Comments on: You spin me right round, baby, right round

You spin me right round, baby, right round

psmealey — Wed, 31 Oct 2007 03:13:13 -0800

The Fine Art of Japanese Pen Spinning Crazy Japanese experts show their amazing spinning skills. Here's a handy instructional video so you can get your start. A little digging reveals that web resources on this ancient discipline (known in Japan as "rōnin mawashi") indeed are plentiful

By: toma

toma — Wed, 31 Oct 2007 03:30:04 -0800

Wow, skills. ...and we welcome the day they all become microvascular surgeons (and not, say, CPAs for Hyundai), thereby making the world a better place to live in.

By: notsnot

notsnot — Wed, 31 Oct 2007 03:42:13 -0800

Warning, loud fucking music on that first link.

By: bokane

bokane — Wed, 31 Oct 2007 03:47:02 -0800

Cool post, but is there a reason that "rōnin mawashi" leads to a Chinese Wikipedia link?

By: psmealey

psmealey — Wed, 31 Oct 2007 04:01:58 -0800

Cool post, but is there a reason that "rōnin mawashi" leads to a Chinese Wikipedia link? Was a search result on "rōnin mawashi". No, I cannot tell the difference between written Chinese and Japanese.

By: UbuRoivas

UbuRoivas — Wed, 31 Oct 2007 04:14:40 -0800

oooh! i do this! (copying from hong kong students in high school). need more ideas for techniques! thanks, psmealey!

By: mrmojoflying

mrmojoflying — Wed, 31 Oct 2007 04:33:29 -0800

The 3-4 of the chinese students in my high school were every bit as good as the hands in that first video. 15 years later I still can't mange a simple 360 degree spin.

By: R. Mutt

R. Mutt — Wed, 31 Oct 2007 04:53:44 -0800

Whoa .... chick magnet!

By: asok

asok — Wed, 31 Oct 2007 04:53:50 -0800

Previously, on Metafilter. I think I read that the pen spinning olympics were to be held in London.

By: Mike D

Mike D — Wed, 31 Oct 2007 04:59:28 -0800

"You're not getting a pen for Christmas, kid. You'll poke your eye out!" - Santa Claus in A Christmas Story, the Japan release.

By: psmealey

psmealey — Wed, 31 Oct 2007 05:03:38 -0800

Previously, on Metafilter. Link and tag search turned up nothing... what's a gaijin to do?

By: DU

DU — Wed, 31 Oct 2007 05:04:19 -0800

"instructional video" is just bragging, though it looks like there are ones in the related list.

By: flapjax at midnite

flapjax at midnite — Wed, 31 Oct 2007 05:20:09 -0800

I'm proud to say that my wife is a pretty good pen spinner.

By: tommasz

tommasz — Wed, 31 Oct 2007 05:23:25 -0800

When I was in Japan in the late 90s, one of our hosts used to do this in meetings. I was fascinated with it, but could never duplicate what he did.

By: dreamsign

dreamsign — Wed, 31 Oct 2007 05:39:26 -0800

Heh, so this explains it. I had many students do this.

By: milestogo

milestogo — Wed, 31 Oct 2007 06:03:15 -0800

When I spent a year in a yeshiva in Israel, sitting hunched over the talmud for 10+ hours a day, it was pretty much expected that with that much sitting, and that little to do with one's hands, eveyone would develop some sort of pen flip or pen trick. New, simple tricks were invented, shown off, and then learned by the masses, while the really complex ones stayed awesome.

By: wobumingbai

wobumingbai — Wed, 31 Oct 2007 06:27:14 -0800

Here is the Japanese Wikipedia article.

By: dismas

dismas — Wed, 31 Oct 2007 06:37:53 -0800

yeah, but can they speed?

By: srboisvert

srboisvert — Wed, 31 Oct 2007 06:52:19 -0800

Notice most of the pens are modded to have weighted ends. The reason you can't do this with your bic is that it doesn't weigh enough. That and you kinda suck.

By: Pecinpah

Pecinpah — Wed, 31 Oct 2007 07:13:55 -0800

I spilled ink on myself.

By: bassjump

bassjump — Wed, 31 Oct 2007 07:23:12 -0800

Learning to do a thumb-around pen twirl was one of my greatest high school achievements. Thinking back to how much time and practice it took to get me that far, I wonder how these guys ever find the time to do anything else. Maybe they don't. And that's a valid lifestyle choice.

By: nickyskye

nickyskye — Wed, 31 Oct 2007 07:31:01 -0800

Wonderful! So cool these new agility games. Like hacky sac. Also loved it in the movies when the sexy guy would roll a coin across his knuckles. *oooh thrills* This pen spinning thing has a mesmerising lightness to it. Check out this awesome, American, full body version.

By: nickyskye

nickyskye — Wed, 31 Oct 2007 07:33:04 -0800

*should have said, Canadian, not American.

By: psmealey

psmealey — Wed, 31 Oct 2007 07:40:51 -0800

I spilled ink on myself. The International pen spinning governing body FIST (Federation Internationale des Stylos Tournants) recommends not using fountain pens for this activity.

By: gomichild

gomichild — Wed, 31 Oct 2007 07:44:54 -0800

*crash* hMMmmm doESn;t work so wELL with keydoarbs.....

By: Nelson

Nelson — Wed, 31 Oct 2007 07:54:36 -0800

You know what? Fuck online Internet video and it's 15fps 200kbps crappy horrible quality. That's not pen spinning, that's some vague long blur rotating around some blurry fingers.

By: vito90

vito90 — Wed, 31 Oct 2007 08:28:43 -0800

Good times. I learned only the most rudimentary of spinning skills during one quarter of Economics. Man I dropped the pen alot.

By: jeffamaphone

jeffamaphone — Wed, 31 Oct 2007 08:58:13 -0800

Another thing I suck at.

By: dismas

dismas — Wed, 31 Oct 2007 09:11:09 -0800

hMMmmm doESn;t work so wELL with keydoarbs..... You know what's a fun party trick? Knives. My technique isn't nearly to the level of these guys, but it's a hell of a way to make people nervous in restaurants.

By: salvia

salvia — Wed, 31 Oct 2007 10:48:46 -0800

High school debate camp is another hot-bed of pen spinning advancements.