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2003.08.07
Flash mob 6
NOTE: We've followed up on this this post here, here, and here.
After a somewhat disappointing Mob 5, Mob 6 bounced back with a vengeance, staging a coup that superseded our expectations. Hundreds took over the second floor of the Toys "R" Us flagship store in Times Square, with instructions to gather around its looming, twenty-foot animatronic T-Rex and "stare, transfixed".
By 7:15, we had made it to the second floor on the packed escalator and spent a few minutes trying to blend in by doing some fake shopping and hula-hooping. As the soon-to-be mob gathered critical mass, parents who were actually there to shop looked somewhat nervous and pulled their children close.
At precisely 7:18 pm, as shoppers gawked and TV cameramen appeared from nowhere, the mob was transformed into a tribe of cowed Neanderthals, kneeling to worship the mighty green lizard god. But the dinosaur's electronic roar was no match for the power of the mob's primal wail.
Mob 6 was ten minutes of surreal, hilarious chaos. Escalators were clogged, nerves were frazzled, a symbolic point was scored on behalf of anti-capitalism, and a good time was had by all. Our only question is...where does it go from here?
Posted by Glowlab | Permalink
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Listed below are links to weblogs that reference Flash mob 6:
» MOB #6 from Satan's Laundromat
Oh, how I hoped Mob #6 would be in Times Square proper, out in the open, with tourists gaping at us from all sides. (When, Bill, when?) Instead, it was in Toys R Us, and it was a cute idea,... [Read More]
Tracked on Aug 8, 2003 8:53:48 AM
» dinosaur mob review from cce blog
All told, it seemed pretty silly: afterwards I couldn't help thinking we'd all go swallow goldfish next, or see how many people we could stuff into a phone booth. As I said in my last entry, I still think these things need a cause, some kind of purpos... [Read More]
Tracked on Aug 8, 2003 11:23:44 AM
Comments
You may want to take a look at these entries. He's vulgar, but makes some good points, especially in the second post.
http://incestuousamplification.blog-city.com/read/167188.htm
http://incestuousamplification.blog-city.com/read/172377.htm
Posted by: Jer | Aug 8, 2003 4:08:40 AM
How is it possible that a technology with such potential to empower the individual -- has turned into an irritating clique-machine for the hipster sheep?
You know what I'm talking about.
The FLASH MOB.
This self-proclaimed movement of self-empowering "spontaneous" public performance has reached internet critical mass in just three months.
Hundreds have gathered to embarrass themselves in New York. More than once. And it is spreading.
Berlin, that epitome of existential cool, has succumbed. But I feel no shadenfreude.
Flash Mobs don't even deserve to hit places like Akron and Boise, though I am sure they soon will.
Like Trucker Caps, soul-patches, and the I Kiss You Guy: it is a stupid idea that got bigger, and stupider, before anyone had the good sense and guts to smack it down.
So: Let's put it all to a silly death right now.
HACK THE FLASH MOB!
Its time to social engineer the texting, blackberry-checking, cell-phone sheep that promote this waste of public space.
Flash Mobs: Your 15 minutes are over.
Disperse now.
Posted by: Tom | Aug 10, 2003 1:40:30 AM
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