Wednesday, March 10, 2010

Hoop it Up


According to the New York Times hula-hooping is the verge of exploding onto the national consciousness and the Hoopers have found their Jane Fonda in the person of Marisa Tomei, one of the most unlikely Academy Award-winners in history.

Doesn't this sound familiar? Celebrity and the corporate powers they feed off identify an activity people enjoy in its various dimensions (alone, with friends, in competition with others) and turn it into a profit-making enterprise. Soon, hula-hooping will be "cool" and like any like growing community Hoopers will divide- with those who favor clockwise rotation insisting on its "purity" relative to those who spin counter-clockwise. Or maybe it will be the other way around. There are already "hooping instructors" (in Carrboro, no less- quelle surprise?) with hooping coaches, calorie counters, and power meters on the horizon.

Hoopers: think again or else there may be someone like this in your future.

2 comments:

co2cycle said...

so that's why Ali ordered fancy new rims. he needed the lateral stiffness and machined sidewalls most hula-hoops lack.

John Miles said...

Should you find yourself in need of a little hoop action, and have found that your standard discount store hoops just aren't enough, you can order a custom hoop from my cousin:

http://www.theflying-fairy.com/

Even hoopers need a little bling, it seems. No word yet on the location for the 2010 NHMHHS (National Hand-Made Hula-Hoop Show, natch).