In the beginning
It was perhaps a colder day in the Magic Cafe when Justin Miller announced he is leaving magic. Armchair magicians and old farts with cards and coins in hand all cried out at the loss of a talented young man. Justin bid a tearful goodbye, and left magic saying it conflicts with his religious beliefs.
Four months later...
The second coming
Fast forward to January 2007:
I truly believe that God asked me to "lay it down" and for me, it meant getting rid of the OLD so HE can FILL me with the NEW! It's all good! - Justin Miller
The heavens parted, a light came down onto Justin. A voice, that only Justin could hear, boomed across the sky "Pick up thy cards". Was it the voice of the Holy Father? Maybe Jesus? No one really knows. It prompted this boy, who has become a man, to put on his sparkley vest and be a magician again. (Well, either that or it could be that Justin's wife just plopped out a kid and he needs cash.)
So Justin Miller begins lecturing and creating magic; some of it even, wasn't too bad. This need to spread his magic grows, and every dollar, which is no doubt donated to the painting of churches across America, is appreciated... then it happens.
The Devil Calls
The Satan of magic, Brad Christian, entices Justin to join the ranks of ... (gasp) ELLUSIONIST.
The evil corporation of greed and gestapo tactics has brainwashed our beloved Justin into their legion.
Justin Miller now sits next to his equally brainwashed comrade, Daniel Garcia (who is known to take other magician's ideas, give them a spiffy name and release them). Hell has claimed one of our own.
Money, Fame, Fanboys, Rentboys
Justin presides from his evil throne, which is made from the tongues and fingers of those who dared to type a negative word on the Ellusionist forums. Justin is famous for releasing magic tricks and has his own legion of 12 year old boys eager to defend their master's every attempt at magic. They hail it all as the greatest ever produced. Every month.
Lightning crashes overhead as Brad Christian looks down at it all with a wicked cackle, while the mountain of cash he stands on grows ever higher. Justin's once proud Silver Dream serves only to fuel Brad's piles of sordid gold.
Justin, you are now in the league of the devil. Jesus is watching!
Wednesday 28 November 2007
Friday 23 November 2007
The Learned Pig: At last a magic resource that gives instead of takes
We've browsed the net and found plenty of piles of crap purporting to be magic resources. However, The Learned Pig is one of those that is actually a pile of gold. Marko the Magician is to be commended for hosting one of the finest online resources of free legal public domain magic material.
Many old fashioned magicians believe that it is not right to obtain magic unless you pay for it. What they don't realise is that after approx 50 years (the rules vary from country to country) copyright expires and that material becomes open source. It can be freely hosted and distributed. Now in the past, that would mean publishing companies would rehash it and charge you a fair whack to buy it, but the internet has changed all that. Hosting of this material for download can be done very cheaply and magic can be obtained for free.
What's more this material contains most of the classics which are the basis of today's marketed effects. Such books as Bobo's Modern Coin Magic, Hoffman's books, and many works by Hugard, Braue, Houdini, Anneman, or Erdnase, to name but a few. In fact many of today's magic creators simply take an old effect, add a presentation variation or a few patter bells and whistles, and promptly claim the effect as their own. This is the big con game of magic marketing, which many newcomers don't appreciate until they have blown a large wad of cash on stuff they could have got for free.
Moreover, by going through the thousands of ideas in the pdfs on the The Learned Pig, you can find particular ones to suit yourself, and your own skill level rather than relying on misleading dealer descriptions or camera cut strewn so called demo vids.
How do YOU obtain YOUR magical effects and ideas? Free, at sites like The Learned Pig, or slowly, one by one recycled effect at a time, at $30+ a throw. It's a no-brainer.
You may have noticed that you need to apply to the Learned Pig for a user/password. We're not going to give that out here, because you may not be a magician, but if you are serious about learning magic then go to Google and search for "learned pig password" You may find something to your advantage.
Also useful is Fizbin's Learned Pig Mirror Not everything is on there, but there is some other material, and you don't need a password.
Many old fashioned magicians believe that it is not right to obtain magic unless you pay for it. What they don't realise is that after approx 50 years (the rules vary from country to country) copyright expires and that material becomes open source. It can be freely hosted and distributed. Now in the past, that would mean publishing companies would rehash it and charge you a fair whack to buy it, but the internet has changed all that. Hosting of this material for download can be done very cheaply and magic can be obtained for free.
What's more this material contains most of the classics which are the basis of today's marketed effects. Such books as Bobo's Modern Coin Magic, Hoffman's books, and many works by Hugard, Braue, Houdini, Anneman, or Erdnase, to name but a few. In fact many of today's magic creators simply take an old effect, add a presentation variation or a few patter bells and whistles, and promptly claim the effect as their own. This is the big con game of magic marketing, which many newcomers don't appreciate until they have blown a large wad of cash on stuff they could have got for free.
Moreover, by going through the thousands of ideas in the pdfs on the The Learned Pig, you can find particular ones to suit yourself, and your own skill level rather than relying on misleading dealer descriptions or camera cut strewn so called demo vids.
How do YOU obtain YOUR magical effects and ideas? Free, at sites like The Learned Pig, or slowly, one by one recycled effect at a time, at $30+ a throw. It's a no-brainer.
You may have noticed that you need to apply to the Learned Pig for a user/password. We're not going to give that out here, because you may not be a magician, but if you are serious about learning magic then go to Google and search for "learned pig password" You may find something to your advantage.
Also useful is Fizbin's Learned Pig Mirror Not everything is on there, but there is some other material, and you don't need a password.
Elosernist: Who are they kidding?
Yes guys, it's Ellusionist.com. The best thing since sliced bread. Leading edge "street magic" you can perform erm... on the street. You can also perform it in the comfort of your own bedroom, or better still shove it in your bottom drawer and forget about it. At least then you won't keep reminding yourself how you blew a huge wad of cash on nothing more than marketing hype, dry ice smoke, and some snappy music.
Confused? Let's elaborate:
1. Mindbender: Card bends by itself. Lick the back of your hand and the moisture curls the card (eventually). If it doesn't bend enough, you give it a good hard crimp while hiding it behind your other open hand, in the act of showing the hand empty. Why you need to show your other hand empty heaven knows. Did you just vanish something? All the while, you patter on about how you are not touching the card which you blatantly are. Pathetic. Especially designed for spectators who enjoy watching paint dry. Ding ....$20 please.
2. Infusion: Coin penetrates glass. Except you quickly turn the glass mouth up over the coin and flick it in there. Relies on a variation of David Williamson's strike vanish move. Recommended for parties where you want to get them laughing... at you. Ding....$20 please.
3. Box Monster: Oh my God! The rising card; that's got to be a "new" leading edge street magic effect, for sure. Does it use elastic thread loops? Nope this is a totally "different" concept. This uses invisible elastic thread loops. The innovation is totally gobsmacking. You'll certainly get in plenty of of hours with this one; mainly comprised of making up fiddly elastic thread gimmicks which have a delightful habit of breaking in performance. Ding....$25 please.
4. The Revolution Vanish: A coin or object vanishes off the back of your hand at waist level. Hmmm, well that's a natural position. Did holding at waist level have anything to do with the fact you hover it just above your gaping front trouser pocket? Go to The Learned Pig, download the public domain Bobo's Modern Coin Magic, and you can learn something similar and more natural for free, along with 500 other effects, Bobo's doesn't come with dramatic street magic music, but then it doesn't cost you $20 either.
5. Stigmata. Marks appear on your arm predicting a card. A typical rehash of an old classic effect. Published in 1967 as the blood writing test and dating back to the US Civil War before that where it sold for around $1 you'll pay $30 for the Ellusionist rewrite. To be fair, this is not bad, but you can get it for less as the principle is public domain. As for the effect, it's as simple as scratching your arm beforehand with AC and forcing the ace of clubs. When you hold your wrist, the blood shows up in the scratches. How much did you say?
6. Indecent. A selected card appears inside a plastic bag. Well that's what some demos show. The only thing indecent about this is the price and the marketing. The card is actually stuck on the back of the bag with chapstick and they view it through the two layers of plastic. You can make it appear inside the bag by asking your audience to look away to simulate a camera edit. Then you quickly sneak the card inside, and when they look back you can remove the card from in the bag so it plays exactly as described. Not even half-decent, but $25 will buy you this lesson on getting ripped off.
To be honest, you'd be better off necking a bucket of rancid skunk's entrails than spending money on some of these. In conclusion, there's many places we'd recommend for value magic. Unfortunately, Ellusionist isn't one of them.
Confused? Let's elaborate:
1. Mindbender: Card bends by itself. Lick the back of your hand and the moisture curls the card (eventually). If it doesn't bend enough, you give it a good hard crimp while hiding it behind your other open hand, in the act of showing the hand empty. Why you need to show your other hand empty heaven knows. Did you just vanish something? All the while, you patter on about how you are not touching the card which you blatantly are. Pathetic. Especially designed for spectators who enjoy watching paint dry. Ding ....$20 please.
2. Infusion: Coin penetrates glass. Except you quickly turn the glass mouth up over the coin and flick it in there. Relies on a variation of David Williamson's strike vanish move. Recommended for parties where you want to get them laughing... at you. Ding....$20 please.
3. Box Monster: Oh my God! The rising card; that's got to be a "new" leading edge street magic effect, for sure. Does it use elastic thread loops? Nope this is a totally "different" concept. This uses invisible elastic thread loops. The innovation is totally gobsmacking. You'll certainly get in plenty of of hours with this one; mainly comprised of making up fiddly elastic thread gimmicks which have a delightful habit of breaking in performance. Ding....$25 please.
4. The Revolution Vanish: A coin or object vanishes off the back of your hand at waist level. Hmmm, well that's a natural position. Did holding at waist level have anything to do with the fact you hover it just above your gaping front trouser pocket? Go to The Learned Pig, download the public domain Bobo's Modern Coin Magic, and you can learn something similar and more natural for free, along with 500 other effects, Bobo's doesn't come with dramatic street magic music, but then it doesn't cost you $20 either.
5. Stigmata. Marks appear on your arm predicting a card. A typical rehash of an old classic effect. Published in 1967 as the blood writing test and dating back to the US Civil War before that where it sold for around $1 you'll pay $30 for the Ellusionist rewrite. To be fair, this is not bad, but you can get it for less as the principle is public domain. As for the effect, it's as simple as scratching your arm beforehand with AC and forcing the ace of clubs. When you hold your wrist, the blood shows up in the scratches. How much did you say?
6. Indecent. A selected card appears inside a plastic bag. Well that's what some demos show. The only thing indecent about this is the price and the marketing. The card is actually stuck on the back of the bag with chapstick and they view it through the two layers of plastic. You can make it appear inside the bag by asking your audience to look away to simulate a camera edit. Then you quickly sneak the card inside, and when they look back you can remove the card from in the bag so it plays exactly as described. Not even half-decent, but $25 will buy you this lesson on getting ripped off.
To be honest, you'd be better off necking a bucket of rancid skunk's entrails than spending money on some of these. In conclusion, there's many places we'd recommend for value magic. Unfortunately, Ellusionist isn't one of them.
Thursday 22 November 2007
Magic Bunny:What a bunch of sad wankers
This so called magic forum is like something out of the 1950's. With admin ranging from spotty faced, stuck up, little prats with Victorian ethics to drunken, alcoholic, pizza salesmen masquerading as librarians. Mind you, the forum is down more often than a whore's drawers so we don't have to put up with it for too long at a time.
So much for a secret magic library there; the thing is in such a fucking state, we've seen better organised magic libraries in the kiddies' section of Walmart. Those responsible are probably too busy spanking their monkeys in response to the latest minor exposure scandal. The mere thought of Penn and Teller mentioning a thumb tip on a chat show is enough to make them go apoplectic with anger and stick their winkles up the nearest rectum just to cope with the stress of it all.
We notice SOMF stalwarts Valentina and Jason have been putting a few valid points across there recently. However, with typical Bunny members apparently sharing their IQs with that of the average stick insect, any cogent responses are somewhat lacking. Oh well, at least they can munch on their carrots, until they wake up to realise the start of the new millennium passed some time ago.
So much for a secret magic library there; the thing is in such a fucking state, we've seen better organised magic libraries in the kiddies' section of Walmart. Those responsible are probably too busy spanking their monkeys in response to the latest minor exposure scandal. The mere thought of Penn and Teller mentioning a thumb tip on a chat show is enough to make them go apoplectic with anger and stick their winkles up the nearest rectum just to cope with the stress of it all.
We notice SOMF stalwarts Valentina and Jason have been putting a few valid points across there recently. However, with typical Bunny members apparently sharing their IQs with that of the average stick insect, any cogent responses are somewhat lacking. Oh well, at least they can munch on their carrots, until they wake up to realise the start of the new millennium passed some time ago.
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