When I get to the bottom I go back to the top
December 10, 2014 11:34 PM Subscribe
Also... Slinky on Escalator... we see the learning curve where they realize the slinky will 'walk' down slower than the escalator goes up, so they start it again near the bottom...
posted by oneswellfoop at 12:03 AM on December 11, 2014
posted by oneswellfoop at 12:03 AM on December 11, 2014
I also wanted some longer shots.
I do appreciate the footage of them cleaning up afterwards. I appreciate that a lot.
posted by aubilenon at 12:07 AM on December 11, 2014 [10 favorites]
I do appreciate the footage of them cleaning up afterwards. I appreciate that a lot.
posted by aubilenon at 12:07 AM on December 11, 2014 [10 favorites]
Anyone else wince when they read the headline?
posted by urbanwhaleshark at 12:10 AM on December 11, 2014 [11 favorites]
posted by urbanwhaleshark at 12:10 AM on December 11, 2014 [11 favorites]
I do appreciate the footage of them cleaning up afterwards. I appreciate that a lotI was so miffed by their apparent dickishness in doing this in a public place that I didn't watch to the end.
Perhaps it should be called "Balls on an Escalator : Not Dicks"
posted by fullerine at 12:31 AM on December 11, 2014 [8 favorites]
What yall said: Great idea, too many edits timed seemingly for maximum confusion and annoyance.
posted by Zerowensboring at 12:39 AM on December 11, 2014
posted by Zerowensboring at 12:39 AM on December 11, 2014
For their next attempt, they should either use a single ball color for less visual confusion, or have the different-colored balls have some different property - maybe mass, size or surface texture - and see what patterns emerge. Dynamical systems are fun!
posted by Dr Dracator at 1:34 AM on December 11, 2014 [3 favorites]
posted by Dr Dracator at 1:34 AM on December 11, 2014 [3 favorites]
I was so miffed by their apparent dickishness in doing this in a public place that I didn't watch to the end.
Really? I was hoping for more human interaction, but everyone politely walked around.
posted by mannequito at 2:06 AM on December 11, 2014 [1 favorite]
Really? I was hoping for more human interaction, but everyone politely walked around.
posted by mannequito at 2:06 AM on December 11, 2014 [1 favorite]
Came for Ed Balls, left disappointed :(
posted by Acheman at 2:12 AM on December 11, 2014 [2 favorites]
posted by Acheman at 2:12 AM on December 11, 2014 [2 favorites]
I'd like to see this done on one of those really long subway escalators. (When the station is closed.)
posted by reprise the theme song and roll the credits at 2:23 AM on December 11, 2014 [1 favorite]
posted by reprise the theme song and roll the credits at 2:23 AM on December 11, 2014 [1 favorite]
Landscape AND portrait videography? Damnit, some people just want to see the world burn.
posted by Yowser at 2:27 AM on December 11, 2014 [8 favorites]
posted by Yowser at 2:27 AM on December 11, 2014 [8 favorites]
Also, I get the feeling that the reason there are so many cuts is that a huge amount of human intervention was required to maintain the illusion that this is anything other than a failed prank.
posted by Yowser at 2:29 AM on December 11, 2014 [10 favorites]
posted by Yowser at 2:29 AM on December 11, 2014 [10 favorites]
Meanwhile, Gary Numan goes shopping...
posted by Devonian at 2:55 AM on December 11, 2014 [8 favorites]
posted by Devonian at 2:55 AM on December 11, 2014 [8 favorites]
This wouldn't probably happen on a Metro escalator in DC...just saying.
posted by datawrangler at 2:56 AM on December 11, 2014 [1 favorite]
posted by datawrangler at 2:56 AM on December 11, 2014 [1 favorite]
a huge amount of human intervention was required to maintain the illusion that this is anything other than a failed prank.
Yeah, I have to say that I expected something slightly more interesting to happen... and I think the perpetrators did too.
posted by painquale at 3:35 AM on December 11, 2014
Yeah, I have to say that I expected something slightly more interesting to happen... and I think the perpetrators did too.
posted by painquale at 3:35 AM on December 11, 2014
Eh. They may be lovers, but they ain't no dancers.
posted by kyrademon at 3:36 AM on December 11, 2014 [5 favorites]
posted by kyrademon at 3:36 AM on December 11, 2014 [5 favorites]
I think it would be a terrific project to develop a mathematical model that describes the rate at which balls arrive at the top of the escalator, when you put in some assumptions about how fast balls are being dumped out, how elastic and bouncy they are, the size of the balls and dimensions of the escalator steps, and perhaps a few other variables.
posted by Wolfdog at 4:56 AM on December 11, 2014 [1 favorite]
posted by Wolfdog at 4:56 AM on December 11, 2014 [1 favorite]
Also, "balls on an escalator" sounds like one of those metaphors for something really useless, like tits on a boar.
posted by Wolfdog at 4:58 AM on December 11, 2014 [8 favorites]
posted by Wolfdog at 4:58 AM on December 11, 2014 [8 favorites]
It also sounds like something you would shout eight times in a row over a Drop D chug as the chorus to a metalcore song.
posted by Wolfdog at 5:03 AM on December 11, 2014
posted by Wolfdog at 5:03 AM on December 11, 2014
This is a post with many surprising dimensions.
posted by Wolfdog at 5:03 AM on December 11, 2014 [1 favorite]
posted by Wolfdog at 5:03 AM on December 11, 2014 [1 favorite]
Did anyone else hope there would be dancing?
posted by GenjiandProust at 5:04 AM on December 11, 2014
posted by GenjiandProust at 5:04 AM on December 11, 2014
I would have stepped onto the escalator! Why didn't anybody? Were they afraid of balls? Afraid of silliness?
posted by mareli at 5:11 AM on December 11, 2014 [4 favorites]
posted by mareli at 5:11 AM on December 11, 2014 [4 favorites]
They all cram together at the top and if there's no room they tumble down. This is why you have to start walking when you get to the top of a crowded escalator.
Damn tourists.
posted by rlk at 5:20 AM on December 11, 2014 [2 favorites]
Damn tourists.
posted by rlk at 5:20 AM on December 11, 2014 [2 favorites]
something really useless, like tits on a boar
Baby boars would probably disagree.
posted by Dr Dracator at 5:24 AM on December 11, 2014 [3 favorites]
Baby boars would probably disagree.
posted by Dr Dracator at 5:24 AM on December 11, 2014 [3 favorites]
Baby boars would probably disagree.
They are too worried about having their ears turned into silk purses....
posted by GenjiandProust at 5:34 AM on December 11, 2014
They are too worried about having their ears turned into silk purses....
posted by GenjiandProust at 5:34 AM on December 11, 2014
Sure hope you don't need to get to the top of the escalator anytime soon.
posted by blue_beetle at 5:46 AM on December 11, 2014
posted by blue_beetle at 5:46 AM on December 11, 2014
Meanwhile, Gary Numan goes shopping...
Good lord. That's one seriously hard-working stunt man. Those serrated edges on the elevator steps are like saw blades. Dude left blood smears on the glass sides.
Great video, though.
posted by Thorzdad at 5:46 AM on December 11, 2014
Good lord. That's one seriously hard-working stunt man. Those serrated edges on the elevator steps are like saw blades. Dude left blood smears on the glass sides.
Great video, though.
posted by Thorzdad at 5:46 AM on December 11, 2014
It takes a lotta balls to do this sort of thing.
Well, it does.
posted by kinnakeet at 5:52 AM on December 11, 2014 [2 favorites]
Well, it does.
posted by kinnakeet at 5:52 AM on December 11, 2014 [2 favorites]
Also, did anybody else wonder if they stole those balls from a kids' ball pit?
posted by kinnakeet at 5:53 AM on December 11, 2014
posted by kinnakeet at 5:53 AM on December 11, 2014
I would have stepped onto the escalator! Why didn't anybody? Were they afraid of balls? Afraid of silliness?
Afraid of slipping and falling down a flight of hard, jagged, slowly moving stairs maybe? Afraid of getting involved in some stupid YouTube "prank"? Call me a square but I sure as hell wouldn't want anything to do with an escalator that a bunch of guys were visibly fucking with while filming from three angles.
posted by No-sword at 5:57 AM on December 11, 2014 [1 favorite]
Afraid of slipping and falling down a flight of hard, jagged, slowly moving stairs maybe? Afraid of getting involved in some stupid YouTube "prank"? Call me a square but I sure as hell wouldn't want anything to do with an escalator that a bunch of guys were visibly fucking with while filming from three angles.
posted by No-sword at 5:57 AM on December 11, 2014 [1 favorite]
Good lord. That's one seriously hard-working stunt man. Those serrated edges on the elevator steps are like saw blades. Dude left blood smears on the glass sides.
Considering the amount of compositing going on in the video, I suspect that Escalator Guy may have been tumbling up and down a padded conveyor belt made up to look like an escalator, with CGI enhancements added later.
posted by Strange Interlude at 6:16 AM on December 11, 2014
Considering the amount of compositing going on in the video, I suspect that Escalator Guy may have been tumbling up and down a padded conveyor belt made up to look like an escalator, with CGI enhancements added later.
posted by Strange Interlude at 6:16 AM on December 11, 2014
I liked it! Looks like college to me. This is, like, the escalator back behind Lecture Hall C in the Zimmerman building or something. I mean, they could have waited to do it at 3 in the morning but it is also not a very high traffic area or time. A few people get mildly put out, and they clean it all up. Dickishness level: low, but measurable.
It's not feasible in a public place but I too would like to see this honestly play out. If you just let them go, how long would it take for all the balls to become still?
Seems to me like with the proper barriers at both ends you could really achieve a (more or less) stable system. One plank barrier at the top, before the steps completely level out, forcing balls back down would do a LOT.
posted by dirtdirt at 6:33 AM on December 11, 2014 [1 favorite]
It's not feasible in a public place but I too would like to see this honestly play out. If you just let them go, how long would it take for all the balls to become still?
Seems to me like with the proper barriers at both ends you could really achieve a (more or less) stable system. One plank barrier at the top, before the steps completely level out, forcing balls back down would do a LOT.
posted by dirtdirt at 6:33 AM on December 11, 2014 [1 favorite]
Reminds me of that old joke:
Q: What's better than roses on a piano?
A: Balls on an escalator.
I think that's how it went, anyway.
posted by komara at 6:49 AM on December 11, 2014 [2 favorites]
Q: What's better than roses on a piano?
A: Balls on an escalator.
I think that's how it went, anyway.
posted by komara at 6:49 AM on December 11, 2014 [2 favorites]
Lotta haters here. The fact that they cleaned up pretty well establishes this wasn't a "prank" so much as live theatre/art/fun. Also, as someone who has studied "humans" for a while, the upwards-turned edges of their lips indicates amusement, not annoyance.
Myself, I was instantly drawn back to my first laser physics class, where the maxim that it takes at least three levels to establish the population inversion necessary for amplification. I'm sure that resonates for many of us.
If they had just shown this video, I would have understood that a lot faster!
The balls slowly falling out of the game at the bottom are a nice reminder of the inevitability of increasing entropy, as well. At first I thought the rate of fallout could be used to estimate how long until all the balls were out, until I realized that the game is different for the balls that are close enough to the top that they never tumble (the steps passing beneath them are already flattened). Those balls will never leave the top state: they are fully stable.
Also, hella cool.
posted by IAmBroom at 7:12 AM on December 11, 2014 [4 favorites]
Myself, I was instantly drawn back to my first laser physics class, where the maxim that it takes at least three levels to establish the population inversion necessary for amplification. I'm sure that resonates for many of us.
If they had just shown this video, I would have understood that a lot faster!
The balls slowly falling out of the game at the bottom are a nice reminder of the inevitability of increasing entropy, as well. At first I thought the rate of fallout could be used to estimate how long until all the balls were out, until I realized that the game is different for the balls that are close enough to the top that they never tumble (the steps passing beneath them are already flattened). Those balls will never leave the top state: they are fully stable.
Also, hella cool.
posted by IAmBroom at 7:12 AM on December 11, 2014 [4 favorites]
That Battles video - yes, he really did go tumbling down that escalator and there really were lots of sharp edges. The Making Of... video (warning: eleven minutes long, light on actual making-of, audio levels all over the shop) has some details at around 9:30 onwards. And the stunt was shot at 3AM, which makes it all a lot more - to use the stuntman's own word - gnarly.
posted by Devonian at 7:21 AM on December 11, 2014 [1 favorite]
posted by Devonian at 7:21 AM on December 11, 2014 [1 favorite]
something really useless, like tits on a boar
I read somewhere that some pigs are born with two fewer tits than others of the same breed, and that pig farmers never breed the boars with fewer tits.
Those tits are not exactly what I'd call useless, if that's true.
posted by jamjam at 7:32 AM on December 11, 2014 [1 favorite]
I read somewhere that some pigs are born with two fewer tits than others of the same breed, and that pig farmers never breed the boars with fewer tits.
Those tits are not exactly what I'd call useless, if that's true.
posted by jamjam at 7:32 AM on December 11, 2014 [1 favorite]
That was fun. My first thought was "guys, you need a containment boom or something at the top and bottom." A rolled-up carpet or something would do just fine.
But people's hesitance to get on is easily explained away: these things are death traps (no gore in the link, just stats). No indication from the abstract how many of these mishaps involved, uh, balls.
posted by mandolin conspiracy at 7:34 AM on December 11, 2014
But people's hesitance to get on is easily explained away: these things are death traps (no gore in the link, just stats). No indication from the abstract how many of these mishaps involved, uh, balls.
posted by mandolin conspiracy at 7:34 AM on December 11, 2014
Balls on an escalator
Filmin' a prank for the YouTube views
Balls on an escalator
Hopin' it'll get on the nightly news
Do we care? Do we care?
Honey one more time now it ain't fair.
Balls on an escalator
Filmin' a prank for the YouTube views
posted by zamboni at 8:01 AM on December 11, 2014 [3 favorites]
Filmin' a prank for the YouTube views
Balls on an escalator
Hopin' it'll get on the nightly news
Do we care? Do we care?
Honey one more time now it ain't fair.
Balls on an escalator
Filmin' a prank for the YouTube views
posted by zamboni at 8:01 AM on December 11, 2014 [3 favorites]
something really useless, like tits on a boar
Or maybe "as useless as tits on a bull", as my late aunt used to say.
posted by mosk at 8:01 AM on December 11, 2014
Or maybe "as useless as tits on a bull", as my late aunt used to say.
posted by mosk at 8:01 AM on December 11, 2014
Exact same idea, mosk. Boars are males, too.
posted by IAmBroom at 8:13 AM on December 11, 2014 [1 favorite]
posted by IAmBroom at 8:13 AM on December 11, 2014 [1 favorite]
It's very odd how this video of an escalator with ball pit balls on seems to have devolved into a discussion about the efficacy of porcine lactation, but we are where we are, a Boar war.
Boars are not male. There are male and female boars.
In fact if we want to bore deeper into the topic Boar society is matriarchal.
Sorry to be a bore.
posted by Just this guy, y'know at 8:55 AM on December 11, 2014 [4 favorites]
Boars are not male. There are male and female boars.
In fact if we want to bore deeper into the topic Boar society is matriarchal.
Sorry to be a bore.
posted by Just this guy, y'know at 8:55 AM on December 11, 2014 [4 favorites]
One plank barrier at the top, before the steps completely level out
Ok these balls are pretty small, but I don't think you have to consider quantum effects.
posted by Dr Dracator at 9:07 AM on December 11, 2014 [5 favorites]
Ok these balls are pretty small, but I don't think you have to consider quantum effects.
posted by Dr Dracator at 9:07 AM on December 11, 2014 [5 favorites]
For me, as a lackey of corporate America, the behavior of these balls embodies a familiar metaphor.
posted by marvin at 9:09 AM on December 11, 2014 [1 favorite]
posted by marvin at 9:09 AM on December 11, 2014 [1 favorite]
Ugly colored toys, terrible video quality/exposure, too much editing, unattractive passers-by looking utterly uninterested just waiting so they can actually use the escalator? I'd say this was a missed opportunity. And for what?
posted by ReeMonster at 9:26 AM on December 11, 2014
posted by ReeMonster at 9:26 AM on December 11, 2014
Boar is, yes, a species of which there are both males and females. However, "boar" is also used specifically to refer to male pigs, in opposition to "sow", and that usage (common on farms, where wild boars, conversely, are seldom referenced) is obviously the one the old saying refers to. Thank you and good day.
posted by Wolfdog at 9:29 AM on December 11, 2014 [2 favorites]
posted by Wolfdog at 9:29 AM on December 11, 2014 [2 favorites]
We have a boar
his name is "Balls"
I wanted to rename him "Fuck pig"
Since that's his job
I was overruled
He's an unaltered male pig
you can tell from his namesake
He has lots of nipples
but no teats
I can't count them
he weighs at least 600 pounds
would you try?
Yesterday he stepped on my foot
Today I put him on an escalator
YOLO
posted by stet at 10:20 AM on December 11, 2014 [1 favorite]
his name is "Balls"
I wanted to rename him "Fuck pig"
Since that's his job
I was overruled
He's an unaltered male pig
you can tell from his namesake
He has lots of nipples
but no teats
I can't count them
he weighs at least 600 pounds
would you try?
Yesterday he stepped on my foot
Today I put him on an escalator
YOLO
posted by stet at 10:20 AM on December 11, 2014 [1 favorite]
Meanwhile, Gary Numan goes shopping...
That KID is back on the ESCALATOR again!
posted by TheWhiteSkull at 10:24 AM on December 11, 2014 [3 favorites]
That KID is back on the ESCALATOR again!
posted by TheWhiteSkull at 10:24 AM on December 11, 2014 [3 favorites]
"Ugly colored toys, terrible video quality/exposure, too much editing, unattractive passers-by looking utterly uninterested just waiting so they can actually use the escalator? I'd say this was a missed opportunity. And for what?"
Sony Bravia.
posted by marvin at 10:27 AM on December 11, 2014
Sony Bravia.
posted by marvin at 10:27 AM on December 11, 2014
> Ugly colored toys, terrible video quality/exposure, too much editing, unattractive passers-by looking utterly uninterested just waiting so they can actually use the escalator?
You forgot to include "being watched by stupid people in a horrible country on a doomed planet orbiting a boring star in an inconsequential galaxy located nowhere important in a universe governed by hideously inelegant equations with pointlessly arbitrary constants that have incomensurate values with tedious decimal expansions being described by a joyless fuck".
posted by benito.strauss at 10:36 AM on December 11, 2014 [8 favorites]
You forgot to include "being watched by stupid people in a horrible country on a doomed planet orbiting a boring star in an inconsequential galaxy located nowhere important in a universe governed by hideously inelegant equations with pointlessly arbitrary constants that have incomensurate values with tedious decimal expansions being described by a joyless fuck".
posted by benito.strauss at 10:36 AM on December 11, 2014 [8 favorites]
I stand in solidarity with THIS GUY who just wants to get up the fucking escalator.
posted by duffell at 11:19 AM on December 11, 2014 [1 favorite]
posted by duffell at 11:19 AM on December 11, 2014 [1 favorite]
IAmBroom: Lotta haters here.
Hater here. I just kept thinking of my 80-something y.o. mom, who is much nicer and good-natured than I am, and how physically painful it would be for her to stand around waiting for them to clear those fucking balls so she could just get to where she was going. I also hate them for making me so strenuously disagree with IAmBroom!
posted by Room 641-A at 1:41 PM on December 11, 2014
Hater here. I just kept thinking of my 80-something y.o. mom, who is much nicer and good-natured than I am, and how physically painful it would be for her to stand around waiting for them to clear those fucking balls so she could just get to where she was going. I also hate them for making me so strenuously disagree with IAmBroom!
posted by Room 641-A at 1:41 PM on December 11, 2014
I stand in solidarity with THIS GUY who just wants to get up the fucking escalator.
If I were there I would have just said "fuck yes!" and ridden the damn escalator. How fun would that be!!
posted by aubilenon at 4:13 PM on December 11, 2014 [1 favorite]
If I were there I would have just said "fuck yes!" and ridden the damn escalator. How fun would that be!!
posted by aubilenon at 4:13 PM on December 11, 2014 [1 favorite]
This was fun. It might be my new happy place.
posted by bryon at 9:44 PM on December 11, 2014 [1 favorite]
posted by bryon at 9:44 PM on December 11, 2014 [1 favorite]
Just this guy, y'know: Boars are not male. There are male and female boars.Educational opportunity! Let me introduce you to a thing we call the "homonym".
posted by IAmBroom at 8:03 AM on December 12, 2014
Related: For those of you closely tracking your holiday orders and wondering why that one package is STILL listed as "Processing" and hasn't shipped yet.
posted by radwolf76 at 7:55 PM on December 12, 2014
posted by radwolf76 at 7:55 PM on December 12, 2014
radwolf76: Maybe 10 years ago I was in the market for a cow-in-a-can toy. They were super cheap so I wound up buying a pack of 12, mail ordered from the internet. It was a great because it turns out that a cow-in-a-can is a toy that you don't have to open the box in order to use it. I'm sure the postal workers enjoyed it. My point is, I wish that box in your video were full of cows-in-cans.
posted by aubilenon at 12:54 AM on December 13, 2014 [2 favorites]
posted by aubilenon at 12:54 AM on December 13, 2014 [2 favorites]
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