prankster fest

last night david and i went to an event that could be called a prankster summit. serious practitioners of shenanigans, ironic twists, and spectacles convened to celebrate their art and past accomplishments.

this was a new scene for me. i'm a relative newbie to the practice of pranks, recognizing minor efforts around the city, such as changing Fell Street to Hella Street, and other various signage switcheroos. i'd heard of groups convening en masse in public areas to confuse and distort normal happenings, but had never experienced it myself. last night we viewed short amateur films capturing pranks such as 100 santas converging on portland, cyclists recycling old bikes to create new ones ripe for bike rodeos, and my favorite: an elaborate stunt including a mcdonald's billboard, alien ronald mcdonalds and ham burglers, cops, and a bottle of expensive scotch. impressive.

the instigators were all there, and spoke a bit about their pranks' particular foibles and fumbles. what made these speakers unique was not just their imperfect presentation style (almost all speakers were prodded to hurry up and sit down), but because these people disobey laws, a few were wearing masks to protect their identity. and then there was the audience, dropping beer bottles, belting out affirmative yelps, and embellishing the night's activities with an occasional horn honk.

it was pretty excellent.