User:L-Blocking

What Is L-Blocking?

Put simply, L-Blocking (formerly known as “Tetris Shaping”) is THE trend of 2011. L-Blocking involves participants forming one of the four shapes of L-Blocking. These shapes are the standing L, the sitting L, forward L and the difficult and seldom seen backwards L. There is also another pose which has since been stricken from the official code of L-Blocking, which is the dangerous headstand L.

History of L-Blocking-

The history of L-blocking is interrelated with the history of Tetris, which is why initially L-Blocking was known as Tetris Shaping. In 1985, in the cold Soviet winter, three Russian men Alexey Pajintov, Dmitry Pavlovsky and Vadim Gerasimov (presumably large bearded men with large woolly hats) created a game which would revolutionalise gaming, and in turn the world (presumably while drinking vodka).

Tetris was the name of the game, if you had not worked that out by now. Tetris was known as the most addictive game ever, and soon became an addictive part of culture, and quite the conversation piece around the office water cooler. Tetris was the Rebecca black of its generation. And merchandise sales were the YouTube of the time. Tetris shirts, key chains and even kitchen sinks flew off the shelves.

Companies were looking for any possible way to cash-in on Tetris’ fame. One of these men looking for a quick cash-in was an ambitious young German playwright named Herschelle K. Bergensteed. Herschelle’s cash-in idea was to do a play for the game Tetris, which made sense with him being a playwright. Not only was it a play, it was a musical, which he aptly titled “Tetris: The Musical” (presumably while drinking German Beer).

Tetris: The Musical was quickly bought by the Volksbuhne Berlin, a prestigious theatre company, whose controversial owner wanted to forego its usual fare of traditional opera, for more profitable forms of entertainment.

One of the young actors cast in Tetris: The Musical was Petre L. Blochunsbergen, an aspiring actor/singer/dancer (he’s a triple threat). Petre saw Tetris: The Musical as his big break, and his chance to shoot to stardom and in his words become “the German Klaus Kinski”. Petre was cast as the Tetris block with three blocks down, and one block across.

One fine Berlin day, Petre was practicing his poses in Viengarten, Berlin’s most picturesque park, when several young hoodlums (who were wagging school) saw Petre. They immediately thought that it was a new trend, and began copying Petre’s posing. Soon the young boys became addicted to this new craze, which they named Tetris shaping, which of course led to more school missed.

Tetris blocking became a minor fad in late 1980’s Berlin, until a tragedy struck. One of the young boys held the dangerous “headstand L” for too long and the blood rushed to his head, causing an aneurism which took his life. Tetris shaping was subsequently banned.

Tetris: The Musical-

The play went on to become the worst flop in German Theatre history. It was cancelled after just two shows. This led to the closing down of Volksbuhne Theatre, the end of a dynasty of German classical opera.

One reviewer for the Berlin Times stated “Tetris: The Musical is the worst thing to happen to German theatre since the English bombed them all. The plot is tedious. Seriously, what’s next a musical about cats?” (Except he wrote it in German). This review gave Andrew Lloyd Webber the idea to write the most famous and successful musical of all time.

Although it was a tremendous flop at the time, Tetris: The Musical has since become a cult favourite. Bootleg VHS tapes of the performance in high demand on the German black-market. There is also a movie adaptation rumoured to be directed by Tim Burton. Presumably it will be like the original but a bit more goth.

Petre L. Blochunsbergen-

After the failure of the play and thus the shattering of Petre’s acting dreams, Petre sunk into deep depression. Petre worked briefly as a janitor at the school were the hoodlums he inspired “attended” until he heard about the tragic passing of one of the boys.

Petre couldn’t deal with the pain, and in late 1990, took his own life.

Modern Tetris Shaping/ The Birth of L-Blocking-

In late 2010, a “new” trend came about, particularly on facebook, in Australia. The trend of planking was born and gained internet and media notoriety.

During this time, a young Adelaide man named Jackhund Vilhelm Raan who was the nephew of Petre L. Blochunsbergen, noticed this trend and particularly noticed that it was a blatant rip off of the trend that his uncle created. Not only was it a rip-off it was essentially a poor man’s version of this trend, featuring less flexibility and body strength than Tetris shaping.

Jackhund decided in honour of his deceased uncle he would rename Tetris shaping to L-Blocking and reinstate it as a trend, in its rightful place above planking.