Pro-Jump PowerBocking Jumping Stilts Forum - Community for Power bocking / Pro Jumping!
Members Lounge => General Bocking Chat => Topic started by: webmaster on March 13, 2008, 10:39:17 PM
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Just found this article online on www.wired.com
Powerbocks Steal Dork Prize From Segways
Congratulations, Segwayers! Segwaiters. Segwaynes?
Um, congratulations, people on Segways! Yours is no longer the dorkiest-looking form of transportation known to humanity! (Also, congratulations to speed walkers for dropping down to third place.) There are people out there with an even less dignified method of getting around. People who are unafraid to look like the offspring of a gazelle and a stilt clown.
People, actual human people who presumably have self-awareness, are using devices called variously Powerbocks, Powerizers, Powerisers, Jumping Stilts or "Those Spring Shoes Wile E. Coyote Used Sometimes."
Now, I want to make something clear here. There are those who think that when I refer to something as dorky, nerdriffic or engeekerated, that I'm somehow putting myself above it. Nothing could be further from the truth unless you equipped it with a reliable GPS and very specific instructions
No, I know that something has the Nerd Nature because when I see it I feel a pull from somewhere deep in my chest, the same general area that gets tickly when my allergies flare up. My first reaction upon seeing a Powerbocking video was, "Who said they could do that?" My second reaction was, "I gots to get one o' them!" I don't have an angel and a devil on my shoulder, I have Rocky and Bullwinkle. One may be more skeptical than the other, but neither of them is what you'd call a fashionista. If you're the sort to use the word fashionista. (I wish you wouldn't.)
Further evidence: My current main form of exercise is playing Warcraft while walking on a treadmill. Usually in my boxer shorts. And Crocs. Yes, yes, now you begin to see.
So, bocking, and the power thereof. Powerbocks are devices that you strap to your feet because you feel that it's been way too long since you fell down. They're like stilts, in that they make you a bit taller. They're like springs, in that they help you jump higher. And they're like replica swords, in that they prove you have more money than sense.
Looking at the various Powerbock videos on YouTube, there are a number of tricks, or vranks in Powerbock jargon, you can perform, or sido.
Jump
Jump and flip
Jump up on something
Jump down on something
Jump over something
Jump and flip over something
Be naked
Fall down
Once you've learned to sido these vranks, you can go onto the advanced stunt levels, of which there are none. I'm not seeing the "slide down the railings at the local library that's only open until noon" move that skateboarders have, nor the "sweep up a wall of snow, fly into the air, spin around like a tail-chasing kitten, land next to a huffy skier" move that snowboarders have.
Clearly someone needs to make up some better Powerbock moves. Someone who's never been on the things. Someone like me, down to the cellular level.
First off, LARPing. That's live-action role-playing for those of you blissfully unaware. Who wouldn't want to add that extra level of verisimilitude to playing an Elandian Double-Elf or a Yuppie Vulcan?
Secondly, you could do a thing on a picnic table where you hop on one bench, then jump over the table and hop on the other. There could be chicken on the table, which would make it more memorable.
Thirdly, there's absolutely no reason not to buy another set of the things and strap them to your hands. I won't tell your mom. Then you could kind of do this thing where you spring back and forth onto your hands and feet, back and forth, back and forth, like one of those things, I forget what they're called. Lemurs with post-traumatic stress disorder, I think.
Fourth, ride a bike in them. Let me watch you try.
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Born helpless, nude and unable to provide for himself, Lore Sjöberg eventually overcame these handicaps to totally make up the words sido and vrank.
original article http://www.wired.com/culture/lifestyle/commentary/alttext/2008/03/alttext_0305
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Good article but he's a little behind the times with the tricks Naz
Larping I've had 3 offers so far :biggrin:
Done the picnic table hop up on one seat onto the table and jump off and the chicken (I was on the PJ's :haha:)
PJ's on the hands arrh good idea no more broken wrists :banana:
And I've seen at least 2 people try a bike and one of them was doing quite well now the skateboard was funny :haha:
(who was that on a skateboard ???)
Jason :Hoofies2: (a dork and proud of it)
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I thought it was written nicely if thats the right word to use :biggrin:
At least he got the terms powerbocking and powerbocks right but he obviously hasnt seen the bocking kings in action, I was scratching my head at the term Vrank till I read at the bottom of the article "Born helpless, nude and unable to provide for himself, Lore Sjöberg eventually overcame these handicaps to totally make up the words sido and vrank"
Some of the comments people have written are funny though:
"If you were to strap one to your hands & feet, you could become a real-life Spring Mario from Super Mario Galaxy! Wahoo!"
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Yep just read the comments and some are very funny I think you should stick an add up a couple seemed to want them :haha:
Jason :Hoofies2:
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Fourth, ride a bike in them. Let me watch you try.
Umm, 1min 30 (Lockys video from the Cardiff meet last summer)
[youtube=425,350]CraMqbqYgLU[/youtube]
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That's Adam (Nofear) on the bike isn't it? I knew I'd seen a vid of one of the welsh bockers trying that.
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hah ahaha great article, i enjoyed reading it from a self confessed wow addict's point of view.
and no fear beating me to riding a bike with bocks on, ill have to be the first to bunny hop a bike with bocks on now i think
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That 1st vid was great! It looked like he actually was jumping 2m high (or atleast nearly 2m). Until now I thought the claims on the box were a lie. :P ...Sorry I ever doubted you mighty Pro-Jump box. ;D
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Jump
Jump and flip
Jump up on something
Jump down on something
Jump over something
Jump and flip over something
Be naked
Fall down
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"Powerbocks are devices that you strap to your feet because you feel that it's been way too long since you fell down."
Love it ;D :D ;D and fully concur :D :laugh: :D
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Hehe, good article, and I do like the way its written.
I went on a swing on my bocks, that was prety fun, standing up of course, did jump off it, and fell over, nothing hurt though ^_^
zef
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I didnt see this first time around but what a great article.
I've not tried the trick of bocking naked but I expect its hard to stay up :nana:.
:police:I'll get my coat....
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I've not tried the trick of bocking naked but I expect its hard to stay up :nana:.
If it was winter I suppose it would be. Tis hard to keep it up when it's cold. ;D
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lol this guy probs ownes a segway haha ****** WOW addics i would LOVE to c him try bocking
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Calm down Greg11, no need for the bad language :(
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lol sorry ppl like that annoi me sorry if i have corsed eny offnce to ppl acsept the dork that rote the first bit
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this seems to have been writen by someone who is constantly wrapped in cotton wool and has sponge all over the floor and walls just incause he falls over. if you get my point
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What the hell is a vrank? ???
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right at the bottom of the original article he writes
"Born helpless, nude and unable to provide for himself, Lore Sjöberg eventually overcame these handicaps to totally make up the words sido and vrank."
I've added it to my original post ;)