A New Yahoo Group: Montreal Jive

I'm a part of several Yahoo Groups already, namely:

• SwingMtl (for everything that swings in Montreal)
• Rockin' (for rockin' events internationally)
• Montreal Hepcat Movement (everything rockabilly in Montreal)
• Rockabilly_tunes (rockabilly music exchange group)
• McGill Swing (McGill Swing Kids)

So why create a new one for jivers? Simply because, ever since I was involved in the jive and swing scene of Montreal about 6 years and half ago now, I saw how the two distinct crowds do not mix that much.

Of course, there are always the few crossovers like Jiver007 and me, but we are a minority. Basically, the swing dancers interested in jive never end up on the Montreal Hepcat Movement group and the rockabillies who enjoy jiving never join or read the SwingMtl group either. The jivers are so few in Montreal that if only 1% of the swingmtl list is about jive, why would the jivers receive all the other emails that don't interest them?

By creating a channel for jivers, I hope to raise a sense of unity among jivers from both backgrounds without them needing to join the other group if it doesn't interest them. Welcome to Montreal Jive!

Click to join mtl_jive

Le CDAB, c'est quoi?

Qu'est-ce que le CDAB?

• Un organisme à but non lucratif consituté de danseurs bénévoles qui organisent, à chaque mois, des Activités Branchées et le Swing en Partage. Une initiative de l'école Swing Connexion.
  

Les Activités Branchées

• Un club social qui permet aux danseurs de la scène swing montréalaise de se rencontrer socialement dans un cadre autre que la danse.
• Rafting, soirée de quilles, fête de Noël, etc. toutes les idées sont bonnes, envoyez-nous vos suggestions!
• En mars = Nuit Blanche
  

Le Swing en Partage

• Chaque mois, l'équipe de Swing en Partage rassemble un nombre de danseurs bénévoles pour aller danser devant des gens qui en ont besoin, pour leur redonner le sourire.
• Un groupe différent est ciblé à chaque mois.
• En mars = les enfants malades
  

Samedi le 4 mars: Nuit Blanche avec le CDAB!

Dans la nuit de samedi 4 mars à dimanche 5 mars, on fait le party au studio de Swing Connexion, avec le Club des activités branchées!


À l'horaire:

• Animation de jeux (style La Fureur) en début de soirée par Caro & Véro
  
• Plusieurs jeux vidéos - Xbox, Playstation, Game Cube, NES (oui, oui le dinosaure!)
• Concours Dance Dance Revolution
• Concours des plus belles pantoufles
  
• Vieux films de swing sur projecteur
• Divers jeux de sociétés - Sudoku, Twister, Cranium, Monopoly et bien d'autres!

Quand? Samedi, 4 mars 2006. Ouverture des portes à 21h00
Où? Studio Swing Connexion, 7250 rue Clark, 3e étage, 514-993-1231
Combien? 4$ en prévente, 5$ à la porte
Pour qui? Petits et grands (pas d'alcool), danseurs et amis qui ont envie de veiller tard et déjeuner en gang le lendemain!
Quoi apporter? Votre matelas de sol, oreiller, sac de couchage (si vous pensez dormir), pyjama ainsi que vos plus belles pantoufles!

Du pop-corn et des rafraîchissements seront à votre disposition pendant la nuit et croissants et fruits seront servis pour déjeuner le lendemain!

J'ai encore plein de billets à vendre: réservez votre(vos) place(s) dès maintenant en m'envoyant un email à

Soirée porto & chocolat de la chambre de commerce

En ordre: Luc-Étienne (LEGZ), Marie-Josée, Luc, Marie-Hélène, Marie-Élizabeth(GoofySwings), Robin et moi(Jerrika).

Quel bon temps nous avons passé jeudi dernier à la soirée porto et chocolat de la chambre de commerce!

Voici la p'tite histoire qui explique comment 7 danseurs de swing se sont retrouvés là...

Luc-Étienne travaille avec les organisateurs de cet événement. Ses collègues savaient qu'il dansait le swing et lui ont demandé s'il connaissait des gens qui pourraient venir faire un petit spectacle, rien de trop compliqué. Évidemment, Luc-Étienne a sauté sur l'occasion pour faire un appel à tous sur le yahoo group de swingmtl et nous y avons répondu.

Un groupe de musiciens avait été embauché pour l'occasion. Il ont joué des airs jazz toute la soirée au grand bonheur d'un public de plus en plus joyeux (vive le porto!).

Je n'ai pas su le nom du groupe mais pour me faire pardonner j'ai mis leur photo juste ici et si vous les connaissez, vous n'avez qu'à me dire leur nom pour que je leur donne le crédit qui leur revient.

Le spectacle: pas très compliqué, en effet. Nous avons en fait dansé socialement (improvisation) sur quelques airs connus, interprétés par le groupe de musiciens ci-haut.

Nous étions 7 danseurs, donc il y avait contamment une personne qui dansait seule en attendant les changements de partenaire. Sur la photo ci-contre, Marie-Élizabeth était probablement en train de danser un charleston en solo pendant notre danse sociale à 3 couples.

Nous avons terminé notre présentation avec un 'jam', mettant en vedette un couple à la fois sur le célèbre air de "Sing Sing Sing":

Luc-Étienne et sa femme Marie-Josée

Luc Rivet et Marie-Élizabeth Lebrun

Luc-Étienne et Marie-Hélène

Robin et moi (et oui, on m'a coupé la tête!)

Les gens ont tellement aimé le spectacle, que Robin s'est laissé convaincre de donner un rapide cours de base à tout le monde présent, gracieuseté du Studio88Swing!

Héhéhé, avoir su qu'on aurait eu tant de succès, je suis convaincue qu'il aurait apporté plus de cartes d'affaires avec lui!

Félicitations au organisateurs pour une soirée bien réussie et en espérant vous revoir l'année prochaine!

The Devil's Hotrod Rocked the Wheel Club Yesterday!!!

Yesterday night was the big Red Hot & Blue fundraiser night at the Wheel Club, featuring the Devil's Hotrod and Miss Oui Oui Encore!

It was the first time I saw the Devil's Hotrod live in action, and let me tell you there was a lot of heat on stage! Here is the only decent picture I was able to take from my cell phone to immortalize the moment.

I couldn't find a website about the band, but I found a much better picture of $leepy, the double-bassist (shown right). This musician certainly has style and talent! you should see him manoeuver with the huge double-bass and ride it like a bull while playing!!!

Nathalie Lavergne (Happy Birthday Nat!) made a big announcement at the end of the night that the Devil's Hotrod were going to play at the Red Hot & Blue Weekend, in St-Hyacinthe, October 2006. A show not to be missed!

Miss Oui Oui Encore! has got the crowd's attention in between the Devil's Hotrod's first and second sets. What does she do exactly?

Strip tease!

With her cats' eyes and furry ears, this pussy cat was dancing playfully to a sassy retro song and was wearing less and less as the song was moving forward...

Did she take it all off? I won't tell you! But if you want to see for yourself, check out the Blue Light Burlesque's next public appearance on the troupe's official website, where you can also find information about taking burlesque classes and appointing her for bachelorette parties.

iSquint to the rescue

Remember my post about the new video iPod? The real problem I found with it was with the difficulty to convert regular video files into iPod compatible videos files with QuickTime Pro, which had to be purchased to have the conversion option...

I found an alternative to purchasing QuickTime Pro yesterday and I've converted all my video files easily since.

iSquint is a simple, yet efficient and FREE software that lets you drag and drop your selection of video files to convert, choose the quality level desired as well as format (iPod or TV monitor).

Features:

• Conversion is many times faster than QuickTime Pro
• iSquint is free
• Possibility to convert a list of files in one step
• Simple, user-friendly interface
• Automatically adds the converted files to iTunes for easy synchronizing with the video iPod
• Requires Mac OS X
  

Valentine Rockabilly Picture

Feel the luuuuuuv baby!

Happy Valentine's Day !!!Photo credits: KillToKnow.org

Any jivers NOT going to the Red Hot and Blue fundraiser next Saturday?

If you are in a band and would like to play to the 2006 edition of
the weekender, send a mail (and a promo kit!) info@rockabillyjam.com

***NEW! BENEFIT CONCERT***
Saturday Feb 18th
Wheel Club 3373 Cavendish (south of Sherbrooke Street), Montreal
Come and support the festival!
Only 10$

With
DJ CUSTUM PAT
THE DEVIL'S HOT ROD
and more bands to be announced soon!

ps: come and celebrate Nathalie's bday as well!

Super timor

Super timor
Video sent by morvanus

super timor est encore plus fort, avec sa nouvelle formule!

tunak tunak attitude!

tunak tunak attitude
Video sent by a3mtek

Look at this guy's energy!!!

He's so into it! I can't understand a single word in this song but I figured one of the guys is not very happy at some point.

My favorite moments: Mr. Earth's smile after hitting the ground & The 3 guys sitting on the sand and dancing like cobras.

Enjoy!

Moskau

Moskau
Video sent by ptipimousse

Sorry guys if your were expecting more text content on this blog but I'm totally getting addicted to DailyMotion and the possibility to show you some really funny clips and commercials.

This is a kind of 'Village People', RUSSIAN style!

Enjoy!

Videoblogging made easier with DailyMotion

I was looking for a way to post videos directly into my Blogger blog, and since Blogger does not allow storage for anything but text and pictures, I had to look for outside hosting.

I'm a cheap girl. So if I'm gonna use a web service for personal entertainment, it's gotta be free. Not only is DailyMotion free, it is also AD-FREE. No saving the file to your computer, no relocating you onto an outside website for download. Look at the example below to see how simple and convenient it is.

Amazing Breakdance
Video sent by diabolo013

This video hosting, sharing and managing tool let's you upload your own videos (up to 150Mb per video), share them with the world, search their video database and post them directly onto your blog like this one here.

Sounds simple? Try it and let me know what you think!

TickerFactory helps you keep track of... whatever!

I discovered this cute little convenient signature from TickerFactory today. It let you count down to a date or to a goal and keeps track of your progress... It can be used in discussion boards and forums, emails, blogs, etc. Basically, anywhere you can use HTMl or BB code.

Here are two example tickers I made for my personal goals:


This one keeps track of my progress in doing the Yoga Booty Ballet -10 weeks plan


This other one counts the pounds I've shed off by sticking to the program.

Grab your own ticker and have fun customizing it the way you want!

New Haircut/Nouvelle coupe

Yep! that is me, today, picture taken with the help of my Nokia cell phone. That's why the quality is so poor!

Basically, I was going to get a new haircut with bangs so here is a preview of what it looks like.

Do I look tired? I am. I didn't sleep well at all yesterday night so the tiredness is kicking me now!

I guess this picture can count as the Rockabilly Picture of the day as well...

-----------------------

Maintenant pour ceux qui parlent français et qui veulent une meilleure idée de la longueur que j'ai fait enlever, voici une deuxième image, prise aujourd'hui.

Bon, l'éclairage n'est pas terrible mais j'ai fait avec les moyens du bord, alors voilà!

C'est tout une changement avec les 15 cm de cheveux qu'elle m'a enlevé!!!

Il va vraiment falloir que je m'y fasse...

About Google Adsense...

If you visited my blog in the last two weeks, so might have noticed the appearance of Google banners here and there. This program is called Adsense.

Basically, there are 3 parts in Google Adsense...

1. Google search
2. Targeted banners
3. Sponsorship

I'm having some trouble with Google search: If you look on your upper left corner, I added a little google search bar. Everything seems to work fine if you search the web. However, it can't seem to find anything on my own page as it should. If anyone know why, let me know by posting a comment, it will be much appreciated!

The targeted banners work in a different way. The system reads the content of my blog and associates it with advertisement containing as many similar keywords as my blog. In other words, if all I talk about is fashion, you should not be bothered with some random ads about online gambling or penis enlargers because their keywords will certainly not match mine! The more readers click (YES THAT MEANS "YOU") the more these guys will pay me for having advertised their sites. Simple. Easy. But you need a lot of clicks to make some $, so keep clicking! :D

The sponsorship works in yet another way. You see the Firefox and Adsense white banners on the left side? Everytime someone downloads firefox from my link, I get 1$ for that. I don't really understand how they make money out of this one because, between you and me, Firefox is not only the best browser for the web... it is also FREE to download!!! So where does Google find the 1$ they pay me? I don't know... If you do, you can leave the answer as a comment.

Now, if you have a blog or a website and would like to cover your hosting fees by adding some simple advertisement, try Adsense by Google, but most importantly, click on my Adsense link to register. As a referrer, I will touch a commission as soon as you receive your first payment of 100$ and it will not affect your own earnings.

Bottomline: you click on the links, you make money, I make money, we're both happy!

Rockabilly Picture of the Day

don't dance, originally uploaded by DeadAirLou.

Lovely rockabilly couple.

Great pictures say it all, so why am I always trying to add a description text when no words can describe best than what you see on the picture itself?

Enjoy!

J'ai triché/I cheated

Aujourd'hui est ma 2e journée de jeûne et j'ai une confession à faire: j'ai triché. Un peu.

Mon jeûne consiste en 3 repas par jour, chaque repas étant limité à 8oz d'un jus fraîchement pressé d'un légume de la liste OU 8oz d'un jus DILUÉ d'un fruit de la liste.

Mon souper = 8oz de jus d'orange... NON DILUÉ. Ça peut sonner idiot, mais je me sens tout de même coupable... Je vais essayer de passer au travers de ma 2e journée sans tricher!

---------------

Today is my 2nd day of fasting and I have a confession to make: I cheated. Just a little.

My fast consist of 3 meals a day, every meal being a 8oz glass of freshly squeazed juice of a given vegetable OR 8oz of WATERED DOWN juice of a given fruit.

My dinner = 8oz of NON diluted orange juice. It might a little silly but I feel guilty about it... I will try to do better today and not cheat at all on my 2nd day!

Rockabilly Picture of the Day

Sara_BODacious2, originally uploaded by greyhound808.

This is one of the best pictures I've seen so far. What a great model!

2 words: Big and Beautiful!

Just Do It!

Sounds like a Nike advertisment? Well it isn't.

You see a couple of days ago, I was seduced by a new workout/body shaping program I saw on t.v. and I impulsively made the call to order it. Now the package arrived home and I don't know where to start. Or maybe I just don't really want to start.

My fears include:

• Counting calories
• Weighing food : I don't have a food scale, I don't even have a person scale!
  
• Rediscover a military-like discipline
• Measuring my own body parts
• Having someone take my 'before' shot
• Cheating in the process

The program is called Yoga Booty Ballet and incorporates elements and benefits from yoga, ballet, hip hop and cabaret dancing (I can never get enough dancing!), musculation and cardio.

It starts with a 2 days of fasting, moves on to an intensive 7 days of controlled diet and exercise twice a day and can be maintained with a lighter, more moderate program during the rest of the year.

First things first: opening the package
Everything seems normal at first.

Then, I realise I was shipped the DVDs instead of the VHS tapes I had ordered. This wouldn't be too bad because I can read the DVDs from my laptop about just anywhere I want, but I was planning to see it on the t.v. screen in my bedroom...

When I read the little booklet of information about what is supposed to be included in the package, nothing is explained about the hip hop and the cabaret DVDs and I'm supposed to have another 2 yoga tapes Basics and Advanced... Oh, wait, these are all included under the same DVD, so I guess I'm not missing anything.

Next: grocery shopping
Ok, I skipped the part where I'm reading the booklets because I went through it as I opened the package... I need protein powder, citrus, lean meat, cottage cheese... and a food scale!

I'm dressing a list from the menu I'll be following in the next week and I'll be ready to go as soon as Brian comes back with the car.

Next 2 days of fasting:
I'm allowed to drink. Drink water, water and water again. My 3 'meals' of the day will be a glass of freshly pressed vegetable juice (now how am I supposed to do that?) that I can choose from a list. The water in between my 'meals' should contains lemon juice. I can't exercise other than something really smooth like walking. For this reason, and because I have a dance workout scheduled tonight, I'll start my fasting tomorrow!

I am still scared that this is something I might start and not finish, or cheat on... But it is such an adventure and I could never do it if I was working full-time so now's the best time to do it!