Magic Commentary

It looks like I’ll have to buy my own Christmas present this year if I’m going to get one. My mother, rest her soul, loved Christmas and even in her last years she always made sure her boy had a present. I don’t know if I ever let her know how much that really meant to me. I think she knew. I hope she did. (There’s a lesson there) My wife and I bought a “house” gift and my mother-in-law is in the hospital. …..so I guess it’s up to i/m to do it for himself – old age blows!!

Anyway, the longer you’ve been in magic, the less you are interested in “tricks”. I went to a magic estate auction recently and saw a lifetime accumulation sold for peanuts. There were no collector’s items, just the basic stuff – good quality, but nothing special. If it’s not on the front page of Ellusionist, Hocus Pocus, Penguin Magic etc. it’s old and basically worthless. Just watch people try to sell last week’s miracle on the Cafe or eBay e.g. Black Widow – a rude awakening for sure.

Press to Continue

There’s some good reading on some of the magic blogs right now. Of course there’s a load of crap too, but the balance isn’t quite as bad recently. Obviously, this reflects my likes and prejudices. Please take it as such.

B. D. Erland continues to write one of the most thoughtful and well constructed blogs in our strange little world. I particularly liked his article How to spend your 1st $100 in magic. This is kind of like the five foot shelf exercises, but with a very different slant. I really can’t argue with his choices, although I think I would have taken a different approach, but that’s what these articles are all about.

Andster, over at I, Magician can be a fun read. Posting has been more erratic lately, but he’s at that great age when the glands are still pumping wildly and has probably found girls a LOT more fun – at least I hope so. Like Tom Frank, he frequently puts more of himself in public than many of us are comfortable doing.

The Smiling Mule writes The Phantom Notebooks. It has become one of my favorite reads. Maybe, it’s because he’s as cranky as me. A recent article Deconstructing the Cafe was wonderful. He classifies the Cafe posters into 6 categories:

Press to Continue

(It’s been a while since we awarded the i/m DD. Very honestly, the last award was a mistake. The award went to Paul Chosse and while I still maintain that his actions were over the top in the dispute which gave him the award, he appears to be a fine man and, possibly, his actions in that case were, in fact, justified.)

A friend pointed me to a discussion on the Cafe regarding Heiny 500, a version of Pat Page’s routine where he changes plain paper to real money – popularized by Greg Wilson on Hundy 500. At that point I hadn’t seen it, so I ordered it to see what the fuss was about. It seems that some purchasers felt the description of the gimmick was rather primitive and I have to agree it wasn’t very complete. That, however, is a mere sidelight. During the discussion, some doo rag with the screen name of Gabriel Knight chime in with –

Press to Continue