silly rabbit, trix are for kids.

Looked dead, didn't I? Well, I wasn't. Actually, Bill's last bullet put me in a coma, a coma I was to lie in for four years. When I woke up, I went on what the movie advertisements referred to as a roaring rampage of revenge. I roared and I rampaged and I got bloody satisfaction. I've killed a hell of a lot of people to get to this point. But I have only one more. The last one, the one I'm driving to right now. The only one left. And when I arrive at my destination, I am gonna kill Bill.

That's right.KILL BILL

If you haven't already read my blog, you should know that I am obsessed with Quentin Tarantino films.  That being said, I can say that last week was all about Kill Bill Volumes 1&2.  Cannot even stress how obsessed I am right now.  I downloaded both soundtracks.  Been listening to them night and day...  My friend was researching Pai Mei Halloween costumes (for herself.  I'm still doing Mia Wallace myself).

How kick-ass is Uma Thurman?  She did many of her stunts (although Zoe Bell did more of the difficult ones).  She managed to do all that fighting with those ridiculously straight-bangs the whole time!  That is skill, my friends. 

It is very difficult to explain my most favorite scenes from the two films, but I will try to limit myself.  Note these aren't in any specific order other than my memory.

1. The Origin of O-Ren Ishii.  What better way to story-tell Oren's childhood than through anime?  My favorite part is when she gets her revenge on Master Matsumoto.  "Lucky for her, Master Matsumoto was a petaphile."

2. Senor Esteban Vihalo.  Forgive me, this scene is a bit extensive, but I thought the car was super-sexy, so it couldn't be left out.  FUN FACT I learned is that Michael Parks played not only the policeman in the beginning, but also Esteban!  Last-minute he filled in for some other guy who couldn't make the filming. 
- "I heard you were driving a truck?"
- "My pussy wagon died on me."

- "Where is Beel' ?"

as Esteban

as the officer

3. The Story of Gogo Yubari.  Not much to explain here.

4. The Bride vs. Gogo and the Crazy-88's. First off, how cool is it when Gogo bleeds through her eyes?!!  maybe I'm just too sinical, but I think it's awesome.  Another cool FUN FACT, is the leader of the Crazy-88's is also the actor for Pai Mei in Vol. 2!!  This truly is one of the best fight scenes ever.  How epic?

5. Pai Mei.  THOSE EYEBROWS.  He reminds me of some past ballet training.  I think most ballerinas could handle Pai Mei.  It's not like he's calling her fat or anything.  Yet another FUN FACT, Pai Mei's character is quite repetitive in old kung-fu movies.

6. Elle Driver's Black Mamba.  Cannot find this on youtube, but nothing beats the fact that Elle actually writes down the information she reads to Budd as he is dying on the floor with a million dollars around him.

"The venom of a black mamba can kill a human in four hours, if, say, bitten on the ankle or the thumb. However, a bite to the face or torso can bring death from paralysis within 20 minutes. Now, you should listen to this, 'cause this concerns you. The amount of venom that can be delivered from a single bite can be gargantuan. You know, I've always liked that word... "gargantuan"... so rarely have an opportunity to use it in a sentence. If not treated quickly with antivenom, 10 to 15 milligrams can be fatal to human beings. However, the black mamba can deliver as much as 100 to 400 milligrams of venom from a single bite."

  If I haven't already lost your interest, at least check out the soundtracks.  They really are awesome.

Malaguena Salerosa

Flowers of Carnage.  The artist is Meiko Kaji who actually created the Japanese music genre "modern enka" in 1969.  It's a mix of traditional Japanese music.

About Her by Malcolm Mclaren.  Cool

I'm going to stop posting links because I really like every song on the soundtracks.

So please, if you haven't, check out this amazing spaghetti-western/japanese Tarantino film.  It's got dialogue, action, music, and just pure genius-ness.

the stone

"the stone" dave matthews band.

Truly, I've been avoiding blogger recently because there isn't much to write about since I've been off for more than two weeks (and two more to go) and mostly stuck in my house.  So what have I been doing with this free time that I barely get the rest of the year? 

Well... I had one of my coolest friends, Pav, stay over the weekend.  This New Englander is my photoshoot partner from the Deadly Viper Assassination Squad (I say this because we watched so many Kill Bill scenes this weekend) who has  hooked me on Andre Agassi (since she gave me his autobio Open - which is freakishly amazing by the way).

Honestly I do not follow tennis nor do I play it, but from reading this book my respect has gone up so much for the sport.  Agassi's book is truly amazing, and I've learned so much about tennis.  I have found many similarities between tennis, ballet, Agassi, and myself.  For instance, he was put into the tennis world because of his tennis-crazed father.  My mom forced me to take ballet, except fortunately I learned to love it... Agassi, however, hated tennis all his life.  Another coincidence was that he went to a tennis boarding school in Florida.  Who knew?!  There he suffered from the normal boarding school tendencies, all of which I understood (such has being homesick, boredom, fatigue, horrible food, and the worst - competition).  However he was a bit lucky in the fact that he could actually rebel without getting expelled (something I only wish had been my circumstance).  Anyways, highly recommend this book for anyone.  You don't have to be a sports fanatic, historian, or (in my case) a ballerina.

Back to my life... So to fill the empty space of time these past few weeks (the last of which has been disgustingly rainy and cloudy), I've been drawing/painting, taking pictures, and playing guitar. Woot woot!

"Blackbird"  I rewrite all Tabs because it helps me learn the song better.

charcoal, watercolors

pav drew with charcoal, and we both painted

an old pen drawing i made, and just painted today

pav has a puppy bassett hound that she's obsessed with.  this is her charcoal rendition of him

this one is all pav. charcoal/watercolors yet again.

pav again. this is ebony and sharpie

What sort of visit would it be if my and Pav didn't have a photoshoot?  So we packed our gear along with my awesome-photographer-sister, Stef.  We went to a state park with waterfalls and rocks.  So beautiful.  Unfortunately it was not just raining, but POURING. The whole time.  It was difficult, but it actually made some of the shots look even cooler.  After the shoot, we climbed our way back to the car, wringing out our soaked clothes and cleaning up all the smeared makeup from our faces.

stef, american apparel shirt

pav is wearing a lace dress and chiffon dress by american apparel and a free people blazer

myself. wearing red american apparel dress with H&M lace shirt, coach belt

This weekend we also made smore by our outdoor-chimney and went swimming in our pool at night with glowsticks!!  The glowsticks in the pool was awesome especially when you swam through them.

a really bad-quality photo of the glowsticks being thrown into the pool.

Tomorrow is the only sunny day this week... the rest is thunderstorms like it has been since last week.  We're hoping to cook some homemade pizza one of these days.  I also need to start organizing clothes, furniture, kitchen stuff, etc. for moving to Pittsburgh.   I just got word yesterday that the program starts Sept 6th and I get to take FREE open classes!!  Yes, I said free.  woot woot!

Cheers everyone to a crappy week ahead... but beautiful day tomorrow! =)

what's my age again??

"what's my age again" Blink-182 (I hear they have a new album coming out?!!)

Just finished my nails, and waiting for them to dry, what better time to blog! Woot woot.

Yesterday I finally went out for a walk (my first form of exercise other than getting up from the couch) since I've been resting/icing my shins.  It felt good to go out even though I wouldn't let myself jog.  It was so so tempting, but I will admit that I jogged a little when it started to rain so that I could get to the car to close the windows.  Today I'm going to do the same thing but in addition will swim, do abs, and feet exercises.  Going to be very sore tomorrow.

Since I've been couch-bound alot lately, I've been surfing fashion blogs so so much.  Here are some of my favorites:

Kathleen from Inspirafashion.  She rocks everything she puts together so fabulously.

not only the dress, take a look at those lips!

Bee from Atlantic-Pacific:

Liza (a former ballerina nonetheless) from fashion over groceries:

Juliana (another former ballerina) from moonstruck expose:

Elle from Opium Poppies (just started following her from a AmericanApparel lead):

Anyways these are just a few of my faves... there are so many I can't count.

injuries and problems associated with flat feet

"Take it Easy" the Eagles.

here's an injury post everyone!  please don't throw up from the pictures of my feet (at least I painted my nails for you) =]

shin splints [medial tibial stress syndrome] aka: PAINFUL SHINS!!
MTSS is when too much force or pressure it put on the shin bone or connective tissues connecting the muscles to the tibia.  It's common in stopping-and-going sports like basketball, track, and tennis... and I suppose ballet?  The severity of the pain depends on how bad it's inflamed.  Sometimes it is possible to also have a fracture on the tibia, but a medical doctor can feel along your tibia to check for bumps indicating fractures (which will otherwise not show up on an x-ray for a few weeks).

My flat feet have caused so many problems including tendonitis, sprains, and now shin splints.  I think it is important to warn younger dancers about problems associated with flat feet.

What is a flat foot?

Notice how you cannot see any air between my foot and the floor?  Voila. No US army for you!

PHOTO 1: This is a picture where I was 'lifting' my arches (as you must in ballet class).  Notice how the red lines are straight?  Now check out this next picture.

PHOTO 2: This is my natural stance.  Notice the slight bend in the red lines?  This throws off everything and greatly affects your joints.  (thus my ankle and hip problems, and now my shins).

So if you have flat feet (or very low in steps), consider all these thoughts:

• you will  naturally pronate
• your feet get tired easier than the normal foot
• you have less support
• you are more susceptible to sprains, twists, tendonitis, etc. in your joints
• The only good thing I can think of is that you cannot be drafted into the army.

If you are younger than 10 and considering a professional career in ballet, make sure to have this addressed medically by a doctor and a qualified ballet instructor before beginning your studies.  Your foot CAN be changed if you are younger than 10.  If you're over this age, I wish you all the luck, because I am in the same predicament.

What is pronation?

 

Any questions?  Feel free to ask, please remember I'm only an experienced dancer, not professional doctor.