Bruce Lee first fights Ted Wong, one of his top students. He then fights Taky Kimura. It will come as no surprise that Bruce easily wins each match. You won’t be able to readily identify either fighter from their likeness because California State regulations prevented fighting without protective gear. However, is easy to discern Lee from his controlled movement and composed demeanor. Lee’s legendary speed and precision are on full display. He remains calm and cool as his opponents nervously jump around, keeping them at bay by repeatedly countering their attacks with a series of lightning-quick blows.
sports
The World’s Largest Swing
Wow! This video of four skydivers who drop from a hot air balloon on a 125-meter long swing gave me the heebie-jeebies. According to Redbull:
“You have this acceleration in another direction, unlike anything you’d experience with a normal BASE jump or skydive,” says Roithmair, who came up with the idea. “You jump, freefall, waiting for the moment when the line goes tight, then suddenly there’s this non-motorised acceleration. I can’t think of a freefall that had such different patterns of movement.” The idea behind Mega Swing was to realize that childhood dream we all have, says Lettner. “It’s the dream of everyone,” he says. “To swing higher and higher, and finally jump off and fly.”
I admit, I’ve had the dream he describes above. Have you? I think that’s why this video struck me so.
25,000 Foot Freefall Is Nothing But Net
This past Saturday Luke Aikins became the first person to accomplish a planned freefall (and landing) out of a plane without a parachute or wingsuit from an altitude of 25,000 feet. Aikins fell for about two minutes above the California desert, appearing to soar effortlessly, arms extended, face downward. And as he neared the ground, with a mere second to go, he expertly flipped onto his back and landed in the 100-square-foot net without incident.
The jump was aired live on television during an hour-long special. I remember when I was a child Evil Knievel did a bunch of the publicized live stunts – it that time to return once more?
Rodney Mullen Rides Again
After 12 years, skateboarding legend Rodney Mullen is back on deck with a new video called “Liminal“. Since his last showing in 2004’s “Almost: Round Three”, Rodney had suffered an injury-related fusion of his femur and hip bone. In a recent interview with Rolling Stone Mullen explains:
After much deliberation, with doctors doubtful of my recovery, I engaged in medieval ways to break apart the bone fusion – hammering the end of screwdrivers into my flesh, climbing into the wheel well of my car to apply leverage while pulling on the car’s frame. After thousands of hours, over years of doing this, I began breaking those dried-gum-like strands of fascia. I would often become overwhelmed, screaming violently in pain, panic-stricken that I was doing more damage than good and I would never be able to skate again. Until one night, hanging from my car, I heard a thump. And when I got up, I realized that I had broken the calcification and my hip-joint was mobile again.
What makes this all more amazing is that since his hip-popping breakthrough in 2010, Rodney Mullen has had to relearn to skateboard with his opposite foot forward. This was not simply to learn how to skate switch, which is common. To skate without re-injuring his hip, it was crucial that he once again train his body the tricks he came up with more than three decades ago, as well as any new ones, with his right foot forward. Mullen has reversed his native stance and is now more adept at skating with his right foot forward as he was with his left. He has found bona fide goofy-footedness – an idea he calls stancelessness.
Rodney says of the Front-Rail To 360º-Shove-It To Back-Rail (Performed above and at the 2:27 mark in the new film).
“This trick has never been seen or done, as far as I know. It is rooted in an obscure freestyle trick dating back 30 years. However, it was only done landing on all four wheels. This rail-to-rail version requires another level of power and control. On top of that, to do it on a modern (bigger) board, and landing on axles, is so daunting that I had never done it until now. It was particularly inspired by the camera action, because of how beautiful it would look: a rotary motion in a rotary system.â€
More detailed descriptions of Rodney’s tricks, and the technology used to create the film, can be found on the film maker Steven Sebring’s website.
Genius is an infinite capacity for taking pains — Thomas Carlyle.
Teahupo’o From The Sky
Surfing Magazine has released this spellbinding drone footage of surfers charging the infamous Teahupo’o wave break in Tahiti. The footage provides a new beautiful perspective of this powerful surf spot.
The name ‘Teahupo’o’ loosely translates to English as “to sever the head†and is regarded as one of the most challenging surf breaks in the world. The wipeout 3:17 minutes into the video helps explain why. The drone piloting at the 3:30 mark, when the camera films two waves in a single sequence, is incredible. And to top it all off I’m pretty sure the surfer at 3:53 is lit on fire!
The moody music is a song by Brigitte Fontaine called “Le Goudron”. Do the video justice and watch it at full screen with volume up.
Via Metafilter
Happy Birthday Rodney Mullen!
Happy Birthday Rodney Mullen!