Post Fall 2011 Semester Reflections

[LIFE]

I've been meaning to update this blog for a while, but I've just been too lazy/too much of a perfectionist (concerning the writing, actually... surprisingly, which tends to happen if I care too much about the subject *Cough* Wong Fu *Cough*)

To keep it concise, I suppose I'll just list some of the highlights of my semester!
- YY :D
- Best college semester grades ever (which for many of you may just be the norm... punks)
- Met Wong Fu Productions :D
- Went to my first Acapella concert (The Stereotypes)--very entertaining!
- Started training at a boxing gym, once a week (yep, on my way...)

Making the Yao-Ming Rage Comic face with Wong Fu

Also... my five seconds of fame, hahah, I asked Phil to give us a dance demo (he used to be on UCSD's hip hop team)

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[MUSIC]

I just found out about this British artist: Bluey Robinson. Love his stuff--so classy-funky, with a smooth R&B flavor. (I believe he's up-and-coming, can't find any albums, just collabs and singles.)

Bluey Robinson - Show Girl

Bluey Robinson - Show Girl (Acoustic)

Bluey Robinson - 

^so much power and soul in that voice

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[DANCE]

A couple of videos that I shot the day I finished finals--I was actually running on about 6 hours of sleep over 48 hours... but, it still turned out pretty well imho. Let me know what you think!

Cyborg / Waving / Popping

Popping

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[STYLE]

Yes I've changed the header to "style", as opposed to "fashion".. upon discussion with a friend (he knows who he is). To many the two may be synonymous, but to me.. fashion is fleeting (what is considered "fashionable" is ever-changing) but style lasts.

Style has staying power because only you can truly feel what works for you and what best reflects your identity/personality--you aren't dressing based on what a select few others who are supposedly "in the know" tell you look "good".

On that note.. I just purchased a pair of Red Wings Beckman 6'' Round Boots in Black Cherry Featherstone

The reason? I need a pair of nice-fitting and durable (key word, durable) boots that can be dressed up or down depending on occasion. From what I've read, this brand fits the bill. Expensive? Sure. But if it's going to last me 5+ years through harsh rain and snow (some swear over 10 years) then it's worth it, to me.

I've yet to see how that pans out... free returns though, so nbd. Pics when I receive the shipment.

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[LIFE HACKS]

Meet someone :)

Life Update.

[An Intro!!]

I realize I haven't updated in a long time... although admittedly, neither have a lot of you *points finger accusingly at friends on blogspot whose blogs have stayed stagnant for the past few months*. I figure I might as well post some pictures and fortune cookies I've accumulated throughout the past few months of school (since obviously I can't come up with any focused, quality content right now)

...Feels like a good amount of things have happened.

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[Random Pictures]

Buying shoes with the suite-mates

Login info an administrator gave me at my volunteer workplace... password "Sunshine!"--made me laugh. 

Seoul Taco; never heard of this b4... but I was REALLY looking forward to it... 

We got there and it was sold out.. T_T; 

You can tell how close a suite is when you see how close they're willing to come together.. physically :P

 Sign in the bathroom of "Pho Long"; amusing, no?

 Complimentary cup of soup!!

 I love pho more than life itself; wait no, not true... but pretty damn close.

One of Jimmy K's new signature drinks, that he dedicated to me
Titled: "The Intern" (Under the "Grumpy Old Man" Collection)

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[MEGA FORTUNE COOKIE POST]

1.) Yes it does, and yes it did, and yes it still has yet to do. 

2.) I wish. Well... we are all the masters of our own circumstances, that I will agree with.

3.) Wait wat?

4.) Nah, I'd rather have company.

5.) Thank you for the vote of confidence.

6.) I did, but... there are just SO MANY things I want in life :D

7.) Hahah, yeah? Don't really think of myself as having charm, but if you say so.

8.) Good to hear. :)

"You will meet someone interesting at a strange party" (Not Pictured)

9.) Hahahahahhahaahhahah... lol yeah...

 

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[Life Hacks]

^A new segment about the little things I notice in life that make things just that much better.

I've recently picked up on two pretty random things (that probably sound ridiculously obvious to the rest of you)

1.) Having a netbook in class makes taking notes and being productive so much easier!

2.) Bringing a water bottle around everywhere is convenient, cost-effective, and healthy.

Win.

Back to School 2011 Fall Semester

[Life]

So... I'm back at school now.

I've gotta say, I'm pretty content with everything at the moment. I'm finally getting enough sleep, waking up at normal times, exercising, hanging out with [school] friends (shout-out to Ai-Lin, btw, for getting people together for her last few days in the StL), and just digging life in general.

I live in an 8-person-suite on campus right now. It's pretty cool, everybody's really chill... and for the first time in my 3+ years in college I like my dorm room setup, haha. I feel like it might be smaller than some of the rooms I had in the past... but it feels really spacious.

Pull-up bar

Entering the room

Bed

Bed again

Desk

Desk again

Closet

Closet again

Oh yeah, and I finally got to cook for the first time in forever, haha

Just some basic stir-fry, nothing special, but whatever; it just feels good to make your own food once in a while.

..and no, I did not eat the whole thing in one sitting... still got more than half left, haha.

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[Fortune Cookie!]

Really now... interesting..

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[Style]


My first, and possibly my last post concerning fashion? (Actually probably not.. I'll probably get some pics of the final fades in these jeans in a few years at the very least)

So... I'm not particularly knowledgeable about denim or anything, but one of my friends got me interested in the whole raw/denim fading and selvedge cut thing. A few weeks back I was looking to buy some raw, selvedge denim.

My first attempt ended in failure when I purchased a pair of ZAK Five Pocket Jeans (Black) from myhabit.com and they sent me the wrong size (it's a discount site so they run out of supplies really quickly so I couldn't exchange it for the right size). Regardless, I didn't know that the jeans were slim since the description didn't mention it online (definitely should have realized it from the pictures though, in retrospect). I ended up giving them to my suite-mate Thomas in the end, they look great on him :)

Zak Jeans

(^these are pictures from myhabit... this is NOT Thomas, lol)

On my second attempt I bought a pair of "The Unbranded" (yeah that's the brand name) Straight Jeans in Black Selvedge from Karmaloop.com. While the online description didn't mention that the jeans were raw, the product came with a label claiming that they are.

Selvedge cut

(Was too lazy to set up the tripod and use the self timber... so big ups to Thomas for the shots!)

Truthfully, the thought of wearing a pair of raw jeans everyday without washing it for months is pretty disgusting... but I suppose the ends justify the means... gotta get them sick fades, yeah? Hahah.

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[Amusing Picture Of The Day]


Saw this chilli sauce container at a Vietnamese/Thai restaurant while at home.. couldn't resist snapping a pic w/ the cell.

Yeah. Chill sauce. :P

Goals

A few weeks back I decided to compile a list of miscellaneous goals that I want to accomplish throughout life. I'll post them on this separate page here, and update what I've accomplished on this blog as I get them done.

Admittedly, not all of the goals are entirely realistic; I basically wrote whatever came to mind in terms of things I would like to do at least once in my life.

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My one big summer commitment is now over--I've got a week before school, haha... so I decided to do a bit of dancing last night, here are three of the vids I took:

Warm-Up Vid

Get-Down Vid

Just-For-Fun Vid

Haven't really been able to delve deep into the music... still working out the kinks on my movement--this is getting really tedious.. haha

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~IT'S FORTUNE COOKIE TIME! [Again]~

An ironic (and quite awesome) fortune for those of you who know what I was up to yesterday, hahah.

Let's just hope, yeah?

Popping Update (7/17/11)

A recent vid.. (Movement Practice: still trying to improve my angles/positions)

^bleh, boring.

Looks like it's time to really dig into the fundamentals of the different funk styles...

mmkay.

FORTUNE COOKIE TIME!!

lol, wat?

Bionic - Interview & Battle

Damn... what an inspiration

Why is it that the best dancers I know (well some of them) always seem to do martial arts too... lol

Dizzy vs. Bionic (Second Dancer) @ R16 USA
^His second (@3:30) and third (@4:50) sets are pretty nasty.

Boredom begets creativity?

Actually, I'm not really sure how "creative" you can call this... but it's amusing to say the least :P

STUCK from Joe Ayala on Vimeo.
(From: Photographers-stranded-at-airport-film-themselves-having-a-blast)

lmao. (especially @1:38)

I swear.. I'm gonna do this one day...

...

if I ever get stuck in an airport alone... with my camera equipment.

DSLR Camera Body Tiers

For anyone who was ever interested in or is still interested in purchasing a dslr camera, but isn't quite sure which models suit them.. I just found this:

Nikon Camera Body Table (Specs)
Canon Camera Body Table (Specs)

This is as much for my reference as it is for yours--I've never quite understood anything about Canon's organization of tiers, so these pages were helpful for me at the very least. Man.. you never quite know what you can find on wikipedia, hahah.

Also, here's a good diagram for the origins/development of camera bodies from Nikon:

(via: www.bythom.com/lineage.htm)

Anyways, hope this has proved useful for anyone interested in one day purchasing a dslr, or just anyone confused with the differences between the camera models. :)

Mic Check

Truth be told, for a while now I've wanted to learn how to sing--I think it might be something I will actively pursue now in my free time... along with my billion other hobbies, hahah.

I bought a usb condenser microphone a while back but never really had a good chance to use it until recently after I got myself a mic stand for it :)

Just made a recording to one of Buble's earlier songs.

 

  Michael Buble - "You and I", Practice Cover, mp3 ver. (6/09/11) by bicente

Excuse the horrible singing.. I pretty much butchered the song with my wimpy-ass n00b voice.. but hey, it's a first effort--not like I'm exactly looking to impress anyone.

[Self-Critique:]

- cannot vocalize loudly (but it would really be helpful if I had a soundproof place to practice or just a very isolated area with nobody around me..)

- my pitch wavers... a lot.

- my "vibrato" sounds fake and forced to me.. actually tried to limit doing it

- definitely went down an octave at the climax... don't have the capacity in my range to sing that high, haha (don't think I ever well)

- nothing special about my tone... pretty boring actually

^Bear with me, I like to keep a record of these kinds of things..

I had to make this at night in my family room so that I wouldn't bother the rents.. and also so they wouldn't notice that I'm doing this because it's kinda embarrassing, lol; you might also hear thunder and clock noises, haha, it was raining pretty hard outside.. and I was right next to that clock.. which was already pretty damn loud.

AAAAAANYWAYS... hope you enjoy! (or at least get a good laugh :P)

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FORTUNE COOKIE TIME

Oh yeah, and here's a little something I guess I'm going to just try to start/continue doing.

(mostly because it amuses me)

Sometimes I wonder whether I should keep fortunes from fortune cookies and collect them in a little jar.. instead I've decided I'll just take pics of them and post them here.. I dunno, I really do get a kick out of what these things say sometimes...

The top fortune was mine, the middle was my mom's, and the bottom was my dad's.

When I opened it, I thought mine was bad... then I read the rest of them, hahah

None of these are actual "fortunes"... but at least I apparently have a "good sense of humor". :D

Dance Session (5/27/11)

Neither of these are particularly good dance-wise--it's just been a while since I've recorded a get-down, so I figured why not.

There's a good amount of "Toyman" style influence in there (well my version of that style at least).
^I still need to work on a lot of the fundamental movements of other styles, quit repeating certain go-to angles, and clean up in general.

[Freestyle Demo:]

[Dance/Guitar Freestyle:]

There are 5 diff sets in this clip

[1], [2], [2.5], [3], [4]

^really fond of this one (despite the dancing being so subpar) because my friend is jamming in the background with flamenco style guitar tunes :D

Concerning the Graduating Class..

Class of 2011:

Truly..

I hate to see any of you leave.

While to you I may just have always just been that random underclassman with a peculiar interest for immortalizing the odd, often embarrassing moments of your life through digital medium... to me you will always be the first and perhaps most significant of friends that I have made in my college career.

Some of you I really would have liked to get to know know better...
all of you I wish I had spent more time with.

I am happy to have known each of you and congratulations again for successfully making it through to the end of your undergraduate journey.

Thank you for your friendship, and in many cases..
for your advice and guidance as well.

Farewell for now.. but I don't feel this is goodbye :)

^^As if that were not melodramatic enough... now it's time for a song!

(^ignore the fact that this song talks more of love than reminiscence of friendship, haha, maybe I'll replace it with a diff track later :P)

Meaningful Flow

What makes a song great, past simply having a nice tune and catchy lyrics?

You tell me.

Master the Art

So... despite having finals coming up, somehow I've managed to fill my schedule with various things to keep my creative drive occupied.

[PHOTOGRAPHY]

Wednesday I had a photoshoot with Alice.. who is selling clothes to raise money to donate towards the Japan relief effort. (Photos are available on her blog) If you're a female living in the St. Louis area, definitely check out the details on her site, and support Japan by purchasing!

Alice by Housing Complex

Today I shot some pictures for the former Suite 4090--made up of friends and housemates Felicia, Diane, Harita, and Katie--all of whom are about to graduate from college. Despite the crappy weather and some tricky lighting situations both outdoors and indoors, I still think we had a decent shoot. Although I'm fairly new to the realm of model subject photography--since I have typically stuck with candids--and especially new to shooting models in groups, I still had a great time shooting for these girls; they have so much energy and personality it is impossible not to have fun watching them interact as they pose for pictures.

Suite 4090 Inside the Danforth University Center

[DANCE]

I am very proud to have actively taken part in the reemergence of the StL Funk/Popping scene. While I started popping two years ago, it was only about a year ago that I actually started meeting and practicing with the bulk of the local poppers. At first our dance sessions would occur once every couple of weeks at random locations on my college campus, with as much as about four people present on any given day. Since then, we've become more organized in finding more members and reserving actual studio space in various areas around St. Louis; today we had a total of around twelve people dancing in the studio--which is very surprising considering how sparse the funk scene has been in St. Louis, previously--ranging from veterans to newbies.

In any case, it was amazing to see so many of the dancers that I look up to gathered in one room and getting down to the music. Interestingly, while these very people have continually provided me with guidance and inspiration, they have also kept me rooted with the realization of how low in skill I am as a dancer. Every time I meet and talk with these dancers, who I consider my mentors, I get a wake-up call--one that, although frustrating, I am very grateful to them for; I would rather live knowing that I am at ground zero working steadily towards improvement than live baselessly believing that I am at any level that can be considered "good". Today's lesson has been to refine my technique, specifically in the styles of waving as well as various funk styles (boogaloo, toyman, scarecrow, etc). I need to bring my tech and my musical ear to an equilibrium before I can truly begin to progress my musical interpretation.

A few years ago I could never have imagined being part of such a family, such a culture.. now I cannot imagine living without all of it. There is no real way for me to express how lucky I feel to have met these people--my interactions with them have molded my identity as a dancer, if not as an individual at large.

~~~

A huge thank you and shout out to those who were there today:
Tony (Boogie IQ), Chris (Samsara), Jeremy (JS1), Christine (Spiral / PixieNyx), Martin (Bibi), Derrick, Becky, Mike, Steve, Josh, Andrew

And, as always, a huge thanks to the people who essentially got me started doing this dance:
Chip (Chippa) & Arthur

...although I doubt any of you will ever read this, lol.

Wonderfully Mysterious

It's truly strange... how fulfilling one's nostalgic yearnings for a particular type of food--especially when completely unexpectedly--can bring one so much joy.

 

Man, I really haven't had dippin dots in forever... it really brings me back.

Also went out to dinner: Vietnamese food *drool*

 

Good food, good friends, good times.

Oh yes.. and the reason for the title of this post?

Haha yeah, fortune cookies always crack me up :P 

It is but a fledgling..

My dearest [currently nonexistent] followers,

I suppose I have very much wanted to do something like this for some time--find a space to bring together all the elements of what I do and what I enjoy. This blog is essentially going to be a melting pot of all of my interests--a collective if you will, hence the title (yes; "Bicente Collective"... call me uncreative)--as well as a place to gather and publish life's daily musings. I plan to post small updates of what I'm up to in dance, video, photography, etc... with the occasional blog post that functions as simply... a generic blog post.

Alas, A TOAST.. to another one of these random-possibly-quite-pointless-blog-like-websites.

Many thanks and a promise of the utmost sincerity, that I will absolutely prepare to think about trying my best to motivate myself to actually, possibly utilize this blog with some sort of regularity.. and not abandon it (as I did xanga, myspace, and various websites I have created throughout the years).
 
With love,
Ever so sincerely,
Yours truly,
Bicente Jones.