Drews Poi and Stick Video Blog

and steve the ninja should see this one :

http://www.atomfilms.com/af/content/fuggy_fuggy

Todays link was sent to me by Dave Moseph:
Der Lauf der Dinge: the way things go Peter Fischli and David Weiss in 1987
2 of my favorite modern artists
Some slightly different object manipulation... this is only a trailer
http://www.tcfilm.ch/pop_lauf1e.htm

Their pieces about balancing everyday objects are cool,
http://e-artplastic.chez-alice.fr/classe/sujet/art38.html
Their clay sculpture titled: "Mick Jagger and Brian Jones going home satisfied after composing I Can't Get No Satisfaction" (1981) charmed me somewhat. although its not much to look at.

You know that they considered sueing Honda after the "Honda advert", seeing as this story dissapeared, My guess is that Honda rapidly became generous patrons of their art in order to provent a PR nightmare

I've long been a fan of their work and it turns out that both Dave and I have got the full version, which goes on for about 45 minutes, and involves fire and chemicals and fireworks. Yay!

They also did somthing which would be of great interest to twirlers, look in the phaidon book of their work on pages 107-111. (Moseph you especially, I've been dreaming of making a 3D version for a few years)
Heres a hint:
http://www.artfacts.net/index.php/pageType/exhibitionInfo/exhibition/13212
No digital effects here - this a photo, and is created mechanically and has fired up my dreams recently

oh cool. I thought the honda commercial had been inspired by rube goldberg. (and dominos) But it's nice to see more of the same.

...

wow, wikipedia has lots of cool stuff. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rube_Goldberg

I was amazed by Der Lauf der Dinge many years ago. I picked up a copy when I was at Le Centre Pompidu.

Oh I'm so international.

thanks for the ninja cartoon drew everyone needs to have a horse with a ninja mask

No, no hug needed. (But I'll always take one )

I think there are some amazing magicians. Using camera tricks, edits, and special effects when you're "supposed" to be just showing street magic is dishonest. I do think it's a different level of dishonesty than regular magic.

I mean, you can CGI a world of aliens and sci fi... how hard can it be to special effect a card trick?

hey! that was MY link to the ninja horse *silk*



drew, do you want other vids posted in here? or hould we have copycat threads?

Other videos here.

This way it makes it easier for me.

Which is really all that matters.

yeah, cos fox are well-known as a reliable source of accurate information...

the levitation audience cuts from his first series are indeed camera tricks - he did the balducci levitation on the street and then they cut in the 4-5 foot wire levitation for the tv show

that lost blaine a lot of credibility.

still, using that one example to discredit the whole street magic genre is a bit weak don't you think?

have you seen criss angel's show at all?
it is variable quality but he still has some great tricks dotted through the series - the razor blades combined with needles from stomach trick completely blew me away.

still, if it ain't your bag, its not going to impress, no matter how high quality it is - cyril's 'amazing prediction' is about as high quality as it gets imho


cole. x

I was actually referring to that 'levitation' one among the ones you posted. The camera angles are very suspisious as are the audience participation. There are some clear helpers in the audience as well. I forget which one they are but it's kinda obvious when you see it.

Using camera tricks and plants completely discredits the idea of "street magic" and your boy is using camera tricks and plants.

Slight of hand is fantastic. Close up magic is difficult and takes years. SAYING you're doing close up magic or street magic when you're really just using camra tricks is stupid.

I'd be easy to spend some money to make a CGI video showing me juggling 14 balls. But if I posted it as real on a juggling site, I'd be a fraud.

Same with "street magic".

if suspicious camera angles spoil a trick for you then i guess stage illusions just aren't for you.

most stage illusions wouldn't work if the viewing angles were not carefully controlled by the performer.

the aim of street magic is to take stage illusion and turn it into close-up - those suspicious angles you mentioned can be reduced but they are always going to involved somewhere

Written by: nyc

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It would be easy to spend some money to make a CGI video showing me juggling 14 balls. But if I posted it as real on a juggling site, I'd be a fraud. Same with "street magic".

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that's a silly comparison dude - the point of magic is to make impossible things happen -
magicians are frauds by definition.

the idea is to fool you into believing that the impossible thing that just happened, actually did happen.
i have a feeling that anything you see on tv, you will dismiss since it could just be a special effect

as long as the performer can perform the effect live, i'm happy to watch a video of it - the audience reaction (staged or no) doesn't come into it.


i personally don't think cyril uses any camera tricks (i.e. cuts, heavily omitted sections of the stage or special effects) and i'm far from sure that there is a plant in that levitation (spotting a plant on a japanese tv show is quite a skill! ) - i guess you just don't dig this kind of entertainment.

of course, seeing magic performed live is generally a million times better since misdirection is far more powerful in person than it can ever be on a tv screen




cole. x

don't know what you're on about mech...

since this is drew's video thread and i've contributed towards its rapid descent into chatty discussion in his absence ( ), i'll offer up this little robotic-funk-induced-eye-nugget:

sony's qrio dancing like a crazy little bitch

so, who wants to go teach it to spin poi with me then...?


cole. x

ahh to hell with that.. I already have a gay snowman that spins poi...

Naa... you're missing my point Cole.

I'm all for camera angles when doing magic. It's specific editing and camera tricks that are specific to cameras that I find hypocritical when suggesting "street magic". I know it may sound arbitrary but I don't think using post-production editing is fair when shooting something as "street magic"... the same way I'm annoyed when those "reality shows" edit scenes together to make it appear that things have happened that really haven't. I don't think picking a random volunteer from the audience who's actually working with the magician says much for their slight of hand skills.

And I think that this video will serve to get Drew's video thread back on track and away from pesky Cole and his contrarification of my senseless critiques.

There's been quite an outbreak of artsy flash mobs in New York... I like it.

It's an obvious tip of the hat to the bouncyball commercial that you all seem to like so much.

Hmmm Well I've been a little bit bust with work over here in london land, and it just started hailing really hard, so the birds in the c-anal are looking a little bit bedraggled.
Part of why I haven't posted is because there have been an incredible flurry of videos posted in the last 2 weeks and I aven't felt a need for
_________________________________
Rob you asked if it was ok to poast links, I say yes please, BUT Only post a video/link that is brilliant or highly innovative in some way, and:
1) I haven't seen it before
2) and I haven't seen something in the same genre but better before.
3) Or it makes me laugh.
So If you're unsure wbout what or when to post here then PM me the link and I will decide, thats what quite a fel people have been doing, and hence I am very grateful to them for the links, the've been awesome - I don't reply to to PM's but I do reply when I post them here.
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Coleman: Huge thankies, I love robots, I love dancing, I love dancing robots.
Although I do think seriously that Sony are loosing thier cool, theres something about the brand I really don't like nowdays, and Qrio is starting to look a bit out of date too
Dance battle I would love to see:
Who would win - Sony qrio (colmans link above) Vs
Ringtone dancer: http://ringtonedancer.contagiousmedia.org/
(this is not a good video clip - it will not enhance your life in any way, it is very very bad, so bad that its kind of good again, but I think that Ring tone dancer and sony qrio have similar dance styles!)
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And NYC thatnks for the light graffiti artsy flash mob brilliance
I love that too, theres gotta be some burners in that crowd, although, really don't like the use of the ball bouncing advert music - its really too strong a reference which makes me suspicious that they are viral advertising for whatever that ball video was for! Damn cool.
_____________________________________________________________
Magic:The magician debate above I have been following with great interest, and I'm busy writting a lovely reply to it, I'm also hunting down a good video link to post today. as above ring tone dancer doesn't really count.

Smiles Dr Ew

Dear Drew,

My 4th period class is now completely addicted to the JCB song. As it was the last day before a week's vacation I said if they balanced all their equations we could watch the video during the last 5 minute of class. They were great and we all got to leave with a smile on our faces.

Thank you for making my day and the days of 26 hard working kids you'll never meet.

Rofl.. I finally relented to my 5yo and let him use a messenger program so I can help him with his reading and writing while at work.. and every morning for the last week, I get a message from him asking for the link to the JCB song :P.. It's just disgustingly cute.

Such a great vid..

I don't know if this is real, or he is a magician (ie its faked)
http://www.pistolwimp.com/media/41516/
Expect to see: a video of an old man appearing to support himself upside down on one finger while leaning against a wall

I think its a dodgy fake, I suspect that theres a support up in the wall, or perhaps there are wires.
Note: that you do not see the top of his feet!
That finger arm and hand don't look like they are under much strain. If you press with your index finger you will tend to see tighter definition in the tendons around the wrist

But I thought that this would be topical after the debate about magicians and David Blaine fakes.

Does it devalue the shaolin monks if we know that they fake some of their "spectacular feats of chi?"

its fun to watch anyway

Crazy.. I don't see any obvious indications of fakery.. You *do* see the top of his feet. Also, I thought he might be holding onto a wire with his other hand and that it might be obscured by the angle and the meeting of the two walls, but the angle changes further in the video and there is no wire. Also, his finger has obviously gone through strengthening, on both hands in fact... And I think you're seeing about as much stress to the wrist as you might see with that kind of feat and training.

Interesting find Thanks for sharing, as usual .

Mmm... I can't believe thats real, his finger would be at least bent back under the weight. I wonder if he's even upside-down at all, he could be standing on a platform we don't see and be the right way up, just touching the ceiling with his finger.

What makes me really suspicious is the fact we don't see him get up there or down, yet they show him stretching...

hai-tank (aka 'hai deng') was a great master but was not shaolin - he was a monk from another region, brought in to shaolin at a time when interest in the monks was being revived by the government and he was one of the first 'touring monks', visiting america in the 60's.

i think some fabrication crept in around that time regarding what the monks could make possible through harnessing qi

it is very possible that he could perform that skill when he was younger but that was filmed when he was in his 80's - i think they faked it

here is some footage of some 'normal' high-level kung fu finger skill: clickit

and here's a photo of someone demonstrating the two fingered technique:



?


and drew, what happened to your lovely reply...?
("The magician debate above I have been following with great interest, and I'm busy writting a lovely reply to it")


cole. x

i dunno, i've seen convincing film of that old dude doing finger stands... on the old docu-movie with jet li as a kid maybe?

POI POI POI today Watch these if you like poi:

http://www.loveandfire.de/index.htm
go to the gallery, there are 3 poi videos from Hamburg.
The're Nice videos of a poi community that I think is up and coming, Not overly technical or any thing like that, just nice and smilie, good attitude and great editing, expect to see a dog digging and "oh yeah".
I think that we will see some awesome videos to be coming out of hamburg soon.


Also Strugz Sent me this video of Yuta ....
edit:
Suibom adds a better link: if you don't want the silliness that is YouTube, then you can get the file directly here:
http://poicommunity.poke1.jp/net/bonenkai.html
It is fire6, and take a look at the rest of the community there as well:
http://poicommunity.nobody.jp/
/edit
...on You tube:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8kdpn72aVAs&search=poi
Some of the filming is not so good (classic overly dark filming of firespinning,) But being Yuta, the spinning is awesome mix of techinical and movement
Big thanks StrugZ and thanks to Yuta for all his videos, Always a joy to watch.


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Coleman and NYC: about Magic this is not brillaintly worded - sorry, but have a lot of work to do today, and I'm running late, so Youll have to have it like this:

With reference to camera/ editing trickery used by David Blaine

No matter what they say:
A magician is not a liar.
A magician is not a fraud.
A magician is not dishonest.
also
Never trust anything a professional magician says about their work.

Magic is deception, but its not a Lie nor is it dishonest, because in watching magician,
in esscence you, the audience, enter into a non-verbal agreement which goes something like this:
"The magician will deceive me (the audience) for the purpose of my entertainment."

This is reminicent of the debate around the movie "Fargo" by the Coen Brothers.
Fargo opens with: "This is a true story. The events depicted in this film took place in Minnesota in 1987. At the request of the survivors, the names have been changed. Out of respect for the dead, the rest has been told exactly as it occurred."
Thats not true. The film is fiction dressed up as fact,
and so, in a way, is a magic performance.

With up close street magic, you stage is moved into the street, the realm of real life, but it is still a "stage".
and the magican is still a performer - for your entertainment.

I had a big discussion with a magician friend - Karl from Sweden about this:
Magic gains a lot of audience from being on telly, but magic also suffers heavilly from being able to rewind and watch it repeatedly in slow motion!!! (And magicians really don't like TV and internet exposes.)
Karl presented David Blaines arguements that, when people were interviewed after watching the levitation trick in the street, and asked what they saw, they would say,
"Maaaan it was like totally incredible he levitated like a foot* off the ground." (*30cm)
Always they would remember it much higher than he actually went (less than 10cm!)
So in the fake with wires, he is showing it to the TV audience in the way that the people who were there remember actually seeing it.

Magicians are manipulating peoples perception of reality, rather than reality.
But in the now era, Technology can create for us, better magic than a magician

Therefore to complain that David Blaine use of editing of up close magic was "cheating" is incorrect,
he is a magician, and that goes with the terratory.
That being said, I whole heartedly agree with you Mr NYC, that it sucks, in the way that is leaves a bad taste in your mouth.
And knowing that DB is (untruthful) heavilly devalues his publicity stunt tricks like the box over the thames "with only water" for 40 days.
Because of this i rarely bother watching magic on screen anymore, for anything other that the quaility of the presentation. and certainly not DB.
Its rare that i can get that excited feeling of disbelief with magic on telly.
All TV magic: I know there are wires, I know they are "cheating", I know that the audience can all be plants and I know that it is edited afterwards. where's the entertaiment in that - only in the skill of the performer to tell a story.
Smiles
Drew

That Yuta vid is definitely fun.. if you don't want the silliness that is YouTube, then you can get the file directly here:
http://poicommunity.poke1.jp/net/bonenkai.html

It is fire6, and take a look at the rest of the community there as well:
http://poicommunity.nobody.jp/

Yuta's done a damn fine job (there's also an english translation of the site, look at the bottom of the menu column).

Ah, thanks Suibom - you rock always good to have a propper souce link
I'll update the post above.

Also, I forgot the PS on the post above: the Hamburg crew are using my orange poi, I've Just sent them a package of another 20 pairs of super orange poi, and even some super white poi!!
So more lovely orange poi happiness will be spread soon.
:Hugs: