Wednesday, January 31, 2007

Maaaaaaaamrieeees.....

The pinnacle of comedy club magic in the 80's was The Amazing Johnathan and THIS guy. Paul Kozak. I'm fairly sure I was at this show but regardless, Kozak was one of the only magicians who made a salt pour, THIS, and manipulation kool in a comedy club. (That I ever saw at least). All that and he's one of the only peoeple I have ever seen who uses multiplying pipes and does them well. So aside from his bulk of flash string and use of swing music, he was a funny guy. (Who also did a kid's show in the daytime.. I dunno.)

So today in Magician Hell we salute Kozak. May he forever continue to kick ass. (Even if his salt pour was a bit pricey.)

Bizzaro.

Tuesday, January 30, 2007

I love you all like you were my own kin...

Well not really, but regardless, as one of the few remaining magic journals left from the big boom back in 03' . It has been over 4 years since I started this little project. I have NO idea who reads it and I don't want to know. However, I am not an un-appreciative A-hole. So for my glorious readers I have a gift for you. We recently found a box in storage of shirts we did not sell back lo' those many years ago. No point in keeping them laying around (Except to use as crappy X-mas gifts) thus I am offering you a Special Limited Edition Bizzaro show shirt for damn near nothing. A 20$ value!!


That's the back design right there. How can you resist!? That's right YOU CAN'T!! How can you aquire one of these finely crafted pieces of Bizzaro history? Simple. Donate $3.00 for S&H and it's yours!! You can't beat that! Pee Wee Herman couldn't beat that!! (And that's saying something.)

So click that button now and we'll even throw in a free signed color 8x10!!

All of this for reading the ramblings of a madman. Good for you.





Wednesday, January 17, 2007

Give em' an inch...

I have said many times that if you feed someone a little truth they will accept a LOT of BS. If you tell them something they can hold on to or put in their pocket to believe, you can sell them damn near anything.

Example: On occasion I will tell people that we cannot make things vanish as matter cannot be created nor destroyed. Thusly we make it teleport from our hand to another location they cannot see... like our pockets. Perhaps from one hand to the other. (Demonstrating thusly)

That is something they can believe in cuz' it sounds technical enough and it uses concepts they have seen on TV and read about in fantasy and sci-fi mediums.

Give anyone enough rope and they will hang themselves or their ideals with it.

Bizzaro.

Thursday, January 11, 2007



You tell me why....

Wednesday, January 10, 2007

Never give up, never surrender...

One of THE hardest things to do in life is fail.. or do what we perceieve as failure. As children we are educated that you MUST succeed and not reaching a certain goal is bad. Games, homework, sports, video games. Everything is against us to constantly attack our sefl esteem. Along with commercials and ads preying upon our in-bred insecurities. Face it, we're screwed from the get go. (I won't even go into the deep seated issues our parental units inflict upon us from THEIR failed lives)

In magic tho' we are in the job to make the impossible a reachable goal. In that pursuit, we often do not succeed right off. Some people are SO afraid of failure that they will not try or try to fix what is the start of a good idea. Failure is just a word and it only has the power in which you put into it. Let's say that instead, that failure does not mean "Lack of succeeding" but rather "The wrong way to achieve what you want". Still sounds bad sure, but it does not mean you did not accomplish your goal, but rather found a way NOT to do it.

If you find yourself wanting to do a trick a certain way and it will not work, do NOT give up. There is ALWAYS another way. Nothing is impossible. (Except for the things that are.) As I have said before, the only people who do not succeed are the ones who give up. It's hard to be determined, but it's harder to regret something you never did. No matter how hard it gets, no matter how bleak it seems, if you're going thru hell, keep going.

Anything is possible.

Monday, January 08, 2007

Hey kids. Welcome to the first post of 2007!!

We here at Fire Cat Studios have been busy with shows all of Dec. and now many projects will be finished up this month. (Including the long awaited Helter Shelter: The Movie, filmed at the 13th Street Morgue.)

So aside from some website updates and a little writing project that I am going to leave a surprise for you later on in the month, I have been thinking about magic. (Shocker I know.) Now despite being a stage magician at heart, I do like to devise clever stuff for ALL magical situations. Sometimes it's just a handling that fits me better. Allow me to elaborate...

Someone once told me that linking rings should be thus.. "Two rings.. they link.. they unlink.. next!" To some degree that is true. After the first time, it's just the same base thing over.. and over.. and over.. and .. well you get the idea. Same with ambitious card. We don't need 10 phase routines. Three times with a REALLY strong fourth is best. Otherwise it's flogging a dead horse. This all goes back to a post I made a long while ago that just because a prop can do a lot of things, doesn't mean you SHOULD perform them all.

I saw another three coins across trick on the market recently. Chris Kenner started Three Fly and it has been variation upon variation ever since. Jay Sankey and Greg Wilson have their un-gimmicked sleight of hand versions. Shoot Ogawa has his sneaky ass asian version using muscle passes. Everyone has their fave.. everyone except me.

In an experiment, I started doing a bit where I only make ONE coin jump from one hand to the other. I do it twice tho'. I don't make a big thing of showing my hands empty, it's very straight forward and quick. Coin in right hand, closed fists. Coin in left hand, right hand empty. I do it twice because it is actually more amazing the SECOND time. Magic is odd like that. Some are best once, others twice, and some adhere strictly to the rule of three.

It's true what they say... less is more.

Bizzaro.