Friday, December 9, 2011
Jugging Personality: Anthony Gatto
The man, the myth, the legend, Anthony Gatto. Some call him the best juggler in the world, some call him God. He happens to be the guy who was performing in Cirque de Soleil the day I went, and the guy who I give complete credit to for inspiring me to start juggling.
Gatto started performing when he was ten in Las Vegas, and hasn't stopped since. He also happens to hold 12 world records including longest time juggling 7, 8, 9, 10, 11 and 12 rings, 6 ,7 and 8 clubs and 7, 8 and 9 balls. Totally not a big deal. When you watch the video below you will understand that this man can not possibly be from this planet.
Anthony Gatto can be compared to Neo from the Matrix. They both have absurd amounts of skill in their field, and Anthony Gatto is most definitely The One in juggling terms. Neo can stop 12 bullets from simultaneously hitting his face, and Gatto can stop 12 balls from doing the same thing. Maybe they are brothers!
Again....Just watch the video and your mind will understand
Gatto started performing when he was ten in Las Vegas, and hasn't stopped since. He also happens to hold 12 world records including longest time juggling 7, 8, 9, 10, 11 and 12 rings, 6 ,7 and 8 clubs and 7, 8 and 9 balls. Totally not a big deal. When you watch the video below you will understand that this man can not possibly be from this planet.
Anthony Gatto can be compared to Neo from the Matrix. They both have absurd amounts of skill in their field, and Anthony Gatto is most definitely The One in juggling terms. Neo can stop 12 bullets from simultaneously hitting his face, and Gatto can stop 12 balls from doing the same thing. Maybe they are brothers!
Again....Just watch the video and your mind will understand
Juggling History: Combat
Combat is a juggling game, a very very fun juggling game. Combat, in its most typical form, consists of a number of players juggling three clubs each, attempting to interfere with other players' juggling, with the winner being the last to remain juggling three clubs — not necessarily those they started with. It gets very intense and very violent.
When you have 20 jugglers with clubs flailing around and clubs high in the air and clubs everywhere, people get hurt. But it is still fun. The point of the game is to throw one club high enough that you have time to take your other clubs and whack peoples clubs out of their hands. It may sound stupid, but if you watch the video below you will understand.
The idea of the public sphere was invented by Habermas and then reinvented by Aaron Barlow in terms of blogs. Well combat is like a jugglers public sphere, except people get severely injured and don't share any information. Oh, and to make things even more official there is a league MLC, Major League Combat.
Just watch the video...
When you have 20 jugglers with clubs flailing around and clubs high in the air and clubs everywhere, people get hurt. But it is still fun. The point of the game is to throw one club high enough that you have time to take your other clubs and whack peoples clubs out of their hands. It may sound stupid, but if you watch the video below you will understand.
The idea of the public sphere was invented by Habermas and then reinvented by Aaron Barlow in terms of blogs. Well combat is like a jugglers public sphere, except people get severely injured and don't share any information. Oh, and to make things even more official there is a league MLC, Major League Combat.
Just watch the video...
How to Juggle Three Clubs
Learning how to juggle clubs is like learning how to punch yourself in the face. It hurts 80% of the time. If you can comfortably juggle three balls for over 100 catches, then you are ready for clubs. In her book "Alone Together" Sherry Turkle talks about how High School students feel pressure from Facebook to fit in. Well, if you start juggling clubs, you will be in far too much pain to worry about Facebook, and so that problem will be solved!
My roommate, who I taught how to juggle the first week of school can now juggle three clubs for about 6 or so catches. Six catches with clubs is the equivalent of 50 catches with balls. yes, it is that much harder. Me and clubs have a love hate relationship, they are really fun to juggle, but I have lost the vision in my left eye.
I hope I am not discouraging anyone, I just want you all to be forewarned. Start with one, do it as many times as you can without dropping or hurting yourself, and slowly, very slowly go on to two or three. If you rush any of these steps your face and genitals will never forgive you.
My roommate, who I taught how to juggle the first week of school can now juggle three clubs for about 6 or so catches. Six catches with clubs is the equivalent of 50 catches with balls. yes, it is that much harder. Me and clubs have a love hate relationship, they are really fun to juggle, but I have lost the vision in my left eye.
I hope I am not discouraging anyone, I just want you all to be forewarned. Start with one, do it as many times as you can without dropping or hurting yourself, and slowly, very slowly go on to two or three. If you rush any of these steps your face and genitals will never forgive you.
Monday, December 5, 2011
Why Juggling=Good
We all know that juggling and hand-eye coordination have always gone hand in hand. No pun intended. But that is not the only positive affect on your body that you can receive from juggling. It has been proven multiple times that juggling leads to an increase in white matter and grey matter in your brain. White matter is one of the two components of the central nervous system. Not only does white matter increase, but your brain actually expands. A German study in 2004 of 24 non-jugglers showed that the half who juggled everyday for three months, came out with an "increase in gray matter in two areas of the brain involved in visual and motor activity, the mid-temporal area and the posterior intraparietal sulcus" (Medicalnewstoday.com).
Professor Sherry Turkle of MIT would certainly be pro-juggling if she heard that juggling not only gets you off the Internet, but makes your brain bigger. I'm going to go ahead and assume that Facebook does not do anything to help your brain. Probably neither does Google, Youtube, or those other sites that are often frequented online. EVERYONE SHOULD START JUGGLING. Our worries about the new age of technology and the Internet would be greatly diminished.
Juggling can be related to everything. Art's, Sports, Science, you name it and i'll find a way to incorporate juggling. On a side note it helped very greatly in getting me into college, nbd.
I will leave you with a quote from Jason Garfield, the President of the World Juggling Federation and my best friend.
"You call juggling a sport and people laugh, you call juggling an art and people laugh, when you say there is a juggle magazine people laugh a lot, you punch them in the face and they stop laughing"
Professor Sherry Turkle of MIT would certainly be pro-juggling if she heard that juggling not only gets you off the Internet, but makes your brain bigger. I'm going to go ahead and assume that Facebook does not do anything to help your brain. Probably neither does Google, Youtube, or those other sites that are often frequented online. EVERYONE SHOULD START JUGGLING. Our worries about the new age of technology and the Internet would be greatly diminished.
Juggling can be related to everything. Art's, Sports, Science, you name it and i'll find a way to incorporate juggling. On a side note it helped very greatly in getting me into college, nbd.
I will leave you with a quote from Jason Garfield, the President of the World Juggling Federation and my best friend.
"You call juggling a sport and people laugh, you call juggling an art and people laugh, when you say there is a juggle magazine people laugh a lot, you punch them in the face and they stop laughing"
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