alex.polvi.net

At the Civil war there was a snowmobile demo. They had pro-snowmobilers (yep, they have those) doing back-flips and other crazy stuff off of a huge pile of show. Well, this snow got moved into a giant pile in the Reser foyer. What happened? A group of students saw an opportunity, “Snow, a bench, why not?” one of them noted.

I love the innovation.

The best part (and funniest) is that they were “sponsored” by Domino’s. This sponsorship consisted of putting a domino’s banner on top of the pile of snow. It was awesome.

Ever wanted to see a sold out show? Want to pay face value or less? Here is the solution: The magic finger. This trick was taught to me one evening as four of us were waiting outside of a venue in Eugene, Or, trying to get into a Mat Kearny concert. The lady at the ticket booth told us to hold up the “magic finger” and we will inevitably get into any sold out show. Ironically enough, it did not work that night. The lady ended up just taking our cash and letting us in without tickets. However, it has worked for every other show I have tried. I have never paid more than face, sometimes getting in for free.

So what is the magic finger? It’s simple, just hold up your index finger pointing at the sky. Also helps to mutter that you are looking for one ticket.

The psychology behind the magic finger is pretty straight forward. There always are people at shows that have tickets they do not need. This is why scalpers exist. Scalpers will find these people, often by holding a sign saying they need tickets, and offer them a little more then nothing for their extra tickets. The person with the extra thinks that they are just going to have to eat the face value, so they take whatever they can get for it. The scalper then resells to people trying to get in at a substantial premium. There is a certian percentage of the attendees that will have extra tickets, so the more people attending, the more extra tickets there will be. For that reason, the larger the show the more extra tickets there will be.

As a magic finger user you just have to hold your finger up, let people know you are looking for a ticket (to see the show, not to resell), and good things will happen. It has never failed. Some of the shows that I have gotten into using this technique include: Panic! At the disco (in Times Square, paid face), Bloc Party (face value), Oregon/UoO Civil War (2 x free!), and many others. I’ve given up on buying tickets a head of time. Just go, bring no more cash then you want to pay, hold up the finger, and you’ll get in.

Ah ha! I made a podcast! It is super low-fi, as I just spoke into my headphones … but eh, you can sort of tell what happened. At least the music is clear.

The playlist:

* Say Hi To Your Mom - Super
* The Album Leaf - Always For You
* Joshua Radin - These Photographs
* Big City Rock - All Of The Above

Get it here!

Heavily inspired by Acts of Volition Radio

Check it out, three friends and I are trying to raise $10,000.

http://pleasesendustolinuxconfau.info/

Know any companies that could help? Can you?

I thought I would be all clever and dress up like a penguin on Halloween, but some of my peers got the best of me:

Made my night!

Oh, and, don’t forget to vote!