Flash Mob, noun: An impromptu gathering, organized by means of electronic communication, of the unemployed.

-The Devils Dictionary (2.0)

In its short time in existence, the flash mob, which turns five a the start of next month, has been the fodder of much experimentation and conversation in communities concerned with action, civic engagement, general frivolity, and the Internet. After the now [micro]infamous 100-patron-strong “Love Rug” shopping trip that took place at the start of June, 2003 kicked it all off, getting random groups of people together via email, SMS, message boards and other communication technology to do random things has come to be considered the bees knees by participants all across the globe.

Confronted with this new behavioral specimen, The New York Times and CNN ran news pieces, Thomas H. Sander at Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government qualified how he thought the phenomenon would factor into civic engagement, and Bill Wasik, maestro of the first mob, suggested that to call it a movement was premature–the flash mob is a precursor to something bigger. Boing Boing and Instructables have illustrated how one can assemble their own random, electronically organized public sing-song and/or disco and/or pantless escapade. Jaron Lanier jived wearily about online masses of the anonymous, Robert Vamosi discussed where flash mobs have become dangerous to the public, and CNN once reported on it in the context of virtual retribution.

Oh. And Christopher Monks imagined organizing a mob to help him win back the heart of a lost love.

In preparation for the celebration, we try to look beyond a lot of the talk to take a look at the five (well, six, really) coolest flash mobs to date:

Number 5 // Rickrolling London, April, 200

The Rickroll phenomenon is sociologically fascinating in its transcendence of all traditional standards of appreciation for irony for disaffection’s sake [here, Boing Boing talks to Astley about what he makes of this odd, unsolicited revival]. And on the 20th of last month, after putting an unbelievable amount of time into somehow keeping this joke alive, 400 Rick Astley fans brought their enthusiasm to London’s Liverpool Street train station and sang his infectious 1987 hit Never Gonna Give You Up. A mirror event with less attendees followed in Baltimore, of all places, several weeks later

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tFfY2QSyZ9s[/youtube]

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qzaT1d718Sw[/youtube]

Number 4 // Doonesbury and Dean Lovers Occupy the Space Needle, September, 2003

In 2003, when it was generally believed by every political internet dork ever that Howard Dean was going to be the mascot of an Internet-led, anarcho-socialist revolution, even cartoons were rooting for “change.” In

September of that year, Alex, one of the strip’s characters, was featured in a strip typing the following: Saturday, September 13th, 10:35 a.m,. at the foot of the Space Needle. Everyone should link arms in an enormous circle, hop up and down, chanting “The Doctor is In.” Not even a week later the bait for this Flash Mob for Dean was eaten by over a hundred people and the Space Needle was overrun by at least 100, Internet-savvy liberals participating in the first cartoon-instigated flash mob.

Number 3 // Zombies Attack Apple Store in San Francisco, Recurring

For a while, I was trying to figure out how to rank the pillow fight flash mob which, as a whole movement, is itself interesting. They’re visually stunning (feathers everywhere!) and they appear to be good fun for what seems to be a mostly-college-aged group of participants, but a certain edge is missing. That edge? A tribute to the grandfather of modern zombie cinema, George A. Romero, articulated by way of disrupting San Franciscan Apple customers.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K2Myb68v33o[/youtube]

Number 2 // The First Flash Mob – Buying “The Love Rug,” June, 2003

The first flash mob, which has been documented somewhat extensively since, was the brainchild of Bill Wasik (and it was reportedly this guy who coined the expression). In an interview with Stay Free Magazine, Wasik discusses his plans for the first effort, which was to take place in a Claire’s Accessories location in New York, and how his plans were inevitably foiled by the law:

About ten minutes before the first mob, I get a call from [a collaborator], and he’s like, “There are seven cops and a police wagon out in front of Claire’s Accessories.” So I get there and they’re not letting anybody stand in front of the store. They made it look as if a terrorist had threatened to wage jihad against Claire’s Accessories.

CNN describes the successful second attempt:

In June 2003, after the initial attempt at a flash mob was foiled, over 100 people assembled in the home furnishings department of Macy’s department store. As instructed, the participants consulted bemused sales assistants about purchasing a “love rug” for their “suburban commune.”

And from there, the rest became history.

Number 1 // Culture Jamming and Leaving the Pants Behind, 2006-2008

Tied for first place are No Pants 2k8 and the Best Buy infiltration, two events that come from Charlie Todd and Improv Everywhere [here we look beyond the fact that, similar to skinny kids with affinities for Williamsburg and tight pants who don't like to be identified as hipsters, IE suggests that they do not deal in flash mobs]. Todd is easily one of the smartest folks out there constructively pushing the creative limits of flash-mobbing (not to mention many other sorts of compelling rabble rousing). While it is its own, unfathomable existence that makes an event like the Rickroll flash mob interesting, there isn’t anything particularly substantial about the way in which the event challenges people beyond invoking reaction based on spectacle alone. By organizing a pantless confrontation of the general public in 10 cities across the United States or culture-jamming a retail giant with 80 employee lookalikes, IE continues to keep the art of the flash mob interesting by continuously challenging onlookers to wonder if they have been confronted with an actual glitch in the Matrix.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bXB_DcuMv_E[/youtube]

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=utkkXCF8ZVc[/youtube]

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