So we had a meeting of about fifteen people, all named “David”, outside the Founding Church of Scientology on a Saturday afternoon. And that means…
February 9, 2009, 9:27 PM
Yes, a meeting of about fifteen people, all named “David”, outside the Founding Church of Scientology in Washington DC on a Saturday afternoon means that it was once again time for Anonymous DC to have its monthly raid, protesting the practices of the Church of Scientology. And as always, we had fun, we had epic win, and we had more than enough lulz to go around. And in Anonymous, everyone is “David”.
This time around, the theme was “Space Opera”, taking a science fiction theme, mainly centering around Star Wars.
MisterTastee wore two cinnamon buns on his head, imitating Princess Leia’s distinctive hairstyle.
Another Anon wore a robot outfit, as a personification of the “Internets Haet Machine”, aka the “Internet Hate Machine“, which is a term I disagree with, but nonetheless can be parodied.
And our Anonymous cake also took a space theme…
And unlike in January, where it sleeted and then rained on us for the global raid, and then was insanely cold for our flash raid the following weekend, this time around, the weather was absolutely gorgeous. There wasn’t a cloud in sight, and it was unseasonably warm, with temperatures in the 60s.
Of course, that meant that I was somewhat overdressed for the outfit I had planned for the raid. I was planning on making an encore presentation of my “hardcore” outfit from the January flash raid, but unlike last time, where it went off without a hitch, this time I ran into problems with it. First off, it was just a shade too warm to make it work, and the goggles were thus in the steam-up temperature range. It’s fine on hot days, and I didn’t have a problem in sub-freezing temperatures, but cool for summer and warm for winter makes it fog up. Secondly, the facepiece on the mask was sitting wrong, and was hurting my nose. No fun. And lastly, I found that I couldn’t hear well enough, having two layers of fabric over my ears.
Thus, I went to an alternate form of anonymity. I left my Guy Fawkes mask at home thinking I wouldn’t need it, but it would have done just fine if I’d had it. Oh, well. Instead, I went for a green bandanna mask, and for a while, I was also wearing MaidofWin’s afro wig. And yes, I looked as ridiculous as you might be thinking, but it was fun:
Then of course, we also had our own faux E-Meter.
Some people, meanwhile, were able to make it go to an off-scale high:
Meanwhile, has anyone heard of the latest Internet meme going around, “Benny Lava“? Basically, it’s an Indian music video, and “translated” in a matter similar to animutations from years past. Nonetheless, Anonymous is working on its own version of the Benny Lava video from the raid. First people stood around a portable DVD player and reviewed the real video:
Then they filmed:
And afterwards, a preview was soon made and posted for all to see:
We also got plenty of group photos, both of just us…
And unmasked passers-by.
We also worked the cars, as MaidofWin showed off her unending supply of energy getting people to honk if they thought Scientology was a cult.
On a sadder note, this was Vendetta’s last raid with us, as real-life obligations have made it necessary for him to leave the DC area to pursue his dreams. In a fabulous farewell speech, he imparted his words of wisdom about keeping up the good fight.
Then just before 5:00, as our permit was about to expire, we planned to pack it in. I peeled off my Anon finery (the cult already knows who I am, so I wear the mask mainly for lulz), and then much to my surprise, guess who showed up at our raid – it was none other than Erin, a coworker of mine, specifically the coworker who shouted my name out from a passing car during a raid back in May. Needless to say, I haven’t let Erin hear the end of it since that incident. But she did indeed join in the fun for the last few minutes of our raid along with a friend of hers from out of town. To commemorate it, we got our photo taken in front of the Org:
Erin and her friend also sampled some Anonymous cupcakes, and agreed with everyone else that they were win. One of Anonymous’s trademarks is having cake at raids, and they certainly do not disappoint.
Following the raid, we headed to Bailey’s in Ballston. At Bailey’s, I noticed two gentlemen at the pool tables wearing purple JMU shirts. I wondered if they knew me. They did. They remembered me, and they remembered Schumin Web, referring to me as a “legend” (obviously, the beer made them remember Schumin Web as being better than it was back then). They were fun, and it goes to show that I made an impression on them. After all, who can forget Schumin Web?
All in all, we had a fun time at Bailey’s. The food was good, and the company was awesome. As a few of us were getting ready to leave, one of the guys in the JMU shirts asked if I could help them with something. He wanted me to help pick some songs on the jukebox. I figured, why not? So JB, Anyman, a third gentleman, and I helped this gentleman pick the songs for the jukebox as he put a $20 bill in for us to play with. I don’t think he knew what he was getting into, as the first thing we did was make sure that Bailey’s was properly Rickrolled, putting “Never Gonna Give You Up” into the queue. Then we also added a Weird Al Yankovic polka, “A Moment Like This”, and a number of other off-the-wall songs that we were amazed were in there. You could tell that the gentleman in the JMU shirt didn’t realize exactly what he had gotten himself into when he let us pick the songs.
And then after we got the jukebox loaded up with our selections, we thanked him and left. Since we Rickrolled the restaurant, it was appropriate that we left the restaurant singing “Never Gonna Give You Up” as a group. We were still singing it halfway to the elevator.
Then the four of us went to Macy’s and kind of wandered around a bit. Among other things, we left a You Found The Card card on one of the mannequins in the lingerie department…
As you can see, the mannequin is wearing my hat for the photo, and she’s holding the card right in her cleavage. I was surprised that someone would place it there, but hey, it worked, I suppose.
And lastly, getting back was fun, because Metro was doing track work up in my neck of the woods. They were single-tracking between Silver Spring and Wheaton on Track 2, using the Silver Spring pocket track and an interlocking north of Forest Glen for trains to Glenmont to switch tracks. I’m surprised they used the pocket track, since there are also crossovers south of the station, but there you go. I parked at Forest Glen, and got a movie of the train departing on the wrong track:
All in all, I’d say we had a fun day! I love raiding with Anonymous. We have a great message to get out, don’t take ourselves too seriously (taking one’s self too seriously interferes with the lulz), and have a lot of fun doing it. Next week: Flash raid!
Song: Benny Lava
Quote: And what happens in Macy's stays in Macy's, right?
Categories: Project Chanology, WMATA