News from the world of Magic

Everyone Who Does Magic is Awesome, Yes, Even You [Tyler Wilson]

Let’s take a step back. This week is all about perspective. We need some.

Thus far, I’ve spent a lot of time pointing out all the bad things we do. This tends to be the status quo of the magic world. Instead of building each other up, we push each other down. We’re constantly told how bad we are, and that if only we buy the hottest new trick, or read a certain thought-provoking essay, or quit our day job and become professional, then maybe, just maybe we’d become something we weren’t ashamed of. On behalf of the magic community, I apologize.

The truth is, if you perform competent magic, then you are awesome. Plain and simple. Do you know why? Because magic is awesome. And by getting out there and performing for friends, family, inmates, etc. you’re like a Domino’s driver delivering that awesomeness fast and fresh. Even mediocre magic is still freakin’ magic! It’s the equivalent of “mediocre DDs.” So in my other columns, please know that I’m not suggesting you’re bad. Nor am I suggesting you’re even middleground. No, on an awesomeness scale of cerebral palsy to Neil Patrick Harris, you’re at LEAST a very respectable Dyson Hand Dryer.

The purpose of these columns and other essays you may read is to take you up those last few percentiles. So keep being awesome, but let’s continue our strive to being even better technicians, even better performers, and even better lovers. Of magic.

You’re amazing. Don’t let anyone tell you otherwise.

Next week: 25 reasons why you suck.

For more of Tyler’s work, head over to cherryvillain.com. They’ve just launched a new members-only section with some amazing resources. You’ll need an invite code. Here’s yours: fiveisalive

Innen: iTricks.com Magic News, Magic Videos and Podcasts http://bit.ly/JV9PFo

REAL Fuckin’ Secrets - 2

It’s organic, it’s international, it comes out of a bull’s asshole….

It’s REAL Fuckin’ Secrets!!!!

BS


Innen: The Weekly Magic Failure http://bit.ly/IC1oTo

Hogyan védik meg a bűvészek saját szellemi tulajdonukat törvények nékül?

Dr. Jacob Loshin (jogász) a Yale-ről még 2007-ben írt egy részletes dolgozatot a fenti címmel. Érdemes az egészet végigolvasni: papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm Kis kivonat belőle:

A bűvészek saját maguk által kitalált trükkjeinek/előadásmódjuknak védelmére nem igazán nyújt jó védelmet sem a szerzői jog, sem a szabadalom és más létező jogintézmények sem. Részben mivel ezek alkalmazásához részletesen fel kellene fedni a trükkök titkait pl. a szabadalom megírásánál, ami széles körben hozzáférhető lenne bárki számára.

Erre a bűvészek régen rájöttek és emiatt hosszú évtizedek alatt kialakítottak egy olyan norma-alapú szellemi tulajdon védelmi rendszert, ami korlátozza a nagyközönség hozzáférését a titkokhoz és mégis lefekteti a használat szabályait és bünteti a kihágásokat.

Vannak a bűvészet alap trükkjei, amik jellemzően több száz évesek, a legtöbb esetben nem is ismert a kitalálójuk. Ezek szabadon használhatóak, hivatkozás nélkül. Többségük magyarázata megtalálható a bűvészetről szóló ismeretterjesztő könyvekben ill. a neten. Az ezeknél komolyabb (új, egyedi) trükkökre, metódusokra, fogásokra és előadásmódokra a bűvészek a következő normarendszert alkalmazzák:

- Azt a bűvészt illeti az érdem (credit) a trükk feltalálásáért, aki elsőként publikálja vagy széles körű szakmai nyilvánosság előtt bemutatja az adott trükköt.

- Más bűvészek szabadon publikálhatják az előző pontban említett eredeti trükkök továbbfejlesztett verzióit, de ezen a származtatott alkotások esetében minden esetben hivatkozni kell az eredeti trükkre és alkotójára.

- Ha egy metódust vagy egyedi előadásmódot nem osztottak meg nyilvánosan, vagy árultak szakmai körökben: az alkotóján kívül senki más nem adhatja elő.

- Ha egy metódust szakmai nyilvánosság előtt megosztottak és/vagy árultak: az bárki által szabadon előadható.

- Ha egy egyedi előadásmódot szakmai körökben alkotója megosztott vagy árusított, az szabadon bemutatható hasonlóképpen a nagyközönségnek, de szakmai közönség előtt illetlenségnek számít.

- Ha egy trükk korábban publikálva volt, de hosszú ideje (legalább kb. 70 éve) nem volt használatban, aki újra felfedezte azt majdnem ugyanúgy kezelik, mintha ő találta volna ki a trükköt. (Természetesen neki is mindig hivatkoznia kell az eredeti kreátorra, de engedélye nélkül nem illik ugyanazt újra publikálni).

Mivel a bűvészek világszerte egy szűk, zárt közösséget alkotnak, ezért akik nem tartják be a fenti normákat, azokat nagyon hamar kivetik maguk közül. Ezek a normák lehetővé teszik a trükkök kitalálóinak azt is, hogy megosszák annak titkát a kollégáikkal, de azt is hogy megtartsák azt maguknak. Ösztönzik a tudás megosztását, de büntetik a lopást. Hitet tesznek az eredetiség mellett mind az előadásmód, mind a metódusok terén és segítenek megőrizni a titkokat. Valamint ösztönöznek a rég elfeledett kincsek felkutatására.

Innen: Bűvész blog http://bit.ly/KrukP2

Exposé :: The Force!

Innen: iTricks.com Magic News, Magic Videos and Podcasts http://bit.ly/IwY3zT

Day 7 Report

Exhausted, so I’m abbreviating this.

Today’s groups had a really wide variety age-wise, so things got complicated. If I trotted out the Magic Colouring Books I’d have older kids who knew it already (and plenty were eager to express their knowledge of the trick), but if I brought out cards, I’d lose the youngsters. It was alright all-in-all though.

Speaking of the MCBs, I definitely botched that trick by not checking to see if any of the kids had seen them before. I even tried asking ahead of time if some of the kids had seen them before, and some said “No”, until I flipped through to show the pages, at which point many said “Yes! Yes! I know it!” followed by what I’m sure was an influx of Korean either explaining the trick itself or else tipping what was going to happen. One nice thing about all those kindergarten kids earlier was that I never had to worry about the “I know! I know!” problem, but today was a good reminder about the need for a backup plan. Luckily, I could fill the time with other material given the age group.

Other stuff… the card trick was brought out today (“Beautiful Hair”), and it played fine. The one cup routine came out as well, with lemons instead of balls, and I basically just went through a standard routine. Had a rush at the end of the 2nd show of kids who also wanted to try making lemons appear, so that was poor management on my part. Totally forgot to give “Pete and Repeat” a try, so I’ll need to remember that for next time.

Also, I was a bit ahead of time in the last group, so I taught them the key card. I think I’ve already put my presentation for it up, but in case I haven’t, I need to share it, since (in my humble opinion) it falls into the sweet spot of being a routine that’s good enough to entertain them and fool most people, and that they’ll be curious about the secret, but it’s also something that no self-respecting professional would ever do in a paid show. Maybe I’ll end up as a Weekly Magic Failure as a result of it, but the demand and interest for kids to learn tricks here is so strong that something needs to be sacrificed.

Otherwise… damn I’m tired. Next week there’s another group of older kids so I’ll be trying out a bit more sophisticated material, and will report back.

innen: Ye Olde Magick Blogge http://bit.ly/J6rRnC

A Glimpse Behind the James Randi & Banachek’s Takedown of Scam Artist Peter Popoff

Two magicians, a private investigator and an actor team up to bring down a double dealing scumbag raking in millions. It reads George Clooney and Brad Pitt short of a Vegas heist flick. In reality, it’s the story of the crew, lead by The Amazing James Randi, that successfully embarrassed vile huckster Peter Popoff.

A television preacher, Popoff made millions with a traveling road show where he “interpreted the word of God” to find victims of Earthly ailments and “healed” them by with “God’s power.” In reality, as was sussed out by Randi, Banachek and others, he listened to his wife read a list of names she’d gathered from prayer cards with ailments on them then yelled.

In his opinion column on Wired.com Randi goes over some of the behind the scenes details for those that haven’t read his opus on the subject The Faith Healers.

My team then — the mentalist Banachek, private investigator Alec Jason, postman-turned-actor Don Henvick, and several others — visited Popoff “revivals” in several cities. The clincher came when Henvick disguised as a woman named Bernice, was “called out” (The Holy Spirit had notified Popoff of her need for healing, you see) and was cured of uterine cancer, even though he lacked a uterus.

Now, that is a miracle.

It’s an incredibly sad tale made sadder by the fact that Popoff is still making a living. Which only means you are doing a good service by continuing to pass along Randi’s findings.

Innen: iTricks.com Magic News, Magic Videos and Podcasts http://bit.ly/JSz4Iv

And Now: David Copperfield Raps with T-Pain

We have no context, we have no explanation. All we have is the video evidence that David Copperfield and T-Pain were in the same place at the same time auto-tuning themselves with Mr. Pain’s iPhone app.

So… that happened.

Innen: iTricks.com Magic News, Magic Videos and Podcasts http://bit.ly/JSz4ID

In Honor of the Fallen MCA Here is the One Beastie Boys Song with a Magic Reference

For those who haven’t heard, cancer claimed the life of Adam “MCA” Yauch today. He was 47 and is survived by his wife and child.

It took until their last album but the famously metaphor crazy Beastie Boys finally dropped a specific magic industry reference on the Hot Sauce Committee Part 2 album track Pop Your Balloon.

Like Fraaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaanz Harary, I’m a magic man.

You will be missed MCA.

Innen: iTricks.com Magic News, Magic Videos and Podcasts http://bit.ly/IPoiRu

Solitary by Cameron Francis

From the mind of Cameron Francis comes solitary: A signed coin to impossible location that takes up almost no pocket space, is gimmick free and completely examinable. Imagine this, you produce a sealed cardboard coin holder and have it examined. A quarter is then borrowed and signed by the spectator on both sides. Suddenly, the coin visually appears inside the sealed coin holder. The coin holder is held at the finger tips, clearly displaying that the coin is suspended inside. The coin holder is then ripped open and the spectator can remove the coin. Everything is examinable.

On this DVD, Cameron teaches several routines with coin holders involving appearances, penetrations and transpositions. The effects are all easy to do, highly visual and completely examinable.

http://bit.ly/GOhDX5

Innen: iTricks.com Magic News, Magic Videos and Podcasts http://bit.ly/IJQhsh

Day 6 Report

Dear David Kaye,

Thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you.

Had three groups today. First were the 4-5 year-olds which went alright, and last were the 6 year-olds who were pretty good, but the middle group, the 7s, went absolutely bonkers for the handkerchief vanish. That single performance of that one trick, which leverages the “Look, Don’t See” theory taught in the Seriously Silly book, got the kids standing up out of their seats pointing and hollering as the hanky that I supposedly vanished ended up on the floor, and each time it happened, the louder it got.

That experience, I’m telling you… I’ve not had anything like that for an adult show. Definitely a rush. One thing about dealing with young kids is that you won’t get the David Blaine-type “Oooooh!” reactions, and I’m not going to be able to wow them with the card tricks I usually do, but if I can get that sort of bedlam consistently, it won’t matter. I suspect it’s the sort of thing that a lot of kid’s performers, once they’ve solved the riddle, makes it difficult for them to want to go back to perform for older audiences. Plus, now I get to practice my kick-steal.

Obviously, the challenge now is to try to get that trick to pop like that every single performance, and then to have more than a few that live up to it (I have one that I think could be very good).

The other major wrinkle for the day was the size of the audiences. I had one group of 60 or so kids, one group of about 80, and another of about 90. Throw in a half-dozen teachers for each show and it gets a bit intimidating for somebody who’s only ever done close-up. Thankfully most of the responses seemed fine.

Otherwise, things went as per usual. These were shortened shows (25 minutes) so the one-cup routine, the sticky wand, and the card trick (whatever it was going to be) were jettisoned, as was the cursory “lame magic” bit at the beginning to encourage booing.

Coin flurry went ok. Hanky vanish went good twice and awesome once. Rope trick went alright. Spongeballs went ok (more on them in a bit). Colouring Books went well, and I ended up closing on them — not ideal, but we’re still sort of settling into a rhythm in terms of show lengths, and when that gets totally figured out I can move that trick into the pre-closer, which it seems better suited for.

Tomorrow I’ve got a mixed bag when it comes to ages. I’m hoping that those kids who are going to be a bit too old for the Colouring Books will be ready for card tricks (Hell, they’d better be, because these are going to be 40 minute shows). One of the older groups can probably be engaged with more dialogue at the beginning, and I might teach them a simple trick, and there’s not even a half-bad chance that somebody there knows how to do a trick themselves, which is always great research in terms of learning what’s out there.

innen: Ye Olde Magick Blogge http://bit.ly/IzG3Zt