The answer is Ghostbusters II
May 19, 2010 11:28 AM Subscribe
When budget cuts are imminent...who you gonna call?.
In an effort to combat proposed budget cuts, The New York Public Library called Improv Everywhere.
In an effort to combat proposed budget cuts, The New York Public Library called Improv Everywhere.
I had hoped there would be more to it. Like the Ghostbusters scene in Be Kind Rewind.
posted by Astro Zombie at 11:33 AM on May 19, 2010
posted by Astro Zombie at 11:33 AM on May 19, 2010
I wonder what the first ghost said to the security guard right at the beginning?
"It's for a class project!"
posted by blue_beetle at 11:39 AM on May 19, 2010
"It's for a class project!"
posted by blue_beetle at 11:39 AM on May 19, 2010
He was quickly stopped by a security guard, who had no idea what was going on.
Guard: Sir, what are you doing?
Rodgers: Um… haunting the library.
Ha!
posted by Uppity Pigeon #2 at 11:43 AM on May 19, 2010 [2 favorites]
Guard: Sir, what are you doing?
Rodgers: Um… haunting the library.
Ha!
posted by Uppity Pigeon #2 at 11:43 AM on May 19, 2010 [2 favorites]
If I were a Crazy Billionaire, I would have replaced the people playing the three ghosts with Dan Aykroyd, Harold Ramis, and Ernie Hudson, without the people playing the Ghostbusters knowing, just to see the IE people's expressions when the tables were turned on them.
Then again, if I were a Crazy Billionaire, the NYPL wouldn't be having a budget crisis...
posted by robocop is bleeding at 11:44 AM on May 19, 2010 [7 favorites]
Then again, if I were a Crazy Billionaire, the NYPL wouldn't be having a budget crisis...
posted by robocop is bleeding at 11:44 AM on May 19, 2010 [7 favorites]
I had no idea that Klan members disliked the Ghostbusters this much.
posted by shakespeherian at 11:46 AM on May 19, 2010
posted by shakespeherian at 11:46 AM on May 19, 2010
With theme music altered just enough to not be a copyright violation.
Whereas the actual Ghostbusters theme was not quite altered enough to avoid having to settle out of court with Huey Lewis.
posted by burnmp3s at 11:46 AM on May 19, 2010 [6 favorites]
Whereas the actual Ghostbusters theme was not quite altered enough to avoid having to settle out of court with Huey Lewis.
posted by burnmp3s at 11:46 AM on May 19, 2010 [6 favorites]
Klan Enjoying Stealth Resurgence In New York Public Library Sys—oh god dammit shakespeherian
posted by cortex at 11:48 AM on May 19, 2010 [1 favorite]
posted by cortex at 11:48 AM on May 19, 2010 [1 favorite]
Egon is a really good likeness.
posted by codacorolla at 11:48 AM on May 19, 2010 [1 favorite]
posted by codacorolla at 11:48 AM on May 19, 2010 [1 favorite]
I think it'd be cool to just haunt the library- dudes wander around all day dressed as ghosts, not getting in anyone's way, just wandering the stacks.
posted by Pope Guilty at 11:53 AM on May 19, 2010 [3 favorites]
posted by Pope Guilty at 11:53 AM on May 19, 2010 [3 favorites]
So, the description says that the first scene is in the reading room, which just sounded wrong to me. I just had this conversation with my former roommate, who is the most Ghostbusters obsessed individual I know:
Me: They claim that scene happened in the reading room
but that doesn't jive with my recollection
Former Roomie: Well (pushes "Real" Ghostbusters style red Egon Glasses up)...
Technically, when the Ghostbusters were at the library, they did not have jump
suits, proton packs, or Winston.
Also, they did not bust three reading ghosts.
M: right, it was just the librarian
but I though they buster her in the stacks, not the grand reading room
FR: Aaaand, all the Ghost action happened in the basement, which was actually a set in L.A.
You got it.
M: So they lied.
FR: AAAAAND that scene ended with the ghost chasing THEM out of the library.
M: Improv Everywhere is a bunch of liars
it's all topsy turvy!
FR: OH I FUCKING HATE THOSE GUYS NOW
THEY MAKE ME SO MAD
What they should have done, was have three nerdy guys in coats come into the library, drop a book on the counter, interview a librarian about family mental illness history, go down into the stacks, and then run out yelling
We'll get back to you!" fifteen minutes later.
Hilarious! People would have loved it!
M: no, not really.
posted by piratebowling at 11:56 AM on May 19, 2010 [10 favorites]
Me: They claim that scene happened in the reading room
but that doesn't jive with my recollection
Former Roomie: Well (pushes "Real" Ghostbusters style red Egon Glasses up)...
Technically, when the Ghostbusters were at the library, they did not have jump
suits, proton packs, or Winston.
Also, they did not bust three reading ghosts.
M: right, it was just the librarian
but I though they buster her in the stacks, not the grand reading room
FR: Aaaand, all the Ghost action happened in the basement, which was actually a set in L.A.
You got it.
M: So they lied.
FR: AAAAAND that scene ended with the ghost chasing THEM out of the library.
M: Improv Everywhere is a bunch of liars
it's all topsy turvy!
FR: OH I FUCKING HATE THOSE GUYS NOW
THEY MAKE ME SO MAD
What they should have done, was have three nerdy guys in coats come into the library, drop a book on the counter, interview a librarian about family mental illness history, go down into the stacks, and then run out yelling
We'll get back to you!" fifteen minutes later.
Hilarious! People would have loved it!
M: no, not really.
posted by piratebowling at 11:56 AM on May 19, 2010 [10 favorites]
If I were a Crazy Billionaire, I would have replaced the people playing the three ghosts with Dan Aykroyd, Harold Ramis, and Ernie Hudson
I've always wanted to hire Craig T. Nelson to just go up to people's houses, ring the bell, and, when they answer, to shout "You son of a bitch. You moved the cemetery, but you left the bodies, didn't you? You son of a bitch, you left the bodies and you only moved the head stones. You only moved the head stones. Why? Why?"
And then just walk away.
posted by Astro Zombie at 12:00 PM on May 19, 2010 [6 favorites]
I've always wanted to hire Craig T. Nelson to just go up to people's houses, ring the bell, and, when they answer, to shout "You son of a bitch. You moved the cemetery, but you left the bodies, didn't you? You son of a bitch, you left the bodies and you only moved the head stones. You only moved the head stones. Why? Why?"
And then just walk away.
posted by Astro Zombie at 12:00 PM on May 19, 2010 [6 favorites]
Kind of a double (#9).
God dammit. I'm two for two on that score now. I thought I checked doubly-hard.
Screw you, Google and MeFi search. Yeah, you heard me.
If the mods want to sweep this under the rug, that's cool.
posted by djgh at 12:04 PM on May 19, 2010
God dammit. I'm two for two on that score now. I thought I checked doubly-hard.
Screw you, Google and MeFi search. Yeah, you heard me.
If the mods want to sweep this under the rug, that's cool.
posted by djgh at 12:04 PM on May 19, 2010
The Whelk: presumably about sitting text to a ghost
I'm surely not one to point out or correct typos, but I found this one to be quite awesome. In fact, if we could start using it as a verb to describe "texting to someone about something weird that is happening right next to you so you can't call" that would be AWESOME!
posted by MCMikeNamara at 12:08 PM on May 19, 2010 [1 favorite]
I'm surely not one to point out or correct typos, but I found this one to be quite awesome. In fact, if we could start using it as a verb to describe "texting to someone about something weird that is happening right next to you so you can't call" that would be AWESOME!
posted by MCMikeNamara at 12:08 PM on May 19, 2010 [1 favorite]
Those are some goofy-ass, off-model outfits they have. They really should have taken the time to round up some decent costumes and props.
posted by anazgnos at 12:09 PM on May 19, 2010
posted by anazgnos at 12:09 PM on May 19, 2010
Before that, Astro Zombie, remember the cemetery at which Teague talks about the new development and does his "... it's not ancient tribal burial ground. It's just... people. Besides we have done it before." speech, isn't that the same cemetery used in Superman (1978), right after Mr. Kent's funeral?
posted by adipocere at 12:09 PM on May 19, 2010
posted by adipocere at 12:09 PM on May 19, 2010
So you're saying the skeleton in the pool is ... Superman's dad?
posted by Astro Zombie at 12:10 PM on May 19, 2010 [1 favorite]
posted by Astro Zombie at 12:10 PM on May 19, 2010 [1 favorite]
So, the description says that the first scene is in the reading room, which just sounded wrong to me.
Well, the opening scene does in fact start with an establishing shot of the exterior-with-lion of the library followed by a shot of the reading room. That's not the memorable bit, of course, but it is the opening.
That said, the objection is fair enough since I doubt most people have a conversation like
ALICE: Oh goddam you remember the opening scene of Ghostbusters?
BOB: Fuck yeah, that, that establishing shot of the lion?
ALICE: All pulling it into frame with the ominous music and—
CAROL: —and then they cut inside and there's Alice Drummond pushing a cart through—
ALICE, BOB and CAROL: THE READING ROOM!
ALICE, BOB and CAROL: [highfiving]
posted by cortex at 12:13 PM on May 19, 2010 [2 favorites]
Well, the opening scene does in fact start with an establishing shot of the exterior-with-lion of the library followed by a shot of the reading room. That's not the memorable bit, of course, but it is the opening.
That said, the objection is fair enough since I doubt most people have a conversation like
ALICE: Oh goddam you remember the opening scene of Ghostbusters?
BOB: Fuck yeah, that, that establishing shot of the lion?
ALICE: All pulling it into frame with the ominous music and—
CAROL: —and then they cut inside and there's Alice Drummond pushing a cart through—
ALICE, BOB and CAROL: THE READING ROOM!
ALICE, BOB and CAROL: [highfiving]
posted by cortex at 12:13 PM on May 19, 2010 [2 favorites]
I think it'd be cool to just haunt the library- dudes wander around all day dressed as ghosts, not getting in anyone's way, just wandering the stacks.
Dressed as ghosts? That's gonna be my afterlife!
posted by blucevalo at 12:16 PM on May 19, 2010
Dressed as ghosts? That's gonna be my afterlife!
posted by blucevalo at 12:16 PM on May 19, 2010
If I were a Crazy Billionaire, I would have replaced the people playing the three ghosts with Dan Aykroyd, Harold Ramis, and Ernie Hudson
I don't want to burst your pipe dream here, but if you were a billionaire couldn't you just write the NYPL a check? (OK so you could get the original Ghostbusters to deliver it)
posted by Pollomacho at 12:18 PM on May 19, 2010
I don't want to burst your pipe dream here, but if you were a billionaire couldn't you just write the NYPL a check? (OK so you could get the original Ghostbusters to deliver it)
posted by Pollomacho at 12:18 PM on May 19, 2010
No, Mr. Kent is buried atop the hill, whereas the Freelings are down in the valley. Given that, in some circumstances, corpses can move a hundred feet a year underground in places where the "soil flow" is high, I suppose Mr. Kent could have made it all the way down there in the couple of decades of story time between his death and the incidents in Poltergeist.
Mr. Kent seemed like a fairly nice guy, though, and would probably be the kind of animated skeleton who would, rather than popping up and terrifying random housewives when slighted, thoughtfully pack the trunk of the family car with some heirlooms they would be likely to miss when the homestead crushes down into a ball of chilly white light.
"It's the right thing to do," he'd say, although it would come out as just some bones clacking about. Oooh, maybe one bit of the jewelry and whatnot which apported through while the parapsychologists were experimenting would be Mr. Kent's burial watch. He'd want a nice family to have it.
posted by adipocere at 12:20 PM on May 19, 2010 [3 favorites]
Mr. Kent seemed like a fairly nice guy, though, and would probably be the kind of animated skeleton who would, rather than popping up and terrifying random housewives when slighted, thoughtfully pack the trunk of the family car with some heirlooms they would be likely to miss when the homestead crushes down into a ball of chilly white light.
"It's the right thing to do," he'd say, although it would come out as just some bones clacking about. Oooh, maybe one bit of the jewelry and whatnot which apported through while the parapsychologists were experimenting would be Mr. Kent's burial watch. He'd want a nice family to have it.
posted by adipocere at 12:20 PM on May 19, 2010 [3 favorites]
That said, the objection is fair enough since I doubt most people have a conversation like
You must not spend much time with my friends.
posted by shakespeherian at 12:22 PM on May 19, 2010 [3 favorites]
You must not spend much time with my friends.
posted by shakespeherian at 12:22 PM on May 19, 2010 [3 favorites]
If I'm hearing you right, you're saying Lex Luthor is a Ghostbuster.
posted by Astro Zombie at 12:25 PM on May 19, 2010
posted by Astro Zombie at 12:25 PM on May 19, 2010
Regarding that opening scene of the original movie cortex linked to — those of us old enough to remember card catalogs have the practical reaction that those cards can't fly out of the drawers, because there are these long pins that go through holes punched in the bottoms of them, which keeps them from getting out of sequence when people use the catalog, see. Clever, those card catalog designers. Wasn't technology wonderful?
posted by beagle at 12:28 PM on May 19, 2010 [3 favorites]
posted by beagle at 12:28 PM on May 19, 2010 [3 favorites]
Kane, being spiritual or magical, would probably be as effective against Superman as any of the other magical entities, so Supes might be helpless if the psychotic cult leader decided to torment him with the specter of his father being controlled post-mortem, and possibly prevented from being helpful and instead puppeteered into scaring the Freelings.
This could be an unlikely teamup and a strange crossover. Superman, in a rare moment of vulnerability, must ask Lex for a favor. Pre-Crisis Lex Luthor ... a proton pack and trap would not be beyond his abilities. Lex would have checked out Egon's research and decided he could pull it off.
Ah, but at what price?
posted by adipocere at 12:34 PM on May 19, 2010 [2 favorites]
This could be an unlikely teamup and a strange crossover. Superman, in a rare moment of vulnerability, must ask Lex for a favor. Pre-Crisis Lex Luthor ... a proton pack and trap would not be beyond his abilities. Lex would have checked out Egon's research and decided he could pull it off.
Ah, but at what price?
posted by adipocere at 12:34 PM on May 19, 2010 [2 favorites]
What they should have done, was have three nerdy guys in coats come into the library, drop a book on the counter, interview a librarian about family mental illness history, go down into the stacks, and then run out yelling "We'll get back to you!" fifteen minutes later. Hilarious! People would have loved it!
Count me in with your Ghostbusters-obsessed friend. An authentic re-enactment would have been way better - these Halloween costumes from Party City and It's The Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown were a big letdown. Boo inaccuracy.
posted by scrowdid at 1:01 PM on May 19, 2010 [1 favorite]
Count me in with your Ghostbusters-obsessed friend. An authentic re-enactment would have been way better - these Halloween costumes from Party City and It's The Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown were a big letdown. Boo inaccuracy.
posted by scrowdid at 1:01 PM on May 19, 2010 [1 favorite]
That said, the objection is fair enough since I doubt most people have a conversation like
You must not spend much time with my friends
Is that an order?
posted by Pollomacho at 1:03 PM on May 19, 2010
You must not spend much time with my friends
Is that an order?
posted by Pollomacho at 1:03 PM on May 19, 2010
scrowdid: Boo inaccuracy.
I see what you did there. And I actually like it.
posted by MCMikeNamara at 1:04 PM on May 19, 2010
I see what you did there. And I actually like it.
posted by MCMikeNamara at 1:04 PM on May 19, 2010
Inaccuracy just wet itself.
posted by shakespeherian at 1:07 PM on May 19, 2010
posted by shakespeherian at 1:07 PM on May 19, 2010
Please Improv Everywhere, go back to South Carolina where you are from and leave our city alone. This stuff is SO tiresome already and yeah.. that was no re-enactment in any sense of the word. This stuff makes my blood boil.
posted by ReeMonster at 2:07 PM on May 19, 2010 [1 favorite]
posted by ReeMonster at 2:07 PM on May 19, 2010 [1 favorite]
If I'm hearing you right, you're saying Lex Luthor is a Ghostbuster.
Wrong. Doctor Fate is a Ghostbuster.
posted by Smart Dalek at 2:26 PM on May 19, 2010 [1 favorite]
Wrong. Doctor Fate is a Ghostbuster.
posted by Smart Dalek at 2:26 PM on May 19, 2010 [1 favorite]
I can't help but think that Bill Murray himself might have shown up for this if someone had asked him nicely.
Not that everything has to be about Bill Murray.
posted by Erroneous at 3:47 PM on May 19, 2010 [1 favorite]
Not that everything has to be about Bill Murray.
posted by Erroneous at 3:47 PM on May 19, 2010 [1 favorite]
I have heard tell of a more accurate recreation in 94 or so that was met with mostly indifference.
Of course, this was back when everybody was doing stupid stunts for their own merits and not for self-publicity, a blog to book deal, and a this american life episode.
posted by beardlace at 1:59 AM on May 20, 2010
Of course, this was back when everybody was doing stupid stunts for their own merits and not for self-publicity, a blog to book deal, and a this american life episode.
posted by beardlace at 1:59 AM on May 20, 2010
This could be said to be a recreation of the video game that used every flimsy excuse to visit locales from the movie. They'd have to constantly revive each other and blow up an endless stream of possessed books to really recreate it.
See the entertaining zero punctuation review if you haven't played it.
posted by beardlace at 2:07 AM on May 20, 2010
See the entertaining zero punctuation review if you haven't played it.
posted by beardlace at 2:07 AM on May 20, 2010
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also, best part? the cute guy at 1:03 who tries to not look like he's sneaking a look at the ghost and then veeeeery sloooowy starts texting..presumably about sitting text to a ghost
posted by The Whelk at 11:31 AM on May 19, 2010 [1 favorite]