Blowing | gniwolB
October 20, 2010 3:37 PM   Subscribe

 
First link is borked.
posted by lumensimus at 3:40 PM on October 20, 2010


Second link is pretty great. Makes a good yoooouuutuuube too.
posted by codacorolla at 3:40 PM on October 20, 2010 [1 favorite]


Good link. Beautiful.
posted by nevercalm at 3:42 PM on October 20, 2010


Why do bubbles have to die?
posted by digsrus at 3:46 PM on October 20, 2010 [2 favorites]


I remember having one of these as a kid, and doing the same in the fields outside our house. Granted, they were never that big, and cars occasionally popped them instead of children.
posted by zabuni at 3:53 PM on October 20, 2010


I'm reminded of those things that came out of peoples' chests in Donnie Darko for some reason.
posted by azarbayejani at 3:55 PM on October 20, 2010 [5 favorites]


That's really gorgeous. The slow motion popping is fantastic.
posted by OmieWise at 4:02 PM on October 20, 2010


Wow. Bubble rainbow, all the way.
posted by ShawnStruck at 4:03 PM on October 20, 2010


The simplest kind of magic is always the most amazing, to me. Contrasting these visuals with the ones costing James Cameron millions for The Abyss gets me all a-titter, too.
posted by pedmands at 4:04 PM on October 20, 2010 [2 favorites]


You should know though Burhanistan, that the paths of glory lead but to the grave.
posted by puny human at 4:06 PM on October 20, 2010


Thanks for posting this. Very pretty and the reverse video is especially interesting.
posted by friendlyjuan at 4:09 PM on October 20, 2010


Number Six, you cannot escape The Village! Balloons will get you.
posted by asfuller at 4:23 PM on October 20, 2010 [4 favorites]


Beware of the Blob
posted by Trochanter at 4:23 PM on October 20, 2010


Watching them decloak in the second video is pretty great.
posted by aubilenon at 4:30 PM on October 20, 2010 [1 favorite]


Watching the backwards video reminds me of the special effects used when Romulan ships would turn off their cloaking in Star Trek. I looked for a good video to demonstrate but failed.

Really cool stuff though. I totally plan on bringing a rope, two sticks and some enviromentally safe detergent next time I hit the beach.
posted by cyphill at 4:32 PM on October 20, 2010 [1 favorite]


OK, I'm glad that I wasn't the only nerd to make that connection.
posted by cyphill at 4:33 PM on October 20, 2010


Awesome. Who needs CGI when we've got that guy here in real life?
posted by googly at 4:50 PM on October 20, 2010


Contrasting these visuals with the ones costing James Cameron millions for The Abyss gets me all a-titter, too.

That was the first thing I thought of too. The backwards video was surprisingly interesting, even after having watched forwards first.

Anybody know what he's using for bubble fluid? I suspect straight dish soap isn't going to cut it.
posted by doctor_negative at 5:05 PM on October 20, 2010


Enough speculation about the gene for altruism already! How about the Whimsy Gene Marker? Make mine a double!
posted by kozad at 5:10 PM on October 20, 2010 [1 favorite]


I went straight for the backwards link. I love playing anything in reverse.
posted by not_on_display at 5:19 PM on October 20, 2010


Somewhere in Toronto, a cop is freaking out.
posted by A dead Quaker at 5:25 PM on October 20, 2010 [13 favorites]


I like how in the backwards video, the adults' movements are obviously running in reverse (see the woman in the white hat in the background at 0:29, or the guy in the red sweatshirt in the background at 1:09) but the kids' frisking and frolicking looks more or less the same as is does in the forward-moving video.
posted by Mendl at 6:08 PM on October 20, 2010 [2 favorites]


Anybody know what he's using for bubble fluid? --- I don't know exactly what he's using, but I've always been told that a mixture of soap, water, and glycerin is the best way to make good bubble solutions.

fun fact : glycerin is also used to mimic water droplets in photo shoots because it has such a high surface tension. When you see an ad with a glass of, say, cold soda or beer, odds are good that the stylist applied all of those glistening condensation droplets one at a time with glycerin and an eye dropper.
posted by crunchland at 6:08 PM on October 20, 2010 [1 favorite]


I need to stop using this site and get a job. I am currently looking up the best way to make massive bubbles and now have plans for tomorrow that do not involve working. Any good recipes?
posted by Felex at 6:13 PM on October 20, 2010


the adults' movements are obviously running in reverse --- It seems like all the kids seem to be enjoying the experience of the bubbles, in the moment. Meanwhile, many of the adults are trying to capture the moment on their cell phones. Instead of looking at the huge bubbles in front of them, their looking at them through tiny view screens.

Bubble solution recipes. Interesting that some call for corn syrup instead of glycerin.
posted by crunchland at 6:27 PM on October 20, 2010


We used to have a giant bubble maker thingy when we were kids. I spent hours and hours over one summer trying to perfect just the right mix of soap, glycerin and water to make bubbles that would really last. I have no idea what my mother's dish soap budget was for that summer, but none of it ever made it onto dishes.
posted by jacquilynne at 6:34 PM on October 20, 2010


I read, and have observed, that the older the mixture the better also. We use glycerin as well.
posted by taff at 7:05 PM on October 20, 2010


Years ago, I had a giant bubble lasso (though not, I must admit, as ginormous as the one in the video). It does take a knack, or a bit of practice, to close it and therefore close the bubble. You're much more likely to end up with a long open bubble-form (roughly the shape of a massive ephemeral condom) still hanging onto the loop than a proper free-floating bubble.

Last summer, my visiting nephews were frolicking on the lawn with their small plastic bottles of bubbles. I briefly became The Favorite Aunt after I marched inside and returned with a cake pan full of water and dish soap and a wire hanger shaped into a crude hoop. We made eight- and ten- and fifteen-inch bubbles all afternoon, and they LOVED it.

I always hope to try out beandip's kid-in-a-bubble trick, but haven't gotten around to it yet. Must. Buy. Hula Hoop!
posted by Elsa at 8:23 PM on October 20, 2010


..oOOOOOOOOoOoooOOooOOo..
posted by bayani at 8:31 PM on October 20, 2010


Wow. That second link almost made me cry with how beautiful it is. *checks surreptitiously to see whether she took her happy pills this morning*
posted by lollusc at 2:52 AM on October 21, 2010 [1 favorite]


lovely. it's amazing how slowly they burst
posted by 5_13_23_42_69_666 at 3:22 AM on October 21, 2010


Why do bubbles have to die?
I once made a bubble so big that it lived forever and became my secret bubble friend.
posted by MrMoonPie at 5:16 AM on October 21, 2010 [1 favorite]


Anyone here want to start a betting pool on how long it takes before we see giant-reversed-beach-bubble advertisements for TVs and cellphones everywhere?
posted by silence at 6:44 AM on October 21, 2010


Any sufficiently advanced technology bubble-blowing is indistinguishable from magic.
posted by kitsy at 8:12 AM on October 21, 2010


the reverse bubbles look like ships coming out of hyperspace to me. nerd.
posted by kakarott999 at 8:57 AM on October 21, 2010


The first vid is amazing. At first I wasn't sure whether or not the bubble pops were in real time or slow motion. The second video is amazing, but so much darker. Frolicking children, caught in the stampede as the bubbles desperately try to escape the trap of the malevolent-bubble-hunter nee benevolent-bubble-creator. Somewhere, someone dines on bubblemeat.
posted by Cat Pie Hurts at 9:35 AM on October 21, 2010


Why do bubbles have to die?

digsrus, the ones my girlfriend owns will live forever. In my fantasies.
posted by IAmBroom at 10:32 AM on October 21, 2010


How awesome!!
posted by arumi at 1:05 AM on October 22, 2010


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