May 5, 2008

Multi-tasking

Filed under: Fun — soleilsundance @ 9:56 am

First, prep the hoop.

Prep the hoop

Second, prep the beer.

prep the beer

Third, keep the hoop goin’ while drinkin’ the beer.

drink beer while hoopin

Now that’s skill!

(photos from Mickie Tagle)

April 29, 2008

Hugs-friendly sleeping bag

Filed under: Weekend Adventures, Fun — soleilsundance @ 8:19 pm

The Selk’bag is like a bodysuit sleeping bag that keeps you warm and mobile! How cool is that?!

sleeping suit

According to summithut.com, the warmest version goes for $199, which I thought was pretty reasonable if it performs the way they say it does.

Things I’m wondering about tho:

- If it’s like toe socks, it won’t actually keep you any warmer because parts of your body generate heat when in contact with other parts of your body. Here, it wouldn’t be the case, so would you actually be warm?

- Can a girl pee behind a bush while wearing the suit?

April 25, 2008

YELLE in SF!

Filed under: music, Concerts, Fun — soleilsundance @ 8:05 pm

Last night we went to see the French rising pop star YELLE in concert at the Independant in San Francisco.

It was so much fun! It was actually a pretty big deal because her fame ranking in France is reaching pretty impressive heights and she’s broadcast on my favorite French radio, Fun Radio, that I listen to all day.

Yelle
YELLE was fun, she was cute, she was full of energy! I didn’t like all of her songs but just watching her throw her head around and make cute faces was highly entertaining. And of course I’m a big fan of her song “Je veux te voir” which seemed to be a huge hit in the audience as well, although I’m not sure more than a tenth of the bouncy people understood the very crude and quite controversial lyrics of this song. Oh well, it doesn’t matter. It was cool to see a French artist be so welcome in a foreign audience.

Yey French Pop!

April 8, 2008

All kinds of dance!

Filed under: Dance Shows, dance — soleilsundance @ 8:26 pm

This past weekend I was treated by seeing 2 very different, but completely awesome in their own way, dance showings.

Planet B-BoyThe first one was Planet B-Boy at the Lumiere movie Theater. Wanna see some spinnin’? Wanna see some freezin’? This documentary on Germany’s “Battle of the Year” is packed with amazing moves!
Gotta check it out for the little French kid and Grandma B-girl!… And of course the other mind bendingly good dancers!!

You can find the YouTube video of the full winning piece here. Check it out!!

On the complete opposite side, I went to see a ballet show hosted by (but not danced by) San Francisco Ballet. I didn’t know you could get last minute $10 standing tix for any SF Ballet show!! What a bargain!

The program included 3 world class guest companies: The National Ballet of Canada, New York City Ballet and Les Ballets de Monte-Carlo.

Without going too deep into analysis, the Canadian company was very strong, but the choreography didn’t really grab me. NYC Ballet presented Balanchine’s super cute “Duo Concertant”. I liked it a lot.
But then, the Monte-Carlo dancers came on stage and completely made us forget about everybody else. Jean-Christophe Maillot’s choreography, paired with Karl Lagerfeld costumes and completely engaged dancers created pure magic.

Monte-Carlo Ballet
(photo via Voice of Dance)

I read that this “Alto Canto” piece was 40 minutes long and honestly it felt like 15 or 20 minutes, which is soooo rare when you watch a dance show!

Monte-Carlo Ballet Duet
(photo via Voice of Dance)

We met a gay couple who was here to see the show for the 3rd time, just to experience the Monte-Carlo Ballet piece one more time. Now that’s impact!

Voice of Dance has a great article on this program.

March 19, 2008

I’m Feelin’ Good…

Filed under: art — soleilsundance @ 8:15 pm

… by Nina Simone.

On top off being one of my favorite songs, this video is really creative!!!

The YouTube entry explains that:

“this was done for a motion graphics class in the SVA MFA Design program. The assignment was to create a music video using just type and typographic elements in black and white. The song choice was up to us.”

Found on VegBox-recipe blog. (Cool site by the way!!!)
Video also here.

Still life study: Onion tentacles

Filed under: art — soleilsundance @ 7:36 pm

Still in the food category…

Onion painting

March 12, 2008

“Pas de chat” en plein air

Filed under: dance, San Francisco — soleilsundance @ 8:23 pm

Pas de chat en plein air

March 10, 2008

Blurry Bridge

Filed under: Weekend Adventures, San Francisco, photography — soleilsundance @ 8:45 pm

Golden Gate Bridge

March 4, 2008

Still life study: Sugar Jar, Flower and Ladybugs

Filed under: art — soleilsundance @ 9:56 pm

Jar Flower and Ladybug
9×12 inches. Acrylics on thick paper.

March 2, 2008

Nrrrd Grrrl

Filed under: Weekend Adventures, dance — soleilsundance @ 5:05 pm

MC Chris was having a music video competition for his new song Nrrrd Grrrl. I was invited by my dancer friend Heide to participate in the making of one of them… how cool is that?

And so I had the privilege to be Nrrrd Dncrrr #1.

It took a Saturday afternoon (probably more for the main characters) to shoot the whole thing. They dressed me up and did my makeup. I totally felt pampered! The whole crew and process was so fun!!

Nrrrd Dncrrr Stephanie.
Nerrrd Steph

MC Chris has opened an official video contest voting booth. Please, please, please, take a minute and vote for us!!! Our video is called “sexiestgeekalive”. (note: unclear how long we can vote…)
Update 3/4:
voting is over and we didn’t win. Note: there wasn’t anything to win anyways and the picking process seemed random and all over the place, so whatev’.

On YouTube it’s already a total hit! It has 114,000 so far!!!
Update 3/4:
243,000 views on YouTube!! Now that’s winning something, right?
Update 3/10: 660,442 views!!!

Here’s the jem:

You can also find it here.Give it up for Nrrrd Grrrl, yo!