Those were absolutely actors. Everything from their gait to fake happiness was clearly stages.
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It’s not a “mission”, it’s an ad. And the whole thing felt as authentic as those bullshit “real people not actors” adds for Chevy or GM or whatever.
Here’s a better alternative for what happens when you plug in a boom box.
I mean, boiled goose just screams “HOLIDAYS!” doesn’t it?
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Well, yes, the Improv Everywhere people are actors. The people they’re surprising are not. That said, what you’re seeing is an edit of likely several nights’ worth of these events with the best reactions and dances highlighted, so it may seem ‘fake’ to you.
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Wow - have never seen that before, shame I had a mouthful of wine when they got to the old people’s home bit 
. New keyboard please…
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They probably edited out all the people who stuck their hands in the plug-in, looking for the Apple remote.
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Their behind the scenes post says:
“One person from each friend or family group knew that a surprise was going to happen. They had no idea what has going to happen, but they knew something was up. Everyone else was totally in the dark. Working with our accomplices we were able to get our groups of friends and families to the pier at the exact right time, and we were able to sneak a microphone on them. It was so much fun to watch people discover the boombox and figure out that they needed to plug it in.”
Source: https://improveverywhere.com/2018/12/17/the-giant-boombox/
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Thanks for that. I too, found it too “faked” to watch through.
(Edit for grammar)
‘The “false course of reasoning” in a flash mob being that the art , which is a word translated from the Greek word techne , means that the “chance” or “opportunity” to come into Existence is the design of being earmarked for death or nonexistence. The “action” and the “making” have been reconciled, through humanly finite reasoning, so that “making” produces no object except for an “action”. Flash mob art is a suicide or kamikaze art form . Such flash mob art is not about the object but rather the inspiration of the moment…’ AND THEN ’ the dance is done, as mentioned above in regards to flash mobs, for viewers (and likes ) on Youtube: And so ends the creativity and inspiration lived in a flash mob event.’ From the book, Mereology: The Origins of Garlic Cures and the Art of Telling a Tale of Ragout (Bird Dog Books 2015) The video depressed me. Another art-form revealing the death of creativity and inspiration…Cheers from Dresden!
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The siege by the Hip-Hop Hoplite Greeks will not be soon forgotten.
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Read this comment in a Werner Herzog voice in your head for bonus holiday enjoyment.
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Thank you, that really hits the festive spot.
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Sometimes people need to be told that they’re allowed to touch the “art.”
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What the heck, people.
It’s an impromptu boom box holiday party. Chill.
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It’s funny, I prefer this kind of Improv Everywhere mission to the ones where they target a person or a venue. Despite the overwhelmingly good intentions those can be devastatingly cruel.
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I think execution of impromptu-performance-art is great – I would love to be “there”, in a complete random time and place, to experience it firsthand. However, a “Like-click” on the Youtube video, solidifying its place in the consumer reality of the “ho, ho merry holiday” is definitely self-defeating. Just another piece of junk on the pile of junk left-over from past Christmases. Nothing inspirational there. Nothing creative there. Just another sales-pitch in a world up for sale. That’s depressing.
I’m guessing that (a) you don’t like fun and (b) your comments are google-translated.
No. I’m a fifty-two year old ex-pat, who’s been living in Germany for over twenty-three years (total) and who doesn’t speak English on a regular basis. And when I do speak English, it’s an abridged version. As for the fun part, I still ride my skateboard on big ramps, but right now I’m taking a break because I fell from the top of a half-pipe four months ago and now my shoulder and collarbone are made out of metal plates and screws. I occasionally walk around town in a bunny suit - to make my six, eight and twenty year old kids laugh. I organize Nerf-Wars with kids and parents here in Dresden. I was in the original line up in the Wesley Willis Fiasco, before Dale got a bunch of metal playing twats together to produce some shitawful music…I do miss Wesley, though. I believe Tammy Smith is still the person in charge of the Wesley Willis archives. You can verify it with her. Fifteen years before that I was in one of the first thrash punk bands to come into existence. A shitty band, but the fact that we were all only between the ages of twelve and sixteen, in the late 70s /early 80s, I’m not ashamed: Negative Element on Version Sound Records. I’ve seen things you people wouldn’t believe. Attack ships on fire off the shoulder of Orion. I watched C-beams glitter in the dark near the Tannhäuser Gate. All those moments will be lost in time, like tears in rain. I would just say all art is dead. Flash mobs was doing it for a while but Youtube killed creativity and inspiration. Now a Flash Mob is done for the sake of the “product”: See Youtube. My opinion. My world. Cheers from Dresden!
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