Judah Friedlander is a Winner.

Over the weekend I played in the Westfield, New Jersey, official tournament. It was a pretty good standard with some good players, including comedian Judah Friedlander from 30 Rock and stuff. He and I both teamed up with one of the Belle twins to play the u3100 doubles. Judah and Brad beat Brendan and I in a close game for the trophy. Previously Brendan and I beat Bill Mack + partner, so I didn't feel too bad about missing out in the final.

I played OK in the singles, but I fear my rating might have slipped a little..I'll blame it on the drinking the night before and lack of food. At the F.I.T. they had apple pies everywhere, where were the applie pies when you needed them? Hmmm?

It was a fun day. Made all the more fun by the ride I caught back to the city with Judah. I had just missed my train so he offered me a ride in the snow. We had a good chat, he's a very cool guy. Find out more in issue two of Celebrity Ping Pong.

Shoe Designer Stuart Weitzman challenges YOU. Win a trip to NYC and Free Shoes.

Today I was contacted by the team behind the Stuart Weitzman and Zappos.com ping pong challenge. I am a big fan of Zappos CEO Tony Hsieh who first mentioned the challenge on his twitter.




This is the deal. Visit the Zappo's You Tube page, upload a little video about why you think you can take Stuart down and if successful you win a trip to NYC and some shoes. And I have to say some of those boots are looking very sweet indeed. (Mrs CPP would certainly like a pair, I might just enter myself).

Stuart looks like a pretty decent player. It's always hard to tell when someone is playing fairly weak opposition (no offence Zappos posse!) but I reckon I can take him.

Anyone else?

'Life' star Damian Lewis reckons he's a player

When asked what he would do if he wasn't an actor this is what he said:

“I’d be a professional Ping-Pong player. I’m not that good. I’m not Chinese good. But I hold (the paddle) like a pen. I hold it orthodox Western style. And that’s all I’m prepared to give up about my game, in case anyone reads this. ... I don’t want people winning.”

Ok, let's call him up!

From the Fort Wayne Gazzette - whatever that is.

Nice Pong game from Grow

I'm not sure how I feel about 'Pong' vs real 'Ping Pong' or 'Table Tennis' - this probably deserves a whole new post. But for the time being a nice piece of interactive work from Grow. If the pong game doesn't come up click on the light grey tee with the large 'Grow' on the front.

Thanks to Stuart from Google for the spot.

Ping Pong Porn

Well, this promo for a DVD from the Table Tennis Master is about as close as we'll get to actual Ping Pong Porn until the Naked Ping Pong boys film some of their friends playing with no clothes on (which I'm sure is going to happen fairly soon).

Ping Pong at Miami Art Fair

Is Bo-Jo really a player?

Much has been written about the Mayor of London, Boris Johnson's (Bo-Jo) great speech about 'ping pong coming home' after the Beijing olympics. But I wonder if he actually plays. I just picked up this article from the Times in London that would seem to indicate that he does.

Next time I'm in London I'll have to look him up and try to schedule a little session of wiff-waff. If anyone has an inside track to the great man, let me know.

Wally and Converse

So, I eventually managed to connect Wally and my ad agency. They did a shoot for Converse. Wally took on Derek AKA The Big Asian. Wally played with a sneaker. Can't wait to see the actual footage.

Kaz. A worthy winner.

I'm not sure the prize was particulary good for his bad back though.

Christmas Party

OK, I know you are supposed to say 'Holiday' but there are some things an Englishman can't get their head round. I'm totally cool with saying 'sidewalk' instead of 'pavement' and 'elevator' instead of 'lift' - but Christmas, well, it's Christmas isn't it!?

Anyway, we teamed up with the cool gals over at She Says and had a few drinks and a few games of Ping Pong. We had a tournament too. For once I didn't play like a complete and utter idiot, beating Ben from Grand Opening and Perry. Yay. But losing to Kaz in the semi final who went on to win. Loads more photos here.

Ping Pong on Honeyshed

I have no idea what this is really all about. I mean, I know what Honeyshed is but I just don't really understand what this video does. To watch it, go to Honeyshed, click on Fun Shit and then Ping Pong. It's a bit crap that you can't imbed video from their site don't you think?

Anyway, it's just another indicator that your favorite sport is getting cooler everyday. Soon it will be too cool. Thanks to Flo for the spot.

Taylor Swift plays Ping Pong for her Birthday Party.

Country Pop Singer, Taylor Swift had a big ping pong party for her birthday - according to Entertainment Tonight. What, no invite? Maybe next year.

CPP in the Sunday Observer

The Observer in London ran a long piece about the future of the game in England. The magazine got a small mention in the first few paragraphs. We're going global!

Party this Thursday!

Celebrity Ping Pong is teaming up with She Says to have a little party. I never really thought about it before but the PP scene is a little male dominated. So who better than the coolest group of gals in NYC to throw a party with.



When I left London for NY there weren't too many ads that I liked, but this was one of them. 'Boots' is like Duane Reade, I suppose, but a little nicer!

If you are in NY and you fancy coming down drop me a line. James dot Cooper at gmail dot com.

CPP in Creative Review Blog

As part of the post on Creative Social in Shanghai. That's the best picture of me I've seen in a while. Maybe I'll be a hand model.
Thanks for the post Patrick.

CPP Party Part Duex

Thanks to Kaz for a couple of pictures from the party / tournament we had at Anomaly last month. More here. I would have taken some pictures myself but I was too busy getting beat. I've worked out that I never play well at my own events. I'm trying to get my shit together to have another party before Christmas.

CPP in the New York Times

Front page article in the New York Times style section about the NY scene. No surprises to see Wally, Khairi, Ben and the Naked Boys all in there. Good stuff! I didn't know Ed Norton was a player. He moves to the top of the wanted list....

CPP on Adfreak

I forgot to post this from a while back.

The day of the launch party Brian from AdWeek (an enthusiastic player and all round good guy) very kindly wrote a post about the magazine. So nice in fact I didn't have the heart to say that he had got it wrong about 'my bosses' - dude, I AM THE BOSS!

See it here.

Uniforms for the Dedicated AW08

Uniforms For The Dedicated - AW08 from Tobias Martinsson on Vimeo.

Swedish posse go crazy round a table. Thanks to Emil for the link.

Cao Yan Hua TT School.

Cao Yan Hua is an old world champion. He has a number of schools in and around Shanghai. There is a full on training camp where kids can go instead of school. Like a boot camp but with ping pong balls.

I didn't quite have the 10 years required to do that so went to the Public Club in the city. My hotel concierge arranged a lesson for me with Ms Gu. It was a good work out. We did some drills, some chops then played a few points. I could hold my own, but only because she wasn't trying. Every now and then she would just flick her wrist a little more than normal creating amazing top spin. The ball would just kick up from the bounce very unexpectedly. Nice!

Jamie Oliver in Channel 4 promo

I wonder if he's really plays....thanks to Lem for the spot.

Bruce Lee Plays with Nunchuckas for Nokia N96

Posting this from China. Seemed apt.

70 bucks of fun

I'll let you know when the celebrity ping pong pool is open.

The Lower East Side Cup

Pupa and Danny battle it out for a place in the Final. Better quality coverage of the summer's coolest sporting event here at Plum TV.

More Presidential Pong

From Dark Sky Magazine.

A table in the White House?

Good news. Obama plays (well I'm going to assume if his daughters do then he does). I didn't really think there was any doubt. It confirms my theory that the very best people like to play.

Ping Pong Playa Traila

Good to see that Ping Pong Playa the movie that Jimmy Tsai (featured in issue 1) wrote and starred in has come out and is doing well as an indie hit.

Jihae Album Launch Party

Featured in Issue 1 of CPP, Jihae, has a new album out: Elvis is still alive. It reminds me a little of Grace Jones - which is a very good thing. A very good thing.

Hot off the press - she is possibly touring Europe with Lenny Kravitz next year.

I like Nike, but wait a minute.

These will be mine. Oh yes. They will be mine. The Nike TT Star Classic. From Certified Random.

Me speaking about playing ping pong, while playing ping pong at the Interesting conference New York in September. I think I have improved quite a lot since then but still haven't beaten Khairi over three games.


James Cooper at Interesting New York from David Nottoli on Vimeo.