Free Running

One thing I discovered about 3 years ago was the art of free running.  Basically it is urban climbing.  Free running originated from the sport called Parkour, where traceurs, or the people who do it, display athletic ability by scaling buildings, jumping over and off of high objects, and getting from point A to point B quickly without any methods of transportation.  Free running is a variation of parkour; the difference is that instead of just trying to get from point A to point B, the free runner's purpose is simply to show off his moves.  Thus, free runners will do many different types of flips and martial arts while climbing buildings and etc.  When my cousin and I first saw this stuff 3 years ago we made it our goal in life to do it!  So we, along with a few of my friends back home in good ole' Lafayette, Louisiana, the heart of Cajun Country, made several videos of our tricks, some of which I have on YouTube, and I have embedded a couple of them at the bottom of this blog entry... Check them out!  I promise they will entertain!  Seriously though, free running is one of my favorite past times, and I would argue that it isn't just something I do, it is a mindset I always have.  If anyone has seen me hanging out on the second story ledges of Bacot, or doing a flip off of a wall, or jumping off a ledge instead of taking the stairs, it is simply my mindset displaying what I love to do. Sorry if the vids are low quality :( ... not sure what's up.  The one at the bottom ends at 2:47... there's extra stuff after and it's pretty dumb... most of our influence is CKY and we got bored one night.  If you feel like watching it though be my guest

Probably 2 of our better compilations:

Satire

One genre I really enjoy, no matter what time period it comes from, is satire. I think all the way back to people we study in heritage such as Voltaire. I enjoyed reading his work "Candide" because it was a satire of all the old ways of thinking before the Enlightenment period such as religion, government, behavior, etc. As I said with sports, one way to justify if this genre is creative is to look at how successful it has been. Satire plays a huge role in our society today. Every other movie trailer I see on TV is making fun of something such as the Scary Movie series, Monty Python and the Holy Grail, practically every Bill Murray movie, and the all time classic, The Pink Panther starring Inspector Clouseau. All of my favorite shows are satires such as Family Guy, The Office, and an occasional South Park. Satire is very creative, and many people strive to create successful satires today.

Sports

One thing that really strikes my mind when I look at the big picture is sports. Sports are a dominant part of our society today, but where did they come from? I can't sit here and give a history lecture on the origin of sports because I truly do not know the origins of every sport, but I can say that I am very involved in sports and love the activity. I play football here at Millsaps so sports have basically always been a huge part of my life. When I think about it, sports are extremely creative. The rules of each game are very complex and go into great detail in order to make each game fair. No matter how simple the game is, almost anyone can testify to the enjoyment that these games bring to us. In order for games such as basketball, baseball, football, soccer, etc. to be successful, the creators must have had to experience the games first and create rules through trial and error. One way to justify that these creations or ideas are creative is to look at our world. Sports have been a common, enjoyable past time for people all over the world for centuries.