Possibly not spam ramblings and links from the edge of the universe

21May/100

All my children, and by children I mean poi

Posted by dracoling

Everyone knew it was only a matter of time before I finally wrote something about my latest and most lasting awesome hobby of doom, so here we go!

First Part - What is poi?

Poi is a performance art in which a ball or balls suspended from a length of flexible material, usually a plaited cord, are held in the hand and swung in circular patterns. Poi is one of the traditional performing arts of the Māori people of New Zealand, and has developed many forms used worldwide as a hobby, exercise, or performance art alongside juggling and other forms of object manipulation.
(says Wikipedia)

Part the second - Why?
Favorite answer: Why not?!

Well, this is a hard one for me to explain... no wait, it's not. Its because it's fun and it looks freakin cool!

The one important thing they don't mention above (because they're focusing on the basics) is that many/most poi spinners (in my experience) prefer to spin objects that are lit in some way. I generally spin glowing LED powered ones. Later this summer you'll find me LIGHTING THINGS ON FIRE AND SPINNING THEM AROUND ME DAFSASF!!!!!@#HHGH#@

Yes, you heard right, we light things on fire, and swing them around our bodies.

Part III - Danger Will Robinson!
Q: Wait, fire? Isn't that dangerous?
A: Yes, so is breathing, especially in Jersey, ever heard of cancer? ugh.

Life is short. Light things on fire!
... I feel like that should be a t-shirt or something.

Seriously though, when you take the appropriate precautions there's only a small risk of being harmed or harming others, most of which can be avoided by not being a complete jackass and/or trying with things that aren't on fire first.

Plus, did I forget to mention that it looks awesome?

Section 4: the revenge of the section (or, how do I do this poi thing anyway?)
The best way to learn poi is to just do it.
The easiest way to just do it is to learn poi.

Wait, I made a circle. Lets step back.

Poi at its heart is simply object manipulation. You put a weight on a string, you spin the object around. Suddenly this is poi.

Have keys on a lanyard? Have a tube sock and an orange? Piece of string and a banana?
All of this can be poi! (or breakfast... except the keys)!

Sure, you can spend lots of money buying cool toys, but who wants to wait for shipping when you could start hitting yourself and looking like an idiot right now!

I'm going to update this later today with some links to awesome tutorial videos and pictures, maybe if you're lucky I'll post up where to get the same toys I use.
Until then, hold your breath... okay?

I'm gonna go spin. seeya in a bit.
[To Be Continued...]

28Jan/100

I didn’t forget

Posted by dracoling

I just have nothing to say. I wasted all my creative energies in the first 10 seconds of the broadcast tonight. If you want to watch 21 minutes of yammering on about nothing at all, feel free to watch the video.

I'm going to bed. I'll do a filler post with links and stuff in the morning, I'm just not into it right now.

25Jan/102

Heavy Metal!

Posted by dracoling

I was asked today "are you in to heavy metal?"

This question confused me, until I thought about the two chainmail cuffs on my wrists and the long hair. I said "I guess, I'm into a lot of music".

On the way in to work this morning I was sorta sleeping to Oren Lavie's album The Opposite Side of the Sea, on the subway I was doing some Daft Punk, and on the way home it was Rockapella.  But yeah, sometimes I'm into heavy metal. Mostly chainmaile and webservers 😉

PS: For those of you who noticed: yes, I did almost miss posting today, it was an astoundingly hectic day at work. Massive virus outbreak threatened the youtube-ability of all those poor office workers and I had to beat it back into submission!

PPS: if anyone felt like commenting on this or any other entry, that'd be awesome. Sometimes I like feeling like this is going nowhere, and sometimes I don't.

PPPS: Don't forget this thursday is the first episode of Boredom Rampant. I'm still accepting suggestions (hint, hint).

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