Spuds decided to re-envision the show open for "SwingNation" as a 1980's era sitcom, complete with the soft jazzy intro music, freezeframes, slow city establishing shots, and other more. Warning: For those of you of a certain age, this might provoke flashbacks.
Freestyle House Session in Golden Gate Park
Some friends and I have been getting together in Golden Gate Park to work on our house dance technique. "Sessioning," as house dancers call it. We all consider ourselves at various states of newbie-ness. So getting over that hump of practicing regularly can be really intimidating. Yes, you can "session" by yourself in your apartment…
Small Changes for a Big Planet: Eating Less Meat
I love beef. Hamburgers, steaks, corned beef, beef rendang, pastrami, meatballs… I could just keep going. Other meats too: lamb, chicken, pork. Love 'em all. But I also love living on this planet, and would like this planet to stay beautiful, ecologically diverse and healthy forever. So I'm making some small changes for myself and…
Difference between a Geeky Costume and a Nerdy Costume
Nikki and Bobby Killing Electro-swing Routine
Speaking of electro-swing: check out this killer electro-swing dance routine by dancers Nikki and Bobby. There's everything I love in there: some house, some solo jazz, some lindy hop, and some popping, perfectly executed. Songs: "Allez Viens" by Bart and Baker and "Mambo Fever" by Lazy Flow
Other Examples of Lindy Hoppers Dancing to Hip-hop / Electronica / Electro-swing
The now viral video from Montreal Swing Riot has gotten a lot of people excited about the potential for combining lindy hop with other street dances and more contemporary music. As a lindy hopper, b-boy and a house dancer, I'm always on the lookout for cool collaborations, competitions and performances that bring these different styles together. Here…
Montreal Swing Riot brings together Lindy Hop and Hip Hop
This video from the 2014 Montreal Swing Riot has been going viral, at nearly 50K views only a day after being published. It shows the invitational battle between some awesome lindy hoppers and a group of street dancers, including b-boys, krumpers, poppers, and lockers. You can see the mutual respect and admiration from all of…
Sexist Makers of Anti-math Socks for Women Mess with the Wrong Math Teacher
My friend and veteran math teacher Cindy posted to her blog "100 Handwritten Notes" this brilliant, face-palming interchange between her and a clothing business called BlueQ. TLDR: Cindy writes ranty, but erudite email to company for selling a females-only sock with a message about hating math. Company owner replies dismissively, and accidently includes internal email…
Health Check: Three Months and Running…
On my 45th birthday in July, I resolved to resume a regular exercise regime for my health and well-being. For just under three months I’ve been doing a morning run three times a week, Monday, Wednesday and Saturday mornings. I’ve logged about 90-100 total miles over that time period. On the plus side, I’ve enjoyed…
Highlights of Walt Disneyworld: African Safaris, Scary Drops, and Spell-casting
Last week, I and some friends had an amazing time visiting the Walt Disneyworld and Universal Studios theme parks in Orlando. It was a fantastic opportunity to catch up on the explosion of themeparks since the last time I was there about 18 years ago. Walt Disneyworld is of course the grand-daddy of them all,…