Intellectual Property Among Magicians

Finance Blog – Market Movers by Felix Salmon: Intellectual Property Among Magicians – Portfolio.com.

Tags: Magic, Magicians, Secrets

For those either too old or too young to remember, Al Capone’s Vault was a TV Special aired in 1986, hosted by Geraldo Rivera. Here’s the promo:

The two hour special was greatly hyped as potentially revealing great riches or bodies on live television. This included the presence of a medical examiner should bodies be found and agents from the Internal Revenue Service to collect any of Capone’s money that may be discovered. When the vault was finally opened the only things found inside were dirt and several empty bottles including one Geraldo claimed was for moonshine bathtub gin. Despite the ending the special became the most-watched syndicated television special with an estimated audience of 30,000,000. – Wikipedia

Does this sound more than a little like the hype surrounding so many magic tricks and the pre-release comments on the Cafe approach that number it seems. This was brought to mind while reading the massive thread on a new product called Linked. At this point I’m not sure whether Linked isn’t just an elaborate scam – it really smells, but that’s not my point here. I began thinking about over-hyped products that really stunk.

I’m not talking about just bad, I’m talking about wallpaper peeling – gas mask required stinkers. Remember this:

For centuries rumours have blossomed: tales of gurus, shamans, mystics and the secret powers of the mysterious “Third Eye” have fascinated the populous. But, can the myth’s reality actually be demonstrated? Now, Ben Harris brings this fantastic mystery to life—creating a unique, freaky and visually-arresting effect—one slick enough for even the most savvy of today’s street-wise performers.

HOLE IN THE HEAD has been one of the art’s most closely guarded secrets of recent times—it has fooled, amused and delighted some of magic’s biggest names. Using no mirrors or reflective devices and no stooges, HOLE IN THE HEAD is a radical and visual NEW PLOT—an exciting piece of street-theatre that simply MUST be experienced live! What’s more, it’s 100% practical! This is a one person—do anywhere—illusion.

In effect, the performer gathers a crowd around himself in a brightly lit, sunny spot. Discussing the amazing legend, he offers to open his own “Third Eye” allowing the sun to shine right through his head. As this would be too dangerous to observe directly, he suggests that everyone focus attention on his shadow. After some concerted effort, a small blob of light appears in the centre of his shadow head. Amazingly, this blob of light then grows larger at his command. To prove that it is no mere optical illusion and that the light does indeed pass through his head, a spectator is asked to wave her hand behind the performer’s cranium. Incredibly, when she does this, the actions are reciprocated in the shadow head—her fingers are clearly visible in the shadow hole! THE CONCLUSION IS INESCAPABLE—THE SUN IS INDEED SHINING STRAIGHT THROUGH A HOLE IN THE PERFORMER’S HEAD! The process is now reversed and the hole slowly closed. YOU CAN PERFORM THIS STUNNER VIRTUALLY ANYWHERE THE SUN SHINES. Complete with bonus handlings and clever ideas by Paul Harris and Michael Weber. YOU CAN EVEN OPEN A SPECTATOR’S OWN “THIRD EYE”!

“Bravo! Mind expanding magic, in every sense of the word!”
– MICHAEL AMMAR

“The rumors are true: Ben Harris does have a hole in his head. And it’s surrounded by a brain filled with clever ideas, of which this one is delight.”
– Max Maven

“Truly a wonderful thing… a totally original breakthrough plot.”
– PAUL HARRIS

“…situational, astonishing and a devilishly clever piece of magic —the best effect I’ve seen in a long time!”
– JOSHUA JAY

“Something that’s never been done before using a method that’s never been used before —very cool!”
– RICHARD KAUFMAN

“Fooled me… you could probably start a religion with this!”
– GARY KOSNITZKY

“Just remarkable, I love it!”
– RICHARD OSTERLIND

Open your “Third Eye” and let the sun shine through!

Certainly something that ranks right up there with the classic Silver Shifter.

Nominations are now open for the all time winner. Either comment here or I can be reached at intenselymagic@gmail.com

Take care………

1 The later you are, the more excited your dogs are to see you.

2. Dogs will forgive you for playing with other dogs.

3. If a dog is gorgeous, other dogs don’t hate it.

4. Dogs don’t notice if you call them by another dog’s name.

5. Dogs like it if you leave a lot of things on the floor.

6. A dog’s parents never visit.

7. Dogs do not hate their bodies.

8. Dogs agree that you have to raise your voice to get your point across.

9. Dogs like to do their snooping outside rather than in your wallet or desk.

10. Dogs seldom outlive you.

11. Dogs can’t talk.

12. You never have to wait for a dog; they’re ready to go 24 hours a day.

13. Dogs find you amusing when you’re drunk.

14. Dogs like to go hunting and fishing.

15. Another man will seldom steal your dog.

16. A dog will not wake you up at night to ask, “If I died, would you get another dog?”

17. If a dog has babies, you can put an ad in the paper and give them away.

18. A dog will let you put a studded collar on it without calling you a pervert.

19. A dog won’t hold out on you to get a new car.

20. If a dog smells another dog on you, they don’t get mad. They just think it’s interesting.

21. On a car trip, your dog never insists on running the heater.

22. Dogs don’t let magazine articles guide their lives.

23. When your dog gets old, you can have it put to sleep.

24. Dogs like to ride in the back of a pick-up truck.

25. Dogs are not allowed in Bloomingdale’s or Neiman-Marcus.

26. If a dog leaves, it won’t take half of your stuff.

Take care………

Drivel & Drool

Things That Really Bug Me
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Companies that spend a jillion dollars on a web site, yet the programmers aren’t smart enough to strip spaces, periods, dashes etc. from phone and credit card numbers

George F. Bush

Piss ant Police departments that have so much time on their hands they do “safety” checks. Can I hear a big Bull Shit!

The Patriot Act – like its going to catch anything.

Names for employees, like “associates” and “partners” OR my new favorite From Sam’s Club – “coach”. What really bugs me most is the places that use these feel-good terms like Wal-Mart would sell their employees body parts to slave traders if it would add .01 to the quarterly income.

“Disrespected” athletes making 8 figure salaries.

Big Oil – I guess everyone saw that Exxon just made more money last quarter than ANY US company in history! I recently wrote about their blatant thievery and some douche bag commented that it was a supply issue – China- India and other palaver spewed out by the American Petroleum Institute. I said then – just wait for the quarterly report. If anyone thinks we got rid of all the fucking bandits and crooks when Enron and Worldcomm crashed you’re fooling yourself. American business is corruption on corruption. We can no longer entrust our well being to “free enterprise”. It doesn’t exist.

Wall Street – speaking of crooks. The Exxon quarter “disappointed” the MBAs, CPAs and CFUs and the stock went down. What a joke our financial system has become.

Alan Greenspan – he’s screwed up more times than George F. Bush II and no one seems to know.

Escalades – the ultimate prickmobile.

From the web site:

BUNKO
Jim’s new shortchange effect is a remarkable close-up routine. The effect is tremendous, writes Richard Kaufman. Bunko is a perfect example of close up magic theater. An intriguing story draws the spectators in and then wallops them with magic. Twenty dollars in change (five singles, three fives) changes to $19, then $14, back to $20… And at the end, the sucker ends up with just thirteen dollars. The routine is ingeniously arranged without any sleight of hand at all. A beautiful set of instructions, written by Richard Kaufman and illustrated with 48 full color photos, explain the routine in detail. Just eight bills. No folding, palming, flaps, switches or false-count sleights. The colorful, specially printed bills enhance the effect… Or perform it with real bills, as the instructions explain.

$25 Postpaid

As I have said repeatedly, reviews are only worthwhile after a substantial time period has passed. Has the product / DVD stood the test of time – is it something you still use – how does it play in the real world? This is just a 1^st impression. Something to help you in making a reasonably informed buying decision.

Personally, I don’t think declining magic club membership is the result of fellow magi opting to attend a MENSA meeting rather then the monthly Mystic Poobahs gathering. I’m rather sure Jim Steinmeyer has that option, though. His stuff just screams GENIUS, no matter what it is. His Conjuring Anthology is the most important book of the last five years – maybe longer.

Bunko is a short change routine that is different than any I’ve ever see. and, get this, no steals, flaps or false counts AND you are clean at the end. It comes with phony bills, which are fine, but I think most will want to construct everything from real bills. This will cost you $26 plus the cost of laminating, so the total cost in not insignificant.

The instructions are written by Richard Kaufman and make it possible to learn the routine in short order. Even the suggested presentations are well above the norm.

Well worth your consideration.

Take care………

Cover your children’s eyes and ears. I’m coming out of the closet. I am a hobbyist and unabashedly proud of it.

This week I was working on John Kennedy’s excellent Translocation. I have the lecture notes and put John Mendoza’s DVD in the player to watch his variation on it. While this DVD set is excruciatingly tedious, Mendoza is someone that has an eye for good magic and has managed to go through life without a real job. This has my admiration.

Over the course of the DVD set he manages to deride the non-professionals several times. He’s not alone at this. Certain blogs continually whizz on the hobbyist and club magician. They only have interest, or tolerance actually, when they want to move some of their overpriced crud.

The truth of the matter is that a lot of the pros are not just so-so, more than a few of them are just plain bad. Just recently I was with a group that went to a lecture of a very famous magician. I’m not talking about someone that had a reputation and is now old and feeble, but someone that should be in their prime. One of the group asked to see his invisible pass. Honestly, it was so bad we thought he was kidding us. When it became apparent that he was just bad there was an uncomfortable silence and we disbursed as soon as possible. This wasn’t the only time, by far, I’ve seen this sort of thing.

Magic is a great hobby and there’s nothing to be ashamed of. Maybe we should have Hobbyist Pride Parades or put cool initials after our name like James Clark (Magic Hobbyist Anonymous?!?!).

 Personally, I’m make a point of not patronising performances, lectures and products of those that look down their noses at us.

Take care………

     M.H.A.

It’s amazing, to me, that more than 30 years after Uri Geller made headlines that his name is still solely synonymous with Psychokinesis.

This YouTube video is a good example:

THE UNEXPLAINED: The bizarre case of psychokinetic Ninel Kulagina

The ongoing fascination with PK should make every magician have a believable routine in his repertoire that is, hopefully, ready to go at all times. After all, you are a magician – DO SOMETHING MAGICAL!

Take care……… 
 

Drivel & Drool

The Real New Magic Of Japan

Eat your heart out Richard Kaufman!