by Crazy Ivan
I write this blog for a couple of reasons. I write to strengthen the Myachi community, I write to share some of the more heart warming elements of my job, I write to keep everyone abreast of the goings-on in the Myachi universe and I write because I simply enjoy writing. I don't have much in the way of qualifications as a blogger, but as a Myachi blogger, I like to think that I bring some pretty impressive credentials to the table. I've been with the company for 8 years, I've donned virtually every job title you can imagine and at both work and home I'm constantly surrounded by the core of the movement.
But even I need help now and again. Despite being so optimally placed to know what's going on in the Myachi world, I occasionally miss some of the big stuff. But that's okay. I've got a pretty impressive army of knowledgeable Myachi Maniacs to keep me informed.
One such slip was discovered when I hopped on the forum this morning. Draco had pointed out that there were some changes to the Myachi home page. Nothing major, mind you. The scrolling Myachis at the bottom have been temporarily supplanted by a note about our upcoming tournament (more on that tomorrow) and the links along the top of the page have changed a bit.
But that last bit is the important bit. Much of it was just a reshuffling to make things make more sense to the first time visitor. A lot of the stuff was consolidated under common headings so there aren't so many options. But there's also a new section titled "Think" along the top with two links that weren't on the homepage before. One is to the Myachi forum and the other is to this blog.
The link to the forum is critical. Since we updated the site and there hasn't been a direct line for new jammers to find it, the forum has gotten fewer and fewer new members. Most of the members now are coming from friends of other established players or small groups from one area or school all joining at the same time. Bringing in more eyeballs to the forum is huge and it should make a noticeable difference on the activity there (which is at near record levels despite the lack of an easy link).
As for the link to the blog, well... it should be obvious that I'm pretty stoked about that. The comments section is radically underused as it is so we'll always welcome more eyeballs here.
And remember, if there's ever something that I've missed; a cool Myachi You-Tube video, for example, or maybe a new fan site that somebody built; don't hesitate to shoot me an email. Even if you just have a question that you'd like to see addressed on the blog, shoot me a line at crazyivan@myachi.com and let me know. I'm always looking for new topics and I'm human... I miss a lot.
Monday, September 5, 2011
Word Search Winner!
by Crazy Ivan
First of all, let me just say sorry that it took so long to get this announcement up. I meant to put it up Saturday evening at 8, but I'd forgotten that this was Kore's last weekend in the city before he went home to Florida once more. I wound up out with him, Pinky and his girlfriend until late Saturday. Then, to no great surprise, I had trouble with my email yesterday and couldn't check it until I got into the office today.
We wound up with a bunch of last minute entries and we almost had a surprise winner sneak in at the last minute, but in the end the person who has been leading the pack pretty much the whole time won. He did it pretty clever, too, managing to find exactly one more trick in the puzzle than I intentionally put there. More on that in a second, but by popular request, here's a list of all the words in the puzzle. Below that (Spoiler Alert!) is a pretty shoddy picture that shows where all those various words are:
See, one of the guys actually found a trick in there that I missed. The trick "Raven" contains the word "Rave", which is also a trick, of course. Only one of the three noticed that and managed to get a word ahead of everyone else. And thus our winner (by a nose) cemented his victory.
I don't want to announce his name because all I have is his real name and I'm not 100% sure what his name is on the forum (I'm 99.6% sure but I don't want to get it wrong and then horribly disappoint the person I thought it was by not giving them a Dodge), but I can say that his initials are JR.
So congrats on the last minute win. I'll email you with instructions on how to claim your prize and everything. For those that are curious, the solution to the puzzle is below. To be honest, it's probably just as confusing as just trying to find the answers in the puzzle, if not more so, but it seemed only fair to present it now that the contest is over:
Hope you all enjoyed the contest. I'm guessing from the overwhelming response that many of you did. So keep an eye on the blog. I'll be announcing the next giveaway soon so if you didn't win this time, don't worry, there'll always be another chance coming.
First of all, let me just say sorry that it took so long to get this announcement up. I meant to put it up Saturday evening at 8, but I'd forgotten that this was Kore's last weekend in the city before he went home to Florida once more. I wound up out with him, Pinky and his girlfriend until late Saturday. Then, to no great surprise, I had trouble with my email yesterday and couldn't check it until I got into the office today.
We wound up with a bunch of last minute entries and we almost had a surprise winner sneak in at the last minute, but in the end the person who has been leading the pack pretty much the whole time won. He did it pretty clever, too, managing to find exactly one more trick in the puzzle than I intentionally put there. More on that in a second, but by popular request, here's a list of all the words in the puzzle. Below that (Spoiler Alert!) is a pretty shoddy picture that shows where all those various words are:
- Aqueduct
- Armageddon
- Atlas
- A-Train
- Backoline
- Bandit
- Batman
- Behind the Back
- Bodyguard
- Brainfreeze
- Brontosaurus
- Brooksie
- Bruce Lee
- Butterfly
- Casper
- Cellphone
- Centrifuge
- Chicken Wing
- Clipper Delay
- Clipper Kick
- Cold Fusion
- Columns Juggle
- Cradle
- Crazy Ivan
- Crypto
- Cyclops
- Daredevil
- Darkslide
- Drop of Death
- Duck
- Electron
- Enigma
- Faceplant
- Flow
- Flying Clipper
- Flying Fish
- Gemini
- Gui
- Heart Beat
- Helix
- Hop Over
- Hulk
- Illusion
- Impossible
- Infusion
- In Spin
- In Wing
- Jedi
- Jim Carrey
- Jump Rope
- Lotus
- Mantis
- Matrix
- Mind Grind
- Mirage
- Mojo Rising
- Musketeer
- Neo
- Ninja
- Osis
- Pendulum
- Piano
- Pistons
- Popper
- Pteradon
- Punisher
- Raven
- Samurai
- Scorpion Strike
- Sidekick
- Slingshot
- Snake
- Sole Stall
- Spider Man
- Spidey Sense
- Split
- Standing Rock
- Step Over
- Stiff Arm
- Stutter
- Swordfish
- Tail Grab
- Tail Whip
- Thinker
- Toe Stall
- Trampoline
- Transformer
- T-Rex
- Tripod
- Tunnel
- Turbine
- Under the Leg
- Venus Fly Trap
- Vert
- Wave
- Wavy Gravy
- Wolverine
- Yoga
See, one of the guys actually found a trick in there that I missed. The trick "Raven" contains the word "Rave", which is also a trick, of course. Only one of the three noticed that and managed to get a word ahead of everyone else. And thus our winner (by a nose) cemented his victory.
I don't want to announce his name because all I have is his real name and I'm not 100% sure what his name is on the forum (I'm 99.6% sure but I don't want to get it wrong and then horribly disappoint the person I thought it was by not giving them a Dodge), but I can say that his initials are JR.
So congrats on the last minute win. I'll email you with instructions on how to claim your prize and everything. For those that are curious, the solution to the puzzle is below. To be honest, it's probably just as confusing as just trying to find the answers in the puzzle, if not more so, but it seemed only fair to present it now that the contest is over:
Friday, September 2, 2011
Tricktionary Update (Massive)
by Crazy Ivan
It was a big project, but I was convinced that I could do it inside a week. By Wednesday I started to think I'd bitten off more than I could chew and by Thursday I was starting to fear that it was a lost cause. But today I wipe the sweat from my brow and sit back in the calm rapture of accomplishment.
When I first started this blog, I intended to add new tricks to the Tricktionary every week. I figured that even a couple new moves a week would quickly start to add up and soon we would have a monstrous appendix of moves that would take days to dig all the way through. Like many grand plans, it started to sputter after a few weeks.
Some weeks I would add 5 or 6 tricks. Some weeks I would add only 1 or 2 and on still other weeks it would slip my mind altogether. By the time I got to assessing my progress last weekend I realized that I'd fallen so far behind that it would take a Herculean effort just to get all the Trick of the Day moves added to the compendium.
So that's what I set out to do.
It was a pretty big job. More than a hundred moves had to be added to the Tricktionary, complete with descriptions and video links. Just figuring out which moves were and weren't already there took a few hours. Thanks to a couple of computer glitches, my first few attempts to start updating things got wiped out altogether and I quickly became frustrated with the effort.
But I didn't give up. I kept pecking away at it and by the time I got here this morning I was only 40 or so moves shy of completing the project. I'd already added all the names and video links, but the laborious part of the process was actually filling in the descriptions of the various moves. Each trick demanded between one and four paragraphs of text and some of the moves are kind of tricky to explain when you can't just say "do this" and demonstrate it.
Slowly but surely the project yielded to me and about 20 minutes ago I put the finishing touches on it. I was caught up with all the new tricks I'd added at the beginning of the week. Of course, since then I've added a few more Trick of the Days, but I'm not going to sweat that too much. I know that the Tricktionary isn't the kind of thing you ever "finish" exactly, but rather something that just keeps getting bigger and bigger. I've added 122 tricks in the last 10 days and I think that's a pretty healthy chunk.
Out of curiosity, after I finished, I copied and pasted the whole thing to a word document just to see how big the page had grown. It turns out that at a standard font the Tricktionary is now 58 pages long and contains 218 tricks and over 30,000 words. There are still 28 moves with no video links, but they are nearly all doubles or reverses of moves that do have video links. Still others are super basic moves (like the Reverse Slash) that would make for pretty hum-drum Trick of the Days.
Anyway, I'm sick and tired of typing at the moment and I'm fast running out of words so I better wrap this post up quick before I have to switch to another language or something. Hope you enjoy the new and constantly improved Tricktionary. It would be a darn shame to put so much effort into writing it if people weren't having fun reading it.
Incidentally, if you notice any errors or omissions, feel free to email me with them... just don't expect me to correct them right away.
It was a big project, but I was convinced that I could do it inside a week. By Wednesday I started to think I'd bitten off more than I could chew and by Thursday I was starting to fear that it was a lost cause. But today I wipe the sweat from my brow and sit back in the calm rapture of accomplishment.
When I first started this blog, I intended to add new tricks to the Tricktionary every week. I figured that even a couple new moves a week would quickly start to add up and soon we would have a monstrous appendix of moves that would take days to dig all the way through. Like many grand plans, it started to sputter after a few weeks.
Some weeks I would add 5 or 6 tricks. Some weeks I would add only 1 or 2 and on still other weeks it would slip my mind altogether. By the time I got to assessing my progress last weekend I realized that I'd fallen so far behind that it would take a Herculean effort just to get all the Trick of the Day moves added to the compendium.
So that's what I set out to do.
It was a pretty big job. More than a hundred moves had to be added to the Tricktionary, complete with descriptions and video links. Just figuring out which moves were and weren't already there took a few hours. Thanks to a couple of computer glitches, my first few attempts to start updating things got wiped out altogether and I quickly became frustrated with the effort.
But I didn't give up. I kept pecking away at it and by the time I got here this morning I was only 40 or so moves shy of completing the project. I'd already added all the names and video links, but the laborious part of the process was actually filling in the descriptions of the various moves. Each trick demanded between one and four paragraphs of text and some of the moves are kind of tricky to explain when you can't just say "do this" and demonstrate it.
Slowly but surely the project yielded to me and about 20 minutes ago I put the finishing touches on it. I was caught up with all the new tricks I'd added at the beginning of the week. Of course, since then I've added a few more Trick of the Days, but I'm not going to sweat that too much. I know that the Tricktionary isn't the kind of thing you ever "finish" exactly, but rather something that just keeps getting bigger and bigger. I've added 122 tricks in the last 10 days and I think that's a pretty healthy chunk.
Out of curiosity, after I finished, I copied and pasted the whole thing to a word document just to see how big the page had grown. It turns out that at a standard font the Tricktionary is now 58 pages long and contains 218 tricks and over 30,000 words. There are still 28 moves with no video links, but they are nearly all doubles or reverses of moves that do have video links. Still others are super basic moves (like the Reverse Slash) that would make for pretty hum-drum Trick of the Days.
Anyway, I'm sick and tired of typing at the moment and I'm fast running out of words so I better wrap this post up quick before I have to switch to another language or something. Hope you enjoy the new and constantly improved Tricktionary. It would be a darn shame to put so much effort into writing it if people weren't having fun reading it.
Incidentally, if you notice any errors or omissions, feel free to email me with them... just don't expect me to correct them right away.
Maverick; Renaissance Man
by Crazy Ivan
One of the things that makes our jobs fun as Myachi Masters is that you really never know what's around the corner. You might spend most of your days at FAO or at HQ or something, but once in a while a one of a kind assignment will land you in Australia or signing autographs next to Shaquille O'Neal.
One such unique assignment fell into Maverick's lap the other day. A friend of a friend who wants to help us promote the game found a great opportunity for us and called up the team to see if we could spare a guy to do a guest spot in a music video. They were filming the video in the city and wanted some people doing cool stuff in the background, and since Myachi definitely qualifies as "cool stuff", they wanted us there.
We bounced it around a bit and eventually decided to send Mav. He's got sick skills and the ladies can't get enough of him so we figured he'd be the right guy to represent Myachi in this venue. We got the time and the address and sent him on his way yesterday.
So as the time approaches, Mav longboards over from the store and pops in. The place is chaotic with a dozen people all doing different things at the same time so when he comes in, nobody knew right away what he was there for. The director glances over at him and sees the longboard. "The skateboard guy is here," he announces.
Before Mav can explain that he is, in fact, the Myachi guy, a stage hand pops up and directs him over to this small corner of the room. "This is your space here. Just do some cool stuff."
Well, Mav knew that this wasn't exactly why he was there, but he couldn't pass up on opportunity to do some cool stuff so he obliged. He did a few cross steps, a few crazy slides, a few ollie tricks and more or less exhausted his longboarding skills (or at least the parts of them that could be demonstrated in a small corner of a room). The cameraman nodded and gave an approving thumb up and the stage hand thanked him and made to send him on his way.
"But I'm here to Myachi," he explained.
The stage hand scratched his head. "What's Myachi?"
Maverick showed him the game and he just shrugged. "Don't know nothing about Myachi," he admitted and then got the director. "This guy's supposed to be here to Myachi... it's like a hacky sack for the hands."
The director was equally puzzled. He didn't know anything about it either so Mav quickly calls back to HQ. We give him the name of the guy who we'd talked to and, armed with that information, the film guys finally figured out who he was and why he was there. They penciled him in to go last among all the various skilled individuals that were there (including some street dancers, acrobats, etc.) so Mav killed time the way Myachi Masters kill time; he taught everyone there how to play Myachi.
Now, Myachi Mania is always fun. Get a big group excited about the game and then turn them loose learning tricks and you're in for a wild and crazy time. But this madness is increased exponentially if the people happen to be break dancers and folks who can fold in half backwards. Needless to say, it was evolved into an epic Myachi shred.
After a couple of hours they finally got Mav on film playing some Myachi (both with a Myachi and an iPod) and wowed the crowd with some of his patented foot tricks and juggles. By the end of it, even the director was getting Myachified. Mav gave a few Myachis away, directed a few folks on to the website and headed on his way to spread fun and joy elsewhere in our fair city.
Unfortunately, I'm not yet at liberty to give out details (like who the video was for) or anything, but I should be able to let everyone know in the near future. Not sure if the song will be any good, but thanks to Mav, I'm sure the video will be awesome.
One of the things that makes our jobs fun as Myachi Masters is that you really never know what's around the corner. You might spend most of your days at FAO or at HQ or something, but once in a while a one of a kind assignment will land you in Australia or signing autographs next to Shaquille O'Neal.
One such unique assignment fell into Maverick's lap the other day. A friend of a friend who wants to help us promote the game found a great opportunity for us and called up the team to see if we could spare a guy to do a guest spot in a music video. They were filming the video in the city and wanted some people doing cool stuff in the background, and since Myachi definitely qualifies as "cool stuff", they wanted us there.
We bounced it around a bit and eventually decided to send Mav. He's got sick skills and the ladies can't get enough of him so we figured he'd be the right guy to represent Myachi in this venue. We got the time and the address and sent him on his way yesterday.
So as the time approaches, Mav longboards over from the store and pops in. The place is chaotic with a dozen people all doing different things at the same time so when he comes in, nobody knew right away what he was there for. The director glances over at him and sees the longboard. "The skateboard guy is here," he announces.
Before Mav can explain that he is, in fact, the Myachi guy, a stage hand pops up and directs him over to this small corner of the room. "This is your space here. Just do some cool stuff."
Well, Mav knew that this wasn't exactly why he was there, but he couldn't pass up on opportunity to do some cool stuff so he obliged. He did a few cross steps, a few crazy slides, a few ollie tricks and more or less exhausted his longboarding skills (or at least the parts of them that could be demonstrated in a small corner of a room). The cameraman nodded and gave an approving thumb up and the stage hand thanked him and made to send him on his way.
"But I'm here to Myachi," he explained.
The stage hand scratched his head. "What's Myachi?"
Maverick showed him the game and he just shrugged. "Don't know nothing about Myachi," he admitted and then got the director. "This guy's supposed to be here to Myachi... it's like a hacky sack for the hands."
The director was equally puzzled. He didn't know anything about it either so Mav quickly calls back to HQ. We give him the name of the guy who we'd talked to and, armed with that information, the film guys finally figured out who he was and why he was there. They penciled him in to go last among all the various skilled individuals that were there (including some street dancers, acrobats, etc.) so Mav killed time the way Myachi Masters kill time; he taught everyone there how to play Myachi.
Now, Myachi Mania is always fun. Get a big group excited about the game and then turn them loose learning tricks and you're in for a wild and crazy time. But this madness is increased exponentially if the people happen to be break dancers and folks who can fold in half backwards. Needless to say, it was evolved into an epic Myachi shred.
After a couple of hours they finally got Mav on film playing some Myachi (both with a Myachi and an iPod) and wowed the crowd with some of his patented foot tricks and juggles. By the end of it, even the director was getting Myachified. Mav gave a few Myachis away, directed a few folks on to the website and headed on his way to spread fun and joy elsewhere in our fair city.
Unfortunately, I'm not yet at liberty to give out details (like who the video was for) or anything, but I should be able to let everyone know in the near future. Not sure if the song will be any good, but thanks to Mav, I'm sure the video will be awesome.
The Governor Grants You 20 Hours
by Crazy Ivan
I was so fired up when I posted this new contest. Thought it was a pretty fun idea and judging from the response so far I wasn't the only one. But more than that, I was fired up because I was finally back in NYC where I can properly monitor the contest, keep everybody updated, end it on schedule and send the prizes out on time.
The last thing I wanted to do was delay the end of the contest.
But then I started getting these requests. If it had just been one, perhaps I would've shrugged it off, but there were several. A lot of people just went back to school this week and with all the homework and afterschool practices (not to mention the hanging out with friends they haven't seen all summer), they've not had time to take a serious crack at the puzzle.
So I hesitantly grant them another 20 hours. Instead of announcing the winners and ending the contest at midnight tonight, I'll be doing it at 8 o'clock tomorrow night. That'll give everybody an extra morning, afternoon and evening to work on it.
I should mention, too, that though there have been a couple of people really duking it out on the contest, it is still definitely anybody's game. A lot of people have submitted lists, but so far nobody has found all the tricks.
So click here, print out the puzzle if you have to and get to work. The clock is ticking...
I was so fired up when I posted this new contest. Thought it was a pretty fun idea and judging from the response so far I wasn't the only one. But more than that, I was fired up because I was finally back in NYC where I can properly monitor the contest, keep everybody updated, end it on schedule and send the prizes out on time.
The last thing I wanted to do was delay the end of the contest.
But then I started getting these requests. If it had just been one, perhaps I would've shrugged it off, but there were several. A lot of people just went back to school this week and with all the homework and afterschool practices (not to mention the hanging out with friends they haven't seen all summer), they've not had time to take a serious crack at the puzzle.
So I hesitantly grant them another 20 hours. Instead of announcing the winners and ending the contest at midnight tonight, I'll be doing it at 8 o'clock tomorrow night. That'll give everybody an extra morning, afternoon and evening to work on it.
I should mention, too, that though there have been a couple of people really duking it out on the contest, it is still definitely anybody's game. A lot of people have submitted lists, but so far nobody has found all the tricks.
So click here, print out the puzzle if you have to and get to work. The clock is ticking...
Thursday, September 1, 2011
A Tournament Quiz
by Crazy Ivan
What with the upcoming Funky Monkey Myachi Tournament, I figured it would be a good time for something of a specialty quiz. I know it's about 24 hours late, but that's way better than 25 hours late. I'm still going to pat myself on the back.
What with the upcoming Funky Monkey Myachi Tournament, I figured it would be a good time for something of a specialty quiz. I know it's about 24 hours late, but that's way better than 25 hours late. I'm still going to pat myself on the back.
The Dark Side of Myachi
by Crazy Ivan
Far be it from me to tempt you toward the dark side, but there might be something pretty rewarding for you over there.
I've mentioned before on this blog that there's a great resource for additional Myachi give aways over on the Myachi forum. These aren't "officially sanctioned" Myachi contests, but rather they are contests that Myachi Maniacs and collectors sponsor using their own Myachis as prizes. There's usually something pretty cool going on there, but at the moment there's a contest that was so cool I felt like I had to share it.
Blue Samurai, long time Myachi fanatic and forum regular, came up with the idea and announced the contest a little while ago, but he's extending it while he awaits more entries. It's a video contest so you'll have to submit a shred video, but there's a twist. You've got to do it blind.
I could explain it further, but since it's Samurai's contest, I'll let him do the explaining. Here's what he had to say about it on the forum:
There's a flip side to that of course. Since it isn't an "officially sanctioned" Myachi contest, I can enter. I'll be putting together my entry video this weekend but don't let that dissuade you. If I win, I'll insist that my prize go to the next runner-up.
If you have any questions, you can direct them to Samurai via the Myachi Forum. Here's the thread where he announced the contest so just by reading through the responses to that you might find the answer to your question. Any unanswered queries can be posted there. And if you don't have an account on our forum and are unwilling/unable to set one up, let me know what you want to know and I'll pass it along.
Good luck!
Far be it from me to tempt you toward the dark side, but there might be something pretty rewarding for you over there.
I've mentioned before on this blog that there's a great resource for additional Myachi give aways over on the Myachi forum. These aren't "officially sanctioned" Myachi contests, but rather they are contests that Myachi Maniacs and collectors sponsor using their own Myachis as prizes. There's usually something pretty cool going on there, but at the moment there's a contest that was so cool I felt like I had to share it.
Blue Samurai, long time Myachi fanatic and forum regular, came up with the idea and announced the contest a little while ago, but he's extending it while he awaits more entries. It's a video contest so you'll have to submit a shred video, but there's a twist. You've got to do it blind.
I could explain it further, but since it's Samurai's contest, I'll let him do the explaining. Here's what he had to say about it on the forum:
Here's the Rules:
You must submit a jam session video..length is unimportant..video must not be edited, it has to be raw film straight to you tube. You can have as many submissions as you want, but separate videos per submission. You can only win in one category
Here's the Catch:
YOU MUST BE BLINDFOLDED! Use a very dark pillow case, black shirt, bandanna, or if you have sleep mask, that would be the best..you have to put it on in the start of the video get the blindfold on very tight(or have someone put it on for you, on the video..NO CHEATING!) and jam!
There will be FOUR Forum Sacks (MINT/DIAPER) Given out.So that everyone knows, I'll be posting the winning videos on the blog as well so I hope to see some sick entries. But I should make it really clear to everyone that I won't be picking the winner and neither will anyone else that works for Myachi. This is Samurai's contest so it will be up to him how the winner is chosen. I also won't be sending out the prizes. That's on Samurai as well. So if you win, please don't email me about your prize.
1 For Best Move
1 For Funniest (or a "Nice Try" award)
1 For Longest Jam Session without dropping
A MISMADE Forum Sack for Best In Show (could be any of the 3 winners..That will be voted on by Forum Leaders)
There's a flip side to that of course. Since it isn't an "officially sanctioned" Myachi contest, I can enter. I'll be putting together my entry video this weekend but don't let that dissuade you. If I win, I'll insist that my prize go to the next runner-up.
If you have any questions, you can direct them to Samurai via the Myachi Forum. Here's the thread where he announced the contest so just by reading through the responses to that you might find the answer to your question. Any unanswered queries can be posted there. And if you don't have an account on our forum and are unwilling/unable to set one up, let me know what you want to know and I'll pass it along.
Good luck!
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