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.