Listen to a recording of Who's On First by Abott & Costello, performed by myself and a friend (Kevin). I recorded and editing the entire thing at Depauws recording studio, as a part of the ITAP program. Have a listen:
Click here to listen
Wednesday, November 30, 2011
Thursday, November 24, 2011
How to Cook a Turkey on Thanksgiving Day
How to Cook a Turkey
- Purchase turkey. You have not thought far enough ahead to get a good one, so make do with what you have.
- You forgot to pre-heat the oven, didn't you? Whatever, just turn the oven up to 450 degrees, it'l warm in no time.
- Thaw the turkey before cooking. You can do this in the oven while it heats up.
- wait around, bake your desserts. That stuffing needs to be made.
- Watch some football on TV
- You forgot about the turkey. Examine your burned-outside, frozen-inside specimen of ex-edible dinner.
- Turn off all kitchen hardware and pile everyone in the lap. Little Johnny can sit on his older sister's lap.
- Drive the family to the local Chinese Restaurant
- Enjoy a delicious thanksgiving dinner!
Wednesday, November 16, 2011
Thursday, November 3, 2011
Demystifying the complex: 5 Ball Cascade Practice Path
Guys, I have been approaching this 5 ball cascade all wrong. I have been practicing the 4 ball cascade, lefty 3 ball shower, and some '5 ball practice' siteswaps. On those siteswaps I have been making 0 progress. my 5 ball cascade has been making 0 practice. Then I realized something so obvious, it's painful. Learn 5 balls the same way you learned 3. Breaking it down throw by throw, and building up hand speed, and (more importantly) accuracy and consistency.
Start with 1 ball. Toss it high above your head at the 5 ball height. No 'about eye level here', but some previous tinkering with numbers, as I am sure you have done, has you knowing about where this is. Throw a bit higher than that, for safety and accuracy's sake. (If you are bored, I bet you are skilled enough to do this with 3 balls.
Move up to 2 balls. Don't throw one at the apex of the other, but rather quickly - as quick as you can. OK, not that fast. (the tempo will make sense when you have three, then you can scale it back and do 2 balls). Make sure you are not moving your hands too much to catch the balls before moving on to 3. Throw and catch both before throwing again.
3 balls now, do a 3 ball flash. Good. Now try, except count out '1-2-3-4-5' out loud as you throw them. 1,2,3, should be on throws, and 4 and 5 should be said before the first ball lands (right before it lands, in fact). Catch all of the balls before tossing again. While you will inevitably play with 4 and 5 balls, ensure that you have 3 solid before really continuing.
up to 4 balls! Just remember to watch the ball's height, and listen to the sound as they land - it all should be pretty consistent. Try counting out 12345 and seeing if you have time to say that '5' before catching. It'l be quick. Just remember, don't fumble constantly around with 5 (not getting better) until you can do 4 consistently. It may not look like it, but your hands are really learning something here.
OK, and the moment you have been waiting for. 5 tosses, 5 catches. Look elsewhere on the internet for grips and how to hold the balls. (I purchased smaller beanbags to practice with). If you have 4 consistent, being able to throw and catch 5 most of the time should not be hard at all. But again, don't move on to 6 until you have these 5 nice and consistent. This is probably the step that will achieve the most attention (deservedly or not). If you are fumbling and dropping most of the time, scale back to 4, to 3, ect. Every once in a while, do a pyramid. Being with 20 tosses of 1 ball, then 2, 3, and so on. Get comfortable with three balls in each of your hands.
And finally, 6 tosses. Now it starts to get fun, (and the advice repetitive) but essentially it goes like this: toss 6, catch 6. Repeat until cozy, do it 10 times in a row without dropping. Toss 7, catch 7. Be able to do it 10 times in a row without dropping. Move like this all the way up to 10, where you are throwing each ball twice. After that, try going straight to 15, then 20, or maybe smaller jumps. Tossing and catching - surprinsingly- is better advice than keeping a failing pattern alive - learning how to toss a ball from odd angles and while violating the 1-plane rule (no front/back shit) is not helping you learn any good muscle memory, despite how cool you feel getting that pattern solid. Take it easy, count out some numbers, and build it slowly.
So really, just learn 5 the same way you learned 3. It seems so obvious! It is so simple! But it works.
Disclaimer: I do not have a 5 ball cascade down, this advice is discovery+intuition+basic 3 ball tutorial concepts+other peoples general juggling advice, for 5 and other ball cascades.
Start with 1 ball. Toss it high above your head at the 5 ball height. No 'about eye level here', but some previous tinkering with numbers, as I am sure you have done, has you knowing about where this is. Throw a bit higher than that, for safety and accuracy's sake. (If you are bored, I bet you are skilled enough to do this with 3 balls.
Move up to 2 balls. Don't throw one at the apex of the other, but rather quickly - as quick as you can. OK, not that fast. (the tempo will make sense when you have three, then you can scale it back and do 2 balls). Make sure you are not moving your hands too much to catch the balls before moving on to 3. Throw and catch both before throwing again.
3 balls now, do a 3 ball flash. Good. Now try, except count out '1-2-3-4-5' out loud as you throw them. 1,2,3, should be on throws, and 4 and 5 should be said before the first ball lands (right before it lands, in fact). Catch all of the balls before tossing again. While you will inevitably play with 4 and 5 balls, ensure that you have 3 solid before really continuing.
up to 4 balls! Just remember to watch the ball's height, and listen to the sound as they land - it all should be pretty consistent. Try counting out 12345 and seeing if you have time to say that '5' before catching. It'l be quick. Just remember, don't fumble constantly around with 5 (not getting better) until you can do 4 consistently. It may not look like it, but your hands are really learning something here.
OK, and the moment you have been waiting for. 5 tosses, 5 catches. Look elsewhere on the internet for grips and how to hold the balls. (I purchased smaller beanbags to practice with). If you have 4 consistent, being able to throw and catch 5 most of the time should not be hard at all. But again, don't move on to 6 until you have these 5 nice and consistent. This is probably the step that will achieve the most attention (deservedly or not). If you are fumbling and dropping most of the time, scale back to 4, to 3, ect. Every once in a while, do a pyramid. Being with 20 tosses of 1 ball, then 2, 3, and so on. Get comfortable with three balls in each of your hands.
And finally, 6 tosses. Now it starts to get fun, (and the advice repetitive) but essentially it goes like this: toss 6, catch 6. Repeat until cozy, do it 10 times in a row without dropping. Toss 7, catch 7. Be able to do it 10 times in a row without dropping. Move like this all the way up to 10, where you are throwing each ball twice. After that, try going straight to 15, then 20, or maybe smaller jumps. Tossing and catching - surprinsingly- is better advice than keeping a failing pattern alive - learning how to toss a ball from odd angles and while violating the 1-plane rule (no front/back shit) is not helping you learn any good muscle memory, despite how cool you feel getting that pattern solid. Take it easy, count out some numbers, and build it slowly.
So really, just learn 5 the same way you learned 3. It seems so obvious! It is so simple! But it works.
Disclaimer: I do not have a 5 ball cascade down, this advice is discovery+intuition+basic 3 ball tutorial concepts+other peoples general juggling advice, for 5 and other ball cascades.
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