parkour, freerunning, scaffold, unfinished

 

British Museum

The Houses of Parliament clock, often popularly referred to as Big Ben, first began keeping time ‪#‎onthisday‬ in 1859! In 1846 a competition was held to decide who should build this new clock, and the clockmaker Edward John Dent was appointed. The clock was installed in the Clock Tower in April 1859. At first, it wouldn't work as the cast-iron minute hands were too heavy. Once they were replaced by lighter copper hands, it successfully began keeping time. Find out more about the history of Big Ben at the website of the UK’s Parliamenthttp://ow.ly/Ev7v300E0qH

This print from 1858 depicts the new Houses of Parliament with the clock tower still unfinished and scaffolding around the tophttp://ow.ly/NeRwM

Afghan youth practice their parkour skills in front of the ruins of Darul Aman Palace in Kabul. AFP Photo: Wakil Kohsar

Photo: A Gazan parkour team practiced in a cemetery on the outskirts of their refugee camp in Khan Younis. The walls show damage from past skirmishes with Israelis.

“I really felt like I needed to find another way to tell a story, not only just to make sense of it for myself but to make sense of it for how I’m going to present it to my children as well, since this is going to be their home too,” said Tanya Habjouqa, who lives in East Jerusalem with her husband, a Palestinian lawyer with Israeli citizenship, and their two children.

More on Lens: http://nyti.ms/1ei8ZSh

Photo by Tanya Habjouqa

A War Abroad Ignites a Battle at Home
By A. O. SCOTT
“Brothers” is in some ways less a movie about war than a movie that uses war as a scaffolding for domestic melodrama.

scaffold
n.

1. A temporary platform, either supported from below or suspended from above, on which workers sit or stand when performing tasks at heights above the ground.
2. A raised wooden framework or platform.
3. A platform used in the execution of condemned prisoners, as by hanging or beheading.

tr.v., -fold·ed, -fold·ing, -folds.

1. To provide or support with a raised framework or platform.
2. To place on a raised framework or platform.

[Middle English, from Medieval Latin scaffaldus, of Old French origin.]

街頭極限運動「跑酷」不久前在倫敦舉行世界大賽，共有全球17個國家的27名跑酷好手參加，他們使出渾身解數，配合音樂節奏，做出各式各樣高難度的翻騰跳躍奔跑動作，最後由21歲的英國人謝夫奪得冠軍。 跑酷（freerunning，又名parkour）80年代興起於法國巴黎，2002年開始在 ...


Le Parkour或稱Parkour，有時簡寫為PK，是一種極限運動，以日常生活的環境（城市）為運動的場所。
目前有多種中文譯法，如跑酷、暴酷、城市疾走、位移的藝術（l'art du déplacement）。
這個運動是由法國的大衛·貝爾（David Belle）所創立的。它能使人通過敏捷的運動來增強身心對緊急情況的應變能力。
パルクール(Parkour)とは、特別な道具を使うことなく効率的に障害物を越えることを目的としたフランス発祥のエクストリームスポーツである。ただし、パルクールを芸術やパフォーマンスアート、「移動するための技術」とする考え方もあり、確固とした定義はされていない。なお、本項ではパルクールから派生したフリーランニング(Free running)についても記述する。
English
Wikipedia article "Parkour".


The physical discipline of parkour, in which participants jump, vault and climb over obstacles in a fluid manner, has been given a boost by a scene in the James Bond film Casino Royale:

"Particularly cool is the manic, nimble Parkour sequence where Bond hunts a traceur ('free runner' Sebastien Foucan) bouncing and leaping off walls, balconies, and scaffolding through the streets of Madagascar like a human ping-pong ball."

パルクール 【(フランス) parkour】

自分の体のみを用いて，素早い移動・跳躍・登攀(とうはん)などを行うパフォーマンス。またそのような芸術やスポーツ。主に都市にある人工物（塀・壁・建物・手摺(す)りなど）を障害物として用いる。PK。
〔フランスで発祥〕

parkour

Pronunciation: /pɑːˈkʊə/

(also parcour)

noun

[mass noun]

• the activity or sport of moving rapidly through an area, typically in an urban environment, negotiating obstacles by running, jumping, and climbing.

Origin:

early 21st century: French, alteration of parcours 'route, course'