Tired of the same old crap? i/m ran across the http://Wild About Houdini blog while messing around today. Whoever is doing this is a huge fan and the entire blog seems to be written with a lot of care. Like most blogs, readership is pitifully low. I would suggest spending a few minutes checking this out rather than watching some 14 year old expose the lates Penguin download.

You don’t have to spend over 15 minutes in the blogosphere to realize the most intelligent magic commentary and advice is by Andy over at The Jerx. (That last sentence was very hard to write by an old timer like me. He will always be The Magic Circle Jerk to me. His exploits are legendary and his Most Boring Post On The Magic Cafe, a stroke of genius even he will never exceed. There are still battle scars to this day.)

Andy is much more mainstream now and much tamer. That’s a shame, but it does give us a terrific source of great magic thinking. His writings concentrate on the needs of hobbyist and casual performers. I believe he’s the first to do so. He manages to write at a high level without being a total dick. A rarity in magic.

His latest post as I write this begins:

I want to go back to my concept of a 100 Trick Repertoire, which is something I wrote about in The Amateur at the Kitchen Table. It’s a simple idea. You don’t need that book to understand it. It’s just the idea that the old adage that you should know six tricks that you do very well, is horseshit when it comes to the amateur/social performer. (And probably hasn’t even made sense for the professional performer since, like, the vaudeville days—but magicians are slow to evolve.)

Anyone who still attends the local magic club, undoubtedly has run into some old douchenagle saying I made my living for 40 years performing the same 8 tricks at birthday parties. Hot Damn! So we now understand why 2 generations hate magic. I never understood why being lazy and disinterested in your craft was a badge of honor.

Anyway, read this post and most everything he puts out. Support him if possible. He’s a magic treasure and there are damn few of them

Just asking for a friend.

All good things start with great intentions. Seldom are they realized. I was very proud of some of the work done on this blog. Sure, some was lame or just plain terrible, but there were a lot of good posts. Discouragement over lack of engagement gradually turned into total indifference on my part.

This, unfortunately, isn’t rare. One of the very few reliable blogs in existence, Canada’s Magic, has a fairly long list of blogs. 80% or so or either dead or dormant (this blog never made the list). Maybe the day of the blog is dead and it’s time to virtually throw dirt in the face of the entire process and move on. I don’t know. I do know I dislike Youtube videos that go on way to long for my taste.

I’ve mapped out a few months and we’ll see how it goes. No promises, except good efffort.