Ivan I's Footblog

[boats]

Im glad that your going to make that full recovery. You def have a good attitude with still going to tournaments even though you cant play. What happens when i usually want to shoot a video is, I end up shredding the whole time instead. So it seems like you can really focus on getting some cool footage! See you soon mane

[isirc10]

What happens when i usually want to shoot a video is, I end up shredding the whole time instead. So it seems like you can really focus on getting some cool footage!

Yeah, that happens to me as well. I hate/love filming because it means I'm not kicking, but it's still so much fun for me to do. I'm hoping to have two super nice cameras with me for ECFC, one for comps and the other will be a handheld for me to get side stuff on. I suppose if we travel in a group, I should be okay with two cameras and a laptop in my bag.

In other news, I'm getting a bit better at walking again, biking is still feeble but it feels great with my new brace. I'm actually starting to feel my calf muscle flexing again (I got so used to it just flapping around like a useless sack on my leg) and it feels amazing.


So let's get back to building stuff! In my last post I had made it up to the point where I got into high school and started applying my skills to projects. There were so many ways to twist assignment criteria under the guise of going above and beyond the standards and the teachers ate it all up and wanted more. I built models of everything from the cockpit of the Bell X-1 to a trash disposal facility. Cardboard and plywood were the best for these projects as they were disposable - some teachers kept and still have the models, and others I just threw away because they weren't really that interesting to me. The lowest grade I got on a project with a model I built was an 88.

Fast forward to the junior year of high school. During the summer, I had to do some sort of senior project. Most people did community service or organized a fundraiser or sports tournament. People even got away with babysitting their neighbor's dog, which I thought was absolute crap. I wanted to do something cool so I decided to build a recumbent bicycle out of bamboo and other "sustainable" resources. Two weeks into the project I realized that I was in way over my head - I would catch the bike building bug a few years down the line when I was more prepared. I switched my project to something more feasible - building a semi autonomous tricopter. The goal was to keep it under $200, use simple electronics and have the craft be easy to service in the field. Nowadays you can go to Walmart and grab a quadcopter off the shelf for your kid (if you have one), but back then these craft were only accessible to the elite RC enthusiasts. I won't bore you with the technical aspects and the challenges I faced (because I can go on and on for hours about it without noticing that people don't care), but this was the biggest achievement of my life at that point.


By the end of the summer, I had something that flew. I also learned how to fly with that thing, which is an amazing achievement considering I hadn't flown anything in my life. Flying radio controlled craft is a difficult feat, considering you don't get any sort of tactile feedback, you just judge the orientation of the craft and make corrections based on visuals alone. Since I finished my project early and under my projected budget, I tacked on a live stream video camera that enabled me to fly the thing using home made goggles with a small screen and optics, making it seem like I was actually ON the craft. I even made a few boring videos with it:
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=30mSbNFd6R4[/youtube]
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xV76ahrf5HM[/youtube]

I got a lot of attention after building that guy. I ended up selling my control system to some people at Yale, and also provided an airframe so that they could test it. This craft was (and is still being used today) for geological surveys and has a stabilized downward pointing camera that maps out bodies of water.


After that project concluded, I decided to mess around with more onboard processing systems, and concentrated on autonomous flight. Using commercially available controllers, I wrote autopilot code for a small tricopter meant to fly indoors. I never really got all of the flaws out of the system, but it served as a nice stepping stone for my next quad.


During freshman year of college, I messed around with a more advanced autopilot system. The hardware on this guy was absolutely off the charts, sporting an i7 processor - excuse my language, but that fucker was more powerful than the chip I have in my laptop. It ran real time image processing, sonar and laser mapping, gps and altimeter overlays, the whole deal. This was cutting edge - the same level as the control units deployed in the US military drones. It cost a pretty penny, but the university had a spare system and we were told to have fun. I was one of six people on the project team, the only freshman. I like to joke that I spent more hours with that bit of electronics than I did with my girlfriend that year, but the sad part is that it was probably true. Needless to say, I don't have a girlfriend or an autopilot board with a i7 processor anymore, but nothing can take away those experiences.

At the moment, I haven't been able to mess around with autopilots or drones due to FAA legislation (typical knee jerk reaction, but hopefully people will realize that amateur UAVs can exist in our airspace safely). However, this is the nice folding rig I have sitting in my closet, waiting for the day I want to fly again.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IrYtKHLe0qo[/youtube]

That's it for now. I've got some other cool stuff for future posts, but none of it flies. I hope to update it in the next few weeks as my semester starts to ramp up. Speaking of school, I'm excited and a bit nervous about the classes I'm taking this semester. I've got two EE courses that are notoriously difficult and have labs. I have a sweet CompEng course that I've been wanting to take for a year and another course that isn't really worth mentioning... which makes 15 credits. It's weird having to take so little in a semester but my adviser told me to not be a masochist and take it easy with the two EE heavy hitters. He's a great guy and has helped me so much that it would be stupid not to listen to the advice, but it also makes me nervous about the coursework. Oh well, no point in worrying about things I can't control. Good night (morning, afternoon, whatever) modified.

[boyle]

This is all just incredible stuff. I am sure some day down the line your skills will be a great help to a big step forward in the footbag community.

[isirc10]

Thanks Dan! I suppose it can't hurt to know things

So this summer has been quite the disappointment shred wise, but very productive in terms of video production. I think I've made strides to improve my video edits and the great thing is I still have improvements to every edit I put out, things I would do better the next time around. Just for fun, I'm going to put all of the videos I've made this summer into this post. You don't have to watch them again, I'm just sticking them here for my footblog's sake.
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XvEQKBTEiGc[/youtube]
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s_J47bUa2as[/youtube]
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xPmLrEHuKMo[/youtube]
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Bewl1m0bH4[/youtube]
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M6NXXR7eHso[/youtube]
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RgROmYSPqYk[/youtube]

So, you may be asking "what's your favorite edit?"
If you aren't, then that's cool I suppose, guess I'm just bad at making assumptions or mind reading. If you did pose that question, you win... nothing? I guess you win the answer:

My favorite video from the summer is my Riverrock Jam edit. Feel free to re-watch it. This video is the only video that gives me the same feeling that I felt when I was actually at the event. It's hard to explain it, but it's almost like a taste, but in memory form - very unique from the other events I have attended, this one just feels lightweight, with no obligations and the freedom to explore the surrounding fair grounds. For some reason, I felt a strange disconnect from the people playing when I was there, and at the same time I was enjoying their company. I treated the Jam as a way to check out everything going on around the island, while also playing some footbag. Somehow, in this unplanned video I was able to capture this feeling, without really trying - it just happened. If I were to judge my videos based on a set of criteria, I would say the Riverrock one had the best shots, The PSU Jam had the best edit and post color work, and the Ken video obviously had the best shred.

Will I have more videos coming up? Yes. I've still got a good bit of footage from events and sessions to go through. Will I have it up before ECFC? Probably not. The next big video is going to be ECFC - I'm going to have fun with this one, while also doing my best to cover all of the competitions. I'm currently figuring out the logistics of everything, but I think I will be able to attain my goals for the event. With that, I bid you farewell dear blog reader, till the next time I post or the next time we meet - whichever occurs first.

[F[uns]tylin' Eclectic]

Yeah man, I totally agree. Can't tell you how many people I've shown that video. Would you be interested in doing a sick edit for me in the near future? If i made the video, I know it wouldn't look awesome. You can really do a video some justice. You've got done talent/skill with an editing program. Looking forward to seeing you at ecfc!

[isirc10]

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4fWyzwo1xg0[/youtube]

So yesterday Anastasia jumped off a bridge and I lost another of my closest friends. So many questions are going to remain unanswered, but that's how things go I suppose. Not gonna write anything on here for a bit, probably till after ECFC. Take care friends.

[F[uns]tylin' Eclectic]

I had a feeling that was the case.. So sorry to hear what happened. If you want to talk, I'm here.

[boyle]

I was sad to see that little Facebook post from you. So sorry to hear. Hopefully you are going to get some good luck coming your way. Look forward to seeing the East Coast video.

[isirc10]

Reading the ECFC write up's is making me sad I'm not doing one. I guess I have some time to jot down some thoughts while the Open Circles video renders.

So the Wednesday before ECFC my mom was taken to the hospital with VERY high blood sugar - being a diabetic, that is very dangerous and she was there for 48 hours. That scared me pretty good and I almost went home instead of ECFC, but thankfully things turned out well and I got on the bus to NYC. Sometimes life's okay. Going into ECFC I wanted to film a lot, and sell all of my bags and just hang out with people. During the past month or so, I just haven't really cared about footbag at all. No amount of David Clavens videos made me excited, watching Nick hit some sick shit was kinda meh - sorry if my reactions were not what they should have been.

Anyway, I ended up filming a lot (not as much as I had hoped, but that's okay). I also sold all of my bags, which was exciting. I finally met Mr. Littlefield and Mr. Bear which I really enjoyed and we hung out a bit. I watched Chris Dean and Derek play a game of chess, riddled with errors but enjoyable nevertheless. There were shenanigans the likes of which could only have been caused by Hoagie Beats and Boatz's spaghetti. I also helped run music for routines and circles which was cool. That's a lot more difficult than I imagined, but also pretty simple to do. Lots of things were learned. My phone is now 2 for 2 for freezing in the middle of Open Circle comps while playing music, so that needs to be addressed.

What to take away from the event - Even if I'm not back to playing in the future, it's still worth it to show up to events like this. Fun can still be had even if you don't kick a single bag that weekend. My video editing process needs to be streamlined. It's taking way too long to do things, I think I'm going to go to a computer lab and start rendering stuff on multiple computers till someone kicks me out. I hate stairs - they hurt my foot and give me massive shin splints. Screw NYC subways and walking with a bag that's way too heavy. I absolutely loved the top two routines (and Ryan's). Evan's didn't really appeal to me at first, but after watching it a few more times, it has really grown on me. Coming back from footbag tournaments always sucks because real life just hits you. 24 hours after coming back home I took a midterm exam and have been working a lot. Regardless, ECFC is proof that life isn't too bad and that good things do happen every now and then.

That's all I've got. Looking forward to the other write ups being put up. Wish I took more pictures.

[Cass]

Thanks for everything that you do Ivan. You are so amazing and I'm sorry that I didn't give you more hugs this weekend.

[Derek]

We met!!!! Sorry you had to see my sloppy Chess play. You the man! And I cannot wait till video surfaces, whether you edited it, or not. We shall play, someday. I feel it in my bones. Hope life starts going in your favor. <3

[isirc10]

Thanks guys!

Cassy, hopefully the next time we meet I will be kicking bags and stuff.
Derek, it was awesome meeting you and I hope to make it out west some day. Seeing your game was sweet and your toe foundation will make you a very good player in the long run, just keep adding those uptime sets. Do you do any toe-spinning?

So far I'm really excited by all of the videos being put up. One of the worst feelings is going to a sweet event and then realizing that you were the only one filming. I'm glad people are taking the time to make videos - I get to watch them while I wait for all of the comp stuff to render and upload.

[PrunusAberration]

Thanks for all of your hard work and it was honor to meet you in-person. I wish I would have been able to grab your last bag. Maybe next time.

[isirc10]

Thanksgiving break. Time to write things here that will be looked back upon in the future.

My foot is progressing slowly but thankfully footbag has taught me how to notice minute improvements in things and it's really helping out now. Calf raises suck and I hate them more than a lot of things, but I guess that's the way it's gonna be for now. Balance exercises are challenging and fun because there is always the risk of my face meeting the floor at a rather high velocity. Besides physical therapy, I've been biking a good bit (I finally figured out what was making my bike creak like a dead tree and in the process upgraded most of the drive components) and have started taking longer walks. I hesitate to call them hikes because I'm still terrified of slipping and snapping the tendon. That would be bad news bears.

Footbag has been a once a week type of thing, where I play for a few hours and then go home and be very nice to my legs for a few days. Magic hop is still a bit weak, and a lot of my toe sets are absolutely horrible and make me hate footbag, but there is still hope. Clippers are honestly the most fun they have ever been, and osis is one of the few tricks that doesn't hurt (well, I think it's a mental issue at this point, as I kinda flinch away from motions that I think will hurt - I haven't felt pain in that area for a few months now). Ducking is cool, and I've been working with spins a bit now that I'm on a more slippery floor. Last week I tried atomics (very carefully, believe me, I'm super conscious of my limits at the moment) and got atomsmasher bs and atomic far pickup and atomic far legover in a session. Still can't really throw any decent strings down because the toe game is crap and butterflies suck, but it's actually fun to kick now. I guess I lowered my expectations, or don't really have such high aspirations anymore, but I'm enjoying playing my own shitty version of footbag. I missed playing with the PSU club. I miss all you guys.

In other news, footbag videos are getting made. Trying to step my game up with each one I put out. It's no secret that I've got a buttload of Silencer footage, and I'm doing my best to do something different with that one. I've also made a camera stabilization gimbal to help get those buttery smooth motion shots - It will be awesome to bring it to the next jam I'm at.


So I guess life is cool. I haven't taken any behavior modifying medications in the past three months and have been getting better with keeping my shit together on a daily basis. Depression is a really shitty thing, and it's not just being "sad". I guess what doesn't kill me can only make me stronger, right? I still miss my friends but that's a fact of life and I'm okay with that. Still working on understanding/accepting the suicide note I was left, but I'm sure everything will fall into place eventually.

Anyway, it's getting late and I should probably be asleep. Happy dreams, happy thoughts, and happy givings of thanks to all that read this. I think I'm just going to eat a cheese steak on thanksgiving. Random words combine into cohesive sentences.

[boyle]

Hi Ivan, I always enjoy your posts in here. Looking forward to the next videos you put out. Seems like a tough year for you but seems that you're going to come through it much stronger. Sounds like you are doing all the right things in regards to footbag comeback, taking it easy and step by step.

It is so true that footbag can make us realise such minor improvements in other parts of our lives. (sometimes..).

Can this gizmo have multiple cameras on it at the same time?

[C-Fan]

You had an insanely tough year. I admire how well you've been able to cope with everything, and am happy that footbag, and footbag friends played a role in that too.

Footbagwise, I think it might be a good thing for your game to spend a year doing low impact. I feel like I spent my first 10 years shuffling and doing symp, and it was only late in my career that I discovered the joys of spinning and ducking. I know Erik Chan had a similar experience, where his career was shuffly early on, he got injured, and then he came back and had a much cooler style with the spins and ducks. I'm optimistic this may work out in your favor in the long run.

Looking forward to seeing your Joulukalenteri videos!

[isirc10]

Well, I think I'm averaging about one session a week right now, and I'm still getting better each time I kick. I definitely wouldn't mind kicking a bit more, but at this point it's probably a good thing as I'm sore for a few days after each session. Last time I kicked I managed to hit whirl bs, tap bsos, and about ten contacts of the infinity drill. That pretty much made my session. Paradons are still a few sessions away. Spinning is starting to pick up a bit, but feels really rushed when I try it midstring (did I mention I can hit strings now?)

Enough with my boring footbag crap, lets talk video editing. I submitted my first video for the calendar this year and it was a really surreal experience. Normally I'm up waiting to see the video be posted every day, but for day one, I had already watched it a couple hundred times. Our internet was slow, so I ended up playing the full render version on my hard drive on our wall. That was pretty cool. I enjoyed the response, and the video has quickly become one of my most viewed edits. I won't go into the details, but I did a lot to get rid of the "GoPro" look of the footage and I think it was worth it. Huge thanks to Ken for filming and getting the footage to me - it is a privilege and great joy to be able to edit stuff from such good players.

I guess the really important question is - how much Silencer footage do I have? More than I should be trusted with. 12 minutes of usable stuff. By usable, I mean absoulutelyfuckingawesome. Evan and I have been talking and we have some cool ideas for the edit. I'll say no more.

Actually, I will say more. Some thoughts on filming footbag, especially with GoPros.
-I know it's hard to get a well composed frame when you don't have a screen, so it's better to film too far from the camera, rather then too close. Cropping from 1080 down to 720 is a very handy solution for video editors, but it's a lot harder to do when the player is in too close.
-Stationary shots are boring, but they are way better than shots that I can't stabilize. Holding a GoPro can be tricky, especially if you have never done it before. Keep this in mind if you have someone filming you.
-If you don't move around too much or play further away from the camera, you can get away with a narrower field of view. This removes a bit of the fisheye that plagues gopro footage. There is also less distortion at the edges of the frame, which helps if you stray from the center of your shot.
-If you are filming big tricks or sick 3s, give the 720@120FPS option a shot! It makes for really cool slow motion opportunities. Sure the FOV is going to be wider and the fisheye comes back, but it's so worth it for the buttery smooth slow motion.
-When you set up your shot, don't set your camera to face the sun. This will wash out the shot and turn the player and the bag into a dancing silhouette. Film with camera pointed away from the sun.

I hope these suggestions make for better all around footage - I've seen a lot of good stuff lately, so lets keep raising the bar. These aren't steadfast rules, just stuff to keep in mind if you want to get better looking footage out of a very capable camera.

[isirc10]

Can this gizmo have multiple cameras on it at the same time?

Yes it can - it can take 2 GoPros - but it is limited by the weight of the camera. I've added a joystick so I can manually control the motors (and pan/tilt the camera smoothly) and am looking to add an external monitor so I can see what I'm filming. So far, I'm very happy with the rig's performance.

[F[uns]tylin' Eclectic]

Really glad you updated us. Sounds like it's going well. I hope you keep progressing and get back to your old level with little trouble. I have faith in your game. I also really enjoy watching you play. Also, keep up the great footage

Good luck man. See you soon.

[isirc10]

Highlights from Tuesday's session:

pdx whirl
whirl bsos
drifter bsos
bop drill with illusions and mirages
clipper > clipper rpt more than 2 contacts finally
ducking clipper > ss pickup rpt
legbeater bs
footed grifter

Highlights make this look like a good session when in fact it was a very frustrating one. Osis and clipper sucked. Left toe set is the worst it's been since I started playing three years ago. Left legover and pickup are consistently impossible to set out of and really make me feel some of the limitation to the range of motion of my ankle (pointing toes up). The really annoying thing is how sloppy everything is. I used to love the fact that a lot of my game was focused on landing lightly and staying on my toes, balanced. Now I'm all over the place and clumsy, usually ending my strings because I'm not in rhythm or falling over. It sucks only being able to hit a few (basic 2 add) tricks before dropping. Oh well, I suppose I'm going to suck for a good bit before the foot is fully healed. Still getting over mental road blocks as well (I have to really force myself to not be a little bitch when I have to push off with my left foot). Playing it safe is one thing, but I've got sufficient muscle built up to support myself and would benefit from the extra activity - if my mind wouldn't stop dead in it's tracks on every pdx mirage.

Rant over. Footbag is fun and it makes my legs feel good - the soreness is even on both sides and is refreshing from just having my left side be tired from PT. I don't think I'll ever be as good as players like Ken, Evan or Jim, but I guess editing video of them is the closest I'll get. And I don't mind that. Tomorrow as I bike to class, I think I'll smile at people instead of looking like my face froze from the wind. It's not like they will notice, everyone here walks with their head down and their headphones in. Off to change the world, in the morning.

Shut up, I know it's corny but I'm trying to be optimistic here. Go away conscience, nobody cares about your take on the situation.