Planking?

Image From Brisbane Times

I can’t help but write about it. It has been in the news consistently for the past few weeks but is a bit of a controversial subject. “Planking”, the action of lying face down with arms to the sides of the body, in unusual public spaces and photographing it, has become a phenomenon in Australia. As Wikipedia informs, Australian National Rugby League player David Williams planked after a game on March 27^th, 2011 and went on to talk about it, describing it as "pretty much, active lying down.” Since, this silly stunt has attracted national attention, causing both injuries and deaths, yet continuing to spread globally.

From left: Image from triplem.com and mix.com

In case you are interested in participating in this fad here are some helpful tips from a Newcomer's Guide to Planking, written in a Brisbane Times article:

-Be creative. ''It's not creative to plank on a sign”.
-Do it overseas. ''People are doing it on monuments and landmarks”.

-Don't plank on private property or somewhere unsafe.

-Give it a name - office plank, group plank, international plank.

-Be a proper plank. ''You've got to be a good straight plank, head straight, arms straight, legs down.''

Image from the dailytelegraph.com

Image from Australia's Today Show

But even with all of the hype apparently “planking is so last week.” An even newer internet craze is “Teapotting.” Teapotting is similar to planking, but instead of lying face down in interesting places, the subject holds a teapot pose. The Facebook page (currently with 4,655 likes, as opposed to the 155,773 likes that the Planking Facebook page has) is apparently “run by teachers so it's safe, it's fun and it's ethically and digitally responsible.” Who would have thought? Worth sharing…

Teapotting demonstrated on Sunrise