Fakes and Forgeries | MUSEUM FATIGUE

Mystery Object #23: Menu of Fake Stuff

April 24, 2016 by Museum Fatigue

This morning while cleaning my office I found an item I collected a few years ago while in Shanghai which I immediately thought should be considered a Mystery Object. It is a “menu of fake stuff” that I acquired from one of the many salespeople of knockoff consumer goods who troll the length of Nanjing Road. To walk the street as a foreigner is to be constantly accosted by the salespeople who slide up next to you, flip out a […]

Categories: Fakes and Forgeries, Mystery Objects • Tags: China

Need Help Writing College Essays? 论文写作专家

August 8, 2014 by Museum Fatigue

No, I’m not running an essay writing service. I am, however, happy to see that I have career choices. Yesterday while enjoying a walk through the University of Toronto campus I noticed hundreds of fliers taped up on information boards and utility poles advertising the professional essay writing services. These were special, however, because they were entirely in Chinese (in both simplified and complex character versions) clearly targeting a specific client base. Most interesting to me was that even the […]

Categories: Consumption, Education, Fakes and Forgeries, Higher Education • Tags: cheating, college, 论文写作专家，essay writing

Amanda, The Computerized Telemarketer Who Insisted She Was Human

January 14, 2014 by Museum Fatigue

“The Master created humans first as the lowest type, most easily formed. Gradually, he replaced them by robots, the next higher step, and finally he created me, to take the place of the last humans.”― Isaac Asimov, I, Robot I just had the strangest conversation with a telemarketer. Well, actually I’m not sure I can consider it a conversation—because I’m sure the telemarketer was not even human. It was an exchange that quickly turned into a kind of Turing test, with a […]

Categories: Cyborgs, Fakes and Forgeries, Language, Scripts • Tags: Issac Asimov, lifegivingmoments.com, robocalls, Sarah Palin, telemarketing, Turing test

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Knockoff Films and Software in Morocco

January 6, 2014 by Museum Fatigue

While walking in old medina of Essaouria, Morocco, I passed a street stall filled with rows of knockoff films and software for sale. I couldn’t tell where they were made, but they appeared to be packaged exactly the same as knockoff software sold in China.

Categories: Fakes and Forgeries, Made in China • Tags: Essaouria, fakes, Morocco, movies, software