Appetizer: Bill "Bojangles" Robinson

Sorry I haven't updated in a while. It's dance recital weekend. Funnily enough, the power went out today in the middle of today's recital! Gracious my!

Well, anyways, I'll be brief in saying that below is an awesome clip of Bojangles doing his infamous stairstep dance (the whole one - the one he did with Shirley Temple is abridged). Bon Apetit.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s5CC6BZJxa0

Appetizer: Two TED Talks

Whenever I have a particular craving for the mind-blowing, I turn to TED talks. These "talks" are lectures given on everything from technology to music to photography to environmental sustainability. While varied, all of the "talks" contain one common thread - utter genius.

I'm done. I'll let the talks, well, talk for themselves. Below are a few of my favorites. Go feast; and, rest assured, I will come back with more.

Fearless Portraiture -

http://www.ted.com/talks/lang/eng/miru_kim_s_underground_art.html

Space Conscious Computing -

http://www.ted.com/talks/john_underkoffler_drive_3d_data_with_a_gesture.html

Appetizer: El Principito

Think about this like a decadent truffle for your mind.

Personal Summer Challenge: Read literary work in Spanish. First on the list? El Principito.

I don't know. There's something about reading texts in a second language that's somehow more satisfying than reading in English. That "something" was a something I couldn't quite put my finger these past two school years, through Bodas de Sangre and "La Mu~neca (does anyone know how to type this properly) Menor."

However, through some form of graced epiphany, I think I've found out what that "something" was. It's the same stuff of Dali's art that keeps us thinking, the same stuff that makes truffle oil exquisite, the same stuff of pond water under a microscope - the appeal to imagination.

I'll be frank in saying that I'm probably not the most fluent Spanish student around; and that's exactly why I love Spanish literary work so much. What gets lost in translation, I can search in a handy-dandy dictionary. Beyond this are the juicy multi-entendres, the idiomatic expressions, the connotations that make us wonder whether "ojos como piscinas" means the eyes are deep like pools or turquoise like pools or chlorine-shot or any sort of combination of the three.

All this in mind, I challenge you - read something in a second language. At first, like truffles, the challenge might smell funny, even bitter and difficult - but it's that touch of flavor, the kind that identify as salty, sour, or sweet - that makes you crave for more. The kind that makes you a connoseiur. Bon Apetit.

Appetizer: Mother-Son Photography

I've been doing a lot of Photoshop lately, ever since my cousin and her baby son have been in town. The parent-child connection is something that can't be feigned.

From what I've been told, a picture paints 1000 words. That is all.

Small Talk: A List of That for which I am Thankful

To ye bloggers - sorry for not being consistent with the postage. It's been busy, and I've been lazy (a dandy combination).

Today's post refers back to a homily I heard at mass this past Sunday. The priest, emphasizing that prayer is not only a means to wish but a means to tahnk, told us to periodically write down a list of things we're grateful for. Specifically, he told us to write a list of seventeen things we're grateful for. Funny enough, each of my wishlists was of seventeen; a creepy coincidence if I do say so myself.

List of That for which I am Thankful (in, again, no particular order)

1. An Amazing, Supportive, and Charismatic Family

2. Tap Shoes

3. Drugstore-brand Eyeliner

4. A Network of Diverse, Caring Friends

5. A Healthy, Vivid Memory

6. Hundreds of Family Photographs to Augment #5

7. The Smell of Jungle Conditioner by Lush

8. The Scratched-Out, Messy Scrawl in my Poetry Notebooks

9. The Ability of a Hard Drive to Store #6, And Lots of It

10. The Taste of Peach Pleasure Jamba Juice, No Bananas, Substitute Lime Sherbert

11. My Mother's Singing Voice

12. My Father's Jorts and Lovably Dorky Demeanor (these two things go hand in hand)

13. Yaya's Adobo and Kare-Kare
14. The 33 on April's ACT Exam

15. Photoshop's Ability to Make Memories Surreal

16. Pens with Good Ink Flow

17. Everyone who Follows This Blog

Thanks, guys. Bon Appetit.

Appetizer: "Dr." Jimmy Slyde

For those of you who don't already know, I tap dance. Along with writing, it's probably my foremost passion.

That being said, today's serving of awesome is a video clip of tap legend "Dr." Jimmy Slyde. An insightful man as well as a great dancer, Dr. Slyde, in this clip, gives a piece of advice that I have lived, do live, and will live by for many a year to come: "...and still you must swing."

The link is below. Enjoy.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_pXLln_n6ik

Small Talk: Ze Wishlist

Two days ago was my birthday (and the first official day of summer, don't ya know!). I'm seventeen. Crazy stuff.

Anyhoo, my apologies for not posting; between adorable cousins, pancit, lumpia shanghai (egg rolls), and tap rehearsal, I didn't really get a chance to plug in and type up.

To compensate, today's Small Talk post is two wishlists - le tangible and le intangible (seventeen things each, for good measure).

Le Tangible, in no particular order

1. Lollapalooza Tickets

2. Anything from Lush

3. DVD Compilations of tap dancing footage

4. SillyBands (vice...and, as of yesterday, check! Thanks, Ate Genie!)

5. New Camera Lenses (also check! Thanks, Dad!)

6. Gift certificates to places that sell CDs (CD > iTunes. Every day.)

7. Plane tickets to New Jersey, California, Texas, or the Philippines (I've got family in lots of places)

8. A George Foreman Grill

9. Up in The Air on DVD

10. Gift Certificates to Barnes and Noble

11. Tons of '80s Movies on DVD (haven't seen Sixteen Candles, Dirty Dancing, The Breakfast Club, the list goes on and on)

12. Tons of Horror Movies on DVD (I'm seventeen now. Hey hey.)

13. My License (Gotta get those hours...)

14. An Old-School Typewriter

15. Pencils and Pens (You haven't the slightest idea how obsessed I am with writing utensils.)

16. A Wholesale Order of LifeStraws to send to Third-World Countries

17. Lots and Lots of People to Hug

Le Intangible

1. A Summer of Great Conversation

2. College Acceptances (crosses fingers, bites nails)

3. A Great Nationals with Steppin' Out Dance Company

4. The Willpower to finish a screenplay I've been working on
5. Good health for my family and friends
6. People to meet
7. Sleep
8. The Ability to catch up with people whom I haven't seen in a while
9. A Good Schedule for Next Year's Classes
10. With regards to the above, being in Friebel's Honors Seminar in Writing Class
11. Gay Marriage in More States
12. Tort Reform in our Healthcare Bill
13. Blessings
14. The Energy to stay as Busy as I am now
15. Places to Explore
16. The Perpetual Maintenance of a Child's Imagination
17. Good times.

Yum.