Parcour *Madness*

Wow, I must be one wee bloggerin' hoor to be posting both here and on my MySpace bloggo, with the same material, at the same time. I am actually doing two sites simultaneously rather shamelessly. Aye, I am absolutely rotten filty. Someone, get the girl a hose, a rag on a stick, some bleachy soap, and scrub her down.

Recently, a while back, we bumped into a friend from Ninja school who'd injured his foot from parcouring. "What's that?" I asked. "You know, that free-running stuff where people jump off buildings and bounce around and stuff." Oh, that. At least it's a cool way to get injured. Sure beats slipping on a wet spot on the floor from the kids' bath and bashing/scraping/bruising your toes (and them getting stuck!) under a door, a mere fifteen minutes before two hours worth of Ninja conditioning and BJJ classes. With a ghastly, ghastly hangover.

Ahem! Moving on. Needless to say, the adrenaline junkie in me is loving parcour. At the same time, there's also a special weakness in my heart for the French rap they often use to accompany the videos. MC Solaar, I am yours. Speaking of which...

My Father, I have sinned. My first introduction to the sport of parcouring came from an incredible Nike ad a few years ago, and now I am scarred. The cynical, jaded Communication student in me almost fully expects the runner, after his madcap, skedaddling shenanigans, to arrive at his final destination ~ a Korean grocery store at any point on the planet ~ only to slap down a few bahts/rubles/francs/pounds/Euros/dollars, and stick a Cornetto or Wrigleys or something in his mouth in the final frames of the clip. Boy's half-convinced it's so I can enjoy the sight of a lithe Adonis run around without his shirt on. Hey, who am I to complain?

This first video comes from Latvia, featuring the Dvinsk Clan. This nutso cool stuff beats Jackass and Dirty Sanchez any time. A caveat is that it starts a tad bit slow, but is definitely worth your while if you stick it out. The music is, in order: Rob Dougan's "Clubbed To Death," Keny Arkana's "Style libre," Keny Arkana's "Le missile est lancé," 3e oei's "Si triste," and Bouga Akhenaton's "Belsunce breakdown."


Latvian Parcour, featuring the Dvinsk Clan



And of course, a little montage featuring the incomparably rubbery David Belle. Maybe it's just me, but I have a bit o' a hard time trying not to breathe "fuck" while watching this guy go.