Comments on: "Want to play a chord? Try not to die."

"Want to play a chord? Try not to die."

zarq — Fri, 09 Oct 2009 09:46:28 -0800

Piano Stairs! (Not everyone thinks they're a good idea.) Also see "The Deepest Trash Can". Both videos are from Volkswagon Sweden, whose new English-language website, TheFunTheory is still under construction. But here's the Swedish-language version.

By: zarq

zarq — Fri, 09 Oct 2009 09:48:13 -0800

For some reason, now I can't get The Cat Concerto out of my head.

By: Solon and Thanks

Solon and Thanks — Fri, 09 Oct 2009 09:52:01 -0800

Think about it: someone on every stair? It'd be like someone pounding on every key on a piano, again and again. There's a reason they don't have audio for that part. Yeah, I thought about that too. Maybe they could make piano stairs that play a pre-set little tune, like a hand crank music box, and it adds harmony or gets louder as more people walk on it. Or just design a piano that plays chords instead of chromatic scales, so it'll sound nice. I liked the video, especially the little kid whose small feet play two notes for every stair.

By: anazgnos

anazgnos — Fri, 09 Oct 2009 10:01:29 -0800

Eventually, our workaday world will be so filled with wonder and whimsy that we will cherish the mundane.

By: Solomon

Solomon — Fri, 09 Oct 2009 10:06:03 -0800

Someone playing a song on that would be quite impressive.

By: weapons-grade pandemonium

weapons-grade pandemonium — Fri, 09 Oct 2009 10:07:14 -0800

Sonata bad idea. It's Volkswagen.

By: DU

DU — Fri, 09 Oct 2009 10:08:16 -0800

The fun theory definitely works--that's why I take the escalator. It's like I rescue the princess when I leap off the belt before it gets sucked back under.

By: Zambrano

Zambrano — Fri, 09 Oct 2009 10:11:00 -0800

Yet another clever, funny ad that would never see the light of day in the U.S. market.

By: zarq

zarq — Fri, 09 Oct 2009 10:13:29 -0800

It's Volkswagen. Oh hell. Oops.

By: orme

orme — Fri, 09 Oct 2009 10:22:52 -0800

Maybe if my pants made a fun sound when they came off, I'd get laid more.

By: yeti

yeti — Fri, 09 Oct 2009 10:32:40 -0800

orme, like a chorus of laughter?

By: ardgedee

ardgedee — Fri, 09 Oct 2009 10:35:57 -0800

> (Not everyone thinks they're a good idea.) They call themselves CrunchGear, but they are completely unwilling to address the irresponsible wastefulness and hazards of actually crunching gear. Hypocritical bastards.

By: Eideteker

Eideteker — Fri, 09 Oct 2009 10:47:27 -0800

The Museum of Science in Boston has had stairs like this for years, albeit without the decoration. I don't think they've killed anyone yet.

By: uncleozzy

uncleozzy — Fri, 09 Oct 2009 10:59:22 -0800

Yeah, I always make a point of running up and down the piano stairs a few times when I'm at the MoS. Which is not as often as I'd like, anymore.

By: smackfu

smackfu — Fri, 09 Oct 2009 11:04:53 -0800

Did you know they have wooden escalators at the main Macy's in Manhattan? It's only barely relevant to this post but it's still cool.

By: adamms222

adamms222 — Fri, 09 Oct 2009 11:08:05 -0800

Eideteker: The Boston Science Museum has also figured out how to make the staircase climbers defy gravity, as it apparently now runs from left to right, and not up and down.

By: jouke

jouke — Fri, 09 Oct 2009 11:11:10 -0800

And do you know why they removed those from the London underground smackfu?

By: Sys Rq

Sys Rq — Fri, 09 Oct 2009 11:20:29 -0800

Volkswagen: "I Am In Your Sweden Kicking Your Saab"

By: jangie

jangie — Fri, 09 Oct 2009 11:34:43 -0800

Just wanted to chime in: the Science Museum of Minnesota also has musical stairs. Along with a bunch of other cool stuff.

By: dabitch

dabitch — Fri, 09 Oct 2009 11:54:43 -0800

The Fun Theory site is now available in English, and so are the films here Garbage Can, Piano and Recycling. Full disclosure (my site, yeah) & I've been bugging DDB since Monday for the English versions in order to be able to show the non-Swedish ad folks this, but they asked me to wait until the site was in English too (aargh!) and not breathe a peep until then. I have no idea why they didn't just do two versions from the get-go.

By: MysteriousMan

MysteriousMan — Fri, 09 Oct 2009 12:08:17 -0800

The people on the escalator are playing 4'33".

By: zarq

zarq — Fri, 09 Oct 2009 12:13:48 -0800

Full disclosure (my site, yeah) & I've been bugging DDB since Monday for the English versions in order to be able to show the non-Swedish ad folks this, but they asked me to wait until the site was in English too (aargh!) and not breathe a peep until then. Cool! Nice work! :)

By: LordSludge

LordSludge — Fri, 09 Oct 2009 13:23:33 -0800

If I was depressed, I'd walk up a minor scale so everyone would know. But most of the time, I'd like to think I'd walk a blues pentatonic.

By: Eideteker

Eideteker — Fri, 09 Oct 2009 13:26:49 -0800

"The people on the escalator are playing 4'33"." That's a slow fucking escalator.

By: BlackLeotardFront

BlackLeotardFront — Fri, 09 Oct 2009 14:12:39 -0800

Heh heh. I wrote that CrunchGear article. Nice seeing myself on the blue!

By: mendel

mendel — Sat, 10 Oct 2009 10:10:38 -0800

BlackLeotardFront, why do you hate fun?

By: Baby_Balrog

Baby_Balrog — Sat, 10 Oct 2009 12:18:09 -0800

Ha! Imagine them trying this in America. You'd get about three seconds into taping those wires on a public staircase before DHS teleported your ass into an interrogation room.