MANILA, Philippines - It wasn’t hard to convince Amiel Nagtalon to lie prone for a few seconds on Taft Avenue late at night—in fact, he says that all it took was a dare from a friend who told him that he’ll most likely be the first person to get snapped making a kissy face with the famous metropolitan thoroughfare. Dirt and disease be damned, the third year college student from De La Salle-College of Saint Benilde kept calm and made like a plank.
As absurd as the aforementioned scenario may sound to anyone above the age of thirty, this phenomenon is more than a whim of college students on the verge of gainful unemployment. Planking, also called The Lying Down Game, is an activity that requires one to lie face down in the most unusual location possible, with the “winner” being the one who gets to plank in the most unusual and original location. Players must have their hands touching the sides of the body, and should remain completely still while doing so. An integral part of this activity is a photograph of the player must be taken and posted on the internet.
The origin of this game is obscure; 14 years ago, two friends from the United Kingdom claim to have conceived it in one of their living rooms when they had run out of things to do, while American comedian Tom Green says that he invented planking in 1994. The genesis of planking remains irrelevant to those who practice it, and believe it or not, the trend has spread like Chlamydia in a kegger. Planking is now known as “Playing Dead” in South Korea, “Extreme Lying Down” in the Australasia region, and “À Plat Ventre” (“On One’s Belly”) in France.
Filipinos, of course, have enthusiastically joined the international bandwagon. Besides the great Taft plank, others have published photos of their planking skills as they lie face down on the rooftops, supermarket checkouts, and the backs of their own friends. University giants Ateneo de Manila and De La Salle-Manila have Facebook pages that are exclusively devoted to planking within campus grounds, and are liked by the thousands.
Although planking has become part of the colloquial lexicon, another similarly aimless phenomenon has assaulted the worldwide web. 24-year-old journalism student Allison Smith claims to have invented “Owling”, a sort of parody of the planking trend. Owling basically has the same rules as planking, but requires one to crouch in perched position instead of lying face down. Also like its equally bizarre predecessor, owling’s conception remains to be contested.
Smith may have been generally attributed its creation when she posted a photo of herself doing so on the internet last July 11, but thirteen-year-old Chad Jones with a YouTube account and lots of free time claims to have founded the owling movement as well. No word yet on what Smith has to say about this, but underage Jones wishes to create an “official owling movement” with her, whatever that means.
Owling has yet to garner the fanbase that planking currently enjoys, but the media has recognized the symptoms of this epidemic, with the show Good Morning America touting it as a trend that has “sweeped the nation.” Knowing Filipinos, Pinoy owling will not be far behind.
Perhaps the one thing that remains to be seen is this: what the hell is the point of it all? The answer? Not a clue. One-time planker Amiel admits that despite the herculean feat of planking on Taft Avenue, he really doesn’t “see the point of planking” and calls it “nonsense.” Even the inventors recognize the pointlessness of games of this nature. At this point, planking and owling just seem like things one does after an appointment with Puff, the Magic Dragon.
Their existence may celebrate the ennui (and to a certain extent, the idiocy) of contemporary youth, but it makes one wonder if years from now, kids today will solely be known for spawning the useless banes of future society. If the Baby Boomers had the civil rights movement and The Beatles, will we be known for planking and Justin Bieber? Dear God, we hope not.