Planking: How Lying Face Down Became a Deadly Global Internet Craze

Got something to say to this podcast? Send a voicemail, and you might hear yourself on the next episode!

In 1983, two teenagers in Edmonds, Washington, lay rigid and face down in the outfield during a baseball game, stayed that way for several innings, then got up and left. Scott Amy and Joel Marshall called it face dancing. The same odd idea surfaced again at a 1986 disco party in Berlin, in an unaired 1994 Tom Green prank in Ottawa, and in 1997 in Taunton, England, where schoolboys Gary Clarkson and Christian Langdon named it the lying down game.

This episode traces how that pointless act of stillness turned into planking once cameras and Facebook arrived. A 2007 fan page set off a contest for the craziest photo, three friends in Adelaide coined the name in 2008, and the hunt for attention pushed people toward riskier spots. The story runs through suspended hospital workers, a fatal balcony fall in Brisbane, a peak of pop culture saturation in 2011, and the moment a prime minister's thumbs up made the whole thing uncool.

Seven night shift staff at Great Western Hospital in Swindon were suspended in September 2009 for playing the lying down game on duty and posting the photos.
In May 2011, 20 year old Acton Beale died after falling from a seventh floor balcony in Brisbane while attempting a plank.
The cast of The Office planked across the Dunder Mifflin set, Jay-Z and Kanye West mentioned it in Gotta Have It, and fighter Pat Barry planked in the octagon after a knockout.
New Zealand Prime Minister John Key appeared giving a thumbs up behind his planking son Max, then said the fad was fine if done safely.
Successors included owling, Batmanning, Dufnering, and teapotting, the last invented on purpose by teachers at Mortlake College in Australia.

Tämä jakso on lisätty Podme-palveluun avoimen RSS-syötteen kautta eikä se ole Podmen omaa tuotantoa. Siksi jakso saattaa sisältää mainontaa.

Jaksot(16184)

The Art of Adult Friendship: Why Quality Matters More Than Quantity

Got something to say to this podcast? Send a voicemail, and you might hear yourself on the next episode!In this episode of pplpod, we explore how our understanding of friendship changes as we grow old...

9 Marras 18min

Summer Explained: The Science, History, and Traditions of the Warmest Season

Got something to say to this podcast? Send a voicemail, and you might hear yourself on the next episode!In this episode of pplpod, we explore summer, the season most closely associated with sunshine, ...

7 Marras 18min

Sir Patrick Stewart: From Shakespeare to Star Trek, the Life and Legacy of a Legend

Got something to say to this podcast? Send a voicemail, and you might hear yourself on the next episode!In this episode of pplpod, we explore the extraordinary life of Sir Patrick Stewart, the acclaim...

7 Marras 49min

Larry David: The Genius of Social Awkwardness, Seinfeld, and Curb Your Enthusiasm

Got something to say to this podcast? Send a voicemail, and you might hear yourself on the next episode!In this episode of pplpod, we explore the life and career of Larry David, the comedian, writer, ...

6 Marras 38min

Why Australian Shepherds Aren't From Australia

Got something to say to this podcast? Send a voicemail, and you might hear yourself on the next episode!In this episode of pplpod, we explore the history of the Australian Shepherd, an intelligent, en...

5 Marras 45min

Labrador Retriever: From Newfoundland Fishing Dogs to Modern-Day Heroes

Got something to say to this podcast? Send a voicemail, and you might hear yourself on the next episode!In this episode of pplpod, we explore the remarkable history of the Labrador Retriever, one of t...

4 Marras 53min

Discovering Ireland: A Journey Through History, Culture, and the Wild Atlantic Way

Got something to say to this podcast? Send a voicemail, and you might hear yourself on the next episode!In this episode of pplpod, we explore Ireland through the philosophy of slow travel: go slower, ...

3 Marras 48min

Willie Hutch: An Overnight I'll Be There Lyric and The Mack's Soundtrack

Got something to say to this podcast? Send a voicemail, and you might hear yourself on the next episode!William McKinley Hutchins was born in Los Angeles in December 1944 and raised in Dallas, where h...

2 Marras 21min