Best Gymnastics Halloween Costume

Via Gymnasticscoaching.com:

It reminded me of this, linked in a previous post:

The Haunted Gym on Nordhoff St.

Happy Halloween!

Offered them toothbrushes for their Halloween treat; but they didn't go for that. So gave them origami flapping bats instead.

Healthy Halloween Treats

Prunes get a bad rap.

October 8, 2013

I've been passing these individually wrapped prunes out for my Halloween treats.  Typically, they've been my reward treat; but at this time of the year, they no longer have to be earned.

It's funny which kids reject them and which ones love them.  I think most of the girls who refuse prunes do so because of the stigma attached.  They're quite delicious- like a raisin on steroids....and moist!  I'm doing my part to fight the prejudice against prunes; after all, they make everything come out okay!

I've sometimes joked with kids about asparagus milk shakes.....broccoli ice cream....Well, check out this video by Crest:

Happy Halloween!

A gymnast's perfect nightmare:

"Candice! Candice, are you alright? You're only lying there with your neck and back broken, folded in half in a bloody heap. Someone call 911!"

Candice: "Maybe death by electrocution wouldn't have been so bad after all...."

Halloween joke for gymnasts:

What kind of bat likes to tumble?

Answer: ¡ʇɐqoɹɔɐ uɐ



Question: Why did Cinderella leave early, before her gymnastics meet was finished?

Answer: ɥɔɐoɔ ɐ ɹoɟ uıʞdɯnd ɐ pɐɥ ǝɥs ǝsnɐɔǝq

Haunted Halloween Labyrinth (2008 Special Edited Version)

"The Place was There, the time was then, this....is who we were."

In light of Halloween around the corner, and in light of the current economic crisis, here's a children's story made scary. Mary Gillis is the actress who recites the tale of "Chicken Little". It appears at the beginning of a season 2 episode of Chris Carter's Millennium FOX TV series, called "Monster". In this context, it takes on a spine-chilling, creepy retelling.

The music is also from the series, and appears in the opening credits, created by Mark Snow. So the images in this video are in the spirit of the show, sort of like a parody. The footage was all gathered at Santa Monica Gymnastics Center (yes, I've had this video idea floating around in my head for quite some time, and some of the clips used were intentionally taken for the day I'd make this specific video); hopefully, that doesn't give anyone bad nightmares about the place that holds fond memories for so many of us.

I used to tell some of the kids there were ghosts in the building. They never believed me. Maybe this will change their minds:



The last message etched into the chalk, "O.K." was an idea inspired by Thea, who went through a phase where no matter what coaching advice you'd give her, her one-line response was, "okaaaay." It left coaches wondering if she ever really "got it".

I finished the video late last night (or early this morning) but have been steadily at work on it for a year or more. What was fun, is it allowed me to use play with more special effects than I normally use in my videos. A number of the effects are customized xml, which I got from the Windows Movie Maker forum.

Happy early Halloween, folks! I plan one more Halloween video, which'll be a re-edit of the SMGC labyrinth (just a shorter version). I might also add a second cut version of this video, later this weekend.

Then again, I might not.

Happy Halloween!

Acro Batman and Coach Robyn

Gymnastics Halloween riddle:

What kind of bat likes to tumble?

Answer: is found in the video



This video was dreamt up by Shachar. So I attributed half credit to her for it (I know I only got half her last name right in the credits). I wasn't sure there'd really be much of anything worth filming, because it's so dark inside the labyrinth.

I wasn't sure how I'd edit this together, but I think it came out well, albeit very long at over 15 minutes. Trimming it down would mean more work. I'm not THAT devoted.

I began working on this Sunday night, and finished it 4am. Probably about 10 hours of my life. But my deadline was Halloween. So I feel good about that.

If you saw the "sneak" preview for this video....this video isn't much like what you got in the trailer.

The first half is a bit light, to the music of Ghostbusters. Second half is "creepy-lovely". It's to Jerry Goldsmith's theme to Poltergeist. Melodically beautiful and hauntingly chilling. It's amazing how much music enhances and fabricates a mood.

I'm worried that the video might be too scary, at the end. Madison has a big speaking role in the video; but I don't know if she'd be able to view the final clip of Alex. I saved it at the very end, when the Poltergeist music cuts into the eerie children-ghost laughing. Growing up, that part always wracked my nerves (I had a casette soundtrack).

If I had anything to add to the video, it would be filming a graveyard scene of an empty gym from unique angles....perhaps the rings swaying back and forth with no one present....an abandoned SMGC cartwheel-a-thon doll smiling into the camera....



....but that would mean re-editing the video, huh?


I do have "cutting room floor" clips of the kids tearing down the labyrinth and putting the mats away; so maybe I'll do that and add it on as a separate "closing credits" video, to this blogpost.

I am having trouble uploading it to Google video. I'm going to try my LiveDigital account. In the meantime, you can download the file directly to your computer. It's a pretty large file at around 247 MBs. If clicking the link takes you to the fileden.com website with lots of registration fill-out info, just skip all that, scroll down the page, and click "pass", or whatever it says. You don't have to fill all that gunk out.

My favorite part remains the 2nd half of the video. Stay-tuned to updates to this post.

Happy safe Tricks-or-Treating!

Sneak Preview: The SMGC Monster Family Labyrinth Maze Trailer

Kids love to build forts with the mats.

About the last week of summer camp, I got it into my head to make a mighty maze- the likes of which could top anything the children ever dreamt up.

I can trace the germs of my inspiration back to Ruby and Delphine, using the folded up cheese mats as sturdy walls, strong enough for them to build a roof to sit atop of.

I decided to experiment during lunch one day, by using just about every available mat in the gym, encompassing almost half the floor space.

From the outside, you have no idea how cool it is...until you go inside.

You can't tell from the photo, because of the flash, but it was pretty dark throughout the labyrinth, and there were many "secret" passages and tunnels to crawl through. Each time I built it, it was a bit different; and I think the best one I built was for Malaika's birthday party (at her request), right after the camp session ended.

A lot of work, but fun to build (for me anyway- you'll get a different answer from teacher Carol).

Shachar wanted to make a Halloween film. So we took flashlights inside to try and film some of the labyrinth, doing best to avoid any minotaurs and wailing banshees. I don't think we filmed much of anything exciting (it's mostly just all dark!), but will try and put together something.

In the meantime, here's the movie trailer. It was fun to stage the finger-snapping to the tune of "Addam's Family".