The video we made to promote Drew's amazing Multiball Contact book.

In the latest round of exciting news, the Awesome George at homeofpoi.com ordered several boxes of my book, and they are available on homeofpoi.com as of now!

I wrote Emails from (Over?) the Edge before I got into poi, so it's not about poi. It's about life, and me, and some very special people and events that were worth writing about. The people who resonate with my sense of humor laugh a lot when they read it.

You can learn more about the book on the Nick's Book Page or on homeofpoi.com, where I'm sure many reviews will come piling in.

You can also read the first few chapters as a PDF

Many people asked for a tutorial on Isolations, and here it is. Pretty straight forwards once you get a sense for it... but yes, it can take a lot of practice to do it well :)

The videos are going to roll in for a while. Remember to send your requests soon, as Jocelyn goes home in two weeks!

A few nice clips from my recent workshop tour, covering some theory on rhythm, beats, and flowers. It was fun to use the flowlights in the workshops, so another thanks to Sean and Prisna. Remember that flowtoys.com: make great Christmas presents! (That's a poiticipation hint ;)

Hey, check it out, we finished our flowtoys.com: video. These are my favorite LED poi, produced by the amazing Sean and Prisna. (Yes, this is what we are using in most of those photos). This is exciting as they've signed me up as an affiliate member, so if you click through and buy something, I get a percentage, which puts me all the closer to getting my own video camera! Oh, and they are selling and wholesaling our DVDs in North America so it is overall very exciting :)

The flowlights were designed from scratch by Sean and Prisna and co. This took a lot of vision, time, money, and love. I'm quite inspired that people from my own circle of friends are doing this kind of production, and I am hoping that I can help rally the community behind them (which will be easy as long as they keep making the best toys.)

The flowlights replace the “streetlights” that used to go inside the flowtoys casings, but the flowlights are brighter, much more durable, and they have better strobing options, designed specifically for spinning.

They also have... removable/rechargeable batteries! In fact, they refuse to sell disposable batteries altogether. Each flowlight takes a single AAA battery, which means you can have extra batteries when you're at a festival. They're using some high-tech circuitry so the lights stay bright the whole charge.

They are sold with tube shells in various lengths, so you can have various lengths of poi, wands, staffs, etc. (We admit that we're looking forwards to Soft covers, which are coming in a few months.)

And the BONUS SURPRISE FEATURE: Flowlights make great handles!

Need I say more?

Firstly: If you go to the poi videos page you will find Under The Legs, 5-beat-weaves, and of course superduperuberlooping.

I write from Halifax, my home town. This is my first visit in two years and I'm awash with memories. I'm also awash with loot! My parents decided to be patrons of the arts and I have a new external hard drive and a better suitcase. That leaves a new laptop and a video camera as the remaining pieces of gear on my wish list :)

So very much has happened since I last wrote. Jocelyn and I flew to Play Festival in England at the end of July. We then spent a week visiting Cole and Lisa in London, during which time we filmed a couple of tutorial videos. Then we went to Poland for a fire festival, then to Austria to visit Andy and to film more tutorials, then to Switzerland to visit my friends Adrian and Naomi, and then to Cortona to an amazing science/spirituality convention, and then I flew home to Halifax and Jocelyn went back to Switzerland to work on the videos.

It's all been very... different than what I thought it would be. I imagined it would be easier to find time and locations to film the tutorials... but time is a funny thing and there were a lot of logistics to deal with. We definitely got some great material though, and we'll be rolling out new videos for the next few weeks.

On Sunday I go back to Germany. I'll be in Europe for about six-eight weeks and then I'll return to Bali for about six months. I am once again spreading word to see who wants to join for a winter of poi investigations. A few of my favorite spinners have once again decided to join me so here we go!

Regarding videos, we've finally begun to put up new tutorials! Go to the videos section and you'll already see three new videos from this summer, and many more will follow over the coming weeks. If you like what you see please do remember to spread the word :)

Peace and poi,

Nick

Some of my favorites from our recent Fire Photo Shoot in Bali.
Performers: Jean-Manuel Nadeau, Mia Watson, Jocelyn Taylor, and me.
Photos: Jean-Manuel Nadeau
If you like what you see, check out the complete set on flickr, and be sure to tag your favorites.

Maddi (Magie Alvarez Calleja), who lived and played with us for several months in Thailand this past winter, passed on last week in a suicide bombing in Yemen.

Maddi was very special to many people, and it was hard to accept that she died, especially in these circumstances. Few people who spill forth with life the way Maddi did. It was like her soul was always trying to fly from her body. She will be missed very much.

Life is fragile and unpredictable. We come and we go. It's all a little incomprehensible sometimes, and it's good that we have each other for the ride.

Jocelyn and I flew to Singapore for several days to get new Visas, to visit our friend Johari, and to make use of high-speed internet and telephones that work. Singapore is fun if you have a friend to show you around.

It's really great to have some collaboration. This is from our first playful photo shoot. I love the creative process, especially when I'd doing it with others :)

Lots more coming...

Synopsis: I have flown the lovely and talented Jocelyn to Bali to help me produce new poi DVDs and a whole lot of videos for the website. We'll be here until mid-August, brainstorming, writing, plotting, researching, filming, etc. Did you know that I wish to slowly become a cult-celebrity filmmaker? Well now you do. I tend to learn by doing, so here we go...

Synopsis: Bali is one of the world's best kept secrets. Don't tell anyone.

I love it here, except for the bad driving and bad internet, both of which are great for my emotional-control practices, so I love them too.

To make a long story short: Around 1500 years ago Hindu people from India decided that Bali, of all places, was a nice spot...

Uberevents.org is a new and very important website related to the spinning arts. Rob (Bluecat) Thorburn began this very Uber series of spinning events a few years back when he organized the hugely successful “Uberstaff“ in Scotland. The next year he organized “Uberpoi,“ which I attended. It was a monumental experience, in terms of spinning, friend making, and evolving as a person. I also went to UberOz (Brisbane, Febuary 2006) and UberEurope (Vienna, August 2006). I will sadly not make the next event: UberPARIS, which takes place June 15-17th. There might only be a few spaces available, and if I were you, I would go.

MultiBall Contact is about ball manipulation, not poi swinging. It is written by Drew Batchelor of ministryofmanipulation.com, who is a) one of the smartest people I have ever met and b) a pillar in the juggling and spinning communities.

You should go out and buy this book, because you will be smarter and sexier and better at anything you choose to do with your life after reading it. Enough said? I'm glad we had this talk.

About two weeks ago, the Amazing MK (Marykristn) invited me to join her on a trip to Nai Soi, a refugee village near the border of Burma, inhabited by Long Neck Karen Hill Tribe members, who have left Burma in fear of their lives.