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Archive for March, 2006
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Tango Anyone?
March 28, 2006 by Renee Blodgett
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I had an informal Tango lesson last weekend, followed by a discussion about dance, one’s connection to dance and how that translates over into your view of the world.
Tango is fascinating, yet as I thought about tango’s movement’ versus swing, which I’ve been doing for years, I am still more inspired by swing. Yet, perhaps its because I don’t know enough about tango and we naturally gravitate to what we are more accustomed to rather than something which is harder to relate to.
My justification, however was connected to personality and energy, meaning ‘swing’ says more about who I am as an individual than tango ever could. So I thought.
Swing is all about energy, it’s both an ‘open and a closed’ dance, and is extremely playful, whereas tango is mostly closed and you are nearly always connected at the hip, but torso-to-torso.
My friend Maxwell, who is a top notch west coast swing dancer, has been studying tango for the past three years and while he still loves other forms of dance, he asked me an interesting question.
What other dance is this physically connected, where you can feel the breath and energy of your partner throughout the… Read more…
Higher Prices, Less Service
March 26, 2006 by Renee Blodgett
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I swore I would never fly Frontier Airlines again after four back-to-back experiences that range from lousy customer service and delayed flights to lost luggage and everything in between.
When United cancelled a recent flight to Denver, I was stuck on a direct flight to SFO. I sat there thinking of itunes……everyone still complains about inappropriate pricing for music downloads, yet people still indulge big players like Apple and others by paying for it.
We’re such an immediate culture that we must have things early, so much so that we pay for it in the long run. If we waited and didn’t download at prices they dictate early in the game, they would be forced to respond to the market.
But, since we’re all about ‘NOW,’ we are being rewarded with rising prices, declining customer support and a country full of mediocrity, strip malls, fast food chains, large bland apartment complexes with less and less amenities, not to mention department stores that look and feel the same nationwide.
A few examples worth thinking about:
For older tunes, I used to be able to buy a single for cheaper than I can today….hmmm, I could be wrong but isn’t there more… Read more…
Passing Stars and the Ones That Stay
March 23, 2006 by Renee Blodgett
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East Coast visits. Lots of them lately. Four more people moving west in some fashion or another. A modern version of a mini-gold rush. No, its not 1998 again, but it doesn’t need to be. It’s a new reality. Housing is still inflated despite some say its leveling off.
Surreal, neutral, melancholy, a reminder of the beauty in all the connecting dots or perhaps ‘stars’ that enter our lives and leave, if only for a brief moment and then move on.
A gentle reminder too to avoid analyzing life ‘itself’,’ or enclosing or controlling it somehow. The purer route is to just be present with and participate in the flow of all the stars coming together, as if creating a song in harmony that we absorb, allowing it to sink in so deeply that it is now part of our DNA. The stars become us and us the stars.
Top Tequila
March 21, 2006 by Renee Blodgett
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Some of the top national picks for tequila worth mentioning include El Agave and Old Town Mexican Café both in San Diego, The Alamo, Mesa Grill and Arizona 206 all in New York, Iron Cactus in Austin.
There’s also Left at Albuquerque and Tommy’s in San Francisco, Maria’s New Mexican Kitchen in Santa Fe, New Orleans-based Superior Bar & Grill and Vaqueros.
And lest not forget Tequila Jacks in Long Beach, Taco Mac in Atlanta, Tequila Grill in DC, Tequilas in Philly, and Topolobampo & Frontera Grill and Salpicon based in Chicago.
Enter Project Runway
March 17, 2006 by Renee Blodgett
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Halley writes about Project Runway; interesting timing given my recent introduction to it. I learned about Bravo’s Project Runway fairly late in the game, and while I don’t make the time to tune into it, if I was channel clicking and saw it on, I’d watch it again.
For those who haven’t seen it, they hold a fashion design contest with hundreds if not thousands, who compete against one another on the Road to the Runway. There’s a face off with sixteen designers at Parson’s The New School For Design in New York City and then another one with the remaining three at New York Fashion Week.
The funny part is watching the cunning behavior of some of the designers, so eager to win, that they’ll do whatever it takes (within the rules) to move ahead of their colleagues. The other amusing and incredibly addictive part of the show is watching them go through the design challenges within a particular budget and create a ‘consistent’ line that the judges will choose above the rest.
The winning designer walks away with $100,000 in seed money to help them launch their own line and… Read more…
Texan Salt Lick BBQ
March 17, 2006 by Renee Blodgett
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Check out the VideoEgg-hired party bus that took a bunch of us to the infamous Salt Lick BBQ 40 or so miles outside of Austin in a place called Driftwood Texas, earlier this week.
Check out the inside of this character-rich restaurant, set on the side of the road in the middle of the sprawling Texan brush.
Tag: Austin Tag: SXSW Tag: SXSW 2006
Fancy Feet at SXSW
March 16, 2006 by Renee Blodgett
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A snapshot of a few interesting feet from attendees and panelists at SXSW this year. Why shoot feet? Because they were so colorful of course.
Mixed Messages….
March 16, 2006 by Renee Blodgett
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Austin reminds me of Santa Fe and Eugene in many ways, except that it has a BBQ joint on every corner. Some of the business cards I came across were amusing and will give you a flavor of the area.
How’s this for a title on the same card?
Yoga Instructor Photographer
Website Design OR Instructional Designer
Healer
Massage Therapist
Blogger Tag: Austin
