[Rouge_LAmour]

I've heard Lou and family (from Pole Bar, badly hit last time) are all ok too.

[Rouge_LAmour]

watch out with iTac if you react to rosin…

[Rouge_LAmour]

can you give some context on your "processing error"?

What are your settings? are they on the highest they could possibly be? can you sacrifice some of your settings for speed?

Just a couple of quite sensible questions as we render Maya CG work on one of our machines here and depending on the settings it can take anywhere between 45 seconds to 10 minutes per frame.

What editing software are you using too? WMM is pretty shoddy and Id recommend considering Sony Vegas if you have a Windows machine or iMovie for Mac. Vegas offers a cut down consumer level product, so you don’t need to fork out for a professional product like Final Cut or Avid and iMovie is just fine.

[Rouge_LAmour]

flexibility is a little genetic, but mainly takes a s#$tload of hardwork.

Keep stretching your body and over time it will happen: it’s the Pantene promise, it won’t happen overnight, but it will happen.

Also ensure you’re doing your splits training on super warm muscles.
Ease them into each stretch, kind of like a heads up, I’m going to do this to you.

Then hold your stretch at the beginnings of discomfort, until that discomfort goes away.
then contract those muscles for 30 seconds, and take the stretch just that bit further.

For side splits, we recommend having your feet in a v / straddle position on the floor while watching TV, at each ad break, bend your big toe towards the floor, hold it there. then push your hips forward when the show resumes.
If you feel "bad Pain", and you’ll know the difference, then take the stretch back a notch.

We’ve been running splits classes with a very experienced and qualified PT at my studio since July and they’ve made a difference.

the other thing to remember that to do the splits you need a stretch, a contracting muscles and one remaining static. ergo core is the static hold as that’s holding up your upper body, and in the front splits, one leg has a contracting quad and stretching Hammie, while in the other leg, it’s reversed.

Hope that helps.

xx
Miss Taken (aka Rouge)

[Rouge_LAmour]

Johnny Depp.

Alterna-Geeks are hot.

[Rouge_LAmour]

blah blah blah
windows movie maker sucks
blah blah blah
(shuffles back to couch)

anyway, WMM is a pretty crappy product. Get a trial of Vegas – although with Vista it’ll take forever asking if you really want to do this. (i’ve said yes once, isn’t that enough!!!).
Vegas is good for the level that is uploaded here.

iMovie is fine for Mac users, however, FCP just rocks. Which is what Veena, WebMaster and I use for all our work.
It’s a pro product, but worth every cent if you have a Mac, but not essential to have.
I like the fact FCP can interface with Maya, Shake, Toxik and all sorts of other cool products.

Bite the bullet and pay the $55 for Vegas – you won’t regret it and in comparison to the $1800 NZD that we pay for FCP, you’re getting a good deal.

[Rouge_LAmour]

broken toes (same toe, 2 weeks apart, same move and teaching the same class – the second time was telling them how not to break the toe)
Shoulder impingement from not being taught correct technique when I started. Nights of waking up in tears from the pain has been my lesson.
I am the queen of the loose x-pole – I’ll bring it down if it’s loose!!
Stages that aren’t firm will also loosen your pole – fell on my back doing that.
Jumping at the pole when doing a mermaid / martini spin (bruised foo foo’s aren’t nice)
ummmm, don’t come out of a layback into a handstand if you can’t do handstands.
watch heels when sticking legs out (slashed another students leg one day, 1cm deep by 7cm long)

I am a klutz and do get clumsy. But it makes me human!

[Rouge_LAmour]

try ti tree oil. It worked for me when I reacted badly to rosin.

Also check out the chemicals in products you’re using: do they contain any methyl or ethyl parabens – these cause skin irritations in a lot of people.

I get contact irritation from rosin (used by gymnasts / tissu etc for grip), chicken, honey and surgical steel in addition to many other things. It’s part of why I went vegan and that has helped.

I can minor irritations from very dry skin and have had eczema all my life.
Keep the irritations well emoliated with pure oils; lavender may help reduce the itch, ti / tea tree oil will work wonders, but does take some time.
Don’t use hydrocortisone too frequently, the body builds an immunity to it and it stops working. 10% doesn’t work on me now and neither do many alternatives. Ergo manuka and kanuka oil.

Good luck!

[Rouge_LAmour]

get a free download of Sony Vegas.

WMM does all sorts of crappy things.

Vegas will work fine with XP and I think the patches are nearly out for Windows 7.
The V OS that dares not speak it’s name has patches, for Vegas, but I’d slip that when you upgrade and go direct to W7.

Yes, I’m still around…

[Rouge_LAmour]

have you tried tea tree oil? that has helped me out.
and keeping the area well emoliated, use products without methyl or ethyl parabens as they may aggravate it too.

Also, are you on any medication that might have photo sensitivity as a side effect?

[Rouge_LAmour]

Anywhere between immediately and "only crazy people do that!". The "lightbulb" moment is different for everyone.
Hurkey / Attitude I got immediately, but the corkscrew / cradle is a mystery and will remain that way.

As many have has said, 10 weeks seems pretty soon to be learning Scorpio and Gemini.
Also, when doing these, ensure you have the pole n the top of your hip, you can break ribs with the pressure if it’s too high up the body.

It seems great to be doing these "hard"moves early, but without the muscle memory, the results can be painful.
You may have the strength to do them, but the muscles need to know exactly where they are going first.
Be careful, I don’t want a post saying you’ve broken your ribs or other injury.
(Believe me, I’m ms Clumsy. I discovered gravity last week. My knees look like a 6yr old boys!)

[Rouge_LAmour]

Icanhasgoldtgpole.com ?? Lolpole? https://www.studioveena.com/img/smilies/icon_lol.gif

Glad you have one, I love ours at the studio,in fact it’s the only pole that people say they want to take home with them.

[Rouge_LAmour]

Is your Lappie running Windows 7 or (shudders) Vista?
WMM should have been an automatic with a windows operating system.

Bite the bullet, get Sony Vegas. WMM should be scrapped, it’s an irritating response to iMovie.
Vegas can be found for free as a trial or can be purchased for under $60USD.

Unless you have purchased a Mac, WMM will not ever work on a Mac. But you’ve got iMovie!
Vegas will compress and do everything you want it to do.

Also watch your security packs /updates; we got a Mac OS update that started crashing Maya (3d animation software, not cheap). turned out the new update caused problems, when we regressed, it fixed itself.
Crashes occurred 2 days before we were doing a huge performance where the animations were crucial…
3 calls to Singapore, Toronto and Australia later, we got it sorted.

So check your OS, look at the updates and then purchase Vegas. It’s a great product if you have Windows. Heaps of films are edited on it and it’s fine at domestic level.

We use Final Cut at home for editing and outputting / compositing, but that’s Mac product and very nice.
Veena uses it now too.

Good luck with getting your vid’s up.

[Rouge_LAmour]

Major PC moment:
My call is on using the poi: they are taonga (treasure) to Maori and I feel that using them as part of a sexually themed dance is a little disrespectful.

It’s akin to using a First Nation head dress or something similar, someone will feel uncomfortable about it. The British colonialists really screwed up far too many cultures (First Nation, Maori, Aborigine of Australia – who were considered Fauna by the Australian Government until the 1960’s!) that using these things without understanding the whakapapa of the taonga is wrong. Maori have a very strong understanding of their cultural identity – well the ones who will stand up for it, and they have forced very large companies to back down on using Maori taonga.

If you are going to use poi, remember that they are weapons too; Maori used poi weighted with stones to build up their wrist muscles. rf http://www.digitalconversations.org.nz/vc/weaponry/
Maori warriors used heavy poi as a training device to better their delivery with the Patu, a short club for up close fighting. Using poi to strengthen for pole wouldn’t be silly!

read up further, especially any .nz site. The make your decision about using poi.

Right, PC bit over: fire poi rock!!
As a performance fire poi look incredible.

[Rouge_LAmour]

That is my favourite childhood book!!

no idea about the caterpillar move, but love the book.