Moments in History - The Fall of the Berlin Wall

It is now about three month ago that I wrote about the Version 4 of my Berlin Wall video.

Since then I got visited by my family who brought with them four DVDs (actually 7, because two of the DVDs are an entire series) that I had ordered from Amazon.de and shipped to my parents address in Berlin, Germany.

All of the DVDs are documentaries in German language about East Germany and the Berlin Wall. They provided me with tons of new or better material that I decided to work on a Version 5 of my Berlin Wall video. This will probably take a while, so I decided to create another very short video just about the events surrounding the night when the Berlin Wall fell on November 9, 1989.

I got already a bunch of positive feedback on Facebook.com and online video sharing web sites where I uploaded the video too. Judge for yourself, here it is.

Moments in History - The Fall of the Berlin Wall from Carsten Cumbrowski on Vimeo.

Of course is the video also available for download in AVI format from Mediafire.com again, here is the Link.

To expand the reach of my videos, I decided to create an account at Archive.org and uploaded this video as well as my 30 minutes long Berlin Wall video V4.0. They are accessible here and here.

I watched in the past months several videos that are about the nuclear holocaust and its horrors. Those videos were a mash-up of original footage from the nuclear bomb drops over Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Japan during World War 2, government footage from atomic bomb tests, including weapons effects test and from special effects scenes from various apocalyptic Hollywood movies, like Terminator 3, Sum of all Fears, Armageddon and others.

I started to collect video segments from various disaster movies. I already had a collection of nuclear bomb test videos and documentaries. I also had video material from documentaries that recreated some of the scenes that must have occurred at Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

I took all this material and create a video of my own about the subject. I used the music by the Greek/Canadian singer Nitza as background music for my video. And here it is:

Nuclear Holocaust from Carsten Cumbrowski on Vimeo.

 

This video is available in 720x480 resolution and AVI format for download here.

 

Let me know what you think of the two new videos of mine!

 

Cheers!

Carsten aka Roy/SAC

Cirque Du Soleil: 20 Years Under the Sun - A Book Review

In case that you missed it. I created a book review video in October for the book "Cirque Du Soleil: 20 Years Under the Sun - An Authorized History" (Hardcover) by Tony Babinski (Author), Kristian Manchester (Contributor). I also uploaded this video review to Amazon.com, which is shown on the product detail page of the Book on their web site now. I find that pretty cool hehe.

As I said indirectly already, the book is available for purchase for about $37 (USD) at Amazon.com and here is the video review of the book. My review in text format follows right below this embed video.

Backup Link to Video on YouTube.com

As always, you can download this video in AVI format at Mediafire.com

The book is a monster in size and weight and packed with glossy images of the Cirque and its shows and provides a interesting behind the scene look at the humble origins of the enterprise and its worldwide successful shows.

It's a good gift for somebody who is interested in the Cirque, beyond just the acrobatics. Other people probably won't appreciate it as much, so check first, before you make the $37 investment for this book.

The book was published in 2004 and probably written in 2003 to early 2004. That means that many of the Cirque du Soleil shows are missing in this book. Cirque du Soleil was very busy over the past four years, since this book was published.

The last touring show covered by the book is "Varekai" and the last residential show "Zumanity", which is performed at the New York, New York hotel and casino in Las Vegas, Nevada. The show "KA" at the MGM is barely mentioned, not even by name yet and there is nothing to be found about the touring shows "Corteo" and "Kooza", the Las Vegas shows "Believe", "The Beatles - Love" and as I already mentioned "KA". The new resident Asian shows "Zaia" and "Zed" are of course also missing. The music concert "Delirium" is also not part of this book.

All those shows were created after 2004. This is quite a lot of shows, so I can only say again, that you better make sure that the person who you would like to buy this book for can actually appreciate it anyway.

All the new stuff is missing, but the more it covers the early Cirque and first shows that are not running anymore, such as "Fascination", "Le Grand Tour", "La Magie Continue", "Cirque Reinvente" and "Nouvelle Experience".

Also covered are the still running and touring shows "Saltimbanco", "Mystere", "O", "La Nouba", "Dralion", "Alegria" and the mentioned "Zumanity" and "Varekai". The special anniversary show for the 20th anniversary of Cirque du Soleil at Montreal "Midnight Sun" is also not mentioned. Keep in mind that this special performance happened also in 2004, the year when the book was published for the same reasons.

I don't know, if the book is also available in other languages than English, but I would assume that this is the case. It should also be available for purchase at any other well sorted book store, other than Amazon.com, such as Barnes & Noble or Borders.

I hope that you found this brief review helpful. Let me know via the comments section below.

To learn more about Cirque du Soleil, check out my Cirque du Soleil primer, here at RoySAC.com and also my special YouTube account "CirqueDuSoleilGuru" for Cirque videos and my Cirque du Soleil photo album collection at the photo sharing web site Flickr.com.

Cheers!

Carsten aka Roy/SAC

Negative Feedback for Criss Angel's and Cirque du Soleil's 'Believe'

I was surprised a lot when the first comments for the new Cirque du Soleil show "Criss Angel - Believe" were made at preview videos of the show at my YouTube.com channel "CirqueDuSoleilGuru" and also at previous posts of mine about the show here at my blog.

I cannot recall any instance where a Cirque du Soleil show received that many negative comments in such short period of time (less than 3 months). It's usually all praise and love with a stupid idiot posting some mindless comment once in a while. In case of the new show "Believe" did very specific negative comments pour in pretty much since the first pre-screenings of the show in September and onwards.

Here are the unaltered negative comments about the show from my various videos and blog posts. Since I did not alter them, all misspellings and grammatical errors remained as they were also.

User: HOTskull888 on YouTube said:

honestly the show was the shit. like it was nuts and dont say stupid as shit stuff like ow it suks or what ever because i do magic to and i dont care what anyone thinks of it

User: rjslider58 on YouTube said:

i saw the show oct 10, it sucked do your self a faver dont waste your time or money.

User: emtttmike on YouTube said:

I wasted my money going to see 'Believe" on 10/17...I sat waiting for it to get better and it never did...I actually looked at my watch hoping it would end soon. It was that bad.

User: jshkneale on YouTube said:

this show sucked. i mean it really sucked. it would have been good only if they changed one thing,.....Chris angel, he destroyed the show. the dancers were OK if you like them to be out of sync with each other.

User: Kraken303 on YouTube said:

Anyone who thinks Criss Angel is a good magician is completely ignorant when it comes to magic. The show does not suck because of Cirque--it sucks because Criss can't pull off any tricks without using extensive camera edits or plants. I really makes me angry to think that that $100 million dollars was spent on this show, and it's still so BAD.

User: taxthis2001 on YouTube said:

Saw Believe last week, was disappointed. To much Cirque not enough Angel. I was very impressed with mind freak on the street but some of those disappearing tricks done on a stage with 40 trap doors are not as impressive. Criss u can do better. I leave this feedback to help guide your show for the better, please use it as such. Keep Mind Freak going.

User: 2RISEPROD on YouTube said:

Enjoy Criss Angel on A&E for years, when he said for all skeptics I will be doing this stuff live in my new show "Believe' I was like OMG! really can't wait! Went to Vegas for the opening, must say it was a total disaster and waste of money!! It made no sense at all! Criss did a dove from sleeve trick - and some very predictable birthday trick..Then he lip sang his MF song at the end, people were leaving before the show was over and bitching in the Luxor about how it sucked ass!! ??

User: iglesiasarenas on YouTube said:

is not MF but is not "o" or "the bettles shows" is the worst show of Circus du solei with the best magician Criss...

User: StealthCracker on YouTube said:

I went to the show Oct 4, and I thought it was too much dancing. -.-" only a few tricks performed. HE NEEDS MORE TRICKS

and

Everyone look at the words BELIEVE... if you look at the logo, you'll see that the BE---VE is faded out, leaving bold words: LIE. I found this out. Check it out!!!

Anonymous Blog Comment here at RoySAC.com:

IMOP...I went to see the Criss Angel Believe show at the Luxor, and I must say.... IT WAS HORRIBLE! I am a huge Criss Angel fan, I think he is a great entertainer, however this show was horrible. I found out after watching the show that everyone that has seen the show to date has hated it also, everyone left the theater talking about how bad it was, my suggestion is it is better to save your money for another show and skip this trash. Also, it is not kid friendly at all, I did not take my kids to it, however there where some there and they left in tears from being scared of it. Think of Alice in Wonderland on really bad drugs.

User: realhonest1 on YouTube said:

I went Nov. 3. The show has lived up to the reviews. It sucked. I wish someone would have said "lets go!" Unfortunately we sat through to the dismal end. I want my $200 and 2 hrs back! Bad actor and bad tricks. On a pos. note the backgrounds and Wade Robson choreography were nice. Criss Angel is why this show bombs. I used to be a fan, but can't even watch Mind Freak anymore. Way to go Criss, thanks for robbing your fans.

Thoughts and My Own Comments

I wrote a comment at one of my "Believe" videos at YouTube in response to some supporting comments by "Loyals" (Criss Angel Fan Club Members), who were appalled by the negative comments by others and expressed their sympathy for Criss. It reflects pretty much what I believe to be the actual problem here.

I have the feeling Criss managed to disappoint both crowds at once, for the "Mindfreaks" is the show not freaky enough and for the "Cirque Fans" is there too little circus and too much dancing, with some creepy atmosphere.

I cannot imagine that the show itself is that bad, its just not what people in the know expected it to be like. So they either get over it and take a new look at it from a distance or Criss has to look for new type of fans, who are not prejudges and in-flexible.

I will be in Las Vegas in January 2009 for a conference and hope that I will be able to see the show myself and get a real grip on what the problem might be here.

In the meantime enjoy a extended trailer video for the show that I created. Those images look actually pretty cool and promising, don't you think?

Backup Link to Video on YouTube.com

You can download this video in 480x360 pixels resolution and AVI (XVID/MP3 Lame) format at Mediafire.com.

Additional Links related to this post

• Video - Criss Angel - Believe - Animated Slide Show
• Video - Cirque du Soleil & Criss Angels -Believe- Special Preview
• Video - Cirque du Soleil - Believe - 1st Real Show Footage
• Official Show Homepage at CirqueDuSoleil.com

Cheers!

Carsten aka Roy/SAC