Giving a Hoot

"You can only be young once.  But you can always be immature." ~ Dave Barry

Sometime last year, if you will recall, I introduced you to Extreme Ironing, as well as Cheese Racing.  Fun stuff!  I am ever on the outlook for the bizarre and clever ways that young people create to entertain themselves and others and today I think I have outdone myself in bringing these two three items to your attention and edification.

Before I continue, let me say that I think the internet and social networking is, for the most part, fantastic, educational and entertaining.  I am not sure which of those three categories these will fall into; judge for yourself....

Are any of you out there familiar with "planking"?  If you are, more power to you; you are well ahead of the curve, in my book anyway.   "Planking" is the activity, if one can call it that, of lying face down on the ground, yes, prone as one can lie.  You must put your face into the ground or sidewalk or whatever, and your arms must remain close to your body, straight down to your side, which in doing so you resemble a plank of wood. Yes, a plank of wood, thus called planking! The object is to do this in the most public of places and the most unusual locations, preferably, and have your picture taken in that position and then post it on the internet.  

I guess you would have to be really "bored" (oh, dear, pardon the pun) to do this.

As with most of these type of activities, it seems planking started in England by two guys named Gary Clarkson and Christian Langdon in 1997.  It has since spread all over the world and is known as "on one's belly" in France, "extreme lying down" in Australia,  "facedowns" in the U.S and Ireland and "playing dead" in South Korea. This year there has been an upturn in the number of photographs taken of planking on roofs, poles, fences,  and vehicles, with some deaths reported of people planking on balcony railings and falling to their deaths, etc.  Wow, who knew?

Not to worry though, it seems that planking may have reached its climax in popularity.  Thank God, you are saying to yourself, I bet.  Oh, let's not get too relaxed and think that all is well in the world of our youth.  No, there is something afoot out there in the internet world that is going to replace planking as the "hey, take a picure, quick" and post it for all the world to see.  WHAT IN THE NAME OF SAM HILL COULD IT BE, you are pondering at this very second.  It is, my friends, "OWLING".

Owling, yes, owling.  And what pray tell, is owling?  Well, words cannot do it justice, so see this:

 As you can plainly see, to owl is to squat, put a blank stare on your face with eyes wide open, in public, of course, and have someone to take your picture for posterity.  And share it for all the world to see.  And no, I am not kidding. 

SO there you have the latest craze!  Wait...hold the presses!  What have we here?  A new fad has just come upon the scene and is the "new planking' - CONE-ING.   Words cannot describe adequately but video can:

As you can see, the object of cone-ing is to go to a fast food restaurant drive-thru, order an ice cream cone and then grab it in bizarre ways.  Just taking an ordinary picture isn't enough. The "wow" factor must be upped by recording it on a camcorder and then, like planking, sent out over Facebook or other methods.  The ultimate goal is to capture the astounded look on the drive-thru server's face - What fun!  Let's be brutally honest here - the person who is working at the drive-thru window is hating life.  I mean, it sucks to have that as your job.  By being "coned", you can give those people something to share and talk about with their co-workers, family and friends and will make those boring hours go by so much faster.  Think of it as your civic duty, your Random Act of Kindness for the day!

But wait!  What's this?  Just when you think you have this whole fad thing "licked" (yes, i did, forgive me) along comes a twist (I can't help myself) to the "cone-ing" thing.  Take a look:

We have covered a lot of ground today, haven't we?  I hope I have widened your horizons and educated you so that the next time you are looking for something new to do, you can have a wide range of choices.  Make sure you bring your camera and camcorder! In the meantime, I will have an eye out be on the lookout (don't want to start a new fad of eye patch pictures, must be careful what I write) for the latest and greatest crazes to hit the streets.

And remember, just like Heidi Klum says:  You're either 'in' or you're out.
What a hoot!