Throwing Yourself Down a Flight of Stairs:

December 15, 2001 3:13 PM

Throwing Yourself Down a Flight of Stairs: How to do it, and why - "taking a dive down a flight of stairs is a conscious decision to engage yourself with with your surroundings by slamming your body against it. it's funny looking, it's painful, but for 5 brief seconds you see nothing but pure moment."
posted by ryanshepard (18 comments total)

Has he inspired anyone else to try it. Or better yet, top it.
posted by stbalbach at 3:54 PM on December 15, 2001

You know I'm going to have to try this at my next party, now. The web will be the death of me.
posted by tomorama at 3:54 PM on December 15, 2001

Tyler Durden style.
posted by catatonic at 4:27 PM on December 15, 2001

Reminds me of the joke "Last words of a redneck: 'Y'all watch this!' "
posted by alumshubby at 5:25 PM on December 15, 2001

I have a friend who helped take care of our baby daughter, Kahler, for several months. He said he thought of something while he was carrying her down our staircase one day. He said that if he ever lost his balance and started to fall down the stairs while carrying Kahler, he would grab her with both arms, turn himself around mid-fall, and land on his back as he stumbled, thereby turning himself into a human cushion. I think about this every time I carry Kahler down the stairs now. I wonder if I could do that. I wonder if Eddie Vanslambrouck has tried this technique (sans baby).
posted by delapohl at 6:17 PM on December 15, 2001

Reminds me of the joke "Last words of a redneck: 'Y'all watch this!' "

The version I've heard was that the Texas State Patrol somehow managed to install eavesdropping devices in every vehicle in the state. Turns out that the most common words right before a fatal wreck were, "Hold my beer and watch this."
posted by diddlegnome at 6:30 PM on December 15, 2001

For five brief seconds, I could see nothing but ow ow ow ow ow ow ow ow ow ow ow ow ow ow ow ow ow ow ow ow.
posted by fuq at 6:32 PM on December 15, 2001

I once met Eddie Vanslambrouck. He offered me and roughly nine hundred others some kool-aid.
I politely declined.
posted by Hima Otsubusu at 6:33 PM on December 15, 2001

via yesterday's memepool?
posted by gd779 at 6:41 PM on December 15, 2001

yo, if i wanted to see nothing but pure moment, i'd smoke some dank weed.

and i'd probably have far fewer bruises at the end of it.
posted by sugarfish at 7:34 PM on December 15, 2001

Actually, I've dove down a flight of stairs before. Don't knock it 'til you've tried it!
posted by toastcowboy at 9:24 PM on December 15, 2001

Nothing illustrates better the Zen principles of cause and effect than a controlled plunge down a staircase.

Cause: documenting your attempt(s) to do something life-threatening whilst still avoiding injury

Effect: instant celebrity
posted by MUD at 10:35 PM on December 15, 2001

This reminds me of filmmaker Harmony Korine's attempt at making a movie where he gets beaten up in every scene.
posted by muckster at 10:45 PM on December 15, 2001

via yesterday's memepool?

Help me out here, gd779. It's a web, right? People find links from other places. Then we discuss it on Metafilter. What are you complaining about?
posted by swell at 2:14 AM on December 16, 2001

via yesterday's memepool?

Yes - and my apologies for not noting that sooner.
posted by ryanshepard at 8:11 AM on December 16, 2001

Not complaining, just asking. skallas is right, there's no requirement to state where a link came from (at least, I think that was the consensus in MetaTalk).
posted by gd779 at 8:21 AM on December 16, 2001

I think about this every time I carry Kahler down the stairs now

baby's bounce don't they? aren't they built for that sort of punishment?
posted by Frasermoo at 6:40 AM on December 17, 2001

I've slid down a flight of stairs, and that's cheating. But it was hella-fun.
posted by Modem Ovary at 2:25 PM on December 17, 2001