the least interesting blog ever

Firespinning Classes in Sacramento

silence — Sun, 06 Apr 2008 19:26:38 GMT

I'll be teaching on tuesday nights at 7:15 in downtown sacramento (8th street, near J & H). Weekly, Staff or poi. Also private classes by appointment. Fire poi and fire staffs (as well as wick and hardware) are also available for sale, at the studio or otherwise. Message me for more details on classes or fire props....

Vulcan Spinagogue Nov 9th-11th @ The Vulcan in Oakland, CA

silence — Thu, 11 Oct 2007 04:16:37 GMT

We're doing it again... If you didn't make the last one you should check out the video below. Last time was all poi... this time all sticks. Only ten spots, and three are already filled, so if you want to join us don't be slow to respond. The food looks even better this time, there are two new instructors and a really good reason for a party on that Saturday night... ************************************************************************** Join us for a weekend of intense staff spinning at The Vulcan Spinagogue. What is Spinagogue? www.youtube.com/watch Spinagogue is a weekend intensive designed to radically improve your skills while immersing you in Bay Area fire scenery: 10 workshops, 4 catered meals plus snacks, a fire jam at NIMBY and the debut of the new DVD "Contact Staff" at the Nov 10th premier screening party. The Vulcan is a hotbed of fire arts located in the heart of "lovely" industrial East Oakland. In addition to hosting the east bay's best and brightest spin jam, the Vulcan is home to over 75 local performers and artisans of all types. Three workshop spaces and two living areas inside the Vulcan will host our festivities. Free Lodging (sorry, just couches) will be available Friday through Sunday for participants from outside the bay area. Additionally, hotels are available locally starting at about $80 a night. A typical day at the Vulcan? www.youtube.com/watch The weekend costs $180 including food, workshops and fun, including an $80 non-refundable deposit. Please Note: In order to limit class size, registration will be capped at 10 participants! Check out the schedule of events below as well as the workshop descriptions... and contact us SOON to reserve your place at: sanfranfire@gmail.com ************************************************************************* SCHEDULE OF EVENTS Friday the 9th: Meet, Greet and Eat. We begin the weekend with a welcome dinner at the Vulcan. There will be four amazing vegan meals prepared for us by by TheTravelingChef over the weekend which are all included in the ticket price. Dinner will begin promptly at 7pm. tempe enchilada w/mole sauce roasted corn with pumpkin seed/chili coating fried green bean salad The Tropical Tripod... mmm, desert Sounds good huh... Afterwards, stay and spin. Spinagogue instructors will be on hand to assess your spinning progress, help you set goals for the weekend and finalize class selection. Saturday the 10th: Workshops, workshops, workshops, PARTY! Workshops begin at 12pm and run till 8pm. Brunch at 11am, dinner at 8pm, snacks all day. Saturday night the "Contact Staff" DVD release will bring a slice of the bay area fire scene to the table as we get fed and then get funky with a whole host of fiery friends. After dinner kick back with a drink for the premier screening of the new DVD... and then put on your party hat. lunch parsnip stew grilled tofe panini w/ shitake dressing dinner cranberry pecan yam wontons w/ apple cider sauce apple spinach beet salad w/ cherry vinagrette breaded fried seitan in creamy wine sauce w/ peas, fried onions and grilled artichoke hearts roasted potatoes w/ cloves sautéed winter greens w/ sun dried tomatoes and mushrooms Fig and Pumpkin tart w/ chocolate sauce Sunday the 11th: Workshops, dinner, fire. Workshops begin at 12pm and run till 6:30pm. Brunch at 11am, snacks all day and a 7:00 dinner. lunch water... crust of bread. dinner Funtastic Finger Food Feast! mmm... fingers NIMBY! 9pm-11pm. After dinner we'll be headed out to NIMBY for a goodbye spin at one of the bay area's premier fire arts warehouses. www.nimbyspace.org/ ***************************************************************************** WORKSHOPS Staff I: Michael "Mooch" Mucciolo An Introduction to staff spinning for the novice. Learn the fundamentals including the importance of parallel-plane spinning and how to maximize control, spins and fluidity. Both forwards and reverse directional spinning will be key. You will also learn the basics of throwing and catching. This class is mandatory for all participants without previous staff experience. Staff II: Elias Repka Take your basic staff spinning to the next level by incorporating more complex body movement using your body to move the staff, more challenging throws and catches, behind the back, through the legs and working with the shapes the fire can make. Tech Staff Dance: Ian Smith In this class we will learn technique that incorporates your body into your spinning: How to adjust your body to the staff making your movement smooth; how to use your body as a lever to move the staff where you want it to go; how to use the momentum of the staff to initiate body movement. We will also spend time on more unusual technique that doesn't involve spinning in the proper sense. Contact Staff I: Noel Yee An introduction to contact staff manipulation with an emphasis on further learning. This class will take you through the basics of wraping, rolling and spiraling with a staff. Hand, elbow, shoulder and neck wraps; halos and backside spirals. Double Staff I: Greg Maldonado Learn double staff from the ground up in this class designed for the beginner. After a thorough examination of the many myriad ways to manipulate a staff we begin combining techniques to seamlessly integrate a second staff. Contact Staff II: Silence In this class you will learn how to integrate new contact staff material into your pre-existing technique. This class will teach techniques that will enable you to maintain continuous contact with the staff whether in the horizontal or vertical plane. The class will cover topics such as duck outs, propellers, fishtails, lifts and advanced hand wrapping. Contact Staff experience recommended for this class. Double Staff II: Krissy Humphreys A trip further into the expansive world of double staff manipulation. This class will focus on Hybrid technique while also exploring anti-spin and isolation. Dance Dance Information: Katherine Tesch A staff can make a great dance partner. Explore staff manipulation from a dance based perspective with an emphasis on integrating body and prop. Stick on Stick Contact: Noel Yee Learn how to manipulate two staffs while they are in contact with one another. This class will teach moves such as how to propeller one staff with another, how to wrap staffs over one another and how to hold the staffs in a cross. No contact staff experience required! Bring your longer double staffs to this class. Video Review: Noel Yee and Greg Maldonado Greg and Noel have scoured the web for the best of the best in staff manipulation. Let them take you on a tour of the best teaching tool in the world... the internet. Photo: Francois Boucher, Vulcan Presenting Venus with Arms for Aeneas

How is you being lost my problem?

silence — Wed, 11 Jul 2007 00:00:04 GMT

Look, I'm sorry you're lost, really, I am... Yes, quite sure you are in the wrong spot. Nope, that name isn't me, this place isn't there. I'm sure that you really need to be wherever you think you're going. I can see from the look on your face that you're probably late. Perhaps you're trying to get to a job interview, or an important meeting. I can imagine that you just might be totally fucked if you can't find your way. I feel you, chief, I've been there myself. Or more specifically, I've been here, not so much there, since that isn't where you are right now. Yes, I can see that the address you have is for this location, and your little google printout of directions and maps has put a shiny star right over this location, but I'm telling you, pal, you are in the wrong place. I don't have a clue what you are talking about, and I've never heard of where you want to be... moreover, I don't know you, I can't help you, and I'm at work and I've got other things to be doing. Look, I've seen your directions. You've got the wrong place. This is a big building, and lucky me, if you don't have the suite number you get directions to here. No I don't have a directory of the building, even if you had the suite number I wouldn't know where it is. Nope, don't have that phone number you forgot to write down... I am of no use to you or your navigational needs. Asking three times, or speaking more slowly isn't going cause me to develop the ability to assist you. I'm not retarded, and I have at least a limited grasp of the english language, but, you see, I'm just not the right guy to help you. That guy is somewhere else, and perhaps you should go find them... here, I'll help you out a bit. Since we know that that he isn't here, by a process of logical deduction, one can assume he is on the other side of this door you just came through. That's the one. Steady now, don't doubt yourself now. Almost there... No, seriously, don't turn to ask me the same questions. Yes, I'm sure. You've obviously got me confused with someone else - someone, perhaps, that give even the slightest shit about who you are, what you want, or whatever the fuck buisiness you are not on in this particular location. Chop, chop, now. Time's a-wastin', and you've clearly got somewhere to be.

Poi workshop in Oakland, July 13th-15th

silence — Tue, 12 Jun 2007 21:18:21 GMT

I'll be helping teach a workshop next month in Oakland, with the Vulcan crew - it should be a lot of fun, some very fun, talented people are in on this. If anyone is interested, the posting and contact information is below... >>>> Join us for a weekend of intense poi at The Vulcan Spinagogue. Spinagogue is a weekend poi intensive designed to radically improve your poi skill while immersing you in Bay Area fire scenery: 12 workshops, 4 catered meals plus snacks, a fire jam at NIMBY and a trip to the Crucible's Fire Arts Festival. The Vulcan is a hotbed of fire arts located in the heart of "lovely" industrial East Oakland. In addition to hosting the east bay's best and brightest spin jam, the Vulcan is home to over 75 local performers and artisans of all types. Three workshop spaces and two living areas inside the Vulcan will host our festivities. Free Lodging (sorry, just couches) will be available Friday through Sunday for participants from outside the bay area. Additionally, hotels are available locally at about $70 a night. The weekend costs $160 including food, workshops and fun, including a $60 non-refundable deposit. The Crucible Fire Arts Festival is an additional optional $40 ticket. Please Note: In order to limit class size, registration will be capped at 10 participants, 5 beginner and 5 intermediate. Beginner: You have learned several tricks and spent the time to become comfortable with them. A 90 min practice session does not sound overwhelming. Intermediate: You are comfortable with a wide variety of basics and have experimented with some of the following: isolations, stalls, pendulums, polyrhythm, anti-spin, atomics, tosses, etc. Check out the schedule of events below as well as the workshop descriptions... and contact us SOON to reserve your place at: sanfranfire@gmail.com ************************************************************************** Schedule of Events Friday the 13th(!): Meet, greet and eat. We begin the weekend with a welcome dinner at the Vulcan. There will be four amazing vegan meals prepared for us over the weekend which are all included in the ticket price. Dinner will begin promptly at 5pm. At 7pm we will be heading out to The Crucible Fire Arts Festival (July 12th-14th). "Seventh Annual Fire Arts Festival—an amazing open-air exhibition of fire performance, fire sculpture, and interactive fire art. Here, you will see artists who work with fire, taming and shaping this wild element. Flames flicker on the antlers worn by stiltwalking performers; dancers spin flaming balls and hoops of fire. Metal sculptures blaze—and fire itself is sculpted to form a blazing tornado that towers above the crowd." www.thecrucible.org/fireartsfestival/ Sounds good huh...Tickets are $40 and are NOT included in the price of the weekend. If you plan on attending this event as well please let us know. We will be forming a mob to cheer for Spinagogue instructors Ian Smith and KT. After the event we will be returning to The Vulcan for a night of relaxation and preparation for... Saturday the 14th: Workshops, workshops, workshops Workshops begin at 12pm and run till 8pm. Brunch at 11am, dinner at 8pm snacks all day. Saturday night KEEP SPINNING as we jam with Bay Area spinners at The Vulcan. Sunday the 15th: Workshops, dinner, fire. Workshops begin at 12pm and run till 6:30pm. Brunch at 11am, snacks all day and at 6:30 a special dinner. We'll be inviting a whole host of folks from the bay area spin scene to enjoy this final meal with us, so get ready to make some friends. NIMBY! 9pm-11pm. After dinner we'll be headed out to NIMBY for a goodbye spin at one of the bay area's premier fire arts warehouses. www.nimbyspace.org/ Late night diner? mmm... breakfast... ***************************************************************************** Workshops Twelve workshops in all with two tracks, one for poi beginners, and one for intermediate students. Four of the classes are targeted at your level (8 in all), with four more workshops attended by everyone. Beginner Saturday: Aileen Lawlor: Beginner Poi Greg Maldonado: Timing and Direction Sunday: Krissy Humphreys: Flowers Greg Maldonado: Nü Poi Fundamentals Intermediate Saturday: Noel Yee (Noel-ski): I-3... Isolation, Inversions and Insides Noel Yee (Noel-ski): Under the Leg and Through Wraps Sunday: KT: Dance Dance Information Ian Smith: Spin from the Hip Everybody Saturday: Silence and Ayala, of FLUX: Beginning Partner Poi Greg Maldonado: Video Viewing Sunday: Ian Smith: Poi Dance for Everybody Noel Yee (Noel-ski): Video Viewing Krissy Humphreys: Flowers Learn the full scope of the class of tricks known as flowers. Cover all the variations of timing and direction... three, four, five and more petals... wall plane and wheel plane... now let's learn it all again in anti-spin! Aileen Lawlor: Beginner Poi The beginners' class will cover planes, timing and direction, weaves, butterflies, corkscrews, pinwheels and lockouts. Emphasis will be placed on ensuring that students have a solid grasp of tricks from every category. Noel Yee (Noel-ski): Under the Leg and Through-Wraps Get your legs and arms involved by learning techniques that can be used to push the poi through negative space under you and around and between parts of the body. Techniques here include elbow, foot, knee and neck through-wraps, weaves and butterflies under the legs. Noel Yee (Noel-ski): I-3... Isolation, Inversions and Insides In this class the theory and practice of poi isolations will be discussed. Learn how to place isolations around your body and into tricks you already know. In addition, discover the world of inversions and insides though simple tricks devised to make learning tech-poi FUN! Noel Yee (Noel-ski): Video Viewing Noel's tour of the best and brightest poi spinners on the internet. Silence and Ayala, of FLUX: Beginning Partner Poi An introductory level class covering technical moves and choreography in relation to poi duets. Technical emphasis will be on two-person interactive moves, rather than simultaneous moves. How to choreograph a routine from scratch will also be discussed. Bring a partner or find one in class. Ian Smith: Poi Dance for Everybody You move your poi... have you ever let your poi move you? Join Ian to explore some ideas about how body movement can influence your poi and vice versa. Ian Smith: Spin from the Hip This class is all about the pretty under-curve that the wrist does when transitioning at the hip. We will examine underutilized and less complicated versions of moves you probably already know, like the 2-beat weave, as well as some new techniques. Using the hip transition can make the same pattern look completely different, and the audience will notice the difference between the 3-beat and 5-beat weave. Greg Maldonado: Timing and Direction (aka The Best Shoulder Workout Ever) This class is an in-depth look at timing and direction. Emphasis will be placed on learning the look and feel of the four primary combinations of timing and direction with poi. Exercises designed to extend your range of control with each of these combinations will be taught. Greg Maldonado: Nü Poi Fundamentals Pendulums and 1.5's, Isolation boot camp and stalls, anti-spin! Greg Maldonado: Video Viewing Greg will lead you on a tour of his favorite performance videos asking the question "What makes a video/performance entertaining?" Time will also be dedicated to analyzing the variety of aesthetic presentations (making fun of people). Hours of the internet's finest for your perusal. ********************************************************************************* If you have questions, comments or are interested in joining us for this special event contact us at: sanfranfire@gmail.com

Burning metal slag down the back of my shirt...

silence — Wed, 21 Jun 2006 00:18:53 GMT

So a few weeks ago we went to the lost coast for a deeply isolated beach party, which included the standard types of fun fare for such events, though this time fate threw us some off-road rally racing action and a bit of river crossing as well, it turns out, but I digress from the point. As every attendee was a science type, we just couldn't help but do a 'study' on the effects of fuel mixes in caged spark poi. The above picture is 100% fine soaked in white gas. This is not a time lapse. While pretty, 2 seconds is about all this one had in it. Coarse sent the largest sparks the farthest distance, but proved quite difficult to ignite evenly, even upon treatment with white gas and use of a torch in the place of a lighter. Upon further experimentation, it was shown that a mixture of 50:50 coarse to fine was optimal for ignition of the coarse, while maintaining sufficient coarse material for a significant burn time and travel distance. Also of note, coarse will burn right the fuck into your skin, protect those eyes and try not to send them down the back of the shirt. Further, the zinc plating on the galvy cages melted off and imbedded itself into my pants, surviving several washes until treated with acetic acid. Next time remove zinc plating with a mild acid bath, and treat with rust inhibiting oil product. Lastly, effective breakdown of pads (1/2 pad of each per cage) and mixing is needed for complete combustion.

Please do not feed the slime mold.

silence — Thu, 11 May 2006 01:18:33 GMT

I'm serious. I know that you think it is funny that a giant slime mold is growing in that bottle of 1M HEPES pH 7.5 in the preparative lab. I think it is funny as well. Where does it get the phosphate and sulfate, let alone trace metals, that are required for all life? A facinating question, indeed, but a question best left until another time. So I must ask you, somewhat dear friend and coworker, please do not feed the slime mold. ...but no. You wouldn't listen. You just _HAD_ to feed the goddamn thing. First it was with 2xYT, and then it was dextrose. Oh, you think it is SO fucking funny that we have a contaminant organism as a lab pet. Take that cockroaches, eh? I asked you nicely to stop, I warned you of massive all-lab contamination, spores everywhere, allergic reactions, but you wouldn't listen. You even put the thing on a shelf over your desk. Is it fucking funny now? Huh? Is it? I don't seem to hear you laughing? Not even a smile? Well let us examine why that might be, you stupid, stupid primate. Your 'pet' produces energy principly by oxidative phosphorylation. A byproduct of that process is carbon dioxide release. your grapefruit sized slimemold needs a lot of energy, which you thankfully supplied, which produces a lot of gas. Opening the bottle to feed it a bit more each week, screwing the cap back on tightly each time... hmmm what might be the problem with that. I guess one of those times you let it go a bit to long, and the pressure built up.... ...just sit there at your desk and look stunned. Though the stench is overwhelming, and every fraction of my being want to leave the room to fresh air, I'll wait to see what you do next. Will you run for the safety shower and try to wash two months of waste from slimemold growth off of your skin? Or will you franticly try to dry off your laptop only to then dash it against the wall in frustration? ...or maybe you should just focus on that poor, sad, slowly dessicating slimemold. You just might be able to save it.

I've got your electron denisty map right here.

silence — Sat, 18 Mar 2006 01:53:03 GMT

Oh yeah, look at that binding site. Makes my panties wet just looking at it.

Who the fuck is allergic to nitrile?

silence — Tue, 14 Mar 2006 22:13:09 GMT

You know when you go to the doctor, and they ask "do you have any sensitivity to latex," or something to that effect? Well if you have such a problem, they don't grope on you with latex gloves, they chose to opt for the nitrile gloves for any subsequent gropage. Nitrile gloves are a bit less comfy, and usually are in god-awful colors like powder blue or purple (the purple nitrile gloves were a bit of a status symbol a few years ago in one more retarded incident of bio-lab fashion)- but in a chem-lab situation they have some added resistance to a variety of nasty solvents. I have never heard of an allergy to nitrile, however, empirical evidence suggests that I may be such a case. Fascinating. Actually, it really isn't..

I still can't get my site directed mutagenesis to work...

silence — Thu, 09 Mar 2006 00:42:24 GMT

I've noticed that people routinely post interesting tidbits of personal information into blogs. Not me. This is my first blog posting ever, and I've decided to exclusively post mundane and uninteresting technical details about topics such as preparative biological research, proper snowboard waxing technique, and automobile maintenance. In short, I will attempt to bore my audience with details of my life. I recognize that this is of only slight contrast to most blogs, which succeed this goal without attempting it, however I will endeavor to out rote-detail them all. This is my pledge, my bond, to you, dear and loyal reader. I will not entertain you. Entry 0001: Judging by the lack of colonies on my LB-carb plates today it appears that my site-directed mutagenesis (quickchange for those crazy kids out there) was again unsuccessful. As out T4 ligase appears inactive, due to unwise placement of the cooler in a frost-free -20C, perhaps the pfu turbo is trashed as well. I'll also assay the TPST2 construct Leiza gave me, just a quick digest to see if there is an insert and a transformation to check antibiotic resistance. Assuming her competence, tomorrow I'll try the two-step site-dir-mut process suggested by Wang and Malcolm (PMID 10343905), which should circumvent the likely problem of primer-dimer formation (which competes with template-primer complexation). This process will use new pfu-turbo and new dNTPs, and be three cycles of primer extension with only each of the two primers in a separate reaction, which will then be mixed and followed by the traditional SDM reaction. Huh? Pretty dull. I've even bored myself. Luckily I have a protein prep to keep me entertained.