Planked

According to Wikepedia,  “Planking is the action of lying face down with arms to the sides of the body, in unusual public spaces and photographing it.
Planking began as early as 1997 in South Korea, Europe and Japan. The term "planking" was coined in Australia and became a fad in 2011....”

...hmmm -14 years after it started.  Says either we as a nation were too smart to embrace the fad, or more likely are just that far behind the times!

Tragically this month in Brisbane, a 20-year-old male fell to his death after "planking" on a seventh-floor balcony. This is the first known casualty of the planking movement.

Prime Minister Julia Gillard told plankers that their "focus has to be on keeping yourself safe first". The Queensland Opposition and the State's police have called for people to stop participating in the fad.

Yesterday’s news showed eternal fuckwit Sam Newman planking on the railing of a 40th storey balcony, Kerri-Ann Kennerley had a go on her show, even Karl Stefanovic joined in...now I don’t know about you, but I am not inclined to rush out and copy anything they are doing!

But I guess I am not the target audience of this behavior... drunken 20 something’s seem to be obsessed.  The media is currently fuelling the fire of this fad with pictures and stories in every bulletin, Facebook pages and societies have sprung up around the place.

While this kind of thing is not my cup of tea, I will admit, the first time you see it, it is faintly amusing:

See original pic here.

Attempting a rare bit of parenting I raised the subject with my 17 year old son, who said “Mum, you are just buying into all the political and media hype about this.  It is typical, one idiot kills himself, a few people are arrested and the whole thing is deemed dangerous...it has been going on for years.” I asked that if he does participate he be safe, his response...    “Mum, I’m 17, you are out of touch and just embarrassing yourself...”

Little bastard....