Thursday, January 12, 2012

Flash Mobs


I am sad that flash mobs disappeared before I got to be in one. Or even got to see one in person. It really appealed to me on every level: spectacle, surprise, dancing. What more could you want?

I also wanted to say "you go, girl" once before it became passe. Didn't happen.

Don't you hate it when something goes away that quickly. Were zoot suits a one-week wonder? I know Nehru Jackets were.

What fad really spoke to you despite its quick demise?

16 comments:

YA Sleuth said...

There's a really interesting article in WIRED magazine (Jan. 2012) about the dark side of flash mobs--great for us crime writers. I'm with you Patti, though. Would've liked to dance in the streets.

I'm not much for fads otherwise. I usually find out after they've passed :-)

Anonymous said...

Hey, I had a Nehru suit! I even have a picture in one to prove it, though it's hidden away somewhere.

On the other hand, there are certain fashion trends that will not go away no matter how much we wish they would, like skinny boys wearing their pants below their asses. Do they have the slightest clue of Just How Stupid they look?

And stay off my lawn!

Jeff M.

Anonymous said...

Flash mobs are fun to look at but definitely not for me. Too embarrassing.

Other trends I don't miss usually involve women's hairstyles: The Farrah, those hideous poodle-like curls as worn by Barbra Streisand in A STAR IS BORN, the Kate Gosselin (though that is still around).

Jeff M.

pattinase (abbott) said...

When I looked at the list of ins and outs for the year, I realized how many thing had passed me by. I never paid much attention to style but some of the foods I apparently missed made me sad.

George said...

I miss cars that weren't Internet "hot spots," landline phones where you could actually talk to someone without getting your call "dropped," and Presidential elections that cost less than a billion dollars.

Prashant C. Trikannad said...

The best flash mob I've seen (on YouTube) is 200 people singing and dancing to DO RE MI at Antwerp station in Belgium. It puts you in good mood instantly.

I'm glad we've seen the last of flares and bell-bottoms. I can't imagine how anyone could wear them and yet many did.

Sean Patrick Reardon said...

Almost anything from the 80's, but most of all cavaricci pants

pattinase (abbott) said...

I don't even know what those are. Off to check.

Dan_Luft said...

I miss video stores. Sure these were some nights of endlessly walking the aisles but I picked up more than a few good movies that I'd never heard of just because my eyes wandered along the shelf.

pattinase (abbott) said...

YES! Me too. In a good one, you could find movies that had never occurred to you. Darn.

And record stores for that matter.

Anonymous said...

Yes to video stores. We had a couple of good ones that worked because they were not well organized. You had to wander the aisles looking for something that sounded interesting. And in one of them the owner was great. No matter how vague you were about the movie you were after ("It was too young girls helping a woman give birth") he knew the title and if he had it.

*sigh*

Disco and everything that goes with it, especially the clothes - something I do NOT miss.

Jeff M.

Anders Engwall said...

I wouldn't say it had a quick demise, but...

I was 13 when the Sex Pistols became famous, which was also around the time Patti Smith first visited Sweden...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KMGAzelpPFA

There's still something about the concept of "Punk" that appeals to me. But then again, the very term brings out the contrarian in me...

pattinase (abbott) said...

Which reminds me I still haven't read her memoir.

Al Tucher said...

I did once get to say, "'Ssup, dawg?" Brought down the house, too.

And I had a hula hoop when I was five.

pattinase (abbott) said...

At a toy exhibit at the historical museum here, they had hula hoops but none fit me. Was it always like that?

Al Tucher said...

As I dimly recall, they came in various sizes. I never got mine really spinning, which might say something about the fit.