Annoyance #2: Planking? Naw....

Planking? Retarded.

I know, it's a little late to be commenting on it but the draft for this Post got buried beneath a massive burst of ideas that has left me with 23 drafts currently smouldering in the supply closet. I've determined to fully flesh them before writing brand-new material.
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Planking irks me. It wasn't the mainstream-ness of the phenomenon, particularly.
It was the lack of spirit.
At its best I believe the point of the exercise was to "Expose people to something strange and out of place." You're walking along when, "Hey, what's that guy doing lying there like that?" Naturally, at the zenith of planking's popularity people were just doing it so they could upload vapid Facebook photos of them in odd positions. Vapid, that word is so perfect for my feelings toward this activity. There's a factoid (yeah, I'm using this word properly) floating about from a man, Tom Green, who claims to have first planked in 1994. Well, ok, he lay down on a busy sidewalk and waited for reactions from passersby. You can see the resemblance to planking but, as no one really took note nor did the action spark the current phenomenon, I think we can safely say that Mr. Green does not actually hold any claim to inventing planking. An accolade I think he should be happy to have denied him. What he did could be considered performance art of sorts. Planking as it has become: pointless attention whoring.

I can't deny that part of my distaste for it stems from my foreknowledge of another phenomenon known as the Playing Dead game. Visually, these photos are just so much more interesting. Who could even argue?

That's cool. But after planking the stupidity got worse: owling. I think that one speaks for itself. (- -)

In contrast, check this photo out:

Update: Apparently this is known as 'batmanning'.

THAT'S COOL. Why don't more people do that instead?