Answer one of the following questions with at least one good paragraph:
1. What techniques does the author of "No Obstacles" use to make the article interesting to readers?
2. What characteristics do members of the parkour community share? How are these characteristics different from / similar to those of your community?
3. In the article "No Obstacles," Ryan Ford says that videos showing his sport don't show "true parkour." Why does he think this? What could a video do to "truly" show it?
4. Compare the 2 YouTube parkour videos to the article: what is similar/different about the information that each gives you?
16 comments:
The videos don't show "true parkour" because it is staged and cut to make it more exciting. In order for it to be "true parkour" the traceur would have to be pursued by someone, for example a robber. Also it would have to be coincidentally caught on tape and the whole pursuit would have to be shown, not an edited version. The problem is, is that it is very rare for a traceur to be put in such a situation and even rarer to be caught on tape. One way would be to get a fake robber without the knowledge of the traceur so that the actions of the traceur wouldn't be staged. Then that could be secretly videotaped. This video would show the true meaning and purpose of the sport of parkour.
Members within the parkour community are persistent, dedicated, athletic, daring, committed, self-motivated, passionate and loyal. The persistance, dedication and commitment of the members within the parkour community shows with the difficulty of these jumps and the time they take to perfect these jumps. Parkour consumes the time and lives of these individuals. It is much more than a hobby, it turns into a passion. No one is pushing these people to do parkour; they do it by choice, enjoyment and self-motivation. Athletic is one of the defining characteristics of parkour member because they push their bodies to such limits. David displays what only some members of parkour should display. He displays his loyalty to parkour. He intends to keep the true meaning of parkour alive and not do it merely for entertainment.
Some of these characteristics define the members of my community of recreation leader at West Mesa Community Center, but in a different manner. Much like members of parkour, recreation leaders in my community must be dedicated, committed, persistent, athletic, passionate and daring. Recreation leaders must be dedicated and committed to the work they do. Taking care of kids is a huge job and can't be taken lightly. Persistence is also a must because you have to deal with difficult kids and you can't give up on them. To be able to take care of kids and keep up with them you have to be somewhat athletic. Passion is a huge key factor, like in parkour. You have to have a certain something about you to be able to work with kids and you have to love what you do. I never really considered my job daring, but in a sense it is. To try to be able to take care of about thirty kids is a pretty daring task for people.
The only characteristic I couldn't really associate with both parkour and being a recreation leader is self-motivation.
The author of "No Obstacles" uses a storyline and history to draw the reader in and make it more intriguing.
The members of the parkour community are athletic, committed, out going, strong willed, and brave.These characteristics are similar to those of my own community of the church, because we are both committed to what we do, we are also out going, and strong willed. Most of us are athletic as well in order to keep up with the kids.
Ryan Ford believes that the videos showing his sport don't show "true parkour", because it would be very hard to catch this sort of sport being done on camera.
Both videos show different aspects of the sport. One is very spontaneous jumping from building to building, and various other structures. The other is walking up walls and is spontaneous in a way but not as much as the other video.
Ryan Ford says that the videos that show this sport are not considered as "true parkour". This is because It has been altered to make it seem more exciting. Traceurs feel that for the sport to be called "true parkour", the tracuer would be fleeing from muggers or using their skills to be in the police force or the fire department. Also, any incident would have to be caught on tape, and the entire pursuit would have to be shown. The problem is that, as Dene said, a situation such as fleeing from a mugger would be rare for a traceur to be in this situation and to be caught on tape. One way that a video could truly show true parkour, as insinuated in the article, would be to get a fake mugger to pursue a traceur without his knowledge, and get the whole thing on film.
Ryan Ford says that videos do not show “true parkour” due to the fact that videos usually require editing and the clipping. This leads to a five minute video being the result of possibly an entire day of shooting. True parkour in the eyes of Ryan Ford would be a video say, five minutes long, with no clipping, only a constant series of “cat-jumps”. True parkour videos are probably not in the future due to the fact that all video requires clipping simply to be interesting. What this means is that parkour is not really a spectator sport, rather something that a person does for the benefit of themselves, not those who watch it. Ryan Ford’s version of a true parkour video might be entertaining to him and others who partake in the sport, but no so entertaining to those who are not involved.
The author of "No Obstacles" uses time and the ability to paint a picture in your mind with words, to help make the article interesting.
Characteristics that members of the parkour community share include being athletic, committed, dedicated, crazy, and self confident. I think that all these characteristics can be found in the Greek community because in a Fraternity or Sorority requires all these in every aspect of life like school.
The videos do not show the true parkour because it doesn't show the failures and accomplishments of these people.
The article really shows the mental side of this sport whereas the videos just show the physical part. The article also tell about the history of the sport.
3. Videos don't show "true parkour" because they are edited using only the best takes. The videos are only showing the exciting aspects of parkour, the "spider man" likeness of the sport. To truly show parkour I think the video camera would need to stay in spot and only pivot to show movement. There wouldn't be any stopping of the tape. The camera should roll the entire time to show how hard it is and the athletes sometimes fail at the jumps.
1. In the article, Wilkinson gives the readers an insight on the parkour scene and what it is like for a few expert traceurs, and he makes it more interesting by interviewing them and having them explain what it is about, instead of just writing about what he thinks it is. By having the experts give their take on the sport and what being a traceur is all about, we are given more detail to exactly what is going on in parkour when we hear it from the experts themselves. He also documents actual scenes of parkour that he encounters when traveling with Ryan Ford, like the scene where they are climbing in the parking garage in Denver. In the scene he includes details of what the traceurs are doing, and the reactions of on lookers. I thought Wilkinson did a good job of keeping the story interesting by giving history on the sport, interviews, and giving detailed scenes of parkour.
The author of "No Obstacles" describes everything when telling a story. Instead of just giving someone's name, he gives a description of what they look like, what their background is, and what their general demeanor is.
He describes the situations so thoroughly that, when watching the "best of" video David Belle, I knew when the fall was coming because of the way the shot was set up. The author didn't just say, "He tried to jump and fell". He went into great detail describing the way the parking garage looked and the placement of the camera man. The author's style of writing made you feel like you were there. Having read the article before watching the video made it feel like you could see Belle's attitude (as the author described it) caught in the video.
The members of the parkour community share the following characteristics: adventurous, committed, athletic, and persistent. My community (the Chinese people) also has some of these characteristics: committed and persistent. The same way members of the parkour community commit themselves to practice their activities everyday and try to be better without giving up, members of the Chinese community commit themselves to work harder everyday for a better future for their families. The difference between the members of parkour and the members of the Chinese community is that the traceurs constantly perform parkour risking their lives as if they don't care to leave the ones they love behind if they die, but Chinese people almost always consider the feelings of the ones they care before taking a high risk or big decision.
The author of "No Obstacles" makes the article interesting to the audience by creatively finding a way to describe parkour. The way the author describes parkour alllows the audiene to imagine what this sport may look like. This allows the audience to take a personal interest and make the article more entertaining. The author also makes the article interesting by telling stories. He tells stories of memebers of parkour. These stories make the article interesting because they are true stories of people who actually participate in the sport. Finally, the author has actually members tell about their stories. Not only is he telling about people's stories but he also has them tell their stories. These memebers help the audience get a better understanding of what parkour is and the thrill they get from participating.
Parkour, this once quiet activity, seems to be coming out of the shadows. Thanks to sites like myspace and youtube, videos of men and women climbing walls, jumping from rooftops, and taking dangerous falls in cat-like fashion have become popular. In the article "No Obstacles", Ryan Ford, a traceur himself (a male who practices parkour) said that these videos do not display his true sport. Parkour in essence is getting from one location to another without going around things but over them. What is seen on the small clips circulating the web are the tricks used to perform parkour, but because the tricks are not done in attempt to make it through a path, it's not parkour. In order for a video to truly show parkour would be to show someone, like David Belle, complete a path in it's entirety, with one continuous stretch of film. Showing parkour in a stretch of film like this would be difficult because the way these men and women move is fast, but if it were properly planned, it could be pulled off.
True parkour is defined as the continuous movement of a traceur. The tape should not be cut or edited in any way. The goal of a traceur is to make the movements and motions become second nature, where a stunt is not premeditated or planned but spur-of- the-moment movements. It is a sport that challenges a tracrur's physical and mental abilities, therefore, true parkour should not be shot in pieces or edited to only show the best of the athlete's performance, but the entire course as a whole, much like a skateboard competition would be judged.
the author of "No Obstacles" makes the article interesting by using very discriptive language and true stories of parkour to engage the reader. The author has real traceurs tell their stories and explain what this sport really is all about. By using real stories and telling readers what the purpose of the sport is, the author creates a connection between the reader and the traceurs, without the reader having to go out and jump off a building themselves.
There are many similarities between the community of parkour and my communities of athletes at U.N.M. Parkour’s and Athletes both have to train both physically and mentally. There are many aspects of the sport that you have to prepare for just like the sports at U.N.M. To be both an athlete of Parkour and one of a university you have to do many reps at your sport do become one hundred percent confident in what you are doing. For example, Parkour’s have to do one certain move many times to be confident to move up a level. I have to do the same thing with pitching to become more confident. Then when the confidence come I can take it to the game and Parkour’s do the exact same thing so they can make their “route.” There are also groups who go out and do this together just the same as there are teams. There is also such a dedication to something in the same way U.N.M athletes are dedicated. Another similarity is fitting practice into your schedule. Passion is a major common between both athletes, because your not going to do something like both sports without the love of it.
In the article "No Obsticles", the author Wilkinson gives the readers a direct look on the parkour scene and what it is like for professional traceurs. He makes it more interesting by interviewing these traceurs and having them explain what it is about, rather than him just writing his own opinion about the sport. By having the experts tell their own stories and opinions on the sport and what being a traceur is all about, this allows us to have more information and detail to exactly what parkour is all about when we hear it from the actual professionals. By Wilkinson having actual scenes from when he was traveling with Ryan Ford of the parkours, it showed the readers that he wasn't just writing about stuff he had heard but stuff he actually did, like the scene of him when they are climbing in the parking garage in Denver. In the whole article he has great detail of everything and it shows when watching the actual videos, he describes in great detail of everything including what other people are doing around him. I found this article being very interesting and made me wanting to read further because of the great detail and excitment.
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