August 12, 2016

"a) The Faller, b) The Spiller, c) The Hitter, d) Dog, and e) The Stander."

You've seen it:



Now, analyze it. Minutely.
... at some point, the attractive forces of Wanting To Pet The Nice Doggy overcome... The Stander. He gets up to say hey to Dog, and in doing so, unbalances the bench he was sharing with The Faller... As the bench clatters into the pan, The Spiller ... spills the water all over The Hitter.... The Faller, who's made a desperate attempt for stability and pulled down The Spiller's shorts. This last point raises an interesting question, as, in a bid to keep his shorts up, The Spiller seemingly abandons his grip on the pan. Could he have kept hold of it if The Faller hadn't pantsed him? Or was he destined to spill this water, over and over, in every alternate Universe and every timeline? (Yes.)...

37 comments:

gspencer said...

Rube Goldberg in real life,

stevefromva said...

Did R. Goldberg direct this?

Jake said...

Staged.

Curious George said...

"The Spiller enters from the doorway, and for reason unclear to us he's carrying a pan of water."

It's for the dog.

MadisonMan said...

Notice that the person who caused all the mayhem -- the stander -- doesn't suffer for his decision -- but all the other people do.

Classic youngest sibling move.

Bob Boyd said...

Jake's right. Staged.

Eric the Fruit Bat said...

I've heard it said that the pun is the lowest form of humor but it's slapstick.

tim in vermont said...

If it is staged, it's even more impressive.

Eric the Fruit Bat said...

One of the things that really sucks about being funny is realizing that the reason you're funny is because you were at an impressionable stage of your life, and you did dumb things, and people laughed and made you feel good about it, so you kept on doing it, like a rat in a Skinner box getting a pellet of food for hitting the bar when there's a green light.

I'm allowed to say that because, in real life, people think I'm hilarious.

Psota said...

I thought it said "The Hitler."

MadisonMan said...

I think two things argue for it being staged. The stander doesn't really react to everything going on. The hitter immediately picks up the pan and hits the spiller -- no shock at all.

It wasn't rehearsed at that spot though, because the ground is dry.

Eric the Fruit Bat said...

Woody Allen said that being funny is nobody's first choice in life.

Ann Althouse said...

How could you stage that? I was just saying you could NOT stage that.

I guess you'd have to practice a lot without the water in the bowl or you'd spend an awful lot of time drying off and changing close between takes.

Eric the Fruit Bat said...

There was an episode of The Twilight Zone where a comic got his wish and it turned out to be a curse when he made everybody laugh all the time.

King Midas, re-written.

Eric the Fruit Bat said...

Be careful what you wish for, it just might be funny.

JRoberts said...

Funny, but I agree, it's staged. Otherwise, why would the camera be there, perfectly framing and catching the whole thing?

Laslo Spatula said...

Eric the Fruit Bat said...
"I'm allowed to say that because, in real life, people think I'm hilarious."

You're pretty hilarious here, too.

The 'soccer player' comment in the previous post was perfect droll.

I am Laslo.

Bob R said...

Harold Lloyd-worthy if it's staged. I'd argue "not staged" on that basis

Bob Boyd said...

The Faller's grabbing of the shorts looks deliberate. A natural reaction would be to put your hands down to catch yourself, but he is already on the ground when he reaches out and jerks the pants down.
It's pretty good though and I can only nit-pick it because I can watch it over and over. If it was part of a continuing movie it would be fine.
These boys are probably Jackie Chan fans.

Rob said...

Staged. Just happened to be recorded, perfectly framed? Don't think so. And the Faller accidentally pantses the Spiller? Not likely. BTW, the Hitter should have whacked the Spiller on his pantsed butt, not his head--because funnier!

Bushman of the Kohlrabi said...

JRoberts beat me to it. The fact that someone was there to perfectly film the event makes it hard to believe. And notice, none of the boys acknowledge the cameraman. Seems unlikely that a group of boys wouldn't be curious about someone standing in the street making a video of them.

Known Unknown said...

It wasn't rehearsed at that spot though, because the ground is dry.

Dry runs without water in the pan.

Bob Ellison said...

Very low-resolution video suggests that it's cropped, not "perfectly framed". Perhaps filmed from far away.

Then again, the way the Spiller up-ends the bowl right onto the Hitter's head seems unrealistic, and the Faller's pants-grab seems kinda fake.

lgv said...

Low budget Jackie Chan sequel.

Bob Ellison said...

Igv, in the Jackie Chan version, it would instantly become a melee. The Hitter would fight with the bowl, the Stander with the dog, and the Faller with...the Spiller's pants. The Spiller might have to settle for the bench. Soon a gang of thirty thugs would join in.

SeanF said...

What makes me think it's staged is the fact that the spiller is apparently going to try to navigate between the other boys while carrying the big pan of water, rather than just going to his left where there's wide open space.

grimson said...

Wonderful; can't wait for the all-girl remake.

David said...

Is there something about moving to the United States that increases the IQ of Asians by 20-30%? Because they sure do some goofball stuff in Asia.

Wince said...

Doesn't the "Stander" have a bowl haircut like Moe Howard?

Sweat Bee said...

Staged. Watch the spiller. He's already turning to his body to the right before the faller grabs his shorts as he deliberately flips the pan over in the opposite direction of the turn. In a spontaneous moment, the water would have spilled the other direction as he dropped the pan.

Richard Dolan said...

Really, it's just the Chinese attempt to one-up over Palsgraf.

rehajm said...

Staged but given the size of the Asian population I wouldn't be surprised if its real and there's another video of the exact scenario except with a white dog.

SteveR said...

The presence of a camera in that position to capture this "accident" is suspicious. Staged

Beldar said...

These aren't men, and your "men in shorts" tag is misapplied here.

Maybe that's sarcasm and I'm missing it? These are those times.

Also: I'm wearing shorts. It's August, in Texas, and only a damn fool Yankee would do otherwise.

The Cracker Emcee Refulgent said...

Too fast and fluid to be staged. I've done complicated martial arts mock fights for demonstrations with other experienced adults and it would take a serious amount of practice and expert direction to pull off something that slick. As for the filming being a factor, are you time travelers from the past? Shit, you can be filmed by your girlfriend, bleeding out in a car after being shot by a cop.

Michael Fitzgerald said...

tim in vermont said...If it is staged, it's even more impressive.
8/12/16, 9:15 AM

My thoughts exactly. Looks like something Mack Sennet and The Keystone Kops would come up with. These guys are good! Even the dog is good...

Henry said...

The poll at the link is worth the click-through.