From Cirque over Hoola Hoops to Dytec PC

If you think that I did not write and do much at my blog then you are mistaken. Instead of writing some new posts I did update some existing ones instead.

My Cirque du Soleil Primer was extensively expanded for example. I did learn a lot about the Cirque during the past few weeks and had contact with several people like me who are Cirque du Soleil fans like me (some even more crazy than I am, can you believe that?! :) )

I submit the primer to Digg.com myself, which is never such a splendit idea, but I thought "what the heck." and just did it. Nobody else seems to agree with me that it is actually great content. I hope that I am not wrong about this and would appreciate, if you could show me, if you like it by adding a comment to this post or at the primer itself and/or Digg the Primer post, if you have a Digg.com user account.



I also worked on more video content. I don't write a post here at my blog for every video that I upload to my two YouTube accounts and elsewhere on the Internet. Here you only get some of the highlights :).

If you like what I publish, I suggest to subscribe to my channel(s) directly after you created your own account at the video sharing website.

I upload all my videos to either my SACRELEASES channel or my CARSTENSVLOG channel on YouTube.com. You can find links to the profiles and feeds at other video sharing websites on this page, among the links to other social networks and webmaster forums where I have an account.

I do not publish ALL of my videos to the other online video sites. I try as much as I can, but there are several problems that make this task not as easy as I would like to plus some videos are taken down (or not up in the first place) by some of the sites. I don't want to get into this debate about those problems here and now. I plan to deal with the subject in great detail one other day and at another blog.

Here is one video that I recently published and believe to be worthwhile to write about here at my blog. It contains Hoola Hoops circus performaces by various performers, some from Cirque du Soleil and others who are not involved with the Cirque at all. I edited it together from over a dozen individual video sources, which I also re-edited and cut prior putting them together again for this video.

The background music is the song "ANSI" by Logic Bomb from the DefCon 15 (Hacker Conference) Sampler "Extra Nanosecond" mixed by DJ Shadowvex, where I created the cover for last year. The song does not only have a cool name (ANSI hehe), but also fits the visuals very nicely.



Backup Link to Video at YouTube

I hope you like and enjoy the video. Just as a heads up. I did spend some time on the legacy of Dytec (Dynamic Technologies).

I created a tribute video, which is a remix of a lot of things about the German games cracking group where I had the pleasure to be its leader for the PC section for a while. There is more to come, so keep your eyes open :)



Backup Link to Video at YouTube

This video was a heck of a lot of work and consists of over 60 individual pieces of video, audio and images. The inspiration came from the dancing Lemmings animation and the background music by Pitty/Dytec.

This was actually the beta for a Dytec PC Intro/Demo project, which was never finished and never released. The Lemmings that dance to the techno beats of Pitty's oldskool Amiga Pro-Tracker module titled "Pitty in Concert" were very cool and funny and it is sad that nothing of it was released back in those old days. I hope that my tribute video will make up for this oversight a little bit.

Cheers!
Carsten aka Roy/SAC

New Cirque du Soleil Videos, A World Record and More Cirque

I produced a number of new Cirque du Soleil videos in the past few weeks, but did not get around until now to write another post.

I found some parts of the special Cirque performance titled "Reflections in Blue" (Réflexions de bleu), which was performed as part of the opening ceremonies for the XI. World Aquatics Championships FINA in Montreal, Canada on June 15, 2005.

I found recordings of two of the seven or eight parts (I am not sure about the actual number), the acts "The Mermaid" (La sirène) with Bolormaa Zorigtkhuyag that is similar to the water bowl contortion act in the Las Vegas Cirque show “Zumanity” and the act titled "Midnight Dancer" (Danseur de la nuit) with Anatoly Zalievsky, a very acrobatic act to the timeless music by Yanni.


Backup link to video at YouTube

Here are some interesting quick stats for this one-time performance:

• The venue was three times the size of the KÀ theatre.
• The swimming pool was made to look like the sea by lining it with a giant blue sheet that covered the bottom and the perimeter of the pool.
• The projection screen at the back of the pool was 18 m (60') wide by 7 m (24') tall.
• Over 200 volunteer performers took part in the show.
• Three quarters of the participants were women.
• The performers ranged in age from under 10 years old to over 50 years old.
• Twenty-three cameras were used to shoot the performance for television.
• Spectators played a role in the show by launching paper birds.
• For the bungee (flying fish) act, a 53-metre (175-foot) crane extended out over the basin.
• Some of the music for the show was taken from We Reinvent the Circus, Nouvelle Expérience, Alegría, La Nouba and "O".

Some Credits for the Creators and Featured Performers:

• Director: Guy Caron and Fernand Rainville
• Creator and Director of Creation: Lyn Heward
• Costume Designer: François Barbeau
• Set Designer: Jean-François Bouchard
• Acrobatic Rigging Designer: Jacque Paquin
• Music Composers: René Dupéré, Benoît Jutras, Violaine Corradi, Martin Lord Ferguson, Ella, Créations Méandres
• Musical Directors: Martin Lord Ferguson and Ella
• Choerographers: Denise Sauvé, Debbie Brown and Catherine Archambault
• Projections Designer: Erick Villeneuve
• Lighting Designer: Alain Lortie
• Puppeteer: Michael Curry
• Makeup Designer: Eleni Uarnis
• Props Designer: Patricia Ruel
• Featured performers : Sébastien Allard, Sam Alvarez, Zorigtkhuyag Bolormaa, Eliane Bonin, Mason Davis, Dessy Di Lauro, Sébastien Duval, Chantale Gallant, Akian Gaudette, Manon Gauthier, Charlyne Guay, Reda Guérinik, Ronnie le Grand, Isabelle Michon-Campbell, Isabela Moraes, Carolina Moraes, Patrick Paquette, Didier Pasquette, Laurence Racine-Choinière, Karl Sanft, Stéphane Verdie, Anatoly Zalievsky

I am currently searching for video recordings of the missing parts to create a video with the whole performance as I did in the past for several other special event performances by the Cirque. If you happen to know anybody who has a recording, please let me know.

Another Special Performance

I also found some snippets of the Cirque’s special performance on August 28, 2007 for the opening ceremony of the Venetian Macao Resort Hotel in Macau, China by the Las Vegas Sands Corporation (Sheldon Adelson), which will be the home of a new Cirque show later this year.

The Grand Opening for this new Cirque Du Soleil with the working title "Cosmos" or “Macau I” is scheduled for August 29, 2008. Here is an one minute clip of the performance.

Macao Special Performance 1 minute snippet.


Backup link to video at YouTube

The Cirque at the 2008 Grammy's

Cirque du Soleil's tribute to The Beatles "A Day In The Life" and Carol Wood and Timmy Mitchum (from "Across the Universe") performed "Let It Be" at the 50th Grammy Awards in Los Angeles, California on February 10th, 2008.

The performance includes music and artists from the popular Cirque du Soleil show The Beatles "Love", which is currently running at the Mirage Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas, Nevada.
You can see the whole video recording of the performance here.

Grammy Awards 2008 performance video.


Backup link to video at YouTube

World Record by Teenage Kooza Performers

And last but not least the Guinness World Record™ for the Highest Circus Act ever performed.

Natasha Patterson, Julie Bergez and Dasha Sovik, the tree teenage contortion artist of Cirque du Soleil's latest touring show "Kooza" set in September, 2007 a new Guinness World Record for the Highest Circus Act ever performed. I created a special video for that, which includes the performance by the three girls.


Backup link to video at YouTube

That's it for now, enough videos already. Four videos might cause already a problem for the browser of one or the other reader of this post.
Make sure that you check out my fresh updated Cirque du Soleil Primer with even more videos and other goodies.

Cheers!
Carsten aka Roy/SAC

Criss Angel and Cirque du Soleil - "Believe"

Just two days ago Criss Angel announced the official name for his new show, a partnership project with Cirque du Soleil.

The show will premiere on September 12, 2008 at the Luxor hotel and casino in Las Vegas, Nevada.

The name of the show will be "Believe".

Watch the video of Criss Angel where he annouces the title of the show and why he choose this title below.



Backup link to video at YouTube.com.

Also announced was the contest "See It to Believe It!", which is free to enter for anybody, running from April 17th to June 14th, 2008.

The Grand Prize includes:

• Round trip economy airfare for two;
  
• 2 premium seats to the Gala Premiere of Believe on September 12, 2008;
  
• 2 nights in a Pyramid Spa Suite at the Luxor;
  
• The opportunity to meet Criss Angel in person;
  
• Access to the private premiere after-party;
  
• US $ 500 cash spending money.
  

Visit CirqueDuSoleil.com/CrissAngel for show details and to enter the contest.

About "Believe"
CRISS ANGEL Believe™ will be a haunting exploration deep inside the inventive mind of mystifier Criss Angel as he hovers between the land of the living and a surreal world uniquely woven together by the distinctive imaginations of Criss Angel and Cirque du Soleil.

Unlike traditional magic-themed shows, CRISS ANGEL Believe™ transcends any preconceived notion of what it means to be emotionally engaged by the arts of mysticism and illusion. Imagine a fantasy, an allegory, a highly theatrical tableau of mood, reverie and emotion set against a backdrop of dreamlike darkness and light.

Criss Angel stars as a surreal, enigmatic Victorian Noble. Along a path of imaginative exploration, he encounters Kayala and Crimson, two women who represent different aspects of femininity, four bizarre Ushers, who will introduce the audience to the baroque theater of Criss’s mind and a high-energy troupe of characters and dancers who mix a multitude of styles into a high-energy visual feast, punctuated by moments of grace and sensuality.

The stunning illusions in CRISS ANGEL Believe™ will not be presented as standalone elements, but as interdependent components using heightened imagery, fantastical creatures and impossible feats of legerdemain, all of which will be integrated into the dazzling, colorful fabric of the story.

Remarks
If you don't know who Criss Angel is, check out the videos here.

I was mentioning the upcoming show already several months ago and I am really looking forward to this new show. The mix of magic and arcobatic will be interesting to watch. If you are not familar with Cirque du Soleil, check out my Cirque primer.

Cheers!
Carsten aka Roy/SAC

Cirque du Soleil's KA Extreme and Delirium Videos

I finally got around to work with the last of the Cirque du Soleil documentary/making of DVD's, "KA Extreme". I got almost 10 minutes of show footage out of it, about as much as I got out of "Lovesick", the DVD to Zumanity, a bit more than I got out of the Kooza DVD "A thrilling ride through Kooza", but a lot less than from "Flow", the "O" tribute and "The mystery of Mystere" where I was able to get 20 or even close to 30 minutes of actual show footage out of the DVDs.

The audio for this video was taken mostly from the official soundtrack of "KA", which is like the DVD "KA Extreme", available at the Cirque du Soleil stores online and offline.



Backup link to video at YouTube.

While the following video for the Cirque du Soleil arena show "Delirium" is not based on a DVD (because there is none), so is it still over 6 minutes in length and consists of various snippets of content that I found at various places on the internet. Some sources were official Cirque ones, others were not.



Backup link to video at YouTube.

That's it, now I have to wait for new releases on DVD or other sources of quality video footage from Cirque du Soleil shows. Well, there are a few more shows coming this year, so I probably do not have to worry too much :).

Btw. If you like the videos, but never watched a Cirque du Soleil show live, I can only encourage you to spend the money at least once and watch a Cirque du Soleil show in person.

No video can capture the actual show experience. This is no joke, Cirque du Soleil shows are infamous for having several things going on at the same time. Even a very good multi angle DVD recording of one of their shows does not (for the once where they have multi angle recordings of the show on DVD, see my Cirque primer) and will never not get the same experience across as if you would be sitting in the venue with all the others to enjoy (and maybe even interact with) the show.

For more content and information to Cirque du Soleil, visit http://RoySAC.com/cirque, which redirects to my very comprehensive Cirque du Soleil primer article that I wrote not very long ago. I created the alternative URL, because it is easier to remember than the full URL to the actual blog post.

Enjoy the videos! Cheers!
Carsten aka Roy/SAC

100 Pieces of Nude ASCII Art Available Now!

Some quick, but exciting news. I introduced last summer my 30 Years of Naked ASCII Art gallery with 30 astonishing examples of text art that depict female nudity as motive for the pieces.

I expanded the gallery significantely today. I added a whopping 70!!! additional pieces. The gallery is 100 pictures big, or 200, if you count that every picture is available in the gallery in two different versions, one with black font on white background and another with white font on black background.

Here is how the selection screen looks like (image is a slightly scaled down version of the action selection screen due to space limitation at my blog)



I was so excited that I also created a banner animation to promote the gallery.



You can put it on your website as well, if you like to.
Here is the code:


<a href="http://www.roysac.com/asciinudes/" target="_blank"><img src="http://www.roysac.com/banners/nudeascii468x60b.gif" border="0" title="100 pieces of NUDE ASCII art"></a>


Enjoy!

Cheers Carsten aka Roy/SAC