Kendama Edit #2!

We've made yet another edit! And we're filming more today ;]

Back, and Better Than Ever

I get the feeling that 9/10ths of my followers don't even use this site anymore, I mean it has been months since I've been on.
BUT I'm back now, and damn; I look back to my old posts and see how lame they were!

I'd like to start off by showing my most recent edit of my kendama crew!

Now, I'm just going to assume that none of you have any idea what the f#@k a kendama even is.

If I could put it in the simplest terms possible, I'd say that it's 'ball-in-a-cup on steroids'.
Kendama consists of a ball with a hole in it, and a stick with 3 cups and a spike on it. The spike fits perfectly in the ball's hole, and the ball fits perfectly in all three of the cups (though 2 of the 3 cups are smaller & harder to land the ball in).
Now. APPRECIATE THIS VIDEO. <3

M'Black - Heartbreak (Bare Noize Remix) Visualization

Quick post. I spend about 4 hours today making this video from scratch (including the 2ish hours it took for my laptop to render.)
It's the first time I've ever tried to create a visualization for a song, and it turned out better than I expected it would although I'm still not as pleased with it as I could be.

Anyways, I hope you enjoy it, I'm really obsessed with this song right now.

Lots of STUFF

Wow. It's been so long since I've posted >_< School started, Senior year is kicking my ass. So much work. 3 AP classes, extra curriculars, etc. You know the deal.

Anyways, I've found some time between all that to make a few videos.

This post is all about original content so I'm pretty pumped. I feel like no one else is frequently on here anymore either, but oh well.

I have a variety of videos to show you all. I guess I'll just do one big post since I'm never on here, instead of splitting them up, so please, enjoy them!

Alright, first up I finally made a video of me doing some real magic! It's a short card production called 'Thunderbird', I hope you like it :D

Ok, next is just a random edit that I made of myself and a few friends blowing raspberries in slow motion. It's not really an interest or anything, but I love the video :D



And now, a video of my bestest friend, Noah, doing a 'Flag'.



Next up is probably the best edit I have ever made, it's a parkour edit, and it's over 3 minutes long; definitely making it the longest edit I have ever done.



You may notice (probably not) that I'm not in that video except once, and I wasn't even really doing anything. That's because the week prior to that, I f*cked up my toe pretty badly. Luckly, we got a video of this :p PLEASE DO NOT WATCH THIS VIDEO IF YOU ARE SQUEAMISH OR SCARED OF BLOOD.



Well there you have it. Aside from school, that's been my life for the past month(ish). I'm definitely going to try to post things on here a lot more often. I hope that I kept you entertained for a least a short amount of time :)

Fitballing

Sorry it's been a while since I posted last, it's been a hectic week! Anyways, on to another interest!

Fitballing! (Honestly there really isn't a true name for this, but it's what most people in the parkour/freerunning community call it.) Basically, you head on over to the beach, dig a big-ass hole in the sand, blow up your fitness ball, and bury it about three-quarters of the way in sand. Then you do flips 'n shit off of it! :D

I haven't personally had a chance to do this yet. But I'm headed to my favorite beach spot this coming weekend and I definitely plan on trying it out! I also definitely plan on filming everything I do, so expect some sort of lame edit in about a week :)

For now, I'm sure you want to see what I'm talking about, so check out this video!

I'll let you know my final thoughts on this activity after I have had a chance to experience it myself c:

Martial Arts Tricking

Let's move on to a new interest, yes?

I see Martial Arts Tricking as sort-of like a sub-genre of Parkour/Free Running. I've been doing it on/off ever since I started Free Running, I'm not great at it in the least bit, it definitely takes a lot of training to get truly good at it, but it's definitely a hell of a lot of fun.

Martial Arts Tricking: Tricking (martial arts tricking) is the informal name of a relatively new underground alternative sport movement, combining martial arts, gymnastics, and other activities to create an aesthetic blend of flips, kicks, and twists.

Now, if you're wondering what in the hell I'm talking about, check out this video c:
This video is the highlights from Team Loopkicks, one of the largest MAT teams that I know of, and it is absolutely insane.

Now if you've been inspired by this to go & try and learn some MAT, just search up YouTube, there are tutorials & how-to's galore.

Final Thoughts: People are always immensely impressed watching me/others do even just the simplest MAT moves. It's fun, a great workout, and will definitely impress the ladies ;)

Dreadlocks, Dreadlocks, Dreadlocks

Dreadlocks! C: After 8 hours of intense labor, 4 movies, and a LOT of time on YouTube, my friend Cheyenne and I finally finished backcombing all of my hair.

I've had my dreadlocks (though I shouldn't even really call them that because they're not dreadlocks YET, they still have to lock up which will take a couple weeks+) for 2 days, and I LOVE THEM.

I look extremely weird, my hair is short, and my dreadlocks are not pretty in the least bit, but I am completely happy with them and I cannot wait to see how they grow and mature.

As for if I'm going to make a blog about dreads, I am not. Simply because I wouldn't have enough to make a good blog but, since it is included in my interests, whenever something worth talking about happens with my hair, or if I have some advice or anything of that sort, I will post it on this blog c:

Enough of the rambling though, I suppose the most important part, probably the only part that people will actually look at in this post; pictures.

Like I said, I look really bad :p but I'm kind of at the point where I really just don't give a f**k what people think of me anymore, so enjoy!

Before

After

Two Small Updates

Update 1: Pole Vault.

I'm getting better! :D I had about a two weeks span recently where I started doing really badly and I just could not get anything tuned in right, but I'm getting my groove back & figured I'd share with you guys, a video from my last weeks practice. It's by far not my best vault, but I'm getting there.

The bungy cord that I went over was at around 13 feet. Which means that I only have to get up 4 more inches to leave my school with a school record! :D

Update 2: Dreadlocks.

Yesterday, my girlfriend and I began the process of backcombing my hair to put an early start on my dreadlocks. As of right now, only the back of my hair is dreaded. We are going to spend the rest of today working on the front of my hair. Of course, it will still take a couple weeks of my head looking very nappy and stupid for my hair to start looking like good dreadlocks, but as for now, they actually look a lot better than I thought that they would. I will post pictures as soon as my whole head has been dreaded c:

Dreadlocks.

Dreadlocks. I think they are, by far, the most beautiful hair style one can get (as long it is done naturally.) And guess what? I'm starting mine in four days! I'm extremely excited. I've been waiting almost two months to start locing my hair.

For those who don't know; Dreadlocks are a natural hairstyle in which the hair is twisted into long matted or ropelike locs.

Dreadlocks occur naturally in any type of hair over time. All that is needed to be done is absolutely nothing. Your hair will start locking up overtime as long as it is not combed (ever) & chemical shampoos and conditioners are not used (this includes just about every shampoo & conditioner on the market.)

Many people get the wrong idea about dreadlocks, assuming that they are nasty, smell bad, never washed, not taken care of, etc. Where this may be true in some cases, it is almost always not true. A person who truly cares about their dreadlocks does wash them every couple of days, and for a long time, they actually do require a good bit of maintenance to keep them looking good.
You can wash dreadlocks. Just, not with products that are sold at normal stores. I will actually be making my own shampoo out of natural oils, to leave my hair soft(ish) & smelling goooood :)

Well, my whole reason for this post is that I have an idea, and a question for those of you who follow my blog:

Should I make a second blog, devoted to my experience to come, locking up my hair?

I figure I could post progress on how it looks, length, upkeep that I do, etc. Sound like a good idea? c:

Contact Juggling AND Light Shows

Ok, this will be a real short post. Not much to say about this one, almost everything that needs to be said about it has been said in other posts.
That being said, I had a post a while back about the wonders of Contact Juggling as well as my previous post about the joys of Rave Glove Light Shows. Well, needless to say, I was absolutely amazed when I came across this video of a couple guys doing an awesome combination of these two activities.
I hope you enjoy this video as much as I did c:

Rave Glove Light Shows

As you can see from my last post, I had an amazing time at the Skrillex concert that I went to. It wasn't a rave, but more of what you would get if you combined a rave with a metal concert.
I say this because it is related to my newest obsession, gloving.

Gloving comes in many different types & styles, but what it generally is, is you have gloves on that have LED's in each of the fingers, and usually an LED in your palm. You turn out the lights and perform 'light shows' with your hands.

Like I said, there are many different types & styles of it; such as finger tutting, liquids, rolling, etc.
I'm fairly new to the whole scene, so I'm not even going to attempt to try and describe each, or explain how they work, but I will share with you a couple of my favorite 'light shows' that I have come across.

Also, I'm going to start working on my own video of doing this, once my gloves come in the mail c: I've been practicing without anything a LOT since I saw someone doing it at the concert & I really love it and can't wait to get my gloves.

Here are two of my favorite light shows that I have come across, and that have been the inspiration for my practicing & whatnot:

This first one isn't the best of quality, but his style is probably my favorite of everyone that I have seen!

This second video is by a much more well known raving group, team[e]. This girl does mainly what is called 'finger tutting' & she is completely amazing at it.



Final Thoughts: Gloving is a lot of fun. It looks amazing, puts people in awe, (and though it hasn't been tested by me, personally) I completely assume that it will get you the girls c; I also love gloving because 1) you don't need gloves to practice it, which means that 2) you can practice it anytime, anywhere.

SKRILLEX

Five straight hours of soaking wet grinding, being thrown around uncontrollably, & insane, heart-shattering bass.

This is exactly what I experienced at the Skrillex concert that I went to last night.
6 Friends & I waited 5 hours outside the venue to ensure that we had front row, right close & personal with the artists. (and it was completely worth it)

The doors opened at about 8:30 pm, we got in first of course & went straight up to the stage to secure our spots. At about 9 pm Mysterio comes onto the stage (unexpected) and played his heart out. His live show wasn't all that great. They actually plan it so that the opening artists don't use much of the lighting at all, and they also keep them a bit quieter than the main artist (Skrillex). After about a half hour, Zedd comes on to play, they turn up the volume a bit & give him some more noise, it started getting a little intense. Then, after about an hour of Zedd playing, Porter Robinson comes on, again they turn up the volume a bit and give him some more effects, he did great, though he played a bit longer than I wanted (about an hour & 1/2 - 2 hours.)

Then after Porter Robinson, Skrillex comes on. All hell broke loose. They turn on 15 huge LED screen, bring out 2 additional subs, bring out dancers & the entire crowd just got insane.

If you're looking for an amazing f*cking concert to go to, go to a Skrillex concert. That was one of the best $30 I've ever spent.

If you don't know who I am talking about, here is a list of videos with each of the artists that appeared, in order.

Zedd


Porter Robinson


Skrillex

Final thoughts: If you're ever looking for an intense workout, ear-shattering bass, tons of gorgeous ladies & just an all-around awesome time; try going to a Skrillex concert. Oh.. and.. YES! OH MY GOD!

Hooping.

Hooping is an awesome activity. Personally I have never done it, I've never really had the time to get into it. My ex-girlfriend Amber is actually very good at it & that is how I have come to know about it. Though I don't do it, I do find it extremely interesting.

Hooping: generally refers to artistic movement and dancing with a hoop (or hoops) used as a prop or dance partner.

Now the reason that I am writing about this particular activity is because it is very, very closely related to Contact Juggling ( <-- my article on that). Both utilize the art of isolationism (giving the illusion that the object is still & your body is moving around it.)

Now, I figure that you have absolutely no idea what I am talking about, so check out this video! (Skip about a minute into the video to get into the good stuff.)

I'd really like to get into it, just for the fun of it.

Let me know what you think of it :)

Apologies.

Sorry for the absence. I've been on vacation for the 4th of July weekend. I'll be headed home in a day or two, and then I'll start posting more random, pointless stuff :)

Happy 4th of July to all of my fellow Americans!

Video Editing

This will be a real quick post, because there's not much to say. I've been trying out different video effects for quite some time now, I use Adobe's After Effects and I love it. I'm not great at it at all, but I do have a lot of fun with it.

I spent a few hours yesterday working on an effect, and that is the whole purpose of this post, so enjoy :)

Photography

Alright, 1) photography isn't unique at all and 2) I don't consider myself a photographer in the least bit.
But with that being said, I do love taking photos and I think that it deserves a post c:

Like I said, I am in no way a photographer, I don't even have a fancy camera :p I actually use my mom's blue little digital camera.

A few years ago I downloaded Adobe Photoshop and started learning how to use it, I have absolutely no artistic ability with my hands whatsoever, I can't draw, paint, etc at all. Though, I do have tons of ideas floating around in my mind that I wish that I could put down onto a medium. This is why Photoshop intrigued me so much, because it didn't take physical skill to get it to work, you just have to know how to work it and have the image in your head. Even if you take crappy photos, you can still use Photoshop to make them look fairly nice.

I don't think that I really have anything else to say about this topic, so I'll just list a few things that I have created over the years. Enjoy.

Slackline

Parkour

All Photoshop

Me

Random

Well that's all for now, if you like them &/or if you want me to keep putting up photos that I make, let me know :D

My Father

Okay, so this post has basically nothing to do with my blog at all.

But what the post is about is that my dad, Ben Ring, has started a blog and needs some help kicking it off.
His blog is extremely interesting. He writes of his journey through the years of dealing with, fighting and overcoming his severe depression. If you could just spare the time to read some of his entries, follow him, and promote his blog as well if you enjoy it.

You can check it out at Crazy Psychiatry. (http://crazypsychiatry.blogspot.com/)

Poi

Poi! You may have seen Poi before, but probably had no idea what it was called or what the purpose of it was.

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. (A great definition provided by Wikipedia :p)

Check out this gorgeous short video of a guy using some neon poi:

I've been into Poi for quite a while, but I stopped doing it and I'm not really sure why. I plan on getting back into it because my plan a while ago was to do Fire Poi for the talent show this year.

Poi is actually a very calming activity to do, and if you do it for more than a short amount of time, it starts to become a great workout, it helped tone my upper body a fair amount. It is also very easy to learn, there are tons and tons of tutorials, lessons, how-to's, etc all over the YouTube and the rest of the internet. Here is a great one to get you started:

You also don't even need any fancy equipment which means you don't even have to spend money on it! I spent probably my first 2 months doing Poi with two tube socks with a tennis ball in each one, it works great! Give it try!

Final Thoughts: Poi is relaxing, a good workout, an interesting way of meeting new people (including the ladies c;), and just an overall fun activity.

I'm Back :o

Sorry for not posting in a while! I've been ridiculously busy.
News! Yesterday I vaulted a new Personal Record of 13 feet!

And well, one of the reasons that I have been so busy is that I got my motorcycle license recently! I've been riding so much & I love it!

If you're looking for a thrill, or even just the fun and freedom of being on two wheels, try riding a motorcycle!
I enjoy riding because you're a part of a family when you're on a motorcycle. If you're driving around in a car and you see another person in a car, what do you do? Nothing.
When you're on a bike and you ride by someone else on a bike, you wave, and they wave. You recognize each other as "hey, you're a part of the family as well, you ride and I like that." It's quite neat and it makes you feel good :)

It's a short post, I know, but this is what I've been doing for the past week-ish.

Final Thoughts: Riding makes transportation a hell of a lot cheaper (it cost me $7 to fill up on gas this week) & it gets you the ladies, good God it gets you the ladies.

Pole Vault

Ahhhh pole vaulting :) I've been vaulting for 3 years now. I've done track & field for 3 years as well, but have never run an event, never jumped, never thrown, only vaulted. I love pole vault.Pole vaulting is really not for everyone, you need to be very athletic, you need the ability to teach your body to do very unorthodox things, and you really need dedication and the will to practice & fail, a lot.
I started vaulting my freshman year of highschool as just a random sport that I thought looked cool, and fun to do. It was extremely hard and I was terrible at it, and I did not take it seriously my first year at all.
My sophomore year I started learning from a private coach, outside of school, it was a huge advantage and it was what really made me fall in love with vaulting.
This past year, my junior year, I have taken it very seriously, and managed to win 1st place in my region c: I didn't do too hot in the state competition, though I've been training hard recently and I am going to be ready to take 1st place at state my senior year!
Now, I live in South Carolina, which is not a huge state for pole vault. I won my region championship only vaulting 12 feet. Currently my Personal Record is 13 feet 6 inches, and I will have to improve about 2 feet by the end of next year to be able to win State. (wish me luck c:)

Now, if you've never seen pole vault in action, check out this video. This is the current world record holder, Bubka, doing his thang.

Final thoughts: Pole vault is extremely hard, does not really do anything towards getting you the ladies, and is a ton of hard work. But it is so much fun :)

Magic!

Magic :D Probably one of my favorite things to do, ever. I absolutely love showing people magic tricks, and its so easy to learn tricks! From YouTube, to books to blogs, even, it's easy to find tutorials and how-to's of magic tricks. Though, all of the best stuff is stuff that you make up on your own. Just check this video out, it's a super easy trick to learn and master, but it absolutely drives people crazy when you pull it off.

Like I said, I love showing people magic. It's tough for me because I get very nervous in situations where people are focused on me :p but it's so worth it because of the reactions you get from people when you successfully pull off an illusion. It drives people crazy. Magic keeps people coming back to you, keeps people interested in you, and is always a great way to 'break the ice' if you can pull a nice trick off c:

I haven't posted any OC in a while, so I made a video a couple days ago, just for you guys ;)
This is just a quick trick that I made up, an illusion, it's rather easy to figure out if you think about it, but check it out anyways :D (oh god you get to see my face >_>)

Final thoughts: Magic will get you the girls.

XCM

I've been into magic and manipulations for at least 6 years now. I stumbled upon the little sub-genre of object manipulation called XCM a few years back and have been doing it ever since. XCM stands for Extreme Card Manipulation and is defined as a branch of magic with playing cards that is devoted to the performance of card flourishes. Now, I wish that I had some OC to show you guys, but honestly I just do not want videos of my XCM online. BUT I do have a great video to show you that demonstrates some incredible XCM, check it out c:    (This video, after about 1:00, skip to about 2:30 :p)

If you'd like to check out some great magic stuff for sale, or even just some awesome, unique cards, check out www.theory11.com, this is where I buy just about everything magic-related from.
Like I said, I've been doing magic for quite some time now, so do expect a post on that to be coming soon, along with some OC again :D

A Question, For You:

If you read my posts, then you'll know that the activities that I am into are kind-of different, to say the least. But, one thing that I really want to know is;

What kind of weird, unique things are you into?

What are some activities, some sports, skills or just quirky things that you like to do everyday?
I'm always down for trying new, interesting things. So, let me know what you readers are getting yourselves into these days.

Girls Can Do It, Too!

No OC here, but damn, I was extremely impressed by this female parkour practitioner. She shows extremely nice amounts of flow, ability and just all around great parkour skills. She goes to show that parkour & freerunning is not just a man's sport.

My life will be complete when I find myself a girl that can do this c; I'm in love.

A Free Running Photoshoot

Yay! Some OC for once :D
During my vacation in Myrtle Beach we decided to take some photos while I was free running. The is probably my favorite activity right now, and I think I am going to go free run with a few friends today as well.
But anyways! On to the photos (click them for full size):

 A dash vault over a table.

 A side flip down a set of stairs.

 Holding a handstand on a table.

 A flared side flip.

 A misty flip.

And this is just a fun picture, balancing, walking along a railing.

I hope you like them! Let me know what you think of them; both good or bad!

Contact Juggling!

Every heard of contact juggling? Probably not. Ever heard of Fushigi? Sure you have.
Let's get one thing straight. FUSHIGI RUINED CONTACT JUGGLING.

Definition: Contact juggling is a form of object manipulation that focuses on the movement of objects such as balls in contact with the body.

Fushigi took an old, beautiful art form, mainstreamed it and put in the hands of every common consumer; thus ruining it. It is no longer a truly unique art form, and I cannot perform any sort of contact juggling without someone coming up to me and saying something like "OH HEY I SAW THAT ON TV! ISN'T THAT A FADFHAODI BALL OR SOMETHING!?" and I hate it!! >_< They are a terrible company and I would NEVER recommend purchasing a Fushigi Ball if you are interested in getting into contact juggling.

Okay, now that my personal banter is out of the way, let's get onto the skill.
I've been contact juggling for a good bit of time now, and I love it. It's extremely relaxing once you get used to it and it's a great way to pass the time. It's not like you'll get much exercise doing it, but it will definitely increase your dexterity, concentration and ability with your hands.
It USED to be a great attention grabber, and though it still is, it is now for the wrong reason (thanks to Fushigi). If you get good at it, it definitely impresses people, and it used to help me get the girls c: (though now all I really get is "Oh my little brother has one of those, but you're a lot better at it than him.")

I'm apologize that I don't have any OC to show you, though I would love for you to watch one of my favorite contact juggling videos.

A real contact juggling ball (at least the most commonly used one) is made completely of acrylics, most people just assume that it is a large, glass ball.
A commonly asked question is that if you drop it, does it shatter? Well, no, not for a very long time at least. I've dropped one of my balls onto concrete from at least 10 feet up and all it got was a nice little ding in it. This is why they are made of acrylics instead of glass.
If you are interested, please, buy a good one, they are in the same price range as Fushigi, and will last you MUCH longer.
Here is where I buy mine from: http://www.jugglingstore.com/store/detail.aspx?ID=226.

Slacklining!

So I decided to buy myself a slackline last summer. I bought a Gibbon Slackline and got started on it right away.
This sport is an incredible workout, and is extremely fun. It works your balance and concentration to the maximum.
I had to get away from it for a few months while I waited out the cold, snow and rain, and when I decided to get back into it, recently, I realized how far behind I had fallen in the slackline movement.
Now, I am not bad at slacklining, and I plan to release an up-to-date video of myself very soon, but over the past couple of months, the technicality of tricks that people are coming up with are insane. Check this video out, it's by a few practitioners over in Asia.

I am not near this good, though like I said I do plan on putting up a video of my progress rather soon.
I hope that this video is inspiring and makes you want to go and try it too :)

Oh and by the way; this is an extremely good way to meet girls/guys. Bring it to a park and I guarantee you that people will be interested in you & your unique-ness c; 

Parkour & Free Running

Have you heard of the Parkour/FR movement that is quickly building interest in all parts of the world?
I, myself, have been into it for quite a while, and have been practicing for around a year now.
It is amazing exercise, it draws quite a bit of attention to yourself, it is very fun for others to watch, and hey, it gets you the ladies c;

Here is a DIY video of a few friends and I practicing in a gym a few months back, it's kind of lame and we are much better now, but it has been a while since we've filmed anything.

If you want an example of what a true, amazing parkour practitioner looks like, check out this incredible video created by the Storm Parkour/FR Team in England.

The First, Uninteresting Post

I just wanted to post a small bit of what the intention behind this blog is.
What I aim for is to blog about random, epic and highly entertaining sports, interests, and activities of all kinds; new and old.
I really hope that you, as a reader, find entertainment in what I post. And, though I can't pledge that every post will be in the interests of every viewer, as long as someone is entertained by what I post, I will be happy.