High on Magic

Magic Utopia

2006-03-07T07:39:00.000-07:00

Keebler has just sent me an e-mail announcing his new blog, Magic Utopia!

You can check it out here: http://magicutopia.blogspot.com/

I especially like his post on Bizarre Magic, seeing as it's the main area I practice in.

Lots of thinking...

2006-03-03T18:13:00.000-07:00

I've been away for a while thinking about this whole career business.

I'm sure most or some of you have had to make a major career choice or change. I'm stuck with the question: have a secure, rich, but completely boring career that will make me question what useful thing I have done with my life or have an exremely risky, but adventurous career that I will love for the rest of my days?

Here's what I think: I think I still have some thinking to do. This decision is too big to jump into immediately. What do you guys think?

Homosexuality & Female Magicians

2006-02-22T18:40:00.000-07:00

Everyone seems to have strong opinions on homosexuality whether you're for or against. I have nothing against gay people (I, however, personally walk the straight line), but I can't help wonder why they have to be so "gay" about it - you always see gay people running around being all proud, having parades, and wearing rainbows and other such nonsense. Do I go running around yelling "I'm straight! Look at me!"? Do I think I need special treatment and respect because I'm straight? I don't think so.

Can you believe that this relates to magic? Think about it. There are the magicians and then there are the female magicians. The female magicians always jump in to correct someone on being "sexist". And by sexist, I mean the male said he instead of he/she. Or sometimes people will be discussing great magicians past and present and some ho will say "What about the females? They were great too!" We also demand special respect and attention because we're the minority.

The truth is that the general public has never known a great female magician. And just because we're minority doesn't mean we have to act special which, in fact, ends up making us look inferior by making it seem as though we can't be special on our own, but need males to treat us with more respect to make us special.

Men have a right to be sexist because the truth is that most magicians aren't females and we are not equal in power over the magic community just because we're "special".

Have we actually contributed to magic in a smashingly big way? No. Are there females better than the best male magicians? No. So why don't we earn our respect? Good question. I'm not sure.

Criss Angel Interview

2006-02-17T18:31:00.002-07:00

Criss Angel on the Penn Jilette radio show has cause people to go insanely mad. I didn’t listen to the interview, but I listened to the clip of it.

For season two of Mindfreak, he'll be doing the déjà vu trick again, but this time with a whole family. As an extra piece of news that I don’t think was announced on the radio show (but I’m not sure), Criss will be eating fire. In 2007, he’ll be planted down for a ten year stage show deal on the Las Vegas strip. And who-knows-when, he’ll be debunking psychic frauds on a special called Sucker.

Apparently, the Mindfreak thinks that you have to do fresh shit to be non-hokey. Are you fucking kidding me, you hypocrite? He completely contradicted himself because some of the things he's done has been ripped off of Blaine! For those of you who just did something powerful and hard-hitting from Banachek? Yeah, well, you suck because Criss, the hypocrite, doesn't think you should do anything that’s been done before. But Chwissy, didn't you do the sawing-in-half and metamorphosis on your Mindfreak stage show? “But please, buy my coin in can because you too can be a non-hokey magician like me because I know what’s best for the magic community even though I don’t give a shit about you!”

He continued to be true to his magical arrogant character by making a little joke that completely implied "Blaine who"? What is with him and Blaine? Is Criss mad that Blaine set the way for Criss’ career? He just wants to brush Blaine aside and make him look like crap so that he can appear to be better than him! And it also seems that he thinks that anyone not in the Las Vegas crowd is an unworthy magician. See what a big ego can do to you?

Penn is delusional when he says that he has a connection with the audience. Criss intimidates the crap out of you and makes you feel like he’s this pro with a perfect life, has abilities that took years to master, and never was on the same level as you in the first place.

The whole camera trick issue comes up and finally (hallelujah!) Criss indirectly states that he uses stooges and reveals how he did his déjà vu trick. Penn goes on to say “yeah, you did things the real way…” Which things? What? “…and the harder way.” By harder, he of course meant no camera tricks. No camera tricks doesn’t mean harder - it means not cheating your audience!

Some magicians are not hokey, but the typical magician stereotype is. Criss, instead of calling yourself an illusionist and disassociating yourself from the word magician, why not reinvent it, huh? But I have to admit that most magicians are either clones, flash, or they are hokey because they present magic in a way that you know it’s just a trick and not something more (keep in mind that most magicians are not professional). Guys, don’t go straight-up “this is fake”, but don’t go “I have supernatural powers” either. Let the audience have imagination!

I am not "jealous" of him, nor am I claiming that Criss Angel will burn in hell. This is just my impression of him, be it right or wrong.

What's the moral of the story, kids? Well, this whole thing proves that one reason that magic is screwed up is that we constantly argue.

Get out there and reinvent both the word and the stereotype of magician!

Magic Idol my ass...

2006-02-15T16:26:00.000-07:00

It appears Cowell has indeed gone officially mad with this whole Magic Idol thing. If you haven't heard this already, you're in for a big one.

Simon is executive producing a magic version of American Idol to debut this summer.
http://www.breitbart.com/news/2006/02/03/D8FHMLA80.html

Some of you may be sitting there going either "That's great!" or "What's wrong with it? So what?"

Can you imagine how many new magicians there will be once this comes on? Instant magicians, damn it! It'll be Blaine all over again!

And who does Cowell think he is? Some smart person? He certainly doesn't know shit about magic and has no right to jump in and think he's doing us a big favour by making a Magic Idol. It'll ruin magicians who get rejected, and however do a great job, but are too "ugly" or don't have the "right" style. Remember what happens to those singers who don't have the singing style that they're looking for (and yet have the talent)? Rejection, that's what happens. Same with the magicians if Simon gets his way. Ass.

And what happens when someone flashes or does a terrible job on the show? It'll basically fuck your gig chances, so you can wave goodbye to that.

The only good I can possibly see coming out of this is the winner might have actual talent and make magic amazing once again (although I doubt that that magician will have anyone believing in their effects once people see the crap magic done before the winner).

I have a very bad feeling about this.

What a marvelous day!

2006-02-14T17:23:00.000-07:00

In honour of International Get Laid Day, I watched Moulin Rouge - a movie with a really sweet story that, quite sadly, needed early 20th century whores dancing around to make it a big hit.

I just wanted to say that I love you all. Have a happy Valentine's Day! And wear protection, kids!

The State of Magic Today

2006-02-12T20:18:00.000-07:00

There's one question in magic that everyone seems to talk about, but yet has no business to exist.

Is magic dying?

First of all, who the hell thought of this question? If you're the bastard who did it, then please e-mail me so that we can arrange a slapping session.

Some magicians say that magic is dying for a number of reasons; no more creativity, David Blaine clones, secrets being spilled like crazy over the internet, and people shouting stooge or camera trick for anything on tv. All of those things are true, but in which way is magic getting hurt by this? Less chance to get a gig? Less payment? I don't think so.

And then, of course, some say magic is flourishing. More people involved, more popular, more movies about it, you get the idea. But in reality, there are just more people on the planet, not more popularity for magic. Makes perfect sense, doesn't it?

So, end of story, right? Wrong.

Pagliacci's post is completely right on target when he says that magic just feeds the ego, doesn't fool most people, and doesn't help people realize that anything is possible. I'm just lucky that I'm a girl so I don't have an ego.

Magic isn't dying, it's just screwed up in the majority of places. But magic is wonderful to perform and still amazes me if someone does a good job. Wouldn't it be great if magic was golden again? I challenge you to try to change magic into being more real, more about the moral behind it, and less about me! me! me!

The Mindfreak vs David Blaine

2006-02-04T16:10:00.000-07:00

This Spring, we can look forward to both Blaine and Criss putting out some magic on tv.

David Blaine: Yet-to-be-Named Special
The guy who caused magic hysteria is finally back after years of hibernation. His stunts will include high-wire walking, possibly parting the Red Sea (which he's supposedly been having trouble with), and, as a final stunt, being shot and then taking out the bullet.
I don't think he'll be able to create as much publicity from this special as with the other ones, but from what I've heard so far, it should be pretty good.

Criss Angel: Mindfreak Season II
With Season 2, it's supposedly going to be bigger and more dangerous than the first. We'll be seeing him escaping from a straightjacket while skydiving, levitating from one building to another, and maybe being hit by real lightening and parting the Atlantic Ocean (sound familiar?).
But hopefully, Criss will focus on being more real and stop with the major grandoise (fat chance). However, I am looking forward to seeing what Season 2 will be like - Season 1 was actually pretty amusing.

A few of these are still rumours and not in concrete, but you can bet that once these boys have been unleashed, we'll be having something to talk about.

Rooting for the Underdog

2006-02-03T18:14:00.000-07:00

If you've ever been bored and watched that Guinness World Record show, you might've seen the two guys who tried to break the record for the highest kick. One of the guys had that whole professional, this-takes-a-lot-of-work arrogance about him and dressed in pricey athletic gear. The other guy had that underdog thing going on, dressed casually, and acted like what he was doing wasn't show-offy or that big of a deal.

And what happened? The underdog won.

Let's suppose that the flashy guy won. Well, that would make you feel sorry for the underdog and a little happy for the flashy guy. But since the underdog won, it made the flashy guy look like a complete asshole and the underdog - a genius. Do you see the difference?

Here's another example:
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=4030503031735481938

The video just further justifies my point.

This can be applied to your magical character. You can go ahead and take the risk of being flashy and end up being fucked if you mess up, or you can take the underdog, casual way and have the crowd go wild. You decide.

But however you decide to act, NEVER be a mix - a "flashy underdog" - or you'll turn out like her:
http://www.youtube.com/w/American-Idol%27s-Super-Tan-Girl-Crystal-Parizanski?v=Y719-9SDee0

Congratulations!

2006-01-29T20:48:00.000-07:00

Congratulations! You've been granted access into the Inner Circle for the following reasons:
1) You haven't said anything against any of the moderators' views.
2) You've learnt to keep your mouth shut when you want to say the truth and/or are angry about something.
3) We've finally noticed you after eight months because of your post, Hot Magician Pictures!
4) You've shown advanced knowledge in the area of fooling moderators into thinking you have advanced knowledge.

I am overjoyed.

2006 Canadian Elections

2006-01-27T22:20:00.000-07:00

On Monday, the 2006 Canadian Elections were held. The damn Conservatives won.

I voted for the Marijuana Party (which recieved 0.06% of all votes). Go marijuana.

You gotta wonder why there weren't more votes. Maybe the people who wanted to vote for them were too high on marijuana.

Criss Angel Review

2006-01-26T14:49:00.000-07:00

Criss Angel. We've all heard of him. Most of us have criticized him.

Now here's an interesting character that has caused a huge controversy from his camera trick and stooge methods. But since he constantly says, "There are no camera tricks or editing used," then let me rephrase that for him: he's caused controversy over his camera manipulations and angle restrictions. Sure, he doesn't use the camera/stooge shit for every trick, but it's used more often than any magician in their right mind would use. But then again, he is the Mindfreak.

Wait a sec! He must be doing something good, right? Well, he said that he's trying to change magic from a cheap novelty into something seemingly impossible (impossible, of course, if you don't use camera/stooge shit). And I'll bet that the time he advertized his coin in can trick (which isn't even his) right on the show was his idea of making magic something priceless that money can't buy. Give me a fucking break.

And what about his name? He can't even pronounce it and no one can spell it either. Way to go, Chwis Angle.

I love his little monotonic voice and his attempt at trying to sound dark and mysterious. Oh, and you gotta love his 'home journal' feel to the show and the way he always goes, "Look at me! I've been training since I learned to masturbate!"

Imagine him doing his butterfly trick and the woman, instead, drew a dick. What would his reaction be? "Sorry miss - that's the one thing I don't have."

Can you believe that he originally wanted to call his show Mindfuck? I certainly can see where he's coming from with that because that's all he is - a piece of fuck for your mind's pleasure.

I'm not trying to put you down, Chwissy. I'm just trying to give you constructive criticism which I seem incapable of doing right now. But I completely respect you as a performer. I mean, you're the one up there, not me. Keep it going, you Mindfweak, and don't let anyone get your arrogance down!

I am too busy masturbating to his picture right now, but I'll be sure to comment on his Slaves....er Loyals when I get a chance to.

Welcome one and all...

2006-01-25T20:38:00.000-07:00

Let's get things rolling here!

I'm TicklishGirl, and yes, I am a girl. I prefer to remain anonymous until I feel like showing my identity. And until then, I will remain....anonymous.

The purpose of this blog will be for me to let out all the emotions I recieve from the crap industry we have come to call magic.

Don't get me wrong - magic is wonderful! It's amazing! But with all of these opinions, forums, and online store scams floating around randomly, I feel like I need to put my dose of crap in. I will write when I feel the need to and I will write whatever I want. Don't take anything personally.

I know that people will start talking shit about my posts, but I'm not going to start these huge blog-wide arguements if you insult me, so you can have your opinion. I give you the right to have it. Go ahead.

But just know that I don't give a fuck.

Have a good one.