Were those cubes in such a position that the juggler knew he needed to make "X" exact moves on each cube to solve them? I.e take out the mental equation?
I assume he has solved those exact cubes many times in preparation for this video.
If the audience game him 3 messed up cubes, *that* would be insane.
99% of cubing is done like this: look at cube to work out moves... do those moves.
In timed competitions, usually only the second step, actually doing the moves, is timed. For example, the world record was broken last month:
The record for doing all both steps, examining the cube and then solving, is a completely separate event:
Then you get events where the contestant can look at as many cubes as he/she wants, memorize them all, then solve them all, blindfolded, one after another. It's fucking nuts! Time spent memorizing can be hours, and solving 24 cubes from memory also takes a long time. Here's a video of someone finishing up 24 cubes:
"Total time: 2:15h Memorization time: ironically i can't remember..."
So you're exactly right in your first sentence, Ravi knew exactly which moves to make on all three cubes before he started juggling. That's standard for most cubing records. What makes it cool is that he's remembering all the moves, doing them in order over three cubes, with one hand, while throwing and catching it between each move, AND while juggling two other objects!
And you're totally wrong about your second sentence. He hasn't removed the mental equation. Nobody puts cubes into a set position and then does the same moves each time.
The audience COULD give him three messed up cubes and he would solve them. It might take some time for the memorization, but that's what cubing is all about.
Actually I just checked the video again. He looks at the cubes at the start. That's all he probably needs to know what kind of things he'll need to do to solve them. He's not doing it blind, of course, so memorization isn't a huge factor. Apparently the hardest part is throwing the cube so it lands in the right position in the hand doing the solving, which is why (as a right handed person) he's solving with the left hand and letting the right hand do the "work".
Alex Barron is a juggling monster. 15 catches with 13 balls is so far beyond anyone else at the moment it might be another 10 years before anyone is able to match or beat him:
Alex Barron is a juggling monster. 15 catches with 13 balls is so far beyond anyone else at the moment it might be another 10 years before anyone is able to match or beat him:
Even with 10 years, he will also presumably live for 10 years. So even if someone gets to 15/13 in 10 years, he should be beyond that by then.
Major League Combat is a joke. The teams are way too big, and the skill level is super low. All the best players are in Europe, fight solo or in teams of two, and can easily kick the ass of any of those guys.
To be clear, those guys are doing "kamikaze" attacks and being violent. Skillful combat players never get close to each other, because they know that if they do, one of them will get knocked out. Good combat plays a lot more like tennis, or chess, or something with strategy, and not some playground game which includes running into people or touching them at all.
I posted this in another thread a few days ago:
Notice how many times both Simon and I drop at the end and neither of use get a point? It happens just once by accident, and we both commiserate. Another time Simon does a stupid drop, so as a good sportsman I drop as well, on purpose, so as not to take a cheap point. Another time I hit Simon on the head, and he drops, and so I immediately drop on purpose too, again to be a good sport.
Now looking back at that MLC video, it's rare that anyone makes a good attack and keeps juggling! Any tournament or game designed so that kamikaze attacks are worth doing is badly designed in the first place, but even then good players wouldn't go anywhere close to shit players, so kamikaze attacks are worthless.
That video makes me sad, in a way, because it looks like a bunch of kids pretending to by combat players, but not understanding even the smallest part of what is going on.
I could have done it earlier, but let him go. I knew I'd be able to steal one of his clubs due to his style of play, and wanted to save something dramatic for the final point, to win in style.
To be honest, the reason I was so "sportsmanlike" was that I could easily have won this final round 5 points to 0. But that would have been super boring! I messed around for a while, just to make it interesting. The real dangerous opponent for me was in the semi-final. During that game I didn't mess around at all, and he still could have beaten me. You can see that from 2:50 on in the following video. I'm playing far more defensively, aggressively and, for two points, violently (attacking clubs in his hands, not in the air).
3 Club Combat was featured on the Colbert Report, but as they just showed the MLC video above, featuring really shit players doing pathetic juggling, the only right thing to do was to ridicule the entire sport.
At the EJC this year the old Luke vs Jochen rivalry was back in full effect! This was our favourite final ever (of the 5 or 6 finals we've fought together) and Juliane shot video from a good angle.
Highlights include: Lots of close calls and recoveries. Slipping on carpets and recovering. Steal a club out of the air to juggle 3. Steal a club out of the hand to juggle 4. Snapping a club in half... and see what happens next!
For a long time I thought Alex Barron was a one trick pony who just did big numbers well. Then I watched his recent video called "In the Garden" or something where he pulls off the most amazing 6 and 7 ball site swaps. I like him quite a bit more now.
Wow, that was neat to watch. I could not imagine trying to do that.
My record with 10 balls is 18 catches, in that same pattern. With a few years practice I might be able to get back to that level. Not sure about 30 though.
I can see why sync would be easier than async for big even numbers by why are you, David and Alex all doing wimpys instead of a sync fountain?
Because we're wimps. It's just way easier when it comes to running a pattern with 10 balls. To flash it's slightly easier to do synch fountain, but continuing means the balls bunch up too much at the top.
Looks great! I knew it was only a matter of time, as I watched Emil try this for ages last summer. I videoed him quite a bit with my iPhone, and this was his closest attempt: video on Facebook so can't embed it.
Anyone at RIT but not at PAX this weekend, the annual Juggle-In festival is on over the next three days. Drop by, as I think it's free. More importantly, go to the show on Saturday evening to see, literally, the best jugglers performing in the world at the moment (where "best" denotes coming out at a the top of a number of subjective and objective judgements).
After a conversation on Facebook, I've decided to set a new record for other jugglers to break. Lowest 9 ball flash! That's 9 throws and 9 catches of 9 balls, using the same rules as the JISCON, but with two new measurements:
1. Highest point of the highest ball in the pattern from the floor. 2. Lowest point of the lowest ball/hand from the floor from the start of the throwing motion of the first throw to the end of the catching motion of the last catch.
The two new records this can track is:
A. The lowest 9 ball flash from the floor to top of the pattern (so juggling sitting or kneeling down helps, and short people are at an advantage). B. The lowest "total pattern height" of the 9 ball flash (so purely about speed of throwing, control and catching reflexes).
I tried yesterday and today. Today I got the better "A" record (floor to top of pattern 236cm or 7 feet 9 inches) but due to the very low last catches the total pattern height was 172cm:
Yesterday I got a higher floor to top of pattern record (262cm) but the cleaner pattern meant the final catches were higher, and the total pattern height was 162cm.
I hope some other jugglers attach a tape measure to a pole, put it at the same plane as their hands, and try to beat my record. Or set records for other juggling patterns. I think the 86cm total pattern height of my 7 ball flash could be beaten.
Comments
I assume he has solved those exact cubes many times in preparation for this video.
If the audience game him 3 messed up cubes, *that* would be insane.
As it stands, it's still pretty amazing.
In timed competitions, usually only the second step, actually doing the moves, is timed. For example, the world record was broken last month:
The record for doing all both steps, examining the cube and then solving, is a completely separate event:
Then you get events where the contestant can look at as many cubes as he/she wants, memorize them all, then solve them all, blindfolded, one after another. It's fucking nuts! Time spent memorizing can be hours, and solving 24 cubes from memory also takes a long time. Here's a video of someone finishing up 24 cubes:
"Total time: 2:15h
Memorization time: ironically i can't remember..."
So you're exactly right in your first sentence, Ravi knew exactly which moves to make on all three cubes before he started juggling. That's standard for most cubing records. What makes it cool is that he's remembering all the moves, doing them in order over three cubes, with one hand, while throwing and catching it between each move, AND while juggling two other objects!
And you're totally wrong about your second sentence. He hasn't removed the mental equation. Nobody puts cubes into a set position and then does the same moves each time.
The audience COULD give him three messed up cubes and he would solve them. It might take some time for the memorization, but that's what cubing is all about.
To be clear, those guys are doing "kamikaze" attacks and being violent. Skillful combat players never get close to each other, because they know that if they do, one of them will get knocked out. Good combat plays a lot more like tennis, or chess, or something with strategy, and not some playground game which includes running into people or touching them at all.
I posted this in another thread a few days ago:
Notice how many times both Simon and I drop at the end and neither of use get a point? It happens just once by accident, and we both commiserate. Another time Simon does a stupid drop, so as a good sportsman I drop as well, on purpose, so as not to take a cheap point. Another time I hit Simon on the head, and he drops, and so I immediately drop on purpose too, again to be a good sport.
Now looking back at that MLC video, it's rare that anyone makes a good attack and keeps juggling! Any tournament or game designed so that kamikaze attacks are worth doing is badly designed in the first place, but even then good players wouldn't go anywhere close to shit players, so kamikaze attacks are worthless.
That video makes me sad, in a way, because it looks like a bunch of kids pretending to by combat players, but not understanding even the smallest part of what is going on.
To be honest, the reason I was so "sportsmanlike" was that I could easily have won this final round 5 points to 0. But that would have been super boring! I messed around for a while, just to make it interesting. The real dangerous opponent for me was in the semi-final. During that game I didn't mess around at all, and he still could have beaten me. You can see that from 2:50 on in the following video. I'm playing far more defensively, aggressively and, for two points, violently (attacking clubs in his hands, not in the air).
At the EJC this year the old Luke vs Jochen rivalry was back in full effect! This was our favourite final ever (of the 5 or 6 finals we've fought together) and Juliane shot video from a good angle.
Highlights include:
Lots of close calls and recoveries.
Slipping on carpets and recovering.
Steal a club out of the air to juggle 3.
Steal a club out of the hand to juggle 4.
Snapping a club in half... and see what happens next!
David Ferman (who had the previous record at 26 catches) in the YouTube comments:
"Congrats Alex! It's all yours, I'm not even going to try
Normally if someone beats your record you start training again and try to match or beat it. Alex is leaving everyone behind.
I've seen a few people do it to collect but to my knowledge he the first person to qualify afterward.
Dan Wood and David Leahy are crazy. They hold the 18, 19 and 20 ball world records.
1. Highest point of the highest ball in the pattern from the floor.
2. Lowest point of the lowest ball/hand from the floor from the start of the throwing motion of the first throw to the end of the catching motion of the last catch.
The two new records this can track is:
A. The lowest 9 ball flash from the floor to top of the pattern (so juggling sitting or kneeling down helps, and short people are at an advantage).
B. The lowest "total pattern height" of the 9 ball flash (so purely about speed of throwing, control and catching reflexes).
I tried yesterday and today. Today I got the better "A" record (floor to top of pattern 236cm or 7 feet 9 inches) but due to the very low last catches the total pattern height was 172cm:
Yesterday I got a higher floor to top of pattern record (262cm) but the cleaner pattern meant the final catches were higher, and the total pattern height was 162cm.
I hope some other jugglers attach a tape measure to a pole, put it at the same plane as their hands, and try to beat my record. Or set records for other juggling patterns. I think the 86cm total pattern height of my 7 ball flash could be beaten.