1998 IJA Highlights Video Review |
The IJA has repeatedly been criticized for being too American. They seem to have disproved that notion by having an overwhelming majority of Chinese and Russian acts in the "Foolish Exploits & Fabulous Feats" variety show. Anyway, these were some pretty spectacular acts - very technically demanding and well polished. That's one major advantage of holding conventions in the Las Vegas area.
To nail in their point, the IJA subtitled the Cascade of Stars: The European Show. With artistic style, creative moves, and skillful juggling, it was quite entertaining and a fresh break. It makes me proud to have moved from North America (if only my juggling would reflect that more...)..
Question: why was the yo-yo championships partially shown but with no record of the first place performer. The yo-yo champion has been an excellent highlight on this video in recent years (and much of the reason I've gotten into it again recently). Regardless, I was pretty amazed with what I did see - yo-yo certainly has come a long way..
As much as some of us like to criticize the IJA board, Chairman Sam Kilbourn was able to liven up what is generally one of the most boring parts of the Highlights video (after joggling, of course). Sam put up a valiant fight in the auction and helped fundraise a good amount of dollars by chasing someone into high numbers for some historic memorabilia.
In terms of video quality, the highlights was much better than the Championships video which I harped on. My biggest complaint is that some of the stage routines were dubbed over with different music, totally ruining the effect of the performance since you lose the artists intended presentation as well as the audience response.
Related to my opening comments, the highlights of the competitions also seemed to highlight the drops. In past years the editors were able to find short segments in each act that were more dropless. Some of the editing this year could have been two seconds earlier and presented the acts more favorably. I also think that many of the performers had better highlights than what was selected for the video. I also wouldn't mind if the highlights video one year showed that Brian Patz has other skills besides cigar boxes.
As someone else pointed out, the numbers juggling wasn't included in the video and the games also barely shown. The only consolation is that they didn't show the joggling!
I don't know if they made me a special ending or if everyone found out, but a post of mine to rec.juggling from a while back was answered - Yes, the IJA Board of Directors can juggle.