shanmonster | Alternative Movement Modalities, and a Picture of a Sandwich, Too (Reply)

After my sudden nap last night, superbrad showed up and he, f00dave, and I had a rambling conversation about science and mysticism. Mostly, I observed. Eventually, the conversation strayed to areas where I had no interest, so I began working on muscle isolations. Before the conversation started, I could not raise my pelvis to one side without incorporating my psoas and glutes. Within a few short minutes of experimentation, I found a way of raising them using only my obliques. I still can't do it quickly, but that will come with practice. The visual effect is quite different from when I raise it with the more obvious musculature. I suspect this is the way Rachel Brice does her three-quarter shimmies in this video clip.

While modelling yesterday, the drawing instructor told me my shoulders have become very developed. This surprised me, because I thought I was buffer a couple of years ago than I am now. Then again, my kayaking this summer may have given me some extra definition. I don't think I've been doing anything else which would target that particular muscle group. So when I went to the gym after the figure drawing class, I did a few extra chin ups out of vanity.

In other news, I'm rereading The Adventures of Tom Sawyer. I think the last time I read this was some time in the 1980s. I hadn't recalled Mark Twain using quite so many adverbs, but despite the clunkiness of prose, the story is great. Tom is such a little shit.

My computer is acting slow and clunky. Before I reboot it and give it a breather, I'll share the links messing everything up for me.

Expert explains grilled cheese 'miracle': "There may be a less-than-miraculous explanation for that image of the Virgin Mary a Florida woman says appeared in her grilled cheese sandwich." Or, as William Gibson says, it looks more like a young Marlene Dietrich.

BibleMan: Sweet jumping baby Jesus! Won't some secret Santa get this for me? It looks hilarious!

Cutting and Skin Removal: Way to celebrate your daughter's first birthday, dude! Don't go here if you're squeamish.

Scientists develop robot cockroach: Weird enough, I suppose, but what really got me is this snippet: "Scientists say it could lead to robots ... encouraging chickens to take exercise." Why would anyone want that? Any chickens I ever raised got plenty of exercise without cybernetic influence. And as far as those horrendous North American chicken hatcheries go, I can imagine they'd want their chickens to exercise. It's counter to the chooks being held in tiny little cages they can't move around in. So what is the point here, exactly (thanks, Benoit)?

Pharyngula: I just found this blog, and it looks really interesting. I'll be visiting it again.

Check out Google Scholar. There's not a huge amount of articles up in my research areas, but I don't doubt this will soon change. Hoorah!

My search for useful online articles about self-discovery and dance continues. Here are some of the links I've found which bear further investigation:

Belly dance: Tribal Style: A Documentary About Becoming a Bellydancer, Request for Information, Belly Dance and Healing from Sexual Trauma, and, not topically interesting to me, but fascinating nonetheless, see Spinal myoclonus resembling belly dance. Whoa!

Butoh: Towards the Bowels of the Earth, Corpus Delicti Butoh Performance Lab, Butoh Discussions, The Body as Dance, and Butoh and the Art of Transformation

I also found Dance Therapy on a rather quackish-looking website, but it gives me another way of looking at the topic.