damn.
didn’t check my school account soon enough… and as a result, got this mail way too late.
<lj-cut>>Subject: FW: Your invitation to Singapore’s 1st Spontaneous Orchestra
>
>
>This will be fun
>
>********************************
>* *
>* Flash Mob SG: *
>* The Spontaneous Orchestra *
>* *
>********************************
>
>You are invited to take part in the above, a project that creates an
>inexplicable mob of people in Singapore for less than a minute. Please
>forward this to other people you know who might like to join.
>
>(If you’re wondering what a flash mob is, scroll down to Annex A for some
>background information.)
>
>
>Start time: Thursday, July 17th, 1:15pm
>Duration: 2 minutes
>
>
>INSTRUCTIONS:
>
>1) At some point in the morning on July 17th, synchronize your phone clock &
>watch to http://www.mapzones.com/world/asia/singapore/timeindex.php
>
>2) Set the alarm on your phone and watch (if available) to go off at 1:15pm.
>Set the volume on your phone to its max.
>
>3) Come down in no bigger than groups of four by 1:05pm latest, to the
>outskirts of the lawn/open space just above Raffles Place MRT station. For
>eg. you may just nonchalantly hang around the following spots: Caltex House,
>OUB Centre, Republic Plaza, etc.
>
>4) At exactly 1:14pm on your phone, start to make your way down to the
>centre of the lawn/open space and be there by EXACTLY 1:15pm.
>
>5) Enjoy the symphony that you’re creating. :D
>
>6) After approximately 30 seconds, DISPERSE and have a good lunch… :D.
>Note: Leave with your original group in some random direction. Try to avoid
>going with some other human traffic flow. Please don’t head down to the MRT
>station as it’ll cause some sorta human traffic jam that we don’t want.
>Stroll down to China Square or walk down to One Fullerton or Esplanade for
>lunch. Don’t stop to say hello to anyone you may recognise from the crowd.
>Don’t stop to pick up chicks. Don’t stop to buy The New Paper. The beauty of
>a flash mob is that it dissolves immediately and everyone heads off to do
>their own thing… puzzling onlookers. Hurrah!
>
>6) Give yourself a pat on the back… Congratulations, you’d have been a
>part of what we believe to be the first spontaneous orchestra in Singapore!
>
>
>
>—————————————————————————-
>Annex A
>—————————————————————————-
>
>flash mob (FLASH mawb) n.
>
>A large group of people who gather in a predetermined location, perform
>some brief action, and then quickly disperse. –v., –adj. –flash
>mobber n. –flash mobbing pp.
>
>Example Citation
>———————————
>The Internet has spawned a gaggle of new verbs — Googling, surfing and
>flaming are words most of us are used to hearing in everyday
>conversation. Now you can add “flash mobbing” to that list.
>
>In recent weeks, New Yorkers have been using forwarded e-mails to
>coordinate “flash mobs,” or not-so-random crowds that appear and
>dissipate within a matter of minutes. Is it performance art? The cutting
>edge of a new social movement? Or just an easy way to flummox carpet
>salesmen?
>
>To protect the planned serendipity of each event, participants aren’t
>told exactly what the mob is supposed to do until just before the event
>happens. For the most recent New York happening on July 2, participants
>passed around an e-mail telling them to assemble at the food court in
>Grand Central Station, where organizers (identifiable by the copies of
>the New York Review of Books they were holding) then gave mobbers
>printed instructions regarding what to do next.
>
>The result: Shortly after 7 p.m., about 200 people suddenly assembled on
>the mezzanine level of the Grand Hyatt Hotel next to Grand Central
>Station, applauded loudly for 15 seconds, then left. –Maureen Ryan,
>”All in a flash: Meet, mob and move on,” Chicago Tribune, July 11, 2003
>
>Backgrounder
>———————————
>This phrase was most likely inspired by two related phrases. The first
>is “flash crowd,” which I define as a sharp and often overwhelming
>increase in the number of users attempting to access a Web site
>simultaneously, usually in response to some event or announcement (see
>the Word Spy entry for this term to get a bit of background about its
>origins); the second is “smart mob,” the leaderless gathering and moving
>of like-minded people who are organized using technologies such as cell
>phones, e-mail, and the Web. The latter was popularized by the writer
>Howard Rheingold in his 2002 book _Smart Mobs: The Next Social
>Revolution_.
>
>Earliest Citation
>———————————
>As proof that some people have way too much time on their hands,
>consider the “flash mob” phenomenon.
>
>Organizing a “flash mob” basically involves e-mailing a bunch of people
>with instructions to show up at a certain place for a few moments, then
>disappear.
>
>According to www.cheesebikini.com, salespeople in New York were a bit
>confused when there was a huge, instant gathering around a particular
>rug. The flash mobbers agreed to tell the salespeople they all lived
>together in a warehouse in Queens and were thinking of buying a rug. The
>crowd dissipated after precisely 10 minutes. Poof. –Kim Lamb Gregory,
>”Briefs,” Ventura County Star, July 1, 2003
>
>First Use
>———————————
>Our senior Manhattan correspondent David Danzig reports that New Yorkers
>are using e-mail to coordinate “inexplicable mobs” — huge crowds that
>materialize in public places and suddenly dissipate 10 minutes later.
>–”Flash Mobs Take Manhattan,” cheesebikini.com, June 16, 2003
>
>
>
>—— End of Forwarded Message </lj-cut>
would have been fun.
Gary @ 27 Jul 2003 :: Old Deadjournal posts :: No Comments »