Sage advice...

 This might be my new favorite YT channel. 

Of a new generation....

 When the topic of exposure in magic comes up you get some really interesting "counter-arguments" from, not only the people doing it, but also.... apologizers? It's wild. They almost all say, "Why was it ok for this person(s) to do it" or, "What about magic shops, libraries, etc?".

It is a tough argument. Why is THIS ok: 

 But when certain other individuals on social media do it, it's not ok? Why is it ok for Mac King to teach magic on a national TV show or what about the masked magician guy? 

These are all fair points. Here are a few counter-arguments:

1. They have a better gaming chair - In the case of P&T, it was done VERY well. It was done as entertainment. It was also something they created so they have the right to "expose" it. They are making fun of magic as a whole, not exposing any one particular effect. There is NOTHING in the current magic world that remotely looks like that. Sure, there are elements at play that one could say "That's close enough to other things" but here is the other part to it.

It's being done as a parody and when you "hide it in comedy" people dismiss it. You can show how something works, but then negate that with a different method. People are simple creatures and yes, while the phrase "if someone thinks they know 10% of how something works, then they think they know 100% of it" is viable, in a case like this, they will never see anything like this done by other magicians in this exact way.

Now, I would be remiss in not talking about the time P&T exposed how a thumbtip worked on national TV but that brings me to my next point...

2. Choice - This is the big one and I think the one that lays these lame what-about-isms to rest once and for all. 

In ALL examples made of why one is ok but another is not, there is always a choice being made. You are warned up front about what is going to happen or are given enough time or warning that you are about to learn something you might not want to know. "Secrets Revealed" showed you how everything looked first and then TOLD you they were about to show you. You could leave the room, change the channel, mute the TV, put a change bag over your head, or otherwise avert thine gaze. 

If you want to learn a magic trick from a store, you have to first make the choice to WALK in that store and engage with that person and then DECIDE to give them your money. Library? Sure, you have to walk in and go to 798.3 and crack open a book and actively look up that info.

Social media exposure is the equivalent of someone running up to you on the street and showing you how a Tenyo trick works and then running away. You have no time to react, you were not searching that out, you were a hostage in that situation. Sure the person is actively searching out videos to distract themselves from their dreary day, but in the world of randomly curated videos and auto-play, that info gets fed at a lightning pace and the "secret" is usually shown in the first few seconds so by the time you realize what the video is, it's too late.

One last thought: This goes back to the P&T video. A lot of times the things people get mad about is the exposure of products others are actively using. It's not THEIR creation to expose. (weird how the people showing how things work, don't expose their OWN creations isn't it?) Imagine that instead of showing how something like vanishing flowers worked, you just created your own version that worked similarly, but wasn't that EXACT prop.

People only know what they see and if the argument is "It's just entertainment man!" then change the prop to resemble something else. You can still "entertain" with something you made instead of something other people are using. Could it be, putting in that extra inch of effort is just too much? Could it be they are just lazy? Maybe for all their talk of "evolving the art" and people need to "get over it" they are just doing it for a paycheck and don't actually give a damn about art at all?

The world may never know...

(PS: I know I have not been very active on here over the years but I'm still around. My life is mainly filled with creating and building escape rooms now, but I still have some thoughts in the pipeline I hope to get to soon. Thanks for sticking around.)

No respect I tell yah...

 Some of you might be too young to know, or remember, that there was a time in America where variety acts were well respected. There were TV shows that showcased their talent and didn't treat them like some second class citizen waiting to be exploited for clicks, views, or ratings.

Culture tends to be influenced by it's media. Clothing, hairstyles, and other trends come from what we consume. If the media doesn't respect the variety arts, then the general public doesn't tend to either.

Let's harken back to the days when programs like "The Ed Sullivan Show" would bring on people who spent YEARS perfecting a skill set and not for being "famous for nothing". 

 

This is George Carl. One of the great Vaudeville clowns. Did I say clowns? Yes... yes I did. We equate clowns to those who sport facepaint and bright costumes, but there is a whole other kind of clown that doesn't need all that "finery". The physical comedian, the slapstick connoisseur, the... well... clown.

George Carl was a master of many things (as one had to be back then) and created a lot of gags and bits of business that have since passed on into the acts of others, whether they know it or not. As performers we should know what came before to appreciate what we have (or don't have) now and carry on the traditions of entertaining an audience with whatever we have on hand, be it our coats, our arms, or just ourselves.

True comedy is timeless.

First Timers...

 I often wonder what it would have been like the first time someone saw a Nielsen bottle or Fantasio candle used. Things we take for granted but would have BLOWN OUR DAMN MINDS the first time they appeared on a stage. 

Now imagine people seeing a trampoline for the first time.

Larry Griswold co-created the trampoline as we know it today and used it in his act. Can you imagine people going nuts for a trampoline or thinking "WTF is that thing?!". 

Innovation and creation has to start somewhere. The mother of invention and all that. Who knows, maybe one day you will create something that will blow people minds.

It could happen.

FItzkee was right...

 Have you ever read "Showmanship For Magicians"? I don't blame you if not. Fitzkee can be a bit of a dense read. (Protip: Just skim the book and read the bolded and ALL CAPS text. It summarizes the important points and saves a LOT of time)

In the book he suggests that you watch other performers who are the top of their field. Not JUST magicians, but singers, comedians, actors, athletes, etc. See what they are doing and you are not.

With that in mind, I now want you to watch this video:

Observe his timing. Watch as things happen and he just keeps going like it's normal. He doesn't turn and mug to the audience. (He COULD if he was a different performer) He just plows through undaunted which makes it even funnier. It's these bits of business in the middle of exhibiting skill that makes the performance so good. Even if it's not your cup of whatever you drink, you can and SHOULD still appreciate what goes into doing an act such as this and entertaining a theater full of people.

The internet is full of performances like these. Over the next few weeks, I will share some of them with you. 

Plan accordingly...

"The death of magicians on the internet..."

 Some people are catching on. Enjoy.

Get this guy a Merlin award.

Why you are bad...

Just watch this...

In tents...

I have talked a lot about creativity. Not only on this journal but in my lectures and to anyone who would ask (and some who didn't really). However I haven't really gone into a lot of detail about a process on it.

I'm getting there calm down you creepy %$#&.

One of the biggest things you can do to be creative is to place restrictions upon yourself. This means doing, or not doing, certain things. More accurately, it's creating within certain parameters. When you have a framework to operate in it's MUCH easier than having an open field of possibility at your disposal.

Having TOO MUCH freedom can lead to Overchoice or choice overload. Whenever someone hires me as a consultant for a TV show or to create something for them I always ask for the details. It can be something as simple as "I want to do X with B". Mind you that's if I create for others. What about creating for yourself? I find it best to start with asking questions. What is the main goal? Why am I doing this? What are the props? What am I trying to say/do? What is the ending? Asking questions is very important to the creative process. This allows us to erect Tent Poles.

Much like a real tent, these ideas give everything else structure. There is a reason you hear certain films from a studio referred to "tentpole movies". It's what gives that studio a structure. It's a different type of structure than trying to create magic, but the concept is still similar.

You need the main ideas that will support everything else that you will be doing. Take this routine for example:


When I decided I wanted to do tricks with duct tape I made a list of the things I could DO with that tape. Once I knew how it started and how it ended it made everything else find it's "natural progression". I also knew I wanted certain visuals. Smiling through the roll and then the tape appearing over my mouth was one of those moments. I almost always think of the effects first and worry about method later.

Sometimes you add more poles as a routine progresses. I didn't plan to split the rolls initially but I felt the act needed "something". When I decided on that happening, up went another structure to support the other parts of the story to make that happen. Having those moments and a story, either obvious or subtle, really helps. You don't HAVE to have a thread pulling you through the act, but people respond better to some sort of structure or theme because we like what we know. Humans are easy that way.

So if you are trying to make something new, or change something you have that already exists, just try to give your routines some framework with certain ideas/moments/effects/etc. It will force you to focus on what's important and cut the wheat from the chaff as it were.

PS: I hope you appreciate how difficult it was for me not to make any dick jokes while talking about tents and poles.

I decided to remove my pants for this post...

Lets talk about magic demos. There are more or less three prevailing kinds.

Filmed Live during a Show : These might be the most preferable for the serious professional entertainer. You can see how it works in front of a normal audience and hear/see the impact. Scott Alexander is pretty good about doing this as he pretty much lives on a cruise ship it seems.



Sometimes it's a teaser, sometimes it's a full performance, and sometimes he is black. Regardless, it's likely he has done these routines more than thrice and it shows. His stuff does tend to be on the expensive side but at least you know these tricks have seen battle.

Filmed using random people who said yes to being on camera:  This is the kind of demo you usually see for the bigger stores like Penguin, T11, E and so on. They walked up to someone and asked if they wanted to see some magic (or more likely lied to them about filming for a TV show and testing out effects on camera all without signing film releases). This kind of editing usually cuts around the important moments and might even splice in some reactions from other magic effects or jokes. There is no real way to know.



You have to be careful with these videos as what you see may not be what you get, especially if it's chopped all to hell and you don't see how they get into or out of the effect. I wish more of these demos would specify if it was for your social media feed or for real world performance.

Filmed in your parents living room a studio for just the camera: This one you tend to see for solo releases and kids who own a smart phone and don't tend to see sun light too often. This one tells us the LEAST of the three. You don't see real world reactions, handling, or practicability (I'm not entirely sure that's a word). If the ad copy sounds too good to be true it likely is. Here is an example:



On the website it says "Examinable Box has been Blake's GO TO opener for years" and yet there is no live video to be seen. You'd think after all these years he would have recorded at least one of those shows right? For the price tag of an effect like that, I'd like to see real people reacting to the prop to see if it justifies the price tag.

There are hybrids of all of these and some outliers obviously.  Just make sure you educate yourself.

Buyer beware.

Follow up...

Relevant to my last post:

Door to the mind...

This should be app lied to more magic efefcts on the market...

Oh bugger...

When I watch a video like this all I see is a bunch of kids who are gonna have to get real jobs one day...

Cradle to the grave...

For those who have been reading this for the last couple years you have seen me post up videos by a channel called "Every Frame a Painting".

Well that channel has finally reached it's crescendo and I wanted to mark it's passing with a post here. I feel it's related because of the reasons it started, the way they approached it and why they quit. It speaks to other branches of entertainment and how some of us might feel at any given time.

For those who are TL;DR people, let me just put a line from the essay here:

"For days and days, he keeps trying to draw this plane, but nothing meets his satisfaction. Eventually, he realizes that he’s spent too much time on it. So he hands the plane off to another animator, and he moves on to something else.

For me and for Tony, this clip is extremely reassuring. If Miyazaki — the world’s greatest living animator — can admit defeat after trying his best, then it’s okay for everyone else. If he can let go, then so can we."

State of the union...

First listen to this Bad Religion song to get you in the right mindset...

I don't know how many of you keep up with what is current in the magic world. Not necessarily tricks, but who is up and coming and what they are doing. If not you are likely blissful in your ignorance. If you are like me and pay WAY too much attention to our little community then you too might be perturbed by the growing trends you see.

A few days ago I posted this on my twitter:

No one wants to create magic anymore, they just want to make fame.

— Bizzaro Galore (@smappdooda) August 3, 2017

(Aren't I #@$*ing clever?)
The reason for that post is that I see far too many magicians who are making magic videos with no substance or effort in an attempt to sell a product or gain "followers". It's usually the younger guys too because the older crowd is too busy working and was brought up believing magic is an art and a job you work at. The issue is becoming these kids want to be famous for nothing like many other "celebrities" the general populace glorify. It bothers me because I don't want to see my magic watered down and exploited for purely personal gain.

I am sure if you ask anyone I am speaking of they will justify it to others (and themselves) that they are still "entertaining" people and isn't that the goal? I know people who agree with this and their methods. At the end of the day it's a taste preference but what they are doing leaves a bad taste in my mouth and here is why: it seemingly spits in the face of those who work hard to develop a skill and treat magic as an "art".

Let me show you an example:

"But that's just one guy" I hear you cry. Ok then how about this one?

Ooooor this one?

(It's like they are making these videos in a factory or something? They are all the same!)

For those of you in the know, you might already be furious watching this. 90% of the reactions in these video are clearly fake and stooged. Does the average Duck Dynasty watching Facebook user know this? Hell no. However we have inside knowledge and, as many of you know, we judge others HARSHLY for stuff like this. There are those of us who spend months, maybe even YEARS, to perfect something so it can be done in similar ways under live fire and get genuine reactions. This kind of stuff tells others it's ok to ignore all of that and just "fake it til' you make it".

Where did this kind of silliness start you ask? Hard to tell but let's point the finger at David Blaine for now shall we? Let me preface this with the fact that, yes ol' DC used camera trickery and set up stuff BUT he did it on such a grand scale no one thought they could just run out and do it without a ton of money and production. Then along came Blaine in a T-shirt and faked a levitation and thus set a precedent. Flash forward and you got guys like Criss Fishing Rod who use After Effects and green screen to create "magic".

I am sure these guys' hearts are in the right place however their brains are clearly focused on fame. I understand people have different goals in life but I sure as shit am allowed not to like their methods for achieving them. The lay public doesn't know the difference either and by the time a booking agent finds out they can't deliver what they show, it's too late.

I know it's not smart to point fingers and yell about things you don't care for because then people will look at it and some will get the wrong idea but in this case examples need to be seen to be understood. So if you are watching these videos and thinking, "That's a great idea! I'm going to start doing that!", then I hope you die in a fire think twice about it. When you crash and burn and have to get a real job, you will get no sympathy from the rest of the magic community. However, if you could give a fuck less about the magic community, then you are probably halfway there as it is.

Here's to homogenization.

Watch your head...

But first, watch this video.



Consider every live action mixed with animation movie you have seen in the last 20 or so years. Roger Rabbit is hands down the best. No argument. To be fair, I can forgive Cool World because it was quirky from the get go.

This video makes a valid point and it's something I have been talking about for years. When you do something for the love of the craft and because you care enough to make something great, it shows. Giving a damn is the biggest secret to creating amazing art. It's the truly obsessed with the focus to detail that make things that stand out above the rest. (Tempered with other knowledge of course. Being brain damaged about certain subjects doth not guarantee success.)

So go ahead. Bump the lamp. Don't you want to be remembered for generations like Roger Rabbit?

Or would you rather be... Space Jam?

Flip it over...

So I was watching an episode of NCIS (don't judge me) and there was a great line that got me thinking and thought I would share.

"Nobody posts their B-sides"

This is in reference to the internet and it's very true. People only put their BEST online. They try 50 times and pick the best version. (especially when it comes to magic trailers but don't get me started on that)

It got me thinking about all of the footage I have. How much of it is only "ok" and how much is good. Sometimes it's fine to show off some of our flaws. (So long as it doesn't expose anything obviously) In my circle, we sometimes talk about the difference between professionals and amateurs. One that I always bring up is amateurs won't talk about their bad shows but the pros wear them as a badge of honor. Don't be afraid to fail. You might learn something. About your magic and yourself.

With that in mind, here is something from one of my recent performances.

There a hole in my pocket... in my cookie...

So I released a product a while back. Not a huge OMG YOU MUST HAS THIS!!111 relase but a release nonetheless.

I realized I didn't put it on here so here you go:


I want to collectively and publicly shame thank everyone who helped out in this video. If you want to know exactly who these people, then the YT video description is what thou seek.

If you wanna buy this silly thing head over to www.bizzaromatic.com

On tour...

I'm out galavanting on the east coast for a bit so here is something distracting....

NO AND THEN!

So I was watching a great little webseries called "Every Frame a Painting". It breaks down a lot about film and it's many varied aspects. On the most recent one he showed a clip from a show called Stand-in. In it the creators of South Park surprised some kids at NYU their first day of class.

Now regardless of what you might think of the show or the guys who make it, they know their shit or they would have died penniless and hopped up on heroin in an alley way long ago. It's worth a watch.

Why am I telling you all of this? It's because there is this one section I want you to pay particular attention to. It's about structuring a story. The advice they give very much can apply to routining a magic act. A routine is/can be a story. Maybe not in a traditional fairytale sense, but it should have a beginning, middle, and end or, if you want, a start, a build, and an ending.

Being able to write a proper routine is like crafting comedy. It's a skill unto itself completely apart from the mechanics required to work the props. You can have all of the magic you want but if it doesn't flow or make some semblance of sense, then the act can suffer.

Therefore, you should watch the clips above...

It's ok to suck for a little while...

"It's better to be 5 years late than one day too early"

I'm not sure who said that exactly (and I am likely paraphrasing that harshly) but you get the idea. I have noticed a lot of younger performers are in a huge hurry to get somewhere before they maybe should. I'm not saying this is a new thing BUT it seems to have reach an accelerated level. I'm also not the only one who has noticed this.

Watch this video below and see if some of this sounds familiar and then say to yourself "It's gonna be ok..."
The Long Game Part 1: Why Leonardo DaVinci was no genius from Delve on Vimeo.

And just so you don't skip part two, Here it is for you lazy bastards out there.
The Long Game Part 2: the missing chapter from Delve on Vimeo.