I was working, really...

[redplum]

...coffee, red wine, and pint glass of water lined up next to black pen, blue pen, highlighter, laptop. And then I got a little distracted.

This has probably already been around, but it's fucking gorgeous (there are porny ads all over the page, so not work-safe). More:
http://www.spack.org/wiki/LeParkour
http://www.witze-welt.de/videos/showvideo.

Comments

[docmanhattan]

Watching le parkour always makes me jealous, too. There was a sneaker ad a few years back... It seems too effortless, like all they know how to do is make themselves land in the right spot. (Of course, even that's impossible for me... which is good from the point of view that I won't ever try it on a whim.)

[redplum]

Physical effortlessness is so delightful. (I tend to walk into walls and fall down stairs, myself, but maybe I'll eventually start writing superhero comics or something.)

Now that I think about it, it's probably just part of my larger Thing for hyper-competence.

On a similar note, have you seen Tekkonkinkurito/Black & White?

[docmanhattan]

No, not yet... sadly, I typically wait for my mom to buy any manga and then borrow it.

[redplum]

Oh, do. It's very nearly the only manga I own. It's...fierce, in the non-slangy sense, and the effect produced is more than a bit like that of the parkour kids. I don't know your taste in comics (or, uh, most other things, actually), but I recommend B&W to a lot of people who don't read things with pictures normally.

[therealbird]

I like that parkour also has a meaning. It's the meaning that makes it, as a cultural expression as opposed to just a gymnastic workout. There have been a lot of popular videos lately which have missed the point of parkour somewhat. I'm not terribly upset about it, but because my aesthetic is not so different, I notice.

[redplum]

I'll admit that I tend to respond to 'meaning' that's expressed in the art form itself, rather than essentially tacked to a wall next to it in the equivalent of an artist's statement. I think parkour reads, though--whether you examine the intended philosophy explicitly or not.