Month: January 2005

Parkour, or “Free Running,” is basically the sport of being Spiderman/Batman. Jumping along rooftops, etc.

A Free Running enthusiast is called a traceur.

I shamelessly ripped off this site’s link page, in the event it goes down, and so I mirror it below.

Forums and message boards (All links in this ‘links list’ open in a new window)
http://parkouruk.proboards24.com	The UK Parkour Association Message Board A message board designed purely for the discussion of parkour technique and for getting in touch with other traceurs. Occasionally there may also be a topical discussion taking place. This is the official forum of The UK Parkour Association.
www.screwgravity.com	The ‘Screw Gravity’ Message Board The message board of Devon’s Levity group and their ‘Screw Gravity’ parkour website. A sensible and user-friendly message board with some interesting discussions usually taking place. Does require registration to view some parts of the forums.
www.art-du-deplacement.com	Art-du-Deplacement International Message Board
General parkour and related websites (international links further down this page)
www.screwgravity.com www.leparkour.net	ScrewGravity.com / LeParkour.net A very nicely designed and comprehensive new parkour site. Not incredibly easy to navigate but that’s about the only bad thing I can find to say about it. It’s got some good tutorials, galleries, information etc. and if it carries on the way it’s started it looks set to be a top place to visit. It’s designed and operated by the Levity group – well done lads!
www.le-parkour.com	le-parkour.com Bi-lingual French / English site. Plenty of ‘stuff’. This is the site of David Belle, the creator of le parkour. Naturally better if you’re French but some excellent videos and the like. Some pop-up adverts.
www.parkour.com	parkour.com: the ‘official’ site of parkour ‘Official’ in-so-much as it’s the site of Sebastien Foucan – one of the co-founders of the sport with David Belle. Bi-lingual French and English with plenty of information (particularly on the philosophy angle) and resources (videos etc) on the site. Unfortunately the entire site is in ‘Flash’ and takes a while to load; it also sprouts a nasty full page pop-up and then another smaller one. It’s listed here because as it’s Sebastien’s site you ‘ought’ to visit it.
www.parkour.fsnet.co.uk	The Site of the Hastings Traceurs A small but frequently updated and easy-to-use site from the Hastings lads. Some good little videos.
www.as-we-fall.tk	‘The Official Site of the Nailsworth Parkour Clan’ Levster’s put together this nice simple, clean site with member bios, and sections for photos and videos – take a look. Some pop-ups.
www.parkcore.net	parkcore.net An american parkour site. Quite a bit of stuff; galleries, videos, clan information etc. Pretty easy to find your way round and a good starting point for traceurs in the US.
www.pk4life.com	PK4Life.com The PK website of Mike ‘Iconscious’ Cupcake, PK DJ extraordinaire and also the man behind www.iconscious.co.uk. Site currently in development.
www.kiell.com	The Photography Website of ‘Kiell’ Kiell (Andrew Day) is one of parkour’s most innovative photographers. Working largely in black and white and using a ‘real’ camera (not digital), his work has been featured in several publications. The website features an impressive portfolio of work.
www.tricksutorials.com	Tricks Tutorials Not a parkour site as such but a handy resource all the same. A nicely made site if a little tricky to find stuff in. A few tutorials (though it seems less than there were, following a revamp) and videos and the like. The bloke who runs it is a bit of a fruitcake (in the nicest possible way).
www.housegymnastics.com	House Gymnastics Not a parkour site but good fun! Take a look, the name says it all really. To save you hunting, the way in is through the tiny ‘enter’ in the top right hand corner of the home page.
www.parkour.org.uk	UK Parkour Association You’re already here! But make sure you don’t forget us!
International parkour websites
www.parkour.de	German Language Parkour Website An excellent parkour website for the German community. A very professional layout and some quality content. It additionally incorporates an active German language forum.
www.parkour.fi	Finnish Parkour Association
www.parkour.no	Norwegian Parkour Community
www.umparkour.com	Spanish Parkour Community and Website
www.speedairman.com	Predominantly French Parkour Community Often updated with videos, photos and links.

Web link of note: Parour / Free Running links
(At http://www.parkour.org.uk/parkour_start.html)

I’ve been following Frank Sekiya in the press for a while now- he’s a nursery owner in Hawaii (Oahu) who specializes in exotic fruit trees.

I need to get my greenhouse/conservatory together so I can have a mangosteen. I want fruits no one has heard of before. I want to make sauces that are impossible to buy!

Frank Sekiya
Tel: +1 808 259-8737

Frankie’s Nursery
41-999 Mahiku Place
Waimanalo, Hawaii 96795

Articles online with Frank Sekiya in them:

• “HAWAIIAN JOHNNY APPLESEED SOWS EXOTIC FRUITS” (2000), by Paul Spencer Sochaczewski
  • A prettier version of this same article in Spirit of Aloha
• “LANDSCAPE IT … then eat it ” (1999, Honolulu Star Bulletin), by Betty Shimabukuro
• “Exotic Fruit Trees ” (video, 1995) – by the University of Hawai’i at Manoa, the College of Tropical Agriculture and Human Resources
• “Mala La’au“, a garden created in 1994 by the Hawaii Medical Library, has plants donated by Frank Sekiya
• Fruit Gardener, the primary publication of the California Rare Fruit Growers, has had two articles about Mr Sekiya:
  • “Frank Sekiya, Hawaiian Pomologist” by William F. Whitman (Volume 24, No. 2 – March/April 1992)
  
  
  • “Frankie’s Slice of Paradise” by Bob Holzinger (Volume 33, No. 5 – September/October 2001)
  
  
• The Summer 2000 issue of “Island Life” [what is this?] has an article with Frank Sakiya in it
• “Ever Green” (December 19, 1997, Honolulu Star Bulletin) by Lois Taylor

The Yes Men, a movie, follows a couple of anti-corporate activist-pranksters as they impersonate World Trade Organization spokesmen on TV and at business conferences around the world. (Click here for official movie site, here for the trailer, and here for some articles about it.)

The story follows Andy and Mike from their beginnings with GWBush.com, and on to their tasteless parody of the WTO’s website. Some visitors don’t notice the site is a fake, and send speaking invitations meant for the real WTO. Mike and Andy play along with the ruse and soon find themselves attending important functions as WTO representatives.

Delighted to speak for the organization they oppose, Andy and Mike don thrift-store suits and set out to shock their unwitting audiences with darkly comic satires on global free trade. Weirdly, the experts don’t notice the joke and seem to agree with every terrible idea the two can come up with.

Web link of note: The Yes Men
(At http://www.theyesmen.org/)

I was at Fry’s again (shut up I don’t have a problem) to buy a big-ass hard drive, for holding footage for editing.

I couldn’t find the one I was looking for- the LaCie 1 TB (not a typo- ONE TERABYTE!) external drive. I looked for a while too.

Ignoring my own advice of “never ask for help at Fry’s” I asked someone finally- they told me they don’t carry anything by Lacey. Or Laci. As in Peterson.

That was a little weird, I don’t know why… anyway I have to order it online now.

How random is this? It’s an entire site devoted to eliminating “Goatheads,” a plant which drops spiky thorns on the ground.
Web link of note: Goatheads
(At http://www.goatheads.com/)

Last night (Jan 6th) was Epifania, the Italian Christmas.

Lil Dy got her socks filled with clementines and nuts by Befana, a witch who flies around the world giving goodies to good children and coal to the bad ones.

There are a couple of different versions of the Befana story, but here is my favorite version:

Legend has it that the wise men on their way to see the Nativity stopped by Befana’s house to ask for directions. She didn’t know and the men went on their way, but not before inviting her along for the trip. Befana had some cleaning to do and so opted to not go along- but after they left she had second thoughts and rushed out to find the wise men and the Christ child.

She never found him. It was far away and she was completely lost, so she started giving small treats to every child she met, in the hopes she’d hit the right one.

So now, once a year, for ALL OF ETERNITY, she gives candy to all the good children.

I’m not sure what her motivation is, whether she thinks she’s going to find the Second Coming that way or something, or maybe she’s still on her original search, or maybe she knows and now she is on a different mission to reward the good and punish the bad.

But the desperation of Befana and her refusal to give up appeals to my Japanese nature. Plus I have a soft spot for the undead.

FlexCar:

Why buy when you can borrow? Flexcar is the nation’s largest and oldest provider of car-sharing programs. We give our members the key to new cars, trucks, and minivans located across a metropolitan region. You pay an hourly rate, and Flexcar pays for the car, insurance, gas and a reserved parking spot! Get where you need to go, with Flexcar.

Available in over a dozen metropolitan areas, including the SF Bay Area.
Web link of note: FlexCar
(At http://www.flexcar.com/)

A car-sharing service- I think it’s only in the Seattle area thus far.
Web link of note: ZipCar
(At http://www.zipcar.com/)