Stand By Your Statue

January 17, 2005 6:32 AM

Stand By Your Statue - like all the best ideas, this one is simplicity itself: you find a statue, you stand by it and imitate it while one of your mates takes a photograph. What could be easier? What could be more entertaining? It's the kind of thing the Internet was invented for!
posted by The Ultimate Olympian (23 comments total)

I work at the same company as the guy who has set this up - I hope that doesn't break the rules of what I'm allowed to post or not post - but even if it does, if this isn't best-of-the-web, I don't know what is.
posted by The Ultimate Olympian at 6:34 AM on January 17, 2005

hmmm one link out of four works.... ouch.... you may hear about this fpp... :-/
posted by HuronBob at 6:42 AM on January 17, 2005

Really?
They're all working for me.
Which ones aren't working?
posted by The Ultimate Olympian at 6:45 AM on January 17, 2005

It isn't best of the web, and you don't know what is.
posted by idest at 6:45 AM on January 17, 2005

Only the main link works for me. Also: many, many things could be (and are) more entertaining.
posted by jasonsmall at 6:51 AM on January 17, 2005

All the links work for me, and Philadelphia would be perfect for this - the city is just lousy with public art.
posted by fixedgear at 6:55 AM on January 17, 2005

* Access Denied.

Access control configuration prevents your request from being allowed at this time. Please contact your service provider if you feel this is incorrect.

.. on all but the first link.
posted by purephase at 6:55 AM on January 17, 2005

Self link?

The non-working pictures all point at localhost. So if TUO can see them it would sound like a self-link.

The owner of the Stand By Your Statue site and TUO's profile on blogger are both Oxford, UK.
posted by substrate at 6:57 AM on January 17, 2005

Or blogger.com is screwed up in which case I apologize!
posted by substrate at 6:58 AM on January 17, 2005

Seems cute. And linking to a co-worker seems fine. I just wish that guy had bought a duck for his statue photo.

We have a statue of our college's founder sitting on the chapel garden bench. Pissed the kids off because some go there to pray, others to make out. And now there's the statue, with two floodlights shining on him from below. Passing the garden at night is now very creepy.
posted by NickDouglas at 7:02 AM on January 17, 2005

When I saw that the link is from an almost unvisited blog from Oxford, I guessed it must have been posted by one of two people.

It's a bit disappointing he doesn't have more pictures up or show pictures of other people doing it as well. This could be like that Lyndie England pose craze of last autumn.
posted by salmacis at 7:06 AM on January 17, 2005

strange link action...clicking on any but the first one results in the previously discussed errors, yet copying the link url and pasting into a new tab works....weird weird weird....

btw, in the headless guy pic...are those lightbulbs in his wrist and head sockets?
posted by gren at 7:10 AM on January 17, 2005

Huh. Not particularly clever, not particularly well done. Sorry.
posted by LittleMissCranky at 7:13 AM on January 17, 2005

hehe...

from "John's" profile...

"John Adams...

Interests: Music, Travel, Cricket, Pies, Tea, Dancing, Smiling, Fun."

he lost me with the "smiling"... I've never been able to consider a facial expression as an "interest"...
posted by HuronBob at 7:19 AM on January 17, 2005

trange link action...clicking on any but the first one results in the previously discussed errors, yet copying the link url and pasting into a new tab works....weird weird weird....

I'd say remote linking is shut down. This is the same basic reaction you get from tripod, geocities, et al when you try to direct link an image. They may work for TUO because he has the images cached.

It's a fun idea, but there's not a lot there yet. I'm pretty sure there are some pictures of a group of my friends going around interacting with half the statues in Montreal.
posted by jacquilynne at 7:33 AM on January 17, 2005

As an open posting site where anyone can post their photo (include comments and/or ratings) it could be really cool. As a personal blog with four or five pictures, on the other hand, one quickly grows bored. If these are statues he sees "travelling around the world", do we have to wait months, until his next vacation, for more content?
posted by ThePrawn at 7:49 AM on January 17, 2005

not particularly new either...

In Philly, every tourist in town isn't happy until they get their picture in front of the Rocky statue - arms raised in triumph, and looking like idiots.
posted by j.p. Hung at 8:30 AM on January 17, 2005

I love when a post is dashed against the rocks of reality.
posted by sharksandwich at 8:35 AM on January 17, 2005

The links work fine for me.
posted by rushmc at 8:50 AM on January 17, 2005

I feel sorry for anyone who thinks that was what the internet was invented for. Or is best for.
posted by HTuttle at 10:57 AM on January 17, 2005

Along these lines, there's also Statuemolesters.com.
posted by wsg at 11:16 AM on January 17, 2005

Sadly, I just had a momentary inspiration to start a website for people to submit pictures of themselves holding up the leaning tower of Pisa.
posted by FYKshun at 12:21 PM on January 17, 2005

What a great way to liven up your average dull holiday snaps.
posted by FidelDonson at 1:18 AM on January 18, 2005