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Check back often, as Street Juggling will continue to be your definitive source for the latest in the world of prop manipulation!

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:

http://www.contactjuggling.org/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=7708

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.

I know I haven’t been posting much but hopefully this will make it worth the wait. Intense balancing act using a knife and objects that shouldn’t go on a knife.
-E.o.S
P.s. -Video is being weird for me so you’ll have to click the youtube link till I figure it all out.

*EDIT Video fixed*

Intercontinental juggler Robert Fowler sends word of this video.

Who cares about the juggling – that’s some nice hip gyrating going on there.

Yet another Gandini juggling video featuring lots and lots of rings. It might just be me but every time I watch a video of theirs, it makes me want to throw a lot of things up in the air – it doesn’t matter what as long as there are lots of them to be throwing.

Subscribe to their channel if you haven’t already. You won’t regret it.

p.s: Comments are now *REALLY* working.

I’ve watched this, rewatched this, got my friends to watch it and then watched it again and again. This is by far one of the best flatland/street unicycling videos in recent times. Everything looks almost effortless and almost makes you wonder why people think unicycling difficult to pick up to begin with.

Non-unicyclists – it’s time to ditch that training wheel.

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.

Cool choreography and editing. The head catches at about 2:20 are particularly impressive.

Anyone up for a parody with real snowballs?

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