Olav

Keep a diary of what you're hitting, what's frustrating you, and your goals.
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boyle
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Re: Olav

Post by boyle » 06 Aug 2020 02:27

I think Discord has the same problems with things getting lost as in Facebook. The absolute problem is there are too many platforms with tiny amounts of users, but nobody wants to be on the one platform.

You were judging some of the events on Worlds, right? Any thoughts on that? The thing with Modified is that pretty much any question that people ask on other platforms has already been answered on here and can generally be found in a not too difficult way.

I find Instagram to also be quite a good platform for footbag - more for putting up a short string and people saying oh yeah nice tricks, whatever, and you do the same back. Not so much for actual discussion of footbag.

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Tjuggles
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Re: Olav

Post by Tjuggles » 06 Aug 2020 14:22

Olaf!

Great to hear from you!

I agree that those platforms are designed to fly through information, instead of organizing it for easy retrieval.

One of my highlights of 2017 Worlds was chatting with you at some after-party. I think we were outside somewhere, that's as much as I remember. Maybe just outside of a door somewhere? Do you know what I am talking about?

Additionally, Modified has been much more active recently, which is great. I enjoy coming here to see what has changed.

Are you still kicking?
TJ Boutorwick

"You can do anything" -Greg Nelson

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cammel
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Re: Olav

Post by cammel » 06 Aug 2020 16:08

Yeaaa, lets bring back more people to modified! I took a decade off, but happy to be back :D

Just went and watched the highlight reel of yours from Worlds 2016 on youtube "Worlds 2016 Shred Part 13: Olaf Piwowar". Unreal! 8O

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Olav
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Re: Olav

Post by Olav » 07 Aug 2020 12:54

Yeah, it would be a good subject for a longer note about how we've gathered and processed information 100, 50, 20, 10 years ago, how it's been changing in the last 10 and where could it go + what could we do about it. It's too easy to lose focus these days, get stuck under a wall of 'informational' noise served by a facebook algorithms. It's overwhelming. All instant gratification driven surface level communication, that has nothing to do with any long term planning, thinking and refining those thoughts together, bouncing them off of each other etc. Not to mention splitting and atomising the crowd and dividing communities... Facebook perfected that, and what is happening in the US (and Poland, and in many places, sadly) are some terrifying examples of that. I do feel tho, that everytime I check back in with anyone from our Footbag community, it feels like no time has passed. And that our common passion unites us, and that perhaps the time has come (especially given the pandemic), that we want to keep in touch and unite. That is certainly true to how I feel, and given some more stability I have in life now, who knows where that takes me.

@Daniel: I judged both rounds of Sick3. I even requested insight into other judges notes, whoever would be interested, but hasn't heard back so far. I did exchange those with Jakub Mościszewski, who was another judge, and it was already a great lesson on how can you value same aspects differently. I'm all into those conversations, because they make us better judges, improving upon the awareness of our biases.

Another time I could get more into details of what my conclusions were after judging Sick3, as well as conclusions about the BAP meeting, which I found extremely interesting. All of this require some careful wording on my side, so will take my time.

@TJ: I do remember it, altho I'm not sure if my mind is making up the location... was it in front of the toy store? I have such good memories from Portland, it was especially important for me as it's been my first North American Worlds! Funny how it goes, that's now my hood and it's a bigger adventure to go to European jams/tournaments. Can't wait for the next one, regardless of where it is.

I switched jobs/career paths soon after Portland and would only play a handful of times since. Then had a few more life changes that required my full focus, and now, after the lockdown, I feel like I can't sit on my butt any longer. But the priority, given my age, is to stay healthy. I'm not quite interested lowering my shred level/intensity, but that means I need to really take care of proper form and overal strength and flexibility, which is not at my highest right now, let's put it that way. I am organizing myself tho for certain long term plans.

@Gray: thanks, actually I watched it myself recently and realized I played in those pound heavy Lavers there. I didn't even quite notice at the time, but few months later my knees were like, "W - T - F is wrong with ya?!".

Actually. I neglected this blog for a long long time. Let me backtrack. Not saying anything new, just for the books.

I had my first major break in 2011 not long after Worlds in Helsinki. I was in a very good shape for that competition, but injured myself rather badly and didn't do well at all. I got inducted into BAP (as "Anaconda") despite that. Just to make it straight, it had nothing to do with me quitting not long after, but that's another story I won't get into right now. Probably the last I played was in Berlin (August?), and there's footage from that trip:


Then I started playing again in fall 2015 after I moved to Vancouver. Year later went to Worlds in Trnava, and that's where the video you mentioned is from (such good memories, as it's been the first time in 5 years I've seen anyone from the european scene + not competing helped me enjoy it fully):


Paweł Rożek made a video featuring me, that won the Video Contest there. I can't defend myself if you tell me I'm biased, but I believe if it was featuring anyone else, I would still show this video as the best presentation of Footbag Freestyle and it's beauty, through Paweł's skillful camera work and editing. I am really proud I could be a part of this production:


To be continued.
Olaf Piwowar, My Footblog

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Re: Olav

Post by boyle » 07 Aug 2020 14:03

Pawel has such a talent for making footbag look really good. Obviously having someone as talented as you is very helpful. He was the main man behind the production of the Worlds online shows I believe? I think that's a big part of why it was looking so good.

What's your new career direction now? I'm guessing you're not doing architecture anymore? I remember those awesome hand drawings you used to post in here very long ago. Are you still in Canada?

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cammel
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Re: Olav

Post by cammel » 07 Aug 2020 14:43

I agree entirely with your critiques of modern information processing. I am really concerned about the effect that all these platforms have on people's attention spans. It is so easy now for people to break their train of thought by glancing at their phone and watching a 5 second video. Modified is the closest I have come to using social media since 2011.

Its very interesting to hear people's stories of footbag over the last decade or so. I stopped playing when I started university in 2007. I played soccer for our university team and didn't have anyone I knew to footbag with, so I just stopped playing and didn't follow the scene at all. Then, 13 years later, the US has made a mess of the pandemic so I couldn't play soccer anymore. Went into my old things and found that I still had a footbag and decided to start playing again. It has been really great, and makes me regret the 13 years off, but it has really helped me cope with being stuck at home all the time. It has also been very fun looking up videos of various players through the years on youtube. I also saw this video recently, I did not know that anyone had ducked a furious set on video 8O. Props. I'm guessing with how close this was it means you've hit alpine nemesis?


In the Worlds 2016 video I tried to figure out what the hell happens at 2:06... Is that a spinning paradox quantum set? That never even occurred to me as a possibility. :lol: Makes me think it might be nice to start a video thread with video clips of rare sets.
Olav wrote:
07 Aug 2020 12:54
@Gray: thanks, actually I watched it myself recently and realized I played in those pound heavy Lavers there. I didn't even quite notice at the time, but few months later my knees were like, "W - T - F is wrong with ya?!".
Yea, I bought new lavers at the beginning of the lockdown and was shocked by how heavy they were. I still had a pair of the first model of quantums in my closet, but the soles had turned very hard and crumbly. They broke in half when I put them on :lol:. I just weighed one of my lavers and it was 470g! The one thing I was most disappointed by upon coming back to footbag after so much time off was to discover that there was not a readily available shoe designed for footbag. :cry:

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Olav
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Re: Olav

Post by Olav » 08 Aug 2020 22:10

@Dan: yes, I'm Vancouver, Canada. This is what I call home now. I wish I had a teleport to maybe Berlin, but can't have it all.

I'm not in architecture anymore. It's a great field to study, because it makes you think in both creative/artistic, as well as pragmatic/technical way, and that the two can be married. But the reality of this business was just... well, not a good business.

Looks like all the links to my works/drawings are gone. I could probably post some again, only that I haven't done much traditional art in a while. I'm planning on changing that, realistically within the next 2 years, but for now I will just leave this here (over a decade old tho):

Image

I'm currently working in VFX (at Sony, they've been a great studio with integrity behind their action/values, very happy) working on environments for movies and more recently animated features (during a pandemic proved to be a better choice over live action). By environments I mean everything that is not a character, or a more complex simulation (explosions, fluids etc.). That includes everything from digital painting, through everything 3d related to dev and creating soft/tools. Whatever gets the job done, it's the one truly generalist discipline in this industry. There could be no end to me telling you more about it, so let me leave this here:

And a version with some professional work where I was a lead (couldn't embed it the same way as the one above):
https://vimeo.com/342634991/08bff99029

@Gray: ugh so cringy, there's this run in there where I BSOS a Nemesis, which is not a highlight of any sort for me, and if you look up another video from that event by Ivan Iakimenko (the foot, the bag and the dexy - it's on facebook) there's the same run from a different angle and you can see me smiling because I know how meeeh the execution was on those. Oh well.

DC ducks Furious BS on one of his (Autumn?) videos. I thought I've seen some footage from Vasek (circa. 2006) and maybe Anssi, but not sure. Doesn't matter, I know they could do it. I have on multiple occasions, somewhere in 2010 probably, but would be helpful to see my notes. I got those in Poland, so won't know anytime soon. Often when I stumble upon some old footage of me (not that there's that much of it) I'd go "oooh, I completely forgot I did those".

The True Quasi set is a perfect example, I forgot this was a possibility myself, you can see it here (around 3:30?):


The one you've mentioned is a Spinning version of it indeed. I've done some other variations, like Symp.

As for the shoes, I'm waiting for the new Quantums. It may require a bit more patience, but I have trust in the work Dexter has put in it. In the meanwhile I'm fine playing in whatever shoes. I got a pair of Pharrell Williams, and they're like 200g, it's great. Right now, I care about nothing more than staying away from injuries.
Olaf Piwowar, My Footblog

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Re: Olav

Post by Muffinman » 12 Aug 2020 06:38

Hey Olaf! So great to see you posting here again! It sounds like you plan to start playing again? I'm so excited for that. My fiance and I have been meaning to visit Vancouver for a while now, maybe we can connect in the near future :) Great to see your professional work too, though I remember you showed this to me a bit back. You're so talented and such an inspiration, and not just in footbag! Excited to see what you post next here.

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cammel
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Re: Olav

Post by cammel » 12 Aug 2020 16:04

Wow! 8O That true quasi set was unreal! I remember seeing Milan Benda hitting mid-time thigh-dexing quasi in this video at 1:04 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ilPa7d0E5X4. I didn't think doing this as a truly uptime dex was possible.

Definitely agree with the feeling that trying to stay away from injuries is the biggest consideration for me right now.

Loved the demo reel! Awesome stuff.

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Tjuggles
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Re: Olav

Post by Tjuggles » 23 Aug 2020 13:20

Olav wrote:
07 Aug 2020 12:54
@TJ: I do remember it, altho I'm not sure if my mind is making up the location... was it in front of the toy store? I have such good memories from Portland, it was especially important for me as it's been my first North American Worlds!
ha yeah it could have very well been there instead; my mind is a blur. At either rate, it was a blast and can't wait to catch up in person again.
TJ Boutorwick

"You can do anything" -Greg Nelson

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