Have you gone planking?
No, that's not a trick or dirty question. I'm talking about a new trend sweeping across the globe via the Internet.
Planking is when a person lies face down on -- well, pretty much anything -- in the plank position. People have planked on buildings, fire trucks and other unusual, public places. On Sunday, a man in Australia fell seven stories to his death after trying to plank on a balcony.
"I guess I really never thought of it as dangerous beforehand, but again as people take it to extremes or drink-and-plank I can just see people try and one-up each other," Randi Sether, a planker-obsessed Philadelphian said. "But I just try and one-up myself."
Sether has even "planked" on escalators.
"It kinda became an obsession because everywhere I went, I'm like, 'I can do one there,'" the Fishtown woman told NBC Philadelphia. "When I go places now I'm scouting out."
Her obsession grew into the Tumblr blog Dirty Boobies -- named such because: "I lie on the ground in front of stuff. Face down. Sometimes my boobies get dirty."
Randi has planked with storm troopers, on SEPTA buses and pool tables and under Capt'n Morgan. She gets great pictures, but that's not her ultimate goal. "The bigger point of it is to really just capture people's reactions," she said. "It's my favorite part of the whole thing."
One @NBCPhiladelphia follower called the fad "just a new form of natural selection for idiots" while another called it "hilarious."
Got a good local [SAFE] planking spot? Share your ideas and thoughts about the trend on Facebook and on Twitter with the #planking hashtag.
Local
Breaking news and the stories that matter to your neighborhood.
"I'm not breaking any laws. I'm just lying on the ground so there's no harm in that," she said.
Dirty Boobies from Brain Gravy Creative on Vimeo.
