Another year has come and gone, and it is time to take a look back at some of the good, the bad, and the interesting happenings in the world of object manipulation this past year.

2011 continued the trend of juggling branching out more online. Not just in the form of new jugglers and hobbyists to gain exposure, but in the realm of online video competitions. Jugglingstore.com had their first ever video contest, as did Gravitas juggling.  The IJA had their second annual video tutorial contest, which not only added many great tutorials to the world of juggling videos, but also offered many great prizes to its winners.

Records were set in 2011 as well. Numbers juggling beast Alex Barron became quite possibly the first person in documented history to flash 13 balls, and he also set a new record in 12 balls with 16 catches. Anthony Gatto dusted off his competitive spirit and set a stunning new record in 7 balls with a time of 11 minutes and 37 seconds.

The year saw the usual big juggling conventions. In its first time implemented, the IJA was able to use money from its anonymous iiWii donor in the form a festival fun fund which was spent on the 2011 festival in Rochester, MN. This funding added elements like an obstacle course, a jugglers’ lounge, and aided in sprucing up some of its additional functions, such as the joggling, and the extreme juggling competitions. On the sport juggling side of conventions, 2011 saw the WJF continue to evolve and shift from pure sport juggling towards a more diverse realm of manipulation, as their WJF 7 convention featured a ring isolation specialist headliner and a festival invasion of kendamaists. Unfortunately, not all festivals were well received, as some problems with the EJC 2011 in Munich, Germany led to a number of complaints from festival goers.

What does 2012 hold for the world of juggling? Surely there are many interesting developments to come. For instance, the IJA has announced a discontinuation of Juggle magazine in favor of a new eZine for 2012. There will no doubt be many exiting happenings on the horizons. Now, let’s juggle our way into a new year!

Best Catches is a sifter for the unplugged, the lazy, and the busy. It’s a bi-weekly roundup of the freshest juggling videos, forum topics, and blog posts – in short, it does a lot of work so you don’t have to.

::  Mura unleashes some three ball madness in Patterns 4.

::  Juggle Dave and Alex Barron attempt to juggle 14 balls for the first time.

::  Ty Tojo unloads seven ball backcrosses live and on stage.

::  Luke Burrage gets magical in One One Ring Routine.

::  In his forth installment, Skeletor shows off some new moves with buugeng.

::  Richard Kohut has posted his latest juggling video offering with Kinetic / Potential.

::  53 Amazing Double-Shower Variations?!  Now that’s a lot of showering!

::  Thom Wall has posted a new video of an old routine online.

::  Pavel Evsukevich presents a live recording of his piece “Over Darkness“.

::  Fourth Shape has performance clips up of Objectify, a new show by Jay Gilligan.

::  Bob and Trish get into the holiday spirit.

::  Vova Galchenko goes bananas with clubs in his new practice video.

::  Josh Turner takes a rest and tries something different.

Occasionally, musicians will meet up with other musicians just to hangout and have a jam session. The same can hold true for jugglers, as Jorge Petit and Marco Paoletti demonstrate in this video. Sometimes you just gotta jam!

Voting for the top 40 jugglers of the year is now open! Go to the comments section of this video and list your 10 favorite jugglers of the year to cast your vote.

Best Catches is a sifter for the unplugged, the lazy, and the busy. It’s a bi-weekly roundup of the freshest juggling videos, forum topics, and blog posts – in short, it does a lot of work so you don’t have to.

:: Viktor Kee has a new video up of a 2010 performance at the Hansa Theatre in Hamburg.

::  Bob and Trish show off some Fall 2010 juggling highlights in Colors.  The duo is currently on the Brooks Joggle Happy Tour.

::  Lauge Benjaminsen takes his Dubstep Juggling routine to the stage.

::  Chris Hodge’s Winter Presentation 3 Club Routine at the Quebec Circus School is online as well as his Juggling #6 video.

::  Azo’s 2011 Showreel has been posted.

::  Renegade Juggling has launched their new website, complete with new layout and products.

::  Mura displays his December 2011 practice.

::  Reuben then shows off some tricks inspired by Mura.

::  The Vulcan’s 10th edition of the Prop Chronicles is now out.

::  The WJF will be holding WJF 7.5 at the Seattle Juggling Festival.   The organization has also just released the WJF 7 DVD.

::  Harry Levine of the Flying Karamazov Brothers is profiled in the latest AARP magazine.

::  Peter Brunette unloads some monsterous slam and shuffle variations in his first juggling video in four years.

::  Ouka has posted a recent ringarts stage performance from France to his channel.

::  Jorge Petit does some city juggling in his Fresh new video.

This short film was shot around 1907, and is quite possibly the first juggling movie ever made. It tells the story of a juggler who runs amok in public, manipulating everything from a restaurant’s plates to a woman’s baby. Poor guy just couldn’t help himself from trying to juggle everything in sight once he stepped into the outside world. I can relate.

Best Catches is a sifter for the unplugged, the lazy, and the busy. It’s a bi-weekly roundup of the freshest juggling videos, forum topics, and blog posts – in short, it does a lot of work so you don’t have to.

::  Alex Barron has posted a cleaner 13 ball flash.

::  Steve Hoggan has some fun experimenting with Angled Surface Juggling.

::  Doug Sayers’ winning ring routine from WJF 7 is now online.

::  Mura shows off some recent practice footage of creative ball patterns.

::  The ring manipulation juggling film Dadaolta is now available.  Watch the trailer here, and purchase it here.

Jugglers are often said to be very good at multitasking, whether it be juggling while balancing something on their face, bouncing a ball while spinning rings, or in the case of this guy, preparing yourself a nutritious breakfast while riding a unicycle.

Best Catches is a sifter for the unplugged, the lazy, and the busy. It’s a bi-weekly roundup of the freshest juggling videos, forum topics, and blog posts – in short, it does a lot of work so you don’t have to.

:: SIL-X Implosion balls are now available in 67mm.  Purchase the new size here and here.

::  Chris Hodge has posted a compilation video of all of his 30 seconds of juggling videos that were posted over the summer.

::  Josh Turner shows off his pattern stacking abilities when he does a fdb97531 to collect.

::  Cyrille Humen brainstorms up some creative poi manipulations.

::  Wes Peden has clips of his renegade act from the ZirkuLaer juggling convention up.

::  Gandini Juggling has posted a promotional video for their new piece entitled “Blotched“.

::  Luke Burrage battles himself in a game of combat.

::  Illinois Central has a video story up on WJF 7.

::  Ori Roth’s video “Happy Oree Friends – Pretty Trippy Party” is now available to watch for free.

This started as a bit of a joke between some friends and I. I thought it was funny enough to share.