Plans for the Fourth Manhattan Flash Mob
July 9th, 2003A fourth flash mob is scheduled to begin in New York City at 7:18 pm next Wednesday, July 16th. I’ve pasted the event announcement below, as it was e-mailed to cheesebikini. (Thanks for the tip, anonymous tipster.)
(If you’re wondering what a flash mob is, here’s an explanation.)
Here’s the announcement for the next New York event:
Date: Wed, 9 Jul 2003 16:40:21 -0700 (PDT)
From: The Mob Project
To: themobproject@yahoo.com
Subject: MOB #4You are invited to take part in MOB, the project that
creates an inexplicable mob of people in New York City
for ten minutes or less. Please forward this to other
people you know who might like to join.FAQ
Q. Why would I want to join an inexplicable mob?
A. Tons of other people are doing it.
Q. Why did the plans to MOB #3 change?
A. The National Guardsmen with machine guns had
something to do with it.Q. What should I do with my MOB $1 bill?
A. Spend it, if you like. But you may be asked to
make another, for a future MOB.Q. Can we do a MOB downtown, for a change?
A. Sure.
INSTRUCTIONS – MOB #4
Start time: Wednesday, July 16th, 7:18 pm
Duration: 10 minutes(1) At some point during the day on July 16th,
synchronize your watch to
http://www.time.gov/timezone.cgi?Eastern/d/-5/java/java.
(If that site doesn^³t work for you, try
http://www.time.gov/timezone.cgi?Eastern/d/-5.)(2) By 7 PM, based on the month of your birth, please
situate yourselves in the bars below. Buy a drink and
act casual. NOTE: if you are attending the MOB with
friends, you may all meet in the same bar, so long as
at least one of you has the correct birth month for
that bar.
January, February, March: Puck Fair, 298
Lafayette St. (just south of Houston). Meet just
inside the front door, to the right.
April, May, June: 288 (a.k.a. Tom & Jerry’s), 288
Elizabeth St. (just north of Houston). Meet in the
back to the left, by the jukebox.
July, August, September: Bleecker St. Bar, 58
Bleecker St. (at Crosby). Meet in the back to the
right, by the jukebox.
October, November, December: Pamela’s Cantina, 1
W. 3rd St. (just west of Broadway). Meet near the
right side of the bar, by the television sets.(3) Then or soon thereafter, a MOB representative will
appear in the bar and will pass around further
instructions.(4) If you arrive near the final MOB site before 7:18,
stall nearby. NO ONE SHOULD ARRIVE AT THE FINAL MOB
SITE UNTIL 7:17.(5) At 7:28 you should disperse. NO ONE SHOULD REMAIN
AT THE MOB SITE AFTER 7:30.(6) Return to what you otherwise would have been
doing, and await instructions for MOB #5.
hi, i am doing a radio feature on the manhattan flash mobs (for a german broadcasting station). so, i am looking for some young mobbers (age: 20-30) who would agree to an interview about the mobs (in english, of course). are you interested? please contact me as soon as possible: kristina.maroldt@gmx.net. thank you!!! see you. kristina:-)
I’ve been following what you’ve been writing on Flash mobs recently, and have written a few thoughts on it, thinking round the subject as it were, in my latest blog entry, that I thought you might be interested in. How it might work out in London etc.
What is the future of this. There seems to be so much potential, but is it just for fun?
This also reminds me of those Michael Ailig parties on the subway. Not quite sure if it only happened once or what, but at least people got to dance a little.
Coming from San Francisco and hearing about the Santa project and also attending flash events there, how long will it be before advertising firms just exploit the hell out of this to the point where any flash event is just brushed off as folly or marketing?
Hoping to keep it pure.
i have a blog as well, and posted the instructions for mob number 4 but am now wondering whether that doesn’t increase the chances that the event will be sabotaged, or interrupted in some way. i’m thinking maybe i should take the instructions off until after the mob has taken place. what do you think?
I heard about this on the news, and I came up with a sadistic way to flash mob Wal-Mart. Have everyone in on the mob go to the counters and buy a single pack of cheap gum. To pay, use a debit card, credit card, or a really big bill. The ones with the debit and credit cards get cash back. Get enough people to do that and you can get just about every bill and coin that Wal-Mart has under the size of a 20. It will frustrate the cashiers, the CSMs, and the managers, and if you’re really lucky they might even have to close the store until they can get smaller bills!
Feyliya:
Please, please, please don’t organize any flash mobs to patronize Wal-Mart, or any other huge corporation. They don’t need your help.
MOB #4
Mob #4, tonight, was at Otto Tootsi Plohound, a very expensive shoe store on Lafayette Street. According to the instructions, we were “on a bus tour from Maryland. You are excited but also bewildered. It is as if the shoes…
How can I be a part of this?
I still don’t get this whole thing; you seem to be all “anti-establishment” and “grassroots” and stuff, but who is your target? It’s just for fun? You think you’re sticking one to “the man” by disrupting things, if only for 10 minutes? Do you know who you’re really screwing with? The poor schmuck who has to actually work in the Barnes and Noble/McDonalds/card store or wherever you decide to make your cute-as-hell descent. You are just making it harder for that person who has to spend 10 hours on his feet dealing with the public and just wants to get the hell the outta there and get home. And oops, he can’t, because a pack of over-priviledged ******s with their darling little electronic devices are staging a l’il demonstration of spontaneous fun. Aren’t they just adorable?! For God’s sake, think for 10 seconds about someone other than yourselves.
Sorry bout that…. im an ass hole.