Comments on: ripping up the pavement

ripping up the pavement

madamjujujive — Mon, 13 Nov 2006 20:27:32 -0800

Skate Bording Girls. Disclaimers: flash clip, uncanny nudity.

By: WinnipegDragon

WinnipegDragon — Mon, 13 Nov 2006 20:35:26 -0800

Stupid, yet captivating.

By: blaneyphoto

blaneyphoto — Mon, 13 Nov 2006 20:40:02 -0800

Stupid, yet captivating. yes, that about sums it up!

By: George_Spiggott

George_Spiggott — Mon, 13 Nov 2006 20:41:31 -0800

Captive, yet stupefying.

By: Mr_Zero

Mr_Zero — Mon, 13 Nov 2006 20:43:02 -0800

I wanted more.

By: teece

teece — Mon, 13 Nov 2006 20:46:15 -0800

That was really, really boring. I watched the whole thing only to see what was captivating about it. WTF? Lame.

By: Pollomacho

Pollomacho — Mon, 13 Nov 2006 20:51:45 -0800

I think this may fall into the category of Oh-My-God-Japanese!!1! Meaning, that because something is Japanese it must surely be cool when really it's just lame. I was left wanting more as well.

By: j-dub

j-dub — Mon, 13 Nov 2006 20:52:53 -0800

If only they'd do a picture of a mannequin every day. Then it would be art.

By: facetious

facetious — Mon, 13 Nov 2006 21:03:22 -0800

redefines pointless. just enough of a hint of misogyny in it to make it irritating. i think i'm gonna stop interneting now.

By: champthom

champthom — Mon, 13 Nov 2006 21:12:01 -0800

I've lurked here for three years, and now that I can actually say this: This is definately not best of the web.

By: ernie

ernie — Mon, 13 Nov 2006 21:17:28 -0800

Meh. Not as good as skateboarding dog If you've never seen a dog skateboard, and I do mean actually USE a skateboard, not just sit on it, this link is a treat.

By: mediareport

mediareport — Mon, 13 Nov 2006 21:18:20 -0800

Made me laugh, anyway, both times I watched. I think it's the combination of the close-ups on the girls' faces and the birds in the background, being Japanese had nothing to do with it. It's funny and surreal and stupid in just the right proportions. What's wrong with you people who have to gripe if something just doesn't do it for you?

By: owhydididoit

owhydididoit — Mon, 13 Nov 2006 21:22:18 -0800

Wanting more what? I think the clip is fairly complete. Maybe it is misogynistic; then again, actual live women can, in many cases, ride skateboards just fine (or at least better than I can, which is to say, at all). This video highlights the folly of using mannequins to represent women. Then again, maybe I shouldn't take it so seriously. :)

By: econous

econous — Mon, 13 Nov 2006 21:24:34 -0800

~~For those silly few that read the comments before checking out the links. RIP. Your time has gone... so fuck off. Still a twat? Well read this:~~ Manikins on skateboards, rolling leisurely down a hill... I feel cleansed just watching it. SPOILER: [Spoiler: Lucy won. Beth had no chance. The whole fucking thing was fixed up from the start.]

By: stenseng

stenseng — Mon, 13 Nov 2006 21:27:38 -0800

I laughed.

By: snsranch

snsranch — Mon, 13 Nov 2006 21:32:32 -0800

Oh, no no. screw the naysayers. This is the perfect part III for my "Bedtime Stories that don't quite make sense" series. The first was how in Spain, you need a jet-pack to pee. The second was how evil doers can make instant islands. The third, for tommorow night, will be how evil naked-female aliens tried to take over the earth on skate boards-in vain! Awesome! Seriously, this is the best stuff for home-made bed time stories! My kids (and me too) love it. Thanks MJJJ!

By: Quietgal

Quietgal — Mon, 13 Nov 2006 21:33:57 -0800

Made me laugh. You have to admire the graceful poses right before they toppled over and went smash!

By: Effigy2000

Effigy2000 — Mon, 13 Nov 2006 21:37:58 -0800

"What's wrong with you people who have to gripe if something just doesn't do it for you?" posted by mediareport at 3:18 PM AEST on November 14 I used to feel the same way, mediareport, but I came to realise that saying "this is great" or "this sucks" as a comment in the thread works as a good indicator to those who haven't seen it yet as to whether or not they should bother seeing it. In this case, for instance, I haven't seen it yet but probably won't, based on comments in this thread. My time is just too valuable. Call me precious if you will, but between 9 hours of work per day and NWN2, I don't have time to waste on crap links. Though I might add, I always try to be respectful towards the poster of the crap link, since they obviously enjoyed it enough to post it and because it takes all sorts of links to make up Metafilter.

By: mathowie

mathowie — Mon, 13 Nov 2006 21:40:23 -0800

I thought it was oddly captivating and worth my time. For some reason (SPOILER) I laughed a lot when the one mannequin exploded into pieces on the right side wall.

By: The Great Big Mulp

The Great Big Mulp — Mon, 13 Nov 2006 21:45:29 -0800

Well, colour me pretty amused. The concept of mannequins on skateboards doesn't mean all that much to me, but the execution ... captivating!

By: mediareport

mediareport — Mon, 13 Nov 2006 21:49:25 -0800

I don't have time to waste on crap links. You've got to be kidding. You have time to comment about why you don't have time to watch a short it would have taken you less time to watch than it took you to comment about how you don't have time to watch it? *wipes tears of laughter from eyes*

By: Liquidwolf

Liquidwolf — Mon, 13 Nov 2006 21:54:47 -0800

When art and skateboards get together, the art often turns really bad.

By: hydrophonic

hydrophonic — Mon, 13 Nov 2006 21:59:02 -0800

Effigy2000, the clip is like, one minute long. Go on, watch it. I dare ya. Anyway, I liked it. It's the opposite of misogynistic. Unless you think mannequins are accurate representations of women, and that women shouldn't skate. Then it'd be unchivalrous.

By: econous

econous — Mon, 13 Nov 2006 22:02:23 -0800

You have to admire the graceful poses !of flipping manikins! right before they... what? What do these flipping graceful manikins you admire do? Fall down... is that it... these plastic models fall down? And you admire it? You find it graceful! Blooming heck.

By: afx114

afx114 — Mon, 13 Nov 2006 22:10:34 -0800

REAL nekkid skater chicks. (NSFW, duh). Waaayyyy more captivating.

By: SinisterPurpose

SinisterPurpose — Mon, 13 Nov 2006 22:36:24 -0800

Tiffany's ride was the sickest.

By: crunchland

crunchland — Mon, 13 Nov 2006 22:46:59 -0800

Click the link and close your eyes. Sounds a lot like a bowling alley with birds.

By: The Great Big Mulp

The Great Big Mulp — Mon, 13 Nov 2006 22:53:01 -0800

Fall down... is that it... these plastic models fall down? But ... some of them also fall apart!

By: washburn

washburn — Mon, 13 Nov 2006 22:57:32 -0800

This Was Perfect.

By: small_ruminant

small_ruminant — Mon, 13 Nov 2006 23:02:06 -0800

I agree with SinisterPurpose- Lucy might have won, but Tiffany had the style. The background animal commentary really added to the ambiance.

By: Ironmouth

Ironmouth — Mon, 13 Nov 2006 23:14:18 -0800

Interesting how several mannikins wiped out in exactly the same spot. I was interested in the distribution of the wipeouts .

By: gottabefunky

gottabefunky — Mon, 13 Nov 2006 23:20:22 -0800

It's weird how some of them almost look like they really are skating...leaning into the curves...hmmm....

By: cgc373

cgc373 — Mon, 13 Nov 2006 23:37:25 -0800

Fun. Probably never watch it again, but might recommend others watch. I vote yes, and thanks, madamjujujive.

By: benign

benign — Mon, 13 Nov 2006 23:49:22 -0800

I like this type of absurdity. No knowledge or context is required to appreciate how weird it is, and the weirdness is good.

By: Rhomboid

Rhomboid — Tue, 14 Nov 2006 00:06:36 -0800

youtube version

By: dreamsign

dreamsign — Tue, 14 Nov 2006 00:13:04 -0800

Yep. All in the execution. Pace it a bit slower and add some John Cleese and suddenly it's Monty Python. (of course speed it up and add some different music and suddenly it's Benny Hill) Ideally set to "I fall to pieces"

By: tehloki

tehloki — Tue, 14 Nov 2006 00:33:31 -0800

I did something else while I waited for this to buffer, then went back to it seconds before the 3rd girl casually fell over and broke in half. Needless to say, not knowing they were mannequins caused me some alarm.

By: fire&wings

fire&wings — Tue, 14 Nov 2006 00:58:39 -0800

I liked Naomi.

By: Effigy2000

Effigy2000 — Tue, 14 Nov 2006 01:23:10 -0800

"Effigy2000, the clip is like, one minute long. Go on, watch it. I dare ya." posted by hydrophonic at 3:59 PM AEST on November 14 The dare was accepted! And I agree with those in-thread who claimed it sucked. Well, OK, it didn't suck per-se... it was just kind of boring and pointless to me. I stand by my argument that saying something is good or bad in-thread (whilst being sure to focus my comments on the issues, topics, and facts at hand; not at other members of the site) is AOK.

By: sharpener

sharpener — Tue, 14 Nov 2006 01:31:54 -0800

My time is just too valuable. Dude, if yer spending ANY time on MeFi and actually deliberating over whether or not you should follow a particular link, yer time ain't that valuable. Sorry.

By: sharpener

sharpener — Tue, 14 Nov 2006 01:33:05 -0800

Oh, and I'm with the crowd that says [This Is Good], in case you couldn't tell. Although it took me some time to decide whether ot not viewing the video would enlighten or debase me.

By: sharpener

sharpener — Tue, 14 Nov 2006 01:34:22 -0800

And just to get all delmoi on yer ass I'm gonna make sure you understand that that was .

By: sharpener

sharpener — Tue, 14 Nov 2006 01:35:13 -0800

Shit, and me an HTML guy too...the above was all carefully crafted, but poorly executed </sarcasm>.

By: tehloki

tehloki — Tue, 14 Nov 2006 02:09:54 -0800

I'm going to go all delmoi on your ass and say that 4 comments in a row is a bit much.

By: wsg

wsg — Tue, 14 Nov 2006 02:19:54 -0800

It's not mysoginistic. Somebody with a camera got a hold of some mannequins and stuck them on skate boards while filming; that's all. And, yes, it is funny.

By: srboisvert

srboisvert — Tue, 14 Nov 2006 02:52:36 -0800

The link was good. The thread kinda sucks.

By: progosk

progosk — Tue, 14 Nov 2006 02:58:59 -0800

thread: lame. link: perfect - the details, the surreal, the pokerface.

By: louie

louie — Tue, 14 Nov 2006 03:53:22 -0800

This thread only uses 'surreal' twice so far, and frankly, given the clip, it needs to be used more. So: surreal SURREAL surreal. I think now you have everything you need to know to decide whether or not to watch the clip.

By: squasha

squasha — Tue, 14 Nov 2006 04:21:06 -0800

er...putting aside any deeper discussion about the potentially mysogynistic or time-wasting nature of the video...how disturbing is it that upon viewing said video I fired off mails to three different friends, just to check if one of them had created it? (seriously, there are that many people in my life obsessed with mannequins. this is a rural area of central Japan and they are used everywhere as scarecrows. also, I spend many a weekend wandering identical roads.) I did find Tiffany's long, smooth ride vaguely mesmerizing.

By: emelenjr

emelenjr — Tue, 14 Nov 2006 04:43:35 -0800

If only real skateboarders would break into several pieces.

By: bru

bru — Tue, 14 Nov 2006 04:44:27 -0800

Excellent. I want to see that kind of short playful absurd nothings every morning with my second cup of coffee. Starts my day on the other foot. Thanks madamjjj.

By: daveg

daveg — Tue, 14 Nov 2006 05:35:48 -0800

Tiffany rocks!!!!! It'd be good to see this playing on the big video screens in a department store.

By: languagehat

languagehat — Tue, 14 Nov 2006 05:50:02 -0800

I enjoyed it. Thanks, mjjj. And jesus, Effigy2000, you really need to get out and look at a tree or something.

By: matteo

matteo — Tue, 14 Nov 2006 06:10:08 -0800

mjjj for Senate Majority Leader

By: RTQP

RTQP — Tue, 14 Nov 2006 06:10:40 -0800

i enjoyed: a) the sound of rapidly disassembling mannequins, b) the sight of rapidly disassembling mannequins, and c) trying to guess the skateboarding results based on the body measurements.

By: mr_crash_davis

mr_crash_davis — Tue, 14 Nov 2006 06:15:58 -0800

Metafilter: it didn't suck per-se... it was just kind of boring and pointless to me

By: Mister_A

Mister_A — Tue, 14 Nov 2006 06:17:15 -0800

That was funny. The things that got me were the close-ups and the whistle-blasts - the whistle gave it this weird air of officialdom - "Now Tiffany drops in, so to speak - she's got to go big here!" So yea I liked it; suck it haters.

By: Eideteker

Eideteker — Tue, 14 Nov 2006 06:34:31 -0800

Good fucking god, you are all such... well, I won't say it. I will, however, say "Great jumping Jesus!" because I'm in a mood for religiously-themed exclamations. Watch the video again. The whole idea is to highlight how ridiculous and unbalanced these poses are. "This video highlights the folly of using mannequins to represent women." Yeah, I think you're the only person who got that.

By: flapjax at midnite

flapjax at midnite — Tue, 14 Nov 2006 06:43:22 -0800

Heh heh... y'know, all you can say is: sometimes folks think too damn much. Jeez, it's just, you know, a goof, right? It's just sorta funny. For what it is (a few brief moments' diversion) it's good, it's a success. It's mannequins skateboarding! And wiping out! Beats the hell out of another Donald Rumsfeld post...

By: dreamsign

dreamsign — Tue, 14 Nov 2006 06:45:22 -0800

this is a rural area of central Japan and they are used everywhere as scarecrows. also, I spend many a weekend wandering identical roads ?! That sounds awfully familiar... (checks profile) Good god, man. You're in the same TOWN.

By: Kwine

Kwine — Tue, 14 Nov 2006 06:47:05 -0800

The sounds are crucial-the whistle, the birds, the characteristic skateboard scratch, the collapsing plastic body parts. Thanks, mjjj!

By: dreamsign

dreamsign — Tue, 14 Nov 2006 06:47:10 -0800

er, NOT man.

By: wfc123

wfc123 — Tue, 14 Nov 2006 07:07:31 -0800

Made me laugh, anyway, both times I watched... ...funny and surreal and stupid in just the right proportions. What's wrong with you people who have to gripe if something just doesn't do it for you? "Surreal" usage or not, this was the correct opinion.

By: wfc123

wfc123 — Tue, 14 Nov 2006 07:10:16 -0800

You Tube poster successfully kills the humor by using "mannequins" instead of "girls" in the title.

By: TimTypeZed

TimTypeZed — Tue, 14 Nov 2006 07:29:18 -0800

this is a rural area of central Japan and they are used everywhere as scarecrows. Six foot tall plastic bald women with European facial features standing guard over Japanese cornfields (if there are cornfields in Japan) is a far more surreal image than those same plastic women riding skateboards because some Japanese teenagers are goofing for the camera. Someone needs to grab a video camera, take a tour of the countryside and post that travelogue on youtube.

By: flapjax at midnite

flapjax at midnite — Tue, 14 Nov 2006 07:40:36 -0800

Japanese cornfields (if there are cornfields in Japan) Rice paddies, man, rice paddies. The crows here eat rice (and just about anything else they can get their beaks on). I've never seen mannequins in use as scarecrows, though. But then, I don't get out of Tokyo all that often.

By: klangklangston

klangklangston — Tue, 14 Nov 2006 08:25:12 -0800

It was weird, it was entertaining, it was brief. The "wanting more" is a feature, not a bug.

By: aether1

aether1 — Tue, 14 Nov 2006 09:06:49 -0800

"uncanny" ha! good one.

By: dejah420

dejah420 — Tue, 14 Nov 2006 09:07:17 -0800

I admit a bizarre fascination with mannequins...thus, I found this amusing...but in a "Wow, I wonder if I what I could do if I made the skateboard self balancing and added a RC directional system..." Not, mind you, that I'd actually find time to do anything about it...but it did spark the imagination.

By: It's Raining Florence Henderson

It's Raining Florence Henderson — Tue, 14 Nov 2006 09:39:21 -0800

I loved the bit where Kim Cattrall fell apart!!!

By: jacquilynne

jacquilynne — Tue, 14 Nov 2006 09:59:37 -0800

It now seems to link to a very amusing Calvin & Hobbes claymation. No skateboarding manequins to be found.

By: drezdn

drezdn — Tue, 14 Nov 2006 10:06:27 -0800

Man, I thought Tiffany was going to make it.

By: PenguinBukkake

PenguinBukkake — Tue, 14 Nov 2006 10:14:33 -0800

two words: mannequin bukkake

By: algreer

algreer — Tue, 14 Nov 2006 11:48:13 -0800

You can do some intricate things with mannequins. I want a mannequin-skateboard conversion, but i couldn't find one on the internets.

By: sharpener

sharpener — Tue, 14 Nov 2006 14:40:20 -0800

I'm going to go all delmoi on your ass and say that 4 comments in a row is a bit much. posted by tehloki at 2:09 AM PST on November 14 Just for context :-) Is it okay if I make more comments as long as they're not in succession?

By: winks007

winks007 — Tue, 14 Nov 2006 14:41:24 -0800

On the bottom of the page (right side) Top referer: METAFILTER. Well done

By: squasha

squasha — Tue, 14 Nov 2006 15:09:48 -0800

dreamsign, yep...been here for 12 years, now.
TimTypeZed, they have....

By: madamjujujive

madamjujujive — Tue, 14 Nov 2006 20:00:50 -0800

wow, that is eerie and bizarre, squasha - thanks for posting it!

By: owhydididoit

owhydididoit — Tue, 14 Nov 2006 21:53:35 -0800

wow, YouTube is down for "concocting". Ominous?

By: squasha

squasha — Wed, 15 Nov 2006 00:05:16 -0800

I was so tempted to post it up front on Halloween. Gave me nightmares, they did. The artist has been working on an entire series of the mannequin scarecrows for the last year.

By: dreamsign

dreamsign — Wed, 15 Nov 2006 00:29:35 -0800

They're definitely weird. I was quite surprised to stumble on a bunch one afternoon, and subsequently have been glad that I hadn't come across them at or after sunset as that's when I usually pass by the fields.

By: squasha

squasha — Wed, 15 Nov 2006 06:28:43 -0800

There is a second-hand shop in the southern part of town that has an entire floor devoted to items received from defunct textile companies (of which there are many; dying industry, hereabouts.) One dark and rainy afternoon, I found myself on that floor, surrounded by about twenty mannequins and dress-forms. It was heebie-jeebie central. A few days later, I took a friend there to show him the disturbing things and sneak some photos, but every last one had been sold. I assumed they had all gone to the farmer's cooperative, for use as the aforementioned scarecrows...but now I'm thinking Beth and Tiffany may have been in that collection.