unimpressed pt 2

Comments (7)

1. I was LIEK WHOA impressed!

   …this may say something about me, true.

   (http://livejournal.com/users/_skye_)

2. The 5-ball: impressive. The 3-ball: not.

   (http://livejournal.com/users/elbeno)

3. Hahaha. I think you just don't like that Chriss Bliss guy. To be at least somewhat fair, Chris did a better job in some parts synching to the music, did it in front of a live audience with no mistakes, is actually a stand-up comedian, and comedic writer by trade (whether or not he's any good is a different story), and I know I'm personally not nearly up to his level – certainly not a routine anywhere approaching that long without a drop, so it was still somewhat impressive to me. I juggle to music a lot, and it can be hard to stay on-beat, especially when pulling off tricks. I've never understood how real jugglers go for such extended periods without a drop, but then, I guess I don't really put in much practice.

   Anyway, Jason Garfield on the other hand is a career juggler and juggling instructor with pro juggling videos for sale. He made the parody in the gym he does all his work in where he's comfortable. He did it with no audience but the camera, and used tons of camera cuts, and he's just about the best juggler in the world. He's the guy who taught youth juggling uberstars Olga and Vova Galchenko. At somewhere around 13 and 14, they could already best him at a lot of his tricks, and others he can't do, and made him seem somewhat unimpressive, especially given their respective ages. However, they're arguably prodigies who had a very early start, with the benefit of Garfield's experience to guide them.

   All this talk of the Galchenko's especially is making me want professional clubs and a good passing partner at around my skill level. I got to pass juggle clubs once, and I had passing (every 3rd beat, then to every 2nd, and then every pin) down in only a few minutes with a trainer. This was at my local library during some juggling event they held, when I was about 13. It really does seem that 13 is the best age to be good at something.

   (http://livejournal.com/users/greatbiggary)

4. I just thought that Chris Bliss was really overselling what looked like fairly ordinary 3-ball stuff to me. As for going that long without a drop: to someone who's been juggling a while and reached the “infinity” stage of the 1-3-10-infinity progression, drops should be really rare, right? 3-balls are positively slow through the air to me.

   I think it's a good end to a comedy routine, but when I see something billed as “amazing” I expect more than 3-ball.

   (http://livejournal.com/users/elbeno)

5. I like one of the points that Jason Garfield made about the performance being synced with the music:

   If you watch the ice skating competitions in the Olympics, I don't think you're going to appreciate some douche bag skating in circles and tapping his toes, chipping out pieces of ice to the beat of a Beatles song. But maybe that would be good to the right song.

   I think the problem most people (who have a problem with this) have is the reactions from people who don't really know what they're seeing, telling eachother how incredible it is and whatnot, because it sort of looks like it might be synced with the music. It's like fireworks or the lip movements in cheap cartoons. If you sorta squint and think that it might be sync, it might actually seem to be synced.

   When you juggle to music, and are syncing with it, what is it that's syncing with what? Is it the balls hitting your hand? Hitting the apex? I can't for the life of me figure out by watching Bliss what's supposed to be synced, other than him dancing around like a madman to the drum solos.

   In any case, I think Garfield has taken things a bit far, but to be fair to him, it was only at the prodding of Penn Jillete, and we all know how persuasive he can be.

   (http://livejournal.com/users/thomtoffner)

6. Thanks to Penn Jilette's peer pressure, I'm no longer allowed at Chuck-E-Cheese 🙁 That guy's a jerk.

   (http://livejournal.com/users/greatbiggary)

7. I can’t see why it’s such a big deal. The performance was really good anyway.

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.