![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
I have a prankish heritage. My mother never let an April Fool opportunity go unpranked, and though I can't claim the level of her mad skills, I have had some modest successes in the past. And that's one reason why I love this book so very much. It's familiar, it speaks to the prankish side of me, and there's a hell of a lot of good material here for future reference.
If you're at all familiar with the concept of flashmobs, you'll get an idea of the m.o. and scale of many of these "missions." Groups -- often quite large -- come together at a pre-arranged time to play a well-choreographed joke on the world. In fact, one of the most popular of the missions in the book is really nothing more than a flashmob, a group of people all of whom have the same MP3 on their players, all of whom push "Play" at the same moment and procede to follow the recorded instructions. The mental image of a hundred or more people silently leaping about, dancing, or pummelling one another with balloons makes me grin. If it doesn't do the same for you, then skip this book and go read about something more suited to your sober soul.
As far as I can see, the pranks here are good-spirited, friendly jokes, not intended to hurt anyone either physically or emotionally. If it was otherwise, they wouldn't be so universally amusing. And really, when you think about it, getting a group of people to come together to put smiles on faces is a delightfully altruistic act. As the author points out, of his impulsive impersonation of Ben Folds one night in a West Village bar, many of the patrons went home thrilled to have talked to a genuine rock star, and the ones who knew better, got some great theater that night.
Recommended for those with a taste for high silliness, and lively senses of humor.
If you're at all familiar with the concept of flashmobs, you'll get an idea of the m.o. and scale of many of these "missions." Groups -- often quite large -- come together at a pre-arranged time to play a well-choreographed joke on the world. In fact, one of the most popular of the missions in the book is really nothing more than a flashmob, a group of people all of whom have the same MP3 on their players, all of whom push "Play" at the same moment and procede to follow the recorded instructions. The mental image of a hundred or more people silently leaping about, dancing, or pummelling one another with balloons makes me grin. If it doesn't do the same for you, then skip this book and go read about something more suited to your sober soul.
As far as I can see, the pranks here are good-spirited, friendly jokes, not intended to hurt anyone either physically or emotionally. If it was otherwise, they wouldn't be so universally amusing. And really, when you think about it, getting a group of people to come together to put smiles on faces is a delightfully altruistic act. As the author points out, of his impulsive impersonation of Ben Folds one night in a West Village bar, many of the patrons went home thrilled to have talked to a genuine rock star, and the ones who knew better, got some great theater that night.
Recommended for those with a taste for high silliness, and lively senses of humor.
