Wall Street Journal: The New Pranksters

[Triple Zero]

Well you all already know that I think the drive is irrational and goes well beyond reason anyway...even boredom and entertainment do not come into it.  Its subversion is a matter of what it is, not what it aims for.  It disrupts, confuzes and inverts the normal, and by interrupting any orderly functioning system, you are a priori subversive.

this reminds me of that bit in Illuminatus about how people ("the robot") subconsciously sabotage the Machine.

Why oh why didn't someone just collapse and start screaming about parasites in the Frutista eating his brain?

Goddam amateurs.

[Payne]

Why oh why didn't someone just collapse and start screaming about parasites in the Frutista eating his brain?

Goddam amateurs.

S'Troof

[ñͤͣ̄ͦ̌̑͗͊͛͂͗ ̸̨̨̣̺̼̣̜͙͈͕̮̊̈́̈͂͛̽͊ͭ̓͆ͅé ̰̓̓́ͯ́́͞]

Without a pointed message or "higher cause" you're doing corporate marketers work for them.

They can just hijack your messageless, broadly appealing stunts because there isn't a message in people's mind's to compete with it. It's like having a catalog of selling ideas with a fill in the blank for the copy and brand strategy.

If there was a strong message associated with these stunts, marketers wouldn't touch them because they'd interfere with their selling ideas.

[ñͤͣ̄ͦ̌̑͗͊͛͂͗ ̸̨̨̣̺̼̣̜͙͈͕̮̊̈́̈͂͛̽͊ͭ̓͆ͅé ̰̓̓́ͯ́́͞]

As an aside, its also worth noting that a lack of message or movement behind an action is the counterculture now.  Anything else gets co-opted too quickly.  Micro-culture and anonymous situations are a protest in that they cannot be captured and used by marketing executives and the movers and shakers of the media/popular culture, and anyone who truly thinks old thinking will work here is deluding themselves.

Evidence pls.

Also define "old thinking" and "new thinking."

[navkat]

As an aside, its also worth noting that a lack of message or movement behind an action is the counterculture now.  Anything else gets co-opted too quickly.  Micro-culture and anonymous situations are a protest in that they cannot be captured and used by marketing executives and the movers and shakers of the media/popular culture, and anyone who truly thinks old thinking will work here is deluding themselves.

I just want to say to this: sometimes having no resolute message *is* a message onto itself.

When the "Silent Rave" went down in NY, it gave me warm fuzzies. It was just a bunch of lovely people genuinely having fun and collectively making each other happy. I think that touches people and speaks on a whole level that a mere prank with a political agenda never could. It was pure. It was real and it was beautiful.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8leK1mfNivc

I fucking love people sometimes, man. When was the last time you felt that?

[Cramulus]

Silent Rave? That sounds like fun -- the video doesn't explain too well though. Was it people getting together for a party atmosphere but with no music?


were you in NYC this april?

I love fucking people sometimes, man. When was the last time you felt that?

word

[navkat]

Everyone brought headphones, ipods, walkmans, whatever and gathered in Union Square and just got down. All day and all night. People who might never otherwise have attended a traditional "rave" and people from all walks of life (who otherwise might never have spoken to each other) got involved and partied down.

Additionally, I have some friends in Vancouver who throw "Guerilla Raves."
This guy, Drew, sets his gear up on a predesignated place (usually a train-car or a fast food restaurant) at a specific time and he does a live PA techno set while everyone parties until they get kicked out. Usually the law is really good-natured about it and everyone has a good time.

This is Drew doing the Skytrain Rave in 06:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s3vRc6ootYY

My hometowns are Babylon & Brentwood, NY, BTW so yeah; I'm in NY a lot but not this past April.

[Cramulus]

yo, give a holla next time you're in the area

I live in Yonkers, but rarely venture into the city

I kind of hate NYC

but it's tolerable if I'm hanging out with people

[hooplala]

Why do you hate NYC?

[Mesozoic Mister Nigel]

As an aside, its also worth noting that a lack of message or movement behind an action is the counterculture now.  Anything else gets co-opted too quickly.  Micro-culture and anonymous situations are a protest in that they cannot be captured and used by marketing executives and the movers and shakers of the media/popular culture, and anyone who truly thinks old thinking will work here is deluding themselves.

I just want to say to this: sometimes having no resolute message *is* a message onto itself.

When the "Silent Rave" went down in NY, it gave me warm fuzzies. It was just a bunch of lovely people genuinely having fun and collectively making each other happy. I think that touches people and speaks on a whole level that a mere prank with a political agenda never could. It was pure. It was real and it was beautiful.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8leK1mfNivc

I fucking love people sometimes, man. When was the last time you felt that?

I fucking LOVE pranks, and my favorite kind are the ones that make the pranked want to laugh/join in, but a close second are random acts of group weirdness and fun.

[navkat]

yo, give a holla next time you're in the area

I live in Yonkers, but rarely venture into the city

I kind of hate NYC

but it's tolerable if I'm hanging out with people

Awesome. I'm gonna take you up on that.

[Cramulus]

Why do you hate NYC?

I could really go on for pages about this, but in short:

It's too big for my taste. I think when a city hits a certain critical mass, the social climate changes. Other people are expendable because there's no shortage of them.

Something about the size of the city and the number of different scenes and threads makes it a factory for Big Fish in a Small Pond. I dislike people that think they are the King of All Kings because they have NYC hacker cred or something

Every mean thing people say about upper east coast elitists is basically true. A lot of New Yorkers think of themselves as sophisticated cognoscenti, and think of anyone from outside NY as some kind of bumpkin. There's certainly a very strong vibe in new york that New York is FOR REAL and everywhere else is PEANUTS.

I haven't spent a lot of time in London, but I got the same vibe there. Maybe it was the size, maybe it was 'cause I was a tourist, but it felt very similar to NYC. People are unapproachable. Self-isolation is a survival skill. Everything is retardedly expensive.

[Cain]

The last sentence is certainly true.

Cain,
had a coffee in London, then filed for bankruptcy

[navkat]

Why do you hate NYC?

I could really go on for pages about this, but in short:

It's too big for my taste. I think when a city hits a certain critical mass, the social climate changes. Other people are expendable because there's no shortage of them.

Something about the size of the city and the number of different scenes and threads makes it a factory for Big Fish in a Small Pond. I dislike people that think they are the King of All Kings because they have NYC hacker cred or something

Every mean thing people say about upper east coast elitists is basically true. A lot of New Yorkers think of themselves as sophisticated cognoscenti, and think of anyone from outside NY as some kind of bumpkin. There's certainly a very strong vibe in new york that New York is FOR REAL and everywhere else is PEANUTS.

I haven't spent a lot of time in London, but I got the same vibe there. Maybe it was the size, maybe it was 'cause I was a tourist, but it felt very similar to NYC. People are unapproachable. Self-isolation is a survival skill. Everything is retardedly expensive.

He's right. About everything.
When I first left NY (even though I grew up on The Island, NYC was my backyard and stomping ground), I had this general assumption in my head that of course New Yorkers are much more advanced than the rest of the country. I wasn't really mean about it, just prejudiced.

There's a sort of sociopathy in the social soup there. People can be really awesome when they want to be, but day-to-day, it's dog-eat-dog. This wouldn't be so bad except for the fact that New Yorkers are raised to be PROUD of it. "If you don't like it then hey! Go fuck yourself!" There's a certain pride that comes from being the meanest dog with the biggest teeth--like a sign around your neck that says "You don't wanna fuck with ME, buddy."

New York has a lot of good qualities too. Sometimes I get homesick because shit gets so DEAD here...the instant gratification of having every fucking cuisine, entertainment, music, art, subculture--right down to the obscure at your fingertips spoils you for anywhere else. It's like sensory overload all the time and since I've left, I've gained seven pounds because I spend so much of my time craving...something...walking from room to room of my house, driving everywhere, snacking, smoking and not being able to figure out what it is.

NY is a 24-7 dirty Cocaine Disco with the stench of perfume and bum pee and burnt kosher hotdogs on it.

But to live there all the time is not worth it. New York loves her tourists who come for a visit and spend their money freely, but as soon as you're down on your luck or have actual BILLS to pay, The City, she is a cruel bitch.

[hooplala]

Toronto has it too... most cities do to a certain extent.  I think its because living in huge cities can be so annoying that it literally starts to feel like you are some kind of warrior simply for being able to put up with it on a daily basis.  The, you start to think less of the people who don't go through what you are going through... as I would assume actual soldiers must feel a lot of the time.

Toronto gets a lot of heat from the rest of Canada, which in turn makes Torontoians even more unpleasant to people not from here.  Sort of a "Fuck you before you can say anything" vibe... I would assume its similar in NYC. 

Am I blaming you for the New York headspace?  No.  But I'm not blaming NYC either.  It's quid pro quo.