Marcel Marceau and Mark
Posted: April 10th, 2006 | Author: Mark Pike | Filed under: Photography, Travel |
Marcel Marceau and Mark Originally uploaded by themarkpike. I spent most of my weekend in NYC curled up underneath blankets, fighting a fever, chugging Gatorade, and watching the Yankees lose ballgames on the YES Network. It wasn’t the best weekend. I have a real talent for coordinating my vacation and sick days from work.
On Sunday, I thought the sudafed was messing with my head when we stumbled upon one of the most surreal images I’ve ever seen. Hundreds of mimes, converging on Washington Square Park in an apparent silent protest (naturally). Was this the NY branch of the Mime Workers Union? What workers rights were they protesting for? Was Marcel Marceau’s legacy being tainted?
I approached a mime to get to the bottom of this and asked what was going on. I got the cold shoulder. The silent treatment. No comment. Mimes these days are so predictable. It turns out it was a commercial shoot for a new Virgin Mobile phone that will enable people to “befriend the mimes” through the use of their awesome text messaging service.
Look out for me in the advertisement on TV in the near future. I’ll be the one without face paint.
Click to see my footage from the commercial shoot.
Click to see my pics of mimes on Flickr.
I love that despite being completely silent, the mimes also have very stoic looks on their faces. there is no joy in their protest.
yesterday i saw a guy riding a tall unicycle down a busy road, two guys on bikes wearing matching wife beaters and short boxer shorts, and a guy walking a cat on a leash (and the cat was climbing up a tree…while on a leash). it was an amazing 20 minutes.
i saw a mime in a kia ad today. must be the new thing. he talked and the voice over said “people will talk” which is sort of funny since i’m talking about it now. didn’t make me want a kia though, just made me a little sad for the mime who’s probably out a few mime gigs now that he broke his vow of mime silence… and right in the middle of this booming commercial mime market too.