Well, I have bitching for weeks about how lame it is to say that flash mobs are over just because the media knows about them. As though you are somehow so very "authentic" and so much more "interesting" if you do something amusing and the media doesn't find out about it.

(Especially irritating when said by people who work in media about an event made up almost entirely of other people who work in media. I mean really. What did you expect?)

I have also been whining about people who find flash mobs disappointing. Because after all, they didn't come up with such a cool idea. And also, no one is forcing them to go, are they? So who are they to complain?

Well, now I have to eat my words because flash mobs are now, indeed, over. And I found them a little disappointing.

When we got the announcement for the final mob, it instructed us to bring 2 dollars and gather at a bar near 9th Avenue in the 40s. Now, 9th avenue in the 40s is just littered with homeless people. They are depressed and they are grimy and they are sitting on cardboard, and they are everywhere. And I thought, wow, I really hope they are going to have everyone give their two dollars to one of these homeless people. Wouldn't that be such an excellent way to end the mob?

It turned out they were just planning to have a Mob party afterwards, with a two dollar cover. I hope you can understand my disillusionment.

I ended up giving my two dollars to a homeless dude anyway, and we went to check out this (and these) instead. So all in all, it was a good time. You can't go wrong with Murakami.