Monday, May 30, 2005My Wierd-Ass Day! + I HATE STARBUCKS!
Then I went to starbucks. The man in from of me wanted to order two tall-skim-milk-lattes with 3/4's full of foam. I looked at the back of his head in confused disbelief then moved on with my life. I said," i just want a normal flat white". "what a tall size?". "Yup,the smallest." "$3.50, please" Then i waited at the serving area for my coffee. 3/4 man's coffees were called, so he shuffles over grabs his coffees and demands a cup of boiling water. yea, i'm coping... sure. Then, he shuffles back, having inspected how much froth is in BOTH cups, and then points out that he ordered "lattes with 3/4's full of foam" and he had obviously recieved 3/4's full of coffee and 1/4's full of foam. Disgruntled, he signs, "we're sitting in so you can use normal cups not paper" expecting new cups of coffee and stormed off. WHEN HAVE YOU EVER BEEN ABLE TO DICTATE PERCENTAGE FOAM? He might as well have ordered a flat white but actually i want it to be served in a purple flower pot and garnished with a cherry. And ohh... by the way, i'd like the milk of a female human, not regular cow's milk please. But yea, whatever... i'm just gonna get on with my life. Juggling is on Sunday afternoons in Hyde Park in the city. I've never been but i thought i'd go and have a look. So i waited near the war memorial and pond were the skateboarders were. I was sitting on a bench drinking starbucks coffee and watched the skaters. One of the skaters started walking towards me. "Do you skate?" "No... I actually here for the juggling on Sunday's in Hyde Park have you ever seen them?" "No, I skate here regularly on weekends and i've never seen jugglers" "Oh, maybe i'm in the wrong place" "yea man, but why don't you just juggle here" "I'm might try and find the place"
There's more! So juggling at hyde park went great and I walked to central with Mark. We got to train station, trains are leaving from all weird platforms during renovations. That's ok... whatever. We're waiting for the train. I start balancing a club, as you do when waiting for a train. Then I hear Mark say, "hey man..." "who are you talking too," I say since i'm field of vision is obsured by club. Then I look and standing in from of me is heavy metal, thin wirey year-12 guy with 3 piercing through lower lips and jet black goth hair. We get into discussion about balancing objects and how somethings and easier than others. We also talk about how we got into juggling and stuff like that. Then we got onto the train and he got on too. Things went from bad to worse, he was an inquisitive young lad and our conversations went into issues involving "what is considered a juggle? a flash? a qualify? 10mins?" "what defines juggling" "quality versus quantity of practice" "how do you define the best? is it technical precision? artistic soul? or complete package?" I felt like I was having a drunken philisopical chat but I was sure I hadn't been drinking! Finally, we got off the train, purchased Stella Artois and got to Mark's house. Katherine had started making pizzas. Mark helped. I said that at the moment I was really into cooking and that there was a time in my life when i was obsessed with cooking shows and books. Especially anything by Jamie Oliver. "what have you been cooking?" "well, i've cooked sticky date pudding about 3x this month... it's really easy. If , you have dates i could make it for you right now." [click extended entry for Sticky Date Pudding Recipie] Totally made sticky date pudding at Mark's house. Right, well it's past midnight. My, what a long entry! yea, well, now i can get on with my life! 
posted by @ 12:55 AM EST [more..] Saturday, May 28, 2005Shane Tan: most googlest!I googled my name today and my personal homepage is the first page found. I'm a totally net-famous Shane Tan. Most notable other entry was The Stanblaster by an Australian Shane Tan which was featured on the ABC TV program "the new inventors". Totally skyped it up today with Dale and Mark conference-style. It was all three-way audio action! Get SKYPE, it's an communication program like MSN and ICQ. A one more link for the jugglers. Juggletween is a juggling video project that was conceived on rec.juggling and involves international collaboration. I haven't downloaded the video yet but it sounds good. (.... or just different) posted @ 06:40 PM EST [link] The Tennis Court Sessions #1 Announcing the world premiere of THE TENNIS COURT SESSIONS #1 (15megs). It's a divx video of Shane's backyard juggling practice. Download it now before something bad happens! tenniscourtsessions01.avi (15303k file) (you need divx to play it. download that free from www.divx.com) posted @ 02:41 PM EST [link] Thursday, May 26, 2005Guiness World Records and a Judge.
Apparently, Guiness World Records (Australian Edition) are looking for world record attempts in Australia. Can you juggle 5 balls while suspended upside down? Bobby May did, in the 50's. So to break it, you'd have to juggle 6 balls to beat it! Bobby May (1907-1981) was one of the finest jugglers who ever lived. He was preforming during the vaudeville era and he was a pioneer of juggling as preformance art. I love Bobby May, he's genius! posted @ 01:52 PM EST [link] Wednesday, May 25, 2005"George Lucas, I want my 8 bucks back!" [spoiler-free review]
I better quickly talk about the good bits before it sounds like one big long complaint... Yoda: exceptional! only "non-wooden" preformance. Digital Effects: brillant, mind-bogglingly good! The old counciller guy: best non-animated actor. Very visually "pretty" movie. "......oooouuuuuuuuuu... preeetty...." Bad bits: Natalie Portman's character went from strong-willed, politically-minded woman who'd kick-ass and take names, to being a stereo-type whiney teenage drama queen who cried a lot. I usually love watching Ewan McGregor but, in this movie, he looked like he was in a pantomime and was going to burst out into broadway musical at any stage. The scene changes (video transitions) were all wipes. which is fine, but they were all the different wipes in the world.... I waited for STAR-wipe but it never came. All in all, it was corn-ball, chessy-lined drivel. Unless you're a "star wars" ultra-fan or a special effects monger, i would save my money and watch the better sci-fi movie out at the moment. (Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy) posted @ 12:10 AM EST [link] Tuesday, May 24, 2005dyscopiadid you know that your friend, Shane, is on sleeping tablets for sleeping problems? that's right! It's helping, but he's discovered that there's a bit of amnesia between taking tablet and waking up the next morning. The first time noted was when he couldnt remember the ending to Miss Congeniality even though he remembers watching the whole thing before going to bed. Now, the next morning, to his surprise, computer websites will be open to topical ideas and new juggling videos will be downloaded . He has no recollection of doing these things. Usually the response is "...SWEET! what a cool website! i will read it even though i've probably already read it before" or "...COOL! i've downloaded these things already!" So if you even find yourself talking to Shane in the middle of the night, it might be poignant to asked whether he is under the influence of any prescription medication. other personal side effects noted: drowsiness (not the next morning), clumsiness, staggering, incoherence (more than normal), forgotten moments of genius. In other news, Just scored 123 bucks. ING had a $123 giveaway if you signed up on a specific day in May and the account was updated to show that amount. (thanks Mark) Well, the hot water fuse has blown so i'm off to get a replacement. (or the gym to have a hot shower). posted @ 11:34 AM EST [link] Anothy Gatto and Jay Gilligan: A frank Discussion Jay Gilligan has a website/blog called Building Weight. On the 12th and 14th of March he unleashed a tirade of words bagging out the current climate of juggling in the world. Anyway, it's a great read if you're into juggling. If not it's probably really really confusing. click [more] for the entire "eassy". (i've transcribed it to my blog for preservation purposes.) As for far as i can tell. It is in response to an internet backlash against Anthony Gatto (argueably the best juggler alive) and the FAQ on his website. I have attached the faq to the bottom of Jay gilligan's rant just so i have it somewhere. If you want to read it either go to his website and click fans section and click FAQ. Otherwise read Jay then read Anthony by clicking [extended entry]. It was really interesting to see the internet creating an "instant" juggler culture wereas Jay would ilke to see people respect/known and learn old school juggling, WOO, that was heavy reading. PEACE OUT posted by @ 12:24 AM EST [more..] Monday, May 23, 2005Goals: 7 ball bounce and 5 clubs
posted @ 04:16 PM EST [link] Friday, May 20, 2005Soccer Balls and UmbrellasI went to www.jugglingfootballs.com today. Sweden-based juggler Victor Rubilar has made a sweet website with videos on it. He's featured in the movie:juggling in stockholm. Also Jenny took crappy footage of me balancing a tiny umbrella. Click here for tiny umbrella movie (1566k avi file) posted @ 04:58 PM EST [link] Thursday, May 19, 2005"HomeSpun' InfamyFor those of you who don't read rec.juggling. Buster Juggler is trying to make an Australian Juggling DVD. Click here to read about it. Anyway, the "HomeSpun' movie gets a little mention, in a later post. I think our little movie is getting a little famous. click [extended entry] for a copy of the post. posted by @ 02:25 PM EST [more..] hmmmm... pistachios I walked into a dvd store today and didnt resist. Totally bought Style Wars (graffiti doco, collector's edtion), the Corporation (documentrary), star wars clone wars (cartoon between episode 2 +3) and some cheap ass Aussie coffee barrista doco. But alas, no freestyle: art of rhyme, YET. I think i need a job to support this habit! Also watched Luke Burrage's small video about squeeze catches (as recommended by Mark at juggle night). It's small but cool. Click [extended entry] for a transcript that appears in Mental Floss Magazine article: posted by @ 01:46 PM EST [more..] Home Alone.
posted @ 10:52 AM EST [link] Tuesday, May 17, 2005My parents left meI took my parents to the airport today. They're going to thailand for a couple of days. Then, I went to Chatswood and planned on buying a little DVD+micro HiFI for mum's bedroom. Found a small black TEAC and asked if the marked price was the right price. The store guy looks it up on computer and says he can do it for $265 instead of $300. Deal! "no, sorry, it looks like we don't have the remote or the box so i can't sell it to you. But this huge AIWA home theatre system is only $350." I was like, "nah!" then i walked out, and 5 mins later, went back and totally bought it. i think the speakers might be too big for mum's room! posted @ 06:25 PM EST [link] Monday, May 16, 2005Israeli JugglersI downloaded the Mark Probst produced Israel Juggling video. What the hell is in the drinking water in Israel!! Download it at the Thomas Dietz Videos Mirror. Also jongl v13 is out. It's a updated juggling simulation program. get it at http://www.jongl.de/ there's also a kick-ass video called noPirouettes. Apparently Scotty Cavanaugh made a DVD with Team RootBerry. Guees who immediately purchased the "Learn To Juggle" DVD. Anyway, enough talk about juggling. Must get back to my bounce juggling. posted @ 05:31 PM EST [link] Sunday, May 15, 2005DIY blog, Israel and NICATotally blogged! Took two days, 3 different programs and loads of frustration but it's up. So angry... Will make it look prettier once i've found the will to live again. In other news, how hardcore are israel jugglers! WAY hardcore! Check out http://www.juggleroth.com/Videos/OriAvner5thvideo.mpg Last night, went to see NICA's "The New Breed" at the studio at the Opera House. They were surprisingly good. German Wheel girl was top class. I saw a block-boy, unicycle guy, hula-hoop girl, cloud, pole, freestanding ladder, pole again, crap club passing filler (they dropped heaps and tried to do dropbacks), foot juggling to uncomfortable heavy breathing, pole and Dan the Man on slackrope.. There was short juggling routine which involved one ball ponce, 3 ball mills mess, 4ball multiplex into 4 ball shower and 5 ball cascade for about 10 catches. He didnt drop. But all in all I thought it was excellent new school circus. posted @ 03:17 PM EST [link]
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Written by Shane Tan
