January mission: FREEZE!

[agent adams]

You asked for it, and now you've got it. In order to make it awesome, please save the date and spread the word.

That's right, folks. We at Flash Mob Austin are organizing a freeze. I'm sure you've seen Improv Everywhere's Frozen Grand Central Station video by now. Right? If you haven't, go here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jwMj3PJDxuo&feature=channel_page or
http://revver.com/video/648644/frozen-grand-central/

Since our inception, our members have been badgering us to do a freeze like Improv Everywhere's Frozen Grand Central Station. Well, let this post go to show you that the squeaky wheel gets the grease. We are doing a freeze at a central Austin location on Saturday, January 31st, 2009. This will be our first major mission in the new year.

We are announcing this so far in advance so that you are able to save the date, clear your schedule, spread the word, and invite absolutely everyone you know. We'd like to see close to 100 agents come out. We know this is possible because we once gathered 100 people together for a pillow fight and 881 people together to dance to Thriller.

There will be a REQUIRED briefing session at 11:00 a.m. on the morning of the mission. Bundle up because we'll be meeting at Republic Square Park (5th & San Antonio). This meeting is required in order to announce the location, sync watches, and to troubleshoot. We will then walk and/ or carpool to our freeze location from there.

At 12:30 p.m., there will be a wrap up meeting at the same spot to record agents' reactions, talk about how it went, etc. This wrap-up meeting is encouraged, but NOT required.

Here's the Facebook link: http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=54715671354
Here's our webpage link: http://www.flashmobaustin.com/2008/12/spread-news-january-freeze.html

I hope to see you there!

[Agent Filkins]

MISSION REPORTS:
This was a mission, as always, by the people, for the people. Due to the highly popular nature of this mission we wanted to give everyone a chance to report back with their experiences and here they are!

Sheena:
"I froze at the olive bar, in the motion of grabbing a container. I hate olives. That was just where I happened to be, trying to look busy long after I was done shopping. I froze when I saw the girl on the crutches and her friend go still -- my phone alarm never went off.

I probably spent the next 5 minutes wondering what I was going to do when the freeze was over because I still didn't want any olives. When my freeze-end alarm did go off, I scooped up a few olives anyway to make it look natural. A few minutes later, I dumped them out and got something else in the same container. Hey, you can flash mob and still go green, right?"

Agent Cuda:
"Right before the freeze, I was standing in front of the deli counter talking to a deli employee about my food choice. I'm dressed like a biker - leather jacket, Harley Davidson skullcap, carrying my helmet and riding gloves. As soon as my phone buzzed in my pocket at 12:15, I dropped one of my gloves on the floor and bent down to pick it up – and I froze in this state (and I found it's hard to keep this pose for a full five minutes, especially toward the end).

So less than twenty seconds into my frozen state, a Whole Foods employee walks up to me and starts asking me if I was okay. Of course I didn't respond or move at all, so she got on her walky-talky and started calling for help by saying, "Yes, I need some help by the cooked food deli, there's something wrong with a gentleman over here, he's not moving. We probably need to call the paramedics…" At this point, some other employee walks up and the woman tell him to stand behind me to catch me in case I started to fall over. I'm bent over thinking, 'Wow! How are these two employees completely oblivious to all of the other people around us who are frozen?' And it's still a mystery to me how they didn't notice, but the woman keeps explaining to the other employee how something happened to me when I went to pick up my glove and I just stuck in this state like this. It was all I could do to keep from laughing, but I managed to hold it together.

Finally another Whole Food employee walked up and asked the helpful woman what she needed and after she told him there was something wrong with me, this third Whole Foods guy says, "Uh, look around. Most of the people in the store are like this right now!" The Whole Foods woman apparently looks around her gasps, "Oh my god! What is going on?!" She quickly scuttles away, embarrassed I'm sure.

Someone pushed their cart between me and the deli counter, running over my foot with one of the wheels. Another man picked up my glove for me and placed it on my back."

Agent Awesome Blossom AKA Rachel:
"So after the freeze, my two friends and i were walking out of whole foods and down the street. We came across a group of guys that were walking towards whole foods. They stopped us and the conversation went something like this:
-Were ya'll just in whole foods?
-Yeah why?
-Were you part of the freeze?
-The what?
-You know we everyone stands still, did you see that?
-Umm, no.
And then we walked away. I guess someone in whole foods had called them and told them what was going one. It was hilarious to see their confused faces. lol"

Agent Mo:
"I froze at a table by the Italian bar right next to an elderly couple. People were walking by saying "what's going on?" but the people next to me didn't seem to acknowledge what was happening even with people frozen within inches of them. Then their daughter came up and started talking to them about it. It became apparent that they were not from around here. When we unfroze, they asked us what we had been doing and I said it's just something we do here in Austin and they were like "ok".

Also, I did hear the girl by the olive bar ask her friend why she was taking a picture because you wouldn't be able to tell, and suggested they would need to be taking video to be effective.

I had a great time and am glad I went to the meeting afterward because people had such funny stories. Thanks to the organizers."

Agent Melissa:
"Awesome mission! It was great to see so many people come out. I remember way back when to our little pillow fight. Looks like FMA's doubled (at least)- yay!!!

Liked being one of the special "red shirts" (thankfully we didn't die like in an original series Star Trek episode).

I was standing back by the deserts holding a box of chocolate bark (8 servings per container... I'll remember that forever now). My highlights:

-little kids saying "Mommy, why are they all doing that?" and the parents trying to explain
-an older lady trying to maneuver her cart through everyone (didn't ask anyone around me to move, just silently tried to get her shopping done)
-someone thinking we were an advertisement (advertising what I wonder)

and the best one:

-halfway through the freeze someone in the fish area made a store-wide announcement. "Attention Whole Foods shoppers! Come to the fish counter and pick up some Arctic Char. It's the best fish ever!" People not with the freeze laughed because they knew the announcement was to get more people to see the freeze. I had to bite my tongue to keep from laughing then."

Agent Wager:
"The guy working at the chocolate counter said, "It feels like I'm in one of those sci-fi movies where I'm the only person moving!"

It was pretty awesome :)"

Agent J9:
"I froze in a Captain Morgan pose next to the cheese and there was a lady behind me who pulled out her cell phone to call someone. Her side of the conversation went something like this:

"I had to call you because I'm having a really surreal experience right now.
I was shopping and all of a sudden most of the people here just stopped moving.
Now I'm stuck between them and I can't move.
No, I'm STUCK in art. I'll be there when I can. . ."

This was awesome and I can't wait for the next event!"

Agent Gonzo:
"I froze *right* in front of where you get the containers for soup. Some Austinite was so un-phased by the entire thing that he just reached around me - head practically in my chest - to get what he needed.

Five minutes isn't supposed to be this fun."

[Agent Filkins]

DUDE! The Freeze was AWESOME!! I am so glad we got to participate in that, it was so neat. We'll have an agent reaction video or two up here soon, and check our website for links to our Flikr and Vimeo in the upcoming days! Also, don't forget to e-mail your Agent Reaction notes to us ASAP at [e-mail] if you'd like us to post them on our site. Thanks to everyone who participated, it was a rip roaring success! Most of all, Whole Foods totally loved us! YEAH!
-Agent Filkins

[agent adams]

Hi. If you're reading this and you plan to come to the freeze and you've been to at least one other FMA event or planning meeting, email us at [e-mail] and put "RED SHIRTS" in the title.

We'd like you to do something special for the flash mob and it involves red shirts. :0)

[Agent Melissa]

Very excited for this weekend! I've got some people coming with me. Yay!

[Sherry]

I will be there. I am so excited. This will be my first interaction with the group. I am actively recruiting people and so far I have about 10-15 people who are interested in going. See you at Republic Square!!!

[Tons0fun]

Awesome! Glad to hear it Sherry, get as many people as you can!

[Cheney]

I posted this on the Austin couchsurfing group page, and I think a decent sized group of us will be out. Look forward to it!

[roy]

this is going to be super fun,

[Nick]

Yes, this will be my first time out with flash mob austin.

[Agent Filkins]

Yeah baby. This mission is DA BOMB! All I need now are a bunch of friends to come with me...I'm working on it!!

[Agent Matt B]

Cool my wife and I will try and be there...! Sounds fun!

[Roxy Pants]

thank you for the advanced notice !!!