It seems that not only is Fushigi’s marketing campaign highly misleading, but the product itself is of very poor quality as well. Not horribly surprising, but it’s another reason to stick with standard acrylics. Great to see videos like this online to keep the public informed.

I was inspired to write this week after seeing Alex Barron and Peter Bone’s epic 11 ball battle that’s been going on.  It’s so interesting to me that the 11 ball record was the same for nine years, and then suddenly it gets broken multiple times over the course of about a week.  That coupled with all the other juggling records being broken recently has got me to thinking about the competitive motivation of juggling. 

This isn’t the first time a back and forth record breaking battle has gone on in juggling.  Just two years ago, Vova Galchenko and Anthony Gatto had an impromptu five club 360s competition with both men setting and breaking world records on internet videos in the span of just a few weeks. 

It’s fascinating to see just how motivated people can get once something noteworthy happens that draws attention.  Just seeing something done that no one else has ever done really pushes the boundaries and shows just what is possible.   Even if a person isn’t necessarily out to “best” the other person, there is just something really inspiring to see something so amazing happen that it brings out the motivation in people to go out and immediately push themselves. 

That’s one advantage of the internet age; as soon as a record is broken on video, it can be posted online for everyone all over the world to see within a short span of time.  Not only are you becoming aware of a new record, but you are seeing it on video for yourself, often times within a matter of days of it actually happening.  Just the constant flow of quality juggling videos online alone is a good motivator for jugglers trying to reach new heights.  Not to mention the rise in sport juggling which has been pushing the next generation of jugglers to insane skill levels to train for competition. 

It’s amazing just how many records are broken once jugglers really have a reason to push themselves at a specific goal.  I don’t know how many other juggling records will be broken in the next nine years, but I can’t wait to find out.

::  In ring passing news, Tony Pezzo and Patrik Elmnert have gone on a numbers juggling spree, breaking multiple world records along the way.

::  Or Kaufman and Ori Roth experiment with juggling while wearing LED finger lights in a new video.

::  Alex Barron breaks the 11 ball record AGAIN!  One catch away from the qualify.  He also teamed up with David Leahy and set a new world record in 20 ball passing.

::  The WJF will be holding Competition Blitz’s until WJF 7.  They just concluded their first one this past week.  Information and competitor entries can be seen here.  In other WJF news, the organization just opened up its forums to everyone, instead of just members, as it had been in the past.

::  Chris Chiappini gets musical in his ‘Just Juggle’ music video.

::  Ameron Rosvall explains an interesting modification he came up with for his juggling clubs, then shows off what they can do.

::  Are males better than females at juggling?  Post your thoughts and read other jugglers’ opinions on the matter.

This first one features some interesting shared patterns as well as BBB tricks.  Very creative moves, and great editing.

The beginning of this next video involves person to person contact juggling transfers.  I haven’t really seen much of this sort of thing, so I was especially taken by it.

This last video doesn’t allow embedding but it can be viewed here. There isn’t really person to person juggling patterns in this one so much, rather it is focused on executing perfectly timed side-by-side siteswaps.  Beautiful to look at, and very technical in execution.

Last week, Alex Barron broke the world record in 11 balls, with 17 catches. Just a few days later, Peter Bone posted this video:

That’s right, just a matter of days after a new world record was set, Peter Bone beats that record by a single catch! Not to be outdone however, Alex Barron returned with this video:

This time Barron beats Bone’s record by one catch!

Up until about a week ago, Bruce Sarafian held the record in 11 balls for nine years. Now, that record has been broken three times in the span of a week! What’s even more interesting is that Barron and Bone seem to be in a battle to be the first person in history to qualify 11 balls. Which one of these juggling madmen will come out on top and just what are the limits (if any) in numbers juggling?

::  Spencer Hearne unleashes the six ball ass catch.

::  Jason Garfield was recently attacked by a hack while juggling at Universal Studios.  Hack juggler Sean thought he had the authority to say who can and cannot juggle in public, and had security escort Garfield and friends off of Citywalk after Sean himself was unable to get them to leave.  Luckily, the incident was documented on video and Sean removed his YouTube account after facing the wrath of the juggling community.

::  The Amazing Kenny shows off some multiball contact juggling moves that he has been working on.

::  Ben Hestness and Chris Hodge tie the 16 ring passing record in a new video.

::  Introducing The Assassin Juggling Club.  Could this be the new evolution in club juggling?  Hard to say, but it has been getting rave reviews from many top jugglers.

On Friday, the juggling space opened up for a few hours and there was apparently a Renegade Show later that night.   I was, however, unable to make it to the Festival until Saturday.

The Festival took place at the Renton Community Center, which is in the South-East side of the Seattle metropolitan area.  There were about 40 or so jugglers in attendance at the open space on Saturday, and one vendor, who was selling chain mail juggling balls and fashion accessories.  A few workshops were listed for the day, though they were rather spontaneous and did not seem to follow the posted schedule.  The workshops I observed included multiplex theory and knot throwing.  One of the more interesting moments for me came when one of the festival attendees demonstrated an unusual pattern I had not seen before that he called the “Peruvian Mess”, which involved adding an inward arm fold into a mess pattern.  The juggling energy in the community center was really strong, and there was lot of really active juggling, especially club passing.  I was however, a little taken by the steep price of the event, given its relatively small size ($25 just to get into the small practice space, not including the additional $10-$15 for the juggling show).

The festival’s Cascade of Jugglers Show took place at Hale’s Palladium in Ballard, which oddly enough, was more than 20 miles away from where the festival itself was held.  Despite the long distance, the venue was a very good space for a juggling show, with a vintage-looking stage, plenty of seating, and good lighting.  The acts ranged from generic club passing and silent vaudevillian humor to more exotic acts such as break dancing and hoop isolations.  Some of the standouts included a Canadian duo executing a choreographed club swinging/takeouts dance number, and a juggling contractor doing an original routine he called “flair drywall” which involved the manipulation of a drywall knife and trough while he applied drywall mud and tape to a wall.

As a whole, I had a good time.  Though I thought the price of the festival was a little much, and the planning could have been a little better.  Nonetheless, I met some cool people, and saw some cool juggling, so it was fun.

Sorry about the lack of updates lately.  I have been busy.  On the plus side, I have a few cool things in store for the site.  Also, a lot has been going on in the world of juggling these past few weeks!  So, here is a special plus-sized edition of Best Catches!

::  Wes Peden has a highlight video up of his performance at the EJC 2010.

::  Footage of Doug Sayers and Peter Kaseman breaking the world records in 14 and 15 ball passing is now online.

::  Jim Klimek demonstrates his many different talents in a recent video from Dube.

::  After taking viewer requests, Bill Berry’s juggling challenge video is now complete.

::  The WJF just released a montage video of its 2010 convention.  They have also released the full official results of WJF 6 as well as announced the date and location of WJF 7.

::  Thom Wall displays his innovative skills in his winning routine for the 2010 IJA 3 ball IndyProp competition.

::  Pavel Evsukevich juggles along the Las Vegas strip.

::  The IJA just received an anonymous yearly donation of $50,000 per year for the next 20 years.  Way to go IJA!

::  Bacon Juggling interviews Bill Berry in his latest edition of the Interview with a Juggler series.

::  WJF 6, IJA 2010, and EJC 2010 are all in the books!  Click the names to read what people are saying about them.