Should blokes do Poi?

[le pire]

Re: on the topic of hippies...

nevermind... Ivan said it all. The man's a genius!


etienne

[Eveish]

Yeps, I can agree with all that Ivan said
I just didn't like the generlization that all hippys were stinky.
Le Pire.. you are forgiven

[Pyromancer]

Don't worry, constant recurring doubts whether a certain activity is manly enough, is a problem that many latent homosexuals cope with. Friends told me it goes away after you've had your coming out.

I started firepoi and firebreathing some ten years ago. Just those activities every self claimed professional frowns upon. But it brought me to where I am now. And that is what counts for me.

Let people do the things they like, goddamnit.

Oh and by the way, did it ever occur to the questioners that doing poi and clubswinging is actually a great way to meet women?

[Doctor Eric]

Goddammit, it's two-thousand-mother-!@#?ing-five, there's NO SUCH THING as hippies anymore, Virginia. Buying a costume, a few old records and adopting an out of date ideology doesn't really make you anything other than a pain in the ass.

On the subject of Poi, or "pwaA" as I like to call them, personally, I want to strangle the proponents of such items, male or female, on sight, but I live in San Francisco, where you either have a job, or some retarded fire toy, but usually not both. However, I do politely respect Pyro's right to express himself and make a living with the damned things. I just don't want to see it.

No offense Pyro, come here sometime, you'll see what I mean. Living here makes me ashamed to work with flames.

[Pyromancer]

ps. Ivan, you are right. I have seen people doing things that spoil a lot of fun for the more aware... Too bad it's getting more and more difficult to throw a decent fireshow in a public place...

[Pyromancer]

Originally posted by Doctor Eric

No offense Pyro, come here sometime, you'll see what I mean. Living here makes me ashamed to work with flames.

I once took it as a compliment when someone told me I made him ashamed to work with flames. I still think it was. Sounds like an invitation to go to SF and see if it shatters my dreams...

And by the way, I didn't pick up the damn chains in a sweathut, but in a warehouse.

[Doctor Eric]

I think you might have misunderstood a little. There are probably more than two thousand people in this area that perform with fire, not all of them suck, some are quite good, but there are only so many times you can stomach variations on a theme, living in this city makes every self respecting entertainer want to move away from fire.

[firegirl]

isn't it always about how good the performer is? we talked about this, eh? anyone can do this stuff - but, to do it well... it's about entertaining the audiance - not how cool you are because you do fire...

perhaps i'm off topic - i didn't read the whole thread.
later,
k

[Ivan Bellari]

too much of anything is bad

i agree with eric, too much of any thing is bad... and the poor fellow has seen too much people attempting to work well with fire...

i'm glad that the only fire performers i really remember have been fun to watch, i'd hate to be bitter about it... then again, card tricks, juggling, and ego shows are plentiful and some are tedious, repetative, easily anticipated, lackluster, unoriginal , and stock.
but i can still enjoy a good card trick,
i still like good juggling.. as long as they stay away from " my brother used to do this..."
and some of my favorite performers do a " look at how amazing i am " show.. but usually they are pretty freaking amazing.

and umm firegirl to answer your question... in my opinion

there are two types of good shows...
1) where the performer is technically good
2) where the performer is really funny

i've seen average stunts pulled off with amazing gusto and the set up and talk-talk is enough to keep me watching

and i've seen mindblowing stunts with no talk at all..

both draw a crowd in and keep them there...

the problem is.. too many people with average stunts and no show. just the hype of their own mind.

saturation.. it's already turned eric against a great medium for performance...

bad poi artists... no donut!

[Ivan Bellari]

oh and pyromancer...

if you keep doing what you are doing, more people will see that fire can be more than the perception and safer than most things... the more safe performers there are using fire and showing what can be done with it ...the more people will learn .. and the more they learn the easier it will be to make shows...

i feel the contempt for fire in canada, places dont want it , they are afraid of it... they dont understand..

so one by one ya gotta teach them...

....
baby steps towards enlightenment eh?

[firegirl]

two kinds of shows

yah ivan... i aspire to be both.

funny & technically good... it's a work in progress.

*grin*

i've seen all those shows, too... mediocre stunts and no funny to back it up. i've always been stronger in the "funny" department... but, have been working very hard to make the stuff i do in between the funny as technically spectacular as possiable...

work in progress.

but, yes - i agree with you... two kinds of shows.