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Offline mrnyc

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frozen grand central
« on: February 01, 2008, 03:03:23 AM »
a pretty funny stunt  :wtf:   :laugh:


February 1, 2008
Video of the Day: Frozen Grand Central

Improv Everywhere was back recently causing a commotion (or more appropriately: a standstill) at Grand Central. For this prank the troupe had 207 "agents" in place that all froze on cue for five minutes. (We'd love to see this go down in Times Square.) The below footage shows the latest stunt:




The onlookers prove to be equally entertaining, and didn't know what to think (protest? acting class?). One employee trying to move his cart through the terminal has to radio in for help: "I can't move my cart, there's hundreds of people frozen everywhere. This is wild. I need some help." Improv Everywhere: making the commute more interesting.


http://gothamist.com/2008/02/01/video_of_the_da_159.php#comments
« Last Edit: September 11, 2009, 02:43:46 AM by Sherman Cahal »
"That whole rural thing. It's a joke." Ed Koch

Offline MayDay

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Re: frozen grand central
« Reply #1 on: February 01, 2008, 03:12:19 AM »
Wooo! Flash mob!!! :roll:

Offline KStay2

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Re: frozen grand central
« Reply #2 on: February 01, 2008, 03:45:01 AM »
Too much time on their hands.. get a job, hippies.

Offline StrapHanger

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Re: frozen grand central
« Reply #3 on: February 01, 2008, 03:49:49 AM »
postcard fodder for European tourists...
"Cleveland, as you see, is not an apple, but a bunch of grapes each of which has its own particular pattern-some large, others small, some round, others long and narrow, some sweet, others sour, some sound, others rotten throughout."  -Howard Whipple Green, 1932

Offline JeTDoG

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Re: frozen grand central
« Reply #4 on: February 01, 2008, 03:58:12 AM »
Having been through Grand Central many a time, I can only think what must have gone through people's heads when they saw this... very cool effect, and could really freak some people out (the poor cart driver, for instance, seemed to be at a total loss). If you weren't already paranoid, this could send you there.

It's amazing how unnatural or unexpected behavior can just completely disrupt a person's psyche... and to the "hippie" comment, I say PFFFFFFFTTTTTTTHHHHHHHHH!!!!!! Get a LIFE...
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Offline MayDay

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Re: frozen grand central
« Reply #5 on: February 01, 2008, 04:00:39 AM »
Having navigated Grand Central during morning rush hour, I'm really surprised people didn't just bulldoze through some of these yohos. I personally prefer the hip-switch mambo to navigate that place, but whatever it takes.

Offline Sherman Cahal

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Re: frozen grand central
« Reply #6 on: February 01, 2008, 04:05:22 AM »
Too much time on their hands.. get a job, hippies.

Sorry that life is just too much of a party for you.

I personally found it hilarious. I've been watching the site for years, and we've planned smaller-scale improvs down here with pretty good success.

Online rockandroller

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Re: frozen grand central
« Reply #7 on: February 01, 2008, 04:06:12 AM »
I thought that was totally cool.

Offline gildone

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Re: frozen grand central
« Reply #8 on: February 02, 2008, 03:25:46 AM »
Too much time on their hands.. get a job, hippies.

So taking an hour or so out of their day to do something like this is having too much time on their hands?  Got forbid people have a little fun once in a while and break up the humdrum daily routine a little.  It's not like this was dangerously disruptive or anything. With all of the cheers after it was done, it looked to me like a lot of people enjoyed it. 
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Offline KStay2

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Re: frozen grand central
« Reply #9 on: February 02, 2008, 03:37:36 AM »
Jesus.. learn to pick up sarcasm people..

Offline BallHatGuy

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Re: frozen grand central
« Reply #10 on: February 02, 2008, 04:10:39 AM »
Totally, totally loved it!
Living in Cleveland since 2012.

Offline mrnyc

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Re: frozen grand central
« Reply #11 on: February 02, 2008, 04:26:57 AM »
Wooo! Flash mob!!! :roll:

i bet your posts wouldn't look like that if it happened in tower city....  :wink:
"That whole rural thing. It's a joke." Ed Koch

Offline Cincinnatus

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Re: frozen grand central
« Reply #12 on: February 02, 2008, 05:24:22 AM »
I thought this was awesome! What a great idea and very creative... I love stuff like this. It's almost like an interactive art show or something...

I like everything this group does actually.
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Offline kingfish out of water

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Re: frozen grand central
« Reply #13 on: February 02, 2008, 05:34:50 AM »
One more strike against suburbia: you could NEVER pull this off at Wal*mart.

Another glorious use of public space:

« Last Edit: February 02, 2008, 05:35:06 AM by kingfish out of water »
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Offline StrapHanger

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Re: frozen grand central
« Reply #14 on: February 02, 2008, 01:11:53 PM »
^That is awesome.  It's one thing to plan a goofy flashmob thing, but another to bust moves on a moving train.

I like frozen Grand Central OK (though I have general embarrassment projection problem whenever I witness performance art first hand), but I think I prefer the annual no-pants on the subway day the same group sponsors- the 2008 day was a couple weeks ago:

http://gothamist.com/2008/01/13/no_pants_day_20.php
"Cleveland, as you see, is not an apple, but a bunch of grapes each of which has its own particular pattern-some large, others small, some round, others long and narrow, some sweet, others sour, some sound, others rotten throughout."  -Howard Whipple Green, 1932

Offline thomasbw

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Re: frozen grand central
« Reply #15 on: February 02, 2008, 02:00:00 PM »
This isn't a flash mob, the best description of what Improv Everywhere is on This American Life

http://thislife.org/Radio_Episode.aspx?episode=286

Click 'full episode'

you can skip the first lori gutlieb story (I wouldn't it is amusing) and listen to the Improv Everywhere story at time point 12 minutes 12 seconds



Offline jpop

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Re: frozen grand central
« Reply #16 on: February 02, 2008, 03:30:14 PM »
That was seriously amazing. Loved that. I live in the greatest freaking city in the world.