Of poi and brass bands
I have been practicing with poi, with mixed results. I found some free online lessons and hints and tips but they were a bit confusing since they contained instructions such as *pretend you're scooping air forward* *keep your palms facing the sky* and so on which on the whole largely had me doing a T. Rex imitation. On the other hand, if they had said *alternatively, just pretend that you're jumping rope* it would have been a piece of piss and would have, I feel, saved me some confusion and a mild concussion. Ah well.
Anyway, I have now mastered the forward, backward and split swing, as well as the butterfly, and am working on getting the hang of the Giant Butterfly, but all this progress has not been without its cost to my person.
Poi at velocity packs quite a punch let me assure you and the only thing more unpleasant than having a poi slam into your ear full force, is to have it slam into the ear you have cartiledge piercings in. Still, it is fun, and if the decent weather holds tomorrow I am decamping to the nearest open grassy space where I can practice without endangering the furniture, or having books rain down on my head. (Damn you, low cielings!)
Finally, courtesy of my old mate insomnia and some spiffy softward meepettemu pointed me towards I now have a respectable collection of mp3s (and Meatloaf's Bat Out of Hellstuck in my head).
I was hunting music of my old land, so if anyone who is intrigued (rather than say, horrified) by the idea of Gypsy and Yugoslav folk music and wants me to burn them a CD, please leave a comment telling me so.
Although I very much doubt you'd be able to understand the words, in case of Gypsy music this is not a huge loss as the words make little enough sense anyway. ( e.g *the lily of the valley is blossoming/ the lily of the valley is blossoming/ for everyone but me/ the roads left and I remained* or *a pine tree grows in a forest/a pine tree grows in a forest/it grows green*). But anyway. The music is interesting. Gypsies from my part of the world are famous for their brass bands and they are rather good. I've watched them make music from some of the unlikeliest things, like a comb, or a leaf. (If you have seen any of Kusturica's films you'll know what I'm talking about)
I do not have comb and leaf mp3s, ore's the pity, but there is brass band and tambourine music though and the warped and fascinating mutant that is Serbian neo-folk (although for this, mp3s don't do it justice, you really need the videos of the women prancing around in black leather catsuits and things of that ilk). Happily, I do have video files on my hard drive and if you have real player or windows media you would be able to enjoy a greater sensory experience.
Anyway. Back to work time.
The word of the day is toxic multinodular goitre and if you know what the hell that is you're a more enlightened being than I. I'm sufficiently chuffed by the fact that I've worked out how to spell it.
Anyway, I have now mastered the forward, backward and split swing, as well as the butterfly, and am working on getting the hang of the Giant Butterfly, but all this progress has not been without its cost to my person.
Poi at velocity packs quite a punch let me assure you and the only thing more unpleasant than having a poi slam into your ear full force, is to have it slam into the ear you have cartiledge piercings in. Still, it is fun, and if the decent weather holds tomorrow I am decamping to the nearest open grassy space where I can practice without endangering the furniture, or having books rain down on my head. (Damn you, low cielings!)
Finally, courtesy of my old mate insomnia and some spiffy softward meepettemu pointed me towards I now have a respectable collection of mp3s (and Meatloaf's Bat Out of Hellstuck in my head).
I was hunting music of my old land, so if anyone who is intrigued (rather than say, horrified) by the idea of Gypsy and Yugoslav folk music and wants me to burn them a CD, please leave a comment telling me so.
Although I very much doubt you'd be able to understand the words, in case of Gypsy music this is not a huge loss as the words make little enough sense anyway. ( e.g *the lily of the valley is blossoming/ the lily of the valley is blossoming/ for everyone but me/ the roads left and I remained* or *a pine tree grows in a forest/a pine tree grows in a forest/it grows green*). But anyway. The music is interesting. Gypsies from my part of the world are famous for their brass bands and they are rather good. I've watched them make music from some of the unlikeliest things, like a comb, or a leaf. (If you have seen any of Kusturica's films you'll know what I'm talking about)
I do not have comb and leaf mp3s, ore's the pity, but there is brass band and tambourine music though and the warped and fascinating mutant that is Serbian neo-folk (although for this, mp3s don't do it justice, you really need the videos of the women prancing around in black leather catsuits and things of that ilk). Happily, I do have video files on my hard drive and if you have real player or windows media you would be able to enjoy a greater sensory experience.
Anyway. Back to work time.
The word of the day is toxic multinodular goitre and if you know what the hell that is you're a more enlightened being than I. I'm sufficiently chuffed by the fact that I've worked out how to spell it.