Fanzine

[C-Fan]

Top Post Painting: "Times of the Day" by Alphonse Mucha, 1900




The last page of the blog had a shred compliment from Jay Boychuk, and a video editing compliment from Ivan Iakimenko. Pretty epic page...can this one hold a candle to it? Gives me incentive to start playing again.

Got back from Texas yesterday. We only got 2 days of good weather, and the rest of the trip it rained. We also spent a lot of time driving, and a lot of time with Haley's friends, so not a lot of opportunity for footbag. I snuck in a few osis and symp whirls here and there, but I'd bet I hit less than 20 adds total on this trip. Weather back here in Denver hasn't been all that great either. More rain, but temps hovering just above freezing. Definitely the coolest and wettest spring I can remember since moving here nearly 6 years ago. I guess that's good timing though, since I'm not going to any tournaments this summer.

Our next trip is in just over a week. I honestly don't remember how we ended up in a situation where we have so much travel in so little time, but here we are. I foresee myself spending the next week trying to get the house in order before we leave, which likely won't leave much time for footbag. I am planning on getting a big shred session together in Tokyo one weekend, and Osaka the next, so it would be in my interest to knock the rust off before then. We'll see how it goes. I just need to be disciplined about my errands, and not get overwhelmed by it all.

Here's a video I shot a week ago, mostly chasing some challenges given to Cory Allen and Kyle Cook:

[boyle]

The last page of the blog had a shred compliment from Jay Boychuk, and a video editing compliment from Ivan Iakimenko. Pretty epic page...can this one hold a candle to it? Gives me incentive to start playing again.

Sounds like you are definitely doing something right. Enjoy Japan! I'm sure they will be very happy to see you back.

[C-Fan]

2 days from now I'll be on the plane to Japan. That's exciting, but also a bit stressful. Haley's Mom will be house/dog sitting for us while we're gone, so we're under a lot of pressure to get the house ready for her visit (e.g. mow the lawn, clean up, prep instructions for her, etc.). Her arrival has also incentivized us to really make progress on this bookcase construction project, which is a huge time and energy eater. We also still need to finish planning out the trip, including how/when we're meeting up with footbaggers, which is a challenge since I won't have a phone. For now, I just have a shred set up at Yoyogi for this Saturday. But I don't have a rain plan, and I have no idea how many people will even make it out. I'm also a bit worried for the trip since I haven't had any time to practice/study Japanese, and I've barely played footbag this whole summer.

Despite these pressures, I'm looking forward to the trip. I made a point to get in a quick session yesterday, both to knock off some rust and also to release some stress. On Friday Jakub M requested some Sick3 submissions for the instagram account, so I went into the session with the goal of hitting a few. I only got 2, but I was very happy with one of them. It was nice to play again, but my stamina and consistency were really bad. I worry about how I'll play on Saturday, given my lack of practice combined with jet lag. As long as I don't get frustrated, hopefully it'll just be a fun day shredding with old friends.

While I was digging through old files this weekend, I came across some of my submissions from last year's "Best Foot Forward" competition that Paul Gressett hosted. That was fun. I couldn't find the BFF video on youtube, so I decided to whip together some of my bigger tricks into a little video:
I officially decided USO isn't in the cards for me this year, which sucks. On the bright side though, this morning I learned I have a trip to Boise in mid-June. Pretty much right after we get back from Japan. With a bit of luck, it'd be great to see the whole Boise crew while I'm out there.

[bobgreen]

Busy schedule.... Sorry to hear you won't make it to USO this year; would have been great to see you again. Hope you guys have a great time in Japan.

[C-Fan]

Lots of travel since the last post. The Japan trip went real well, and was a much needed mental break. I only got in two sessions, but they were real fun. I was only back in the states about 3 days before I was back on the road going to Boise for work. I spent 3.5 days there, and somehow managed to get in 4 different shred sessions. I've already got most of my Japan video edited, and I need to sort through a ton of the Boise footage still. Not really sure where I'm going to find the time for either. Both trips deserve much longer writeups, which maybe I can do later. For now here are just some quick thoughts:

Japan
Yoyogi has always been one of my favorite shred spots in the world, so getting to play there for the first time in 10 years was a special treat.
A lot of old friends came out to say "hi" even if they weren't actively playing, and that meant a lot to me.
Seeing Japanese players hit tricks that I can't do gave me hope and optimism for the Japanese scene.

Boise
Though I complain about work a lot, I am very lucky that I get to go on trips where I can see footbag friends for free, have a hotel, have a rental car, etc.
Playing 4 times in 3.5 days, when I'd only played 4 times in the past 5 weeks before that, was rough on my body.
I feel like my body could still play footbag at a high level if I dedicated more time to it. But if I had an easier job that let me dedicate more time to footbag, I also might not be able to see footbaggers on trips/tournies as often.
Penske, Landes, and Gatesman are all really good dudes that I would hang out with all the time if I lived in Boise. I am surprised and disappointed they don't get along better.

On a more positive note, the Boise trip gave me more material and drive to revisit my footbag project. If I can find some time this weekend to work on it, I'm hoping I can get it launched shortly.

Closing out this post with a video from my shred with Littlefield a few months back in Sacramento. We had a really fun session, but my battery died early so I didn't get as much footage as I hoped. We had a lot of fun working on the synchro combos, some of which you can see here. I would have released this video earlier, but I had a lot of problems finding music for it. I ended up finding a YT track that worked pretty well, so I finally abandoned the dream of using a hip hop track on the video. Hope some of the fun vibes still come through on it though:

[DC Clinks]

Enjoyed reading the short highlights of the trips, looking forward to a more in depth revisit if that's possible in the future. Shred video was very fun to watch, really liked the positivity from the successful synchronized links. You a cool dude Ken, keep it groovy.

[boyle]

That was a fun video, I liked the way the line on the tennis court made a "split screen" kind of view. Not sure if that was intentional. Who is still playing in Japan, and what kind of tricks are they doing that you can't do? Is it really big tricks, or some area that you have not focused on so much? Look forward to seeing some video.

[Sporatical_Distractions]

Somehow missed that video. Doooooope!

[C-Fan]

Thanks for the kind words guys!

Between Japan (2 weeks) and the Boise trip (1 week), I really neglected the house. Since I've been back, I've been forced to spend a lot of time just getting the house back in order, so I haven't played footbag a single time since getting home. We've been in the midst of a heat wave though, so who knows if I would have even been able to play even if I had time. I also just celebrated my 2 year wedding anniversary this weekend, so time definitely has been scarce.

Update on the Boise footage: The good news is that I got in 4 sessions in 3.5 days, and got some good stuff of Gatesman, Landes, Penske, and Red. I brought my charger cable, brought extra memory cards, and remembered the camera at each session. So good footage was shot. The bad news is that I have zero time to edit all this footage, but even that's not really bad news since I found two people to outsource the editing to. So now I'm in the process of dividing the raw footage between these two editors, which hopefully means the footage will see daylight in the next couple months.

In other footbag news, I'm really hoping I can get my footbag project launched this weekend. If all goes well, this should be an ongoing project that hits a couple times a month. Mostly I just want to launch it so I can stop being secretive about it in the blog.

Here's a video that's almost 5 years old to the day: Weird seeing my furious tricks from before I understood how to do the set properly.

Last bit of footbag news: it now looks likely I will be in St. Louis for a week in August for work, so hopefully I can get with Kyle and Cory for some shred and hanging out.

[C-Fan]

Productive weekend, but wasn't able to work on the footbag project. Life stuff eats up so much time (mow the lawn, take dog to vet, get furniture from Ikea then build it, clean house, etc.) that there isn't much left for footbag. I did brave the heat and get in a short session. I played at 10 am, and the temps were already in the 90s. I'd basically take a turn or two, then run to the tiny amount of shade generated by the basketball hoop to recover. Kinda amazed I hit anything at all:
It did feel good to get some real exercise in though. Walking the dog and mowing the lawn don't really count.

I'm still in the process of sending my Boise footage to my editors, but I'm making good progress on that front too. Hopefully by mid-week I'll have all that off my hands and in their court.

Forecast for the rest of the week promises more heat, which probably means no footbag til the weekend. Between walking the dog and doing errands every night, it's just not in the cards. Maybe I can work on the project in the evenings though, and get it launched before the weekend. Fingers crossed.

[bustinjustin]

Great video for a short session. Lot's of inspiring combos I want to hit.

[C-Fan]

Thanks Justin! Hopefully I can find some time over the long weekend to play again and film more. Bummer I can't join you all at USO. Even if I were just going to judge and hang out, I know it would have been fun.

Speaking of tournaments, today marks the 19th anniversary of my first real exposure to footbag: http://www.footbag.org/events/show/859657310

I still remember taking the train into the city that day. Just a few months past my 17th birthday, young and nervous and excited. Footbag is what really got me started going into the City on a regular basis, so on this trip I don't even know I was 100% sure I could find the venue (remember, no mobile internet in 1997). I remember making it to Central Park no problem, but it took me forever to find the bandshell where the event was happening. I asked around a lot, got turned around in circles a ton, and was ready to pretty much give up. Then I saw a short guy in matching seersucker shorts and shirt getting clipboards and paper ready, and I walked up and asked him if he knew about a hack tournament. Turns out it was Josh Penney, who was running the tournament!

The rest of the day was a blur of faces, tricks I'd never seen, and routines. I think I went there that day with the idea that I'd enter and win (obviously, cause I was the best hacker in my school), but within 5 minutes of being there I realized everybody was on a different level than I knew existed. The big names at the tournament were Eric Wulff and Tu Vu, and I also remember meeting Goldberg, Ian Brill, Kaiser Ahmad, and Dennis Lee (who I ended up going to university with a couple years later). The only thing I could do that impressed anybody, was I could do alternating flying clippers 20+ times. Other than that, I think my only "tricks" were toe stall and walkover? Somebody taught me wrap, and I was pretty stoked on that. I also remember a kid doing DATWs with his head, though in retrospect they were pretty "the." I remember bits and pieces of the routines, like Wulff starting his off with a bunch of fliers, and Tu having inspector gadget change into RATM halfway through. I must have spent 6 or 7 hours at the site playing with everybody, and just feeling like it changed my life. The fact that I remember that day 19 years later, and that I'm typing on a footbag forum as I send footage of Boise to editors at the same time...well I guess it did.

Random vid from last year's Worlds, to avoid a vid-free post:

[C-Fan]

USO was this weekend and I missed it. Definitely a bit bummed about that. Last summer when there was debate about where Worlds ’16 was happening, I made the decision up front that I wouldn't go to Slovakia. When they won the bid, I was mentally prepared for it, and I knew going into 2016 Worlds wasn't in the cards for me. But I just somehow expected I’d go to USO. Long story short, the year kicked off with a lot of uncertainty with life issues (mostly my parents’ health, mixed with some work stuff). I needed to keep my travel flexibility as open as possible, so I almost canceled the Japan trip and I didn’t want to buy USO tickets in case I needed to be elsewhere that weekend. Thankfully, things worked out with my folks, but by the time USO once again became a real option, tickets were way expensive. I just couldn’t justify paying $300 for a 90 minute flight. As it turned out, that was probably for the best, since Haley was sick all weekend and I needed to take care of her anyway. This is all just a super long winded way of saying I wish I could have been at USO, but hey, life happens.

Long weekend was OK for me. With Haley sick, I tried to pick up the slack with house cleaning, dog walking, and various other house issues. I didn’t get to work on the footbag project partially due to the lack of time, but also cause I need Haley’s laptop for it and she needed it to watch shows to distract her from being sick. The project will happen, I promise. In good footbag news, I did manage to get in 3 sessions. Weather this time of year is pretty unpredictable, and more often than not kinda bad for footbag. In a nutshell it gets super hot every day, then the heat breaks when it starts to thunderstorm. Usually the best you can hope for is playing in the short window when the clouds roll in and block the sun, but before bolts of lightning rain down on you.

All 3 sessions ended up being pretty good, with some unexpected highlights in each (new record for unique toe triples, better than expected fearless, etc.). That said, the highlight that really came out of nowhere for me was hitting my first flip ripsteins! Last year I played around a bit with improving flip swirl (non symple), but it was difficult and I’m not sure I even tried a flip ripstein. This year I hadn’t even touched flip swirls, so I’m not sure what made me decide to try for flip ripstein. Whatever the reason, I’m glad I did, cause out of nowhere they make a lot more sense to me. My first day I hit 3 (two were way “the”), second day I hit 3, and last day I hit 1. So maybe I shouldn’t call them “flip” ripsteins, because I’ve probably hit more on that side now than I ever did on the other clipper. As of now I haven’t sealed any with anything beyond handcatch, and the motion/set still feels awkward. My hope though is that if I hit a few each session and keep at it, I’ll make progress. We’ll see.

Here’s vid of my first session, including my best ripstein from that day:

[C-Fan]

It's too hot to play outside. Yesterday the only shaded spot I found was a thin strip of pavement, and it was uneven, so I was kinda limited in what I could work on.

I'm still experimenting with ripstein. At this stage, I already have the sense there are at least 2 ways to do the trick. Trying to play with both styles to see which works better for me. One problem I have with both styles is I feel the space for the dexes is very tight. I think if I open my hips more by turning a bit away from the dexes, that would help. I know Evan does something like that.

Main highlight of the shred was hitting pdx whirling swirl bsos. I had never BSOSed that before. I also came close to a new beast with motion sickness. If I have another session where motion sickness feels as easy as it did, then I could pick up a few more beasts with it.

[boyle]

Nice work on the bsos with pdx whirling swirl. Any tips for that trick? That's one I really struggle to get my head around how to do.

[C-Fan]

Paradox whirling swirl is kind of a weird trick.
Ordinarily I don't like giving advice on tricks I haven't mastered, but I think I understand this trick well enough to give a few tips that have helped me hit it in combos:

1. Don't set high; the set is lower than a normal paradox whirl and therefore should be no higher than knee height.
2. Correlated with #1, you need to pivot super fast, because setting this low reduces your time to dex.
3. As long as you set super low and pivot your hips into the dexes fast, you should be fine.

Some random footage to avoid a video-less post:
Tomorrow I hope to make a major announcement in the blog.

[boyle]

I hadn't thought of the lower set height, I've generally just been trying to do a pdx whirl and go from there. I'll give that a look in my next session. That was a good watch in that video. Is that your best unique toe triples run? I'm sure you could add a few more in, tapping dlo for example, I'm sure there's plenty more you can do. Intrigued to see tomorrow's announcement too.

[C-Fan]

Announcement being pushed back a day, cause this guy unexpectedly called me at 4 pm saying he was in town:



We arranged to meet up downtown for a shred and dinner, and that ate the whole afternoon/evening. Well worth it though; we had a blast shredding, and got some good food afterwards. We both played better than our last session together in Boise a few weeks ago, which felt nice. I'm sending the footage to a mystery editor, so hopefully I can show those highlights soon.

As for toe triple dexes, yes, that is my new unique record. I've done double digit smogs and pigbeaters, but 6 unique toe triples is my record. I bet I could get more, but six felt pretty good considering how hot it was out there.
FYI, there's a subtle hint in my last post related to the announcement. I wonder if anybody found it?

[boyle]

Is it to do with the combo before the 6 toe triples in the video? I won't spoil it for those who have not watched the video yet, but I had a feeling it was odd to have something like that without even mentioning it...

[boyle]

Hot tip, it's not, so I will say, nice 10 fearless in that video Ken.

Going back to the clues. What about this one

Ordinarily I don't like giving advice on tricks I haven't mastered

A new version of Tricks of the Trade?...