Fanzine

Ian Brill · Post by **Ian Brill** » 07 Sep 2009 13:56

Nice run!

I'm still sick too. Gonna see if I can fool myself through a session anyway.

Get better!

Muffinman · Post by **Muffinman** » 08 Sep 2009 09:11

C-Fan wrote:When she asked me for my number, I said: "010110001010101110."

OMG classic!!!!!

C-Fan · Post by **C-Fan** » 08 Sep 2009 19:03

My doctor's office has been fucking up, so for the last two days I haven't gotten antibiotics. This is bullshit, and I feel horrible.

I'm just gonna post a bunch of random videos:

Vertigo bsos run:
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zs5MbvvaSOc[/youtube]

spw-psw-spw:
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AdGiIa77-20[/youtube]

bubba egg-dyno repeat:
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=slsK9oouN24[/youtube]

C-Fan · Post by **C-Fan** » 11 Sep 2009 07:50

Feeling worse than ever. At least I'm on antibiotics now. Apparently I pulled a muscle(s) in my ribcage because I was coughing too hard. Now it hurts whenever I cough/sneeze/breathe deeply.

Haven't played footbag lately. I figure that I should hoard my energy for healing instead. Plus, the coughing kept getting in the way of me being able to string anyway.

The big news is that the DC Allstars are hosting the 26th East Coast Footbag Championships this year. It'll be the weekend of October 3rd, and you're all invited. We're getting a nice venue this year, and I guarantee a good time will be had.

A run:
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Of7QAv6jYKI[/youtube]

WyrmFyre · Post by **WyrmFyre** » 11 Sep 2009 07:57

^^ I want me a wooden shred spot just like that one, it looks great! Id be tempted to put it on wheels, perhaps a little electric motor....

Get well soon Ken!

Swizzle · Post by **Swizzle** » 18 Sep 2009 17:22

Wow c-fan your eggbeaters in your 'bubba egg dyno' video are awesome, that first one is so freaking smooth.

C-Fan · Post by **C-Fan** » 20 Sep 2009 20:44

Thanks guys.

Visited my niece in Jersey this weekend. She just turned one, and I hadn't seen her in 6 months. I was amazed by how much she had changed: she has 7 teeth now, smiles, walks, picks things up, and even solves some puzzles while playing. Amazing... and also adorable.

In news you might actually care about, I also got to play footbag! It was my first session in two weeks, and the closest thing I've had to a healthy session in over a month. I was still coughing up a bit, but not during runs, and nothing nearly as bad as before. I'm really hoping I'm finally over the hump.

My biggest concern while playing was to not aggravate the muscle I'd pulled in my rib while coughing over the last weeks. To that end I tried to limit the number of paradox tricks I did. I also didn't do a single uptime five. Despite these precautions, I did end up pulling a muscle...and it feels like it's in my ass. For real, some muscle in the right cheek feel badly pulled. Man, sometimes you just can't catch a break.

I still had a lot of fun playing again, and I managed a few things I was happy with. Unfortunately, I had a lot of trouble filming. I played on the deck at my sister's house, and it was pretty much impossible for me to tell what made the camera shake or not shake. So apologies for the occasional earthquake effect in these vids:

Paradon swirl to vertigo:
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CfErP2l4jG4[/youtube]

Drifter to forward swirl drill:
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EdOOL_dcNwg[/youtube]

And my best run of the day, which is also the most zoomed out. Apologies again for the difficulties shooting.
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q9yzlCJLkvQ[/youtube]

Tjuggles · Post by **Tjuggles** » 23 Sep 2009 21:47

Awesome stuff Ken. I like the spins. It looks like they are getting better.

C-Fan · Post by **C-Fan** » 26 Sep 2009 16:36

Thanks TJ; I still make a point to practice spins every time I play.

I spent the last week in Albuquerque on business, so I haven't been online much. I got in three sessions during the week, but two of them were after long days of work, so I was tired. I actually felt my eyes burning during them.

Not too much notable during my first session, other than this drill:

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1hnia1HE6w8[/youtube]

I was happy about it, since it used my flip zooming, which still sucks.

I was real tired during my second session, but the one bright spot was that I discovered that both my voids were better than I remembered. I came close to some dream combos, and hit some links both sides, for the first time either side.

The biggest highlight all day though was hitting:

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bmLPJuCV1b0[/youtube]

C-Fan · Post by **C-Fan** » 27 Sep 2009 13:44

Got in a nice session with Brian today at the park. Before I forget though, here are some more highlights from my New Mexico trip:

*In-vortex a couple times
*Fairy ss dlo
*Good pixie practice
*Fume a few times

Shred with Brian today was fun. I finally feel like I'm getting my stamina back after being sick for so long. Brian also looks like he's getting his form back. We got some good interest from passersby, and invited a couple college kids to East Coasts this weekend.

Brian:
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s161iYQMdcw[/youtube]

Me:
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a154TCKWHi0[/youtube]

Going to Colorado tomorrow for a few days, but I'm gonna be so busy I don't know if it's even worth packing my shred gear.

slapdash21 · Post by **slapdash21** » 29 Sep 2009 11:21

noice. fume looks badasss especially

C-Fan · Post by **C-Fan** » 02 Oct 2009 08:09

Life's been pretty hectic and stressful lately. The "hectic" means I haven't had much chance to play lately, which probably contributes to the "stressful." I played well during my last session with Brian on Sunday, but I also aggravated my right knee. Because of that, I didn't play while I was in Denver, and now that I'm back in DC it's been too cold out to play after work. I also picked my routine song three days ago, downloaded it two nights ago, and have never played to it. Let's hope I step up tomorrow and don't embarass myself too badly.

All that said, I'm looking forward to hanging out with all my friends this weekend and getting to play lots of hack. I'm hoping competition wraps up quickly and we just play for fun. I've bought beer, charged up the wiimotes, and even got some classic Simpsons DVDs from the library. Should be good times.

The main reason I'm posting here though, is that I was approached at work today to participate in another talent show. Last time, the show was at the agency level, whereas this time it will be at the Department level. As loyal Fanzine readers may recall, I did a good routine at the last show, and dropped on my final trick. You may also recall that while the audience seemed into it, I also got the impression that they liked some of the other (objectively less talented) acts better. The fact that they are asking me to be one of two acts to kick the whole thing off, and then participate in the Department wide show, makes me feel that maybe they did like my performance more than I thought. And that feels good. This time around when I do it, I'll try and get it filmed again. Horizontally this time.

East Coast Footbag Champs starts in a few hours! Woot!

Random run from my last session:
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9qwF3H-SeyU[/youtube]

Swizzle · Post by **Swizzle** » 02 Oct 2009 21:18

Ken, can you hit ripstein? your really damn good and yet i have found a video with it.. i saw your double down swirls vid.. thats amazing, your feet go into a blur so much its jawdropping lmao

C-Fan · Post by **C-Fan** » 06 Oct 2009 07:19

I haven't hit a ripstein since late 2000 or early 2001. Back then, I did them Jon Schneider style, with the jump. Given the state of my knees, and my desire to adopt a style that's easier on my body, ripstein isn't a trick I have much interest in schooling at this point in my career.

Swizzle wrote:i saw your double down swirls vid.. thats amazing, your feet go into a blur so much its jawdropping lmao

Yeah, my camera isn't very good at capturing fast movements.

So the big news is that East Coasts went down this weekend. Overall, I think the DC Allstars did a very good job of pulling this one off. The venue was great, the weather smiled on us, everything ran on time, and we had amazing prizes thanks to our generous sponsors (again, huge shout out to Fourkast, Kolosport, Abshire, Cross, Brian Bear, Flying Clipper, Gary D'Alessandro, and Bruce Dole for trophies). I even got to play some basketball! I think everybody who came had a good time, which is the most important thing to me.

Going into the weekend, I knew I wasn't in good shape mentally, physically or emotionally for the tournament. Sure enough, I had a very hard time on all fronts. I survived though, and had some real good moments along the way.

Random highlights:

*Playing "Apples to Apples" on Friday night with Bruce, Nate, Waylon, Dave Byers, and Drew
*Watching my favorite episode of the Simpsons with everybody on Friday night.
*Playing one-on-one basketball against Age, and then against Brian MacKenzie
*During my final turn in Circle Comp, the music cut out. Rather than play in silence, I beatboxed while I played for that turn.
*Getting a spike in the intermediate doubles net semifinals
*Having several close looks at spinning mobius
*Watching "Feet on Fire" with everybody on Saturday night.

On Sunday I was recruited to do intermediate doubles net, in order to make the brackets work. I hadn't played net since Funtastiks the year before, so I predictably blew out my legs (left quad and right hamstring). Hopefully I'll recover by the weekend.

Thanks again to everybody for coming.

C-Fan · Post by **C-Fan** » 09 Oct 2009 06:04

Playing net on Sunday hit my legs pretty hard. I'm even more one-sided in Net than I am in Freestyle, so for a few days my left quad and right hamstring felt horrible. They finally started feeling better yesterday, so I got in a light session when I got home from work. Unfortunately, I worked late, which meant I only had about 30 minutes of light. I decided against filming so I'd have more time and less pressure to play. I used my new Fourkast shorts that I won at East Coasts, as well as the Fourkast 32 bag I won. Not sure who made it, but I think it'll be a good bag.

Not much in the way of highlights; more than anything it just felt good to play again. I did manage to hit toe double pickup on both sides. It's possible one of them is new. Mostly though I just tried to hit basic tricks with good form, and enjoy the feeling of playing. It sounds like this weekend everybody is leaving town, so hopefully I'll get in a couple solo sessions. I think it might do me some good to go back and re-hit a bunch of my challenges.

Sorry for the lack of videos in here the last couple posts. I'll make up for it this weekend.

On that note, here's John Goode's vid of East Coasts:
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0PcFNMyyaA0[/youtube]

In the final run I was beatboxing "drop it like it's hot," but unfortunately you can't really hear the beats or clicks I was making.

g00d33 · Post by **g00d33** » 09 Oct 2009 09:19

C-Fan wrote: In the final run I was beatboxing "drop it like it's hot," but unfortunately you can't really hear the beats or clicks I was making.

Yeah, my bad about that. I even turned the volume of the clip up as high as I could

C-Fan · Post by **C-Fan** » 10 Oct 2009 07:05

Nah man, I don't think it's your fault at all. I think it's just hard to hear my beatboxing over the sound of my feet, plus your camera was a bit far away.

Weather was great again yesterday, so I got in a shred after work. I used my new footbag and shorts from Fourkast that I won at East Coasts. I think this will be a good bag. At the moment it's a bit rounder than what I'm used to, but I like that it's making me be more precise with my osis and spins.

Not much notable to report from the session, so I'll just leave you with a clip of a run I enjoyed:

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vodY9RSmy5E[/youtube]

C-Fan · Post by **C-Fan** » 11 Oct 2009 10:35

Last spring I got serious about improving my spinning game, and towards that end I made a challenge thread. I was pretty diligent about hitting and re-hitting challenges to improve my spins, and it definitely started to pay off. Then I decided to go to Worlds, so I shifted my priorities and focused more on putting together a solid routine. Happily, that ended up paying off, but after Worlds I never went back to my spinning drills. Over the last few weeks I've really noticed how weak and unreliable my flipside spins were, so I pretty much dedicated all of my session yesterday to re-hitting as many old challenges as I could. I was very pleasantly surprised with the results. Beyond the fact that these drills will help me in the long run, I also just had fun doing so much flip spinning.

The other fun part of the session for me was working on double-spinning and getting it a lot more consistent. It's definitely a bit counterintuitive, in that the first spin has to be slow and normal, and you only really speed up on the second spin. Whenever I rush the first spin, the second is always worse. I think I can learn this and get used to the timing though. One encouraging sign of my progress is that I spun out of DSC for my first time ever. Definitely excited by the possibilities that could be opened up there.

I'll probably take today off and then get in a long session tomorrow. I'm gonna keep working my flip spins as well as my double-spinning. I think spinning mobius is a realistic goal to shoot for, and I'd love to get that on video once.

Here's a run with a midstring clipper stall:

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b4fzpaeyHP0[/youtube]

C-Fan · Post by **C-Fan** » 13 Oct 2009 13:03

The indian summer weather from late last week officially ended this weekend. This time of year it's usually too cold to play after work, but during the peak hours of the day (1-3 pm) its normally warm enough to play. That usually means I can play on weekends but not weekdays. Yesterday though, the high was around 60, so I couldn't play outside at all. I think I may try moving the furniture in my common room, and seeing if I can play there. My normal indoor shred spot is closed on Sundays and a bit of a hike. I don't want to be relegated to playing only once a week during winter. Monday I went to my indoor spot and worked on spins and double spins. I warmed up spins by doing some challenge drills, and then I worked on double spins. While my previous session I hit a lot of double spinning clippers (DSC), this time around I worked on double spinning osis. Definitely feel like I got it more consistent throughout the session.

Highlights:

*Gyro clip x12
*DSC- gyro mirage
*Gyro osis x2 bsos

The combo I was most stoked to hit though was this:
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xsAdz5ywZnE[/youtube]

I particularly liked that in the sealing run I linked so many spins. Ideally I'd love it if my game went this direction, with bothsided basic spins and some harder styly spinning tricks getting consistent, even if only on one side.

C-Fan · Post by **C-Fan** » 15 Oct 2009 07:47

Good timing for a new page, since yesterday's session marks the beginning of an exciting new era. To make a long story short: I can play in my own house! When I mentioned to my housemate that it's getting too cold to play outside anymore and that my inside spot was in Foggy Bottom, he actually suggested I try playing in the living room. Yesterday it was rainy and cold out, so I moved the furniture out of the way and was able to get in a good session.

The space itself isn't 100% ideal, but it's pluses outweigh its minuses.

Cons:

*There's an overhead lamp. So far it hasn't affected my spins, but I'm very aware of it. I've avoided fliers so far too.
*Floor is slippery, but I can swiffer it and I feel like it got better.
*Even with all my lights on, it's pretty bad lighting for filming.

Pros:
*Nobody lives downstairs
*Near a shower, water, and protein (I like to eat protein within 20 minutes of finishing a shred).
*About as wide as my other indoor spot
*I can play music off my computer, and talk to people on gchat during the session
*No commuting= saved time and money

My housemate is on vacation now, so I have the house to myself. I'm a bit concerned that my playing might be too noisy for him when he gets back, but I could still probably sneak in a session after work before he gets home. Who knows, maybe he'll be fine with me playing whenever if he puts on music. Regardless, it now looks like I should be able to get in sessions during the week, which previously looked like it would be hard to manage during the winter.

The first half of my session I mostly just tried to get used to the space. Then I saw that Ian Brill was on g-chat, so I asked him for easy drills and challenges. Here are the challenges I managed to hit, in rough ascending order of how hard I found them:

*spin clipper-spin clipper-drifter repeat
*gyro mirage-paradon repeat
*torque-drifter-spin clipper repeat
*spin clipper-dyno-pdx drifter repeat
*spin pdx mirage to dod repeat
*torque-gyro clipper repeat

I also came close to some drills that I'd like to hit in the future.

Here's one of the few runs I got on camera which wasn't one of Ian's challenges:
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ecHyRe17fkE[/youtube]

Which I apparently can't embed? Lame.