Flying Trapeze- Forward Over

Here's what I've been working on at Trapeze School New York. Hopefully I'll return it soon. Thanks to Hal on lines, Breton catching, and Jordan on board.

Aerial Yoga

This weekend, Brent and I decided to try something different, so we headed to Unnata Aerial Yoga in Williamsburg, Brooklyn. The class was paced slowly and definitely good for beginners who are unaccustomed to hanging out upside-down.

We began class by learning to find our plumb line directly below the connection point where the hammock meets the ceiling. We learned to back bend into the fabric, and give our weight to the hammocks. Once we found our balance, we moved on to an upside-down straddle position. It felt really good to just hang out upside-down for awhile, without having to do all of the arm balancing work of a traditional yoga inversion.

From the straddle, we learned to wrap one foot around the fabric and let the other leg hang down. The teacher called this position an upside-down pigeon pose. It felt a lot nicer than sitting in pigeon, though. Plus it looks way cooler! Remember, Brent and I are both first timers.

After inverting, we learned to do a floating baddha konasana pose, where gravity helps you to open up your hip flexors, and lets your knees sink closer to the floor.

From here, we could bend forward slowly to invert the baddha konasana pose.

It was really fun to try something new with Brent. We both felt a bit hazy and relaxed after class. What an excellent way to spend a Sunday afternoon!

Take that, high fructose corn syrup

My latest Saturday Night Live parody sticks it to the corn refiners association. Check it out...

Bad Joke of the Day

Q: What type of nut is the smartest?A: M-academia nut!

Thanks to Brent for making up this awful joke, and thanks to Adina for inspiring it with all of her macadamia nut bath products.

Ramona Falls "Going Once Going Twice" video

Here is a video I edited of Ramona Falls performing "Going Once, Going Twice" at Mississippi Studios in Portland, OR. It is introduced by none other than Mr. Toad, star of the RF video for "Russia". Enjoy!

I'm a winner!

The Fortune Writer, a short film directed by Eric Gross and edited by me just won the LES Film Festival for "Best Dramatic Short".

The LES Film Festival takes place in New York City's Lower East Side, and features films made for less than $30,000. Congrats to everyone involved!

Here's a short description of film...
Kirby works in the kitchen of a Chinese restaurant typing out fortunes for fortune cookies. When a lonely woman walks into the restaurant and piques Kirby’s interest, Kirby is faced with the challenge of writing his most difficult fortune yet. (8:46)

Hiking the Kalalau Trail - Kauai, HI

Before we left for Hawaii, Brent said that he really wanted us to get some exercise on vacation. I really wanted to go on an adventure. I decided the best way to fulfill both requests was to plan a short backpacking trip along one of the hardest and most spectacular hiking trails in the world, the Kalalau Trail.



The Kalalau trail begins where Kauai's main road ends, at Ke'e beach. It traverses the majestic razor's edge cliffs and spires of the Na Pali coast, and ends at the stupendously secluded Kalalau beach. In the summer, you can kayak through the ocean to the beach, but in the winter, Kalalau beach is only accessible via the difficult and sometimes dangerous 11 mile trail.

Best viewpoint of the trail at the 10 mile marker

Here is a video that chronicles our intense 22 mile journey...

Over the 11 miles of the Kalalau trail, there are 5,000 ft of elevation gain and loss. This is the view from the one mile marker, 600 ft up.

Looking westward from the 1 mile mark

Mile 2 - Hanakapi'ai Beach

A sea cave at Hanakapi'ai Beach

Mile 3- The amazing, above-ground roots of the Pandanus tree

Mile 8- View of the cliffs we hiked through



Mile 11 - Kalalau beach at sunset. We made it!

Powered Hang Gliding in Kauai

This is my first in a series of posts about our recent trip to Kaua'i Hawaii! Brent spent all of January, and the first week of February producing a new record for the South Africa-based band, Dear Reader. The album turned out phenomenal, and we felt like we deserved a kick ass vacation! We embarked on a series of unforgettable adventures on the Garden Island, including a Powered Hang Gliding flight with Kauai Aerosports.



The owner and pilot, Steve, introduced us to the incredible, bird-like feeling of soaring through the clouds on an ultralight trike (that's the lingo for a powered hang glider). Even though you take off and land on a runway, the flying sensation feels entirely different than riding in a commercial airplane. Instead of an upward thrust motion, you feel almost like you are on a Disney ride, where the trike is being held by a robotic arm from above, and smoothly floating you from one amazing scene to the next.




The first spot we visited after take off was Jurassic Park Falls. This is the same waterfall that was filmed for the arrival scene in original Jurassic Park movie. The falls are on private property, and can only be seen from a helicopter or trike. As we soared down near the falls, Steve played the Jurassic Park theme song through my headphones. I actually got a tear in my eye.

Then we headed to the crater inside Mt Wai Ale Ale. This is the spot from which the island of Kauai was born. It is also the wettest spot on Earth, receiving over 400 inches of rain per year. Beat that, Portland! Thanks to all the rain, there are myriad waterfalls spilling over the peak of the mountain, down into the lush green crater. It was a beautiful, breath-taking scene. As we flew close to the crater walls, we did what Steve called a "Pterodactyl turn" (a swooping u-turn that made me feel like I was riding on the back of a pterosaur). It was so fun!


Next we headed over Hanalei Bay, to the rugged spires of the Na Pali coast. The other-worldly environment made my chest tighten a bit, with the memory of hiking through the impossible landscape along the death-defying Kalalau Trail (look for a more in-depth post on this soon).


We glided over the Waimea Canyon (considered the Grand Canyon of the Pacific) on the way back to the Port Allen airport, but first Steve took us out over the ocean to learn how to fly the trike! There is a big silver bar, just like on a hang glider. If you slide it to the left, you go right. If you push the bar forward you go up a little and slow down. If you pull the bar back you go down at first and then level off and go faster . The trike tends to find a "sweet spot" in the sky, and basically flies itself along the ridge of air. It was a really cool experience to feel how the trike navigates.


After a safe landing, we relaxed with some juice and went off to the beach to enjoy a delicious lunch of Ahi Poke and seaweed salad. What an adventure! Thanks to Steve and Anna for being such excellent hosts in the Kauai sky!

Target Grammys Ads

Here are some ads I cut for Target for the Grammys.

Bad Joke of the Day

Q: Which musical instrument is the most macho?

A: The MANdolin