The mp3 and all the final details on where to go and what to do can be found on this post!

As you can imagine, the sight of two large groups of costumed individuals garnered quite a bit of attention as each made their way to the battle site, a large street corner in full view of all passers by. The Heroes arrived first and took the high ground (as Heroes often do), taunting the Villains who were forced to wait for traffic. Once the Villains reached the area, all manner of mayhem broke out with water soaker guns employed to full effect. Most of the participants were very into character, pairing up with each other for mock fisticuffs and other shenanigans. A few of my favorite characters were Musical Theater Girl and her jazz-hands of justice, Dark Elvis with his menacing patch of removable chest hair, Couch Potato with his “hang back and let others fight” stance and The Zombie who wandered through the crowd oozing on his foes.

As the battle wound down the group posed for photographs and then headed off to reminisce on the event at one of the nearby watering holes. Within minutes of the event’s completion, a hilarious video of the battle was uploaded to YouTube:

And here is a shorter compilation of the event, complete with dramatic soundtrack!

There’s also a growing set of amazing pictures on Flickr, and in the Facebook event! Tag yourself and comment away!

May Day in Phoenix; and what better way to celebrate the beginning of the long hot summer than a group freeze in the midst of Phoenix’s First Friday festivities.

Sometime after 6:30 p.m. groups of revelers, approximately 40 in total, converged at the intersection of 5th St and E Garfield, mingled in with the crowds of patrons, artists and passerby’s, inconspicuously waiting. At about 6:50 p.m. balloons were released to the sky signaling the group members to hold that pose and hold it and hold it some more.

A few people were frozen checking their cell phones, or reading a map. I froze in the process of being fed a scoop of ice cream, which dribbled into a mess on the ground. One person froze tying his shoe, and another froze in mid marriage proposal. Definitely lots of creativity in the poses and participants!

Soon crowds gathered; some shocked, some confused, some awed, all mostly amused, to witness the event.

In the true pagan spirit of the holiday, members of the AZ Cacophony Society captivated the crowd by decorating the freeze participants with beads, starry sunglasses, makeup and even making an impromptu human May Pole with streamers.

Then, as suddenly as it began and not a moment too soon for those in pose, it was over at the sound of what could be described as an asthmatic air horn. Everyone quickly dispersed to enjoy the rest of their usual First Friday experience.

Several people have posted videos on YouTube, including alacritae, ballergrlHeather, and this one from RelGirl8:

Victorianladyaz1 was one the freezers, and left the video camera on the whole time. Watch this video to check out the curious people walking around and trying to figure out what was going on.

We have one more “official” video coming, and will post that as soon as it is ready.

There are also some nice pictures showing up in Flickr. Be sure to use the tags “improvaz” and “phxfreeze” on Flickr so we can find them.

If you were part of the First Friday Freeze or witnessed it firsthand, post your thoughts in the comments below!  If you want to get involved in future pranks or flashmobs, keep checking this blog or join our Facebook page.

A flashmob hit the Tempe Marketplace to participate in International Pillow Fight Day! About 60 people showed up, and it was a blast.

Rumor was as many as 300 people were thinking about coming, so the original plan was to just spread out all across the mall. Things were supposed to start at 3:00, and a few minutes beforehand you could see people walking around with overly fat shopping bags and a knowing look in their eyes. Realizing there weren’t as many people coming, people began scouting around in quest of other possible pillow fighters.

Right before 3:00, people started to gather in front of Dave & Busters, sizing each other up and identifying their victims. At 3:00… everyone looked at each other, then whipped out their pillows!  It was ON!

People laughed and swung their pillows while baffled shoppers hustled away to make sure they got nowhere near the goofiness. The fight went on for about a minute before mall security showed up and asked everyone to break it up. The fighting stopped, but there was still untapped pillow aggression in the air.

A few minutes later dispersed group started new fights by the mall stage and down by the Harkins’ Theaters.  New people arrived who had missed the first fight and things got larger and crazier. The new fights went on for several minutes before mall security returned in force and told everyone to leave.

Check out the great pictures on Flickr! If you want to add your own, use the tag “azpillowfight” (and “improvaz” if you’re extra-special!)

It was short, but a lot of fun. Hopefully the next one won’t be on private property so it won’t get shut down so fast. It was another good flashmob, and they Valley is on track to growing a great flashmob community!

If you were at the Pillow Fight, post your thoughts in the comments below!  If you want to get involved in future flashmobs, watch this blog or join our Facebook page!