Up-to-date article on MinnPost

[SafeNSure]

from: "Is parkour the perfect exercise or what?" - by Paul Scott

"...The lag time between the emergence of an organic movement and its appropriation by corporate sponsorships is apparently now measurable in minutes, not hours; the video is intercut with brand impressions for athletic shoes, electronics, energy drinks and the latest Madonna video. But it will take a lot more selling out than this to lose your sense of awe for so many kids having learned how to fly.

One last note: Try to forgive the relentless scoring of most of these videos with adrenaline-pumping club music. It may convey a misplaced message that parkour is a sport for thrill seekers and other casualties of the cable-TV environment, but given the sport’s potential for self expression, improvisational exercise and locomotion as rebellion, someday someone will set some of these images to an Ennio Morricone soundtrack." read more >>

[Deejay]

I'd think that most tracerurs are thrill seekers at some level. And, what's wrong with that in any case - really...

[SafeNSure]

Ehm... nothing, if it's calculated risk induced 'thrill'.
;)

But the citation here is more about commercialization of PK...

[marisa]

A thrill can take many forms, IMO. Is the motivation of most traceurs the thrill of achieving something today you couldn't have yesterday? Or the thrill of doing something inherently dangerous? Or being part of a new extreme "sport"?

In any case I thought it was pretty thoughtful article and I appreciated Scott putting pk/freerunning into a larger exercise related context, instead of the pop culture one that is normally focused on.