Flashmob: Som Sabadell

Mon, 9 Jul 2012

I love a good flashmob video, especially when it involves the use of classical music.

In this video, a little girl throws a coin into a bassist busker’s hat who then begins to play and slowly, a full orchestra gradually emerges in the town square of Sabadell, Spain to play Beethoven’s 9th Symphony. And while the audio quality is a little too clean and to have been recorded on location, the effect of the music and the giddy reactions of the crowd are too good to completely care about such details.

Flash Mobs

Thu, 17 May 2012

As always, big ups to my friend Findlay on finding this clip of a Copenhagen flash mob in action; and in super-classy, no frills style at that.

I love flash mobs. When done right, they can generate nothing but joy for people, be it as a participant or unwitting observer. As Fin had commented, flash mobs should be “…a surprise not sprung on one unsuspecting individual, but a treat for everyone to enjoy.” Hell, even the ones that are done a bit wrong still have a positive effect.

Probably my favourite aspect of them is how the internet has been so instrumental in bringing together these large groups of otherwise strangers to do something in real life that is both out-of-place and wonderful at the same time.

If you’ve not seen it yet, you should probably check out this TED talk by Charlie Todd, creator of Improve Everywhere and one of the first to popularise the concept of flash mobs (the joyful ones).

Edit: Just clicked on that flash mob: it’s like they took this earlier awesome concept and made it more awesome as a flash mob. Nice.