"Pa Pa (Du Du) Pa Pa Pa*(Du Du)" written by Tinypliny on estrip.org

Category: dance

02/04/11 09:24 - ID#53547

Pa Pa (Du Du) Pa Pa Pa*(Du Du)

I am going to try and learn the moonwalk and how to spot the salsa rhythm this week. Quite strangely, they are very similar in nature though completely different on the surface. The prominent effect of each is just a facade to what is happening underneath.

There are actually several rhythms to the salsa all vying for attention. The most prominent is the cowbell racket, which serves as the metronome for the whole track.
1 & 2 & 3 & 4 & 5 & 6 & 7 & 8 &. 1...

Following the law of contrariness, it is the least useful for dancing the salsa. The Conga and the Clave are perhaps the most useful for dancing. Their relation pretty much stays the same in most songs:

The conga is the muted low "DU DU" with the high "tu". In around 80% of the songs I have heard thus far, it sounds at:
1 & 2 & 3 & 4 & 5 & 6 & 7 & 8 &.
1 & tu & 3 & DUDU & 5 & tu & 7 & DUDU

The Clave rhythm can be interpreted in two main ways (and I am sure, a million other ways). Simply, it's a beat that goes:
Pa Pa, Pa-Pa-Pa

In the west coast LA "On1" style (and in my class) we choose to hear the clave as a 2/3 Split:
1 & 2 & 3 & 4 & 5 & 6 & 7 & 8 &.
1 & Pa & Pa & 4 & Pa & 6 Pa 7 & Pa &

But NYC chooses to hear the clave on a 3/2 split or the "On2" timing which is just the reverse of what the west coast does. So typical!
1 & 2 & 3 & 4 & 5 & 6 & 7 & 8 &.
Pa & 2 Pa 3 & Pa & 5 & Pa & Pa & 8 &

Put together, all of it roughly sounds like:
Pa Pa DUDU Pa-Pa-Pa(DUDU) - LA "On1"
or
Pa-Pa-Pa(DUDU) Pa Pa DUDU - NYC "On2"

Isolating this thread of the conga/clave rhythm in the cacophony otherwise known as salsa is really quite complicated, especially with songs that have more instrumentation and variations than... well, a simple clave and conga struck together. The montuno or the piano melody is sometimes helpful because its repetition helps spotting the initial Pa Pa.

Altogether, all of this is driving me nuts... I was chanting the Pa Pa DUDU Pa-Pa-Pa DUDU all of today morning and realized that it was a good way to look like I had lost some marbles. I should have just added my moonwalk efforts to make it more dramatic and completely asylum-worthy.

Permalink: Pa_Pa_Du_Du_Pa_Pa_Pa_Du_Du_.html
Words: 358
Location: Buffalo, NY
Last Modified: 02/05/11 03:37

Category: dance

02/04/11 02:18 - ID#53542

They are irresistible!

I stomped into class all ready to walk out after the beginner's class but could NOT pull myself away from the oh-so-cool steps that Sean and Sarah were teaching the intermediate class. Energy-beam Mariposa made it 5x more fun than it already was. As a result, I am still in both classes and danced every step of my way home today.

I still can't find the correct beat in the music, still can't do any body isolations and rolls and still can't follow intermediate steps. In spite of all these glitches, dancing with Sean and Sarah is probably my most favourite 2 hours in the 168 hours of the week. My spins are improving with the new shoes though.

What is it that these two have?

Magic? It certainly feels like it. I am so hopelessly in love with their classes :-)

PS: Come to Salsa for the Soul at Configuration Dance Studio (Lexington and Ashland) and experience pure salsa joy with Sean Ortiz and Sarah Hooper on Thursdays:
at 6:30 PM: For the rocket-launcher absolute beginner class.
at 7:00 PM: For the advanced beginner super fun class.
at 8:00 PM: For the intermediate insanely creative class.

Permalink: They_are_irresistible_.html
Words: 195
Location: Buffalo, NY
Last Modified: 02/04/11 08:22

Category: dance

02/03/11 02:16 - ID#53536

Sin clave no hay son

I went to Hip Hop Yoga at Hand to Heart Yoga with Erin today. It was a very interesting experience and not at all what I thought it might be. By yoga standards, it was a very intense and very aerobic one hour. I don't know where it stands by hip hop standards. I will probably take a sample class of real hip hop at Verve this Saturday afternoon and report back.

I broke out into quite a sweat. Some of the exercises pushed the isotonic limits of my puny muscles and I could actually feel my muscle fibres and bundles twitching out of sheer disuse. Maybe this is what Neo felt like in the first Matrix movie before he learnt to fly 60 minutes later. But everyone knows that only happens on celluloid. Because 60 minutes later, in real life, I bought swiss cheese slices and ate it on toast. I really like swiss cheese. It has a whopping 20% calcium and 8g protein in one serving.

I also love Celia Cruz.

And I sorely, no, make that VERY SORELY missed her during the class. My muscles probably ached for her because I didn't dig the soundtrack to my exertions so much. I am not sure what the other yogis in class thought. Quite inexplicably, all of them were named "Sarah". Not that replication of names has anything to do with musical tastes... The point is, for me, without Celia's clave, everything was slightly off tune...

::DOWNLOAD SOUND::

Apart from reservations about the music selection, I really liked the class today. I am not entirely sure if it's hip hop, though. It could be... but to my untrained senses, it seemed more like a hybrid of yoga and aerobic dance. I will go again next Wednesday and see if my muscle endurance has improved any. Meanwhile, I am going to have to increase my consumption of egg whites and cheese if I keep up with all this dancing and hurrying about in knee-deep snow. Not an entirely unpleasant side-effect... :-)

Permalink: Sin_clave_no_hay_son.html
Words: 342
Location: Buffalo, NY
Last Modified: 02/03/11 02:19

Category: the odes

01/31/11 09:30 - ID#53526

Feeling of teeth falling out

I somehow drank a lot of chinese loose-leaf green tea today. By "a lot", I really mean A LOT - close to a litre or more. I didn't stop there. I went ahead and ate all the leaves as well because they tasted pretty good at that time - a flavour-packed cross between kale, spinach and mesclun. Their total packed volume equaled around 8 ounces (half my generous tea mug).

I shouldn't have.

Now my teeth feel as if they are about to fall out. It's not a dream. They really feel like they are doing one of those synchronized-in-a-row rockette kicks and getting ready to pop out, any moment now. It's not painful but it's such a peculiar floaty feeling - localized to the gums.

I am now wondering what chemical in those leaves has produced such a potent alteration of perception. I am just a bit curious if anyone else has had such an experience. But then, maybe I am being too optimistic about there being people out there who have actually downed a liter of green tea and eaten all the leaves after that.

I just hope they don't really fall out. I can't deal with being toothless tomorrow.

On a side note, searching for "teeth falling out" on google images brings up a video-chat still of (e:paul) and (e:lilho) labeled "lilhowithbandwidthleprosy1090". 6th row from the top:

Permalink: Feeling_of_teeth_falling_out.html
Words: 258
Location: Buffalo, NY
Last Modified: 02/01/11 04:57

Category: music

01/30/11 03:40 - 24.ºF - ID#53516

BesamÃ© en la boca

I posted the live salsa version of this earlier but I couldn't bear to listen to Chemaney going off-tune and murdering the Ricardo Montaner melody. It may have been great in his album but his live version annoyed the hell out of me. And the flamenco dancer was creepy and his jeans were ridiculous.

So here is the much-loved original.

Since I criticized Chemaney's ludicrous jeans, I feel it's unfair of me if I don't even comment on that beach-shot cover of Montaner's album. That has got to be the fake-est beach-shot ever, don't you think? He is sitting IN the water but his trousers are completely dry with the waves splashing all around him. What did they take Montaner's listeners for? Blind?

Permalink: Besam_en_la_boca.html
Words: 125
Location: Buffalo, NY
Last Modified: 01/31/11 10:34

Category: eating in

01/30/11 01:59 - 22.ºF - ID#53515

Papaya Plot

I developed a crazy craving for papayas over the past couple weeks and luckily found that they sell fabulous Caribbean Reds from Belize at Pricerite for $1.29/lb.

I couldn't resist and grabbed three big ones off the display and dragged them back to my lair yesterday evening. As a result, I am now sitting here with Bengay for some miserably strained deltoid muscles and a particularly awesome salad of cubed papaya with a lime juice and black pepper garnish.

I say, fair trade.

PS: I am SO glad pricerite came to roost downtown. You can't imagine how inconvenient it was to take a bus all the way to Wegmans for things I couldn't get at Guercio's and then wait in the cold for the bus back. I remember walking back with my cart (because there was no bus for nearly 40 minutes) a couple times, Both times, I had 2 gallons of milk spoil on me the next day because of the 80 minute-break in refrigeration. Also, I don't like the price-mark-up at Weggers. It may be fancy looking and all spiffy but I don't think it's good practice to increase prices of produce and keep prices of sugary stuff and baked-goods low because it encourages poor eating habits in the population.

Permalink: Papaya_Plot.html
Words: 212
Location: Buffalo, NY
Last Modified: 01/30/11 02:18

Category: goals

01/30/11 08:14 - 24.ºF - ID#53513

Factoring February

I skipped yoga as well as salsa this past week because of grad-school worries. And an alarming proportion of my hair is edging towards white. I have concentric worry lines under my eyes and I think I am slowly losing ~~my mind~~ whatever meagre muscle I have on my body. But then, when did I ever let something like that stop me from making wild resolutions? Never. So in February, I will

Do a whole lot more of statistics with R Fridays and Saturdays

It helps that I actually like R as opposed to hating SAS.

Salsa Salsa Salsa Thursdays

I am dropping out of the intermediate class. I am not good enough for all the complicated patterns and frustrate myself in the process. And something about that class edges me out of happy mode. Could be one of the leads or a combination of things... I don't want this minor detail derailing my fascination with salsa music and dance. The beginner's sessions with Sean and Sarah, on the other hand, are pure magic and I feel like a sufi saint in them...

Yoga and Hip Hop Wednesdays

Erin at Hand to Heart (Bryant & Elmwood) is a really amazing guide. I might add the Wednesday evening Hip-Hop yoga to my vinyasa sessions. Who knows, someday you might see me suddenly twisting into this pose:

I guess that leaves the first three days of the week for having massive freak-outs about graduating. Fair enough.

Permalink: Factoring_February.html
Words: 251
Location: Buffalo, NY
Last Modified: 01/31/11 10:27

Category: eating in

01/25/11 09:44 - 29.ºF - ID#53496

Food processor Vs. Blender Vs. Wand Vs. Knife

So I had this interesting argument about the functions of a food processor vs. a Blender vs. a Stick/Wand Blender and a knife today afternoon with a couple department-mates.

Do you think a food processor can completely replace a blender, stick/wand blender AND a knife? Really? When I think of food processor, I think of mushed up poorly cut vegetables. How many of you have ALL the above in your kitchen? I have everything except a food processor. I get immense pleasure in chopping stuff down to cookable units with a variety of knives. Should I be lusting after a food processor? Can a food processor knead bread or cookie dough? What can a food processor do that a combination of the other three can't? If you were setting up your minimalist kitchen, would you choose a food processor over the other three?

jbeatty writes at 06:56:36 01/28/11 - Comment #60379: (e:Libertad)'s vote is hearsay. Which makes the vote 2/2. So you must flip a coin.

tinypliny writes at 09:59:34 01/27/11 - Comment #60372: Oh wow - I had no idea all of you were so committed towards all these kitchen-appliances-of-homogeneity. I counted all my knives the other day and I have around 11 of them with varying levels of personal dissatisfaction. It's probably because I don't own a knife sharpener and let knives get really blunt till they start to irk me, and then I get a new one. I realize that is such shocking un-minimalistic behaviour.

I cracked my blender jar as well but later got a stainless steel shiny blender jar replacement as a gift from my family after days of deprivation. Seriously, my kitchen would be a really dull place without it. I also have a wand blender - my most recent kitchen acquisition and it's extremely useful when I don't want the hassle of blending huge batches of soup that I make all the time.

I have got into this fortnightly weekend "hobby" of trying out various kinds of bread recipes and tweaking them till they don't resemble the original and all I can say is my biceps go into fatigue after the bread-making weekend.

Still not very convinced about the utility of a food processor though... The votes are at 2-for/3-against. Not sure I should count (e:metalpeter). ;-)

AND YES! I would love some hummus!

metalpeter writes at 09:11:15 01/26/11 - Comment #60357: I admit I have none of these... But it would be nice to make Smoothies and things like strawberry Daquari . That being said from what a remember some things like cookies you need a beater besides half the fun of when people make cookies is eating the dough off of the beaters and eating the dough out of the bowl.........

theecarey writes at 06:55:23 01/26/11 - Comment #60355: I love my food processor. I have a Cuisinart Duo which comes with the food processor attachment and a nice glass blender piece. Though I managed to drop it yesterday and it busted apart. I need to find a replacement immediately, as I use the blender often for making smoothies (not much for anything else), and this particular blender does a stellar job on crushing up ice.
The food processor (for what I have) is very easy to clean and is uncomplicated in its use. I can't imagine not having it as it has taken me to new levels in cooking. It couldn't replace a knife, but I don't think I want a knife to replace my food processor now that I know what I can do with it.
A good, sharp knife is mandatory. I am actually lacking in knives (well, outside of folding knives & multi-tools..) and just use what I have. I manage alright.
I have a mixer but rarely use it. I don't have a simple hand mixer, and haven't found a need for it in what I am cooking. I do have a large mixer for when I am making various doughs and can use the extra power to get everything mixed well. But rarely do I pull that beast out of the cupboard.

libertad writes at 10:21:02 01/26/11 - Comment #60350: I know someone who has a top of the line food processor but thinks the blender is still necessary. She would prefer to make her humus in the blender than the food processor. She gave me her old Oster Blender that is probably close to 50yrs old. It is amazing and I love it so much. I think it is time to make some humus. Would you like some?

jbeatty writes at 08:48:17 01/26/11 - Comment #60349: There is absolutely no substitute for a knife. A food processor chops the hell out of everything inside of it. Which absolutely fine if that's what you need. However it will never replace my knife. A food processor is great for pesto, grinding nuts into fine powder, bread crumbs, and grating cheese. None of this can be done with a blender. I always use ours for starting dough. I don't knead with it but it brings together flour yeast and water into a ball in about 15 seconds. The only thing that a blender can do that a food processor can't, at least for the things that I do, is blend large batches of soup. Even still you are limited by the size of your blender. You can blend soup in a processor but if its hot and a sufficient volume you will have soup leakage under your processor. For the way I cook I would have a rough time without a food processor.

Our blender cracked and we haven't used it in a month or two. Honestly I have very little use for the thing. As for the motorboat I have never used one. I personally see no use for it. In fact the only thing that it might possibly do that non of the above will do is mashed potatoes. But unlike grating cheese I enjoy doing those by hand.

paul writes at 11:25:03 01/25/11 - Comment #60346: I say two of each. No seriously, a good knife is more useful. I would not get another food processor. They are far more difficult to clean than a stand mixer, a knife, or a blender. A stand mixer is basically like cleaning a big bowl and a fork, a blender is like cleaning a big mug. A food processor on the other hand is clunky mix of strangely shaped plastic and oversized, doubled-sided knives. I have had one for like 15 years and used it like three times. Unless you are doing mass quantities of chopping I would say its not worth the storage space.

heidi writes at 10:45:16 01/25/11 - Comment #60345: A knife (chef's knife, good paring knife) is essential and there's no way anything else could replace it. I have never used a wand blender - isn't that what a hand-held mixer is for? I recently bought a small food processor because blenders don't have the same power and capacity that a food processor has. The one I got is too small for the recipes I make, I have to juggle or phase the processing, so I'm thinking I'll upgrade in the next year or two. The blade area is much bigger in a food processor. You can't make milkshakes in a food processor, you can't make cookie dough in a blender, you can knead bread with a mixer. I'd rank the importance like this:

Knives
Handheld or stand mixer
Food processor
Blender

Permalink: Food_processor_Vs_Blender_Vs_Wand_Vs_Knife.html
Words: 145
Location: Buffalo, NY
Last Modified: 01/25/11 09:47

Category: the odes

01/25/11 08:21 - 29.ºF - ID#53494

Stressed out.

Things have not been going smoothly of late. Too many failures, too much uncertainty, too many iffy outcomes, too many hashed presentations, too many negative vibes, too little inspiration, drained out ideas... I really want this phase to end and a better phase to roll around. All of this is wrecking havoc on my sleep. I used to sleep at least 3 hours at a stretch. Now I get up every 1.5 hours with random nightmares and stretches of worry about whether I will ever graduate and whether my dissertation will ever reach completion.

I somehow need to claw back into focus, re-prioritize everything and fast-track somehow. Just not sure how to successfully spin into that resolve. I guess the new salsa shoes aren't really of much help here...

tinypliny writes at 09:45:25 01/27/11 - Comment #60371: I did make that on your tablet, with my stylus. :)

tinypliny writes at 08:32:29 01/27/11 - Comment #60369: I am here working on my dissertation and ditching my favorite hour of salsa today. The end-of-phd stress is really demanding its pound of flesh today.

tinypliny writes at 08:29:33 01/27/11 - Comment #60368: If you notice, I didn't say I wanted to die.

libertad writes at 09:53:16 01/26/11 - Comment #60362: I have some codeine that should help with that. It's better if you use the Red Bulls to down the pills.

metalpeter writes at 09:15:30 01/26/11 - Comment #60358: Well You Just need a drug that will relax you... Then one of those drugs that helps you sleep... You know that one where people sleep walk and have gone driving.... Then for energy to concentrate you need an upper not coke but something along those lines so.... Get a hookah and some friends and sit on the floor and mellow out... Then Later Have like 2 red bulls.... The key is to have them early enough so you can still sleep....Ha Or maybe go on a Murderous Rampage... Hope everything sorts its self out....

libertad writes at 10:23:35 01/26/11 - Comment #60351: I like your picture. I just watched a special about stress and mortality. It was really interesting and they found that people lower in status or heirarchy have much higher levels of stress. So I guess once you are done with your schooling and achieve more power and can obtain subordinates you will have less stress, thus living longer!

paul writes at 12:24:13 01/26/11 - Comment #60347: I had the same kind of anxiety/stress towards the end of school. You will get there eventually and replace it with all kinds of other future anxieties ;) Did you draw that with the tablet. I found the box. It has ear phones in it.

Permalink: Stressed_out_.html
Words: 129
Location: Buffalo, NY
Last Modified: 01/25/11 09:15

Category: dance

01/25/11 07:31 - 29.ºF - ID#53493

Salsa for the Soles

I came home to these strangely attractive eccentric-looking extremely light shoes today. Their passing resemblance to football shoes is deceptive. Instead of the turf-gripping evil field spikes, the soles of this pair of Gabellini "The Fly" are layered with salsa-smooth suede instead.

They fit me like a glove. I am seriously floored. The floor feels like an alternative padded universe through every inch of their suede soles. Balancing on the balls of my feet feels very natural and my turns feel almost effortless compared with every other shoe I have ever worn or tried out... But I guess their real test will be in class. Can't wait to try them out! Come and see them in some salsa action at Lexington & Ashland, 7 PM Thursdays with Sarah Hooper & Sean Ortiz! :-)

Permalink: Salsa_for_the_Soles.html
Words: 132
Location: Buffalo, NY
Last Modified: 01/25/11 07:43