>>> Diabolo isn't too hard providing you take a bit of time - I think the basics are
>>> no harder than learning to juggle a regular 3-ball shower. It does look cool
>>> though!
>>
>> I can't juggle, and I don't suppose I ever will. It's far too hard.
>
> It's not as hard as you think, but it does require some patience, which is where
> most people fall down in my experience. Thinking back, perhaps it does require
> more time than a diabolo.

I can't catch. Literally, somebody will throw something to me from a few 
feet away, and I can't catch it. I'm hopeless.

>>> You should try the devil's stick (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Devil_stick) too
>>> - quite a bit harder, but some of the tricks are much more dynamic and
>>> impressive.
>>
>> Yeah, they had one of those too. It looks very boring to watch though.
>
> Just knocking it back and forth in the pendulum doesn't look that great, but
> that's just the tickover between tricks - the throws and twirling are cool!

OK, well then I guess my two circus freaks just aren't very good at that 
then.

The guy can do impressive things with a pole though. You know, the whole 
whirling it around you, in front of you, behind you, round your head, 
etc. It's mind-blowingly difficult to actually do that yourself...

Also interesting was when they were just casually standing around, and 
the next thing I know she's standing on his shoulders. That's not 
something you see every day. (!!)

I think Rock & Roll dancing is like the dance equivalent of crazy circus 
tricks. When you're just standing around chatting and suddenly you start 
dancing with your hands behind your back or twirling each other around 
in what looks like an impossibly crazy pattern, it's quite striking and 
unexpected.

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Invisible <voi### [at] devnull> wrote:
> I can't catch. Literally, somebody will throw something to me from a few
> feet away, and I can't catch it. I'm hopeless.

Well, perhaps you have a little further to go than some, but catching is a skill
that must be learned and practiced like any other. It definitely helps to have
some skill at catching already, but even people who can catch well find learning
to juggle a little tricky at first. There's a tendency to instinctively throw
away from yourself, so you need to relearn the throw/catch reflex.

I've known people who were hopeless at catching learn to juggle. There are some
good tutorials on youtube if you don't know anyone who can teach you!

Or just get really good at the diabolo. As you say, it does look cool :)

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Invisible <voi### [at] devnull> wrote:
> On 05/09/2010 09:28 PM, Orchid XP v8 wrote:
> > Fun, isn't it?

> So I'm guessing nobody knows what the hell I'm on about...

> http://www.diabolotricks.co.uk/

> In just a few hours, I managed to learn the Floor Start, the High Throw, 
> the Trapeze and even a variation on the Trapeze which doesn't seem to be 
> listed here. I believe it's called Cat's Cradle.

> I'm really quite impressed at how good I managed to get in such a short 
> space of time. And it's really awesome fun to do.

  You have to juggle four of them at the same time.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ri_nV5TZ5LE

-- 
                                                          - Warp

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Am Tue, 07 Sep 2010 14:36:46 -0400 schrieb Warp:

> Invisible <voi### [at] devnull> wrote:
>> I'm really quite impressed at how good I managed to get in such a short
>> space of time. And it's really awesome fun to do.
> 
>   You have to juggle four of them at the same time.
> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ri_nV5TZ5LE

BTW, that was filmed at the European Juggling Convention 2008 in 
Karlsruhe, Germany. I'm planning to learn more contact juggling (this 
thing, it is surprisingly difficult:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6iC3b5JnSIE

and then go to the EJC 2011, which will be in Germany again (Munich),

http://ejc2011.org/

 maybe just as a visitor, but I'm sure one can learn a lot there. So 
maybe we can make an inofficial povray jugglers meeting there :)

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Am Wed, 08 Sep 2010 02:36:13 -0400 schrieb Florian Pesth:

> Am Tue, 07 Sep 2010 14:36:46 -0400 schrieb Warp:
> 
>> Invisible <voi### [at] devnull> wrote:
>>> I'm really quite impressed at how good I managed to get in such a
>>> short space of time. And it's really awesome fun to do.
>> 
>>   You have to juggle four of them at the same time.
>> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ri_nV5TZ5LE
> 
> BTW, that was filmed at the European Juggling Convention 2008 in
> Karlsruhe, Germany. I'm planning to learn more contact juggling (this
> thing, it is surprisingly difficult:
> 
> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6iC3b5JnSIE

Also for different styles, this is nice:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1-ctefchZGw

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Florian Pesth <fpe### [at] gmxde> wrote:
> Karlsruhe, Germany. I'm planning to learn more contact juggling (this
> thing, it is surprisingly difficult:
>
> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6iC3b5JnSIE

Wow. Never seen it done that well before. And the ball is a natural hook for a
povray user ;)

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Am Wed, 08 Sep 2010 04:07:35 -0400 schrieb Bill Pragnell:

> Florian Pesth <fpe### [at] gmxde> wrote:
>> Karlsruhe, Germany. I'm planning to learn more contact juggling (this
>> thing, it is surprisingly difficult:
>>
>> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6iC3b5JnSIE
> 
> Wow. Never seen it done that well before. And the ball is a natural hook
> for a povray user ;)

Indeed :). <povray ontopic>Some use even chrome spheres</ontopic>

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On 9/8/2010 2:36 AM, Florian Pesth wrote:
> Am Tue, 07 Sep 2010 14:36:46 -0400 schrieb Warp:
>
>> Invisible<voi### [at] devnull>  wrote:
>>> I'm really quite impressed at how good I managed to get in such a short
>>> space of time. And it's really awesome fun to do.
>>
>>    You have to juggle four of them at the same time.
>> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ri_nV5TZ5LE
>
> BTW, that was filmed at the European Juggling Convention 2008 in
> Karlsruhe, Germany. I'm planning to learn more contact juggling (this
> thing, it is surprisingly difficult:
>
> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6iC3b5JnSIE
>

I have seen that type of stuff done before, I would swear there was a 
gyroscope in the sphere to do some of those tricks.

Now you have added another thing to my 'must learn list'. Looks like 
that would blend very well with fan form taiji.

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On 9/7/2010 4:35 AM, Invisible wrote:
> On 07/09/2010 09:28 AM, Invisible wrote:
>
>> In just a few hours, I managed to learn the Floor Start, the High Throw,
>> the Trapeze and even a variation on the Trapeze which doesn't seem to be
>> listed here. I believe it's called Cat's Cradle.
>
> Yeah, that's right. Wikipedia lists it:
>
> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diabolo#Fundamental_tricks
>
> It doesn't sound like much, but it looks damned cool!

How do you avoid tying the string in knots? It looks like some of those 
moves would put loops around the axel; I guess that is part of learning 
the tricks.

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On 20/09/2010 11:01 PM, Sabrina Kilian wrote:

> How do you avoid tying the string in knots? It looks like some of those
> moves would put loops around the axel; I guess that is part of learning
> the tricks.

One of the tricks is indeed to put a loop around the axle. This allows 
the string to impart greater speed to the diabolo. The trick is to then 
unwrap it again. (I always seem to end up unwrapping in the wrong 
direction...)

But yeah, sure, designing new tricks is more difficult than you'd 
imagine, partly for this reason. ;-)

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