In hindsight, I wish I had asked Agent Douglas (who showed up late and thus could not be part of the sequence of events) if he could have used his camera to capture other angles. Oh well. There’s always next time, I guess. And we at least got good videos before and after the Shift.

If you or anyone you know would be interested in contributing to the filming of upcoming RIC Reality Shifts, please volunteer at the discussion boards either on our Facebook group or our IE Global group.

That being said, RIC’s remake of The Moebius (originally executed by Improv Everywhere in 2003) was very much a success, especially when compared to our previous Shift.

As in the original Improv Everywhere video, this mission was to consist of a short sequence of actions repeated a set number of times in a small, modestly populated location where such odd repetition is more easily noticed. A coffee shop worked well enough for IE, thus we selected a coffee shop for our version as well. In our case, we chose the Kensington Second Cup, located across the street from the Safeway where we performed our freeze event.

On Sunday, June 15, our agents gathered in Riley Park to brainstorm ideas for possible actions and to put those actions together into a workable sequence. In total, we ended up with eleven agents and seven distinct pieces to the sequence. I apologize, but I cannot remember everyone’s names, so for those whose names I can’t remember, I will be using a code name instead. The sequence went as follows:

• 1) Agent Bethany sings a portion of the chorus from Hanson’s “MMMBop” to herself while listening to her iPod.
• 2) Agent Nichole gets up, walks across the shop to get a sugar packet, and walks back across to her seat while shaking the packet.
• 3) Agent Noah walks into the shop and stands there pondering the menu without lining up. Agent Graham gets up from his seat while reading a newspaper, headed to pick up a stir stick. On the way, he bumps into Agent Noah, dropping the paper and apologizing. He continues on to get the stir stick, then returns to his seat. After being bumped, Agent Noah checks his wallet, sighs loudly, and exits the shop.
• 4) Agent Sanford, playing a game of Scrabble with Agent Kristin and Agent Beardy Guy, gets up from his game to ask someone (usually Agent Bethany) “I’m sorry, but is this a word?”
• 5) Agent Capri gets up, asks three agents if she can borrow a cell phone, and is successful on the third try. She phones a friend, asks to borrow a pen for an exam the next day, hangs up, says thank you, and returns to her seat.
• 6) Agent Igpy calls Agent Elspeth on her cell, asking where she is. She talks for a few moments, then notices Elspeth walking by outside the window. Igpy waves, and Elspeth waves back. They meet in the entrance of the store, leave temporarily, and then Igpy returns to sit back down.
• 7) Agent Kristin accuses Agent Beardy Guy of cheating (at Scrabble). Beardy Guy responds “That’s what SHE said.” The board is then bumped accidentally, forcing the game to be restarted. The tiles go back in the Scrabble bag and are shaken up.

The sound of the tiles shuffling was the cue for Agent Bethany to start singing again, and so the loop repeated.

It took until about the third repetition, but we certainly were noticed. In particular, once they noticed that it kept on happening, the baristas would get highly excited every time Noah and Graham bumped into one another, among other things. It got to a point where they would say, “It’s happening again! It’s happening again!” and count down to when the collision would happen.

Early on, a female customer went up to the register to ask the baristas if they thought “something fishy” was going on. She and the employees were both weirded out and smiling as they talked and watched the goings-on.

At one point, a man watched Agent Capri repeatedly asking people for a cell phone, before eventually giving her a dirty look and moving to another part of the shop.

Two women sitting in the far back corner with a laptop were chattering constantly to themselves after a while, trying to figure out what was going on.

Unfortunately, I couldn’t hear or see much of what was going on near Sanford, Kristin and Beardy Guy’s table, but I’m sure they got their fair share of bemused looks as well.

I was surprised to find that Agent Nichole’s repeated back and forth crossings of the shop went largely unnoticed. But that made it all the more fun to tell the employees about later – they had seen her walking all that time and were happy to realize that more people were in on this than they had realized.

Speaking of which, after the Shift finished (it took about seven or eight repetitions; I lost count), Agent Douglas and I made our way back into the Second Cup to interview the baristas. This time, I didn’t try to be coy; I straight-up told them who we were, what we had been up to, and why we were doing it. It was a disappointment not getting any reaction shots from the few bystanders who saw our Snap Battle, and I didn’t want a repeat of that disappointment to happen here.

And what satisfying reactions we got! The girls absolutely loved what they saw, and the customers weren’t angered or put out, so they had no problem with what we had done. It was so good to know we had put smiles on a lot of people’s faces that day.

The following video contains both the employee and agent interviews for this mission:

Again, I apologize for the minimal footage taken for the main video. But even though the video turned out shoddily, I believe that this mission is tied with Organic Transit for our best Reality Shift yet. Well done, Rogue Calgarians!

Snap Battle

The idea for this mission has been kicking around the minds of Rogue Improv Calgary agents almost since the Calgary IE Global group started. This is the original text of the post that Agent Scott made to suggest it:

“Something to consider, a massive group finger snap. Something like a Mall on a Saturday, and everyone stops walking and starts snapping their fingers in sync… could really freak people out”

Soon enough, this idea was elaborated into a West Side Story sort of mold – have two groups of people face off against each other, with snapping (and possibly spirited dancing) their main means of “fighting.” It later crystallized into one short statement: West Side Story crossed with You Got Served.

After doing the bananaphone and freeze missions to help Rogue Improv Calgary get its bearings, the group felt it was ready to take on this popular idea. Brainstorming aplenty was had on Facebook, and a meeting was held at a Second Cup to bash out the final details. It was ultimately decided that the “battle” would be between red shirts and blue shirts so as to make the Reality Shift stand out more to onlookers (and to keep anyone from worrying that a real fight was going to break out). Agent Angie was selected as the Blue Team captain, and Agent Alliy was selected as the Red Team captain. Agent Sanford, who was not present at the meeting, was assigned to being the whistle blower who breaks up the fight (in accordance with what happens in the West Side Story prologue).

Stephen Avenue Walk in downtown Calgary was chosen as the location, due to the fact that it is closed off to vehicles during the day. We originally wanted to try Devonian Gardens, but due to a few problems (*cough* such as rudeness on their part), we scrapped that idea. Millennium Park was also an option, and it may indeed be the location used if we ever re-do this Shift in the future.

On the day of the event, the weather was absolutely gorgeous, and there were people wandering all around Stephen Ave. Perfect! Our group met for debriefing at the Famous Five monument in Olympic Plaza. Unfortunately, our turnout was much lower than expected – 40 people on the guest list marked as “attending”, and 12 people showed up (not including myself). If fewer people had shown up, we were prepared to do a quick Moebius event instead. Thankfully, 12 was just enough to have two teams and one whistle-blower.

While waiting for stragglers, our team captains took the agents aside to practice a bit of rough choreography. Though we are Rogue Improv Calgary, this is the sort of event where at least some choreography is necessary. We did not end up planning out a sequence for the whole dance, only individual dance moves to be picked and used as the team leaders deemed fit. Thus, the argument you see in the video and the entire fight is mostly improvised (if you want to use the term that way).

Also while waiting, we took great amusement in looking at a nearby group of people doing some sort of laughing exercises. I kid you not, it was yoga with a focus on laughing really loudly. Glad to know we weren’t the only group in Calgary doing strange, fun things that day.

Finally, when all agents were ready, everyone fanned out and headed for the Stephen Avenue “trees,” which we had deemed the most suitable area of the street to use. Not familiar with the, ahem, “trees”?

Yeah.

In any case, I wandered around pretending to be snapping photos of Stephen Avenue and the “trees” themselves. Yeah, I know, it’s kind of a lousy cover for filming the event, but I couldn’t find an easy way to both conceal and use my point-and-shoot camera at the same time. …I got some pretty good photos of Stephen Ave out of doing this, but that’s neither here nor there.

Can you spot Agent Sanford in this picture?

A member of Team Red camping out, waiting for the fun to start.

Eventually, while I was sitting on a bench sorting my pictures, Agent Angie stood up from a bench further away, crumpled the newspaper she had been reading, and tossed it over her shoulder. This didn’t go unnoticed for long, as Agent Alliy stepped forward and loudly confronted her about it. The two argued for a few minutes, and I tried to film without looking like I was filming. I failed pretty miserably at that; see the Snap Battle Uncut video to see what I mean.

Snap Battle – Uncut!

Agent Angie told me later that she had seen a little old lady further away who looked like she wanted to move in and break up the argument. Thankfully, the captains started snapping and circling each other before she could make a move. Once that started, all the other agents began to join in, some pulling off hoodies that they had been hiding their team colours underneath.

The battle itself looked wonderful throughout, but there was one setback. Before the argument had started, there were a significant number of people around our area. Just as the argument began, however, a bunch of people left, and the street was much emptier than we thought it would be. A few people walked by looking weirded out, but not many. On the brighter side, at least, I was told later that some agents caught glimpses of people inside nearby stores and restaurants looking and frantically calling others over to look with them.

After the battle was over, I tried to film a few reaction shots, but the people I approached weren’t that willing to talk. The last group I approached seemed wise to my ways, telling me directly in a cheeky manner, “You guys are putting on a play and now you’re trying to get reactions.” I asked him why on earth he would think that, and as he started to respond, I pulled one side of my hoodie over my face all Snidely Whiplash-style and ran away. Curses! Note to self: do whatever it takes to find a way to conceal that damn digital camera and still be able to operate it.

In any case, all agents met up back at Olympic Plaza for pats on the back, group photos, agent interviews, and make-up hugs.

Snap Battle – Behind the Scenes

Hopefully, we’ll be able to re-do this event in the future with more agents and more cameras. It was a blast to do, and I would love to see it one-up itself.

Until next Reality Shift!

So, for now, here are the videos that were taken at the freeze event, and I will write up a proper report with photos and everything at some point in the future. Right now, I’d rather get the mission report for Snap Battle done so that that I don’t fall any further behind.

Stopped! In the Name of Love

S!ItNoL – Agent Interviews

In any case, welcome one and all to the very first Reality Shift Report here at the Rogue Improv Calgary website! Unfortunately, we didn’t get many pictures, and there was no video taken, so this report will mainly be a text recounting of events. But rest assured, future Shifts will probably have more visual coverage. Cut us some slack – it was our first attempt. All photos in this report are courtesy of Agents Drummond and Manicotti; I had some photos too, but for some reason I can’t get my cell to transfer them out.

The idea for this first Shift and the name of our group were both hatched at our first real-life meeting, organized online in the Improv Everywhere Global group for Calgary. Fifteen almost-strangers gathered at a coffee shop, traded names, ideas and laughs, and finally decided on a simple, enjoyable first mission. The basic plan would be to all infiltrate a car on the C-train, wait for a specified amount of time, and then slowly have all our cell phones start to ring… only to pull out bananas and talk into those instead. Brilliant! The time, date and place for the Reality Shift were decided upon. Organic Transit (aka: Operation Bananaphone) was go.

Around 6:15 PM the following Monday, I was the first to arrive at the Safeway. I went inside to search the produce aisle for the all-important bananas, and was disappointed to find the Safeway’s selection lacking. Bananas were limited to two small, wooden side shelves, both stocked with slightly more expensive organic bananas. What gives, Safeway?

After looking over the bunches, I selected two particularly yellow specimens, took them through the checkout (47 cents! preposterous!), and proceeded to wait outside for more agents to show up. I didn’t have to wait long; two girls showed up less than a minute after I came outside, and I directed them to go pick up their bananas. A few more people followed suit as they arrived. In good time, about fifteen agents total had assembled outside the Safeway, bananas in hand.

Banana: The Gathering

Agent Drummond, listening intently.

Crappy cell phone photo #1!

Crappy cell phone photo #2!

There was a bit of brief confusion about how all the cell phones were going to be set off on the train. Agent Sanford and myself tried to get everyone set up with the RIC Twitter feed, but there were some technical difficulties and other confusions all around. Some of the tests made with the Twitter system were successful, and others were not for unknown reasons. We fairly quickly just said “Eh, screw it. It’ll work itself out. Let’s go!” and fanned out across the parking lot, moving toward Dalhousie Station.

Fan out!

Locked and loaded.

Fan out… um, more!

Upon getting to the platform, there was some initial confusion about which train to get on. One train arrived just as we did, and a few people tried to get on, but quickly got back off either because it was no longer in service or because not everyone had paid their fare yet (quite possibly both). When the next train arrived, the agents all got into the first car, spreading out evenly and acting like several smaller, separate groups of friends and independent train riders. There were only one or two normal people (or, in the immortal words of Peter Griffin, “normies”) getting on the train with us.

The agents acting as small bunches of friends chatted quietly amongst themselves, and the independent agents sat in silence staring at nothing, as any regular C-train rider would. This continued up until Banff Trail Station (three stations away from the starting point, for those of you not from Calgary), and by that point, the car had been populated by a fairly decent number of normies. This was the station at which Agent Sanford sent out a text message to trigger the Twitter alert for our phones. I’m told that this worked for some agents, but I personally didn’t hear my phone going off despite having successfully received alerts from the Twitter feed at the Safeway. Ah, the wonders of technology… Still, despite not everyone’s phones going off, agents began to pull out their bananaphones. I followed suit after maybe three or four other agents had started, pretending that my banana had been set to Vibrate Mode.

Agent Manicotti talkin’ up a storm! This is the only photo we have from “inside” the Reality Shift so far.

Here’s where my memory of the event gets a little fuzzy, as I was mostly focused on my own made-up conversations and did not get to hear many of the reactions of the normies in the car (let me tell you, I had quite the narrative going by the end of the trip!) Apparently a lot of good reactions were had, according to other agents, including but not limited to “Why are you talking into a banana?”, “I wonder if it’s some kind of sociological experiment…”, “Oh my god, are you serious! Ha ha ha!”, “See ya later, weirdoes!”, and a LOT of furtive glances and raised eyebrows. Best one I had personally was a man laughing very, very loudly during one of the times that I answered my banana.

Over the course of the ride, I had a few good inter-agent conversations. The first was with Agent Chris, who pretended to overhear me discussing the Alien DVD on the phone and offered me his thoughts on the director’s commentary after I had hung up. We had a pretty good “random five-minute stranger bonding” of the sort that I’m sure a lot of people have experienced at least once in their lives. We of course made sure to compliment each others’ phones in the process. Later on, I complimented Agent Noah on his particular model of phone, and admitted in embarrassment that my own phone was a cheap no-name brand. He responded quite cleverly, “Yeah, I didn’t want to say anything or laugh at you, but… yeah.”

The last involved myself and Agent Kyle. I overheard him telling someone on his phone about trying to get gangrene for St. Patrick’s Day, and I then proceeded to tell my imaginary bananaphone friend that the guy across from me was saying something funny about gangrene. To this, Agent Kyle responded by covering his mouthpiece (aka: the stem) and telling me in a wonderful miffed tone, “Do you mind not listening in on my conversation?”

“I’m sorry, but you were being really funny and were kinda loud,” I apologized.

“Well still, would you mind not listening to it?”

“You were really loud! I couldn’t help but hear!”

“Well at least don’t repeat my conversation to whoever, okay?” he said, blowing me off at last. I rolled my eyes, and told my friend on the bananaphone that I was sorry – some crazy a-hole was giving me a hard time. We had another insult-filled exchange later on, during the second train ride.

Eventually, we all got off at Stampede station (in the opposite quadrant of the city) and started munching on our bananas. Hence the need for two bananas. We all had a brief break to rejoice that things were going well.

Soon enough, though, the train coming in the opposite direction arrived, and we finished our first bananas and got right back on. The second ride went much the same as the first, with more great reactions and incredibly meaningful one-sided conversations. Oh, and lots of grumbling was had when passing through tunnels. Lousy reception, bananas…

We finished our trip back at Dalhousie, where we had started. More bananas were consumed, and we headed for Starbucks to bask in our success! Victory!

Agent Kyle trying to use his obviously now-useless phone.

Agent Tenchi’s phone was also lost to the abyss known as The Stomach.

Here are a few more details of the Reality Shift from Agent Sanford, to cover the gaps that I may have missed.

Agent Sanford:
I didn’t even realize that the event was called Organic Transit, and we were forced to eat organic bananas. Oh-ho! How the fates have it out for us!

Some text messages did end up going through, so I heard phones ringing constantly. People started to catch on around SAIT on the first run down- a couple saw me texting, and then heard the phones ring, and started to piece it together.

I was asked a couple times if I was really talking to somone- guess I’m great at talking to myself. My conversations were mostly about the difference between watching Mean Girls and Heathers. Uh..

Someone asked me who I was with, and I said Telus- they have those monkey commercials, right?

Eating our bananas at the end of the trip was the clincher. People weren’t sure if we were crazy, or if we knew what we were doing. A couple, who had been taking pictures of us throughout the train ride, burst out laughing when everyone started muching away, as we got off. The next train came pretty quickly, so we had to get our acts together and get moving.

It was such a wonderful experience, and I’m glad we did it. Our next outing will be much more involved!

If any other agents who participated in the Shift have experiences or photographs to add, please contact me at tenchikaze@gmail.com and I’ll make sure they’re added post-haste to this report. Also, if you notice your name in the report and you would like me to change your agent name, let me know right away and I will do so.

Anyway, Organic Transit was a roaring success overall! Look forward to our next Reality Shift. I’m sure you’ll all be frozen with anticipation while you wait for it. Or you can join up with the Rogue Improv Calgary Facebook group to make sure that you have the info on all our upcoming missions!

Watch this site in the coming couple of weeks for a report and probably images/video of our first Shift. Hopefully, fun and epic-ness will be very “fruitful” all around.