Wow. Today I had a fantastic experience that I will not soon forget.
A video was posted earlier about 200 people or so freezing in Grand Central Station-that was awesome! That was organized by a group of people called Improv Everywhere, if you didn't already know, and today-they were in Dallas. The Dallas "wing" of Improv... is called the Civil Confusion Agency and they have a website, by the way.
Anyway, they planned a Banana Phone mission. We met in front of the NorthPark AMC and were debriefed, armed with our banana phones concealed in purses, jacket pockets, and backpacks. Mine was an LG and had a headphone jack! I'm a tech-savvy guy when it comes to my bananas. There were about 80 or so of us and we dispersed into the food court with the intention of talking on our banana phones as soon as we saw the tip off by the "Pirate"-an Improv agent. He was wearing a bandana and when he answered his phone call, it was a chain effect. I bought a coke and settled down next to a family eating lunch-when all of a sudden my buddy was on his banana phone with no signal! So I pulled out my phone-I had a nice talk with my buddy John and got to put in the head set so I could hear him better. It was fantastic! As I walked around the food court, chatting and laughing with John people everywhere were on there phones at tables, walking, sitting, yelling, crying. All those without bananas were stunned. Some nervously ate their food, some looked perturbed by people having fun, some were laughing or utterly baffled. Two little girls came up to me clutching drinks and asked, gesturing with a thumb-pinky finger phone, "Why are you doing this? (she gestures to her hand phone). "Excuse me," I put my hand out for silence, "I'm talking to my friend John". The whole thing lasted 2 minutes. I saw my roommate eating his and promptly found a trashcan, peeled my phone, and walked off munching away as if nothing had happened.
The whole banana group found their way to a fountain elsewhere in the mall and we congratulated ourselves on a job well done and took some pictures. It was a good day.
And you know, the way these things spread is so viral! I was watching viral advertising at work! I mean, it's just a small internet thing that someone hears about from Improv Everywhere. They call some people, a Facebook event is made, word spreads one way or another, and the right people show up with concealed bananas at NorthPark mall! It's a viral thing and I got to live in it for a bit. No wonder agencies are tapping this potential! It's not a bad idea and its a terrible amount of fun.
Join up and let's shake people up!
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