PA Renaissance Faire - The Mud Squad

Another one of our favorite acts from the Pennsylvania Renaissance Faire is The Mud Squad.  Unfortunately, I don't have a ton of pictures of their show. You can see more pictures of them on their Facebook page. 

The Mud Squad is a trio of comedians. The current line-up features Ploppy (who is in the picture above), Snarfy, and Oozie. (A previous version of the line-up featured Skeeter. However, Skeeter is now performing in Orlando so Oozie returned to the PA Ren Faire.) Every Faire day, the three mud-covered goofballs perform three different shows. I'm not sure if the shows are different every year but this year's shows are Mudpit of the Ape, Rumpelstiltskin, and Ploppy's Hot Date. The show we saw this past weekend was Mudpit of the Ape.

As you can see from the picture above, it is difficult to get a good picture of the mudpit when there is an audience. The mudpit is at the bottom of a slight slope, which makes it a little difficult to see what is going on when the actors are actually in the mud. In the background, the little hut is where the actors put on costumes and hide their props. The hut is raised off the ground a bit, making that the best place to see the actors in action. Unfortunately, they spend most of their time in front of the mudpit. You could move down to the front rows of the audience, if you don't mind getting splashed with mud occasionally. 

The three shows are quite funny. In Mudpit of the Ape, Snarfy is telling the story of his summer vacation. He went to a tropical island where he met a beautiful island woman, played by Ploppy. This woman is also the only virgin on the island. Unfortunately, her people are being plagued by a large monkey, played by Oozie. Snarfy fights the monkey and ends up face-down in the mud pit. The monkey kidnaps the island woman, prompting Snarfy to save her. Of course, the day is saved....only after they all end up in the mud. It is a mud show, after all!

If you find yourself with nothing to do a 12, 2, or 4 and you are at the Ren Faire, head on over to the mud pit. If you prefer the risque type of humor, Ploppy also performs an adult-oriented show with Looney Lucy. People with kids should stick with The Mud Squad instead. It is (slightly) dirty fun for the whole family!

PA Renaissance Faire - Circus Stella

Circus Stella is one of those acts that has managed to fly under our Renaissance Faire radar. While we were told that we had to check them out, their shows were always scheduled against other shows we wanted to see. This past weekend, we decided to skip one of Fool Hearty's shows in order to catch Circus Stella. I am so glad we did.

Circus Stella is another husband and wife act. Dextre Tripp handles the juggling, ladder balancing, and rope walking portions of the show. Jayna Lee, on the other hand, does the prettier parts. She does aerial stunts with both the trapeze and aerial silks. On top of that, their rescue dogs are part of the show too! (They actually named their show after one of the dogs, Stella.) 

In Dextre's parts of the show, he does a lot of crowd-work. In the show we watched, he had two children from the audience help him. One climbed up a ladder Dextre was balancing in order to bring him a dropped hat. The other, as you can see in the picture, sat on his shoulders while he rode a unicycle across the stage. Those kids were super brave. I don't know that I would have the guts to do either of those. 

We did get to see one of the best parts of Dextre's on-stage presence. He originally brought a different girl onto the stage for the unicycle bit. However, once she got on his shoulders, she freaked out a little. Instead of abandoning the bit, he simply put Girl #1 down, thanked her, and chose a different girl. I appreciated Dextre's concern for the girl and his willingness to continue the show. 

First off, I'd like to say that I wish I had better pictures of Jayna's act. My husband's camera didn't want to give her any love that day. Jayna started out on a trapeze, which was lovely, but my favorite part was the aerial silk. She looked so beautiful and so elegant with them. Even if you don't see them for the other parts (which you should), definitely check them out for Jayna's silk routine. Just gorgeous.

Then there are the dogs. The dog part of the show was very funny. I think we saw three dogs on Saturday. I'm not positive. I was too busy having a good time to count them. Anyway, some of the dogs did their own "tightrope walking" over some wooden boards. In this picture, you can see Stella doing her trick with Adrian. First Stella jumps over Adrian, then she crawls underneath. It is quite funny to see in person. 

When we were at the Faire on Saturday, the weather was not completely cooperative. There were wind gusts and some spitting rain throughout the day. Circus Stella changed their act around a little bit to accommodate the weather so some things were a little off but, honestly, I wouldn't have noticed if they hadn't said something about it during the show. If you get a chance to see them perform, check them out. You will not regret it. I even purchased a DVD so I can watch them in the off-season!

PA Renaissance Faire - Fool Hearty

As I have said a number of times, my family spends a lot of time at the Pennsylvania Renaissance Faire. While we didn't attend as frequently this year as we have in the past, we did see some new shows and meet some new friends. Every day this week, I will be featuring some of our favorite acts from the PA Ren Faire. The Faire ends next weekend but it is possible that you could see some of these acts are other Renaissance fairs or festivals. 

First up, Fool Hearty! 

foolhearty.jpg

Fool Hearty is a husband and wife duo. As Marquise and Ima Nutte, they perform three different shows every day. There is a magic show, Fool School, and an untrained dog show. In addition, Marquise leads many of the parades that take place during the day. When they are not on stage performing, they are wandering around the Shire making everyone around them smile.

The Fool Hearty magic show is best for smaller children. Marquise handles most of the magic tricks while Ima Nutte plays his beautiful assistant. During the show, they bring two children (usually one boy and one girl) on stage as helpers. The boy helps during the rope trick and the girl helps during the paper trick. Even though I have seen their magic show dozens of times, I still can't figure out how they do it. 

Fool School is where the families get to make fun of Daddy. Ima picks a man out of the audience for them to turn into a fool. The audience member gets a new costume and a new name. Then there is some juggling and some pictures and a graduation ceremony. Trust me when I say that this is a funny show, especially when the new fool jokes back with Marquise and Ima. 

Fool Hearty's big show of the day is the Untrained Dog Show. The couple owns four dogs total but only two of the border collies are currently in the act. Originally, the main star was Blockhead, who definitely knew how to work the crows. However, he has recently retired. In his place, both Polka Dot and Wing Nutte have stepped up their games. This is, most definitely, my favorite show at the Ren Faire. I highly recommend that you check it out, if you can. 

No matter how often you see a Fool Hearty show, you always walk away with a smile on your face. Not only are Marquise and Ima very funny people, they are also very approachable and friendly. If you see them walking around, please say hello or give them a hug. They love you as much as you love them. 

How to Begin Blogging

I have seen a lot of people talking about wanting to start a blog but having no idea where to start. I have been blogging on various platforms since 2002 so I thought I would give a few tips on how to start and where to find things to write about. Even though I have been blogging for so long, I am, by no means, an expert. There is no One True Method to blogging. Please take these tips and change them around to fit your particular style. 

Where To Host Your Blog

A lot of people start blogging on either Wordpress.com or Blogger. Both of these are great places to start blogging for free. However, if you are looking to make money with your blog, you will, at minimum, need to register a custom domain name. Many pay-to-blog sites will not accept blogs with wordpress.com or blogspot.com subdomain names. 

If you are willing to spend a little more money, you can purchase hosting services for your blog. For many years, the previous version of this blog - The Geek Within - was hosted on GoDaddy servers and used Wordpress as the blog software. When I decided to change my blog into a fully formed website, I moved over to Squarespace. They use their own blog software, which has taken some time to get used to, but I am able to do so much more with my site now. 

 

These are just a few of the most popular options out there. If you are not satisfied with these, there are some other options. Do a Google search for "blog software" and see if any of those tickle your fancy. 

What To Call Your Blog

In my opinion, this is always the most difficult part of the process. When I was using Blogger or LiveJournal or Vox (which no longer exists), the URL was always my name (cassandramorgan) but the title would change depending on how I felt that day. Sometimes it was a song lyric, sometimes it was just my name again...there was no consistency. When I registered the domain for The Geek Within, I had decided that I was mostly going to talk about "geeky" things like Japanese dramas or video games or nerdy television shows. However, after seven years of the name, I felt like it was too constricting for me. I wanted to write about other things that wouldn't necessarily fall into the "geek" realm. That is why I made the big domain change this year.

So. You want to make sure your blog title is descriptive of what you do. (Yes, I know Cassandra Morgan is not particularly descriptive. I intentionally made that decision.) BUT. You don't want to make it too limiting either. If you call your blog "Fox TV Shows," what will happen in a few years when you want to write about shows on other channels? Perhaps a better title would be "24/7 TV" or "The Television Guru." Be creative!

How To Find Topics

If you have found a title that you love and a subject that you are dying to discuss, topics should come fairly easily. Write about the things you know! When you get stuck (and there will always be a day or two when your writing muse has decided to take a nap), you can turn to sites like 30 Days of Lists or Pinterest for ideas. Google is your friend. Do a little bit of searching and I'm sure a topic in your particular niche will pop up. Don't be afraid to write a "fluff" article once in awhile. No one is expecting you to write prize-winning blog posts every day of the year. That said, try your best to stick with your genre. If you are writing a celebrity gossip blog, you might lose readers if you start writing about the hottest cars of the year. 

Blogging really needs to be something that comes from the heart. You shouldn't blog because you want to make tons of money or get free products or anything like that. I have found that if you write like you are talking to your friends, people are not only more likely to return to your site, they will also recommend it to their friends. 

Are there other things you want to know about the world of blogging? Leave me a comment and I will try my best to answer all your questions. 

 

 

UNi 100% Rosehip Seed Oil

This may be a little TMI but I'm going to say it anyway. I have stretch marks. Most of my stretch marks are on my abdomen from my pregnancy a million years ago. (OK, it was 12 but it feels like a million.) Since they are kinda gross, I try my best not to look at them. But it would be nice to get rid of them.

I saw that this Rosehip Seed Oil stuff might lighten the stretch marks a bit and I figured I'd give it a try. At worst, it won't do anything. However, it just make might the marks less noticeable, which would be awesome.

The instructions are pretty easy. Put about three drops in your hand, rub your hands together, and smear the stuff on the affected area. I tried three drops at first but it didn't feel like that was nearly enough oil to cover my stomach. I upped it to six drops instead. That seemed to cover my skin a lot better.

So, after my morning shower, I would apply some rosehip seed oil to my stomach and let it dry a bit before getting dressed. Now, it's possible that I am imagining it but, after about a week, I did notice that my stretch marks were fading a little. They were still there. They just weren't as obvious. I have to say that I was very surprised at the results. I don't think that the oil will get rid of the marks totally. But it is nice that they don't stand out quite as much anymore.

I received one or more of the products mentioned above for free using Tomoson.com. Regardless, I only recommend products or services I use personally and believe will be good for my readers.


Podcasts I Love

Since I have a one-hour commute each way to work, I use that time to listen to podcasts. Generally, I listen to them on my way to work because morning radio is terrible. The radio isn't so bad in the afternoon or evening. I only have six podcasts that I am currently flipping between. Please feel free to suggest some new ones!

  1. Ear Biscuits - Rhett & Link have a morning show on YouTube that is really funny. They also create hysterical songs. In 2013, they started their podcast. They basically interview other YouTubers to find out how they got their start. Ear Biscuits is what inspired me to start my own YouTube channel.
  2. WTF With Marc Maron - I came upon this one quite accidentally. I think he was on another podcast or something and he sounded very thoughtful so I decided to check out his podcast. He has some amazing conversations with some awesome people.
  3. girl on guy - I have a bit of a girl crush on Aisha Tyler. She is funny and gorgeous and nerdy and all those things I wish I was. Girl on guy is basically Aisha geeking out with people. I like it.
  4. Not Too Deep with Grace Helbig - I'm not a huge fan of Grace on YouTube. I do subscribe to her channel but I rarely watch any of the videos. Not Too Deep is a podcast/YouTube hybrid. She has silly conversations with YouTubers on the podcast then she makes them do some sort of goofy challenge on her YouTube channel. I like the challenges better than the conversation.
  5. Bizarre States - My husband is a Jessica Chobot fan. As a result, I watch a lot of Nerdist News. I don't even know what made me check this out but it is all about ghosts and aliens and supernatural things. Even if you don't believe in this stuff, it is interesting to hear what other people think about it. 
  6. The Nerdist - This is another one that I got dragged into somehow. I think Chris Hardwick was talking to someone I like and I wanted to hear that conversation. I don't listen to every single Nerdist podcast. I only tune in when the guest is someone I am interested in. 

And that is it. Those six are currently the only podcasts I am flipping through. Let me know if you have any podcasts you'd recommend. I have a lot of drive time and not a lot to listen to.

This also ends the 30 Days of Lists. I hope you enjoyed the lists and I hope they made you think about a few things yourself. Now it is time to actually welcome October and the inevitable oncoming of fall. Come back summer!

I Am Thankful For

Including this post, I have two more 30 Days of Lists prompts left to finish. I am doing these last two out of order because I really want to save the other prompt until the end. You won't regret it. It's a good one and I have a lot to say about it. Onto today's prompt!

  1. I am thankful for my family. My husband is a great guy who always try to help others when he can. My daughter is an amazing kid and I have no idea how she turned out that way. The rest of my family have always been very supportive of everything I have done, even when I have done idiotically stupid things. It's nice to know that someone will have your back when you (inevitably) screw up.
  2. I am thankful that my husband and I have finally gotten out of the living paycheck-to-paycheck lifestyle. We did that for a very long time and, while we aren't rich by far, we are at least comfortable. 
  3. I am thankful for my writing skills. They aren't paying the bills yet but they do give me some extra cash. That alone lets me do a few things that otherwise would not be possible. 

I am sure there are many more things I could put on the list. After all, we live in a nice community, both my husband and I are employed full-time, and we have our health. These are all things that most people take for granted. However, they tend to end up on lists like this a lot. I am thankful for those things but I wanted to show some of the other things I am thankful for as well.