Common Ground: The Sleeper Team

I spent this weekend shooting the dance team, Common Ground as they prepared for the Vibe dance competition held at the Bren Events Center at UCI.


This is about as close to the hip hop dance scene/community as I've ever been.


I think Common Ground gets lost in the mix of the dance community here at UCI. Everyone knows Kaba Modern from ABDC and B-Boys Anonymous and the like.


One of the things that sets Common Ground apart from the other crews is that CG is not exclusive to UCI students, rather they have members from various schools.


One could say this makes them a weaker team because they aren't as close knit since they don't see each other often, but in a sense they're closer because they have to make the most of their rare time together.


Regardless, spending 2 nights with this team gave me a sense of who they were. They've only been around since 2004, but they don't show their nerves. I've never felt a parking structure shake until I went to their practice. This is a team that wears their heart on the sleeve. Upon the day of VIBE, I would call Common Ground the sleeper team of the competition. I don't think people will be expecting what they're bringing.



wildwombat

Skimboarding in a Storm

GoPro HD - Skimboarding In A Storm! from Patrick Lawler on Vimeo.

The title is pretty misleading and he's not a very good skimboarder (neither am I) but it's overshadowed by the amazing angle they get. especially at 1:08


wildwombat

Hmm

https://twitter.com/wesasaurusrex


Crap...




wildwombat

Twitter

First of all readers, I have decided to give you a new name because my Lit Journalism teacher wants us to get away from using the term "the reader." And thanks to AP English courses in high school, using THE READER is engraved into my brain so I'll combat it as much as I can outside of the class. As a result, I will now be referring to everyone reading this as "the soupers" possibly risking copyright infringement on the tv show, "The Soup."

Regardless, that was just some business to take care of. This is mainly for you, the soupers :OOO to know that I've been tossing around the idea of making a twitter. It's been a growing trend lately that lots of news and current events have spread through Twitter and I'm trying to be well informed about the world around me so this seems like another avenue to do so. I hear almost too often "So and so said on their twitter" or "it was announced on their twitter."

Is it possible for someone to make a twitter solely for the sake of following people and NOT becoming addicted? I'll only know until I try it.



wildwombat

This Just In...

Southern California umbrella and rainboot manufacturers cannot keep up with demand as rain continues. Significant increase in orders from manufacturers in Washington State and New York cause shipping companies to ask "Wait...you said send to Southern California?" Similarly the recent fashion fixation with moccasins causes others to LOL in great numbers as less intelligent people do not realize that their footwear magically transforms into a pair of sponges when hit it rain. Various Native Americans collectively perform an epic Face Palm.

Southern California residents fear Vitamin D deficiency due to 3 days without sunshine. Moods grim, tensions increasing as more people are forced to spend time inside.

Lumber sales increase in the region as people prepare for the worst by drawing up plans for building an ark.

So more optimistic people are believing that once Steve Jobs walks down the mountain holding the Apple Tablet next week, the skies will clear and all will be well once more. Atheists decline to comment.



wildwombat

On a Scale of One to WTF

I think all the Nor Cal kids must be laughing their heads off right now. Currently it's been raining like crazy in Irvine for the last couple of days along with a significant amount of wind...and apparently some signs of the apocalypse.

But apparently winds of 10-20 mph justify getting an alert of a Tornado in Irvine.
Tornado. In. Irvine.

Let's run through the facts of what exactly a tornado is alright kids?

Weak Tornadoes
Last 1-10+ Minutes
Winds of less than 110 mph

Strong Tornadoes
Last 20+ Minutes
Winds of 110-205 mph

Violent Tornadoes
Last over an hour
Winds over 210 mph

That's a general classification, however the official classification of tornadoes goes by a scale called the Fujita Scale or F0-F6

Regardless, to be even an F0 tornado the winds have to be between 40-72 mph. As it stands right now, we're currently experiencing winds of about 11 mph according to weather.com and it might grow to 20 mph.

I think this may be evidence of how little the weather changes in Southern California and how we tend to overreact about it. Don't get me wrong, I love the weather in So Cal, I love that it's very temperate, but c'mon people. A tornado warning is a little too much. A high wind warning is more realistic.

And as I am writing this it now looks like this outside:


Notice the lack of winds now...or...rain clouds for that matter...

AKA NOT THIS!!


So in conclusion on a scale of One to WTF how did I react to the tornado warning? With a resounding WTF.

I'm running out of [what I think are] cool and interesting pictures to put here.


It obviously means I need to start taking more.




wildwombat

Big Thursday

Woke up this morning and saw this surf report. It's gonna be a huge day in San Diego, thanks to the storm that's currently passing through.

I wish I had a telephoto zoom lens and a car to drive down to San Diego right now and take pictures.


Wildwombat

Has anyone here actually seen a chicken?

Arrested Development begins filming this year.

"Will Arnett confirmed that an Arrested Development feature film should go into production sometime this year."
-Via Movie Fill

What great news!


wildwombat

wildwombat

So I don't really know what is more weird.
My spanish class only have 7 students in it

Or the a picture with me in it showing up on one of our powerpoints.
Story time: He was lecturing on verbs I believe and something came up about the protests and there was a picture...with me standing there taking a picture of the protest. The above photo is basically the angle I had, so if you could imagine yourself behind me that's essentially what the picture looked like.

I wish I could find the actual photo.

So weird.



Wildwombat

January 8th

Happy birthday, Mom.



wildwombat

The Perfect Woman

I saw this picture at 11:39PM

And at 11:41PM...my brain exploded.

I understand this seems pretty superficial to think that simply combining the facial features these "perfect" women can create the "perfect woman," but I found it kind of interesting. Reminded me of that episode of The Office, when all the workers argue over whether Hilary Swank is hot or not.

Click on it to see it full size.



wildwombat

2010

I'd make a list or some kind of overview of significant things that happened during 2009, but every other website has already done that...trying to be original here.

And I don't have a list of resolutions for 2010.
It's a new year. It means more than just a completely new day. But it means less than a completely new me. I will change, but I want it to be on my own time, not because the date changes.

2010 huh? There are some people that say 2000-2009 was the worst decade ever.
I have a feeling this decade is going to be turbulent, perhaps not in this world, but in my own.

Happy New Year, readers and followers. Here's to more posts for a long time.

wildwombat