So as we enter into the year that is new, I want to share a sentiment with you that I have adopted since moving to Vegas. Just think of this as a little something to take with you into 2011....

Never Leave Them Wanting Less

That's right, all of our lives we have heard "always leave them wanting more". Well on the flips side you can do too much and have your audience casing the joint for a speedy exit the moment you put on a blindfold or turn your back or, Anubis forbid, do a blackout.

I have seen many a show that could be saved by 15 less minutes of dancing or whatnot. I have sat thru shows that were only an hour but felt more like 3 days. How do you fix this? Be honest with yourself. Take a long hard look at your material. If you can't, find a friend to do it for you. If you don't have any friends because you are some mental hideous CHUD, then pay someone with better eyes than you.

Don't wanna go that route? Put a video camera on your audience. That will tell you all you need to know. By listening to the crowd, you learn a lot.

All I am saying is pay attention folks. Go forth into this new year with your freshly accumulated knowledge and better yourselves... if not for you.. then for the rest of us.

Now get out of here you crazy kids.

Thought I would share this weeks' itricks article with you.

Have at thee!

I wanna be blown away by a really good magic act again. I don't want to be fooled. I want to be entertained. Let me regale at the structure of a finely crafted bit of theater with magical overtones. Someone? Anyone?

Is that too much to ask?

Here's my cards...

Everytime I see a video like this:


That starts out with some potential, they have to bring fooking playings cards into the mix for no... damn.. reason. Guys listen, you do realize they are a crutch right? "Well I need some points for skill in my competition act... guess I'll use cards."

I almost turned the video off right then and there when they appeared. I decided to follow thru tho'. I think if the cards were justified like coasters possibly or just gotten rid of and find something unique to manipulate that would be much better. Better for who you ask? The public at large or a bunch of sweaty old fat guys at a magic convention?

You be the judge.

Duly noted...

I once had some ass clown magician review one of my early products and say that it should be in some lecture notes with other effects. I didn't disagree so that is now where the effect lies.

I worked in a magic shop at the time and saw many a one trick pony come across our shelves that were great ideas, but did indeed belong in a collected works or at the very least a linking ring one man parade. Some of these were clever, but rarely for the price tag charged. (23 dollars for a card box with a hole in it and some rubber bands? Really?)

Ah, but the internet and desktop publishing would soon herald in the apocalypse of 1 trick items that are clamored for and then forgotten like so much trendy refuse. I bring this up because I saw a clever trick that just got released. Seems a bit much for the price and I am sure could easily be a "Build it yo'self" kinda deal. (However, I know how lazy people are and they want it right here, and right now)

To be fair you have to start somewhere, and it is nice to see people releasing multiple effects onto one source every now again, regardless of how good the motivation is to perform them.

Cest' la vie

(Can you believe I've been doing this now for 7 years?)

Dear aggravating youtube generation,

I am effin' sick of kids (and I say kids because they all seem to be) who teach magic videos who have the conviction of a sack of wet hammers.

Why don't you little bastards put down the cards and read some books on performing hunh?

Also, quit ending every other sentence with "ok".. ok?

Sincerely,

ME and the rest of the world.

Dear magicians,

I beg and plead of you please, PLEASE stop doing vanishing bottle stock presentations.

Rub two brain cells together and think of something unique to do with the damn thing! I know, I know yer saying, 'But the standard right out of the box presentation that everyone does works!"

While this may be true, it makes you look like a damn hack jag-off.

Thanx,

Me.

For fuck's sake...

I get a lot of my inspiration for rants from watching the new magic stuff that comes out on the market. Today is no exception.

This diatribe has been a long time coming. I keep coming back to it because I don't know how to attack it properly. However with the influx of crap I have seen people putting into my world, I have to say something.

The above link is an example of creating magic for the sake of magic. As someone who creates a lot of stuff I walk a fine line ranting about it. Usually when I make something, I do so out of necessity. I'm not saying the others who pump out trick after trick with no basis for true impact don't. It just seems that they are trying to create just for the sake of doing so... or to make money.

There are a myriad of tricks being put out in the last year that are just magical masturbation. It's magic for no reason other than, "Hey look what I can do!" This is not a premise for good magic. Ok, ok it CAN be, but not for EVERYTHING you present.

When I see some of this crap I ponder about how one would get into this kind of trick, make it entertaining, or if it would have an impact on anyone watching it. Personally I want every effect I do to be amazing across the board. I don't want "that was ok, that was good, that was great, that was meh". I think when you start trying to saturate your life with magic that holds no purpose other than to be magic, you will end up with a ton of mediocre effects in your repertoire.

However, I am not all doom and gloom on this subject. The upside to creating too much magic is you have a catalog of methods and concepts that could lead to the next big thing no one has ever seen.

So the moral of my story is magic for the sake of magic isn't good entertainment. However I can't condemn anyone who wants to create. I'm not saying don't do it, but how about stop selling or publishing this lackluster shit? Let people save their money for something they might actually do more than twice.

Back to you Bob...

Dear magic producers,

Please stop advertising tricks with the tag line "From the mind of...."

It's passe, redundant, and annoying.

(Yes I have done it.. but like once... Before it was trendy. It won't happen again.)

Bizzaro.