Fun at work
January 22, 2012 2:51 PM Subscribe
Left! No, right! No up and down and up and down and up and down and WEEEEHEEEHEEEE! SHAMON!
posted by WinnipegDragon at 2:59 PM on January 22, 2012 [3 favorites]
posted by WinnipegDragon at 2:59 PM on January 22, 2012 [3 favorites]
Made me so happy, but I think it's... aspirational.
posted by not_that_epiphanius at 3:06 PM on January 22, 2012
posted by not_that_epiphanius at 3:06 PM on January 22, 2012
Maybe not.
It just seemed that no-one was actually following his directions.
posted by not_that_epiphanius at 3:08 PM on January 22, 2012
It just seemed that no-one was actually following his directions.
posted by not_that_epiphanius at 3:08 PM on January 22, 2012
Countdown to DMCA takedown for using Michael Jackson's music in 5... 4... 3...
Heck, Sony Music may even go after the cop for copying Jacko's moves...
posted by oneswellfoop at 3:20 PM on January 22, 2012
Heck, Sony Music may even go after the cop for copying Jacko's moves...
posted by oneswellfoop at 3:20 PM on January 22, 2012
Flagged for breaking the two comment cycle.
posted by Brandon Blatcher at 3:28 PM on January 22, 2012 [2 favorites]
posted by Brandon Blatcher at 3:28 PM on January 22, 2012 [2 favorites]
No, seriously.
posted by Brandon Blatcher at 3:28 PM on January 22, 2012 [2 favorites]
posted by Brandon Blatcher at 3:28 PM on January 22, 2012 [2 favorites]
Sorry.
posted by oneswellfoop at 3:33 PM on January 22, 2012
posted by oneswellfoop at 3:33 PM on January 22, 2012
No, really, I'm sorry.
posted by oneswellfoop at 3:33 PM on January 22, 2012
posted by oneswellfoop at 3:33 PM on January 22, 2012
That man cars and not one could swerve to get that guy?
posted by cjorgensen at 3:42 PM on January 22, 2012
posted by cjorgensen at 3:42 PM on January 22, 2012
Many that is.
Also, had one glove too many.
posted by cjorgensen at 3:42 PM on January 22, 2012 [1 favorite]
Also, had one glove too many.
posted by cjorgensen at 3:42 PM on January 22, 2012 [1 favorite]
I only watched part of the video but
posted by Think_Long at 3:45 PM on January 22, 2012
posted by Think_Long at 3:45 PM on January 22, 2012
I haven't made enough comments today.
posted by Think_Long at 3:46 PM on January 22, 2012
posted by Think_Long at 3:46 PM on January 22, 2012
Is it only me, or are the only people paying attention to him the pedestrians there for the show ?
posted by HuronBob at 3:49 PM on January 22, 2012
posted by HuronBob at 3:49 PM on January 22, 2012
(and the cars seem to ignore his signals completely!)
posted by HuronBob at 3:49 PM on January 22, 2012
posted by HuronBob at 3:49 PM on January 22, 2012
Okay, proceed.
posted by heyho at 3:55 PM on January 22, 2012 [1 favorite]
posted by heyho at 3:55 PM on January 22, 2012 [1 favorite]
This is one of those things that I send to my friends with the subject line "I found this for you on the internet"
posted by device55 at 4:55 PM on January 22, 2012
posted by device55 at 4:55 PM on January 22, 2012
This is also one of those things I try to dance along to and fail.
posted by device55 at 4:55 PM on January 22, 2012
posted by device55 at 4:55 PM on January 22, 2012
I wish I enjoyed my job that much.
posted by desjardins at 5:29 PM on January 22, 2012
posted by desjardins at 5:29 PM on January 22, 2012
This man is a better dancer than Michael Jackson ever was.
posted by Sys Rq at 5:43 PM on January 22, 2012 [1 favorite]
posted by Sys Rq at 5:43 PM on January 22, 2012 [1 favorite]
I wish I enjoyed my job that much.
posted by desjardins at 5:29 PM on January 22 [+] [!]
I would be written up if I enjoyed my job that much.
posted by gc at 5:56 PM on January 22, 2012
posted by desjardins at 5:29 PM on January 22 [+] [!]
I would be written up if I enjoyed my job that much.
posted by gc at 5:56 PM on January 22, 2012
Well _I_ loved it, Brandon Blatcher, and thanks a bunch for this link. Setting it to "Billie Jean" was someone's burst of real inspiration.
I'm surprised some people are saying no one seems to be following his signals. They might be a little less overt than the big arm waves, circles and whistling you see in the traffic cop-controlled intersections we're more familiar with in North America, but he had everyone pulling through left turns, for example, exactly when he signalled them to do so.
I think the camera angle might have made for a bit of a deceptive impression. The couple times he had his arms up in a "STOP" command, for example, I think were happening in front of the left turning lane so the traffic you saw still flowing was the traffic going straight through the intersection.
Read a couple supplemental bits -- guy is 54 years old and does this 7 hours a day from 7:30 am. I'm impressed.
Sharing it with a bunch of people.
posted by Mike D at 5:56 PM on January 22, 2012
I'm surprised some people are saying no one seems to be following his signals. They might be a little less overt than the big arm waves, circles and whistling you see in the traffic cop-controlled intersections we're more familiar with in North America, but he had everyone pulling through left turns, for example, exactly when he signalled them to do so.
I think the camera angle might have made for a bit of a deceptive impression. The couple times he had his arms up in a "STOP" command, for example, I think were happening in front of the left turning lane so the traffic you saw still flowing was the traffic going straight through the intersection.
Read a couple supplemental bits -- guy is 54 years old and does this 7 hours a day from 7:30 am. I'm impressed.
Sharing it with a bunch of people.
posted by Mike D at 5:56 PM on January 22, 2012
It's funny. He's pretty good. But, I think I'd be like, "so...should I stop? Are your hands up so that I should stop or is it an expressive, gestural dance move?"
posted by chococat at 6:45 PM on January 22, 2012 [1 favorite]
posted by chococat at 6:45 PM on January 22, 2012 [1 favorite]
Also, if this isn't just a stunty fake YouTube crossing guard, why are there crowds of pedestrians behind a police-guarded rope while the Jackson Guard is being filmed, and then everyone is allowed to start walking once he leaves, to applause? Craziest intersection ever.
posted by chococat at 6:45 PM on January 22, 2012
posted by chococat at 6:45 PM on January 22, 2012
I'm sorry I posted twice in a row.
posted by WinnipegDragon at 6:48 PM on January 22, 2012
posted by WinnipegDragon at 6:48 PM on January 22, 2012
It was an accident.
posted by WinnipegDragon at 6:48 PM on January 22, 2012
posted by WinnipegDragon at 6:48 PM on January 22, 2012
STOP!
posted by The Discredited Ape at 7:13 PM on January 22, 2012
posted by The Discredited Ape at 7:13 PM on January 22, 2012
Hammertime.
posted by The Discredited Ape at 7:13 PM on January 22, 2012
posted by The Discredited Ape at 7:13 PM on January 22, 2012
If it were me, I'd make sure to drive really carefully when going through this intersection just to make sure there was never an accident on this guy's watch... 'cause every intersection in the world should have someone directing traffic like this, even if it's totally confusing. And there should be giant speakers blasting Billy Jean 24/7. And then the world would be better.
posted by Huck500 at 7:55 PM on January 22, 2012 [1 favorite]
posted by Huck500 at 7:55 PM on January 22, 2012 [1 favorite]
There was a cop in Providence , RI who used to do a similar routine, though I don't think it was set to MJ. And it involved a lot of whistling.
posted by This_Will_Be_Good at 9:09 PM on January 22, 2012
posted by This_Will_Be_Good at 9:09 PM on January 22, 2012
Oh, here is a clip of the Providence dancing cop!
posted by This_Will_Be_Good at 9:09 PM on January 22, 2012
posted by This_Will_Be_Good at 9:09 PM on January 22, 2012
Woulds't that it were secretly a performance art piece, titled, "Dancing in Streets with Cars". A sharply (interpretively) worded, concisely argued un-packing, disarming critique and exhumation of perhaps the deepest rooted of trans-cultural and pan-global taboos... Sons and Daughters; Don't dare Play in Traffic!
We all know it, across the world, and back, it has indeed maybe helped many of us survive, perhaps, to dance, perchance to dream, definitely, the don't 'play' here 'response' to 'traffic' varies minutely across the world, according to driving patterns but it seems to exist, not to play where it is dangerous (there is tension between people who think roads should be made less dangerous, and those who don't see this as being feasible).
(Be that the traffic of early person Nog, cautioned not to gnaw the scraps of gnu in the migratory path of on the move oxen, or be that the traffic of even a small city in motion). The gum chewing kid, and the cud chewing cow, are alike somehow... cautionary tales against playing foolish-folks on a busy road abound (Fried Green Tomatoes was like the cigar of Freud's of cultural manifestations of taboo cautioning and cultural conditioning).
But for every 'positive' -- negative pair, a polar north and south, for every posit, a possible corollary.
It's probably part of why the erie silence of England's empty city streets (specifically, more-so than the in claustrophobic building parts) in 28 days later can haunt so deeply (despite the wide-open-space-ness). It also might have thrilled people who dream of stealing the tiny rebellions that so many people take; you have either caught someone doing it, or done it yourself -- skipping up onto the curb, or doing a little hop on the final step of a big city cross-walk -when an average sized step would have amply sufficed, or living in the a sleepy rural region, racing four-wide down a desolate, silent, flatland road... the night sky is, as they say, a backlit canopy - with holes punched in it, wind in hair, speeding, careening, feet hitting flat with each step, and then the bouncing, which never happened, but thinking that the pavement, of the road might just be adding a tiny spring to each step... maybe... It doesn't matter, any car coming visible miles away... the world is tiny, in your control - malleable. If only for a few seconds flat.
Playing fools in the road with cars.
zombies->(thriller_-) kevin bacon. G.S.M.
Vanilla sky might have been all about that too. Mostly.
posted by infinite intimation at 9:22 PM on January 22, 2012 [1 favorite]
We all know it, across the world, and back, it has indeed maybe helped many of us survive, perhaps, to dance, perchance to dream, definitely, the don't 'play' here 'response' to 'traffic' varies minutely across the world, according to driving patterns but it seems to exist, not to play where it is dangerous (there is tension between people who think roads should be made less dangerous, and those who don't see this as being feasible).
(Be that the traffic of early person Nog, cautioned not to gnaw the scraps of gnu in the migratory path of on the move oxen, or be that the traffic of even a small city in motion). The gum chewing kid, and the cud chewing cow, are alike somehow... cautionary tales against playing foolish-folks on a busy road abound (Fried Green Tomatoes was like the cigar of Freud's of cultural manifestations of taboo cautioning and cultural conditioning).
But for every 'positive' -- negative pair, a polar north and south, for every posit, a possible corollary.
It's probably part of why the erie silence of England's empty city streets (specifically, more-so than the in claustrophobic building parts) in 28 days later can haunt so deeply (despite the wide-open-space-ness). It also might have thrilled people who dream of stealing the tiny rebellions that so many people take; you have either caught someone doing it, or done it yourself -- skipping up onto the curb, or doing a little hop on the final step of a big city cross-walk -when an average sized step would have amply sufficed, or living in the a sleepy rural region, racing four-wide down a desolate, silent, flatland road... the night sky is, as they say, a backlit canopy - with holes punched in it, wind in hair, speeding, careening, feet hitting flat with each step, and then the bouncing, which never happened, but thinking that the pavement, of the road might just be adding a tiny spring to each step... maybe... It doesn't matter, any car coming visible miles away... the world is tiny, in your control - malleable. If only for a few seconds flat.
Playing fools in the road with cars.
zombies->(thriller_-) kevin bacon. G.S.M.
Vanilla sky might have been all about that too. Mostly.
posted by infinite intimation at 9:22 PM on January 22, 2012 [1 favorite]
This is nothing new... Pittsburgh had a dancing cop way back when.
posted by kinnakeet at 8:13 AM on January 23, 2012
posted by kinnakeet at 8:13 AM on January 23, 2012
« Older Chris Dodd threatens Obama over SOPA/PIPA | A dance for spring Newer »
This thread has been archived and is closed to new comments
posted by WinnipegDragon at 2:59 PM on January 22, 2012 [3 favorites]