A new infomercial has popped up, you can check it out on youtube by just typing in “fushigi’ and “ball”. I refuse to try and post the video here. What fushigi actually is:
A $20 three inch acrylic in a shiny box.
It is hard to put to words how I feel about fushigi. Honestly the guys over at contactjuggling.org have pretty much summed up how I’ve felt since seeing the video. You can follow the thread over at:
I am disappointed that this is happening to the art form that sparked my passion and career in object manipulation. I’m upset fo the most part at two things: first is the rebranding of contact juggling as “fushigi” and second the crushing blow to the spirit of cjing. There has also been some talk about the jugglers that where in the commercial; whether or not they were sell outs. I ain’t going to touch that one.
Now the whole rebranding thing really pisses me off. If it had been a company named “Fushigi” presenting an “acrylic ball” (putting this in the smallest type face possible) that was “perfect for a new craze hitting the world by storm, CJing! Look at the magical amazingness that you can do with the Fushigi ball.” But it wasn’t. In fact they named the ball itself fushigi and went so far as to try to give it the tag line The Magic Gravity Ball. To be far according to the voice of Fushigi over at the forums they are trying to move away from the magic gravity ball thing, but it’s still plastered every where on thei site. Any way the rebranding only has as much power as Fushigi has popularity. At present the likelihood of a child coming up to me and squealing “Mommy! Mommy! He’s Fushigi’ing! I seed that on T.V.” are slim to not. So I’ll reserve myself on this till the future.
But the very spirit of contact juggling has been attacked by Fushigi. There has always been a fine line when using acrylics. From my understanding Micheal Moschen created the routine “light” to honored the passing of a friend. The art form of contact juggling was uniquely created to give a physical representation of life. Till now I had always seen some underlying respect for cjing shared by every single juggler I have met. Fushigi breaks this bond I felt we all had. It isn’t about the commercialization of acrylics; every juggling site and store sells acrylics now. It is about respect and honor which Fushigi is completely lacking. They have made an effort by going on to the forums and speaking with the community, but it looks hollow to me. Their websites even warns you to beware of imitators; like all other acrylic balls are knock-offs of Fushigi.
I don’t feel like I can ever use acrylics again and I am currently trying to get rid of mine. I’m not going to stop contact juggling; I can’t! I love juggling, it’s become my life. But I can’t pick up an acrylic. Fushigi has sucked the dignity out of acrylic contact juggling in hopes to siphon money off of uninformed people to create a new fad. The art has become a damned SHAM-WOW or a bloody Showtime Rotisserie, “Just Set It and Forget It!”. Fushigi “Magic Gravity Ball!” I for one am going over to firetoys and getting their cj stage ball.
There was apparently a bit of problem with Wordpress, the engine this blog runs on, which somehow prevented any unregistered user from posting comments. That has now been fixed so TALK TO US! Before we start flooding lonely hearts sites.
There are a lot of things out there that you just don’t see anymore. Kids playing baseball instead of video games. Cheap gas. Carbureted internal combustion engines. And many many MANY circus arts that are slowly disappearing. Sure there are a lot of circus arts that are still around, and some very popular (cough cough juggling cough cough), but some are a little less common.
The Roue Cyr (say it ROO SEAR, yeah there you go.) is one of these arts thats somewhere in the middle. You may be wondering what a Roue Cyr is, and I can only really explain the basics of what it is. Just picture a large steel and aluminum hoop, bigger than an average sized human being, that can be manipulated in a variety of ways. Most commonly there is a performer who hangs inside or holds on and makes the hoop roll and spin in all directions. Just check out this video by David Poznanter showing his number with this very large and beautiful prop.
I had a chance before school started a few months ago to meet David and talk about his art.
Me: David, would you like to tell us about what got you started with the Roue Cyr and some of your career performing?
David: I first saw Daniel Cyr perform in it in 2002 in cirque eloize’s show,”excentricus”. I immediately wanted to learn. I got a Roue Cyr made a few years later while at a dance conservatory in Austria. I ended up getting 3 more made after that to find one the right size. I spent a lot of time alone in studios trying to learn it.
Me: Where has your performing taken you?
David: I’ve performed it in the U.S., Brazil, Switzerland, Austria, the Dominican Republic and Belgium.
Me: Sound pretty amazing, traveling the world, spinning in a hoop. What are your plans currently?
David: I’m currently on a 70 city tour with Cirque Dreams’ new show “Illumination” where I will be doing a Roue Cyr number, roller blading, unicycling, singing, and living on a bus.
Me: Well I wish you luck with your show. It was a pleasure talking to you about these things.
I highly recommend seeing David’s number live, it is simply amazing. For more information on Cirque Dreams, and where to see the show next, Click here
Guten tag ladies and gentlemen. My name is Jonathan E.o.S, also known as Captain E.o.S. I’m going to be a new writer for this most outstanding juggling site. You’ll be seeing nifty videos I find, interesting prop reviews and rants about object manipulation from me. If you have any questions or find something you want me to talk about, shoot me over an email. Till next we meet.
When the white supremacist group VNN Vanguard Nazi/KKK tried to host a hate rally in Knoxville, Tennessee, they were foiled by … clowns!
Unfortunately for [VNN] the 100th ARA (Anti Racist Action) clown block came and handed them their asses by making them appear like the asses they were.
Alex Linder the founder of VNN and the lead organizer of the rally kicked off events by rushing the clowns in a fit of rage, and was promptly arrested by 4 Knoxville police officers who dropped him to the ground when he resisted and dragged him off past the red shiny shoes of the clowns. http://www.volunteertv.com/home/headlines/7704982.html
“White Power!” the Nazi’s shouted, “White Flour?” the clowns yelled back running in circles throwing flour in the air and raising separate letters which spelt “White Flour”.
“White Power!” the Nazi’s angrily shouted once more, “White flowers?” the clowns cheers and threw white flowers in the air and danced about merrily.
“White Power!” the Nazi’s tried once again in a doomed and somewhat funny attempt to clarify their message, “ohhhhhh!” the clowns yelled “Tight Shower!” and held a solar shower in the air and all tried to crowd under to get clean as per the Klan’s directions.
At this point several of the Nazi’s and Klan members began clutching their hearts as if they were about to have a heart attack. Their beady eyes bulged, and the veins in their tiny narrow foreheads beat in rage. One last time they screamed “White Power!”
The clown women thought they finally understood what the Klan was trying to say. “Ohhhhh…” the women clowns said. “Now we understand…”, “WIFE POWER!” they lifted the letters up in the air, grabbed the nearest male clowns and lifted them in their arms and ran about merrily chanting “WIFE POWER! WIFE POWER! WIFE POWER!”
Well kids, sorry for the lack of updates. My computer’s gone kaplunk and I’ve only just got it back. There’s a bunch of stuff that’s in my mail right now waiting to be sorted so watch out for the verbal diarrheoa coming soon your way.
It would be encouraging if you readers made more noise you know!
In a case of OMFG TOO MUCH INFO! MY EYES! MY EYES!!! IT BURNS AHHHHHHHH!, Vova Galchenko decides to share a clip of Olga shaving his chest and back in preparation for a competition routine. There are a few shorts of them juggling as kids at the start of the clip so don’t accuse me of not being relevant with this post. That’s my excuse but I know you want to watch this very badly.
Admittedly I’ve never had any remote interest in cigar boxes. They just don’t appeal to me and I can’t put a finger on why. Still, I had watched and rewatched this 8 minute clip featuring just that. I like how it’s presented in everyday settings. From the corridors of a building to the gents, if nothing else, it’s worth a chuckle.
Ivan Pecel deals with a heckler on one of his cruise ship shows. The guy should start a stand up show downtown; it’s less physically exerting than juggling I’m sure.
Five days and only 69 views at the time of writing – what’s up with that? Club-swinging videos are rare and this one shows exactly why the wait’s worthwhile. Some of you might be familiar with Michael Menes. The routine is ridiculously smooth and would have me fooled into believing there’s a mirror placed smack in the middle. The heavy use of shadows in a black and white setting definitely helps.
I like the classy feel of the performance. It does give food for thought on how juggling can be further integrated into expressive dance.
