Thanks heaps to Andrew's parents for the awesome helicopter ride! It was our Christmas present and we finally got around to booking our scenic flight around Perth and Fremantle.
The ride was so unexpectedly smooth. We barely felt the takeoff and landing, and we were quite lucky to have very mild wind conditions.
We got to see Adventure World, the Maritime Museum and the Ovens submarine, Herdsman lake, Scarborough beach to Fremantle, and beautiful views of Perth.
Half way through the ride we got some rain, but I think that made it better since we got to experience the ride in two different ways.
Alpine were amazing as always. The new album, Yuck, is really different from A is for Alpine, and I loved seeing it live.
Unfortunately the lead guitarist seemed to be having a bit of a pout at Metros' sound guy. He kept changing guitars and signaling to the sound guy who seemed to have no idea what the guitarist wanted (it sounded fine to us, so maybe his feedback was broken). His pout was intensified by the happiness of the rest of the band, who seemed oblivious to his devastation. Hopefully he got some good feedback after the show to make up for the lack of it during!
Sunday, July 5, 2015
Sunday, June 28, 2015
Eye to Eye Lion Encounter at Perth Zoo
Andrew and I bought tickets for a Lion Eye to Eye Encounter at Perth Zoo for Iva and Michael for Christmas and we decided to go along with them. There's a variety of animals to choose from and I am so glad we (well Andrew, good choice Andrew!) chose the lion because it was AMAZING! I'm sure all of the encounters are really good, but the lion one was just so much more close-up than I expected it to be.
With our small group of 6 (Andrew, Iva, Michael and I and two others) we met the lion zoo keeper at the meeting point and went behind the lion exhibit where the lions were waiting to be fed. After a really short safety speech from the keeper (where she told us to keep behind the yellow line (the yellow lion?!)) we made our way through the gate to the feeding enclosure.
There were two male lions (Nelson and Mandela, both 10, brothers from the same litter) and one female lion (I forgot her name, she was an elderly lady at 16) waiting in 3 separate rooms quite impatiently for their food. They were pacing back and forth, jumping up, scratching at the bottom of the cages (an undesirable behavior they learned from their original zoo home) and growling at us. It was really quite confronting and we all were quite shocked at how close and loud they were!
Once the keeper locked the exit gates to each room, she explained that she only fed them once they behaved for a count of 5 seconds (she called out the 5 seconds to the lions). The two males got it right straight away, but the female had to have a couple of goes because she got impatient and jumped up before the 5 seconds was up. Kind of like training your pet dog to behave for food!
The keeper fed each lion through a rotating metal trap door with their personal diet appropriate weight of horse meat. She explained that the lions have really rough tongues for licking the meat right of the bone, and that it would really hurt (and probably rip your skin off!) if a lion licked you. She also explained that one of the males is particularly wimpy and so he needs simple cuts of meat otherwise it takes him way too long to get the meat off and finish his meal.
Once they were fed the lions were really quiet, so we got a chance to ask some questions and take some photos. The keeper had told us that the male on the left doesn't like it when you get too close to him while he's eating, and I must have accidentally gone too close because he went nuts and started jumping up on the cage and roaring at us, protecting his kill of horse meat viciously!
We then got to accompany the keeper into the lion's enclosure as she cleaned up a bit. Much to the disappointment of the people looking in (who were understandably expecting lions), we got to walk around the whole exhibit, putting the interesting smells from the soles of our shoes around the place for the lions to investigate later. She showed us some massive lion footprints in the mud, and showed us the heated rocks that encourage the lions to sit up close to the viewing windows. She offered us an opportunity to take photos inside the lion's sleeping quarters, but since they smelled strongly of ammonia (apparently the lions insist on peeing where they sleep) we politely declined.
It was extremely confronting seeing a lion being fed so close up. I guess you always think you know that lions are scary and will eat you from movies and TV, but it was completely different seeing these guys looking you straight in the eyes and roaring and snarling at you less than a meter away.
I've done the Giraffe Encounter (very fun, you get to feed them!) and the Seal Encounter (disappointing, mostly an opportunity for them to sell you photos) at Melbourne zoo, and I think this one was the best. It was very up close (less than 1m to the lions), real (the keeper would be doing it even if we weren't there), had variety (lion feed and enclosure visit) and wasn't a money grab at all (no professional photos, we were encouraged to take our own). We also really appreciated the keeper who was bubbly and talkative and clearly loved her job and the lions. It's a 10/10 in all departments for the Eye to Eye Lion Encounter at Perth Zoo, definitely worth it.
With our small group of 6 (Andrew, Iva, Michael and I and two others) we met the lion zoo keeper at the meeting point and went behind the lion exhibit where the lions were waiting to be fed. After a really short safety speech from the keeper (where she told us to keep behind the yellow line (the yellow lion?!)) we made our way through the gate to the feeding enclosure.
There were two male lions (Nelson and Mandela, both 10, brothers from the same litter) and one female lion (I forgot her name, she was an elderly lady at 16) waiting in 3 separate rooms quite impatiently for their food. They were pacing back and forth, jumping up, scratching at the bottom of the cages (an undesirable behavior they learned from their original zoo home) and growling at us. It was really quite confronting and we all were quite shocked at how close and loud they were!
Once the keeper locked the exit gates to each room, she explained that she only fed them once they behaved for a count of 5 seconds (she called out the 5 seconds to the lions). The two males got it right straight away, but the female had to have a couple of goes because she got impatient and jumped up before the 5 seconds was up. Kind of like training your pet dog to behave for food!
The keeper fed each lion through a rotating metal trap door with their personal diet appropriate weight of horse meat. She explained that the lions have really rough tongues for licking the meat right of the bone, and that it would really hurt (and probably rip your skin off!) if a lion licked you. She also explained that one of the males is particularly wimpy and so he needs simple cuts of meat otherwise it takes him way too long to get the meat off and finish his meal.
Once they were fed the lions were really quiet, so we got a chance to ask some questions and take some photos. The keeper had told us that the male on the left doesn't like it when you get too close to him while he's eating, and I must have accidentally gone too close because he went nuts and started jumping up on the cage and roaring at us, protecting his kill of horse meat viciously!
We then got to accompany the keeper into the lion's enclosure as she cleaned up a bit. Much to the disappointment of the people looking in (who were understandably expecting lions), we got to walk around the whole exhibit, putting the interesting smells from the soles of our shoes around the place for the lions to investigate later. She showed us some massive lion footprints in the mud, and showed us the heated rocks that encourage the lions to sit up close to the viewing windows. She offered us an opportunity to take photos inside the lion's sleeping quarters, but since they smelled strongly of ammonia (apparently the lions insist on peeing where they sleep) we politely declined.
It was extremely confronting seeing a lion being fed so close up. I guess you always think you know that lions are scary and will eat you from movies and TV, but it was completely different seeing these guys looking you straight in the eyes and roaring and snarling at you less than a meter away.
I've done the Giraffe Encounter (very fun, you get to feed them!) and the Seal Encounter (disappointing, mostly an opportunity for them to sell you photos) at Melbourne zoo, and I think this one was the best. It was very up close (less than 1m to the lions), real (the keeper would be doing it even if we weren't there), had variety (lion feed and enclosure visit) and wasn't a money grab at all (no professional photos, we were encouraged to take our own). We also really appreciated the keeper who was bubbly and talkative and clearly loved her job and the lions. It's a 10/10 in all departments for the Eye to Eye Lion Encounter at Perth Zoo, definitely worth it.
Monday, June 22, 2015
Flying High Aerial Arts Studio
My good friend and pole instructor Tammy is opening up her own pole and aerials studio!
http://www.flyinghighaerialartsstudios.com.au/
I can't think of anyone else I would rather have as my pole instructor. If you're in Perth and looking to start lessons in pole, I highly recommend keeping an eye on Tammy's studio, Flying High Aerial Arts Studio.
If you haven't yet though about starting lessons in pole, you should definitely start thinking about it now. It was my first aerial love, and after trying all the other apparatus, it's still my favourite.
Tammy is an excellent teacher with an impressive track record, I cannot wait to start training at Tammy's new studio!
http://www.flyinghighaerialartsstudios.com.au/
I can't think of anyone else I would rather have as my pole instructor. If you're in Perth and looking to start lessons in pole, I highly recommend keeping an eye on Tammy's studio, Flying High Aerial Arts Studio.
If you haven't yet though about starting lessons in pole, you should definitely start thinking about it now. It was my first aerial love, and after trying all the other apparatus, it's still my favourite.
Tammy is an excellent teacher with an impressive track record, I cannot wait to start training at Tammy's new studio!
Sunday, May 10, 2015
Dead Famous - Kyle's 30th and Megan's 4th
Amy's boyfriend and sister had a joint 30th and 40th birthday party where the theme was "Dead Famous". In true Amy and Kyle tradition, they decorated their place amazingly, I think it's their best effort to date! I think it even beat their amazing Under the Sea party in 2012.
My job was to bake 80 heaven and hell themed cupcakes. I found some angel and devil (well, bat) wing cookie cutters at the Cookie Cutter Shop and bought a variety to give me some options. I will definitely be going back to this website to buy cookie cutters in the future - they have such an amazing range of obscure shapes.
I bought black and white fondant and made all of the wings in advance, hoping for them to dry hard so that I could arrange the wings to stand upright.
Unfortunately I didn't realise that the moisture from the butter cream would soften the fondant, so the angel wings wilted! Although everyone said that they looked way more angel-wing-like in their wilted state, and I think I now agree (although at first I was so disappointed!).
I dressed up as Moaning Mirtle from Harry Potter with my mum's blue blazer, my dad's blue tie, a fake fringe and white/blue makeup:
Andrew dressed up as Kurt Cobain with a blonde wig (he's actually naturally blonder than the wig) and my mum's (electronic) cigarette:
The decorations were amazing! You entered the party through a tunnel (built through their garage) and could choose to either enter through heaven or hell. There was a heaven area (Heavenly Haven) and a hell area (Lucifer's Lounge).
They really need to figure out a way to make money from their talent for themed parties!
My job was to bake 80 heaven and hell themed cupcakes. I found some angel and devil (well, bat) wing cookie cutters at the Cookie Cutter Shop and bought a variety to give me some options. I will definitely be going back to this website to buy cookie cutters in the future - they have such an amazing range of obscure shapes.
I bought black and white fondant and made all of the wings in advance, hoping for them to dry hard so that I could arrange the wings to stand upright.
Unfortunately I didn't realise that the moisture from the butter cream would soften the fondant, so the angel wings wilted! Although everyone said that they looked way more angel-wing-like in their wilted state, and I think I now agree (although at first I was so disappointed!).
I dressed up as Moaning Mirtle from Harry Potter with my mum's blue blazer, my dad's blue tie, a fake fringe and white/blue makeup:
Andrew dressed up as Kurt Cobain with a blonde wig (he's actually naturally blonder than the wig) and my mum's (electronic) cigarette:
The decorations were amazing! You entered the party through a tunnel (built through their garage) and could choose to either enter through heaven or hell. There was a heaven area (Heavenly Haven) and a hell area (Lucifer's Lounge).
They really need to figure out a way to make money from their talent for themed parties!
Saturday, May 2, 2015
Fleur de Sel
I really like salt, my whole family does. We eat way too much of it, but I'm counting on my genes to sort it out. I love salt so much that I'm going to write a blog post about it.
Since Andrew impulse bought a Le Creuset salt pig we've been trying different salts and have discovered how different salts can be. So far we've tried Maldon Salt and Murray River Gourmet Salt, and just in time to finish off our supply, Simona brought us some Fleur de Sel Guerande salt from Paris.
The salt came in a sealed plastic bag contained in a pretty calico bag. It looked kind of wet in the plastic, which makes sense (after looking it up) because Fleur de Sel is a moist salt.
The salt is not pure white, but a little bit grey in colour, and kind of fluffy in appearance like snow. It looks a little bit wet, but doesn't feel wet. The crystals are small, irregularly shaped and sized and very hard - they don't crush when pinched.
The salt is crunchy and tastes very salty, so that if you sprinkle it over something you get little crunchy salty parts rather than an even saltyness. The taste isn't simple, and is very different to table salt.
It's quite different to the Maldon and Murray River salts which were both flaky salts.
Maldon Salt
Maldon salt crystals looks like little hollow pyramids that are white, very pretty, and crush to small flakes when pinched. The pyramids aren't too soft and can actually hurt a little bit if you try and pinch them on one of their points. The taste is mild and the texture is a little bit crunchy, and you can easily get an even spread of this salt when sprinkled on your food.
Murray River Salt
Murray River salt is pale pink, shaped like flat flakes that are very soft and can be easily crushed to a fine salt dust when pinched. The taste is mild, and there isn't much texture since the salt melts almost straight away (because it's so delicate) so it's easy to use a lot of this salt. It's very pretty!
The little pamphlet that came with the Fleur de Sel recommended cooking with it, but I haven't given that a try yet. We usually cook with normal table salt (Saxa salt) because for cooking you need a lot of it and the flaky salts seem too delicate.
Maybe this is weird, but writing this post has made my hungry for salt!
Since Andrew impulse bought a Le Creuset salt pig we've been trying different salts and have discovered how different salts can be. So far we've tried Maldon Salt and Murray River Gourmet Salt, and just in time to finish off our supply, Simona brought us some Fleur de Sel Guerande salt from Paris.
The salt came in a sealed plastic bag contained in a pretty calico bag. It looked kind of wet in the plastic, which makes sense (after looking it up) because Fleur de Sel is a moist salt.
The salt is not pure white, but a little bit grey in colour, and kind of fluffy in appearance like snow. It looks a little bit wet, but doesn't feel wet. The crystals are small, irregularly shaped and sized and very hard - they don't crush when pinched.
The salt is crunchy and tastes very salty, so that if you sprinkle it over something you get little crunchy salty parts rather than an even saltyness. The taste isn't simple, and is very different to table salt.
It's quite different to the Maldon and Murray River salts which were both flaky salts.
Maldon Salt
Maldon salt crystals looks like little hollow pyramids that are white, very pretty, and crush to small flakes when pinched. The pyramids aren't too soft and can actually hurt a little bit if you try and pinch them on one of their points. The taste is mild and the texture is a little bit crunchy, and you can easily get an even spread of this salt when sprinkled on your food.
Murray River Salt
Murray River salt is pale pink, shaped like flat flakes that are very soft and can be easily crushed to a fine salt dust when pinched. The taste is mild, and there isn't much texture since the salt melts almost straight away (because it's so delicate) so it's easy to use a lot of this salt. It's very pretty!
The little pamphlet that came with the Fleur de Sel recommended cooking with it, but I haven't given that a try yet. We usually cook with normal table salt (Saxa salt) because for cooking you need a lot of it and the flaky salts seem too delicate.
Maybe this is weird, but writing this post has made my hungry for salt!
Thursday, March 26, 2015
Festivals and Events Galore
Tati's Race Day
Last year for Tati's birthday in August I bought him a ride in a V8 car at Barbagallo raceway. When I went to book, the first available date was in February, a bit of a belated birthday present but I think it was worth the wait!
After consulting with my mum, I went for the passenger experience rather than the driving experience. My mum actually made me promise I wouldn't let Tati drive a V8 car! She's convinced we're going to all kill ourselves with these "extremely dangerous activities".
Tati had a great time, and so did Mina and mum. It didn't look that fast from where we were sitting, but Tat said that there was a few turns where he was actually getting worried the driver wouldn't brake in time.
I'm glad he enjoyed it! He said it's the fastest he's ever gone in a car, which actually surprised me given his style of driving.
Air Yoga with Pole Fever Girls
Loved it! The studio was beautiful and very well run. It was actually much harder than I expected, especially on the hip flexors (although my hip flexors are shockingly tight). It won't fill the pole void and at $30 a class I probably wouldn't make a habit of it, but we're planning to get another group together and try the studio's handstand class.
The Ovens and the NAB Cup
Andrew and I took a day off to go to Freo and watch the NAB cup. We easily managed to fill our day with other Fremantle Fun including seeing the Maritime Museum, getting a tour of the Ovens submarine, lunch at Little Creatures and drinks at Who's Your Mumma and the National hotel.
I LOVED the tour of the Ovens! We were lucky enough to have a submariner, Garry (that actually served on the Ovens when it was still running!) as our tour guide. He knew some of the people we had worked with at Nautronix, and had seen one of the communications systems we had worked on! But apparently they never, ever, used it, and probably never will.
It was just amazing, and I honestly think I would have enjoyed being a submariner (although women weren't allowed until recently, which I think is crazy, even if it's only because small people would fit more comfortably). I really enjoyed the explanations about buoyancy sensitivity, and the myriad of hydrophones.
We got very close up at the game, my god those guys work hard.
The Fremantle Chilli Festival
Two Freo trips in a week! I'm so glad I was here this year, last year I missed it because I was in Kazakhstan. I love a good Fremantle festival, and the chilli festival has really worked out how to be awesome.
We made our usual purchase of Karutz Smallgoods (now called Butch's Smallgoods) sausage, and also scored some pimientos di padron! We cooked them up using Martha Stewart's recipe and honestly they were better than in Spain.
Best thing this year were the "hush puppies", amazing.
Intrude (the South Perth Bunnies)
Does this need explanation? Giant light up bunnies with Perth as the backdrop. What dreams are made of.
We went on Thursday 19th, at which point the bunnies had multiplied to 4.
Sculptures by the Sea
It was the first time I went, and I loved it! It was so overwhelming at how many sculptures there were. It got to the point where I was suspicious that everything in the vicinity was a sculpture. Most things were not, they were just rubbish bins and other non-sculptury things.
This one was my favourite, well the plaque was anyway. I laughed way too hard at this, so I really hope no one got too hurt so that I'm not a jerk.
""The artist and Sculptures by the Sea apologises as, despite gaining expert advice that this work was safe, it has proven not to be the case and we do not wish there to be any further injuries."
Hahahaha. Hahaha
The Never Ending Story at Rooftop Cinemas
After dropping our stuff off at the Rooftop Cinemas we went to the Night Noodle Markets, but that doesn't deserve to be in the title, because it's lying with it's own title. There was like 1 place that actually had noodles! There was a place that sold waffles! Stupid. The worst thing was that each of the 3 sections was cordoned off because they were licensed which really killed the atmosphere. We ended up getting food from the Low Key Chow House stall, which was good, but not noodles.
The Never Ending Story! Yay! I wore my Auryn, no one noticed, but they also probably didn't cry during the Artex scene like I did.
It was so much fun, but also extremely cold despite the leg warmers, blanket, and hoodie. Next time I will also bring an electric blanket.
Animal Cardigan Obsession
Lastly, I might be obsessed with animal cardigans.
They just make me happy OK?
Last year for Tati's birthday in August I bought him a ride in a V8 car at Barbagallo raceway. When I went to book, the first available date was in February, a bit of a belated birthday present but I think it was worth the wait!
After consulting with my mum, I went for the passenger experience rather than the driving experience. My mum actually made me promise I wouldn't let Tati drive a V8 car! She's convinced we're going to all kill ourselves with these "extremely dangerous activities".
Tati had a great time, and so did Mina and mum. It didn't look that fast from where we were sitting, but Tat said that there was a few turns where he was actually getting worried the driver wouldn't brake in time.
I'm glad he enjoyed it! He said it's the fastest he's ever gone in a car, which actually surprised me given his style of driving.
Air Yoga with Pole Fever Girls
Loved it! The studio was beautiful and very well run. It was actually much harder than I expected, especially on the hip flexors (although my hip flexors are shockingly tight). It won't fill the pole void and at $30 a class I probably wouldn't make a habit of it, but we're planning to get another group together and try the studio's handstand class.
The Ovens and the NAB Cup
Andrew and I took a day off to go to Freo and watch the NAB cup. We easily managed to fill our day with other Fremantle Fun including seeing the Maritime Museum, getting a tour of the Ovens submarine, lunch at Little Creatures and drinks at Who's Your Mumma and the National hotel.
I LOVED the tour of the Ovens! We were lucky enough to have a submariner, Garry (that actually served on the Ovens when it was still running!) as our tour guide. He knew some of the people we had worked with at Nautronix, and had seen one of the communications systems we had worked on! But apparently they never, ever, used it, and probably never will.
It was just amazing, and I honestly think I would have enjoyed being a submariner (although women weren't allowed until recently, which I think is crazy, even if it's only because small people would fit more comfortably). I really enjoyed the explanations about buoyancy sensitivity, and the myriad of hydrophones.
We got very close up at the game, my god those guys work hard.
The Fremantle Chilli Festival
Two Freo trips in a week! I'm so glad I was here this year, last year I missed it because I was in Kazakhstan. I love a good Fremantle festival, and the chilli festival has really worked out how to be awesome.
We made our usual purchase of Karutz Smallgoods (now called Butch's Smallgoods) sausage, and also scored some pimientos di padron! We cooked them up using Martha Stewart's recipe and honestly they were better than in Spain.
Best thing this year were the "hush puppies", amazing.
Intrude (the South Perth Bunnies)
Does this need explanation? Giant light up bunnies with Perth as the backdrop. What dreams are made of.
We went on Thursday 19th, at which point the bunnies had multiplied to 4.
Sculptures by the Sea
It was the first time I went, and I loved it! It was so overwhelming at how many sculptures there were. It got to the point where I was suspicious that everything in the vicinity was a sculpture. Most things were not, they were just rubbish bins and other non-sculptury things.
This one was my favourite, well the plaque was anyway. I laughed way too hard at this, so I really hope no one got too hurt so that I'm not a jerk.
""The artist and Sculptures by the Sea apologises as, despite gaining expert advice that this work was safe, it has proven not to be the case and we do not wish there to be any further injuries."
Hahahaha. Hahaha
The Never Ending Story at Rooftop Cinemas
After dropping our stuff off at the Rooftop Cinemas we went to the Night Noodle Markets, but that doesn't deserve to be in the title, because it's lying with it's own title. There was like 1 place that actually had noodles! There was a place that sold waffles! Stupid. The worst thing was that each of the 3 sections was cordoned off because they were licensed which really killed the atmosphere. We ended up getting food from the Low Key Chow House stall, which was good, but not noodles.
The Never Ending Story! Yay! I wore my Auryn, no one noticed, but they also probably didn't cry during the Artex scene like I did.
It was so much fun, but also extremely cold despite the leg warmers, blanket, and hoodie. Next time I will also bring an electric blanket.
Animal Cardigan Obsession
Lastly, I might be obsessed with animal cardigans.
They just make me happy OK?
Saturday, February 21, 2015
Goodbye Pole Fever
Pole Fever has been my second job since 2011 and my second home since 2009, and when it's doors closed (accompanied by an eviction notice) for good last Wednesday 18th Feb 2015 it was very sad moment. Today I finally removed the keys to the doors from my keychain.
I will really miss that space. I have so many great memories of learning pole from the best instructor and my friend Tammy, putting together group routines with the funniest group of girls, hosting hens nights, and getting fit together with all of our clients.
Pole is something that I don't tell everyone about, especially at my day job. Although people know about pole as a sport now more than ever it's still something I'm hesitant to bring up just in case people think I'm a stripper (I've been asked!). But looking back at the performances we've done, we've all come such a long way together it's impossible not to be proud.
WAPPS 2010 Solo - Muscles, Icecream
WAPPS 2011 Solo - Phoenix, Listomania
WAPPS 2011 Group Performance - Tammy, Esme, Belle, Krystal and Jess
WAPPS 2013 Solo - SBTRKT, Wildfire
WAPPS 2013 Group Performance - Tammy, Linh, Georgia, Krystal and Jess
2014 Christmas Showcase - Tammy and Jess Doubles - Pendulum, Propane Nightmares
There's a lot of things about Pole Fever that I will miss, but there's also a lot of things I won't (all the other instructors will know what I'm talking about!). I'm looking forward to moving on to other things, like my first Adult Circus class this Sunday with Kinetica. But of course pole will always be a big part of my life.
Good bye Pole Fever! Bowing out.
I will really miss that space. I have so many great memories of learning pole from the best instructor and my friend Tammy, putting together group routines with the funniest group of girls, hosting hens nights, and getting fit together with all of our clients.
Pole is something that I don't tell everyone about, especially at my day job. Although people know about pole as a sport now more than ever it's still something I'm hesitant to bring up just in case people think I'm a stripper (I've been asked!). But looking back at the performances we've done, we've all come such a long way together it's impossible not to be proud.
WAPPS 2010 Solo - Muscles, Icecream
WAPPS 2011 Solo - Phoenix, Listomania
WAPPS 2011 Group Performance - Tammy, Esme, Belle, Krystal and Jess
WAPPS 2013 Solo - SBTRKT, Wildfire
WAPPS 2013 Group Performance - Tammy, Linh, Georgia, Krystal and Jess
2014 Christmas Showcase - Tammy and Jess Doubles - Pendulum, Propane Nightmares
There's a lot of things about Pole Fever that I will miss, but there's also a lot of things I won't (all the other instructors will know what I'm talking about!). I'm looking forward to moving on to other things, like my first Adult Circus class this Sunday with Kinetica. But of course pole will always be a big part of my life.
Good bye Pole Fever! Bowing out.
Thursday, February 19, 2015
Fringe World 2015 - La Soiree
Hands down, best Fringe world show I've ever seen. Probably the best show full stop I've ever seen. I had high expectations based on reviews, and it was way way so way much better. My hands are tingling from clapping, my jaw hurts from smiling, and my voice is on the way out! Please honestly just go see it. They've extended their stay 2 weeks past the end of Fringe, but I think they will sell out very quickly. Go.
The first act was a puppet, which was beautiful and so well done, but it made me think there might be some fillers. The second act was the best hand balancing I've ever seen, something I thought couldn't be topped! Two guys dressed in pinstripe suits, doing one handed handstands on each other's heads before stripping off to British flag undies and wowing us some more (they're the guys on the La Soiree poster).
There was a rope act by a beautiful and flexible tank of a blonde, some glamourous hull a hoop and skipping, a bath tub double-rope act that was a fantastic add for the jeans that guy was wearing, a (full frontal!) naked magic act (where on earth did she hide that red hanky?), a super cute contortion guy that squeezed through tennis rackets and kept throwing confetti everywhere, an everyone-speaks-spanish guitar act, a sexy diablo and sexy book reading act (Seans favourite), a crazy ball juggling act where a couple juggled these little white balls with their mouths, the best doubles trapeze I've ever seen, and a pole dancer who just put us to so much shame with his skills (my new pole goal is to be a man).
At some points I was feeling silly at how excited I was but every time I looked over Krystal was smiling just as wide as I was, with hands up ready for the clap. Andrew had gotten his hopes up for Fringe before, but this time the show did not even slightly disappoint! This was the last Fringe show we have booked and I'm so glad we finished on that high.
This has inspired me to join the circus, booking Kinetica Adult Circus tomorrow!
The first act was a puppet, which was beautiful and so well done, but it made me think there might be some fillers. The second act was the best hand balancing I've ever seen, something I thought couldn't be topped! Two guys dressed in pinstripe suits, doing one handed handstands on each other's heads before stripping off to British flag undies and wowing us some more (they're the guys on the La Soiree poster).
There was a rope act by a beautiful and flexible tank of a blonde, some glamourous hull a hoop and skipping, a bath tub double-rope act that was a fantastic add for the jeans that guy was wearing, a (full frontal!) naked magic act (where on earth did she hide that red hanky?), a super cute contortion guy that squeezed through tennis rackets and kept throwing confetti everywhere, an everyone-speaks-spanish guitar act, a sexy diablo and sexy book reading act (Seans favourite), a crazy ball juggling act where a couple juggled these little white balls with their mouths, the best doubles trapeze I've ever seen, and a pole dancer who just put us to so much shame with his skills (my new pole goal is to be a man).
At some points I was feeling silly at how excited I was but every time I looked over Krystal was smiling just as wide as I was, with hands up ready for the clap. Andrew had gotten his hopes up for Fringe before, but this time the show did not even slightly disappoint! This was the last Fringe show we have booked and I'm so glad we finished on that high.
This has inspired me to join the circus, booking Kinetica Adult Circus tomorrow!
Monday, February 9, 2015
Fringe World 2015 - A Midsummer Night's Dream
Last night we saw A Midsummer Night's Dream by the consistently awesome Kinetica.
There was silks, pole, trapeze, a rotating Lyra, tumbling, and some unique apparatus all used to tell the story of Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream.
Having not read the play I was thoroughly confused by what was actually going on. At the time I felt that the story part detracted from the circus part, but after reading up about it it made a lot more sense (especially the part with the ass). I think I would have enjoyed the story part of the performance a lot more if I had made the effort to read up about it before hand.
The circus side of the performance did not disappoint. My favourite part was the rotating Lyra, which was like a Lyra suspended from two ropes by joints so that it could spin to be horizontal as well vertical. It looked like so much fun, and the girls made it look really easy.
The trapeze part was in another league, that guy is amazing. Each fringe show we've been to he's been the star in my opinion. He always seems to do his routines to dubstep to which he choreographs really exciting routines. Love it!
When we walked in there were 3 stage poles set up and I got a bit excited, but to be honest I was a little bit disappointed by how short the pole part was. Maybe it's because I'm used to seeing elaborate pole shows, or maybe because I was hoping to see some of the guys get on them, but I thought the poles had more potential than what was used. This is only a small complaint though; in a show with so many routines no one apparatus can take the focus for too long.
At 10:45pm on a Sunday night it was quite a difficult show to get to, but the tent was still packed out. I love that people will not let a silly thing like work get in the way of seeing a late night circus show!
There was silks, pole, trapeze, a rotating Lyra, tumbling, and some unique apparatus all used to tell the story of Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream.
Having not read the play I was thoroughly confused by what was actually going on. At the time I felt that the story part detracted from the circus part, but after reading up about it it made a lot more sense (especially the part with the ass). I think I would have enjoyed the story part of the performance a lot more if I had made the effort to read up about it before hand.
The circus side of the performance did not disappoint. My favourite part was the rotating Lyra, which was like a Lyra suspended from two ropes by joints so that it could spin to be horizontal as well vertical. It looked like so much fun, and the girls made it look really easy.
The trapeze part was in another league, that guy is amazing. Each fringe show we've been to he's been the star in my opinion. He always seems to do his routines to dubstep to which he choreographs really exciting routines. Love it!
When we walked in there were 3 stage poles set up and I got a bit excited, but to be honest I was a little bit disappointed by how short the pole part was. Maybe it's because I'm used to seeing elaborate pole shows, or maybe because I was hoping to see some of the guys get on them, but I thought the poles had more potential than what was used. This is only a small complaint though; in a show with so many routines no one apparatus can take the focus for too long.
At 10:45pm on a Sunday night it was quite a difficult show to get to, but the tent was still packed out. I love that people will not let a silly thing like work get in the way of seeing a late night circus show!
Saturday, February 7, 2015
Fringe World 2015 - Elixir
Fringe World yay!
I love the Fringe Festival so much. This year the first show we went to see was Elixir at the Pleasure Garden:
Three acrobatic and enthusiastic scientists attempt to create the elixir of life. Working for the overbearing pharmaceutical company ElixirCorp, where health and safety is meaningless and employees are subject to testing their own concoctions.
What a great way to start of Fringe!
The group of 3 guys from Head First Acrobats (Victoria) were awesome in their premiere show in Perth. It was very clever; each time the guys were issued with a new formula of anti-zombie elixir to drink they would get super powers and pull out a new apparatus to go nuts with (but don't do drugs kids). There was hand balancing (including on a trapeze!), tumbling, seasaw, and my favourite, the big metal hoop thing.
I love watching people to press ups into handstands given my own failing experiences with how bloody hard it us. I can't believe how easy they make it look, even when it's on someones head.
The trapeze setup looked really fun. The guys were doing headstands on it while it was swinging, and hanging off each other too.
Go see it!
Then go to Billy Lee's afterwards for some spoof balls.
I love the Fringe Festival so much. This year the first show we went to see was Elixir at the Pleasure Garden:
Three acrobatic and enthusiastic scientists attempt to create the elixir of life. Working for the overbearing pharmaceutical company ElixirCorp, where health and safety is meaningless and employees are subject to testing their own concoctions.
What a great way to start of Fringe!
The group of 3 guys from Head First Acrobats (Victoria) were awesome in their premiere show in Perth. It was very clever; each time the guys were issued with a new formula of anti-zombie elixir to drink they would get super powers and pull out a new apparatus to go nuts with (but don't do drugs kids). There was hand balancing (including on a trapeze!), tumbling, seasaw, and my favourite, the big metal hoop thing.
I love watching people to press ups into handstands given my own failing experiences with how bloody hard it us. I can't believe how easy they make it look, even when it's on someones head.
The trapeze setup looked really fun. The guys were doing headstands on it while it was swinging, and hanging off each other too.
Go see it!
Then go to Billy Lee's afterwards for some spoof balls.
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