JJasonfest 1.05 (rambling)
conway
major tourist destination: Paris, New York, Venice, the Luxor, and so on.
I think there is a hole in the market for one based on San Francisco.
Cable cars could shuttle you across the Golden gate Bridge from Alcatraz
slot machines to the North Beach Buffet, the keno girls could dress as
Haight Street flower children, and security would be run by gay
leathermen. Please note this is not satire, it is a business plan. Las
Vegas is beyond parody.
I hear on rec.juggling that Ben Jennings is going to hospital with a
collapsed lung, multiple infections and very high blood pressure. Get well
soon, Ben. We need you to fix the darn software. Update: according to
Scottie Meltzer, Ben is in his room, and does not have a collapsed lung.
He is going in to a hospital for some test later today, including an X-ray
just in case the lung is collapsed, but it probably isn't.
I am wandering past the snack bar tables when I come across one of the
performers reading my diary from yesterday out loud, pleased with the fact
that they got a good review. With WiFi in the gym the only person I dare
trash is Jason, as he is far to busy to beat me up.
Today was exhibition day. All the official TV cameras are gone from the
theater. Various top jugglers got an hour or so to show off the tricks
that only work some of the time. There was one video camera, manned by
Ivan Pecel. I expect the footage will turn up on his new video, "Things
You Could Never Dream Of Doing You Miserable Loser."
As usual, Jason opened the show. He did five, six and seven balls, showing
off various pirouette and site swap combinations. He's really serious
about getting the pattern back under control after a trick. If he can't
get a qualifying run before he starts to gather the balls, the trick
doesn't count, and he goes on trying it.
Jason moves on to club tricks, working from three up to seven. He pulls of
Gena's pirouette while balancing a club trick, but with one less club than
she uses. He spends a long time working on a trick that someone in the
audience suggests, juggling four clubs with one balanced, and letting that
club fall into his hand as the last throw of a five high pirouette, then
going into five clubs. He finally gets it.
Vova is next up. He juggles three to five clubs. One three club move I
liked was going straight from a double pirouette three high into solid
Albert throws. With five clubs someone suggests that he try a three stage
pirouette: throw five high, pirouette, catch two, pirouette, throw two,
catch two, pirouette, throw two, catch the fifth club and go back into
five clubs. It's insanely difficult, and he's never done it before. He
tries it several times. We can see him getting closer and closer it. He
starts getting tired, and sometimes kicks the last club backstage if he
can't catch it. He's obviously hangs out with Jason too much. Finally,
after about twenty five minutes, he pulls it off.
Listen, Vova, I know you're reading this. That was the ugliest three stage
pirouette I've ever seen. And that's no way to practice. Break the trick
down into its component parts, work on each part separately, and then put
them back together. Don't just go straight for a trick that is right at
the limit of your ability, you will spend too much time just reinforcing
bad habits. Do you really practice like that when you are on your own, or
were you just trying to impress a bunch of jugglers by learning something
most of us could never dream of doing?
Oh, and congratulations on getting it. You impressed the hell out of me,
anyhow.
Vova used up all the stage time that was allotted to his sister, as well.
That was fine with her, as she did not really want to perform. In spite of
being one of the greatest club passers of all time, one of the best
teenage jugglers in the world, and one of the best female jugglers in the
world, (not to mention cute as a button) she has this idea that nobody is
interested in watching her. You rock Olga. We all want to watch you.
Next there is a numbers juggling competition. The rules are pretty similar
to the IJA, except that runs that are longer than qualifying are supposed
to be timed and not counted. However, after the six club part, the judges
give up on timing and go back to counting. The best times with six clubs
are Vova with 32.9 seconds, Thomas with 21.0 seconds, and Toby with 17.6
seconds and a clean finish. Everyone moves on to seven clubs, where Toby
gets 30 catches. I think Vova gets a qualifying run as well, but it was
less than 30 catches and the judges did not announce the count.
In the balls competition, Jason manages sixteen catches with eight in a
fountain pattern. Thomas cruises to 39 catches in a half shower, then
gives us qualifying runs in sync and async fountain, and is working on the
wimpy pattern when time is called. Leo James also uses the wimpy pattern,
and is one bobble away from qualifying. Jason takes the lead again when he
qualifies nine balls on his first attempt, but Thomas gets a run of 26
catches and then starts working on pirouettes. Like I said, Thomas is
having too much fun.
In the ring endurance Jason gets 23 catches with eight, and Thomas gets
19. Jason manages to qualify at the nine level, by making 19 throws, and
catching eighteen of them. It takes a video review to confirm this,
because he catches 1-17 and 19, but he makes the last catch before throw
number 18 hits the ground. That's debatable, and I don't think would count
under JIS Committee on Numbers Juggling rules, but he would have won
anyway, so it doesn't make a lot of difference.
Back to the exhibitions. Sergey does a warm up with exercise and
stretching, then juggles shiny gold propellers for us. He spins them and
gets a little aerodynamic lift, but they are still heavy enough that he
can do regular juggling tricks with them. He tricks with three and four,
then a five propeller pirouette, five high. They are very pretty, and I'm
sure this has a lot of audience appeal even though they are not on Jason's
approved props list. Sergey then works through his five ring routine, but
doing each trick for more time or in a harder way than he does on stage.
It's a fine example of how to keep a great act in perfect shape.
There's half an hour to spare, so Jason shows us the ring stuff he did not
get to earlier because he was too busy trying to pull off that balance to
pirouette trick, then Thomas gets to have some more fun. He does some
interesting club stuff, but the craziness really starts when he gets out
the balls. I was really glad I haven't been looking at the videos he's
posted to the web, because seeing these tricks for the first time in
person is much more fun. A lot of the tricks he did would not be out of
place in Anthony's act, and I think some of the weirder ones would take
quite a bit of work even for Ant.
Ryo Yabe is next up with his amazing diabolo work. Vova comes over to chat
with me while we watch him. Is it just because he wants I good review, or
is he under the impression that I might have something to say of interest
to a teenager? My sons have made it clear to me that I don't, so he's out
of luck there.
Vova thinks I am a bad role model because my fotolog has a link to one
featuring Brazilian buns in thongs. Considering that the casino we are in
has bronze life size statue of seven pairs of shapely buttocks right next
to the main entrance, I would say that I am completely in line with the
local community standards.
Toby Walker is amazing. He starts with three clubs, bending over and
juggling them backwards through his legs. There's strange shoulder rolls
with clubs, a move that looks like a head roll, but changes its mind and
goes back the way it came, and other weirdness. He does ball and club
combos with head bounces, a two ball head bounce, some big and small ball
mixes, and in the middle of all this I get a panicked call from Sandy
Brown because I have posted an unflattering picture of her on the web.
It's all right Sandy, I've deleted it. Now your husband never need know
about the small Puerto Rican boy.
I think Gena may have been reading this. Anyhow, today she is wearing
quite respectable black pants. However, she compensates for this by
wearing a tight fitting red top with nothing underneath but Gena. Thanks
Gena, you probably made Jade Ford's day. The world needs more jugglers
like you.
I wandered down the Strip on foot. To be more accurate, on feet, as I used
both of them. The Strip really is one of the most remarkable man-made
landscapes on Earth. I ended up eating dinner at the buffet in Harrah's.
The crab legs were good, the Chinese BBQ duck was an unexpected treat, and
the desserts were disappointing.
Back in the gym I was joined by Scot Morris, Craig Barnes, Robert
Nickerson and Jade Ford. Scot always has the coolest toys, and the latest
is a globe of the world that rotates indefinitely when there is any light
on it. It is suspended in a liquid filled sphere, so there is very little
friction. There are solar cells inside it, and the electricity is used to
turn magnets on and off to pull it around using the Earth's magnetic
field. We move on to John Horton Conway (no relation, but he was one of my
lecturers at Cambridge), Ron Graham (who was here earlier and I missed
talking to him), and the Interstellar Association of Turtles.
Are you a turtle?
----== posted via www.jugglingdb.com ==----
Greg Phillips
diary. Assuming we both make it to Davenport, first beer is on me.
> You rock Olga. We all want to watch you.
Second the motion. And I have a daughter Olga's age who thinks she's the
coolest thing ever.
Greg
Mutton
> Andrew, you cannot know what a wonderful time I'm having reading your trip
> diary. Assuming we both make it to Davenport, first beer is on me.
Yeah, thanks for posting your view on the WJF and its happenings.
- Andrew
Alan Morgan
conway <con...@juggling.org.nospam> wrote:
>Most of the casinos here seem to have a geographical theme based on some
>major tourist destination: Paris, New York, Venice, the Luxor, and so on.
>I think there is a hole in the market for one based on San Francisco.
>Cable cars could shuttle you across the Golden gate Bridge from Alcatraz
>slot machines to the North Beach Buffet, the keno girls could dress as
>Haight Street flower children, and security would be run by gay
>leathermen. Please note this is not satire, it is a business plan. Las
>Vegas is beyond parody.
So is San Francisco :-)
[snip]
>I think Gena may have been reading this. Anyhow, today she is wearing
>quite respectable black pants. However, she compensates for this by
>wearing a tight fitting red top with nothing underneath but Gena. Thanks
>Gena, you probably made Jade Ford's day. The world needs more jugglers
>like you.
If this keeps up I may start going to juggling festivals again.
[snip]
>We move on to John Horton Conway (no relation, but he was one of my
>lecturers at Cambridge), Ron Graham (who was here earlier and I missed
>talking to him), and the Interstellar Association of Turtles.
>
>Are you a turtle?
You bet your sweet ass I am.
Great Jasonfest Jasonreport as Jasonusual. I (and, I suspect, all of us who can't make
it) appreciate the attention to detail.
Alan
--
Defendit numerus
Stephen Bent
> Andrew, you cannot know what a wonderful time I'm having reading your trip
> diary. Assuming we both make it to Davenport, first beer is on me.
>
> > You rock Olga. We all want to watch you.
>
> Second the motion. And I have a daughter Olga's age who thinks she's the
> coolest thing ever.
And I`m sick of other teenage male jugglers telling me how much they`re in
love with her. Get a life, guys.
-Stephen
Cosmo McKinley
Cosmo.