May 21, 2011

Planking — "the seemingly harmless trend of lying face down, perfectly stiff, on various structures in public."

But it killed a guy... so let's worry about it.

34 comments:

Trooper York said...

I thought "Planking" is what Arnold did to the maid and got in all that trouble earlier in the week?

AmPowerBlog said...

I'd rather be blogging than planking. Probably wouldn't be falling 7 stories to my death, come to think of it.

chickelit said...

Aren't they prone to prostrate erection?

David Smith said...

Done from ten feet of the ground or less, it's just showing off.

Done much higher and it's Darwinian evolution skimming the gene pool.

The fatality was sad, but clumsy and reckless isn't a survival characteristic.

"Hold my beer and watch this!"

Sal said...

Planking in a bed with pillows could lead to suffocation if you're not careful.

Palladian said...

Telling that it seems to be mostly Europeans doing this.

Jason (the commenter) said...

Remember last Sunday when we were all excited about this?

Althouse could have at least included a picture of herself planking!

edutcher said...

It's one thing to do it a foot off the ground. Seven stories up and you really can't wait to be a Darwin Award.

chickelit said...

I thought "Planking" is what Arnold did to the maid and got in all that trouble earlier in the week?

I think you're confusing "walking the plank" with "shivering your timber".

Aaarrgh!

Palladian said...

Actually, the whole thing seems a little like grunge speak... "Yeah, all the hip kids on the internets are taking pictures of themselves lying stiffly on different surfaces! It's a huge trend!"

Jason (the commenter) said...

Palladian: Telling that it seems to be mostly Europeans doing this.

? It's Australia.

bagoh20 said...

You spend most of your life trying not to make an ass of yourself and then a single moment of stupidity and your legacy is written in stone. Trying to get noticed is a dangerous game, but I wonder why so many people attempt to do so by useless or antisocial methods.

Try to get famous through huge gestures of compassion, charity, or valuable self sacrifice. I mean you have a choice, go for something cool for God's sake. If you're gonna fall off a roof, do it trying to save a kitten.

Jason (the commenter) said...

This is just like pole-sitting, or seeing how many people can fit in a telephone booth. It's good clean fun. And some of the pictures are hilarious.

bagoh20 said...

Isn't an Australian a kind of European - like our President is an African.

Jason (the commenter) said...

bagoh2o: Isn't an Australian a kind of European - like our President is an African.

Yes, but let's see if Palladian can talk himself out of this.

bagoh20 said...

If the CIA used this for interrogation it would be considered a horrible,, unforgivable crime against humanity...

until Obama needed it.

Palladian said...

"Isn't an Australian a kind of European - like our President is an African.

Yes, but let's see if Palladian can talk himself out of this."

Odd, half those pictures have captions written in Dutch & Spanish or seem to be referring to places in countries other than Australia... It's almost like it's mostly Europeans doing it!

Instugator said...

Planking did not kill the guy, he actually suffered from a terminal case of stupidity

Tubby Z said...

If it killed a guy, lets encourage it.

Before they reproduce.

Jason (the commenter) said...

Palladian: Odd, half those pictures have captions written in Dutch & Spanish or seem to be referring to places in countries other than Australia... It's almost like it's mostly Europeans doing it!

Look at the times on the photos. Most of them are at around 9am. If CBS wrote the story EST, that would make it near midnight in Australia and 3 or 4 PM in Europe.

Fred4Pres said...

Newt Gingrich has to stop planking.

Unknown said...

David Smith: The fatality wasn't sad at all. The more the merrier. Herds need to be culled, the gene pool cleansed.

MarkD said...

The Darwin awards need candidates. This is a problem, how?

Mary Beth said...

It's been around for a couple of years but has been called the "lying down game". <- there's that period that's just going to roll away!

the old boathouse said...

Mitch Daniels got his stitches from planking

tim maguire said...

Suddenly all the planking stories!

Did any more than a handful of kids do this before the media decided it was the latest kids craze? It was nowhere, and then, overnight, it was everywhere

Toad Trend said...

Strikes me as another stupid activity taken on by people with too much time on their hands.

I can't imagine how displaying oneself laying face down anywhere is a worthy 'goal'.

Bucket list item for the mentally-challenged attention seeker.

The Crack Emcee said...

Planking is the homeopathy of public activities.

Completely harmless. Carry on.

dbp said...

I think this "planking" thing would be much more interesting if it was done supine rather than prone.

Jason (the commenter) said...

dbp: I think this "planking" thing would be much more interesting if it was done supine rather than prone.

I think the point isn't to look interesting, so much as to look ridiculous. And lying face down you have a level of anonymity.

Who is this person? Why are they in such an unnatural position? What the hell is going on? And you laugh.

dbp said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
dbp said...

Yeah Jason, I agree; in terms of ridiculousness, the face down position is best. But there is a kind of mixed message to the face down position in that there is a boldness to doing something odd in public and yet the pose strikes me as very herbivore

Posing on your back would add a real insouciance to the whole thing, I think.

dbp said...

Planking, BTW, is a great way to prepare salmon.

Amartel said...

Another phony talk controversy. The guy didn't die because he was "planking." He died because he was doing something stupid. Are we going to outlaw stupidity? No? Then, next, please.