EXTREEEM LADDER ACTION

July 29, 2010 8:22 AM

This is a single-link YouTube post pointing to a TV commercial for a sports drink. The commercial is one minute of people doing parkour stunts with stubby ladders hanging off the sides of apartment high-rises and car parks somewhere in New Zealand. It may induce vertigo in some viewers.

The making of.

posted by ardgedee (62 comments total)

Some pastimes require more reliable equipment than others.
posted by Joe Beese at 8:29 AM on July 29, 2010

Holy shit.
posted by FAMOUS MONSTER at 8:30 AM on July 29, 2010

Why are sports drinks always such hideous, unappetizing colors?

Me watching video: Cool! Really Cool! Wow! Why are they drinking pond scum?
posted by leotrotsky at 8:30 AM on July 29, 2010

Good lord, those guys have balls of steel.

Wait, they made those attachment things themselves? I don't think I would ever, under any circumstances, trust something that I made with my life.
posted by Dasein at 8:33 AM on July 29, 2010 [3 favorites]

That's not a knife.

That's a knife.
posted by Threeway Handshake at 8:33 AM on July 29, 2010 [5 favorites]

Pepsi Florescent Green?
posted by octothorpe at 8:33 AM on July 29, 2010 [1 favorite]

So I gather from the making of that they're wearing safety belays that got edited out? I sure hope so.
posted by Devils Rancher at 8:33 AM on July 29, 2010

Oh thank god, they had ropes in real life.

Dear children: These guys knew what they were doing, and they had ropes. You may have a ladder, but you probably don't have a clue or a rope. Stay near the ground for now.
posted by whatnotever at 8:33 AM on July 29, 2010 [1 favorite]

My skateboarding friends always told me that ladders would be the next big thing. I never believed them until today.
posted by Think_Long at 8:34 AM on July 29, 2010 [4 favorites]

Yeah, that's an awful lot of faith to place in a ladder.
posted by smackfu at 8:35 AM on July 29, 2010

If I had this ability I would spend all waking hours running from cops.
posted by spikeleemajortomdickandharryconnickjrmints at 8:35 AM on July 29, 2010 [5 favorites]

For some reason this made me think of this.
posted by mek at 8:36 AM on July 29, 2010

Pompakour is an awesome new sport that's a mash up of parkour and ladders.
As if "ladders" wasn't just fine on its own. People these days simply do not respect the simple purity of ladders.
posted by Wolfdog at 8:36 AM on July 29, 2010 [2 favorites]

Seriously? They digitally edited out all the safety equipment. Really. In an ad obviously targeted at kids who are pretty likely to want to do this stuff.

Maybe I'm a nanny-statist, but that's grotesquely irresponsible and, to my mind, should be illegal everywhere.
posted by gurple at 8:54 AM on July 29, 2010 [10 favorites]

It's awesome because they have so many electrolytes in them.
posted by msbutah at 8:57 AM on July 29, 2010 [2 favorites]

They digitally edited out all the safety equipment. ... Maybe I'm a nanny-statist, but that's grotesquely irresponsible and, to my mind, should be illegal everywhere.

Not to mention that it makes it even less remarkable and FPP-worthy than a viral ad would normally be (which is close to zero).
posted by DU at 8:58 AM on July 29, 2010 [2 favorites]

I bet these guys could clear the hell out my gutters.
posted by gwint at 8:59 AM on July 29, 2010 [10 favorites]

This is not a single-link Youtube post.
posted by hermitosis at 9:00 AM on July 29, 2010 [1 favorite]

Derail: Has anyone else been having issues with Youtube lately? I tried to bump this up to 480p, and I kept getting the message "An error occurred, please try again later." I was getting this a lot all day yesterday, too. I looked on google news buy didn't see any recent articles about it.
posted by crunchland at 9:04 AM on July 29, 2010

I'm glad you posted this before they attempted to advertise it in the UK. Because trespassing is NAUGHTY.

Seriously? They digitally edited out all the safety equipment. Really. In an ad obviously targeted at kids who are pretty likely to want to do this stuff.

Not uncommon, which is why in the UK ads with parkour sequences only get shown after 9pm. Including the Duracell bunny.
posted by mippy at 9:10 AM on July 29, 2010

I get that occasionally, crunchland, and while I can't find the immediate YT FAQ, I think they explain it as they peer the videos across many servers, and the higher res is a different server than the lower res, and when they screw this up you end up pointed at a server that doesn't have a copy of the video.
posted by cavalier at 9:11 AM on July 29, 2010

All that trouble, just to drink a bottle of piss.
posted by jontyjago at 9:12 AM on July 29, 2010 [3 favorites]

I watched the video imagining they're storming a castle in the Middle Ages. Pretty fun.

(PS the use of safety equipment in no way diminishes the fact that this is FUCKING RIDICULOUS AND AWESOME)
posted by naju at 9:16 AM on July 29, 2010

.. you just know when it goes really big... and the camera goes like out of the roof... and you just know it's going to end. I hate that. I would leave just after the next to last song trick... and the film would just go on forever.
posted by filthy light thief at 9:18 AM on July 29, 2010 [1 favorite]

We are always
really carrying
a ladder, but it's
invisible. We
only know
something's
the matter
posted by kid ichorous at 9:24 AM on July 29, 2010

I would like to see a version of parkour using shovels, where they go under stuff really fast.
posted by steef at 9:46 AM on July 29, 2010 [12 favorites]

Shovels? That makes no sense. Parkour is about surpassing, going beyond, not undermining or sneaking under.

Though it would be interesting to see some subterranean parkour with shovels as the grappling tools, as the ladders were in this video.
posted by filthy light thief at 10:06 AM on July 29, 2010

V ia the new Slurm.

(still waiting for Morena Baccarin ad)
posted by Sparx at 10:07 AM on July 29, 2010

> Not to mention that it makes it even less remarkable and FPP-worthy...

So... you're saying that it's only entertaining if people are risking their lives for your amusement?
posted by ardgedee at 10:19 AM on July 29, 2010

Every day a little sadder,
A little madder,
Someone get me a ladder.
posted by shakespeherian at 10:19 AM on July 29, 2010 [1 favorite]

The making of video seemed more impressive and more interesting than the ad. I don't know if it was the way it was lit or the way it was cut or what, but you don't seem them doing anything very interesting at all in the actual ad.
posted by willnot at 10:28 AM on July 29, 2010

So... you're saying that it's only entertaining if people are risking their lives for your amusement?

You got it.
posted by Djinh at 10:32 AM on July 29, 2010 [1 favorite]

Why are sports drinks always such hideous, unappetizing colors?

The colors must be a shade not found in nature and, ideally, flourescent in order to evoke the glow of neon or radioactivity. This seems to have become the universal signifier for chuggable caffienated sugar rush within -- Let's get Crazy! I blame Tron.
posted by y2karl at 10:37 AM on July 29, 2010 [1 favorite]

Why are sports drinks always such hideous, unappetizing colors?

To stand out from soda.
posted by smackfu at 10:44 AM on July 29, 2010

I watched this with no sound: if I'm reading the advert correctly, the product's target market is hyperactive window cleaners who can't get enough of the taste of their own piss.
posted by MuffinMan at 10:58 AM on July 29, 2010 [3 favorites]

IANAD, but if your piss is that color, you should see one.
posted by crunchland at 11:09 AM on July 29, 2010

Derail: Has anyone else been having issues with Youtube lately? I tried to bump this up to 480p, and I kept getting the message "An error occurred, please try again later." I was getting this a lot all day yesterday, too. I looked on google news buy didn't see any recent articles about it.

YES! Good lord, thank you, it's not just me. The site has been fairly unusable all week for me, regardless of browser (FF, Chrome, or IE), computer, or connection.

Searches are "OK," but the odds of a video page playing successfully is about 1 in 10 for me all week.

Surprisingly (or not), embedded videos on other sites seem to work much better, so I gotta figure it's something new on the site. I've disabled each and every single Firefox add-on I have (not that many) individually, and nothing has changed.

On the plus side, I have gotten much better acquainted with other video-streaming services ...

Also, I came in here to find people making fun of parcore and have been seriously disappointed. :(
posted by mrgrimm at 11:14 AM on July 29, 2010

the odds of a video page playing successfully is about 1 in 10 for me all week.

It's a bad week for all streaming video for me - including youtube, the Daily Show's own streaming service, I can't watch the Comic Con trailer for Thor for some reason, and Hulu hasn't put up a new episode of Louie for weeks!
posted by Think_Long at 11:22 AM on July 29, 2010

are you sure they edited it out? The description on the making of implies that that those were practice runs.
posted by empath at 11:25 AM on July 29, 2010

So... you're saying that it's only entertaining if people are risking their lives for your amusement?

The fact that the performers are wearing safety equipment certainly takes away from the impressiveness of the stunt, no? (I have not seen the video yet.)

(On preview: empath is probably right. Nothing they did looked really that dangerous, anyway.)

Would Philippe Petit's performance have been so totally and completely awesome if he were wearing a harness? No, it would not have been. Impressive? Of course. But AWESOME? No.

OK, I finally got the video to load. Hm. Not really for me. A bunch of people climbing things with ladders. I don't get it. Sorry. With all those edits/cuts, they could have been ANYWHERE.

Also, it doesn't seem to be a sport to me. Activity, hobby, sure. Sport implies some competition. How is one judged in pompakadour? I guess it's like rock climbing?

It seems much more like "interpretative dance" or "jogging" than "sport" to me. I'd just as soon watch backyard wrestling.
posted by mrgrimm at 11:27 AM on July 29, 2010

I want to see the Jackie Chan-style stunt blooper reel.
posted by MegoSteve at 11:38 AM on July 29, 2010 [1 favorite]

I bet these guys could clear the hell out my gutters.

Yeah. I'd be willing to bet that that disgusting green stuff will dissolve plant matter.
posted by schmod at 11:50 AM on July 29, 2010

Commercials suck.
posted by Liquidwolf at 11:51 AM on July 29, 2010

I so fucking hated that.

I think that men should stop wasting time with parkour and skateboarding after the age of 15. It irritates me enough to see teenagers loitering around the local parking lot trying to perfect a bunch of pointless tricks but really despise the twenty-something losers (and they're the ones who leave all their fucking cans and bottles lying around).

Also, no able-bodied person over age 12 should be riding ANY KIND of wheeled vehicle on the sidewalk.
posted by bonobothegreat at 12:05 PM on July 29, 2010

I thought Bonobos were supposed to be really mellow sex monkeys....
posted by Scoo at 12:08 PM on July 29, 2010

Kids these days!!!! (shakes fist at sky)
posted by smackfu at 12:15 PM on July 29, 2010

Fists these days!!!! (shakes kids at sky)

I didn't imagine for an instant that the ad was showing the unvarnished truth, but I think that's because I've been conditioned to expect that shaky handycam footage is done in order to hide digital manipulation. The making of video was a lot more interesting.
posted by barnacles at 2:45 PM on July 29, 2010

Jackie Chan. This scene is why I love him.
posted by Xoebe at 3:36 PM on July 29, 2010 [1 favorite]

Also, no able-bodied person over age 12 should be riding ANY KIND of wheeled vehicle on the sidewalk.

It is perfectly legal to ride a bike on the sidewalk in Seattle, and Portland, too, if my sources are correct. It is eminently sensible from a bicyclist's point of view. That way, if someone in a car is going to hit you, they are going to have to come up over the curb to get to you. And, too, no one is going to open a car door in your path without looking, so you avoid that as well.
posted by y2karl at 4:02 PM on July 29, 2010

I have no doubt that riding on the sidewalk is sensible from the cyclist's point of view. I just don't think it's safe from a pedestrian's point of view (particularly the elderly, where a fall >broken hip >hospital >slow recovery or slow death). Sidewalk are for pedestrians, little kid's bikes and those scooters for the handicapped.

Sorry to go so far off topic with my comment. I had tons of coffee this morning and I get really irritated when I see adults doing kid stuff with 'tude.
posted by bonobothegreat at 5:24 PM on July 29, 2010

I think that men should stop wasting time with parkour and skateboarding after the age of 15.

So, Tony Hawk is out, then? I'm not allowed to skateboard the concrete parks I fought for when I was a kid? I'm not allowed to go surfing?

How about bike touring? Is the Tour de France kid stuff, then? How about marathons? How about slacklining, tightrope walking, juggling, or frisbee? Rock climbing? Mountain climbing?

Tell me how you feel about American football, soccer, basketball or any team sport? Tennis? Golf?

Further - not all skateboarders (or parkourists) are men. Many are women - and many more would be women if men didn't crowd them out or make them feel like shit for trying to play and be athletic, too. Further further - define "men"? Comon, tell us what a "real man" is?

Did you know that skateboarding has been the number one growth sport for over a decade - and not just for kids, but among adults? I see old fat bastards like me skateboarding my local skatepark whenever I go down there. Bicycling has a similar growth rate - and it's even more useful as transportation and a car replacement.

Because board sports like skateboarding and individual efforts like cycling are actually a lot more challenging and rewarding on an individual, personal level because you have to push yourself in a hundred different athletic directions from agility and grace to stamina and endurance - especially compared to something relatively sedentary like golf. A lot of people don't hit their athletic prime until their late 20s to early 30s - and even then athleticism is 90% mental self challenge, and a lot of people don't really get that part until they're well into adulthood.

Ergo - taking an activity or sport seriously is an inherently adult thing to do.

You want to know what I really think? I think you should shut the fuck up when griping about anything exercise-related someone chooses to do for their physical and mental health and that brings them joy, because there's fuck-all not enough of it. There's enough bullshit preventing people from doing what they need to do to be healthy without naysayers like you dragging them down.

If you want to sit around inert, inactive and half dead that's your choice, but don't force your choice on others with your negativity. Some of us are choosing life and the sheer joy of play.

Also, fuck sugary florescent green "sports drinks". Real athletes drink water and they piss clear.
posted by loquacious at 8:08 PM on July 29, 2010 [5 favorites]

Err, sorry for the 'tude, bonobothegreat, but your opening line of "I think that men should stop wasting time with parkour and skateboarding after the age of 15." is really incendiary - and frankly bullshit. It makes about as much sense as bitching about adults dancing, or laughing, or listening to current music, as though these things were somehow contrary to growing up into a fulfilled, responsible adult.
posted by loquacious at 8:24 PM on July 29, 2010 [1 favorite]

Wait. Is this a viral advert for ladders?
posted by alby at 3:13 AM on July 30, 2010

bonobothegreat's post was exactly something your parents or grandparents would say, so I'm not sure it needed a rebuttal. I'm surprised he didn't complain about their pants being so low. Can't they get a belt?
posted by smackfu at 6:16 AM on July 30, 2010

Sidewalk are for pedestrians, little kid's bikes and those scooters for the handicapped. --- How do you feel about bicyclists on your lawn?
posted by crunchland at 6:52 AM on July 30, 2010

. . . I get really irritated when I see adults doing kid stuff with 'tude.

*tears up bonobo's invite to my Berenstain Bears themed cocktail party*
posted by Think_Long at 7:34 AM on July 30, 2010

Anytime I see parkour it makes me think of this.
posted by Nyarlathotep at 8:29 AM on July 30, 2010

How do you feel about bicyclists on your lawn?

Or fat people -- there or on the sidewalk ?

I know that they make it difficult for me when I am on my bike -- as do panhandling gutterpunks sitting with their legs stretched out, for that matter -- even at the sedate pace at which I pedal when there are pedestrians on the sidewalk. I share the road even when off the road. Even with fat people, children and gutterpunks with attitude.

At least as long as anyone is looking...
posted by y2karl at 10:26 AM on July 30, 2010

"I share the road even when off the road." - That's big of you. Adult cyclists really have no business on the sidewalk unless they're walking a bike.

"dancing, or laughing, or listening to current music" -all other childish interests are totally ok by me as long as the participants can do them without acting insufferably self-important.

...but that's it for me. I'm feeling too much like a troll.
posted by bonobothegreat at 1:48 PM on July 30, 2010

Adult cyclists really have no business on the sidewalk unless they're walking a bike.

This is your opinion, but no matter how dogmatically you assert it, it is neither the word of God nor Man. Thanks for sharing but I happen to disagree. And as it is as legal to ride a bike on a sidewalk as it is to walk one on it in my city, I ride on a sidewalk when the opportunity arises.

And I have never heard of an old lady ever being hit by a bicyclist on a sidewalk.

On the other hand, I have been struck by a car while riding on a bike on a sidewalk. Struck and knocked off my bike onto the street by a driver tearing up a blind alley. I was riding on the same bike, in a crosswalk and had it run over and crushed by a driver making a right turn against a red light. She looked left at the oncoming vehicular traffic and then turned right and crossed the sidewalk with the 'Walk' sign still lit--crossed it without ever looking right. If it had not been for the pedestrians in the crosswalk, she would have tolled over my bike and me. As it was, she crunched the bike.

I just don't think it is safe for a bicyclist to be on a street where cars are driven. So, while a bicyclist or pedestrian can be struck by a car on a sidewalk, one still has reduced the chances of being struck by a car overall. Which is why I stick to the sidewalks.
posted by y2karl at 4:26 PM on July 31, 2010

I have never heard of an old lady ever being hit by a bicyclist on a sidewalk.

I have seen it happen personally.

I just don't think it is safe for a bicyclist to be on a street where cars are driven.

The more bicycles on the street, the safer it is. You're doing a disservice to all of us.

You're almost surely breaking the law as well.
posted by mrgrimm at 10:54 AM on August 2, 2010

As said upthread, it is legal to ride a bicycle in a crosswalk or on the sidewalk in Seattle and all the self-righteousness in the world will not change that fact:

Section 11.44.100 RIGHT-OF-WAY IN CROSSWALK. A person operating a bicycle across a roadway upon and along a crosswalk shall have all the rights and duties applicable to a pedestrian under the same circumstances, but shall yield to pedestrians upon and along a crosswalk. No person operating a bicycle shall suddenly enter a crosswalk into the path of a vehicle which is so close that the driver cannot yield safely.

Section 11.44.120 RIDING ON A SIDEWALK OR PUBLIC PATH. Every person operating a bicycle upon any sidewalk or public path shall operate the same in a careful and prudent manner and a rate of speed no greater than is reasonable and proper under the conditions existing at the point of operation, taking into account the amount and character of pedestrian traffic, grade and width of sidewalk or public path, and condition of surface, and shall obey all traffic control devices. Every person operating a bicycle upon a sidewalk or public path shall yield the right-of-way to any pedestrian thereon, and shall give an audible signal before overtaking and passing any pedestrian.

Regulations for Bicycling and Driving with Bicyclists
posted by y2karl at 11:51 AM on August 2, 2010