A while back, I heard this track and I laughed really hard. The self-proclaimed best rapper alive kills it on Soulja Boy's Crank That beat
I hope you enjoy it as I did.
-N
-N
As you all may or may not know, I fuck up people's hair and get money for it. The people that I meet on my dreadventures range from greasy balding pockmarked old acid heads who want desperately to rub my shoulders and to show me their "Portal to Another Dimension" (a.k.a. greasy pockmarked old folks orgy), to leather shop owning couples trying to get me into a threesome (Thanks for the spiked bracelet! By the way, your dog's muzzle gets the job done AND scares me in a strange sexually weird way. That's what you're going for right? So...kudos...I guess...), to fresh-out-of-high-school white girls with three inch hair (ignoring my four inch minimum rule) who want to know why they look like fucking Coolio when I'm done with them. It's not my fault that you can't live up to your idealized rastafarian, vegetarian, minimalist, stick-eating animal-humping lifestyle on your way into college! Get a job and maybe your dreads won't look so shitty. Anyway, Naudia Boyd is on the opposite side of the spectrum from these people. Like a needle in a fucking haystack, she is a rare gem of a normal person in my dreadscapades. And by normal I mean I don't suspect her of being a serial murderer, or a raper, or a coprapheliac, or an animal hoarder. Naudia and her husband Steve own a business called Mad Hatter Hoops in which they make all sorts of hula hoops. Hoops that sparkle, light up, shine and bedazzle their way right onto your hips, and can actually be a fantastic form of exercise. Since I found Mad Hatter Hoops a subject of interest, I knew you guys would want to hear about it, so on your behalf, Naudia and Steve agreed to answer a few questions about hooping the light fantastic.
-Alex
1) So how old were you when you first started hooping, and how did you
get into it?
I work for a college, and a couple of years ago one of our students came in with hula hoops one day. They weren't fancy, but they were nice and heavy, and it was so easy to keep it going. I remembered playing with hula hoops as a kid, but I never actually had one. I ended up buying three hoops from her. And was pretty much hooked instantly. Not even a month after buying her hoops, I set out to make my own, so I could spread the love.
2) You told me that you were able to lose a lot of weight hula hooping
and you are very fit and fine if I do say so myself. What makes
hooping a superior form of exercise? Tell me a little bit about that
whole period of time, how much you hooped, when you discovered hooping
was a good way to lose weight.
I have never been active. Ever. Even as a kid, I preferred books and art over going outside to play. I hated gym class with a passion(ate rage). I remember one summer, my mom forced me to join a baseball team. It was a disaster. I loathed every single boring minute of it. And it wasn't just the activity, I was appalled by the competitive attitudes. I just didn't "get" sports. When I got those first hoops, I didn't even think about it being exercise. It was just fun, and silly, and goofy, and sexy... The whole time I was hooping, I was grinning. Ear to ear. Like a kid, playing with her favorite toy! Then, I realized one day that my heart was pumping, and I was a little out of breath. And I realized that this "toy" was a workout. I started looking up hula hooping, and realized there was whole hoop movement going on, and I had no idea.
3) How/When did Mad Hatter Hoops come to be?
I got Naudia into it too, and we started hooping together a lot, and making hoops for friends. We half-heartedly joked about taking a batch of hoops down to the river and just selling them out of our cars. But we didn't. We got distracted by life, and paying bills. But we were still hooping, and losing weight. We love hooping so much, that it started consuming our consciousness. I was distracted at work with the tons of hoop tutorial videos on youtube. Meanwhile Naudia was out committing random acts of hooping all over Portland. In February of this year, we decided we were ready to try being professional hoop makers. We had honed our skills. We had wicked cool tape. We got the best tubing. And we were starting to play around with LEDs. Our hoops were plain kickin ass. We got our biz license, and we are ready to hoop the light fantastic.
4) Give me a low down of your fanciest schmanciest hoops.
Where do I start? I love love love my polypro hoops. They are so versatile for tricks. They have perfect bounce back for doing killer breaks. Since they're lighter, you have to work harder to keep them up which makes for a better cardio workout. And we can add a button to them to make them collapsible, which was a huge plus for me, for traveling. Although, I suppose the fanciest would have be our LED hoops. I'm a photographer and I absolutely love taking long exposure shots of the LED hoops in action. I love seeing the shapes and patterns unfold. But mostly I love losing myself in a galaxy of swirling lights.
5) What's your favorite song or artist to hoop to?
It really depends on my mood. In no particular order I enjoy, Beats Antique, Bassnectar, Silversun Pickups, Tool, Dirty Vegas, Goldfish, Feist, Massive Attack... I could go on and on.
6) Any tips for the hoop-tarded such as myself? Is there a special
key or secret to becoming a world-class hula hooper?
The biggest hurdle is yourself. If you set out to do something with an "I can't do this" attitude, you will start to believe yourself after awhile. If you set out to have fun, and you enjoy being silly, and are willing to keep trying, you WILL get it. Nobody is perfect, and you won't be able to bust out mad tricks until you've been hooping awhile. My single biggest piece of advice is Youtube baby! Search for "how to hula hoop". Once you've got the basics down, try searching for "hoop dance tutorial". You can thank me later :)
My favorite YouTube hoopers in no particular order;
http://www.youtube.com/user/seer5
http://www.youtube.com/user/babzrobinson
http://www.youtube.com/user/Groovinmegzz
http://www.youtube.com/user/ShpongledHoops
7)What are a few awesome tricks that you've learned?
I love the three beat weave, and threading the needle. Both are done with two hoops, large or small. They look so fancy, people are super impressed by them, and they're pretty easy. (Ok, so the three beat weave took me about three days to master... but it was so worth it.)
8) Contact information for people who wanna buy hoops from you guys?
Mad Hatter Hoops World Domination Headquarters is located in sunny (HA!) Portland, OR. We can be reached at 503-774-0512 or email us at [email protected]
9) What are your cats' names, and which one do you love the most?
I have two kittens, Biz Markie and Zed. And while I love them both, Biz is my homie. And Naudia has two step cats, Marbles (a.k.a chubs) and Bruce. She never liked cats until she meet Bruce… He really has softened that bitch up!
-Alex
1) So how old were you when you first started hooping, and how did you
get into it?
I work for a college, and a couple of years ago one of our students came in with hula hoops one day. They weren't fancy, but they were nice and heavy, and it was so easy to keep it going. I remembered playing with hula hoops as a kid, but I never actually had one. I ended up buying three hoops from her. And was pretty much hooked instantly. Not even a month after buying her hoops, I set out to make my own, so I could spread the love.
2) You told me that you were able to lose a lot of weight hula hooping
and you are very fit and fine if I do say so myself. What makes
hooping a superior form of exercise? Tell me a little bit about that
whole period of time, how much you hooped, when you discovered hooping
was a good way to lose weight.
I have never been active. Ever. Even as a kid, I preferred books and art over going outside to play. I hated gym class with a passion(ate rage). I remember one summer, my mom forced me to join a baseball team. It was a disaster. I loathed every single boring minute of it. And it wasn't just the activity, I was appalled by the competitive attitudes. I just didn't "get" sports. When I got those first hoops, I didn't even think about it being exercise. It was just fun, and silly, and goofy, and sexy... The whole time I was hooping, I was grinning. Ear to ear. Like a kid, playing with her favorite toy! Then, I realized one day that my heart was pumping, and I was a little out of breath. And I realized that this "toy" was a workout. I started looking up hula hooping, and realized there was whole hoop movement going on, and I had no idea.
3) How/When did Mad Hatter Hoops come to be?
I got Naudia into it too, and we started hooping together a lot, and making hoops for friends. We half-heartedly joked about taking a batch of hoops down to the river and just selling them out of our cars. But we didn't. We got distracted by life, and paying bills. But we were still hooping, and losing weight. We love hooping so much, that it started consuming our consciousness. I was distracted at work with the tons of hoop tutorial videos on youtube. Meanwhile Naudia was out committing random acts of hooping all over Portland. In February of this year, we decided we were ready to try being professional hoop makers. We had honed our skills. We had wicked cool tape. We got the best tubing. And we were starting to play around with LEDs. Our hoops were plain kickin ass. We got our biz license, and we are ready to hoop the light fantastic.
4) Give me a low down of your fanciest schmanciest hoops.
Where do I start? I love love love my polypro hoops. They are so versatile for tricks. They have perfect bounce back for doing killer breaks. Since they're lighter, you have to work harder to keep them up which makes for a better cardio workout. And we can add a button to them to make them collapsible, which was a huge plus for me, for traveling. Although, I suppose the fanciest would have be our LED hoops. I'm a photographer and I absolutely love taking long exposure shots of the LED hoops in action. I love seeing the shapes and patterns unfold. But mostly I love losing myself in a galaxy of swirling lights.
5) What's your favorite song or artist to hoop to?
It really depends on my mood. In no particular order I enjoy, Beats Antique, Bassnectar, Silversun Pickups, Tool, Dirty Vegas, Goldfish, Feist, Massive Attack... I could go on and on.
6) Any tips for the hoop-tarded such as myself? Is there a special
key or secret to becoming a world-class hula hooper?
The biggest hurdle is yourself. If you set out to do something with an "I can't do this" attitude, you will start to believe yourself after awhile. If you set out to have fun, and you enjoy being silly, and are willing to keep trying, you WILL get it. Nobody is perfect, and you won't be able to bust out mad tricks until you've been hooping awhile. My single biggest piece of advice is Youtube baby! Search for "how to hula hoop". Once you've got the basics down, try searching for "hoop dance tutorial". You can thank me later :)
My favorite YouTube hoopers in no particular order;
http://www.youtube.com/user/seer5
http://www.youtube.com/user/babzrobinson
http://www.youtube.com/user/Groovinmegzz
http://www.youtube.com/user/ShpongledHoops
7)What are a few awesome tricks that you've learned?
I love the three beat weave, and threading the needle. Both are done with two hoops, large or small. They look so fancy, people are super impressed by them, and they're pretty easy. (Ok, so the three beat weave took me about three days to master... but it was so worth it.)
8) Contact information for people who wanna buy hoops from you guys?
Mad Hatter Hoops World Domination Headquarters is located in sunny (HA!) Portland, OR. We can be reached at 503-774-0512 or email us at [email protected]
9) What are your cats' names, and which one do you love the most?
I have two kittens, Biz Markie and Zed. And while I love them both, Biz is my homie. And Naudia has two step cats, Marbles (a.k.a chubs) and Bruce. She never liked cats until she meet Bruce… He really has softened that bitch up!
This would be day 4. Besides the momentary discomfort that occurs when I realize that I cannot post my current status or location to my 200-odd friends at any given moment, I am also struck by friends’ reactions. In real life, not via Facebook. “You deleted Facebook?” “Yes.” “Why would you do that?” “Because I spend too much time on it and it’s slowly eating away at my soul and free time.” “Well, there’s nothing wrong with that.” Really? Because something in me believes there’s something wrong with that. I spent a good amount of time reading as I was growing up and now that same amount of time is spent checking status updates, commenting on them, liking them, always putting a “may attend” on posted events(fear of commitment, you know how it is), etc. Also, this feeling of discomfort is interesting on a couple levels. The first being that I am a psychology major. It’s interesting how technology displayed through social networking sites, or lack thereof, influences culture. This is a bit more sociology-oriented, so let me put the blanket of “social sciences” on it before any of you hipster assholes decide to start splitting hairs. For thousands of years, man was content without electricity, computers, the internet, cellular devices, etc. Something in me believes they didn’t walk through their days feeling as if they were missing something large. They didn’t feel the need to update their status, hell they didn’t even know what a status was and they got on perfectly fine. So, currently, a person decides to live without social networking sites for a month and they are feeling generally uncomfortable. What is the impact on the culture of developed societies that creates a feeling of discomfort when presented with the idea of limiting technology usage for a set amount of time? I studied abroad for 2 months a couple years ago and wasn’t able to use my cell phone there(thanks, Cricket). None of us could use our phones, actually. The general response in that venture proves to me that I’m not alone. Everyone was so uncomfortable the majority of them purchased the kind of phone that you reload with minutes in a cell phone store. I was in the minority of people who didn’t because I couldn’t afford it. In that experience, the feeling of discomfort passed and I used a phone no more than 3 times in the entire 2 months I was there. I used internet in cafes, and not too frequently at that. So, given time, the discomfort that comes with withdrawal from technology passes. I became a person who doesn’t watch TV, use the phone or own a computer and I was not only comfortable, but pretty damn peachy in my recollection. But why is that feeling there in the first place? This is where psychology comes in, because it’s not because I look around the bus and realize that I’m one of the few people not on FB that makes me feel off. My feeling of anxiety is completely unrelated to the people around me; there’s something in me that believes I’m missing something. What so-and-so’s animals are doing and where I am in the longest poking war I’ve ever been in do cross my mind. But am I really missing them? FB has become the substitute for shooting the shit, I believe. Why call or text someone about how/what you’re doing when you can broadcast it in less than 140 characters to almost everyone you know? See, when the option of broadcasting it disappears, that’s where it gets interesting. A few paragraphs ago in writing this, I went downstairs and made some eggs. Now these eggs were absolutely dank-tastic, I must say. Chopped onions, a little milk(I like those bitches fluffy), copious amounts of medium cheddar cheese and salsa picante(fluffy, cheesy and spicy, where can you go wrong?). While I was never the sort to post pictures of the food I’m eating, I felt something in me want to inform the people I know of my egg-making abilities. And the feeling of discomfort again at knowing for the next 26 days that I won’t. At some point in the explosion of technology that my generation is the target audience of, we went from using technology to being connected to it in a way that makes us dependent on it. Rather than being, oh say a puzzle or something else that fills time, technology and social networking have become things that, when taken away, has a noticeable psychological impact. Frustration at not having a cell phone or discomfort at being as connected to my friends as most of the world’s population is to their friends. What is the impact of technology, specifically portable technology, on the psyche of a person in a modernized setting? I’m talking laptops, cell phones, iPads, iPods, iPhones, etc. If there was no dependence on these items, then there wouldn’t be the presence of anxiety and assorted feelings that come with their absence. The idea of being unplugged from a site that isn’t exactly earthshattering in importance has made me into an anxious human being that is afraid of missing the status update or event invitation of a lifetime. What the fuck is this shit? What has technology done to people since its explosion? How have we changed as a result of having everything we want at our fingertips at any given time? Why can’t we be comfortable with a good book and some coffee? I know I used to be. In 26 days, I’ll tell the whole world why that’s no longer good enough for comfort.
-Melanie