitations with the help of luchadores, mariachis, beautiful black-n-white señoritas from the silver screen of our abuelitos, and GIANT NARCO-KITTEHS WITH UZIS.

A note from our musical director: The adaptation of Jean-Joseph Mouret's "Rondeau: Fanfare" (1735) which opens today's episode was remixed in flagrante 8-bit by Hamhocks Buttermilk Johnson.

Also: a special and hearty thanks to the talented and generous Ehrich Blackhound (previously boinged here) for creating our new, typographically-correct opening slates for this parody series.

Previous SPAMasterpiece Theater episodes on Boing Boing tv:
* SPAMasterpiece Theater, Vol. I
* SPAMasterpiece Theater, Vol. II
* SPAMasterpiece Theater, Vol III

And more Hodgman on Boing Boing tv:
* More Information Than You Require. This is not a book trailer, part 2.
* More Information Than You Require. This is not a book trailer.
* More Information Than You Require.

John Hodgman's new book MORE INFORMATION THAN YOU REQUIRE hits the streets on October 21, but by no means is today's episode of Boing Boing tv any sort of, oh, how do the marketing people say it -- it's not a book trailer, and it is by no means a promotional vehicle for said book.

No, we just noticed the star of Apple ads and Daily Show hijinks wandering aimlessly in the streets outside the BBtv studio this week. We invited him in for scotch and cocoa, and shared questions posed to him by BBtv viewers through the popular internet messaging website known as "The Twitter."

We don't know how all those books managed to stack themselves from studio floor to ceiling. We are not holding those books in front of our faces in the first 10 seconds of this episode so that you might see the cover -- we're doing low-impact pilates.

HEY LOOK, IT'S A CONTEST: If you would like to receive a Hodgmanically autographed copy of the book for which this episode is not a promotional trailer, reply to @xenijardin on The Twitter with the answer to this question:

What area of expertise does Hodgman credit Boing Boing tv for on page 592 of this excellent book?"

We will select a winner randomly. Friends, spouses, love-slaves, and business partners of Boing Boing and Boing Boing tv are not eligible. (Serious face: this episode isn't an ad, we're just ridiculously hardcore fans of Hodgman. Watch our trufan-trailer here, then, seriously, go buy the book).

Previously on Boing Boing tv:

* John Hodgman in BBtv's SPAMasterpiece Theater, Vol II: "Wuthering Wire Transfers."
* John Hodgman in BBtv's SPAMasterpiece Theater.
* John Hodgman: More Information Than You Require.