Ping Pong Puppetry

July 9, 2003 11:06 AM

Superior Victory Ping Pong (Windows Media) - a splendid fusion of human puppetry, bullet-time, and table tennis.
posted by gravelshoes (32 comments total)

that's awesome.

Due to the low quality of the video, I didn't even notice the black-clad figures until they left the background.
posted by jsonic at 11:24 AM on July 9, 2003

Oh, now that is just way too cool.
posted by lumpley at 11:24 AM on July 9, 2003

The red guy having "69" as the number taped to his back is just an added bonus.
posted by tomorama at 11:27 AM on July 9, 2003

this is good. someone want to find a way to put it in a nice format (say, mpeg) and mirror it? i will love you forever.
posted by fishfucker at 11:31 AM on July 9, 2003

That was really really clever... great video!
posted by Witty at 11:31 AM on July 9, 2003

it is a pity about the quality - there is a much better version out there somewhere (I was emailed a 2.5mb file of it - could email it to you ff) but I don't speak Japanese and this was all I could find. perhaps a Japanese speaker could find it on the shows website (there is more shennanigans if you click the 6th button down on the left on the front page)
posted by gravelshoes at 11:34 AM on July 9, 2003

That was amazing. Thanks for the link.
posted by dazed_one at 11:35 AM on July 9, 2003

Hmm....I'm beginning to think those Japanese are poking fun at the Matrix.
posted by graventy at 11:39 AM on July 9, 2003

[this is good]
posted by badstone at 11:40 AM on July 9, 2003

That's an awesome interpretation of bullet time.
posted by mathowie at 12:03 PM on July 9, 2003

That's sweet. If someone has a compiled copy of MPlayer and a fast connection to the 'net (that is the part I lack), getting a nice DivX version of this should be as easy as:

mencoder -ovc lavc mms://wmt-od.stream.ne.jp/ntv/hkzkt/hkzkt10.wmv -oac mp3lame -o pingpong.avi
posted by thebabelfish at 12:13 PM on July 9, 2003

Amazing.

Are they doing this as part of a game show/contest? The other videos on the site gravelshoes linked to all seem to end with the audience going wild and the performers jumping all around.
posted by jazon at 12:19 PM on July 9, 2003

Almost as impressive is the live action version.
posted by Wet Spot at 12:45 PM on July 9, 2003

looks like some skewed version of the gong show...
posted by oog at 12:48 PM on July 9, 2003

LOVED IT!

Gravel, if you wouldn't mind shipping a copy my way, I would be highly appreciative. An excellent addition to my silly movie collection.
posted by Samizdata at 12:59 PM on July 9, 2003

I'm very bummed; for some reason I can't get to the site (I get a timeout). I'm sure this is just something to do with our corporate net connection, since I'm at work right now, but this is my kind of thing. If anyone finds a mirror (preferably not in the .jp domain, as I suspect that's causing the problem), please post a link here, thanks!
posted by jonson at 1:08 PM on July 9, 2003

Hey Wet Spot....is that jumping on tables legal? Cool.
posted by graventy at 1:16 PM on July 9, 2003

gravelshoes: if you can email me a copy of the large video I can put it on a site with a decent amount of bandwidth.
posted by zsazsa at 1:45 PM on July 9, 2003

I'm somewhat concerned by the fact that when I opened this in both Musicmatch and Windows Media Player, it seemed to trigger the auto update utility for both programs. Coincidence? Anyone else see this?
posted by Caviar at 1:46 PM on July 9, 2003

"Woah... I know pong fu."
posted by Robot Johnny at 1:50 PM on July 9, 2003

I didn't notice the MIB either - very, very cool. Thx!
posted by widdershins at 2:09 PM on July 9, 2003

Every so often something like this comes along and convinces me that the Internet is not shit.

That was outstanding. Thanks gravelshoes.
posted by Galvatron at 2:19 PM on July 9, 2003

Yesssssssss.
posted by Outlawyr at 2:26 PM on July 9, 2003

Damn you, Internet! Just when I think I've gotten over you, you go and do something that makes me fall in love with you all over again.
posted by vraxoin at 2:37 PM on July 9, 2003

Here's a non-.jp, downloadable mirror

Be nice, and thanks to gravelshoes for the file.
posted by zsazsa at 3:01 PM on July 9, 2003

with aviplay:

aviplay -ovc lavc mms://wmt-od.stream.ne.jp/ntv/hkzkt/hkzkt10.wmv -oac

works nicely too. [yes it is, in fact, good]
posted by Fezboy! at 3:01 PM on July 9, 2003

thebabelfish/Fezboy!: Don't those commands decode and re-encode the video? That would introduce additional distortion. Wouldn't it be better to dump the raw stream:

mplayer -dumpstream -dumpfile pingpong.wmv mms://wmt-od.stream.ne.jp/ntv/hkzkt/hkzkt10.wmv
posted by Galvatron at 3:18 PM on July 9, 2003

I remember watching this show growing up in Japan. It used to be a lot more mundane than this -- they've certainly raised it to an art form!

Loved it.

--jeddings
posted by jeddings at 4:03 PM on July 9, 2003

zsazsa - THANKS!! Very cool of you.
posted by jonson at 4:08 PM on July 9, 2003

I love this. We have used koken (the men in black - conventionally invisible stage hands often seen in Kabuki or Bunraku) to do some similar things in the past during live stage shows, but this is the best application of koken f/x that I have ever seen. I am going to steal everything they've done.
posted by Joey Michaels at 5:33 PM on July 9, 2003

Fantastic link - thanks! Also, vraxoin is funny.
posted by UKnowForKids at 8:23 PM on July 9, 2003

Excellent post! Very cool indeed, gravelshoes - thanks!
posted by madamjujujive at 8:57 PM on July 9, 2003