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Front Page, Industry News
Aspiring filmmaker behind Alberta falling-satellite hoax
Friday September 30th 2011CALGARY – Sebastian Salazar will openly admit he’s no Orson Welles, but for one night, the aspiring filmmaker offered his very best impression.
Salazar was the source of the social-media hoax that claimed a NASA satellite that had been falling to Earth had crashed into a farmer’s field near Okotoks, Alta., about 40 kilometres south of Calgary.
Less than subtle hints that Salazar was pulling a fast one could have been noted by a check of his Twitter account – (at)imnotgonnalie2u and profile picture of a winking face.
“I didn’t say it was a spoof but I made it pretty obvious,” he said.
However, many didn’t clue in to the joke.
While NASA eventually would reveal the satellite fell out of orbit into the Pacific Ocean off the U.S. West Coast, the Alberta RCMP said they fielded calls from reporters in Japan, England and across the U.S. about claims the debris had crashed near Okotoks.
On Monday, the Mounties said they have no interest in going after Salazar.
“We’re not investigating on this at all. It’s a done deal as far as we’re concerned,” said RCMP Sgt. Patrick Webb.
Salazar said his inspiration came from Welles’ 1938 War of the Worlds broadcast, which portrayed an alien invasion and at the time, created hysteria in the United States.
In fact, the would-be filmmaker used direct quotes from the radio broadcast.
It started off with “Reporter Carl Phillips” on the scene of “Wilmuth farm” with the debris, both lifted from Welles.
Salazar painted a picture of the satellite crashing into Earth; ending up “half-buried in a vast pit. Must have struck with terrific force” he wrote.
He even posted a picture of the so called debris, made of spare parts he found in his house.
“If it worked for Orson Welles in 1938, I wanted to see if it worked on Twitter in 2011,” he said.
“I’m certainly no Orson Welles, I just took his stuff and remixed it for 2011.”
He said he thought of it more as a social experiment with citizen journalists not checking everything they read on Twitter.
“I’m happy not a lot of news organizations were not taking it seriously,” he said. “This is the stage where people were not checking their sources.
“If someone like CNN (picked it up), that would have been hilarious.”
He said some people on Twitter started to call him out on the hoax, but said there are many others who never realized the hoax.
Police said it’s a good reminder for members of the public not to believe everything they read online.
Source: Vancouver Sun
Front Page, Industry News
Aspiring filmmaker behind Alberta falling-satellite hoax
Friday September 30th 2011CALGARY – Sebastian Salazar will openly admit he’s no Orson Welles, but for one night, the aspiring filmmaker offered his very best impression.
Salazar was the source of the social-media hoax that claimed a NASA satellite that had been falling to Earth had crashed into a farmer’s field near Okotoks, Alta., about 40 kilometres south of Calgary.
Less than subtle hints that Salazar was pulling a fast one could have been noted by a check of his Twitter account – (at)imnotgonnalie2u and profile picture of a winking face.
“I didn’t say it was a spoof but I made it pretty obvious,” he said.
However, many didn’t clue in to the joke.
While NASA eventually would reveal the satellite fell out of orbit into the Pacific Ocean off the U.S. West Coast, the Alberta RCMP said they fielded calls from reporters in Japan, England and across the U.S. about claims the debris had crashed near Okotoks.
On Monday, the Mounties said they have no interest in going after Salazar.
“We’re not investigating on this at all. It’s a done deal as far as we’re concerned,” said RCMP Sgt. Patrick Webb.
Salazar said his inspiration came from Welles’ 1938 War of the Worlds broadcast, which portrayed an alien invasion and at the time, created hysteria in the United States.
In fact, the would-be filmmaker used direct quotes from the radio broadcast.
It started off with “Reporter Carl Phillips” on the scene of “Wilmuth farm” with the debris, both lifted from Welles.
Salazar painted a picture of the satellite crashing into Earth; ending up “half-buried in a vast pit. Must have struck with terrific force” he wrote.
He even posted a picture of the so called debris, made of spare parts he found in his house.
“If it worked for Orson Welles in 1938, I wanted to see if it worked on Twitter in 2011,” he said.
“I’m certainly no Orson Welles, I just took his stuff and remixed it for 2011.”
He said he thought of it more as a social experiment with citizen journalists not checking everything they read on Twitter.
“I’m happy not a lot of news organizations were not taking it seriously,” he said. “This is the stage where people were not checking their sources.
“If someone like CNN (picked it up), that would have been hilarious.”
He said some people on Twitter started to call him out on the hoax, but said there are many others who never realized the hoax.
Police said it’s a good reminder for members of the public not to believe everything they read online.
Source: Vancouver Sun
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Front Page, Industry News
Aspiring filmmaker behind Alberta falling-satellite hoax
Friday September 30th 2011CALGARY – Sebastian Salazar will openly admit he’s no Orson Welles, but for one night, the aspiring filmmaker offered his very best impression.
Salazar was the source of the social-media hoax that claimed a NASA satellite that had been falling to Earth had crashed into a farmer’s field near Okotoks, Alta., about 40 kilometres south of Calgary.
Less than subtle hints that Salazar was pulling a fast one could have been noted by a check of his Twitter account – (at)imnotgonnalie2u and profile picture of a winking face.
“I didn’t say it was a spoof but I made it pretty obvious,” he said.
However, many didn’t clue in to the joke.
While NASA eventually would reveal the satellite fell out of orbit into the Pacific Ocean off the U.S. West Coast, the Alberta RCMP said they fielded calls from reporters in Japan, England and across the U.S. about claims the debris had crashed near Okotoks.
On Monday, the Mounties said they have no interest in going after Salazar.
“We’re not investigating on this at all. It’s a done deal as far as we’re concerned,” said RCMP Sgt. Patrick Webb.
Salazar said his inspiration came from Welles’ 1938 War of the Worlds broadcast, which portrayed an alien invasion and at the time, created hysteria in the United States.
In fact, the would-be filmmaker used direct quotes from the radio broadcast.
It started off with “Reporter Carl Phillips” on the scene of “Wilmuth farm” with the debris, both lifted from Welles.
Salazar painted a picture of the satellite crashing into Earth; ending up “half-buried in a vast pit. Must have struck with terrific force” he wrote.
He even posted a picture of the so called debris, made of spare parts he found in his house.
“If it worked for Orson Welles in 1938, I wanted to see if it worked on Twitter in 2011,” he said.
“I’m certainly no Orson Welles, I just took his stuff and remixed it for 2011.”
He said he thought of it more as a social experiment with citizen journalists not checking everything they read on Twitter.
“I’m happy not a lot of news organizations were not taking it seriously,” he said. “This is the stage where people were not checking their sources.
“If someone like CNN (picked it up), that would have been hilarious.”
He said some people on Twitter started to call him out on the hoax, but said there are many others who never realized the hoax.
Police said it’s a good reminder for members of the public not to believe everything they read online.
Source: Vancouver Sun
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