'Flash Mob' Phenomenon Spreads Across U.S.

UK Reuters ^ | 7-25-03 | Caroline Humer

[Teacher317]

NEW YORK (Reuters) - New Yorkers often become part of unexpected mob scenes -- huge crowds on subway platforms, at clothing sales, or at free concerts in places like Central Park. Now they are doing it on purpose, for fun.

"Flash mobs," in which people show up at an assigned place at a certain time, perform some brief acts, and then leave, have descended on stores, a hotel and even a piece of a park in New York.

In the latest occurrence, about 200 people converged on a Central Park ridge across from the Museum of Natural History on Thursday. Once in place, the mob tweeted like birds and crowed like roosters, chanted "Na-ture," and then dispersed.

If you're wondering what's the point, there isn't one. The gathering was the fifth instalment of the New York-based Mob Project, which started in June with a guy named Bill who sent an e-mail to some friends, who forwarded it to their friends, and so on.

Bill, who declined to give his last name, aims to make the project last a few more months. For him, it's a way to get people out, just like inviting them to a friend's play.

"The idea was to dispense with the event altogether and have the audience come together for no reason," Bill said.

Among the New York sites that have been mobbed are a Hyatt Hotel, where members spontaneously began clapping. In Macy's, they pretended to shop for a "love rug" for their joint home. And at a high-end shoe store in Soho, they acted like tourists from Maryland.

The absurdist idea is catching on outside New York too.

Bill said the Internet has been used to organise "flash mobs" in cities like Boston, Minneapolis, San Francisco, London, Rome and Vienna.

Four-time New York mob participant Theodore Grunewald was among those who received a Mob Project e-mail advising them to synchronise their watches and go to one of four Upper West Side bars on Thursday evening.

Once at the bars, the would-be mob members were given flyers telling them to assemble in Central Park at a certain time, make bird noises, chant, cheer, and leave.

Grunewald described the mobs as being urban poetry with no real purpose.

"It turns New York into an enormous toy," the 36-year old said. "And it brings all sorts of people together unexpectedly."

[Teacher317]

Odd-ball fun is making a comeback! Of course, this can ONLY end badly. Murphy's Law cannot be repealed.

[Teacher317]

Some of the approximately 200 members of the Mob Project chant and make bird-like sounds from a Central Park perch near the American Museum of Natural History in New York on July 24, 2003. The 'flash mob' was the fifth installment of the Mob Project, a Web-enabled movement in which a group of people show up at a place at an assigned time, act out a loose script, and then take off. The sudden mobs have so far targeted a Hyatt Hotel, the Macy's rug department, and a high-end shoe store in Soho.

REUTERS/Shannon Stapleton

[freedom44]

Talk about having tons of freetime and not knowing what to do with it.

I wish i could borrow some time from these people.

[martin_fierro]

"Flash mobs," in which people show up at an assigned place at a certain time, perform some brief acts, and then leave, have descended on stores, a hotel and even a piece of a park in New York.

Otherwise known as FREEPS. Duh.

[sauropod]

What's with all this "tourists from Maryland: crap?

[FreedomCalls]

I hear that shoplifting is a major activity of these flash mobs when they show up at retail places. The mob overwhelms the security and a lot of the product disappears out the door before anyone can respond. You can't chase them all. They disappear before the police arrive.

[Texas Eagle]

I think I got a great idea for this group. First, they'll need a lighter or some matches. Second, they'll each need a paper bag full of dog poop.

Now, here's what they do. They go to Chappaqua and.......

[Fifth Business]

And at a high-end shoe store in Soho, they acted like tourists from Maryland.

Are tourists from Maryland an unusual sight in New York City? How did they distinguish themselves? Were the Orioles playing in town at the time?

What a peculiar use of one's time. Of course, one could say the same thing of my response to your post.

[libravoter]

You can't chase them all. They disappear before the police arrive.

You're thinking of British soccer hooligans.

[dk/coro]

Aaaawwww, when are they coming to Bullhead City..?

Some of the gals are really cute; (or I may be really getting old.) *S*

[montag813]

I wish i could borrow some time from these people.

New Yorkers are very wealthy on the whole. Rarely do you see a child with its real mother or father, instead wheeled about by an Au Pair.

[jriemer]

Earlier post IT'S MOB RULE!

[Clemenza]

Actually, its the tourists from Germany and Scandanavia that act really goofy. Female tourists from the south (Georgia, Mississippi) are also fun to observe when they encounter the city for the first time.

[Clemenza]

bttt