Be still my throbbing migraine...

The more "TV magic" I watch, the less and less respect I have for those involved creating it.

Call me kooky but I find it interesting to see the differences in those who focus on things other than being able to perform. I see so many younger performers working hard on getting that next viral video. Why not? It has been proven to work! You have a hit video, someone sees you and then BAM yer on TV or working creatively for someone behind the scenes. Who can argue with that!?

Me. That's who.

You take most of these guys out from a controlled environment and they will curl up and die like an ant under a magnifying lens. You take away their "can only be done on camera" BS and they have no real world skill... but hey that's ok! That's the message the modern world is sending the current generation already. Are you smarter than a 5th grader? No? Then maybe you can have the next hit TV show!!

We are creating reality TV now, not magic. Oh we THINK it's magic because we want to keep something that resembles "integrity" but the moment you let someone else tell you how to do YOUR art for a paycheck you don't have that integrity anymore. Just stop pretending and tell people what they are about to see is just BS and that yer not a magician and everyone is an actor playing along to make good TV. Half the audience is gonna think that anyway.

Abracadabra has been replaced by "We'll fix it in post".

Yelp and away!

For those of you who get them, do you read reviews or comments about your shows/performances? Do you get bad ones? Do you blow them off because the person is likely a mental midget as far as you are concerned?

While this is usually true of YouTube commentators, it might be a good idea to step back and maybe see if it's not them... it's you.

Listen to detractors... but only a little bit. Don't get angry and take it personal, especially if it's the lay public. They might just have a point and you are missing it. If you see the same complaint pointed out fix it don't just dismiss it.

Mind you if they can't spell basic words correctly you might just want to ignore it complete.

Kno wat I men?

Known Unknowns...

Take a look around the magic community. The forums, social media, etc. Take a look at what some of the more "known" magi are known for. Now ask yourself this question: What do I want to be known for?

Do you want to be seen as an authority on a certain type of effect? Do you want to be perceived as the person who doesn't credit or fakes demos that nobody trusts? (I hope not) Do you want to have other seek you out for your knowledge about props or performing prowess?

Whatever you think you might want to leave behind, start cultivating that now. It will take you ten years to get proficient at something and/or be noticed for it.* If you have no desire to leave your mark on the magic world just disregard what I have said and go on about your business.

These are not the droids you are wanting people to remember you for.

*More or less. Your results may vary. Some settling may occur during shipping

Trailer hitch...

More and more I have been seeing magicians disgruntled at misleading trailers or effects making claims that, like a hooker with beer flavored nipples, might be too good to be true.

Some have taken a pro-active approach to call some companies and performers on their BS while others merely sit on forums and complain. A recent post about ANOTHER post elsewhere suggested magicians are cheap bastards (and they are) and if they figure out an effect from the trailer they won't buy it because the EFFECT is the important factor not the handling. Due to that fact trick trailers are having to be "faked" in spots to prevent said cheap-assedness from occurring.

My personal belief is that if your effect isn't good enough to hold up on camera without some tweaking then maybe you need to work on it some more or not put it out at all. Anyone who has been reading this journal the last ten years (Holy crap it's almost been ten years hasn't it?) knows that I will call attention to fake demos. I haven't had to do it as much because others have taken up the task as well and tend to get to it before I do which is great!

However, the fact it still happens just goes to say a lot about our profession. The biggest problem of course is magicians suffer from one inherent flaw... we're still only human. We like to get away with things when we think we can and when we're caught we don't apologize for inconveniencing anyone... it's because we are sorry for getting caught.

Mind you some people straight up refuse to admit to shinanigans when busted but ultimately the reputation damage has been done. Magicians People will bitch about anything given half the chance, but when you know that you can limit that percentage by just doing a little thinking....

and that might be where the fault lies.

Do you have a flag?

Over on facebook a magician posted a video where she performs a mask to winged creature effect. In the comments a fairly well known magician couldn't help himself and make a snide comment amount that seeming familiar. He did this because he used to do a mask to dove effect himself albeit using a totally different method.

So this got me thinking about method vs. effect. In cases like this you can argue it down to "Well you are just turning an object into a bird just like (insert any number of people here)".  No one has the monopoly on any certain kind of magic for the most part. Sure some people are known to have "Squatters Rights" to an effect where they are so well known for it that anyone else doing it seems like a rip off but where do we draw the line?

In this case the two methods to accomplish a similar effect were entirely different. If you ask me (which no one did) it's whichever one is the most magical looking and gets the better response. Of course there is no real way to judge that as they are both solid methods.

If there is anything to take away from it all it might be this: Don't be a bully or a douche to others unless they are directly ripping you off. Otherwise you just end up looking like the bad guy and some weirdo might talk smack about you on the internet.

It could happen. 

Pretty... awkward...

Ok so this post might rock a boat and not make me some friends but stay with me on this. I swear it's positive... ish.

Anyone who knows me or has read this journal for longer than they should will know I am a big proponent of females in magic. I think the next step in public magic evolution is a strong magical femme on TV. However that gal should not try to do cardistry.

There is something inelegant about a girl manipulating playing cards.

Now before you send me any hate mail let me defend my case. Normal off the shelf playing cards are just not stylish. The imagery associated with them does not match up with the elegance of most females. It seems like a clunky silly prop to be fiddling with.

I am more talking about cardistry cuts and whatnot. Card manip on stage is a different thing and I have seen that done well. It just seems that the cards are an oxymoron to the imagery in my opinion. Hell a lot of the female magicians I know hate card tricks anyway.

If you are reading this saying "Fuck him, he's nuts. I'm gonna do it anyway" that's fine. However find some vanity decks that look interesting or fancy. Something that matches your personal look or ideals. Stray away from typical decks. I think this is one of the cases where a vanity deck would work well. Almost like an accessory such as a necklace or watch.

Correct me if I am wrong.

PS: New chatbox. Hopefully this one will work.