5 ms·

Great article but it makes no mention of Michael Moschen, who many (including me) consider the best & most creative juggler in the world. Here are some mind-bl

by pud 12y ago

Great article but it makes no mention of Michael Moschen, who many (including me) consider the best & most creative juggler in the world. Here are some mind-blowing physics that I think the HN community, in particular, would enjoy. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qjHoedoSUXY https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qjHoedoSUXY He's also well-known for "contact juggling," where the balls don't leave the hands: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8OTb8tga-yg https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8OTb8tga-yg

msellout 12y ago
It's easy to underestimate the precision necessary for those bounce throws.
- pepijndevos 12y ago
  It's even easier to think juggling is about catching, while it is entirely about throwing.
gcv 12y ago
I saw him perform a few years ago. It was off-putting: he spent a bunch of time during the show complaining about other people "stealing" his tricks, specifically contact juggling itself.
patrickdavey 12y ago
Ah - I do love a good contact juggling routine. I got to see this guy at the buskers festival in Christchurch NZ. They gave permission to reproduce one of their promo videos: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UB_I2YILI2o https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UB_I2YILI2o You might enjoy too :)
dasil003 12y ago
BTW, if you remember the crystal ball contact juggling that David Bowie does in Labyrinth, that was Moschen.
- rkuykendall-com 12y ago
  An amazing video about his performance in Labyrinth, which he did WITHOUT LOOKING: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3U8fTAHxjdo https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3U8fTAHxjdo
fixermark 12y ago
When I look at Moschen (and my personal favorite, Greg Kennedy), I'm reminded of the history of visual art (painting in particular). There was a time when being a great painter meant being able to capture a scene or a moment with verisimilitude or with emotion, and a painter could make a healthy living (possibly not opulent or luxurious, but not necessarily starve-in-the-gutter poor) by capturing portraits for clients who could afford that kind of opulence. It took a particular refined set of skills to translate the world of sensory data coming in through the eye to paint on canvas. The invention of photography basically gutted that kind of painting. People wonder why painting went to modernism and post-modernism; part of the story is that the entire skillset of "faithfully rendering the real" had been rendered economically obsolete by cameras, so an artist who didn't want to starve had to render something else. Similarly, it matters little how much discipline, effort, and grit it takes to perfect an on-stage juggling routine if the audience doesn't bother to come to the stage. Moschen and Kennedy's style brings people something they know they've never seen before, even though they don't know juggling. It's postmodern juggling. ;)
chimeracoder 12y ago
I was shocked to click on this article and realize that they were talking about someone other than Michael Moschen. I believe Moschen is the only juggler to have won a MacArthur "genius grant"[0] (He has also worked with David Bowie[1], which makes him not just a genius but a badass in my books, but I digress....) [0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_Moschen https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_Moschen [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Labyrinth_%28film%29 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Labyrinth_%28film%29
- munificent 12y ago
  As an amateur juggler, Anthony Gatto is exactly who I expected this to be about. The article perfectly nails the tension of juggling: it's theoretically a performance art, but one in which there is almost no audience who can appreciate it. I think it's akin to free jazz, or car shows, or other weird passions where eventually the experts can only be understood by other experts. I did find it weird that they made no mention of Vova's sister Olga. Did she leave juggling?
  - bitJericho 12y ago
    I wonder if it's like when I take a look at software and all anyone else can see is the output, but I can appreciate the underlying mechanisms and even be awe struck. And my colleagues are wondering if we're looking at the same thing.

by pud 12y ago

msellout 12y ago

It's easy to underestimate the precision necessary for those bounce throws.

pepijndevos 12y ago
It's even easier to think juggling is about catching, while it is entirely about throwing.

gcv 12y ago

I saw him perform a few years ago. It was off-putting: he spent a bunch of time during the show complaining about other people "stealing" his tricks, specifically contact juggling itself.

patrickdavey 12y ago

Ah - I do love a good contact juggling routine. I got to see this guy at the buskers festival in Christchurch NZ. They gave permission to reproduce one of their promo videos: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UB_I2YILI2o https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UB_I2YILI2o You might enjoy too :)

dasil003 12y ago

BTW, if you remember the crystal ball contact juggling that David Bowie does in Labyrinth, that was Moschen.

rkuykendall-com 12y ago
An amazing video about his performance in Labyrinth, which he did WITHOUT LOOKING: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3U8fTAHxjdo https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3U8fTAHxjdo

fixermark 12y ago

When I look at Moschen (and my personal favorite, Greg Kennedy), I'm reminded of the history of visual art (painting in particular). There was a time when being a great painter meant being able to capture a scene or a moment with verisimilitude or with emotion, and a painter could make a healthy living (possibly not opulent or luxurious, but not necessarily starve-in-the-gutter poor) by capturing portraits for clients who could afford that kind of opulence. It took a particular refined set of skills to translate the world of sensory data coming in through the eye to paint on canvas. The invention of photography basically gutted that kind of painting. People wonder why painting went to modernism and post-modernism; part of the story is that the entire skillset of "faithfully rendering the real" had been rendered economically obsolete by cameras, so an artist who didn't want to starve had to render something else. Similarly, it matters little how much discipline, effort, and grit it takes to perfect an on-stage juggling routine if the audience doesn't bother to come to the stage. Moschen and Kennedy's style brings people something they know they've never seen before, even though they don't know juggling. It's postmodern juggling. ;)

chimeracoder 12y ago

I was shocked to click on this article and realize that they were talking about someone other than Michael Moschen. I believe Moschen is the only juggler to have won a MacArthur "genius grant"[0] (He has also worked with David Bowie[1], which makes him not just a genius but a badass in my books, but I digress....) [0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_Moschen https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_Moschen [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Labyrinth_%28film%29 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Labyrinth_%28film%29

munificent 12y ago
As an amateur juggler, Anthony Gatto is exactly who I expected this to be about. The article perfectly nails the tension of juggling: it's theoretically a performance art, but one in which there is almost no audience who can appreciate it. I think it's akin to free jazz, or car shows, or other weird passions where eventually the experts can only be understood by other experts. I did find it weird that they made no mention of Vova's sister Olga. Did she leave juggling?
- bitJericho 12y ago
  I wonder if it's like when I take a look at software and all anyone else can see is the output, but I can appreciate the underlying mechanisms and even be awe struck. And my colleagues are wondering if we're looking at the same thing.