Nothing to see here. Move along!
Wednesday, 16 January 2013
The Black Club
So what fucking happened the last few days? Nothing much. Nobody got burned, nobody made public exposure and nobody is an asshole. But Ellusionist has a a Black Club that you can be a member of. It's like the top of marketing brand awareness genius. I sincerely applaud Ellusionist for doing such a school book business.
So you can be a member of a unique club. How? Not by skill or connections... no by paying money. 147 dollars is the price. And you will get SWAG along with it.
You will get one Artifice Black Club Playing Cards Deck, Apex Edition which is black... you know, like real cards. One Black Club Playing Card Storage Box With Magnetic Closure to hold 15 prized decks which are not part of the offer. One HALO Fiber Optic Accessory, and you know what I think of those. Also the Black Club Membership Card with hidden reveals. The later thing is really something to behold. Let me add the picture:
Look at this. The reveal is Seven of Clubs. So let me get this straight. You get out those black cards and do some card tricks as you have a glowing wrist band around your wrist. You force the Seven of Clubs and then cleverly tell people that you are part of a secret Black Club. I assume the first thing that you need to address is the fact that it is not the opposite of the KKK, but a magic club. To prove that you get out your membership card. And low and behold... It says Seven of Clubs. This is so organic.
What else do you get? Three downloads of your choice from a bunch of selected videos. A download with each DVD of the same product, and more. But the cake would be the access to the exclusive Black Club Store, where only members can purchase rare items.
What are those items? A ring for 60 dollars, a case for an iPhone for 23 dollars, a luggage tag for 15 dollars and an emblem for your skate board for 75 dollars. All with the unique Black Club logo.
This is really is text book marketing. Bravo Ellusionist. In terms of marketing you really make no mistakes!
So you can be a member of a unique club. How? Not by skill or connections... no by paying money. 147 dollars is the price. And you will get SWAG along with it.
You will get one Artifice Black Club Playing Cards Deck, Apex Edition which is black... you know, like real cards. One Black Club Playing Card Storage Box With Magnetic Closure to hold 15 prized decks which are not part of the offer. One HALO Fiber Optic Accessory, and you know what I think of those. Also the Black Club Membership Card with hidden reveals. The later thing is really something to behold. Let me add the picture:
What else do you get? Three downloads of your choice from a bunch of selected videos. A download with each DVD of the same product, and more. But the cake would be the access to the exclusive Black Club Store, where only members can purchase rare items.
What are those items? A ring for 60 dollars, a case for an iPhone for 23 dollars, a luggage tag for 15 dollars and an emblem for your skate board for 75 dollars. All with the unique Black Club logo.
This is really is text book marketing. Bravo Ellusionist. In terms of marketing you really make no mistakes!
So Justin Miller was in jail
Normally I wouldn't write about personal information such as this, but Justin Miller himself talks about it rather openly. In a bragging kind of way."As you all know, I was the unlucky surviver of the american "justice" system recently when I was placed into a most luxurious jail in ohio for 30 days. Suffice to say the nightmare that it was is indesrcibable."And Justin uses this to get him some sales. In his newsletter he writes:
"Recently I was placed in jail for 30 days for something that is ridiculous..child support! And I actually pay my ex. Anyway's, I am now 30 days behind on everything and now you guys get to actually benefit."And he uses this to generate him sales. I don't know if it works for him and I don't care, but I somehow get this vibe that he is actually proud of having been to jail. This should not be the case.
Tuesday, 15 January 2013
Stuff under Stuff
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Example: I got like 5 routines floating in my head where stuff ends up under other stuff. I got this coin routine where three coins one by one end up under the purse. I love the purse as it is a completely motivated prop having around coins. Cards need one hell of a motivation. Also with cards there is "floating" going on the purse doesn't float. My purse has a metal frame so it will naturally create a sound when put down on a hard surface. That sound will completely camouflage any secret placing of a coin. So using a purse makes it possible to do the routine on a hard surface. At the end you can put the coins into the purse and so on. I've been using that idea for a few years now. Darn practical I tell ya!
Another routine would be an ungimmicked Chop Cup routine. So a ball would go through the cup in a variety of ways. Through the table, through to bottom, the side, from the pocket and so on. The main premise was that I have a little assistant who helps me doing all the magic. And that would turn out to be my final load, a stuffed mouse. The main creative point would be the premise. I do that routine for kids and they love it.
The third thing would be the heavily gimmicked version of the Chop Cup by Alex Hecklau. His premise is about how gamblers cheat and so on. I changed it so I explain that magic works by being one step ahead. I show the die and have it roll a few times, so people see that the die rolls all numbers. Then I cover the die asking the audience if they remember what number was up. Whatever they say I lift the cup to reveal the die gone. Then I take the die from my pocket saying "You thought it was about the numbers... it was about stealing the die. You couldn't catch me because you mind was occupied with the other task... let's continue" Then I somehow explain how I steal the die. After having it openly placed in my pocket I reveal that it is back under the cup. The patter continues: "You see, you thought it was about me stealing the die... and again you couldn't catch me putting it back, only because I was one step ahead" Than I seemingly explain how the die comes back only to set up the next phase... you see where I'm going with this. The premise is about how magic works... the creative point again is the premise.
The fourth idea is a take on the Benson Bowl. Mainly the last ball. The audience has seen two of the balls go from the table under the bowl. The last ball would seem pretty anticlimactic if it went under the bowl the same way. So I change the structure by offering a solution, a funny solution. Here it is for your pleasure:
The magician says that he will explain how it works with the last ball. He picks up the ball with his right hand and false transfers it to the left hand. He picks up the wand with the right hand and says that the ball "travels" along the left arm, (wand points along the way) up to the shoulder, behind the neck. To prove this ridiculous claim, the left hand is opened and seen empty. The left hand takes the wand and the right hand goes up behind the neck, producing the ball from there.
The wand is put on the table, as the ball is shown, then false transferred to the left hand. The left hand pretends to put it behind the neck, is shown empty afterwards and then picks up the wand again.
The claim continues. The ball "travels" from the neck down the right arm (again wand point out the supposed path) into the right hand. The right hand opens to prove the statement.
The wand is put on the table again, as the right hand shows the ball and transfers it to the left hand. The right hand goes to the pocket and picks up an extra ball as you claim that there is a hole in the pocket. To prove it the right hand comes out (ball hidden) and the left hand does a shuttle pass to the right hand. "Just watch" the magician claims as he visually puts the ball in his pocket and the ball is plucked right from the outside of the trousers' pocket with the left hand.
"It goes even further" the magicians says, as the right hand comes out of the pocket empty. The ball is false transferred from the left to the right and again the right hand goes in the right pocket.
The wand is picked up with the left hand. And the motion of the ball travelling is pointed out. All the way down the right leg. The right hand comes out of the pocket and is casually shown empty.
The wand is tossed in the right hand and the ball produced with the left hand form the foot area.
The wand is placed in the right pocket (sticking out) and the ball transferred to the right hand. "And now comes the most difficult part of that trick" (looking at the bowl)
The ball is false transferred from the right to the left hand, the left hand goes down to put it back in the "foot area" as the right hand goes for the wand in the right pocket ditching the ball in the pocket for good.
The left hand is shown empty, the right hand is shown empty (aside from the wand of course) and again the pointing out of the assumed path of the ball is shown with the wand. This time from the foot area across the floor (hilarious I think) to the table, up the table's leg through the table's surface, finally pointing at the bowl and lifting it, to show it has arrived.
And there is a fifth idea... but I spare you this one.
You can see that I cannot put those in one show. No way too darn similar, even though they are different. Take those ideas if you need to. But let's make a deal. If you take one of those ideas you must promise to never ever use stock patter again. Never do a trick right out the box and never ever use the suggested handling. Always add your own.
PS: Using a blue silk instead of a red silk to vanish is not creativity.
Is this a revolution in the Cups and Balls?
So Peter Loughran has something new. A table which does all the work for you.
Is there seriously a need for that? Are those too lazy to actually practice the Cups and Balls so desperate to perform this, so they have to resort to this? Was the chop cup too damn hard?
Aside from those questions... This is like the very first method a layperson thinks of. The little miniskirt the table is wearing screams "load". I don't know why Peter Loughran keeps fucking up when it comes to creating props.
The best thing Peter ever released was "Seep". And that wasn't even something new.... wait, now that I think about it, the table is not a new idea either. I remember seeing a table like that years ago in a magic store. It was in the corner and collected dust. It was mechanical and needed to be operated by foot. But it was silent and if I recall correctly the masking on the table surface was way less obvious.
1250 dollars is the price for that little piece of apparatus? Does it work? I think so. I really believe that Peter is able to create working props. I had the "Entity" in my hands a few year ago. A huge ass brick of a gimmick, but it worked.
I got an idea though... Imagine having such a table. Only applying some principles from the illusion section of our craft. So the table looks way thinner. So you do your normal cups and balls, and then you offer to explain how the lemon got under the cup. You put all the cups aside and get out a glass. You put the glass at the sweet spot and move away. Do something that makes sure that everybody is looking at you. At that time the lemon loads itself under the glass. When people look back the glass has the load. That would strengthen the prior routine and give the usual cups and ball routine an extra twist that people will talk about.
If you do just one load with that technology the table needs to only have one gimmicked spot. Ergo the needed apparatus could be hidden in one of the legs or other supporting structure of the table. That would make it possible to have an extra thin table. But I cannot build anything. So fuck that idea.
Is there seriously a need for that? Are those too lazy to actually practice the Cups and Balls so desperate to perform this, so they have to resort to this? Was the chop cup too damn hard?
Aside from those questions... This is like the very first method a layperson thinks of. The little miniskirt the table is wearing screams "load". I don't know why Peter Loughran keeps fucking up when it comes to creating props.
The best thing Peter ever released was "Seep". And that wasn't even something new.... wait, now that I think about it, the table is not a new idea either. I remember seeing a table like that years ago in a magic store. It was in the corner and collected dust. It was mechanical and needed to be operated by foot. But it was silent and if I recall correctly the masking on the table surface was way less obvious.
1250 dollars is the price for that little piece of apparatus? Does it work? I think so. I really believe that Peter is able to create working props. I had the "Entity" in my hands a few year ago. A huge ass brick of a gimmick, but it worked.
I got an idea though... Imagine having such a table. Only applying some principles from the illusion section of our craft. So the table looks way thinner. So you do your normal cups and balls, and then you offer to explain how the lemon got under the cup. You put all the cups aside and get out a glass. You put the glass at the sweet spot and move away. Do something that makes sure that everybody is looking at you. At that time the lemon loads itself under the glass. When people look back the glass has the load. That would strengthen the prior routine and give the usual cups and ball routine an extra twist that people will talk about.
If you do just one load with that technology the table needs to only have one gimmicked spot. Ergo the needed apparatus could be hidden in one of the legs or other supporting structure of the table. That would make it possible to have an extra thin table. But I cannot build anything. So fuck that idea.
You have no right
It's weird that some people assume that when a magician releases some of his material he has become a sellout and all of his material should be released. Even the magician in question seems to believe that. "I have released parts of my act and people liked it. Now I gotta release everything, while it's running so well."
I have actually talked to a magician on Facebook who told me that he likes to get a copy of the entirety of Luke Jermay's act. To him he feels that he has all the right to know about the routines mentioned but not explained in the "3510" book.
This is very disrespectful to the creative guy who released some of his ideas. Stop it!
Monday, 14 January 2013
Random Thoughts
Don't you just love it, when magicians write about themselves in third person on their websites. Normal practise I think. But writing about themselves in third person on Wikipedia...
My hands are never dirty. I master the principle of hygiene.
Don't you think it is lovely, when magicians start a certain trick as "an observation test" and never follow up on that idea.
If you cannot do a technique, you can still show off to your magic buddies, by never performing them, but by openly explaining it right away. They think you got skill.
Most comedy magicians are not funny. And most serious magicians are unintentionally funny.
Jay Sankey should stop explaining the Wave Change, as he cannot do it in a way that it looks good.
If magicians would start performing in looser pants they would not have so much trouble taking stuff out of the pocket.
If the method of a trick is more entertaining than the trick, the trick is bad.
Why does every DVD on basic coin handling include the back thumb palm and never shows a trick using it?
I love reading about magic theory, but not in the middle of a technical explanation of a card trick.
Doing a card palm on video is hard, as the camera doesn't look me in the eyes.
The more card tricks I learn, the more I appreciate the 5 card tricks that I actually do.
I get annoyed by the habit of some Magicians that are my "friends" on Facebook, who constantly tell all the world that they are "off to do a show" as if saying "look I don't suck"!
My hands are never dirty. I master the principle of hygiene.
Don't you think it is lovely, when magicians start a certain trick as "an observation test" and never follow up on that idea.
If you cannot do a technique, you can still show off to your magic buddies, by never performing them, but by openly explaining it right away. They think you got skill.
Most comedy magicians are not funny. And most serious magicians are unintentionally funny.
Jay Sankey should stop explaining the Wave Change, as he cannot do it in a way that it looks good.
If magicians would start performing in looser pants they would not have so much trouble taking stuff out of the pocket.
If the method of a trick is more entertaining than the trick, the trick is bad.
Why does every DVD on basic coin handling include the back thumb palm and never shows a trick using it?
I love reading about magic theory, but not in the middle of a technical explanation of a card trick.
Doing a card palm on video is hard, as the camera doesn't look me in the eyes.
The more card tricks I learn, the more I appreciate the 5 card tricks that I actually do.
I get annoyed by the habit of some Magicians that are my "friends" on Facebook, who constantly tell all the world that they are "off to do a show" as if saying "look I don't suck"!
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