If Filmmakers Directed the Super Bowl. QT’s is the one I’d most want to watch.

Love this powerful seatbelt commercial from the Sussex Safer Roads Partnership. (thx alec)

Lost meets 24: the crash of flight 815 in realtime:

Love the Gorilla Productions Muhammad Ali Tribute:

(via ross)

Upular: “composed using chords, bass notes and vocal samples from the Disney Pixar film Up.” Totally new and original sounding, yet still capturing the feel of the movie somehow. I love the shift at 1:28.

The COP15 logo (United Nations Climate Change Conference) is terrific. It was built with a program that adds “dynamic, real-time movement to the logo and takes the rigid grid of the logo and animates it with a series of parameters like flocking and flow fields.” I’d embed it, but the videos look better in context.

Octopuses continue to climb the ladder of awesomeness. Check out the footage of this fellow who totes around a coconut shell to use as a hiding place.

(via discover)

Jon Stewart on the self-dumb-downing of Gretchen Carlson:

Check the cinematic destruction of NYNY set to Rhapsody in Blue.

Wow, very impressive, here’s the “Trinity Help” scene from The Matrix, done in stop-motion with only Legos (although I’d really recommend clicking through and watching the bigger version instead):

The side-by-side comparison is also great. Finally, here’s the LegoMatrix site.

(via kottke)

Olivier Lemieux training for what must be a fantastic act. Cirque du Soleil seems determined to demonstrate that it’s their Matrix, and the rest of us are just living in it.

Lin-Manuel Miranda performs his Alexander Hamilton rap (as if sung by Aaron Burr) at the White House Poetry Jam:

James Galea’s signature trick, 673 King Street:

Always nice to catch a new Ze Frank video. In this one he blitzes through the history of Afghanistan in three minutes.

This is making the rounds, world champion (is there a championships?) anvil shooter Gay Wilkinson launches anvils over 100 feet into the air using nothing but another anvil and gunpowder:

Half the fun of the video is the banter. Seems like a fun guy. “It’s about the joy of sex but it don’t last like the fun of shootin’ anvils.”

I love DJ Steve Porter’s Press Hop. “Not a game not a game not a game…”

This is easily the best Ultimate Frisbee highlight reel I’ve seen, all clips collected from 2007 Nationals. (via catch)

After a brilliant first season, Mr. Deity seemed to spin its wheels a bit, but the two most recent episodes — Mr. Deity and the Skeptic and Mr. Deity and Da Man — have recaptured the glory.

Various directors have their say on widescreen vs. pan and scan. I really thought this was a dead issue until learning that HBO pushes for it. Bastards. (via kottke)

I’m sure I’m catching this on the tail end of the wave, but Bobby McFerrin’s audience-based demonstration of the pentatonic scale is fantastic.

From the same guys that did that fantastic chocolate bunny apocalypse video:

(via swissmiss)

Ze Frank has been posting videos again, after a long, long break from The Show (which I still miss). Of the new videos, Five People is the first one where he really rediscovers his groove, I think. Very funny, it’s been too long.

Ricky Jay manages to squeeze a ton into his op-ed on Susan Boyle. He draws comparisons with Mathew Buchinger:

Buchinger demonstrated his skill on more than a half-dozen musical instruments (some of his own invention), danced a hornpipe and performed conjuring tricks with cups and balls, cards and dice. In front of the lord provost he fashioned a pen and with it produced a fine calligraphic document of the coat of arms of the city. The year was 1726. Buchinger was 52 years old, 29 inches tall — and, he had neither legs nor arms.

… in how appearance influences expectations. He also touches on Thomas Quasthoff,
Thomas Britton, Joshua Bell’s subway stint, a Joni Mitchell song, Cardini, and Steve Martin (as The Great Flydini, a routine Jay helped create).

What could be better than Shatner’s iconic “Khaaaan!” scene? How ‘bout stretching it out into a 15-minute standalone video?

Fantastic Nike commercial featuring a Kobe Bryant puppet heckling a LeBron James puppet over his three championship rings. (via kottke)

Jason Kottke has a good post up on free running, including an impressive demo reel of practitioner Levi Meeuwenberg. Getting up that wall at 1:51?! Unreal.

Ocean’s Eleven with Kermit in the Clooney role. Had the Muppets made Ocean’s Twelve it might have been watchable.

Video of Andy Bolton’s new deadlift world record. 457.5kg (1008.6 lbs). Over one THOUSAND pounds, and he looks like he could have lifted even more.

Inferior to—but still reminiscent of—the darkly fantastic Chocolate Bunny by Lernert Engelberts & Sander Plug is this Cadbury video featuring much egg devastation. Check related videos for more eggsterminations (I like the one with the piano wire).

Best Sesame Street outtakes ever: Ricky Gervais and Elmo. Also, from Gervais’s blog:

Did Sesame Street which is possibly the most fun show I’ve ever done. There were loads of outtakes but the producers are worried about releasing them as they may get the show taken off air.

and…

The next day I did my appearance on Sesame Street which I am honestly considering declaring a career high light.

Kevin Clash is amazing. He totally holds his own, and stays in character. Can’t wait for the episode to air!

Y’know how you can stretch Silly Putty slowly, but if you yank it apart quickly it snaps like it’s brittle? d3o labs has taken that to the extreme. They have a gel that is looks and acts like a gooey Silly Putty, but that hardens instantaneously on impact. Discover says the military is taking a look to see whether it can be made to stop bullets. This stuff really needs some HD, high-speed video online, but until then, thankfully, we have Japanese talk shows.

Twitch has the trailer for “hard boiled action-noir” The Perfect Sleep. Or you can head over to the movie’s official site and dig through the Flash interface for the larger version (worth it, great cinematography).

Radiohead donated one of their tracks, “Videotape”, for use in a commercial by Leo Burnett designed to raise awareness of the fragile UK housing situation. Samantha Morton, who was homeless for a time before becoming famous, does the voiceover (also donated).

According to Lürzer, this is the first-ever commercial Radiohead has allowed their music to be used for, but a quick search turned up this Steve Nash/Jason Kidd commercial for the NBA (there are a bunch of those There Can Only Be One spots; I like the Shaq/Kobe one). Maybe this is the first one they’ve donated rather than sold. Doesn’t matter, great commercial.

A $150, 4-minute short film directed by Miguel Arteta, written by Miranda July, and starring John C. Reilly: Are You The Favorite Person of Anybody? (via tmn)

Congrats to Kate Winslet on the long overdue win, and more importantly for making this Extras clip even greater in the process.

Interesting profile in The New Yorker on Jerry Baber, an Appalachian gunsmith who wants the military to adopt his robotic soldiers. The technology is made possible by his recoil-less automatic shotgun, which allows the robots to fire without having their aim disrupted:

Until recently, Baber’s reputation as a firearms craftsman was known only to a few dozen gun-trade insiders. Then, a few years ago, he started producing, from start to finish, his own weapon: a fully automatic shotgun called the AA-12. The AA-12 has the power of a twelve-gauge shotgun but none of its bruising recoil. Recoil is a problem with any shotgun; a typical single-shot twelve-gauge will, as Baber puts it, “just rattle your damn teeth when it goes off.” A gun’s kick occurs when gas from ignited gunpowder propels the shell out of a gun barrel, creating an equal and opposite force that pushes the gun’s firing bolt backward. That force eventually gets transferred to the shooters shoulder, and the pop of the recoil also sends the barrel upward. Trying to fire an automatic version of a twelve-gauge shotgun would be like holding a fire hose with one hand.

By contrast, you can fire an AA-12—which shoots five shotgun shells per second—with one hand and hold a mug of coffee in the other without spilling it. Made almost entirely of aircraft-grade stainless steel, the gun can fire thousands of rounds without cleaning. Baber spent a dozen years, and upward of a million and a half dollars of his own money, perfecting the gun. He believes that the AA-12 is the most deadly close-range weapon ever created.

Here’s a YouTube demo reel. I thought the one-hand claim might be an exaggeration, but I guess not.

I saw on Neil Gaiman’s weblog that the Coraline Web Trailer is the first trailer he has really liked. I can see why.

This Midas spot cracked me up.

I’ve posted about Parkour luminary David Belle before. He’s back for more action in Banlieue 13: Ultimatum. Twitch has the trailer. The stunt work is incredible, and man, can that last shot be real? I’ve seen Belle jump between buildings before (again, see old posts), but that looks impossible.

(One of my favorite scenes from Banlieue 13 was where Belle somehow shoots feet first through the tiniest of windows above a door. Ah, here it is. At around 0:23 of this video.)

The Anthem Project: citizens of one country sing the national anthem of another country. France does great with ours. (via ted)

The full web pilot for The Remnants, starring Ze Frank (and Justine Bateman, remember her?). Too bad it’s looking unlikely it’ll go anywhere.

Great: Why I’m Happy, Why I’m Not Satisfied.

The Fifty People One Question folks have a new video up, where would you like to wake up? It doesn’t doesn’t quite capture the magic of the what would you want to happen by the end of today? question shot in New Orleans, but it still has some nice moments.

Alobravo has a fun collection of videos up, The 6 Sickest Playground Workouts You Can’t Do (no arguments here). I’d seen the Bartendaz one before, but the rest where new to me. The Hannibal video is unreal. The guy does some exercises I’ve never even imagined before. (via SttB)

Smashing Magazine: 30 Unforgettable Movie Opening Sequences. Having Lord of War, Thank You For Smoking, and Delicatessen on there makes me happy.

Anita Lillie has a demo video up of her masters thesis, MusicBox, a very impressive project for mapping and visualizing music collections by a combination of their metadata and acoustic fingerprints (also on YouTube, in HD). Further proof that all the cool kids are using Processing these days. Slick, I love the idea of drawing a line through the music map and getting a playlist that smoothly transitions through musical styles and genres. Doesn’t sound like it will be available for download anytime soon, though. (via hackszine)

A buddy of mine encouraged me to hit up YouTube for some Roberto Carlos clips, and I’m glad I did. First up is the physics-defying free kick against France HQ. It must have been disbelief that kept the goalie pretty much pinned in place. That post should not have been fair game. This top 10 goals compilation is also pretty good (alas, not in high quality). I think the goal at 2:57 is actually more impressive than the free kick, and if the soccer itself isn’t proof of his athleticism, check out the air on his celebratory leap at 0:40.

I always loved Bud Luckey’s Sesame Street cartoons (even if I didn’t know who Bud Luckey was until Boundin’ came along):

• Martian Beauty
• The Alligator King
• The Ladybugs’ Picnic
• Three on a Lady’s Lap

You can search YouTube for more (or for the inevitable day when those particular copies are pulled).

Beaker performs Ode to Joy as only he can (via kottke). That led me to Danny Boy, sung by a true Muppet dream team: The Swedish Chef, Animal, and Beaker.

40 Inspirational Speeches in 2 Minutes:

Let us cut out their living guts one inch at a time, and they will know what we can do! Let no man forget how menacing we are. We are lions! You’re like a big bear, man!”

(via waxy)

Just Like the Movies is a short film (~20 minutes) by Michal Kosakowski which uses pre-9/11 movie clips to convey the events and feel of the day, accompanied by solo piano. (more details, via kottke)

Jon Stewart and Mike Huckabee discuss gay marriage. “We protect religion, and talk about a lifestyle choice!” Stewart wins.

I thought all the best game shows came out of Japan. The Netherlands enter the fray.

(That is Dutch, right? what language is this? thinks so.)

You may have heard of the SawStop; it’s a safety device for table saws that can instantly stop the blade if it comes in contact with a finger, preventing injury. Until now the videos I’ve seen have involved hot dogs being saved from grievous injury. But in this Discovery channel clip, SawStop’s inventor puts his actual finger where his mouth is.

Madness. He’s gotta have quite a bit of confidence in his engineering, but also whoever does his manufacturing and QA. Remind me never to invent anything that guarantees you can fall into a wood chipper and come out the other side unscathed. I doubt they’d be able to air that on the Discovery Channel.

(via core77)

Ridiculously good: the trailer for Quantum of Wallace. (via andrew sullivan)

Here’s my internal monologue upon reviewing the cool new Mathematica Image Processing features:

“Wow, that’s really cool, I can’t believe only a few lines of code can take a goose video and animate it. Very impressive. I’d like to play with that. I wonder how much it costs… Oof. $2,500. Let me see, I don’t have Mathematica, but lets calculate what percentage of my salary that is… Rats.”

Looks like I’ll stick with SpeedCrunch for now.

Andrew Sullivan aptly likens the ton-of-bricks-on-the-head trick to the work Obama has ahead of him. No doubt, especially doing it in bare feet. The price of failure is high.

Engadget embeds some Simpsons Apple mockery.

This one’s making the rounds… Chicken Head Tracking. Pretty remarkable ability. Not remarkable enough that I’m worried about our evolutionary advantage, except perhaps on the dance floor, but still.

The trailer for the new Pixar movie is, umm, Up. Can't wait.

• I first read about the Thai sport of takraw years ago, and then forgot all about it. Crazy athleticism, volleyball without hands, bicycle kick spikes, etc. YouTube has some takraw action (via Frostillicus).
• The guys at The Science of Sport have put together a wonderful montage to kick off the XXIX Olympiad. Really well done.

• Ross Enamait put up a compilation video. Every time I think I'm in shape, watching Ross reminds me how much more I could accomplish. Ross's videos always get me psyched for my next workout.
• On the lighter side, Average Athlete vs Olympic Athlete. Funny, but also really puts it into perspective. Those guys obviously aren't olympians, but they look pretty fit.
• Even lighter, the Tour de Donut. Mmmm... Donuts...

Wow, I thought The Onion was for laughs, not dead-on predictions. From 2001: Bush: 'Our Long National Nightmare Of Peace And Prosperity Is Finally Over'. Spooky. Via Waxy.

It will be nice to have a president (with any luck) who reads.

And, to get off of politics, I'm sure this is old news by now, but I just saw this today, and I can't stop watching and smiling: Where the Hell is Matt?

UltiVillage has a great Clip of the Day up: Chase in 04 Finals. A colossal effort to get over a guy making a merely great effort.

I've seen this in a few place now, so may as well add to the link deluge. Excellent video from Mark Twight, One Piece. Love the kettlebell presses on the GHD. A couple months ago I started doing something similar, where you get parallel to the floor on the GHD with a 20-lb medicine ball, and toss it from hand to hand, grab it and move it around, back overhead (that weight multiplies in a hurry, believe me, so be careful), etc.

Darth Vader Feels Blue (hang in there for it, trust me). Not to be confused with the other classic Vader bit, Darth Vader being a smartass.

• Lewis Black on candy corn.
• MAKE: Gum Sculpture
• I don't know which struck me more, that the writer's of St. Elsewhere royally screwed their fans in the season finale (wow, now I'm REALLY glad I didn't watch that show), or that, by extension, 282 TV shows take place inside the imagination of an autistic child.

Google Blogoscoped embeds Amy Walker's "21 Accents" Video, and conducts an e-mail interview. Regional accents. Fantastic.

Chris at Conditioning Research embeds a smooth Turkish Get-up variation by Scott Sonnon.

Amazing what you can do with index cards and a sharp knife. Scroll down for the time lapse video too. Funny to watch the Cheez-its in that one.

YouTube: Charlie Bit my Finger! I love the play of emotions across big brother's face. Probably a little bit of rebellion against our masters coming into play.

YouTube: King Kong Singing.

Lawrence Lessig via YouTube: 20 minutes or so about why I am 4Barack.

• YouTube: excellent rings and pistols work.
• Straight to the Bar embeds a great air flair video.
• Crossfit Oakland really loves coconut oil (I have not checked the research behind those claims).
• Mark Sisson weighs in on soy.

UltiVillage recently posted a trailer for the 2007 Emerald City Classic. It features tons of great clips, and it really wants to be available in a higher resolution, but hey, beggars can't be choosers.

Speaking of UltiVillage, I don't know what they pay for bandwidth now, but it occurs to me that at least for the Clip of the Day and trailers they could get a SmugMug account and store hi-res video clips there (check the quality of that demo video, would only cost them $60/year to host 2.5 minute clips, $150/year to host 5 minute clips). I've also wondered about them moving to some kind of pay-per-view model for UltiTV. I assume the UltiTV clips are the same low resolution, but a pay-per-view model would allow users to choose to only watch the clips they want to see, and to pay more to watch them in higher resolution. Bandwidth costs would be a concern, obviously, along with managing the payments, but Amazon has some tantalizing web services available that are really perfect for this kind of application. I'm pretty far afield from a fitness post now, so you can stop reading if you want, but here are the services that UltiVillage could use:

First, for storing the videos online there's Amazon Simple Storage Service (S3):

Amazon S3 provides a simple web services interface that can be used to store and retrieve any amount of data, at any time, from anywhere on the web. It gives any developer access to the same highly scalable, reliable, fast, inexpensive data storage infrastructure that Amazon uses to run its own global network of web sites. The service aims to maximize benefits of scale and to pass those benefits on to developers (write, read, and delete objects containing from 1 byte to 5 gigabytes of data each. The number of objects you can store is unlimited).

The thing that really makes this shine is the pricing, which is practically tailor-made for pay-per-view:

Storage
$0.15 per GB-Month of storage used

Data Transfer
$0.10 per GB - all data transfer in
$0.18 per GB - first 10 TB / month data transfer out
$0.16 per GB - next 40 TB / month data transfer out
$0.13 per GB - data transfer out / month over 50 TB

Requests
$0.01 per 1,000 PUT or LIST requests
$0.01 per 10,000 GET and all other requests*
* No charge for delete requests

So lets say UltiVillage wanted to store a full DVD's worth of video online (a bit less than 5GB for a single-sided, single-layer disc, but we'll round up to 5GB for these back-of-the-envelope calculations). Nice, high-res stuff. It would cost $0.50 to copy the data into S3, and $0.75/month to store it. It would cost $0.90 for a user to download it (assuming they watched the whole thing, at high resolution). So suppose it's up for a year, 100 people watch it, and you charge $2.00 per view. UltiVillage costs are a one-time upload of $0.50, $9.00 to host it for a year, and $90 for it to be downloaded 100 times, for a total of $99.50. They collect $200 for a profit of $100.50. Of course, the numbers would change if they offered several resoutions to choose from; users could choose to pay more/less depending on what resolution they wanted to download.

Now, I'm not a businessman, and I have no idea if $2 would be a good price point for them. There's salaries, cameras, film, and all the other costs that come with running the business. I have no idea how many customers they have, whether those customers would prefer a pay-per-view model, and how much people would pay. Finally, I have no idea how this might affect their DVD sales. But speaking for myself, I'm not an UltiTV subscriber currently because I don't like the low-res QuickTime files, and I'm only interested in a few of the videos they offer. But I'd definitely do pay-per-view for higher resolution versions. How much would I pay? Not sure. I'd probably put $20 into an account and then pick and choose a few high-res games to watch, hopefully at somewhere between $2 and $5 a pop. Totally off the cuff, but that's the ballpark.

The other piece of this would be managing the pay-per-view accounts/payments. For that there's Amazon Flexible Payment Service (FPS). It's in limited beta now, but it looks promising (and you could always see about getting in on the beta). Pricing (which obviously affects the estimates above):

For Transactions >= $10:
1.5% + $0.01 for Amazon Payments balance transfers
2.0% + $0.05 for bank account debits
2.9% + $0.30 for credit card

For Transactions < $10:
1.5% + $0.01 for Amazon Payments balance transfers
2.0% + $0.05 for bank account debits
5.0% + $0.05 for credit card

For Amazon Payments balance transfers < $0.05:
20% of the transaction amount, with a minimum fee of $0.0025

It could be done! The question of whether it should be done is one for the bean counters. I'd sure like it, though.

(Oh, it would be nice, while we're at it, if the UltiVillage site had some social networking components built in. Perhaps allow paying customers to rate the videos so others know how to best spend their pay-per-view money, maybe a forum so videos can be discussed, allow users to upload commentary tracks that synchronize with the video, etc. I mean, as long as I'm musing about somebody else's business model...)

(The piracy issue is a whole 'nother can of worms. I don't know how much sharing/stealing of UltiTV videos happens now: one guy on the team gets an account, downloads the videos, passes them around. I'm sure it happens. Heck, DVDs can be ripped and the high-res files shared, for that matter. Not sure how high-res pay-per-view changes this behavior, or again, how that would affect DVD sales. If it makes it worse, hopefully it is offset by new customers like me, who don't subscribe to UltiTV because of the low-res, and don't buy the DVDs because I only want to watch them once, not over and over.)

Ross Enamait just posted an article and video, "The Homemade Wheel." Definitely an inexpensive piece of equipment worth making, as it's good for a variety of truly killer exercises. And as always, Ross's video is very impressive. Check it out.

Sorry, been sitting on some of these links for a while...

• Ringtraining's come out with new, improved rings: Elite Rings II. Lovely. I still have my metal version 1.0 ones. These new ones look great, , especially in black (not shown, on that page, but available on ordering). Related, this Crossfit London muscle-up tutorial. Some great exercises demonstrated within. Not sure why the page repeats itself over and over.
• This article makes squash sound like a blast. A good read, but when I check out some squash highlights on YouTube, my enthusiasm dampened a bit. Not a good spectator sport, apparently.
• Conditioning Research embeds a video of a huge jump. My goodness.
• First time poster maverick10 shared a link to the Eccentric Exercise Protocol weblog:

  I developed tendinitis in mid-2004 after doing a lot of bicycling over a period of two weeks. The inflammation went away after some time, but I continued to have pain that lasted for several years. After trying everything from accupuncture, physical therapy, massage, chiropractors, pain drugs, lidoderm patches, ointments, etc... the only thing that significantly reduced my pain was "eccentric exercises." I learned about such exercises through reading medical journal articles. However, I had to develop a protocol that worked for me through trial-and-error.

  Ties in perfectly with what I know about fixing achilles tendonitis.

I have nothing to add to what Jason Kottke says in this post. I can't stop watching it either. Not sure what that says about me. Read, watch, enjoy (?).

I have once again fallen behind. Here's what I've been meaning to post:

• Dick Hartzell Jump Stretch bands tutorials. Great stuff, knew there was a DVD, had no idea these were online.
• Also, good article on bands.
• Great jump rope routine. « via RT forums »
• Mark's Daily Apple: Simple, But Not Easy.
• The Science of Sport: Muscle Cramps Part I. Very interesting, I'll definitely be back for the rest of the series. « via SttB »
• These Crossfit WOD posts have links to Rob Miller's muscle-up tutorial videos: part 1, part 2, and part 3. Very helpful. I'd like to acquire the muscle-up and the pistol this winter.

I've said it before, I'll say it again... It doesn't matter if you care about video games, you still need to catch Ben "Yahtzee" Croshaw's game reviews. I can't possibly do them justice. They're videos, but more like PowerPoint presentations. I could easily picture him (if I knew what he looked like) doing one of these live with PowerPoint playing on an LCD projector. His commentary is fast, non-stop, and hysterical. The guy could call an auction, do stand-up, or both. His latest two are great, Medal of Honor Airborne and Zelda Phantom Hourglass. You'll want to watch them all.

Michael Conley warming up doing two-ball dribbling drills. Better with sound. « via kottke »

I don't play or even much care about either of the games reviewed, and yet I must recommend the reviews of Yahtzee Croshaw. That should give you some idea of how much fun they are. Here's his BioShock review and his Psychonauts review.

Nice shadow puppet interpretation of Louis Armstrong's It's a Wonderful World.

UltiVillage has a clip of Andrew Lugsdin making an impressive second effort after tipping the disc. Two things struck me:

1. He never slows, recognizing instantly (and crucially) that he still has a play.
2. I used to match up with that guy at Ow My Knee and No Borders back in the early nineties (he was better than me by some margin then, even before our career arcs diverged). All these years later, and he's still a total stud. Inspiring.

Wow, check out the Sean Sherk "Caveman Training" video. Five rounds of five minutes each. Looks great. Looks like hell. « via CF forums »

After watching Americans are NOT stupid (very funny, but all you have to do is read a few of the comments to be reminded that idiocy knows no geographic boundaries), it was refreshing to be reminded that there are also very, very smart people in the world: Blaise Aguera y Arcas shows off Photosynth. Wow.

The subject says it all: Jump Rope Training - Part II by Ross Enamait. I don't know if I could turn the rope that fast even if I didn't have to worry about also jumping over it.

Two more excellent Angela Hart videos linked to from Crossfit WODs: Common Rowing Flaws and Rowing Technique Refinements. Putting your weight into it is a particularly valuable tip, I think.

For your viewing pleasure: 20 Nike commercials, plus one.

The folks at UltiVillage have put together a 2006 World Ultimate Club Championship trailer, which features a ton of excellent highlights (it took place in Australia, if you're wondering about that intro).

Last time I linked up some unicycling videos I had no idea who Kris Holm was. Now I do. Gave me vertigo in spots. Quite a combination of fabulous control and complete insanity.

Straight to the Bar linked up a good David Lang Parkour training video. That led me to check out Mr. Lang's YouTube favorites page, which is a gold mine of good videos. I could waste far too much time poking around those. I did catch this best of David Belle compilation, which includes some great stuff I hadn't seen before. The monkeybar work around 2:30 is terrific. I also checked out zesyo's training videos, which are also very good (particularly the first one).

Crossfit hosts two interesting rowing videos featuring Angela Hart: Tabata Wattage Rowing and Row Stroke Rating. The wattage video seemed like more of a warmup than a workout, but the stroke rating video was very illuminating. It perfectly illustrates how the problems with my times (and maybe yours) might be aided by reducing my stroke rate.

Another excellent Crossfit video linked to from the WOD: the air squat. I really must resume my hamstring stretching program.

The New Yorker is running a piece on Parkour titled No Obstacles. I only skimmed the first page, as I'll read it full when my print edition arrives, but this paragraph leapt out at me:

The video of Belle that traceurs seem to find most compelling, judging from how often they mention it, is one in which he crashes into a cement wall. I have found it on YouTube, using "David Belle fall" as the search term. Belle is attempting to leap over a double-wide ramp that leads to an underground parking garage. The ramp is enclosed by cinder-block walls, about three feet high. Belle arrives at a run from the left. He lowers his hands but they appear to miss the first wall entirely; he seems to be looking at where he means to land. Incredibly, while aloft, he turns, so that his shoulder, not his head, strikes the opposite wall. Ten feet beneath him, at the bottom of the ramp, a cameraman is lying on his back in order to shoot from below. Belle manages not to land on him. His first gesture is to see if the cameraman is all right. Then he begins walking briskly up the ramp. Toward the top, he turns and can be seen to be grinning.

I hadn't seen that video, so did a quick search and found it easily. Then I went back and watched this popular video of Belle. It's much harder to watch without cringing now, as you really appreciate how death-defying the building-to-building leaps are. A similar slip—a slip I now know he has in him—at those heights... Shudder.

Anyway, happier thoughts: I really like this commerical and this one.

One of the most interesting things I've read in weeks: if Joshua Bell played a DC metro during morning rush hour, would anyone notice?

What can you do against a guy who makes shots like this? Not much, I guess. Roger Federer is the athlete I'd most like to see live, and I have no particular love for tennis over any other sport. (via kk)

Update: I just got an e-mail with a link to a Federer between-the-legs winner.

Two videos:

• Badminton is fantastic, especially when you play like this. This spring I'll have to share my badminton setup with you.
• Check out the prodigious effort in the wallball video attached to this Crossfit WOD. I do believe I'd throw up a lung.

Even if you don't do the WOD, it's worth keeping an eye on the Crossfit home page. Lately they've been posting tons of good videos. Here's a few of the more recent ones (after you click through you can pick WMV or MOV formats): Deadlifts, Towel Pull-ups, and Thrusters.

Check out the amazing performance this guy turns in on what has to be a ridiculously challenging obstacle course. It looks like the video is spliced to get under the YouTube 10 minute limit, so I don't know what his total elapsed time was, but damn, the challenges keep getting harder. The video's nine minutes long, but it's worth sticking it out to the end. What a display of pulling strength and endurance.

Does it get any better than Japanese game shows? « via RT forums »

UPDATE: Wikipedia says the guy is Makoto Nagano and the show is "Ninja Warrior", and that only he and another guy (Kazuhiko Akiyama) have ever successfully completed all four stages.

I believe I've linked to one of acrobat Dominic Lacasse's videos in the past, but his home page has a whole slew of them (scroll down to "MES VIDEOS SUR METACAFE.COM"). Awesome. « via Crossfit »

Ross Enamait's latest article and video, Budget Training, is up. Every time I turn around that guy gets stronger. The weights I use for strength, he uses for conditioning. How depressing. And inspiring.

Cat vs. Octopus, let the games begin!

Two more quick videos before I hit the sack: among all the impressive campusing videos on MoonClimbing (a few pages in), I was probably most taken with Doubles. Also, I have a sneaking suspicion I've posted this already, but even if so this acrobat training video is worth a rewatch.

Straight to the Bar always runs good stuff, tip o' the hat to them for these two videos. First, insane balancing and body control demonstrated by Rodney Mullin's skateboarding. Second, the Secret Service Snatch Test (SSST) involves snatching a 53 lb. kettlebell as many times as you can in 10 minutes (does the Secret Service really do that?). Anyway, Dustin Silveri scores 195 repetitions. The guy moved over 10,000 pounds from his knees to over his head in 10 minutes. I'll have to give that one a try (with a DB) one of these days. I bet it's a helluva workout.

Cameraphone video of UCLA student visiting library getting tasered for not showing ID and refusing to leave. Holy crap. What I don't understand (among many things) is if the guy went limp, as reported, why didn't they just drag him out? They certainly had enough guys there to take the path of least resistance.

My Inbox has been very fun over the last 24 hours. It all started with a recommendation from a coworker of this Weird Al video ("not for the crappy song but for the amazing Flash animation"). I had to reply with another Flash video with the word "Creep" in the title: the Radiohead acoustic video that made the rounds awhile ago. Worth a rewatch if you caught it then, and if you've never seen it, click through now. The same coworker then kicked in this sketch by Rowan Atkinson doing the naughtiest roll call ever (NSFW). How he pulled that off with a straight face I'll never know.

Okay, new coworker, new paragraph. His contribution was this unique juggling routine, Conic. YouTube then recommended other routines by the same guy: Orthogonal is fantastic, the Hemisphere preview is enticing, and may lead you to the full award-winning routine. Finally, a little playful bit: Nestled Boxes.

All reminiscent of Michael Moschen's work (certified genius). In particular check out Triangle, Threeball, and Light (yes, he was David Bowie's arms in Labyrinth).

Last, from an entirely separate quarter, a friend passed along this link: Lords of the Logistic. I've seen a few things like that in person, and it stopped me in my tracks every time.

Via the RT forum comes an impressive resource, Performance Workouts:

Enjoy what promises to be one of the most extensive and thorough exercise databases available. These guides assure that you get the most from each and every workout. Choose from still images with detailed descriptions, or see the exercise in action with video clips available in two different formats (Windows Media Player or QuickTime).

Nice!

Just a couple videos for you: first up, a teammate sent me this pole vault compilation. What a great event. I love the slow motion footage of the moment when you push and arc over the bar and release the pole. Balletic. Second, via the RT forum, comes this "USOEC Intense Greco Roman Training Highlight Video". Explosive power on display.

I promise not to flood the weblog with these, but ultivillage recently posted another fun clip, this one featuring a huge game-winning catch by Jeff Graham to lock down the #2 NE spot to Nationals. That boy can climb the ladder.

Scott over at Straight to the Bar has been posting excellent stuff. The latest thing to catch my eye was his linkage to a great kettlebell certification video. The impressive stuff starts around 2:45 and keeps getting more impressive as it goes. The heavy double-arm Turkish Get-up is quite a feat. The explosive pistols at 4:00 are ridiculous. And the kettlebell bear walk at the end looks like fun. Painful fun, but fun.

Good clip on ultivillage.com today of an impressive play. The receiver (Fortunat Mueller) simultaneously makes the catch and gets creamed, and then recovers almost instantly to throw a deep scoring pass. Incredible field sense.

You really have to watch Colbert dismantle Congressman Lynn "Bag of Hammers" Westmoreland.

Ross Enamait just posted a good article and video on sledgehammer training. I'd do that in my garage this winter, but it would just be a matter of time before I knocked the garage door opener off the ceiling.

Three things to start off your Monday:

• Insane. Dan Osman Extreme Climbing. The man goes 400+ feet straight up in under 4.5 minutes. Ridiculously fit and strong, not to mention crazy.« via kottke »
• Although I'm not a kettlebell guy I really like the Clean & Press ladder circuit presented in The Minute of Strength, Issue #16. And I really like the look of the "Figure 8 to a Hold" movement, and the Super Plank (both in the latter half of the video).
• Finally, here's the skinny on vibration platforms. Still seems like an expensive gimmick of dubious benefit to me. There is no substitute for hard work.

Update: Oh. Damn. Turns out Dan Osman died doing something different (but similarly risky) in 1999.

• Revisited my Pulling, Climbing, Twisting workout for the first time since March. I like it.
• Remember those two days of Scott Sonnon videos I linked to? Well, he has days 3 through 6 up now (scroll down "Video Performance Clips"). Good stuff! His creative use of the rings continue to provide the highlights.
• Two on YouTube: Beyond Burpees « via RT » and a 720-degree (!) Dunk.

I found Day 1 and Day 2 of the "Day in the Life of Sonnon" videos via this RossTraining thread. They won't have you (nor me) rushing out to buy clubbells, but I really like the exercise progressions he demonstrates on the rings (one in each video). Very creative. I'd like to see Day 3.

A couple Friday diversions: past and present YouTube highlight reels: Larry Bird and Dwyane Wade.

Ross Enamait has a new article and video up titled Hardcore Training: An Experiment In Mass-building and Athletic Performance. Interesting and impressive, as always, even if I'm not personally looking for mass gain at this time. I gotta say though, for all the amazing feats of strength on display, the thing that impressed me the most was the rope skipping. I wouldn't have imagined it possible to do those arm-crosses that fast.

Oh, if you're looking for workout gear, the image at the end of the video is from a new T-shirt he's selling . Any money sent to Ross is money well-spent.

Via the RossTraining boards, an impressive video. Alrighty, off to bed for me...

There's no info about the creator, but Ze is hosting a video titled "Animator" that is definitely worth checking out.

The Show, 6/29/06:

A wedge strategy is where you focus on a highly charged issue at the borders of rationality and emotion.

The emotional content of the issue can create a moral conviction that the issue needs to be resolved at any cost.

Tactics that would otherwise be called into question can then be employed to resolve the issue.

This sets precedent for the future use of those tactics in other arenas.

You'll have to watch it for yourself to get the context (not to mention the funny parts of the show).

First off, I love The Show by Ze Frank. I've watched 'em all, and they range from good to brilliant, with the curve skewed towards the latter end of the scale. Still trying to pin down the over/under on when Jon Stewart hires the guy. Anyway, on Friday he did an episode where he (drunkenly?) took reader Joseph to task in hysterical fashion (loses a ton in print, unfortunately). He then thought better of it and pulled that episode (leaving comments in place). Coincidentally, a couple days later (Sunday) a NY Times piece on Ze appeared. And then he got slashdotted.

So yesterday's show (Monday) features Ze "bleeping" profanity for the first time ("hard chargers...it's censored so that bonesaw could watch" - watch and understand), there's a still ad at the end of the video, and he says he'll put back the Friday episode featuring his bare ass if 50 folks post pictures of their own bare asses, with the words "sports racer" written on them (19 photos so far, but most are ignoring the key "you have to show your face too" rule, so I can't imagine they'll be counted).

Predictably (unfortunately) there was much wailing from the comment gallery. Accusations of selling out, cowardice, etc. I would leap to Ze's defense, but I don't have to. A reader going by Scarybug already said it best:

Ze, how dare you include a still, unobtrusive advertisement at the end of every show that you let me watch for free. As a person you've never met, you owe me the kind of entertainment that I've decided is your style. I'm now going to speculate on your personal motives based on a few links I've seen, and then call my fellow commentors whose opinions differ from my own a name that you sometimes use as a joke to deride authority figures. Furthermore, I fully intend to miss any intentional irony in your self-censorship, instead, I have decided that you are letting the promise of financial success change what I have decided was your previous personal ethos.

Amen. And since you won't be seeing me in the "your bare asses" gallery, I'm certainly in no position to beg for the Friday episode back, even if the loss of even a single episode is painful.

Keep 'em coming, Ze!

P.S. Could he have planned this whole thing? Setting up reader outrage at the episode's removal so he could throw down the gauntlet (or underpants, as the case may be)? Either way—premeditated or reflexive—very clever.

P.P.S. If you read this far here's a bonus: the best one-two episode punch to date: 5/30/06 and 5/31/06.

First up, Jon Stewart debates gay marriage with William Bennett:

Bennett: It's a debate about whether you think marriage is between a man and woman.

Stewart: I disagree. It's a debate about whether you think gay people are part of the human condition or just a random fetish.

Second, but not last, EepyBird answers the age-old question, "What happens when you combine 200 liters of Diet Coke and over 500 Mentos mints?"

Richard Feynman, The Pleasure of Finding Things Out, Google Video, 50 minutes. Wonderful. « via kottke.org »

4/25/06 edition of The Show with zefrank (my hero). How I missed The Show until now, I have no idea.

It's a large file, but oh-so-worth it: Kris Kremo juggling (AVI, 75MB).

Ross Enamait discusses and demonstrates triple-clap push-ups. Always informative, always inspirational.

(Video links in the article.)

Among the many things I would like to learn but haven't yet is unicycling. A buddy of mine shared these great videos with me awhile ago, and I was reminded of them when I learned one of my daughter's friends learned how to ride, so thought I'd post them here:

• Universe II trailer (MOV, 6.6 MB)
• Unizabatrailer (MPG, 4.3 MB)
• Into the Thunder Dragon trailer (MOV, 14 MB)

Always on the lookout for new ways to hurt myself.

A late morning diversion for you: a variety of impressive Capoeira moves. Proof that you can never tell what a guy can do just by looking at him.

Scott Sonnen's floating lever progression is great, with videos of some exercises I'd love to start incorporating, the elbow-lever push-ups, if nothing else. Looks like great core work.

Oh man, I want some eyeglasses made of this stuff. For some reason the video only worked for me when I saved it locally first (it stopped after 1 second when viewed in the browser).

Ross Enamait just posted the 13th edition of The Warrior Wire. Summary:

• Link to his new training video. Did I mention the grip-switching pull-ups last time I linked to it?
• Equipment notes on homemade rollout wheels, exercise mats (I've used that Home Depot anti-fatigue mat, it's good stuff), and rope suppliers.
• The "No Excuses" workout (looks like 10 minutes of hell).
• A pointer to the book of the same title by Kyle Maynard, illustrating that there really are no excuses (along those lines I'd also recommend the documentary Murderball).

Enjoy!

Given my high opinion of his other books, it should come as no surprise that I was thrilled to note Ross Enamait has a new book coming out in the next couple months! From his forums:

As for products, I've got a new book that I've been working on since the summer. I'm still testing the workout program(s).

The book is called NEVER GYMLESS. It's a bodyweight based program (with some additional tools mixed in such as resistance bands). Basically, a way to train at home without free weights. I'll post more details soon.

I'm also hoping to make a DVD later in 2006.

Sign me up for both, without a doubt.

He also has a new video clip up, The Home Gym (WMV ~6.1MB). I love these videos of his for illustrating so plainly the gap between what I can currently do, and what is possible. Some examples...

After 12 weeks I'm finishing the 10-week Infinite Intensity sample program this week (I repeated two weeks I wasn't happy with), and having just done the "Fast & Furious" workout today (which includes plyo pushups) I know exactly how impressive those clapping push-ups are. It's all I can do to clap in front of my face, and I feel like I manage that more with hand speed than the explosiveness of my push-up. And the the one-arm rollout? Criminy. I still have around a foot to go, maybe more, before I master the two-arm rollout.

Still, rather than be discouraged by how much more is possible, I'm inspired by it. I'm also very happy with the results of my first 10 12 weeks. I've increased by at least a third the amount of weight I can put over my head in various ways (single dumbbell snatches, push presses, push jerks, etc.), I've added probably a foot to my standing wheel rollout, and a good 15% to the ROM on my flag. Various nagging knee woes seem to be improving with all the squatting rather than worsening, although that varies by the day, and it did take some tweaking to find the right form for me. I'm even making progress on the one-legged squat, as I've lowered the blocks I sit-to/get-up-from as I build up the movement. When I do Tabata burpees, I can hit my max for 20 seconds for more than the first set, and by the last set my form and rhythm haven't completely gone to pot (even if I'm well off my max by then).

And, happily, the ankle sprain that only let me enjoy two-thirds of my first Nationals is finally starting to feel healed! Not completely, there's still the slightest bit of swelling, but the post-workout tendonitisy feelings are almost gone, and running/playing feels like it's on the horizon. Oh, how I long for spring...

Very impressive video (WMV, 12MB). If nothing else, after watching the first couple exercises you'll think, "geez, there's the last guy in the world I'd want to poke me in the eye."

Super-cooled floating magnet. Make sure you watch to the end. « via Whoba! »

Ferrofluid is a liquid that does really amazing stuff when you get a magnet close to it. Make sure you watch past the halfway point of the second video, as that's where the really good stuff is.

This insane David Belle/Parkour video (WMV 4.7MB, hosted by this fellow) crossed my aggregator this morning. You have to get a bit into it for the death-defying stuff. A quick Googling of "Parkour" turns up a ton, including parkour.com, Le Parkour, and Urban Freeflow. All provide links to a pile of videos. Post if you find any that are particularly cool. I like the Nike "Angry Chicken" commercial (WMV 1.2MB, found here).

This is a bit outside my area of expertise, but holy cow, look at this guy handle his bike! (WMV, 488KB)

Isn't this handy? Following this discussion on squat mechanics, Crossfit posts a video laying it all out. A must-watch, and contains yet another reference to the importance of hip action in elite athleticism. It is striking how often that theme is repeated in my reading and surfing.

My only complaint about the video is that it ends too soon.

Okay, how do I get this strong and flexible (Windows Media ~3MB)? Unbelievable, particularly some of the stuff towards the end.

Update: if the link above doesn't work for you, try here.

Ross Enamait recent posted a new video of workout clips titled Low-Tech, High-Effect. Good gravy. The rope skipping clip is mind-boggling, and I'm green with envy at his power-overs. Ross is one of my fitness heros, even if I only have one of his books so far (The Underground Guide to Warrior Fitness). I'd buy more, but the one I have already contains a lifetime-worth of material. Still, I plan on picking up his new book, Infinite Intensity when it ships, as we all need pie-in-the-sky goals, and certain stuff like one-arm chins and the like are way out on my distant horizon. Can't wait!