Two Girls 1 Cup: a grandmother reacts.

Continuing in BoingBoing's ongoing exploration of highbrow internet cinema, I now present to you a reaction video of some guy's poor grandma seeing the German New Wave classic "Zwei Mädchen eine Tasse" for the first time.

Clearly, she is overwhelmed by the heady metaphysical influence of Fassbinder and Herzog evidenced in this masterwork, which treats its characters in a scope of almost Wagnerian breadth.

Link. (thanks, Jason, and Teapunk!)

Previously:

Film review: 2 Girls One Cup

Webby Awards: Most Influential Online Videos of All Time

(Warning: This is my serious voice now. The reason I will never link directly to the shock video referenced in the title of this post can best be expressed in this equation from BB reader Ivan: 2Girls_1Cup = Goatse * TubGirl / White_Unicorns).

Update: Here's a t-shirt idea for fans of this cinematic great from Flickr user Andrewc.

Boing Boing editor/partner and tech culture journalist Xeni Jardin hosts and produces Boing Boing's in-flight TV channel on Virgin America airlines (#10 on the dial), and writes about living with breast cancer. Diagnosed in 2011. @xeni on Twitter. email: xeni@boingboing.net.

More at Boing Boing

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The technology that links taxonomy and Star Trek

nex

Cpt. Tim (#32) has a good point re. the SFX question: It doesn’t have to be real shit. You could even embed it in a condom (which is then punctured at the side pointing towards the anus) so it’ll touch the colon as little as possible. But don’t say it doesn’t look like real shit; there are all kinds of shit, quite a variety of different colours, consistencies, textures. Real shit absolutely can look exactly like in the video.

@Devolve (#44):

From my POV it’s even more cheaper to pay them to just defecate in a cup, and then switch it out with a cup containing some fecal-looking substance.

Yes, but, remember, the speculation you quoted was under the assumption that there is a full version where you see it go from, err, well, ass to mouth in one long shot. How would you switch it out then? Nowadays, however you do it, it would most likely involve a computer, and I merely used ‘CGI’ as a term under which to lump together all the possibilities.

@Teapunk (#64): Oh dear, this is much more region-specific than I had thought. Currently I’m in Vienna a lot; I guess I had extrapolated from the situation here too much. (They have HÃ¤ferl too, oh noes …) So, no simple rules of thumb, alas. On second thought, yeah, when you have a paper cup (Papierbecher) and attach a little paper handle, it’s still a Papierbecher. And so on. Of course all of this is completely off topic, irrelevant, and trivial. It’s just too damn funny to discuss the finer details of interlingual drinking vessel semantics in the middle of a crowd of people who are quite terrified about the cup’s contents ^_^

Hal (#49): We were so clearly not discussing a grail, but it would be “Gral”, no matter what the material or shape is … very simple, for a change :-)
Teapunk

@Nex (27):
Ah, okay, if the cup is made of glass it’s indeed a “Glas”, you’re right, I agree. Which would make it “Zwei MÃ¤dchen, ein Glas”.

I don’t know how to get the cute quotation marks, so this will have to do:
(Imagine quote here!)
Therefore: ‘Glas’ good, ‘Becher’ meh, ‘Tasse’ wrong. I agree that it’s not wrong to call a small drinking vessel for tea or coffee ‘Tasse’ even if it doesn’t have a handle; but this usage is less common…

I totally don’t get why this should be the case, there have always been cups with or without handles in my kitchen and in the shops. Supercommon usage.

… so as a rule of thumb for German learners, the existence/absence of a handle is a pretty good indicator of whether you’re dealing with a tasse or a becher :-)

But I get this point. Unfortunately, some “Becher” also have handles, at which point this gets rather confusing.
I’m not a learner of German, I’m German and work with my language every day.
Ester Beatriz

Screaming!!!! The grandma and the people’s reaction in this video, is very funny… I also want to see this video… does anybody know where I can see this video??? I need to understand why this reactions… AHAUAHAUAHAUAHAUAHAU
Squashy

Most people would be lucky to have half as good a relationship as this guy obviously does with his grandma.
Benny

You know, I thought I would never be able to enjoy watching other people’s reaction ever since I saw the video, but I have to say. Thanks to you guys, I just… I just may be back on the path of recovery, I just might be able to enjoy watching people’s sickened reaction to this heinous video, and I just… I just may be able to smile again… *sniff* thank you, boingboing.
Teapunk

Allow me: It should be “Zwei MÃ¤dchen eine Tasse”, because “Schale” usually means “bowl”. If the cup is bigger, and I don’t want any details, it would be a “Becher”.
Also agree you guys have way too much fun with this.
Hal

@ Nex and Teapunk:
What is the German for “grail” since clearly you are discussing a receptacle of metaphor and legend rather than a mere beverage container that can be defined by form or material.
I prefer the Irish anyway: “Beirt Bhan, Cupan Amhain”
Fnarf

Why is it fun to see someone’s granny getting grossed out by this? Are you going to show it to your kids next?
anangbhai

I’m not sick and tired of hearing about the video. Thanks to boingboing I knew about goatse and I was completely in the dark about “two girls one cup”. I now know to avoid the video whenever possible. I will probably never look at a video of two women kissing unless I can be damned sure I’m not being rick roll’d.
I did google the term though and found a play by play description of the video, and my curiosity was gored to death by a unicorn chaser.
anangbhai

Don’t fuck with unicorns son.
june

Could someone just sum up what it is? I’m sure I have no desire to actually see it, but hearing it mentioned as the Grossest Thing Ever is sort of tweaking my curiosity, and I’d rather it be satisfied with a dry explanation. I have no doubt that if I actually watch the damn thing, I’ll regret it for the rest of my life.

It’s got something to do with poo, is all I can gather thus far.
Zan

I think the most interesting thing is that no matter how disgusted the granny gets, she always looks back at the screen, like a rubbernecker at a car accident.

June, for a safe description of the video, see http://gurnt.blogspot.com/2007/10/humble-critique.html
nex

This was the first ‘reaction’ video I ever watched. I had a look so I could comment on how boring it is, and how it is absolutely not a wonderful thing that belongs in the bb collection.

However, it’s not that boring. I can totally imagine countless people LOLing at it. And that’s a problem; to me it doesn’t look like the woman in this video had given her consent to be laughed at by thousands of people with too much spare time as she freaks out not unlike stoned people do when I show them card tricks. Which is way more disgusting than the original video.

Xeni, the revised title is still wrong. Teapunk’s well-meaning comment only applies to the t-shirt graphic in your post, which indeed does show a ‘Tasse’. However, a tasse always has a handle. If it doesn’t have a handle, it’s not a tasse; and the drinking vessel in the video doesn’t have a handle. You might get away with calling it ‘Becher’ in some parts of the German-speaking world, but the best term to use clearly is ‘Glas’. So ‘Zwei MÃ¤dchen Ein Glas’ it has to be. (Not eine!)

P.S.: I would have confirmed this finding by checking the video, but I couldn’t reach the site. In the name of 2g1c scholarship, does anyone know of a mirror?
Prufrock451

June:

First, two women affirm life by throwing themselves at each other in a passionate embrace.

Then, one of the women devastatingly deconstructs the intertwined concepts of hygiene, food, and modern convenience by doing something horrible into a cup.

The two women explore this concept further. At this point, many viewers look away in fear as their ontological assumptions are shaken to the core.

Just when the viewer is on the verge of assimilating this critique and passively accepting it as just another Debordian spectacle, the two women launch themselves into a Dionysian celebration of the body that calls- nay, commands- the viewer to join them in their abandon. My body reacted as theirs did- the most visceral piece of interactive art I have ever experienced.

At the end of the video, the two women kneel and smile into the camera, their final action a defiant echo of their first transgression.

Are they brave? Are they debased? Their art challenges us to look past such dualities. It asks us to experience disgust as joy, to see despair as play. It asks us to examine ourselves as humans.

Most of all, it will fucking make you puke. Jesus, don’t watch it.
cstatman

FYI

http://www.2girls1cup.com

the website is down, or broken

it is horrible, it is something you can never UN-see!
Anonymous

Suggested LOL captions:

For the pooping scene: Hey LOLrus, luk whut I does in yer bukkit! or Nooo, she be steelin mah pewps!

For the coprophagy scene: Yur pewps has a flavr or Iz not cheezburger, but will do

For the emesis scene: reverse nom nom nom

Oh, and I would’ve posted logged-in, but my account is all screwy for some reason :/
jonlorusso

Someone with the skillz needs to put together “2 cats 1 LoL”. I don’t know what that means, but I like the sound of it.
cstatman

oops, I found a mirror with it up, and some reaction videos
http://www.paulvids.com/2_girls_and_1_cup.php
risser

For the record, my fascination (never having seen the video) is with the fascination. The same way I’m fascinated with snuff-porn like the Saw series (which I’ve also never seen). I have no intention of ever seeing any of these things, but the question to me is, why ARE people fascinated with it? And that fascinates me.
coyone

where is the Haitian, I need him too erase the last few minutes of my life…ughh
ferg burglar

Maybe it’s time to reread Totem and Taboo replacing the word “incest” with “turd gurgling.”

I doubt it would help me unsee the momentary glimpse I caught, though.
Christopher J Olsen

“And that’s a problem; to me it doesn’t look like the woman in this video had given her consent to be laughed at by thousands of people with too much spare time as she freaks out ”

Here, here.
Anonymous

@ prufrock451:Awesome comment!I also believe this video is a strong statement about the decline of western civilization ^_^
Gloria

Not amusing.
mrfitz

Yes she is overwhelmed…as she turns back for more.
Teapunk

@Nex: Well meaning I might be occasionally, but it would only be a “Glas” if the cup was actually made of glass.
If it’s plastic or cardboard or whatever, it would be a “Becher”, and if you have to see a doctor for certain medical tests then yes, you might be asked politely to fill the “Becher”, which would make it now “Zwei MÃ¤dchen ein Becher”.
I actually own several “Tassen” without handles, but I agree many “Tassen” have handles.
Since I’ve never seen the video (and really, really don’t plan to although why exactly I keep following this thread I do not know) I have no idea whether “Becher” or “Glas” would be more appropriate and I seriously don’t know any part of Germany (can’t vouch for Austria or Switzerland) where “Becher” wouldn’t be okay.
Harvey

I really love many aspects of Boing Boing but I must say that the sick fixation with ‘goatse’ and this new video (that I refuse to watch based on the oblique descriptions that I have read) really detracts from what is otherwise a great website.

What is it about such repulsive perversity that makes it seem worthy of display and discussions to you folks?

I am no prude, but it seems to me that these sorts of things are simply beyond the pale of normal, civilized thought. As humans, I would like to think we had risen above utterly repulsive debasements that even animals would not contemplate. But to think that people would find entertainment or even humor in such things is very, very frightening. I would think that it is an indication of mental illness of one sort or another. In some cases of severe mental illness, persons sometimes smear their feces around their environment and on themselves. But they are sadly out of touch with sanity.

What is your excuse?
ZippySpincycle

@Pruferock 451, what I want to know is whether it’s a carnivalesque celebration of the lower bodily stratum, bringing about a Rabelasian upending of social orthodoxy? Or is it just a lot of poo?

Nevermind, from the descriptions I’ve seen, no amount of Bakhtin could disinfect this video…
Tony Indindoli

I just about vomited reading the text description.

Disclaimer: In the past I was shown another unspeakable video from Germany, so it may be a psychosomatic revulsion reaction.
Dizbuster

While I don’t have any problem with videos like this, or people who enjoy them, I object when someone tries to tell me it’s some kind of high art. It’s porno. It disgusts most people, but appeals to the prurient interests of some (don’t try to tell me the filmmaker himself doesn’t get off on this shit either).
absurdidad_racional

I find it odd that only days after a friend from Switzerland gave me a link to this video that it is now all over some of the major news sites. Personally I find the video pretty hilarious, but I am shocked to see that others have the same sentiment.
I notice some claim it may not be real after all. Never fear, there is another video that I venture to say is even more disgusting than two girls… it is called two girls and one finger.
There can be no doubt that this video I mentioned is definitely real. Of course I’m not going to provide a link or description since I will then be guilty by association. But if anyone does ‘dare’ to view the smutty garbage I just referenced, I think you will find that it is the next level of trash we can all discuss endlessly.
And yes I agree, we all shouldn’t be jovially discussing such utter garbage, but at the same time, I have nothing better to do today.
Antinous

You know what would be even better? 2 Girls 1 Cup with subtitles in Kitteh!
izzzzy

if all bechs are glas and some glas are tasses … oh never mind.
izzzzy

if all bechs are glas and some glas are tasses … oh never mind.
Miss Cellania

Why would anyone do this to their Grandma?
glugenwog

I’d say it might be more like: (1.5 * (1/2 Goatse + TubGirl))
randee

For what it’s worth, The Smoking Gun now has the real … uh, poop on the subject:

http://www.thesmokinggun.com/archive/years/2007/1130071onecup1.html
james foreman

People who are outraged about how dumb we are for laughing at poop and penis jokes always come off sounding like Tobias FÃ¼nke.

Also, I’m pretty sure there’s some hipster dude out there with a closet full of expired internet meme t-shirts.
devolve

Has anyone stopped to think that the fecal matter can be special effects? I mean, right after the first so called “action of proof” is quite nondisputable, but it cuts right after that.

And we’ve all been children, playing in the mud, thus we all know that you can create poo-looking stuff.

Although it’s hard to dispute the vomit being special effects. But this has been done on jackass-inspired derivates, or am I mistaken?

Nevertheless, the point is that it is a troublesome video to watch because the idea of fecal matter has been planted in our head with the first action of proof, after that it might be some wet wheat mustard bread mix that has the similar look.
Benjamin

Reaction vid = most uproarious laughter I’ve experienced this week. That poor, hilarious gramma.
nex

And everyone knows that if it appeals to the prurient interests of some, it can’t possibly be high art.
nex

@Teapunk (#18):

Well meaning I might be occasionally, but it would only be a “Glas” if the cup was actually made of glass.

The cup is made of glass. It’s a glass made of glass. It’s absurd to speculate what it might be called if it was made of glass, because … well, you get the idea ;-> Therefore: ‘Glas’ good, ‘Becher’ meh, ‘Tasse’ wrong. I agree that it’s not wrong to call a small drinking vessel for tea or coffee ‘Tasse’ even if it doesn’t have a handle; but this usage is less common, so as a rule of thumb for German learners, the existence/absence of a handle is a pretty good indicator of whether you’re dealing with a tasse or a becher :-)

I must say that the sick fixation with ‘goatse’ and this new video (that I refuse to watch based on the oblique descriptions that I have read) really detracts from what is otherwise a great website.

What is it about such repulsive perversity that makes it seem worthy of display and discussions to you folks?

Oh, we’re just trolling for prude, reactionist cranks who will critique the work’s repulsiveness, perversity and unnormality without having it seen even once, and laugh about them behind their backs. It’s great fun.

2 Girls 1 Cup with subtitles in Kitteh!

LOLcoprophiliacs, yay! icanhasshitburger.com is still available. “I maded u a terd, but I eated it. O wate, hear it cums again!” — “Invisibul cup!” — the possibilities are endless …
nex

Oh, and:

Has anyone stopped to think that the fecal matter can be special effects?

I’m guessing here, but I think it’s like that:

(1) Someone has paid to have a video made that shows you-know-what at full length, with no cuts. (The famous version of the video is just a teaser for the full product and thus cut down to a minimal length.)

(2) When simple camera tricks are eliminated in this manner, it’s way cheaper to pay performers to do it for real than to pay artists to do it in CGI.

Now you put the two together …
Brian Carnell

@19 wrote:

“I really love many aspects of Boing Boing but I must say that the sick fixation with ‘goatse’ and this new video (that I refuse to watch based on the oblique descriptions that I have read) really detracts from what is otherwise a great website.”

Oh come on already. Boing! Boing!’s tagline is “A directory of wonderful things.” What could be more wonderful than two women consuming feces? You must be a paid agent of the MPAA or something to post such criticism.

I’m just wondering when David Pescovitz is going to post a link to the much sought after “Two Bigfoot, One Cup” video. Then Cory can write a follow-up about the Sasquatch who originally filmed it sending out DMCA takedown notices to Youtube to bring it down.
a mosquito

he watched it longer than I did.
duus

i enjoyed the reaction shot. There is no way I’m going to watch the original video, however.
Cpt. Tim

“Now you put the two together …”

Fake shit doesn’t have to be CGI shit.

Dan savage covered in column how most of the stuff is made.

Clean someone out, and give them an enema of foodstuffs that look like shit. The upside is you’ve got an actual, possibly tasty foodstuff and you don’t have to eat shit for a video.

the downside is you’re still eating something that came out of someones ass.

Doesn’t look like real shit to me, and i’ve watched jackass enough to not care about puking.
WK

Even realizing that the fecal fudge might have been fake, the clip made me gag quite a bit.

And what’s this about unicorn’s? Did I completely miss some big meme?
Talia

People are fascinated by the extremely grotesque. It’s human nature. Anyone who’d criticize or condescend to others for this sort of horrified curiousity is way way way too tightly wound.

Also, cute ferret.

#33: BoingBoing’s custom is to follow really horrific stuff with some random picture of a unicorn or such as brain bleach of sorts :p
Talia

Oh wait, maybe I’m missing something too. Never mind.
WK

It will take more than brain bleach to remove that from my memory. Does any one have any brain sulfuric acid?
Peaceflag2007

I wish BoingBoing would stop posting about this. I mean, sure we’re ironically being hip about this…but it’s really sick.

I haven’t seen the video but why is it fun to see people reacting to something so genuinely vile??

You are supposed to post about WONDERFUL things — and there is a whole world of interesting, curious, lively, fascinating stuff out there.

Why focus on this kind of really sick stuff that gives the internet a bad name? I can’t reccomend this site to friends now, they’ll think I’m a perv by association. (And yes, I’m calling people who watch the video pervs. If you went to see this in person — let’s say a tent, late at night, at some hellish Coney Island — what would that make you?

Please, please stop. I’d expect this from Warren Ellis, but not here. :(
Teresa Nielsen Hayden / Moderator

Prufrock451 (9), I don’t know whether this is going to mean anything to you, but: two points!

Harvey (18), you do know that sounds like one of the letters on Monty Python, right?

ZippySpinCycle (19), don’t think I didn’t see that.

Cpt. Tim (31), thank you for posting such a helpful and knowledgeable comment.

Dizbuster (60), that’s an interesting observation. Can you tell me exactly where the line falls?
Peaceflag2007

Update — only people who enojy the video are pervs. Sorry to smear everyone with crap with the same brush…..eeeeew!
midknyte

> 21 – You know what would be even better? 2 Girls 1 Cup with subtitles in Kitteh!

I can has a poo?

Pleeeze Pleeeze Pleeeze, someone make a LOLCat version :)
Nosher

One day, in the not to distant future, an elevator will be making its way to the 95th floor when a seeming innocuous bit of muzak comes over the loudspeaker…

Result : Flashbacks, a dozen pairs of ruined shoes and an extremely unhappy janitorial staff.
nerdpita

Thanks for posting my horrible t-shirt design. I’m ashamed. Speaking of, you can buy a copy of the t-shirt. Link is on the flickr page featured above. Horrible…
waugsqueke

2 girls one bukkit.
waugsqueke

“Doesn’t look like real shit to me”

Nor to me. It’s a bit too, well, fluffy.
zenhammond

May I be the first to say that I kind thought the video was really not that gross.

Obviously the two girls didn’t have a big problem doing this. Some people get off on doo doo. Hey I don’t, but I have enough control to just look at the video and understand that is is not for me.

Those who freak out, or who need a unicorn, or who beg others not to watch…sheeesh…you all look rather childish.
devolve

it’s way cheaper to pay performers to do it for real than to pay artists to do it in CGI. — Nex

I was not talking about CGI. From my POV it’s even more cheaper to pay them to just defecate in a cup, and then switch it out with a cup containing some fecal-looking substance.

But you have a point.

I also want to take the time to present the movie title in two languages I know, Swedish and Romanian:

SE: TvÃ¥ Flickor En Mugg
RO: DouÃ£ Fete O CaeÅŸcÃ£
paperfingers

I just link-suggested this. But this might be a better place for it:

The Two Girls One Cup – A Clockwork Orange Remix:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GHgLTfRqHEk