MP3 Experiment Turns Into Balloon Scramble in Riverdale Park
Update: [from Tim] It has come to our attention that there are inaccuracies with this post and that the author was actually late in arriving to the event. Our apologies. If anyone would like to submit to us an alternate review of the event we'd be happy to post it to the site
Improv Anywhere unleashed their MP3 Experiment in Riverdale Park today, which brought much colour and merriment on a Sunday afternoon, as well as dozens of stray balloons on the field.
Almost 300 turned out to take part in this mischievous endeavour that played out as more of a group game than a scene of chaos and joy in a public place, as was intended.
The idea was interesting, but in execution, it could've been much more. The voice on the free download got annoying fast, but the players involved didn't seem to mind and followed along to the silly instructions not too dissimilar from some drunken party Twister games, only more props and strangers were included.
By the end, dozens of balloons were let loose in the field, which allowed the younger kids a little more excitement chasing them down after the event.
Others chose to enjoy the remaining sunshine playing frisbee as mixed groups of red, green, yellow and blue shirts dispersed across the park.
This idea would have worked better in a more centrally located place with more walk-by traffic. Somewhere like Queen's Park perhaps. Still, it proved a fun and unusual way to spend an hour or so on a Sunday afternoon in Toronto.
Photos by Roger Cullman.
Comments (24)
You must have got there after it was over. Here is what it was really like http://portfolio.kevinthom.com/mp3-experiment-toronto-2008?page=3
Your lackluster report is due to inaccuracy - the event was fabulously successful, had more than 300 people, and your pictures don't represent the 45 minutes of activity. (Although they are great photos!) And the voice wasn't annoying.
I look forward to the next event and hope to see you there.
Hm, that sounds disappointing. We should ban all events like this from the city or screen them first to make sure they're up to our lofty standards.
ROGER'D
this doesn't really tell me anything about it..just that it wasn't as good as it could have been...is there a media ban on describing the event?
Ryan L.> I think you're being sarcastic, because if Riverdale park is not a "visible locale", I don't know what is.
Publisher Tim> This post is very much like the "Gay Smackdown in the Face" Roger made some time ago (though thankfully no opportunity for Roger to layer some of his homophobia into his "analysis"). I followed the link from Happy Player above, and compared those pictures to Roger's. It looks like he missed the event entirely, got there at after it was done, yet still reported on it and slammed it.
Why is this staff member allowed to write on things he doesn't know about, or care enough about to figure out? It's sloppy and destructive and brings BlogTO down. Let him report on the narrow niche band of hipster quirky bullshit he seems to venerate, and get responsible writers to cover everything else. Please.
@Long - I'm trying to get a hold of Roger to find out why there seems to be a discrepancy. By the looks of it, you might be right as the photos seem to be from the "after party"
Long time reader, most of the photos (posted here and offsite) seem to show IE volunteers as the vast majority of people in the park at the time (and how many people of the small handful that don't appear to be part of the event are just there for documenting it?)
The event looked fun, it just doesn't look like it had the potential to shock or confuse that many people like some of the NYC missions do.
Clearly Roger missed the boat on this one! My friend & I had an absolute blast participating in the Experiment. The photos attached to his post are NOT representative of the event whatsoever all. They all were taken after the event was over.
I was going to report on the event as an active participant but, having arrived after the start of the event, it would have been tricky to try to synch my ipod precisely with the recording, so I thought of observing the group from afar, as if I just happened to be at the park at the time, and see how that appeared.
From the outside, it looked like one big group activity game. Could've been one of those crazy ideas a college or university organized for Frosh Week if it happened a few weeks earlier.
While I may have caught the tail end of it, what I saw didn't seem to be all that chaotic, rousing-the-public like some of the other Improv Anywhere events. Maybe that's just my take on it. I'm not knocking them for trying. My main complaint is that it wasn't held somewhere that could have given it a better chance of meeting this result. Wasn't that the point of Improv Anywhere?
I should have stated at the outset that I missed the start of this. It looked to be a really fun event to participate in. All the same, reporting on it from an outsider's viewpoint gave me a different angle for the story.
@ Long time reader
BlogTo's main readership seems to be "narrow niche band hipster quirky bullshitter" who spend all day in front of their computer, listening to the latest shitty shoegazing band on their schmancy ipod crappity-crap and only go to events that are pompus and exclusive so they can brag to their blogging friends (who they've never met) about what they did on the weekend.
puke, i'm going to go read a book.
Great event, but I understand what people mean by causing mass confusion among the bystanders. It would have worked better if a less spread-out location was chosen, with many more bystanders in closer proximity. Dundas Square (Yonge & Dundas) would've been an interesting spot. Let's do it again!
Kate, after all that talk you still go and comment on the entry. I'd wager you also brag to your friends about how lame sites like blogTO and Torontoist are, but you still seem to read them and care enough about them to comment on them. Doucher.
Rogers, you really shouldn't talk about "the execution" of an event dependent on people taking part by listening to the audio content in sync with everyone else when you freely admit in the comments that you didn't listen to it at all, got there late, and watched from really far away with a telephoto lens. Instead of event hopping all weekend long so you can shill a few impersonal pictures taken from half a mile away you should really consider taking part before offering blogTO readership your asinine reviews.
This quote, "The idea was interesting, but in execution, it could've been much more," could easily have been applied to your coverage.
Note to Tim: It's because of crap like this and the homophobic rant from previous weeks past that I don't even bother reading the site on weekends anymore. I know he contributes a lot, which is great for ad bucks, but when the content is admittedly lacking, what's the damn point?
@Ry-Tron: I never said I didn't listen to the mp3 download. In fact I said I did and found the voice annoying after a while. I was close enough to be engaged in the event by the end, but found it to be somewhat lacking in what it set out to be.
During the event, how many of the participants actually engaged with the locals at the park? What was that experience like?
Had this taken place elsewhere, such as Roman's suggestion, I'm sure I'd have found it a greater success.
Tim> Thanks for the update. You've certainly got your hands full with this contributor. His response above is very much like his response(s) to his Gay Smackdown post, where he just doesn't get where the problem is. Here, he comments that his outsider perspective is the angle of this review -- but he was still late and missed bulk of the event (you can see people walking up the hill in one of the photos)!
--
I think Kate was just being funny. Sure there are mindless hipsters out there and on here, but my feeling is that the bulk of BlogTO readers are more well rounded than that and you can't generalize to the whole readership.
arriving late and not being able to sync your ipod is no excuse.
they said even on the site that if you think you'll be late than to start playing the mp3 at 2pm no matter where you are so when you arrive you will be in sync.
makes sense, don't you think?
Bravo to Tim and all the editors here at BlogTO! You ignored the concerns of your readers when we expressed our concerns about the quality of Roger's writing after the Gay Smackdown post and now I can see why you made such a prescient decision!
Long time reader, take a look at the comments from Gay Smackdown and you'll see that if BlogTO has its "hands full with this contributor" they've got no one else to blame but themselves.
Addressing Roger's statement: "During the event, how many of the participants actually engaged with the locals at the park? What was that experience like?"
The event was not about engaging with the locals at the park, please read the original event description.
Also, I find Roger's claim that he watched the event from afar to be suspect, as all his pictures appear to have been taken well after the event ended (eg, children went after ballons after 'The Epic Battle' ended. This would have been at least a good ten minutes after 3pm.)
@Ms_Pistol: I already said that I caught the tail end of the event. And FYI, all my photos were taken before 3 p.m. I saw little kids chasing balloons from about 2:40 onwards.
And if you read the original event description, they pretty much banned photographers from participating.
What was the event about for you? Where's your review?
I went to the event and it was loads of fun. Thanks for coming to Toronto, Improv Everywhere and Steve! :) I have no idea what Roger is going on about, but it's annoying that he uses his soapbox for spouting opinionated nonsense instead of doing honest research and reporting.
@Ry-Tron and UnionStayshyn - I'm not sure what remedy you're looking for but Jerrold and I have discussed our concerns with Roger and he plans to incorporate the feedback into future contributions to the site.
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