COMPUTER JUGGLING

 

"The Juggler." Computer program for Apple lIe. By Bruce Love, 40 Mansel Ave. , Hamilton , New Zealand . $20.

 

For computer buffs, Bruce Love's "The Juggler" program offers the opportunity to create fantasy juggles and watch them executed on the screen. Beside the ability to invent and test juggles, the 5 1/2" disk

could be helpful in communicating patterns.

 

It comes with 11 three and four ball juggles resident in the program. Following the easily read menus, cascades and showers pop onto the screen and do their dance in slow motion (no graphically depicted hands or jugglers, just balls moving on a blank screen).

 

Those who enjoy diagramming juggles on paper will certainly benefit from this tool. But creation of custom juggles requires time and attention to the accompanying 12-page manual. It tells you how to set "states" to make your own patterns. States include hold time, horizontal and vertical velocity and position, and the vertical end. You can work with up to 15 balls, but defining the program naturally becomes more tedious as the number of balls increases. You can constantly test your creation to see what's working.

 

The "Juggler" disk is a first of its kind. It is limited by its compatibility with only the Apple lIe machine and the tediousness of creating new juggles. However, it opens a door to computer aided pattern design that will undoubtedly lead to juggling programs too fantastic to now imagine. To get a copy, send your $20 cash or money order to the author at the above address.

 

"Dr. Dropo's Comic Juggling Routines." by Bruce Fife. 1985, Java Publishing Co., Box 1564 , Bellaire , Tex. 77401 . $7.95.

 

When Bruce Fife first decided to become Dr. Dropo, he had only seen one performance of a comic juggler. "I would've given a lot to have had a book like this at the time," he says in the introduction.

 

The book is a compilation of 22 scripted comic routines that beginners can use verbatim or adapt to their own style. Fife hopes they do the latter. He states, "In order to present a good juggling act and become successful, you need to develop your own material... Routines presented in this book provide a starting point to develop an original act."

 

But he reveals far more than ideas. Each routine begins with a list of props needed and a basic outline. He follows that with a detailed description of every word spoken and every move. Most require only basic juggling skill, and some, such as mosquito juggling, rely strictly on comedy dialogue and mime. Besides solo juggling and comedy, the routines use ventriloquism, partner juggling, clowning and audience participation.

 

The 93 page 5 1/2 "x 8 1/2" book is a workbook, and not a coffee table volume. It is reproduced from typewriter copy and soft-covered. There are no illustrations except those conjured up in the reader's mind as he or she follows the scripts.

 

People who want to develop an act for birthday parties or street comers, but who don't know where to start, will find this book a blessing.