As the 2008 Wimbledon fortnight played itself out, the event offered all of its traditional trappings -- immaculately mown grass, clean yellow tennis balls, breakfasts of strawberries and cream and well-dressed faceless alien androids.
The creepy spectators (above) had already showed up at Harrod's and other spots around London, but their persistent pop-ups at the All-England Tennis Club were by far their most public appearances. A couple of the world's more ingenious media outlets reported that the figures weren't really faceless and had pinholes in their masks for the actors' eyes.
Wow. We know where the Pulitzer is headed this year. You mean these creatures weren't bold, hyper-dimensional, extra-sensory, telepathic beings that survive in our hostile environment by removing atmospheric intake and ultraviolet ocular input? Are you saying they're probably just skinny models or out of work actors standing around in masks to earn a little 'Benson & Hedges' money? (A couple packs of those, and can you imagine how the insides of those masks smell? Like someone paper mached Edward R. Murrow's corpse.)
Was all this a prank? Was it some annoying, pretentious performance art piece on the anonymity of humankind in the information age? Of course not. It was a viral marketing stunt -- about the anonymity of humankind in the information age.
Fortunately, that same anonymous humankind still has money, and automaker Lotus would like a lot of said money handed over in return for one of their sports cars. To that end, Lotus set up this countdown website as part of this manufactured ex-mystery.
Lotus, The Question wants his gimmick back. So does The Blank.
Image courtesy Splash, BBC News
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