On Saturday I participated in the mp3 Experiment. Originally I was going into the City to visit my friends James and Glenn and see their new apartment on the upper east side. Plus James had to help me fix something on my laptop and he's pretty much been my IT Savior since college so I lugged my backpack around NYC all day.
I met Matty and his roommate for lunch since they were in town to see a show and it's been awhile since I've seen him. Then I made my way uptown to James and Glenn's.
The weather could not have been more perfect on Saturday by the way, it was breezy and cool but sunny. Ideal City weather.
Met James's friend Laura and he fixed our computers and then we got ourselves together and packed our bookbags with things we needed for the mp3 Experiment and headed back down to Grand Central.
The instructions for this year's Experiment were to download the mp3 and load it onto your device without listening to it (of course James listened to it beforehand because he's James), be in a certain part of NYC at a certain time and hit play exactly at 6pm, pack a bag with a roll of toilet paper, a marker, two 8.5"x11" pages with letters on them, and a gift for someone. They suggested something you had lying around your house that you no longer want and someone else might find useful. Laura wrapped up a tape measure, I wrapped up a pair of American flag sunglasses left over from the Party in the USA, and James wrapped up a copy of Windows Vista he wasn't ever going to use.
The instructions were that you should start out in a retail store somewhere between Park and 8th Ave from 39th to 42nd. We were running a little late and met our friend Sara in Quicksilver in Time Square. The store was PACKED with people plugged into headphones.
And then we all started slow dancing with an inanimate object. Almost the entire store was part of the Experiment. Those who weren't really had no clue as to what was happening and looked a little freaked out.
Then we took to the streets and freaked people out further by freezing in place for a good minute. We continued to wander around the streets first pretending to be in a marching band, then doing silly walks. Finally we picked a stranger and followed behind them forming as long a single file line as we could mimicking what they were doing. Once that was done we gave as many strangers high fives as we could to show them that we're "fun people" and that they shouldn't be scared of us.
From there we moved onto Bryant Park because the Improv Everywhere narrator Steve was waiting for us. According to his brother Mark who was narrating for us in Steve's stead, it was Steve's birthday on Saturday and Mark was throwing him a surprise party in Bryant Park but Steve was already there and he was all alone.
We crept into Bryant Park, thoroughly confusing everyone who was already there and when Steve turned to look we ducked under tables and chairs and hid behind trees. All at once we jumped up and "Surprised!" Steve. From there we took a speed lap around the gravel track, which proved to be hilarious since half of us were going the opposite way and we had to turn around when we ran into the other half of the group.
Then we got together on the grass and pulled out our letters and spelled words with a partner. James and I spelled BEES and we were in high demand when we started making sentences.
After that we drew portraits of a partner on the back of our paper. The one Laura drew of me was pretty freak'n hilarious.
And then we drew a map of the world, passing our paper to strangers until all 7 continents were drawn. These maps were ridiculous. I guess I forgot that lots of people don't know geography very well. Finally Steve told us to star Nicaragua
on our map. I overheard someone saying, "That's in Africa right?" *facepalm*Next we exchanged gifts with a stranger. I gave my sunglasses to a nice lady standing next to me and from her I got Memoirs of a Geisha which I have not read so it was a pretty good gift.
James got a candle which he was extremely pleased with. Funnier still it was hazelnut scented and the fragrance was called "Smell My Nuts" and all I have to say is that they do in fact smell wonderful.
They got an awesome photo of James and a great photo of the woman I gave my sunglasses to but apparently I got cropped out of both photos even though I was standing right next to them.
After the gift exchange we pulled out our rolls of toilet paper and Steve informed us that we were going to have a mummy dance party but first we had to get ready.We partnered up again and wrapped each other in toilet paper like mummies. Hilarity ensued as everyone stood around wrapped from head to toe in TP.
Then we danced!
Here's an awesome shot of my friend Sara. Toilet paper is SO in this season!
It was quite possibly one of the funniest things I've ever experienced. I'm so glad that we heard about this event and got to participate because it really was exciting and although pointless it was fun!
(Photos: Group shot borrowed from Chad Nicholson and solo shots borrowed from Ilya Chigirev.)
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