2nd Annual Bat Bridge Pillow Fiiight: Mission Report!

Photo credit: Chris Carley

WE DID IT! We had a great time out on the hillside Saturday night with all of you, thanks so much for coming out! WOOT. Pillow fights are the best! As mission leader, sans our fabulous, fearless Agent Adams (sad face for weddings that take people out of town), I was surprised once again at just how smoothly everything seemed to go. There were a couple hitches, and they are lessons we'll learn from, as we do each and every mission as an experience, but overall I would say this was a roaring success. Following my standard love of bullet point messages, I'll lay out some high (and low) lights of the mission from my perspective, please add your own in a comment:

• Upon arriving for the pre-mission meeting I was shocked to see not the typical 5 people gather, but grow to over 25 of us shoved in Dominican Joe's upper seating area! It was wonderful to see so many new faces! In fact, I was the only one of those present who had actually been at the very first FMA mission the previous year.
• Once we got to the hillside we all made sure those of us in on the initial start group could see each other, and then simply sat and watched the sunset. It was really beautiful too, I should go down there more often just for that! It was kind of ironic because I ended up sitting directly behind Agent R.D. and his daughter, who won the pillow fight last year.
• Agent Laney came up to Agent Kiley and greeted her with a friendly pillow whack which was returned, and then her two friends started hitting the family members sitting on the ground, and I was sitting nearby in my pink shirt hoping against all hope that in that small group (which was garnering a LOT of attention) they would remember to hit me, thus giving me a legit reason to jump up with my "OH MY GOSH! PILLOW FIIIIIGHT!!!" exclamation. I was also tensing as I wished no one else would prematurely start hitting their friends before I could yell. No one did, and I was so relieved. All went on cue, which felt really great! Way to restrain yourselves, folks! =0)
• The fighting itself was fun, and I made sure to scout the perimeter for those standing about looking on with pillows in hand, of course, or those with their backs to me, and say "Sneak attack!" with a laugh while flinging my pillow around. I got hit (Agent Bertman took a couple good whacks!) more than I swung actually, but it was loads of fun.
• When the whistle blew and the winner declared (who won?? Please identify yourself or tell us who won if you know them!) by our excellent ref, Agent C.E., I heard a great cheer among all those sitting on the hill, not just the pillow fighters, which made me smile. =0 )
• Watching the bats come out was great, too! I think I enjoyed it a LOT more this year than last, I was actually focused enough to really relax. Bats ARE cool, seriously.
• Agent Tons0Fun's brother Anthony shot footage from the bridge, and Agent Smith gave me a flash drive with footage that we'll edit up and compile ASAP to get an awesome video out there! Thanks ya'll! If you have pictures or other video, please send it to us at flashmobaustin@gmail.com
• One of the girls in Agent Kiley's family group received a very painful looking split lip from an individual who clearly was not thinking of the repercussions when slipping his keys into his pillow case and then whacking around at people's faces. Please, let's all learn from this and make sure that what we're doing is safe for all involved, we want to establish a harm-free fun environment. If you're that guy with the keys in the pillow, please don't come to our missions unless you have a VERY clear understanding of what we as Flash Mob Austin stand for and what we do not. Fun is never to be had at the cost of other's safety or well being. Don't screw it up for the hundreds of folks who work hard to keep our reputation golden.
• Due to a directional oversight on the leadership team for this mission, there was a small error in the location clarification and a few really well meaning and excited pillow fighters ended up on the wrong side of the river. This is something that caused me great distress because I know you all come out with such good intentions and make a huge effort to make FMA a part of your lives, and I'm very sorry that any one of you had to miss the pillow fight due to an oversight such as this. Agent Laney suggested next year we make a map with the location clearly marked, and I think it a brilliant idea and wish we had thought of it this year. Again, my apologies to those of you who missed out on this mission, but please please please, give us another try! We'd love to have you complete a mission successfully.

Thanks again to everyone who made it out, told your friends, REMAINED SILENT ABOUT THE SOURCE OF THE ORGANIZATION and came with your pillow to have some fun under the bat bridge! Don't forget to post comments about your experiences below.

Over and Out,

Agent Filkins

2nd Annual Bat Bridge Pillow Fiiiiight!

DATE: Saturday, August 29th.
LOCATION: Congress Ave. bat bridge

Show up any time between 7:15- 7:50 p.m. (that's what time people start lining up to watch the bats). Sit on the NE side of the hill (near the underneath of the bridge). Sit on your pillow, as if you're simply there to watch the bats. MAKE NO MENTION OF A PILLOW FIGHT OR FLASH MOB AUSTIN.

At 8:00 on the dot, two kids will start hitting each other with pillows. Their older brothers will start arguing, then their families will start arguing. Then suddenly one parent will hit the other parent with a pillow. Agent Filkins (who will be wearing a bright pink shirt) will yell "OH MY GOSH! PILLOW FIIIIIGHT!" at the top of their lungs. As soon as you hear that, GO!

The fight will go on for four minutes. Some of you should pretend to be dead. A referee will declare a winner. A whistle will be blown. After that, sit down, as if NOTHING EVER HAPPENED.

If spectators ask you about the pillow fight, make sure you have an excuse ready (example: "Dude, I just came her to watch the bats, then some jerk hit me with a pillow. I was just defending myself.")

NOTES:
NO FEATHER PILLOWS. If you pillow leaks, clean it up. The city of San Fransisco recently banned all flash mobs after a park pillow fight caused $20,000 worth of damage to their water lines.

Instead of having a massive fight in the middle (like last year) let it escalate. It may be funnier to have little fights all over, but feel free to whack people from other groups.

PRETEND you are not there for the pillow fight. Pretend you are simply:
1. Standing up for one of the kids, or
2. Standing up for one of the parents, or
3. Defending yourself

Don't be late. As always, parking is a task. The fight is only four minutes, so if you miss it, we'll be sad.

MAKE NO MENTION OF FLASH MOB AUSTIN.

If you want to meet on the Dominican Joes patio for a pre and post meeting, the core leadership team will be there at both 7:00 p.m. and 8:30 p.m.

THERE WILL BE AN AFTER PARTY (ages 18+) downtown. Location pending.

Oh, and look! Here's a link to our Facebook event page.

Operation Pillow Fight: more photos!

Goody! Andreas Siegert captured some of the pillow fighting action on (digital) film [link].

Higher quality video: Operation Pillow Fight

Unsatisfied with the quality of the Operation Pillow Fiiiiight video on YouTube? Me, too. A mere two hours ago I discovered the awesomeness that is Vimeo. I think we're going to use that from here on out as our video uploader and video home. Here's the link and the higher quality video. Bon appétit, mes amis!

Operation Pillow Fiiiiight from Flash Mob Austin on Vimeo.

[note: the music is "Pseudo" by Austin band Dead Black Hearts.]

Flash Mob Austin= Match Maker?

So it turns out that the Flash Mob Austin events may be a great place to meet other fun- loving singles. Don't believe me? For some major LOL's check out this Missed Connection found on the Austin Craigslist:

In more ways than one, I felt a connection as I hit you with a pillow last Saturday at the secret flash mob pillow fight. Ouch! You hit me back with a navy blue cushion of some sort. My sunglasses flew off my face and I got trampled as I squatted down to find them. I think I got the wind knocked out of me... or was that just my stunned, shortness of breath due to your undeniable good looks?

When I finally came to, you were on the other side of the mob. I was about to find you to thump you again, but then the whistle blew and the fight ended. I couldn't tell if you were there with a girl or not, but if you're not attached to anyone, how 'bout we battle it out one on one? Maybe this time I'll provide you with a softer pillow, though.

Simply describe my pillow and tell me where I first hit you.

Still don't believe that FMA could potentially provide you with a soul mate? Why don't you go watch that Operation Pillow Fight video again and see if you spy any love lorn hotties. Oh, and come to the Sept. 6th planning meeting, why don't cha? If you're single or not, it will be a good time for all. Besides, it couldn't hurt. Right?

[note: photo by Andrew Herron]

Operation Pillow Fight: the movie

Today's most anticipated movie is now showing!

I told you it was worth the wait. Was I right or was I right?

NOTE:
The music is "Pseudo" by Austin band Dead Black Hearts.

P.S.
You can view this on Break.com, Vimeo, Facebook videos, and Myspace tv, too!
Yes. We're basically taking over the Internets.

Operation Pillow Fight: more new pictures!

We have more new pictures on the Flickr account thanks to Austin photographer Jen Jacobi and local improvisor Andreas Fabis. We've also cc'ed these to the Myspace and the Facebook for all you social networkers. All together now: "THANK YOU, JEN & ANDREAS!"

And... the video is on its way. The first attempt at uploading looked horrible, but that did not stop 45 of you from looking at it. We've since deleted that piece of poo and are mid-upload of a higher resolution file. Hopefully very soon, we will be able to link it here and you will be able to enjoy it immensely. I promise that it will be worth the wait.

[note: photo by Jen Jacobi]

Video... coming soon!

So the video of last night's pillow fight is freaking high-larious! Yep. It's too bad we're having technical difficulties with the YouTube and were unsuccessful in our bid to get it online today. Wanna come over and watch it at my house later?

I kid. Hopefully it will be online by Monday night on YouTube. In the meantime, here's what I can tell you about it to satiate your pillow fightin' video hunger:
1. We shot it in black and white because the camera was having CCD issues. However, in the end, we thought that it made the video look cooler PLUS it now matches the black and white-y motif we got going on over here on the webpage.
2. It was shot eagle eye style from the top of the bridge which only adds to the coolness.
3. You can hear the on-lookers from the bridge "wtf" but then they start encouraging the mayhem below.

It's so sweet. I wish I could prove it to you right now. Watch for it tomorrow. Maybe that will get rid of your case of the Mondays.

Operation Pillow Fight: HUGE SUCCESS

Operation Pillow Fiiiiight was a huge success! Look how happy our winner looks! We estimate that we had around 100 flash mobbers, despite the humidity and the threat of rain. The turnout was above and beyond anything we expected! Way to go, Flash Mob Austin!

We will upload a video tomorrow. In the meantime, see some pics on our Flickr account and spread the word about how cool we are. Maybe add us to your Facebook or Myspace, mmmmkay?

Also, if you made it out to the FMA pillow fight, give us your feedback and send us some photos. Our email address is flashmobaustin [at] gmail [dot] com. Ya' dig?

Our next planning meeting will be Saturday, Sept. 6 at 2:30 p.m. at Shipe Park, 201 East 45th Street, Austin, Texas. Our next mission is tentatively planned for Saturday, September 20th.

Thanks so much to all who came out and made our first mission a roaring success!

Operation Pillow Fight: pre-meeting!

We are meeting at Dominican Joe (515 s. congress) @ 6:45pm to go over details again with people who have specific roles. If you are not one of these people but are interested in ironing out any last minute concerns or asking questions, PLEASE join us! Agent Filkins and Agent Adams (that's me!) will be there and wearing "FLASH MOB AUSTIN" tee's.

Important: we will be leaving Dominican Joe PROMPTLY at 7pm to walk over the bridge and get in place on the hillside. If you are late for the meeting please don't risk missing the pillow fight, just head straight over to there.

Here are all the gnarly deets for those who somehow missed them on the Urban Prankster page:
-6:45pm pre-meeting at Dominican Joe.

-7:15pm all agents in place on the hillside to the NE of the bridge (sunset is forecasted @ 8:03pm that evening)
-bring yourself and a pillow. bring a friend or several friends and an appropriate number of pillows.
-sit anywhere you like. be on the look out for other agents sitting on pillows, and locate yourself accordingly. do not approach other agents with questions or mention anything about the mission.

-7:30pm two designated agents begin whacking each other with their pillows (POSITION FILLED by local Cub Scouts). All other agents remain seated and observe along with the rest of the crowd. start counting a minute off in your head or glance at your cell phone (or other atomic clock ordered device, so we are all on the same exact time) a couple times, letting them continue on their own for exactly one minute.

-7:31pm all other agents/friends of agents initiate fights with anyone who has a pillow! do not hit to maim, folks! try to take it easy, but also make it look authentic! have fun! switch it up, fight with multiple people, going distances to make it happen. be aggressive and play to win! (Agent Jones will be the "crowd stirrer" who walks around during the pillow fight and question bystanders about what is happening, who started this? why wasn't i invited? man, nobody told me this is what goes on at the bat bridge, cool!, etc.)

-7:35pm a referee (POSITION FILLED BY: Agent Erik Ellison) who has been watching all this activity from a stationary ref stance blows their whistle and all activity comes to a SCREECHING HALT. all eyes go to the ref who walks over to an agent who he declares the WINNER (holds hand and raises it, ref like) and amidst great cheering and clapping, all agents resume their seated positions as if nothing happened.
-any inquiries in regards to the reason behind the pillow fight should be answered with an innocuous response along the lines of "oh, i just love pillow fights!" or some such hilarity.

-8:20pm (aprox., after the bats have made their appearance) any and all agents who would like to participate in a play-by-play with the group will meet at the STEVIE STATUE on the W side of the s. congress bridge. it'll be fun to discuss how our experiences were, what worked, what we should have planned for, etc.

Thanks and see you there!

Operation Pillow Fiiiiight!

Your mission, if you choose to accept it, will be to participate in a raucous pillow fight. This is Flash Mob Austin's very first event. Be a part of local fame and legend by participating!

Date: this SATURDAY, August 23rd
Time: All agents in place prior to 7:15
Location: Hillside on the east side of the Congress bridge

This event is B.Y.O.P. (bring your own pillow).

See the Urban Prankster Network for all the gnarly details or email flashmobaustin [at] gmail [dot] com for the deets. Spread the word like it's butter on a Red Lobster cheesy biscuit. Go!