The California Institute of Technology invited your best friend, the Companion Cube, to Astor Place in New York City.
You can bet that the California Institute of Technology is making a note here: “huge success.” A group of students from CalTech traveled all the way across the country to pull off one of its nerdiest pranks to date – transforming the recognizable Alamo sculpture in Astor Place, New York City from a modern masterpiece into a supersized piece of gaming iconography. This morning, city dwellers between Astor Place and Lafayette Street found the rotating cube covered in a Companion Cube sleeve, accompanied by a note from Aperture Science (appropriate for the Portal theme). By the time the news began to spread, the pranksters had already disappeared, presumably by way of portal gun.
In keeping with the Prank Club’s tradition of good-natured shenanigans, the Alamo sculpture remained totally unharmed. The Companion Cube skin is simple cloth, and the students attached it with non-adhesive fasteners. The note detailed how to remove the Companion Cube skin, claimed full responsibility, and even provided the group’s e-mail address. It did warn, however, that “premature euthanization of your companion cube can interfere with your ability to complete the test.”
The Alamo has been the target of a few pranks before, so GLADoS probably ordered city officials to deal with the Companion Cube fairly quickly. At this time, the CalTech pranksters do not appear to be in any trouble, although Mayor Bloomberg is not exactly congratulating them for interfering with a public work of art, either. If this incident has made anything clear, it’s this: New York City is in desperate need of a more permanent giant Companion Cube. Someone ought to get working on that, as soon as they finish baking that cake we were promised four years ago.
Source: MTV Geek!
