It’s been a busy few weeks in the real world. Including a trip to Bonnaroo (pics of the first Bonnaroo Ping Pong club to come soon), plenty of work and preparing for a trip to the Advertising festival in Cannes next week.

So….we’ll have the next CPP party and tournament in July in Williamsburg. Get training, it’s going to be brutal.

There is a new Sam Rockwell movie out called ‘Moon’. It won a stack of awards at the festivals this year. From the trailer, it’s looks pretty good. And what do you know, there is a ping pong scene in it. This is getting too easy.

Ok, soo many of you will have seen the great Nike ads with the Lebron James and Kobe Bryant puppets, but did you spot the Ping Pong table in the back of their crib?

We know a lot of ballers play ping pong, I wonder if they do and if they are any good. Kobe would probably get up at five in the morning to practice his loop.

There have been a few ads recently featuring Ping Pong - the nike Lebron / Kobe puppets have a table in their crib. I’ll do a post on what that all means at some point. But until then check out the penguin. Isn’t he cute?

PS. Can anyone translate? And thanks Hans for the link.

If this godawful rain ever lets up the SPiNYC boys have set up a few tables in New York’s Bryant Park. This summer it’s all about outdoor pong people. So give them a go. They are free but you need to book, I think.

While we are on SPiN the entries for their logo competition are in. Visit the site to vote. I know which one my favorite is, but then I have exceedingly good taste!

I saw the new film from the dude who directed Brick the other day. Did you ever see Brick? I couldn’t understand 60% of the dialogue, but I guess that was the idea. Anyways…..The Brothers Bloom is pretty good. The first half is especially well put together. Very well written and directed. Rachel Weisz plays a rich orphan who collects hobbies. She lives in a big house in Jersey where of course she has a ping pong table. She only plays for a few seconds in the movie, but she looks like she might have some game. Interestingly, my spies tell me that her co-star, Adrien Brody, plays quite a lot too.

One day. I’m playing the waiting game, watch them come to me, know what I’m sayin’?

This is the second report we hear of superstar Taylor Swift liking to play a quick game of Ping Pong. So, that means it’s true, right? I’m on it.

Just before the SPiN party on Monday, more pics here, I interviewed Judah Friedlander for Issue 2. Judah is ranked 1203, but as he said, that’s probably a typo! He’s a great player, a great ambassador for the game and a great laugh. I’ll save the best stories for the magazine. Don’t forget the CPP party in Williamsburg on Thursday.

Just to quickly let you know about the first of a series of summer tournaments and parties starting this thursday. We will have two tables at the supernice Cornichon cafe / bar at 251 Grand St in Williamsburg. More details soon.

One of the latest Pringles ads is based on Ping Pong. I think it’s OK, feels a bit fake to me, like it was made just to enter awards shows - the tiny copy is a dead giveway for that kind of thing. But we shall see.

Still, it’s a good sign that brands continue to think their target markets will be turned on by Ping Pong related themes. Thanks to Dylan for the spot.