Parkour Flipbook - Parkour video

I came across this cool animation of parkour using flip book style.This isn’t the first time I have heard about parkour, I first heard about it in a episode of The Office, and even on Facebook. It seemed to me that this word and the underlying concept it refered to were rather familiar to me.

What is parkour? Definition of parkour :

parkour n. [pärkur']

“sport or athletic activity in which the participant seeks to move quickly and fluidly through an area, often an urban locale, by surmounting obstacles such as walls and railings and leaping across open spaces, as in a stairwell or between buildings.” [The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition]

French words in English

The English word parkour is actually a phonetic and graphical adaptation of the French word parcours.

parcours n.m. [paRku:R]

“Déplacement déterminé accompli ou à accomplir d’un point à un autre; espace correspondant, chemin, distance parcourue” [TLFi]

So with no further ado, the parkour video I promised :

Bonne Année & Happy New Year to all.

Best wishes to everyone & an excellent 2010 - Tous nos meilleurs voeux pour 2010

So aside from providing you with a French / English Translation for Season’s Greetings, there are a few other cool things I’d like to share about New Year’s in Paris …

La bonne humeur de Bonne Année

Today was one of the most interesting days of the year in Paris. The first day back to work after the New Year’s break. (This year was a little cooler than mosts being that New Year’s Day - a fairy day* (jour férié) - was on a Friday, hence the whole of Paris had a 3 day weekend, if not longer.

* fairy day n.m

federal holiday which could be secular, religious, international etc. (often a non working paid day). (Michèlisme & fun Frenglish word)

jour férié n.m

“jour de fête civile, réligieux, ou commémorant un événement” (souvent dit un jour chomé)

So everyone in Paris was slowly (more or less) getting back to their routine, but before doing so, they wished everyone they knew a Bonne Année.

La bise de Bonne Année

One the most unexpected and fantastical greetings was the bonne année from my boss. Out of nowhere this moring he stands up and approaches me, normally he just looks up and says, “Bonjour Michèle”. What was going on, the distance was shrinking, then all of a sudden … the bise. Oh, I thought the bise de bonne année - since this was evidentally an exceptional occasion, (as I don’t bise my boss [usually]).

I was the only one who received exceptional bises. One of my collegues also had a warmer than usual greetings as well - the bise de bonne année.

bise de bonne année n.f

bise exceptionnel que l’on ne reçoit pas habituellement, et qui a lieu le premier fois que les deux personnes engagés se voient après le nouvel an. (Michèlisme & néologisme)

A painting by Pat Perry from sketch to final product in a timelapse clip.

Just for fun, since we love art - here is a shot out to painters.

Awesome music by Hot Chip.

Timelapse Painting Two from Pat Perry on Vimeo.

If you enjoyed that clip, you may also enjoy our post with another cool animation of a drawing in Illustrator.