On the same day as the previous picture (21st of May 2010), Irina shot a couple of videos. Still very happy with her chair, here we have Anna following in her mummy’s ways by sitting on a chair a little oddly. Quite quickly she then becomes more interested in the camera Ira is holding…
This second, slightly longer clip starts with Anna again being reminded of how to properly (and safely) sit on a chair (a prime case of “do what I say, not what I do!). You can just hear the squeak the chair produces at 13 seconds, but it took a few months for Anna to become bigger (and weigh more), before the noise production wasn’t so hit and miss. Anna then notices some rubbish on the floor, and decides to help tidy up. Rejecting the offer from Irina to take the rubbish and sort it later, she heads straight to where a rubbish bag is sat by the front door. However, by this time she has found a new treasure – a nappy bag also waiting to be thrown out. It is eventually agreed upon that this too is rubbish, and so Anna decides to investigate the camera one more 🙂
May 11 2011
From Chairs To Nappies
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May 06 2011
Chaser Becomes The Chasee(e?)
Arrrrgh. Someone remind to get back to tagging posts sometime soon. Please? Back down to about 25% of the posts with proper (checked, not just auto-generated) tags again! Anyway, the final post from the 15th of May 2010, again at Ali Ba Ba with DanC’s family and Walton. Can’t honestly remember right now if Assel managed to make it over, or if she was busy at work.
Anyway, looking back at this video now, it is really cute to see Anna tottering around, still not totally stable on her feet. At one point it looks as though Anna is attempting a game of Kiss-Chase with Aidan, which given his reputation with girls, is quite the turn around!
In case you’ve not been before, this video gives a small glimpse as to how Ali BaBa looks, though you’ll need to return to the previous post to get an idea of how the side tables look.
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May 05 2011
May Day Sandy
This Sunday was part of a long weekend here in Kazakhstan, as well as Britain, and the weather was still hanging on to promises of summer time (this week it has got a little chillier). So out into the back garden of the in-laws’ house we went, and Anna seemed to thoroughly enjoy relocating sand from her sandpit onto the play area, her clothes, I think possibly her mouth a few times even. As with all PockeTwit based video uploads, the resolution is restricted to a crippling low (which YT then expands to around 320×240), so I’ve manually squashed the YouTube embed into a smaller area. It worked fine in full size, but you had to squint hard to ignore the blockiness that occurred. You’ll also catch a glimpse of the new windmill thingy that we bought for Anna when out meeting Ben, Dan & Lara the night before in the park.
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Apr 20 2011
Windy Hat Removal
OK, I’ve found and properly named all the videos from the 8th of May 2010, as promised. We’re still in the back garden in Chubary, and Anna has her pretty rainbow coloured dress on. (I’m thinking by the time I catch up with all of Anna’s photos and videos, I may just be able to immediately call a dress a dress, and a skirt a skirt. Mental block I’ve always had for some reason!)
Recognizing which tree is called what. Better than her Daddy already 🙂 Also able to navigate large gaps between paving slabs (better than her Daddy after a few drinks). Not yet certain of what counts as edible fruit, and what is dead plant stuff on the floor (ha, I’m not obsolete just yet!)
Next we have Anna searching for something. Not sure if even she knows what she wants.
Stari babushka (“old” babushka, ie Ira’s grandma) pointing out that Anna’s hat is no longer on her head…
Apr 19 2011
Birthday Meal Contd. – Videos
As promised, I’ve got around to tracking down the videos from my YouTube account (I uploaded them all months ago, but didn’t change the title or description, meaning we had such wonderfully useful info as MOV0684.MPG present) from Korean man’s birthday party last year. The date continued to be the 6th of May 2010 🙂
Irina and Anna dancing. Followed by me being told to get back to our table and stop recording everything.
Here we have Babushka and Anna (in the garden area outside the Attila restaurant) telling Dedushka to get up as she wants to walk somewhere. Korean man also makes an appearance on the right hand side of the frame. Anna then decides that Baba should in fact carry her somewhere, but seems to get a negative response. Looking at her (Anna 🙂 ) walking in this video makes me smile, as we thought at the time she was so stable and grown up already. Compared to how she is now, it just doesn’t seem possible that the changes occurred in less than a year!
Friends of the birthday boy take to the dancefloor. I’m nowhere to be found as the BPM needs to be a tad higher (as does my BAC) before I forget that rhythm and movement aren’t friendly enough to sync up with my body…
A similar video here, but given the extra oomph one person is putting into the dancing, I’m guessing this was from a little later in the evening after a couple of toasts and shots 🙂
A saxophonist appears, and I’m guessing the first tune was a local favourite, as couples descended to the dancefloor with remarkable speed! Babushka, Dedushka and Anna all dance together.
Saxophonist continues to play (slightly hidden by a pillar) and people continue to dance… You can also see Anna’s balloon which at one point escaped to the very, very high ceiling. A kind man rescued it before Anna’s face became too disappointed 🙂
A-ha, speak of the devil, and he appears in the next video, with the saxophone still playing in the background…
A local Korean cultural centre kindly attended and performed for us, and whilst their performances may not have been as mm perfect as “professional” dancers, you could see the enjoyment they experienced from dancing in the way of the old country, and everyone seemed to enjoy watching them. Hmm, apart from one person who’ll remain nameless who doesn’t seem to be too bothered.
Finally, although it is short and the light had already gone (so the video isn’t very visual…), I’m not sure if I’ve ever managed to catch this folk(?) song being sung previously, so here we have it towards the end of the night, when people had begun to filter outside for a lovely sashliq.
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Apr 18 2011
Tricks And Tracks
On a slightly lighter note, here we have “A Normal Day”. Skill definitely required for this video, however patience seems to be a more important virtue, as the amount of takes required to get some of the tricks right would have pushed the patience of a saint!
I’m still looking for an online source for the music used – Speakerbox – I Like That. Actually, if you have the time, I’d recommend visiting the team’s site here. The compilation video above is a little more fast paced, but their choice of music doesn’t fail to impress.
Then we have a forest based Xylophone. Yes, it is an advert, but you can always just ignore the last few seconds of it.
Apr 18 2011
Freerunning Tubes With A Compressed Godfather
Freerunning Academy – love the camerawork, the freerunning (obviously), but pretty near the top is the music. Check the YT page for a link to download it. There was a time when running up a wall and bouncing over was something fun to do, right now I just look and think how many sprained ankles/fag breaks I’d need 🙂 News to come on that front in the future…
Tube instrument medley. Guy builds (another) instrument from PVC tubes and whacks them with a paddle (a la Blue Man Group). Obviously the creation is carefully planned to ensure all notes are available. Worth watching through, as you might not recognise a few of the tracks, but he covers a few genres, and the ending is equally impressive.
The Godfather movie in one minute, in one take!
Apr 18 2011
Finger Picking And Richard Simmons
OK, so apparently I’m a little behind the rest of the internet in discovering this video (thanks to 9gag’s RSS feed for the heads up), but like the 12 year old Lady Gaga covering pianist, or the Kazakh song Yellow Steppe, sometimes I can’t help but put a video on this blog for your viewing and/or listening pleasure…
Trance played on an acoustic guitar (OK, so it obviously seems like there is a pedal involved, but you know what I mean) sounds like a pretty funky concept in isolation. Check out the video to see how cool it is. No idea about the Mortal Kombat outfit he is wearing, I’m intending to check out his other videos and site later…
Richard Simmons does a flight safety video for Air New Zealand. Whether you personally like the man and his approach to getting fit, I guarantee you would at least pay a little more attention to the safety messages the first time this clip came up on the screen in front of you!
[edit]
Re. Ewan Dobson’s Raiden outfit in the first video here – it seems to be a running theme in his clips. Check here for a YouTube playlist of some his other tracks. It looks as though they may be part of a guitar teaching method? Finally, check out his page here to buy an album or guitar tab thingies.
Apr 16 2011
Gadget Girl!
The 4th of May 2010 saw Anna get up, have some breakfast, and want her Spot the Dog DVD on. When this request wasn’t met, she climbs up on the sofa. Looking back, she may have been attempting to say Dee-Dee, which is how she currently asks for a Dee-Vee-Dee to be put on. She opens the case. Giving up on Daddy helping, so returns to the DVD player to sort it herself. Anna lowers herself to the ground, and she knows which button ejects the DVD drawer!
Karra then overcomes her natural cautiousness around Anna as an eject mechanism has been activated, and therefore the hunt is afoot! Once Anna figures out the AV Input select procedure on our TV (she already knows how standby works), we’re going to have a lot more battles on our hands when it comes to how much DVD watching is too much!
Post-nappy change, we have Anna attempting to explain to me exactly what is required vis a vis a DVD should be put on… Shifting her attention to her MP3 player, which clumsy Daddy then drops near her foot. A new target is found, namely her water bottle, closely followed by my old mobile phone. Eventually Anna settles on some keys.
Apr 15 2011
Checking Out Chairs And Grapes
Anna in the Chubary house’s back garden, investigating some chairs and her noisy bird. This was recorded on the 25th of April 2010.
A few moments after the previous clip, here we have Anna, Irina, Natalya & Babushka all together.
Finally we have one of the first recorded instances of lollyollylolly (which happens to mean grape(s) in Anna’s language) on video. This was recorded a little later, on the 3rd of May 2010. I’ve been meaning to mention on this site for a while now, in the last month or so, Anna’s vocabulary has pretty much exponentially grown. Granted, a lot of the words are “just” her best effort at impersonating the sounds, but when she understands that she is close to the correct word, she seems happy to repeat it, and this certainly makes communicating with her a lot easier.
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