Many consider it cool. Others could call it decadent. But when it comes to Red Bull Kluge -- an extravagant, athlete-powered contraption that would have Rube Goldburg applauding from his grave -- there's one world that certainly comes to mind: creative.
When you're an energy drink company that sells billions of little cans annually, these sorts of projects are bound to come up. We all know Red Bull has a history of producing some pretty wild spectacles.
Build a private backcountry half pipe and foam pit for a single snowboarder's Olympic training? Check. Set a world record motorcycle distance jump on New Year's Eve in Sin City? Yep. Drop a BASE jumper from the edge of space and make sure he lives to tell about it? Done and done.
The list goes on, and as its latest installment, Red Bull Kluge -- derived from the German klug, meaning clever -- departs from gold-medal agendas and life-or-death scenarios. It comes across as a science-fair dream come true from young, creative -- and, perhaps highly caffeinated -- engineers, and at the same time attempts to forge a common playing field for the often Balkanized nature of action sports. Where else -- aside from the Red Bull roster -- have you seen skaters Joey Brenzinski and Ryan Sheckler sipping from the same proverbial straw as skydiver Sean MacCormac, golfer Rickie Fowler and hurdler Lolo Jones?
Above all, this project seems like something the energy drink giant put together just for the fun of it, a chain reaction of low-intensity athlete showmanship staged as an ode to Goldburg (1883-1970), that American cartoonist and inventor most famous for his caricatures of complex apparatuses doing simple tasks.
You know the board game Mouse Trap? This is that... on Red Bull.
