chris bliss’ juggling is crap
March 13th, 2006 by Lawrence David
so apparently, there’s this video of a juggler/comedian – chris bliss – with a juggling routine choreographed to the beatles’ golden slumbers, floating around the internet.
and, it’s really pissed off professional juggler jason garfield (you may have seen him on espn’s televised showing of the national juggling competition). for some reason, garfield has written a 1200-word diatribe on bliss’ act. a sampling:
chris bliss’s juggling skill is crap. The most impressive thing he did was juggle for a long time and not drop. The juggling was not difficult at all and it’s not surprising that he did not drop, so it’s not that anyone should be amazed that he didn’t drop. But if you’re looking for the most impressive thing that he did in a routine chock full of unimpressive elements, it would be that he didn’t drop. He calls it the big finally. I don’t even understand why he juggles at all. His 3 ball skill is fair, good enough to make it three or four minutes without dropping. The world record for juggling 3 balls is over 11 hours, and the most difficult thing about that is staying awake and peeing.
what’s more, garfield has put together a juggling routine (involving 5 juggling balls!) to put chris bliss in his place. if you don’t quite understand how choreographing a competing juggling act is like a slap in the face, then you ought to go and watch west side story.
see the fireworks, both the rant and the video, here. both are just stunning.
I’ve seen both videos and Chris Bliss’s is infinitely superior.
Jason maybe wins on quantity (5 balls to Chris’s 3) but not on quality. Nor on anything else.
Frankly Jason is an idiot. His routine is just a cheap and embarrassing imitation of Chris’s. He’s got a couple of clever throws like the double spin at the end, but most of the time I had trouble staying awake watching him.
As for that bit where he stops throwing and just pretends to be an airplane going into a spin, what’s that all about? Pathetic.
Then there’s the bit in the middle where he misthrows to his right and has to react quickly to recover.
His routine is more like a series of boring set-pieces all bolted together in a clunky way. Chris’s routine, by contrast, is wonderfully seamless.
And here’s another thing. Jason’s video is terribly lit and was almost certainly done in several takes (to allow for him dropping the balls) in front of nothing more than a cameraman.
Chris did his act in front of a live audience, continuously.
The biggest difference for me though is that Chris does his routine totally in time to the music. Jason is mostly out of time. I can’t believe he released the video in that state. Obviously has no sense of rhythm.
Chris’s routine is original and classy and immaculately choreographed with care and sensitiviy. Jason’s routine has obviously been cobbled together in two minutes.
Who does he think he is? It’s just as well I wasn’t watching him at a live show, because I’d be seriously tempted to climb on stage and hit him.
Well that’s what I think and I should know because I’m a juggler too, though not as good as either of them.
len matlock, you are an idiot
chris is a hack, that one routine is 20 years old, has three moves and goes to any peice of musc