Comments on: Ping Pong Puppetry

Ping Pong Puppetry

gravelshoes — Wed, 09 Jul 2003 11:06:03 -0800

Superior Victory Ping Pong (Windows Media) - a splendid fusion of human puppetry, bullet-time, and table tennis.

By: jsonic

jsonic — Wed, 09 Jul 2003 11:24:00 -0800

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.

By: lumpley

lumpley — Wed, 09 Jul 2003 11:24:42 -0800

Oh, now that is just way too cool.

By: tomorama

tomorama — Wed, 09 Jul 2003 11:27:38 -0800

The red guy having "69" as the number taped to his back is just an added bonus.

By: fishfucker

fishfucker — Wed, 09 Jul 2003 11:31:38 -0800

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.

By: Witty

Witty — Wed, 09 Jul 2003 11:31:50 -0800

That was really really clever... great video!

By: gravelshoes

gravelshoes — Wed, 09 Jul 2003 11:34:52 -0800

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)

By: dazed_one

dazed_one — Wed, 09 Jul 2003 11:35:02 -0800

That was amazing. Thanks for the link.

By: graventy

graventy — Wed, 09 Jul 2003 11:39:56 -0800

Hmm....I'm beginning to think those Japanese are poking fun at the Matrix.

By: badstone

badstone — Wed, 09 Jul 2003 11:40:07 -0800

[this is good]

By: mathowie

mathowie — Wed, 09 Jul 2003 12:03:40 -0800

That's an awesome interpretation of bullet time.

By: thebabelfish

thebabelfish — Wed, 09 Jul 2003 12:13:55 -0800

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

By: jazon

jazon — Wed, 09 Jul 2003 12:19:35 -0800

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.

By: Wet Spot

Wet Spot — Wed, 09 Jul 2003 12:45:24 -0800

Almost as impressive is the live action version.

By: oog

oog — Wed, 09 Jul 2003 12:48:24 -0800

looks like some skewed version of the gong show...

By: Samizdata

Samizdata — Wed, 09 Jul 2003 12:59:26 -0800

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.

By: jonson

jonson — Wed, 09 Jul 2003 13:08:18 -0800

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!

By: graventy

graventy — Wed, 09 Jul 2003 13:16:02 -0800

Hey Wet Spot....is that jumping on tables legal? Cool.

By: zsazsa

zsazsa — Wed, 09 Jul 2003 13:45:13 -0800

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.

By: Caviar

Caviar — Wed, 09 Jul 2003 13:46:20 -0800

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?

By: Robot Johnny

Robot Johnny — Wed, 09 Jul 2003 13:50:15 -0800

"Woah... I know pong fu."

By: widdershins

widdershins — Wed, 09 Jul 2003 14:09:29 -0800

I didn't notice the MIB either - very, very cool. Thx!

By: Galvatron

Galvatron — Wed, 09 Jul 2003 14:19:19 -0800

Every so often something like this comes along and convinces me that the Internet is not shit. That was outstanding. Thanks gravelshoes.

By: Outlawyr

Outlawyr — Wed, 09 Jul 2003 14:26:48 -0800

Yesssssssss.

By: vraxoin

vraxoin — Wed, 09 Jul 2003 14:37:54 -0800

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.

By: zsazsa

zsazsa — Wed, 09 Jul 2003 15:01:27 -0800

Here's a non-.jp, downloadable mirror Be nice, and thanks to gravelshoes for the file.

By: Fezboy!

Fezboy! — Wed, 09 Jul 2003 15:01:42 -0800

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]

By: Galvatron

Galvatron — Wed, 09 Jul 2003 15:18:21 -0800

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

By: jeddings

jeddings — Wed, 09 Jul 2003 16:03:21 -0800

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

By: jonson

jonson — Wed, 09 Jul 2003 16:08:50 -0800

zsazsa - THANKS!! Very cool of you.

By: Joey Michaels

Joey Michaels — Wed, 09 Jul 2003 17:33:16 -0800

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.

By: UKnowForKids

UKnowForKids — Wed, 09 Jul 2003 20:23:45 -0800

Fantastic link - thanks! Also, vraxoin is funny.

By: madamjujujive

madamjujujive — Wed, 09 Jul 2003 20:57:43 -0800

Excellent post! Very cool indeed, gravelshoes - thanks!