Interesting, if convoluted, video story from the New York Post about a "bone flexing" battle in New York. The reporter connects this newest street / vernacular dance form with older hip-hop styles like breaking and tutting, and even with lindy hop. I know it's an old story from 2009, but I liked the connections…
The Chef’n Dual Pepperball: Elegant Practicality
I've been working out of my sister's pad in Mission Bay, SF for the past week. The thing you have to understand about my sister is that she has a particular aesthetic sense, sort of Swedish practicality plus Japanese asceticism, and a dash of hedonism. So her apartment reflects that: lots of clean lines, uncluttered…
Gauchos bring Gypsy Jazz to the Mission
On Wednesday night I had the pleasure of catching the Gauchos jazz sextet perform at the delightfully divey Amnesia Bar in the Mission District. The Gauchos play mostly gypsy jazz, ala Django Rheinhart, throwing in some other tango and New Orleans street jazz for good measure. They got some serious chops, tight grooves, and…
America’s Best Dance Crew: S6 Ep3 “The Black Eyed Peas Challenge”
America's Best Dance Crew (Season 6) – MTV Shows I caught America's Best Dance Crew season six, episode three tonight. Each crew was tasked with dancing to a Black Eyed Peas song and with one trick move or illusion — not that tough since it's early in the season. Here's my notes from the episode:…
LookBack Maps: Bringing the Past to the Present with Augmented Reality
I have been playing around with augmented reality apps lately, seeing how they might be used for education and civic engagement. The field is still in its beginning stages, but we are already starting to see some interesting applications of AR. Of course, augmented reality applications have been around since the early 1990s. But it…
Street Dance Meets Classical: Lil Buck Jookin to Yoyo Ma (video)
This unexpected collaboration between cellist Yoyo Ma and hip-hop / jookin dancer Lil Buck has been circulating around the webasphere recently. Definitely intriguing and skillfully performed. I can't fault either Yoyo Ma's playing or Lil Buck's dancing, both of which are world-class. But I have a hard time seeing what the connection is between…
Bay Area National Dance Week starts this Friday: Get your lindy on!
From Friday, April 22 to Sunday, May 1, dancers and lovers of dance in the San Francisco Bay Area will get to enjoy 400+ free dance happenings during the Bay Area National Dance Week. There's a huge range of events, including classes, performances, film showings and demonstrations happening all around the Bay. Whether you are…
A San Francisco Monday: Bayside Jog, Coffee Snobbery, Food Truckin, and Swank Swing
I had a fantastic Monday in San Francisco that reminds me of why I'm so excited about living here. I woke up early, threw on my sneaks and headed out from the pad I'm crashing at in Mission Bay. Then I went for an energizing 2 mile run by the waterside through the Embaracadero and…
Glorious Timelapse of Milky Way from El Teide, Spain (video)
The most amazing time-lapse video ever. Photographer Terje Sorgjerd shot these amazing time-lapse images from El Teide, the highest peak in Spain earlier this month. I wish I had a better word than "awesome," but this simply inspires awe. Watch it in HD, turn up the speakers. Thanks for tweeting this out, Swifty!
Social Media Stats and Ego Stroking
Noise to Signal Cartoon Rob Cottingham hits it on the head for me with this cartoon. I must admit that I'm addicted to my blog, Twitter, and even my Flickr stats. It's like a never ending search for validation that I'm an interesting, cool, insightful person. Somehow this is going to make up for all…