Ask MetaFilter posts tagged with performance

What would be a reasonable web-server performance in requests/sec?

artie — Fri, 29 Aug 2008 11:10:23 -0800

I'm running a series of load-tests against my wordpress (WAMP) blog with the apache-benchmark tool. The server is a dedicated server with 2 dual-core xeon procs. and 2gb RAM running the blog only and nothing else. I'm getting 4-5 requests/sec on average. Is this normal? What would be a reasonable performance in requests/sec? Thanks!

National Steel

chuckdarwin — Fri, 22 Aug 2008 12:51:20 -0800

What is the best method of "mic"ing a single-cone National steel guitar for live work? We tried two condenser mics, but it was kind of boomy. Is the Sure Beta 57A a better option? What about a Rode NT5? Do we need two mics for it? TIA.

I've Seen Fire And I've Seen Rain

nomisxid — Mon, 18 Aug 2008 10:02:32 -0800

Name that DVD: A requiem performance, a burnt-out building, and footage of the fire that gutted the building. I'm pretty sure I rented it from netflix at some point years ago. I THINK it was a production of mozart's requiem, but it might have been some other classical, mostly choral, work. The performance took place in the remains of a burnt-out building, I think an eastern european national library. There was some amazing footage of the fire that destroyed the building, taken inside while the books are all burning around the cameraman.

What gamelan group played with Terry Riley?

gnossos — Wed, 06 Aug 2008 09:08:10 -0800

What gamelan group played before Terry Riley at a Santa Clara University performance in the late 70's? I attended a concert at Santa Clara U between 1975 and 1980 where Terry Riley performed "Rainbow in Curved Air." There was a gamelan group that performed first, but I cannot remember who they were.

Who were they?

When and/or how do I ask for feedback at work?

Anonymous — Tue, 05 Aug 2008 19:35:43 -0800

Have you initiated asking your boss for feedback on your job? When is the time to do it, and how's it done? I have recently transitioned from lab-bench academia to administrative-ish-but-we're-all-still-geeks academia. In graduate school I always had problems knowing if I was doing well, doing enough work or producing enough data, especially with a lab adviser who rarely gave regular feedback on my progress. Therefore, I definitely would like to generate regular feedback from my current, new supervisor. I do worry about sounding somewhat "needy" however, or begging for compliments (I have a sneaking suspicion I am prone to such behaviours.) So how does one go about initiating asking for feedback, if at all?

They slammed me and then gave me a raise.

Anonymous — Mon, 04 Aug 2008 19:18:20 -0800

PerformanceReviewFilter: I got a less than sterling review at work, but I still got a 10% raise. What gives? I just had my 6 month review and it was painful. Granted, this is the first review I've ever had, but it hurt.

I work as an attorney at a small firm. My bosses brought me in there and basically pointed out everything I've been doing wrong so far. They both asked me questions and I simply froze up on some of them. I felt really embarrassed and they had very little that was good to say. Still, I got a pay increase of 10%.

Then, this morning, my new supervisor said that one of the bosses feels that I'm not coming along as quickly as he'd hoped I would. She said that my job was not in jeopardy, but I'm freaking out.

Should I start preparing my resume, or does this sound like honest criticism and an interest in seeing me improve?

If you need more details or want to e-mail, please e-mail worriedatwork at gmail dot com.

Creating an Artistic Persona

divabat — Mon, 04 Aug 2008 04:32:03 -0800

followup to this question: how does one create and develop a persona? I'm referring to artistic/entertainment personas, such as Borat and Ali G - where performers actually take on a whole new personality as part of their work.

How are such personas developed? Are they carefully planned out, or do they organically develop? How much of the persona is developed before being performed (for example, does Borat have a detailed childhood history?)? Is it much like creating a fictional character for stories, or is there some other process?

Along with that, how are the other aspects - fashion, style, mannerisms, talents, accents, etc - of the persona handled? Does someone that want to make an artistic persona usually go to classes to learn all those skills? Where do they get it from?

I've emailed Empress V (who performs in Brisbane as A Wonder Woman, amongst others) and she's given me some good advice, but I'd like to know of any other perspectives and resources. Google doesn't turn up much and my local libraries don't have a lot on the topic either - where and what topic should I be looking for?

Breaking into Performance Art

divabat — Mon, 28 Jul 2008 03:45:01 -0800

How do I get into performance art? I've seen this video series and read some links, and find the concept of performance art interesting. However, I'm finding it hard to get more resources and help on breaking into performance art.

Whenever I try asking people about it, they think I'm asking about performing arts and start referring me to theatres and choirs. (Google does the exact same thing.) Trying to describe performance art is tricky too - "well, they do weird stuff. In all sorts of styles. And it has a concept."

I have plenty of ideas for potential performance art, but I don't know how to start putting them together. I'm worried about seeming wanky or pretentious, when really all I want to do is express myself in a mixture of mediums. (A large part of this involves creating a persona, which is also another hard subject to Google - I keep getting stuff about MPD or superheroes.)

How do I find a teacher to guide me? What resources are out there and how do I find them (without getting stuck into the Performing Arts section)? How can I develop myself and my art? How do I get my ideas out of my head and onto...well, whatever my stage happens to be?

Considerations when adding a periodic email update function to my website (with PHP's mail() function)

stuehler — Mon, 21 Jul 2008 14:56:47 -0800

I'm planning to add a feature to my website that will allow users to request periodic updates by email. I've cobbled together a little PHP script that uses the mail() function. It works perfectly when I test it myself, but I have no idea how this will work when released to a signficant number of users. One problem - I don't know how many users I'll have, so I'm trying to keep my up-front costs to a minimum. Optimistically, I'll have a few hundred users. In my wildest dreams, I'd have a few thousand.

Another problem - the email will be dynamically generated based on user-entered criteria - i.e., the user will log in, and enter some parameters. A php page will pull the appropriate data from the MySQL database, assemble the email, and send it out. Also, the emails will be sent on demand (not according to some predetermined schedule). So, I think that rules out something like Campaign Monitor's newsletter service.

My site is hosted at Media Temple, on a Grid Server.

Is this a disaster waiting to happen, or is that kind of demand/load trivial?

If the former, is there a better way to handle this? A reliable third-party service?

Many thanks in advance for any advice!

Cheers,
Matt Stuehler

Don't read me a bedtime story.

Ambrosia Voyeur — Mon, 07 Jul 2008 13:24:41 -0800

What are some exceptionally well-performed audiobooks? I enjoy audiobooks, but sometimes the delivery of the readers is too dry. Presently, I've got Foundation, read by Isaac Asimov in the car, and he sounds like Mel Brooks on valium. It's a shame.

Steve Martin reading Shopgirl was very, very good. Rant, by Chuck Palahniuk was exceptional, because there were different, engaging, distinctive actors for each speaker (the book is composed of "interview" material). The Harry Potter books and the Golden Compass were also performed with verve. Perhaps I need to be read to like a child!?

What are some audiobooks, fiction or non-fiction, which entertain with excellent dramatic readings?

Kindly Leave The Stage

RokkitNite — Fri, 04 Jul 2008 15:51:47 -0800

What are the best strategies to help a performer roll with the punches? Okay, so I've been doing a mix of performance poetry, stand-up, compering and music for over two years now, and I've reached the stage when I realise that this is something that I want to 'do', and want to do well. I love it, and find it a really satisfying challenge, but until recently I've always had the mental get-out that I'm just 'dabbling'. Now, my gigging schedule has increased to a level where I can't dig my toe in the carpet and hide behind new boy status anymore.

Basically, I'd like ways of remaining stoical whilst still learning from my mistakes in the face of bad gigs, po-faced audiences and general incompetence. What are good strategies for maintaining my self-confidence without closing off that all important negative feedback?

I understand intellectually that gigging can be a bit like being in an unhealthy relationship - sometimes the audience heap praise on you, sometimes they're cold and aloof, sometimes they're downright hostile. It'd be nice if there was a way to take it less personally while still maintaining a serious, professional focus on improving rapport. My schadenfreude wouldn't say no to a few 'the time I died on stage' anecdotes, either, if you think communal shame might help.

Please help me find a black floor length formal/evening skirt.

scazza — Tue, 17 Jun 2008 06:39:22 -0800

Please help me find a black floor length formal/evening skirt. I am in a performance where I am required to wear black, and I need a black floor length skirt, preferably a full skirt, size 6 or 8. It needs to be long, even extra long since I'm tall. I haven't been able to find anything that would fit me and looks appropriate for a formal, concert occasion. Really the only things that have at least the same idea are on goth sites or are for ballroom dancing.

I'm in NYC and am female.

Anyone have any ideas for formal wear sites that would have something like this (I've looked at Saks, Barrie Pace, Nordstroms, Macy's)?
Are there any performance related sites that sell clothing like this?

Please help me find what I'm looking for. Thank you!

Suck up at my review or quit?

Anonymous — Fri, 13 Jun 2008 17:58:47 -0800

Impending performance review. I don't know whether to quit or somewhat disingenuously promise improvement and committment to the job. I am a lawyer. I have been working in policy for about a year and a half. Around January of this year, I realized that I really dislike it and would like to get back to being a lawyer. For the past month or so, I have been actively looking for a new job. It hasn't gone that well, but I have some leads.

I have been dealing with some pretty bad depression. I have not been myself. It's I-don't-want-to-brush-my-teeth depression. My work is suffering, but it is definitely not the primary cause of the depression. I didn't like job before I became depressed and I have done a good job here when I wasn't depressed, even when I didn't like it.

My boss is pretty cool, and normally very hands-off about HR issues, to the point where my coworkers and I rarely know where we stand. I just got word that we have performance reviews coming up. We didn't have one last year (boss just blew them off). I get some positive feedback from boss, and some negative, but always just on a case-by-case basis. "Great job on X," or "You need to handle Y better."

My problem is I don't know how to handle the review. I really would like to acknowledge what I think has been subpar performance, but I feel weird about making any promises for improvement. I am in treatment for the depression, which is one thing that I can say, but I feel like making a new workplan or something would be disingenous. I am certainly trying to do a better job, and I can certainly try to kick ass until I leave, but I feel weird, knowing I will leave when I find what I am looking for. On the other hand, I may never get that great job I'm looking for...

So should I acknowledge the performance, explain the depression, and then later, when I give my notice (which could be a ways off, if ever), say I thought it would improve but the job is part of the unhappiness?

Or should I be totally honest, quit, and do contract work while I look? I know that's not a great career move in general for lawyers, but maybe it's equal/almost equal/only a little worse than staying in a non-legal job that I hate? For future employers, I can tell them I wanted to get back into legal work ASAP?

I am mildly concerned that my performace review will be me getting fired, but I don't really think that's the case. But maybe the small chance is worth quitting and not having a termination on my record? More likely, if boss wants me to leave boss would give me a chance to quit, I think. But I don't know.

Also, the job itself is a good job, with good benefits. I like the employer, just not the position. Internal move is not possible, though. I don't even know how hard it would be for me to get a contract job. I'm in a major east coast city, and my field is in demand. I have only a few years of experince, but it is good experience.

Thanks for the help.

Best combination of strength and portability in a music stand

LolaGeek — Fri, 13 Jun 2008 06:24:55 -0800

MusicianFilter: I need a sturdy, but portable music stand to take to my band concerts this summer. I play clarinet in a concert band that has an extensive summer schedule, as well as a few concerts in the winter, for which I will need to bring a music stand. Many concerts are outdoors, so it has to be sturdy enough to be stable on grass and heavy enough not to blow over in the wind. Most of our venues also require a long walk from the parking area to the performance area, so I need something I can easily carry along with my clarinet case and large tote bag of music. I've had experience with the stands listed below, but I'm really looking for the ideal combination of strength and portability. Thanks for your recommendations!

The folding metal type is not sturdy enough to support my big folder and stand up to the wind in outdoor performances.

I'm currently using a big, heavy, "portable" stand, which is great once it's set up, but heavy and unwieldy to actually carry to the venue.

I briefly used a Peterson music stand, which was used and recommended by some other members of my band, but they apparently don't make them like they used to, and the plastic knobs are prone to cracking or getting stuck.

How do we hide extensive tattoos under makeup?

elendil71 — Thu, 29 May 2008 19:15:23 -0800

PerformanceArtMakeupFilter: Asking for a friend who needs advice on full body cosmetics over extensive tattoos. A buddy of mine is going to be in an amateur performance art piece that will involve him being covered in body makeup (think Blue Man Group) but he has extensive tattoos (full sleeves etc) and the makeup he's tried doesnt quite hide his art and sort of melts off under hot lights. Any suggestions for professional makeup that will hide his tats and survive a vigorous physical performance? My google-fu was inconclusive as to what brand names to recommend and whether it can be obtained online (or locally) in a relatively brief period of time.

Nervous Nelly; don't want to be a Floppy Frank

wastelands — Sat, 24 May 2008 09:57:13 -0800

How do I perform well after abstaining from sex for four years? I'm a male in my late 20s. Due to depression and social anxiety, I have not had sex or a girlfriend for about four years. It doesn't help that my last sexual experiences were with someone super neurotic, who ended up making me nervous, and was the only woman I've lost erections with.

The problem is that I've been feeling better for awhile, more confident... I asked someone out recently and she said "yes"! I'm strongly physically attracted to her and she finds me attractive as well.

I'm afraid that if/when we finally do the deed, she'll see how awkward and out of practice I am and it'll turn her off. I want to impress this woman because I am into her more than I've been into someone for a long time. I don't want to screw it up. Help!

Why is my excel VBA code execution randomly slowing down?

johnstein — Wed, 21 May 2008 12:07:05 -0800

Sometimes excel VBA code executes very slow. Sometimes it's really fast. I can't seem to pinpoint why. I'm familiar with application.screenupdating = false and turning off autocalculation.

This happens with a variety of my programs, but most notably with a certain one that simply iterates through an array (i,j) and prints each value (i,j) to a cell on the worksheet. Just your basic nested for loops with a .cells(i,j) = array(i,j) in the middle. (ok, so the real code is more complicated, but as I explain below, this isn't the only code that has the issue, and several coworkers who use different code experience the same thing. I'm not looking for coding help, rather, trying to see if this is a common problem that others experience, or if it's really just a local company phenomena)

Sometimes when I run it, it can whip through a 500x100 array in just a couple seconds, other times, it slugs through it taking almost 10 minutes.

This is always the same type of data, mind you, and there are never any formulas or cell formatting to worry about. Just a blank workbook with one worksheet that needs to be filled with the data from the array.

A few other coworkers notice similar things.
Sometimes restarting excel seems to clear things up. Sometimes restarting the computer helps. Oftentimes it doesn't and seems to clear up randomly on its own later.

Has anyone ever noticed similar issues?

My guess is that perhaps there's a memory lag/leak/etc or something that is degrading performance, but I would assume restarting the app or computer would fix that. We usually attribute it to 'the server being slow' but we notice similar issues even when files are local. It's just really frustrating to be testing a bit of code that is blazingly fast the first few times you test it, then suddenly it screeches to practically a halt seemingly randomly, then later that day or week, it's all back to normal like nothing happened.

Thanks

Do I have complete copyright over an image of a band's setlist?

ozreiuosn — Thu, 15 May 2008 15:12:21 -0800

What copyright restrictions may or may not be placed on me of a picture I took of a band's setlist during a live, public performance? I'm in an odd situation. A band manager stole a picture of mine that I took during a live public performance. She then placed it in a video without credit. She tried to claim 1) that she was free to use it since I posted it on myspace and 2) that she has full right to use it because its of her band's intellectual property. I've already informed her that just because the image was uploaded on myspace that it doesn't make it fair game, myspace does respect copyrights, but where do I stand with the picture of the setlist? Is it mine or is it theirs?

I can haz name for music nightz?

sully75 — Mon, 12 May 2008 08:24:52 -0800

I want to start a night where a variety of local musicians cover the music of one musician with a large repetoire, or cover songs from one particular period/style of music. I'm looking for a good name for the (hopefully monthly) event and feedback on my ideas and "rules". A lovely local bar/bistro has had a continual problem with Tuesday nights. Presents the opportunity to try something cool to bring people in.

My idea: Repetoire Night. Basic idea, get local musicians in town to come and do two covers of a song by that months chosen artist.

These were my guidelines, aka "the rules":
1) Each solo artist does 2 tunes, no exceptions.
2) Tunes have to be either by the artist or famously covered by them.
3) Duets and trios are highly encouraged. They get 3 tunes as long as one tune has a different vocalist.
4) instrumental and improv versions are highly encouraged.

The basic goals would be:
Goals would be
1) Have some great music
2) Get musicians of various scenes in town to meet each other
3) Make Tuesday nights rock

Some theme ideas I was thinking of (reflecting, of course, my tastes)
Tom Waits
Willie Nelson
Bob Dylan
Joni Mitchell
Elvis Costello
Bluegrass Covers
Old Blues Covers
Jazz Standard Night
Aimee Mann
Nick Lowe
Gillian Welch
Elliot Smith
Cat Power

So my questions are
1) What should we call this? I'm looking for something classy, not web 2.0ish. I want to avoid anything like Pecha Kucha Night, which is embarressing to say. I thought of calling it Jukebox night, but that would sort of indicate that we would be doing music by different artists, which we wouldn't be.
2) My guidelines/rules: makes sense? Overbearing? Underbearing? Am I missing anything?
3) Not sure if we should provide a simple drum set and amplifiers, or keep it acoustic. The place is small, the stage is smaller. They can get a band on stage but it is cramped. But it would be cool to have little bands get up on stage. I was thinking one amp, and a really stripped down drum set available if someone wanted to use it.
4) Does this sound like a good idea? What would make you want to participate?
5) What are some cool themes I'm missing? I'm looking for things that would appeal to a large variety of performers, that would be adaptable to a wide variety of styles of playing, and have a quantity of music for people to choose from.

Thanks

What's the difference between a banjo and a chainsaw?

tmcw — Tue, 22 Apr 2008 20:39:49 -0800

Practicing & Playing Music in Washington DC: Learning the banjo without getting murdered So... I'm doing a (great) internship in Washington, DC this summer, and I'm currently buying a banjo. I know that opinions on the banjo vary, but I like the sound and the tonal possibilities, and I'm interested in learning another stringed instrument with different techniques than guitar & ukulele.

It's a Deering Goodtime w/ a resonator. I'm almost certainly removing the resonator to reduce the volume that much, but beyond that, what can I do as far as mutes? And how loud do these things really end up being? I'll be living in a subletted room or apt.

Bonus points for ideas on what to do with a banjo and some general knowledge (or a guitar and some advanced knowledge, and a ukulele and some novice knowledge) in the 'big city.'? Up till this point, it's been all dorm rooms, college shows, and once-in-a-blue-moon fantastic jam sessions. Are jams possible? Open mics stupid? Lessons expensive? Places to play nowhere?

Thanks for any information! I'm psyched to learn one of the most interesting/loved/hated/misunderstood instruments on the planet.

How to increase the performance of my aging Powerbook?

hangingbyathread — Sun, 06 Apr 2008 21:37:44 -0800

I have a 1.25 GHz Powerbook G4 that has been running sluggish recently. Any tips for increasing performance with what I've got at hand? I installed Leopard 10.5.2 a few weeks ago. Seems to work fine. I liked the idea of Time Machine so I went out and bought an external hard drive to back things up on. Don't know that it matters but the internal hard drive had about 9 GB of free space remaining. Now what? Would a clean install of Leopard make a difference? Any and all advice would be appreciated but please, try and keep it simple for me....I love technology but we don't always speak the same language. Thanks for taking the time to help me.

The awesomest song

ictow — Fri, 04 Apr 2008 12:24:16 -0800

I need a really awesome entrance song. Something that makes the audience be like, "Aw damn, I now know that this is going to be very enjoyable, all because this song is so badass." What I've got so far:

Battle Without Honor or Humanity
Sabotage
Die Motherf***er Die
O Fortuna

Please tell me the song I obviously forgot to include on this list.

G4 Powerbook Runs Slow; CPU Maxed

kegill — Tue, 18 Mar 2008 23:23:54 -0800

G4 Powerbook (1.5 MHz, 2 GB RAM, Tiger) slows to a crawl and activity monitor shows 90-100% CPU usage - with minimal number of open applications. Might this be software (Tiger?) or hardware (CPU)? Details:

The machine has been slow for a long time. Fall 2006 - power supply replaced under warranty. Then Genius Bar said to reinstall OS -- did a clean reinstall late last spring (2007). No help. Tune-up in November. Hard drive died in December and I thought, "That was the problem!" Installed new (MacSales/OWC) faster (7200 rpm) drive; installed 10.5. All apps installed as new.

Machine crawls. System resources maxed out regularly -- everything slow. Tabbing between applications is painful.

Genius Bar person said he thought my processor was bad. (??) Before I spend $350 (the "flat rate" fix), I'm trying alternatives.

Regularly use Firefox, Thunderbird, BBEdit -- background apps Snapz Pro, Twitterrific. Have learned that MarkSpace sync for my Blackjack seems to be a resource hog, so now I kill it after use (via Activity Monitor).

Sometimes: PPT or Keynote, Word, Excel. Would love to be able to use Photoshop again; haven't tried since new hard drive because of performance.

Have done most of the things on the list on this thread: http://ask.metafilter.com/80841/Help-My-mac-runs-slow

In the process of disabling FF extensions -- here's what I have left: Session Manager, ScribeFire, Web Developer, Extended Status Bar. If it's any of these four causing the resource issue, I'm guessing its Session Manager. Sigh. That's a lifesaver.

Since disabling some FF Extensions, in Activity Monitor CPU graph, the CPU is no longer always maxed out -- but everything is still slow, especially when an app is *doing* something. FF is still at 35-50% CPU "on idle" and goes up to 90+ when it's loading a page or doing something. RAM: 500 Free, 245 Wired, 700 Active, 600 inactive (rounding). But it says my VM size is 42 GB!!! WTH?

Any suggestions gratefully appreciated! Even if they echo the Genius Bar recommendation re $$$.

Is DSL fast enough to play WOW?

vilcxjo_BLANKA — Tue, 11 Mar 2008 11:11:36 -0800

My son is having terrible problems playing WOW. He gets framerates of about 1-2fps, which is ridiculous. Help me diagnose the problem. My son is having terrible problems with performance in WOW. I have no experience with Windows computers, so I have no real way to approach a diagnosis. It's a big problem for him, as his guild makes fun of him and laughs at the fact that he's often fighting monsters who are already dead. (I don't know epsilon about WOW, so I just take his word for it.) It's always been slower than he would like, but the last few months have been a disaster. I thought it was slow servers, or maybe latency between the Eastern US (MA) and his guild, which is in the Western Part of the the US (CA) but that's just a guess.

I have a tiny home network with three computers - four if you count the linksys router, and five if you count the Nintendo Wii. The Wii is not often on the net, though. The router is connected to the internet through 1.5/384 DSL from Speakeasy. The router is a linksys running the White Russian release of Open WRT. I have one slow linux computer, one really slow linux computer and one slowish XP computer, which is the one I'm interested in.

I have several conjectures. First, I think it's possible that 1.5/386 DSL is just too slow to run WOW. I may have to upgrade to a faster internet service. Second, I think it's possible that the computer he's using is running a bunch of services which are not needed, and which are causing it to be slow. I don't know the windows equivalent of "ps -aux". I don't even know the windows equivalent of xterm, but I presume there is one. Third, I think it's possible, but unlikely, that excessive network traffic caused by spam (see below) is saturating the connection and killing his performance. Fourth, it's possible, but I think unlikely, that the router is slow.

The really slow linux computer has a web server and a mail server. The mail server seems to get a lot of spam, which is properly thrown away. (I periodically check various testing websites to see if it's an open relay, and I seem to have it configured properly.) The problem does not go away or even improve when I disable the mail server, though, so I don't think this is the problem. It's always possible that the internet connection is still overmatched with spam, even though there is no server to read the messages. Maybe the best test would be to just block the SMTP port temporarily.

The slow linux computer doesn't actually use the net much, except for reading blogs. I sometimes download music from emusic, which causes him no end of grief, but I expect that. The problem happens even when I'm not doing anything, or if the computer is powered off and unplugged.

I don't really have a fancy firewall on the router. I just created iptables commands to forward ports and do NAT from the router to the other computers. I have not done any capacity testing on the router, but it's a very recent LinkSys router - the one with 32Mb of RAM - so I don't suspect its speed at all. Maybe I should reinstall LinkSys' firmware and see if that clears up the problem.

So, those are my conjectures. Maybe someone else has a better suggestion, or can tell me more about Windows.

Help me create a Japanese performance for a school festival.

Syntoad — Wed, 05 Mar 2008 05:59:12 -0800

I want to do a performance at my school's Japanese Spring festival, but I have no idea what to do! Every year one of the student organizations at my college has a Japanese spring festival. This year I am an officer in the organization and partly in charge of running the festival. We are going to have a stage for cultural performances, and I would like to do one. I just have no idea what to do. I was thinking I could sing an enka song, but I was wondering if there is anything else that maybe would be more interesting.

I only have the following requirements:
Must be Japanese culture related.
I am male so no female performances.
Must be able to be learned in two months (the festival is at the end of May)

I'm up for just about anything, but not really keen on dancing.

Oh and if it matters for anything. I'm not Japanese or of Japanese descent.