and perhaps the real question is....would people notice, and really *appreciate*, a giant handknit Cthulu puppet or a 1up mushroom?

I think the joke's on the art people. Try watching the video and considering that all the special words--the 'vocabulary of modern art'--all the obscure fashion choices, all the money spent on painted canvas...could be meaningless to so many. I love art and think it's important and uplifting...but come on, it's not engineering ;p

People selling the Street Sheet here in the Bay Area do this too. They'll hawk a big stack of them but only the top one is a Street Sheet. The rest are the (free) Berkeley Daily Planet. Who wants to feel cheated when trying to do a small nice thing? jeesh.