Wow, I knew it had been a long time since I'd written but I didn't realize it's been three months! Just like old times, right?
Don't get excited, because this is going to be a pretty short post. Mostly just checking in to say that I'm not dead.
I have a few things on my plate, both personal and professional, that I can't wait to write about when the timing is right.
I'm going to try like hell to buckle down in the new year and update this blog semi-regularly. Check back then and see. If nothing else, I'll try not to wait 90 days between updates.
Later, losers.
- Andster
Tuesday, December 22, 2015
Sunday, September 20, 2015
Spencer Horseman Does It Again!
I was going to write about Spencer Horseman's latest failed escape, but Andy at The Jerx has it covered pretty well.
Good enough for a Sunday.
- Andster
Good enough for a Sunday.
- Andster
Thursday, September 17, 2015
AGT Wrapup
Spoilers incoming, obviously.
I had to stop writing about each episode as it aired because it was just turning into "I liked him, I still liked him, I don't like them" with no real commentary. I still watched every week, though sometimes not until late in the week, and voted as much as I remembered to.
I have to say, this was the best final I can remember seeing. There were magicians, comedians, a ventriloquist, a regurgitator, circus stunts, and best of all, only two singers! This was truly what (I feel) America's Got Talent should be: a showcase of variety arts that you wouldn't be able to see anywhere else.
It was hard to pick who to root for. Obviously, I liked all the magicians and would have been happy with two magic winners in a row. I feel like Derek and Piff's performances in the finale were lacking, but if we were to judge them based on all of their AGT performances, I think they were both strong. Drew Lynch was hilarious and I thought he had a great chance of going all the way. (Sidenote: According to Google, he is Stephen Lynch's brother. I did not know this and was surprised it wasn't brought up on the show. Maybe it was and I missed it.)
I'm still very much on the fence about Stevie Starr and his regurgitation. I'm like 99.9% sure he's not doing what he claims to be doing, though I have no idea what methods he is using. The logical part of me is saying there's no way you can manipulate locks and film canisters with your stomach or swallow smoke or lighter gas. It has to be trickery and sleight of hand, which makes him more of a magician in my eyes. Which is fine, but I'm not sure how I feel about getting to the top five of AGT on a premise that's entirely a lie. At least the magicians are coming out and saying they're doing tricks, or at worst not saying anything and just presenting it for what it is. I feel like what Stevie is doing is similar to a doing a dance act in shadow, but all you do is go behind a screen and stand there while something gets projected onto the screen. Or maybe not, because he actually has magical talent, he's just dressed it in a realistic way. Maybe he's more of a Uri Geller or John Edwards type of magician. I feel like either of those guys wouldn't have made it past auditions, so I guess Stevie's got something going for him.
I do have to say, the Craig Lewis Band was really amazing in the finals. I skipped their performance while watching my tape, but got to see it while watching the recaps before the live finals and I was blown away. Even as someone who doesn't really like singers, I had to appreciate that they were good. If all of their performances were of that caliber, I wouldn't have been surprised to see them win.
One thing I didn't like was the performances with a guest star, or whatever you want to call that. I feel like a lot of the bits fell flat. The singers were all right, but that's because they were just doing a duet, which is whatever. I really didn't care for the magic mash-up. I felt bad for Piff not being able to get his card sword to light. I didn't like Stevie's bit with Penn and Teller either because it came off so forced. It felt like, "Here, I'll watch your trick and now you watch mine." (I did notice when Teller made a mark on the film canister, he wrote 'Piff', which I thought was hilarious.) The one I felt really bad for was Uzeyer Novruzov. (Full disclosure, I Googled to find out how to spell his name. All I had to type was u and it was the first result.) He was injured in the previous round, and ended up doing a weird dance routine with Freelusion. He looked lost and out of his element, which he was. I think it was a mistake to have him do that.
Ultimately, the ventriloquist Paul Zerdin won the season. I have mixed feelings about it, and it's not just because I wanted to see another magician win. For some reason, ventriloquism just doesn't do it for me. It's a guy talking to himself. Moving your mouth or not, you're doing what amounts to a monologue and that's just not that funny to me. I know comedy is subjective and obviously people liked him, but it's not my cup of tea. All that being said, I think he is the most entertaining ventriloquist I've seen. I liked that he mixes things up, like with the puppet talking and moving when he walked offstage, or the mask he put on Howie. Switching voices with the puppet was something I hadn't seen before and I really liked that. He has more variety than most people who just say "Here's a guy you'll like," and pull a puppet out that seems to have only been created to make very specific jokes, then dump it and pull out another one. If Paul's show doesn't devolve into that, I think it would actually be pretty entertaining.
Put it this way: If I was in Vegas and got offered a comp ticket to his show, I'd probably go check it out. If I was offered a comp ticket to Jeff Dunham, I'd just say no. That's as close to a rave review as a ventriloquist is going to get from me.
- Andster
I had to stop writing about each episode as it aired because it was just turning into "I liked him, I still liked him, I don't like them" with no real commentary. I still watched every week, though sometimes not until late in the week, and voted as much as I remembered to.
I have to say, this was the best final I can remember seeing. There were magicians, comedians, a ventriloquist, a regurgitator, circus stunts, and best of all, only two singers! This was truly what (I feel) America's Got Talent should be: a showcase of variety arts that you wouldn't be able to see anywhere else.
It was hard to pick who to root for. Obviously, I liked all the magicians and would have been happy with two magic winners in a row. I feel like Derek and Piff's performances in the finale were lacking, but if we were to judge them based on all of their AGT performances, I think they were both strong. Drew Lynch was hilarious and I thought he had a great chance of going all the way. (Sidenote: According to Google, he is Stephen Lynch's brother. I did not know this and was surprised it wasn't brought up on the show. Maybe it was and I missed it.)
I'm still very much on the fence about Stevie Starr and his regurgitation. I'm like 99.9% sure he's not doing what he claims to be doing, though I have no idea what methods he is using. The logical part of me is saying there's no way you can manipulate locks and film canisters with your stomach or swallow smoke or lighter gas. It has to be trickery and sleight of hand, which makes him more of a magician in my eyes. Which is fine, but I'm not sure how I feel about getting to the top five of AGT on a premise that's entirely a lie. At least the magicians are coming out and saying they're doing tricks, or at worst not saying anything and just presenting it for what it is. I feel like what Stevie is doing is similar to a doing a dance act in shadow, but all you do is go behind a screen and stand there while something gets projected onto the screen. Or maybe not, because he actually has magical talent, he's just dressed it in a realistic way. Maybe he's more of a Uri Geller or John Edwards type of magician. I feel like either of those guys wouldn't have made it past auditions, so I guess Stevie's got something going for him.
I do have to say, the Craig Lewis Band was really amazing in the finals. I skipped their performance while watching my tape, but got to see it while watching the recaps before the live finals and I was blown away. Even as someone who doesn't really like singers, I had to appreciate that they were good. If all of their performances were of that caliber, I wouldn't have been surprised to see them win.
One thing I didn't like was the performances with a guest star, or whatever you want to call that. I feel like a lot of the bits fell flat. The singers were all right, but that's because they were just doing a duet, which is whatever. I really didn't care for the magic mash-up. I felt bad for Piff not being able to get his card sword to light. I didn't like Stevie's bit with Penn and Teller either because it came off so forced. It felt like, "Here, I'll watch your trick and now you watch mine." (I did notice when Teller made a mark on the film canister, he wrote 'Piff', which I thought was hilarious.) The one I felt really bad for was Uzeyer Novruzov. (Full disclosure, I Googled to find out how to spell his name. All I had to type was u and it was the first result.) He was injured in the previous round, and ended up doing a weird dance routine with Freelusion. He looked lost and out of his element, which he was. I think it was a mistake to have him do that.
Ultimately, the ventriloquist Paul Zerdin won the season. I have mixed feelings about it, and it's not just because I wanted to see another magician win. For some reason, ventriloquism just doesn't do it for me. It's a guy talking to himself. Moving your mouth or not, you're doing what amounts to a monologue and that's just not that funny to me. I know comedy is subjective and obviously people liked him, but it's not my cup of tea. All that being said, I think he is the most entertaining ventriloquist I've seen. I liked that he mixes things up, like with the puppet talking and moving when he walked offstage, or the mask he put on Howie. Switching voices with the puppet was something I hadn't seen before and I really liked that. He has more variety than most people who just say "Here's a guy you'll like," and pull a puppet out that seems to have only been created to make very specific jokes, then dump it and pull out another one. If Paul's show doesn't devolve into that, I think it would actually be pretty entertaining.
Put it this way: If I was in Vegas and got offered a comp ticket to his show, I'd probably go check it out. If I was offered a comp ticket to Jeff Dunham, I'd just say no. That's as close to a rave review as a ventriloquist is going to get from me.
- Andster
Tuesday, August 25, 2015
More Festival Magic
Had another festival this past weekend that I was planning to do magic for. Due to a series of events, I went from having the potential to perform for three days to performing for about 4 hours.
The festival kicks off Friday afternoon, runs through Saturday, and ends Sunday evening. I had an obstacle course race that I signed up for back in March on Sunday, so I knew that day was going to be a loss anyway. A few months ago I scheduled a follow-up doctor's appointment for an ear infection I had been fighting since a Spartan race last October (go to the doctor early, kids) for the Friday afternoon, so I took a loss on that day too.
No problem, that left me with all day Saturday to hit the festival. I did pretty good in one day the last time, and that was with lousy rainy weather. Things would work out well, right? I kept procrastinating getting in touch with the festival organizers to arrange permission to perform. I meant to do it immediately following the last festival, then weeks and months passed and I still hadn't done it. I don't know why, other than a complete lack of motivation and discipline. Which is weird, because this is something I actually want to do. It's not like I'm trying to find the motivation to go the gym or something. Anyway, I digress.
I finally emailed them about ten days before the festival and ended up never hearing anything back one way or the other. I decided to take the approach of "better to ask for forgiveness than permission" and just go do it anyway. I arranged with the owners of one of the business on the street to set up in front of their place to perform. I was all set to go, and then two days before hand one of my day jobs called and asked if I could work from 3 to 9 because the person who was going to cover me had a death in their family. Couldn't say no to that, so there went my Saturday.
I was really tempted to just call the whole thing off, but I knew in the long run that wouldn't be a good idea. I ended up setting up from 11 to 2:30 and just doing my best. Unlike last time, I wasn't really able to pull a good crowd. I had maybe one decent one, but that's about it. Fortunately I wasn't trying to get a crowd and pass the hat. Instead, I pretty much was just presenting the Invisible Deck over and over again with a tip jar, which is basically what I did last time. It was nice because when I got people to stop I could cut it short if they were done after that one, or move on to a couple other things if they were receptive. I went long a couple times, but most people just watched the first trick and were ready to go.
I did notice that while I got a decent amount of people to stop, I didn't get a lot of them to pay. The ones that did pay only gave a dollar each, while last time I got several fives. I'm not sure why that was. My theory for the ones was that I didn't seed the tip jar with any fives this time. As far as not getting people to transition from watching to tipping, no idea. I'm pretty sure I didn't do anything wildly different than last time and I was getting cash left and right then. I think it was just a different crowd.
I had at least four different people tell me I should go on America's Got Talent which really made me laugh. I wish I could have told them that the trick I was doing had been on AGT several times to see what they said to that. Still, it was nice to hear the compliment. I talked to a guy for a little bit who knew a little magic from when he was younger. He showed me his French Drop that his friend taught him years ago and asked for my critique. It was actually pretty good! I showed him a couple subtleties, he complimented my FD, we talked about David Copperfield a little bit and then he had to go meet his friend. Really nice guy and probably the highlight of my day.
All in all I had a lot of fun. It wasn't a financial success, with me making a whopping $16 and then spending ten of that on a Cuban sandwich and chips from one of the local restaurants for lunch. Still, I made more money than I would have sitting at home, I got some business cards out there, and most importantly I got more practice in front of real people. Best of all, I only blew the ID once this time, ironically immediately after thinking "Gee, I haven't screwed up at all this time!"
- Andster
The festival kicks off Friday afternoon, runs through Saturday, and ends Sunday evening. I had an obstacle course race that I signed up for back in March on Sunday, so I knew that day was going to be a loss anyway. A few months ago I scheduled a follow-up doctor's appointment for an ear infection I had been fighting since a Spartan race last October (go to the doctor early, kids) for the Friday afternoon, so I took a loss on that day too.
No problem, that left me with all day Saturday to hit the festival. I did pretty good in one day the last time, and that was with lousy rainy weather. Things would work out well, right? I kept procrastinating getting in touch with the festival organizers to arrange permission to perform. I meant to do it immediately following the last festival, then weeks and months passed and I still hadn't done it. I don't know why, other than a complete lack of motivation and discipline. Which is weird, because this is something I actually want to do. It's not like I'm trying to find the motivation to go the gym or something. Anyway, I digress.
I finally emailed them about ten days before the festival and ended up never hearing anything back one way or the other. I decided to take the approach of "better to ask for forgiveness than permission" and just go do it anyway. I arranged with the owners of one of the business on the street to set up in front of their place to perform. I was all set to go, and then two days before hand one of my day jobs called and asked if I could work from 3 to 9 because the person who was going to cover me had a death in their family. Couldn't say no to that, so there went my Saturday.
I was really tempted to just call the whole thing off, but I knew in the long run that wouldn't be a good idea. I ended up setting up from 11 to 2:30 and just doing my best. Unlike last time, I wasn't really able to pull a good crowd. I had maybe one decent one, but that's about it. Fortunately I wasn't trying to get a crowd and pass the hat. Instead, I pretty much was just presenting the Invisible Deck over and over again with a tip jar, which is basically what I did last time. It was nice because when I got people to stop I could cut it short if they were done after that one, or move on to a couple other things if they were receptive. I went long a couple times, but most people just watched the first trick and were ready to go.
I did notice that while I got a decent amount of people to stop, I didn't get a lot of them to pay. The ones that did pay only gave a dollar each, while last time I got several fives. I'm not sure why that was. My theory for the ones was that I didn't seed the tip jar with any fives this time. As far as not getting people to transition from watching to tipping, no idea. I'm pretty sure I didn't do anything wildly different than last time and I was getting cash left and right then. I think it was just a different crowd.
I had at least four different people tell me I should go on America's Got Talent which really made me laugh. I wish I could have told them that the trick I was doing had been on AGT several times to see what they said to that. Still, it was nice to hear the compliment. I talked to a guy for a little bit who knew a little magic from when he was younger. He showed me his French Drop that his friend taught him years ago and asked for my critique. It was actually pretty good! I showed him a couple subtleties, he complimented my FD, we talked about David Copperfield a little bit and then he had to go meet his friend. Really nice guy and probably the highlight of my day.
All in all I had a lot of fun. It wasn't a financial success, with me making a whopping $16 and then spending ten of that on a Cuban sandwich and chips from one of the local restaurants for lunch. Still, I made more money than I would have sitting at home, I got some business cards out there, and most importantly I got more practice in front of real people. Best of all, I only blew the ID once this time, ironically immediately after thinking "Gee, I haven't screwed up at all this time!"
- Andster
Wednesday, August 19, 2015
The Envelope Concept
I was dicking around on Reddit the other day when I found a post on r/magic that I think is one of the best ideas I've seen in a long time. I'm going to quote it below in case the page goes down or gets edited for some reason.
First of all, unless there's a switch or a load that's not described here (which I feel like there has to be, but what the hell do I know?) this sounds like the cleanest card to envelope that I've ever heard of. I really wish the OP knew where he found this, because I would love to look this up.
I really love the idea of a trick that plays out over the course of days, months, or years. This honestly sounds like something Andy from The Jerx would have come up with. If you like this style of effect, definitely check out his site for more of the same. It's definitely not for everyone, but something like this can really make a lasting impression on a spectator.
As pointed out by the OP, there really is no downside to the effect. If they open the envelope immediately, the card is inside and everyone claps. If they open it later, it creates a second moment of magic. If they never open it, they have a permanent reminder of the magic.
I also like an idea posted by someone else in the thread:
I think if I were to ever perform this, that's the route I would take. I really need to start sourcing a clean card to envelope effect because I really want to try this. If anyone can point me in the right direction or tries this themselves, I would love to hear how it went.
- Andster
Hello guys,
I wanted to share with you a concept I stumbled upon once which instantly appealed to me and got me great reactions as soon as I started applying it. I don't recall where I found it sadly, it might have been in Apocalypse. If you know anything about it, I'd be super glad to know more about the origins.
Basically you've got an evelope on the side of the table you're performing on. It's in full sight since the beginning of your performance or effect.
I usually do it as a finale for my ambitious card routine. After making the S card rise to the top multiple times, I make it vanish from the deck.
I point towards the envelope and tell him that there's one card inside (the spectator can feel the card if (s)he wants). I emphasize on the fact that it was in plain sight since the beginning and I never touched it. You know the drill.
That's when I give him the envelope, tell him that the card is inside and ask him to keep it with himself but tonever open it. That way we both created the longest magic trick ever. By never opening the envelope, we have created something impossible that will potentially live on forever.
It is extremely strong, leaves the spectators with a very personal object and it is basically bulletproof since the only possible scenarios are:
• The S doesn't want to cooperate (heckler, suspicious type) and opens the envelope on the spot. His signed card is inside. Applause for you.
• The S cooperates but opens the envelope later (curiosity), at home for example. His signed card is inside. Your reputation is still untouched.
• The S never opens the envelope and you've achieved an awesome experiment.
So, I don't want to talk about method here since it's not the point of the subreddit anyways but I wanted your thoughts and opinions on such an effect/concept. Its origins, other applications you could think of?
I'd love to see more theory discussed here on /r/magic without revealing anything. Just to see what everyone thinks and the ways they'd do certain things.
Thanks for reading!
First of all, unless there's a switch or a load that's not described here (which I feel like there has to be, but what the hell do I know?) this sounds like the cleanest card to envelope that I've ever heard of. I really wish the OP knew where he found this, because I would love to look this up.
I really love the idea of a trick that plays out over the course of days, months, or years. This honestly sounds like something Andy from The Jerx would have come up with. If you like this style of effect, definitely check out his site for more of the same. It's definitely not for everyone, but something like this can really make a lasting impression on a spectator.
As pointed out by the OP, there really is no downside to the effect. If they open the envelope immediately, the card is inside and everyone claps. If they open it later, it creates a second moment of magic. If they never open it, they have a permanent reminder of the magic.
I also like an idea posted by someone else in the thread:
I would present it as such: "I want to give you a choice. In this envelope there is only one card. I am claiming this is your signed card. You can choose to doubt me and open it, but that will ruin the magic, OR you can keep it closed forever; and whenever you feel that this world is devoid of wonder and magic you can pick up that envelope and feel the magic inside." or something like that.
I think if I were to ever perform this, that's the route I would take. I really need to start sourcing a clean card to envelope effect because I really want to try this. If anyone can point me in the right direction or tries this themselves, I would love to hear how it went.
- Andster
Thursday, August 13, 2015
AGT Catchup and Other Stuff
Boy, I'm way behind in watching AGT. I watched the one hour special of talent acts from around the world the other night, the last judge cuts this morning, and I'm in the middle of the first live episode right now. I don't have a lot to say about it at this point, especially since it's been so long. I did get it spoiled that Piff made it through, which makes me happy.
I don't know if I'm ever going to get around to writing about Fool Us. That's an amazing show, and if you're not watching it, you should be. It's recently been renewed for a third season, which is awesome. Looking forward to lots and lots of new episodes. One thing I've been thinking about: I would pay a decent amount of money for a "magicians only" DVD set of the show. Something where all the people, whether they fooled them or not, take us through what they did. Not necessarily "I used a gimmicked deck and here's step by step how to make it," but even something like "I used a gimmicked deck, it's got a magnet in it." Some of the shit that I see really gets me, and I would love to know the workings behind it, even if just to say "Aw shit, that's brilliant!" If anyone reading this has an in to make this happen, make it happen.
I've been thinking the past couple weeks that this blog has kinda turned into me watching magic on TV and writing about it. It wasn't my intention to be a magic TV review blog. I do have stuff I want to say, and I find myself not getting around to it because when I do write it ends up being about what happened on Don't Blink or live blogging a three week old episode of AGT. I think I'm going to pull back a little on the talking about TV magic and get more into talking about theory and some other stuff that's been on my mind.
Until next time.
- Andster
I don't know if I'm ever going to get around to writing about Fool Us. That's an amazing show, and if you're not watching it, you should be. It's recently been renewed for a third season, which is awesome. Looking forward to lots and lots of new episodes. One thing I've been thinking about: I would pay a decent amount of money for a "magicians only" DVD set of the show. Something where all the people, whether they fooled them or not, take us through what they did. Not necessarily "I used a gimmicked deck and here's step by step how to make it," but even something like "I used a gimmicked deck, it's got a magnet in it." Some of the shit that I see really gets me, and I would love to know the workings behind it, even if just to say "Aw shit, that's brilliant!" If anyone reading this has an in to make this happen, make it happen.
I've been thinking the past couple weeks that this blog has kinda turned into me watching magic on TV and writing about it. It wasn't my intention to be a magic TV review blog. I do have stuff I want to say, and I find myself not getting around to it because when I do write it ends up being about what happened on Don't Blink or live blogging a three week old episode of AGT. I think I'm going to pull back a little on the talking about TV magic and get more into talking about theory and some other stuff that's been on my mind.
Until next time.
- Andster
Tuesday, August 4, 2015
AGT Catch Up
I'm a couple weeks behind on the Judge Cuts episode of AGT, so I'm going to attempt to get them watched soon. My DVR is running out of space. I lost like three episodes of Fool Us that I saved to rewatch and write about, so there's that. I'm starting this off with last week's episode of AGT, with Marlon Wayans as the guest judge.
I feel like I've done too much act by act commentary, especially since it all boils down to "They're good, but it's not my cup of tea." I think I'm just going to keep the commentary to magic and variety acts, or something that really catches my eye.
The first magic comes in at about an hour, with Dana Daniels doing a bill to egg. His act got cut up a lot, so it's really hard to get a feel for how it was going. I can see where Howard was coming from, saying that at some times it felt like he was at a kid's birthday party. I wish I could have seen his act straight through. Don't know if it would have made a difference in opinion or not, but it would have been nice.
After using the golden buzzer to put a ventriloquist through, we went to commercial and came back to Oz Pearlman. I really liked his performance. I know the part with the cutout is a marketed effect from Penguin that I can't remember the name of. I think Oz does a great job of taking small tricks and filling the performance with his personality, something that I'm working to do better myself. He is the textbook example of it's not the trick, it's the magician.
Ok, only two magic acts this week, no danger acts. It's time to start cutting.
Oz Pearlman went through, which is fantastic news! Can't disagree with that at all.
Dana didn't make it through, but a contortionist who's act I liked went through, so mixed emotions on that but I think I agree.
The Mountain Faith Band went through. They were pretty good, I suppose.
Triple Threat went through. I agree with that decision, they're very good.
Animation Crew is going forward as well. I really liked their act. Both of them, in fact. I look forward to seeing more.
And finally, a singer whose name I didn't catch. I did like the song he sang though.
Well, it's now midnight. My plan to double down on AGT tonight is not looking good. I'll pick back up again in the morning, maybe.
- Andster
I feel like I've done too much act by act commentary, especially since it all boils down to "They're good, but it's not my cup of tea." I think I'm just going to keep the commentary to magic and variety acts, or something that really catches my eye.
The first magic comes in at about an hour, with Dana Daniels doing a bill to egg. His act got cut up a lot, so it's really hard to get a feel for how it was going. I can see where Howard was coming from, saying that at some times it felt like he was at a kid's birthday party. I wish I could have seen his act straight through. Don't know if it would have made a difference in opinion or not, but it would have been nice.
After using the golden buzzer to put a ventriloquist through, we went to commercial and came back to Oz Pearlman. I really liked his performance. I know the part with the cutout is a marketed effect from Penguin that I can't remember the name of. I think Oz does a great job of taking small tricks and filling the performance with his personality, something that I'm working to do better myself. He is the textbook example of it's not the trick, it's the magician.
Ok, only two magic acts this week, no danger acts. It's time to start cutting.
Oz Pearlman went through, which is fantastic news! Can't disagree with that at all.
Dana didn't make it through, but a contortionist who's act I liked went through, so mixed emotions on that but I think I agree.
The Mountain Faith Band went through. They were pretty good, I suppose.
Triple Threat went through. I agree with that decision, they're very good.
Animation Crew is going forward as well. I really liked their act. Both of them, in fact. I look forward to seeing more.
And finally, a singer whose name I didn't catch. I did like the song he sang though.
Well, it's now midnight. My plan to double down on AGT tonight is not looking good. I'll pick back up again in the morning, maybe.
- Andster
Friday, July 24, 2015
Don't Blink
Finally making myself sit down and watch these to clear some more room on the DVR. I'm kinda pissed that I didn't do it sooner, because I'm only to the first commercial break of the first one I taped (I missed the first two because I didn't realize I go the channel) and I really like it!
Don't Blink is not the usual magic show that follows one magician (David Blaine specials) or the same group of magicians (Close Up Kings), but instead is more of a random assortment of magicians. It reminds me of Masters of Illusion on the street. Some of the magicians I recognize, some I don't, but all of them are very good.
The magic is fast paced, with many different segments in each half hour episode. I appreciate that because I'm all for eliminating the dancing and prancing and putting more magic in. To be fair, their opening segment shows quite a bit of stage illusions done on the street so there may be more prancing in the upcoming episodes and I just haven't got to it yet. Regardless, it's a fun show but it may just be because I'm easily entertained by pretty much any magic.
I do have to say, watching shows like this makes me feel better about my sleight of hand because I can spot some of the palms and switches and stuff a mile away, but it completely flies over their spectator's heads. I think that's something important to remember: You feel like the sleight is very visible because you know you're doing something fishy, the audience doesn't suspect anything so they don't see it. You still have to be good at the sleight in the first place, but it's nice to see that the feeling of "Jesus, how can anyone not realize I have a card palmed?" really has no merit.
I feel I'm digressing too much. That's a story for a different post. Don't Blink is a fun show that's worth a watch. Thursday nights on Pop TV. Check your local listings. I should be getting paid for this shit.
- Andster
Don't Blink is not the usual magic show that follows one magician (David Blaine specials) or the same group of magicians (Close Up Kings), but instead is more of a random assortment of magicians. It reminds me of Masters of Illusion on the street. Some of the magicians I recognize, some I don't, but all of them are very good.
The magic is fast paced, with many different segments in each half hour episode. I appreciate that because I'm all for eliminating the dancing and prancing and putting more magic in. To be fair, their opening segment shows quite a bit of stage illusions done on the street so there may be more prancing in the upcoming episodes and I just haven't got to it yet. Regardless, it's a fun show but it may just be because I'm easily entertained by pretty much any magic.
I do have to say, watching shows like this makes me feel better about my sleight of hand because I can spot some of the palms and switches and stuff a mile away, but it completely flies over their spectator's heads. I think that's something important to remember: You feel like the sleight is very visible because you know you're doing something fishy, the audience doesn't suspect anything so they don't see it. You still have to be good at the sleight in the first place, but it's nice to see that the feeling of "Jesus, how can anyone not realize I have a card palmed?" really has no merit.
I feel I'm digressing too much. That's a story for a different post. Don't Blink is a fun show that's worth a watch. Thursday nights on Pop TV. Check your local listings. I should be getting paid for this shit.
- Andster
Thursday, July 23, 2015
AGT Judge Cuts Round Two
AGT is leading off with magic tonight with Aiden Sinclair doing a tossed out deck routine. It was very well received by the judges and audience. I got nothing bad to say about it. I am curious if he just got lucky that they all picked a different card, or if he used a method that allows that. In my limited experience with the tossed out deck, you usually name off the cards and then have people sit down all at once, giving a sort of dual reality in case there's a duplicate pick. I don't know if having two judges put their hands down at the same time could be covered by a "Oh, you must have looked at the same card," patter line.
This singer was good, though we only got to see the tail end of her performance. Shirley Claire is talented as well, especially for an 87 year old woman. Personally, I don't think she has what it takes to carry a Vegas show so I hope she doesn't take away a spot from someone that could. This next singer, Daniella Mass, is another very talented person. Again, I really don't care about the singing, but I don't think I could be mad if she went through.
I don't care for the puppet guy. I'm not sure why, I don't think it's just because of the singing. I just don't really care for it. I get that he's funny to some, but it's not really funny to me. I think I'd put him above a ventriloquist, but that's not saying much. I have friends who listen to Jeff Dunham on the radio. I don't get that. Without the visual of the puppets, it's literally a man talking to himself in different voices.
Benjaman Yonattan, the blind 14 year old dancer. Even I'm not a big enough asshole to talk shit about this kid. He's good at what he does, though it's still not something I personally would like to sit and watch for extended periods of time. I do have to wonder how much of the audience and judge love for him is because of his backstory, though. Would someone with perfect vision doing it exactly the same as him be viewed the same?
We've got a few more dancers coming back from commercial here. Only seeing a couple seconds of their acts makes it hard to really get a feel for it. It's okay, I'm not missing much.
We've got a guy named Wes doing a straitjacket escape. I do not remember him from the auditions. I liked his presentation of the escape though, getting out before a naked picture of him was revealed. This goes back to what I was talking about a few weeks ago, not all escapes need to be (or even should be) death defying. It was funny, engaging, and I liked it. The only thing I think took away from it is that he had to come out already in the jacket. I get that it's because of the time constraints, but I am less impressed when you escape from something you tied yourself up in.
I do remember Uzeyer Novruzov from his first audition. I liked him then, and I like him now. These are the kinds of acts I can get behind. I hope he goes far just for the sake of having something different.
I missed the name of this next singer, but he really is good. He's another that I don't really care for, but I can't be mad if he goes through. The Cragilewis Band is another one that falls into the same category. Aaaaand there's the golden buzzer, so they're going on.
I didn't really care for Dr. Danger's act this time around. Driving through the fire walls was neat, until he fell over. The jump was lame, and the flaming cowboy hats was just odd. I think they're not gonna make it through, but if they do they're going to run into problems doing their act at Radio City.
Dance groups time. Another group I don't care too much about, but I do like them more than singers. I really liked DM Nation, thought I still don't know that I would want to sit through a whole show of it. It was more that they were good enough to make me stop doing a crossword puzzle in the other window and actually pay attention to their act. The Chippendoubles was just confusing and not good. I'm not sue how they got through in the first place.
The hypnotist Chris Jones is back. I don't know if I've written about him before. He did not do well at all tonight. I suppose that's the risk you take doing hypnosis. I'm on the fence about this act. My mother was a clinical hypnotist, so I've been around it my whole life. I know it can work for relaxation, pain relief, smoking cessation, etc. but I also know it works because you want it to work. You can't hypnotize someone against their will, which is why a lot of these shows and stunts just don't work for me. As I said, I'm on the fence about this particular act because of what he did with Howie in the first audition. You can guarantee that he wasn't just playing along, especially when Mel and Michael Buble weren't going with it tonight. All that aside, this is my favorite hypnosis act ever. It's long, and I apologize for the ad but I love it.
Scott Heierman the drag comedian was funny the first time, but he bombed this time. I feel really bad, because I really liked the act. I'm sure he's going home which sucks, because I was looking forward to seeing more.
The choir is up, and despite being a singing group, I didn't really hate it. This is another case of not wanting to watch a whole show of it, but being entertained enough to pay attention to the act.
All right, elimination time! Let's crush some dreams!
DM Nation is going through, which I agree with. Eliminated a couple other dance acts, which I also agree with.
Benjamin is also going through. God for him I suppose.
Ladder balancing circus guy is going through, while cutting Chris Jones and the straitjacket guy. I think I agree with this since I love the circus act and Chris didn't have good luck this time.
Daniella Mass went through, though seeing who they sent her on stage with it wasn't really a surprise.
The puppet act is going through, cutting Dr. Danger and Aiden Sinclair. Sucks that a magician got cut, sucks more that the lost to a puppet.
The choir made it through in the last spot. They were good tonight, but like I've said a million times about a million acts, I'm personally only a fan in small doses.
That's it for this week! I wish I could swap Aiden Sinclair for one of the singers maybe, but hey I'm not a judge. Looking forward to next week.
- Andster
This singer was good, though we only got to see the tail end of her performance. Shirley Claire is talented as well, especially for an 87 year old woman. Personally, I don't think she has what it takes to carry a Vegas show so I hope she doesn't take away a spot from someone that could. This next singer, Daniella Mass, is another very talented person. Again, I really don't care about the singing, but I don't think I could be mad if she went through.
I don't care for the puppet guy. I'm not sure why, I don't think it's just because of the singing. I just don't really care for it. I get that he's funny to some, but it's not really funny to me. I think I'd put him above a ventriloquist, but that's not saying much. I have friends who listen to Jeff Dunham on the radio. I don't get that. Without the visual of the puppets, it's literally a man talking to himself in different voices.
Benjaman Yonattan, the blind 14 year old dancer. Even I'm not a big enough asshole to talk shit about this kid. He's good at what he does, though it's still not something I personally would like to sit and watch for extended periods of time. I do have to wonder how much of the audience and judge love for him is because of his backstory, though. Would someone with perfect vision doing it exactly the same as him be viewed the same?
We've got a few more dancers coming back from commercial here. Only seeing a couple seconds of their acts makes it hard to really get a feel for it. It's okay, I'm not missing much.
We've got a guy named Wes doing a straitjacket escape. I do not remember him from the auditions. I liked his presentation of the escape though, getting out before a naked picture of him was revealed. This goes back to what I was talking about a few weeks ago, not all escapes need to be (or even should be) death defying. It was funny, engaging, and I liked it. The only thing I think took away from it is that he had to come out already in the jacket. I get that it's because of the time constraints, but I am less impressed when you escape from something you tied yourself up in.
I do remember Uzeyer Novruzov from his first audition. I liked him then, and I like him now. These are the kinds of acts I can get behind. I hope he goes far just for the sake of having something different.
I missed the name of this next singer, but he really is good. He's another that I don't really care for, but I can't be mad if he goes through. The Cragilewis Band is another one that falls into the same category. Aaaaand there's the golden buzzer, so they're going on.
I didn't really care for Dr. Danger's act this time around. Driving through the fire walls was neat, until he fell over. The jump was lame, and the flaming cowboy hats was just odd. I think they're not gonna make it through, but if they do they're going to run into problems doing their act at Radio City.
Dance groups time. Another group I don't care too much about, but I do like them more than singers. I really liked DM Nation, thought I still don't know that I would want to sit through a whole show of it. It was more that they were good enough to make me stop doing a crossword puzzle in the other window and actually pay attention to their act. The Chippendoubles was just confusing and not good. I'm not sue how they got through in the first place.
The hypnotist Chris Jones is back. I don't know if I've written about him before. He did not do well at all tonight. I suppose that's the risk you take doing hypnosis. I'm on the fence about this act. My mother was a clinical hypnotist, so I've been around it my whole life. I know it can work for relaxation, pain relief, smoking cessation, etc. but I also know it works because you want it to work. You can't hypnotize someone against their will, which is why a lot of these shows and stunts just don't work for me. As I said, I'm on the fence about this particular act because of what he did with Howie in the first audition. You can guarantee that he wasn't just playing along, especially when Mel and Michael Buble weren't going with it tonight. All that aside, this is my favorite hypnosis act ever. It's long, and I apologize for the ad but I love it.
Scott Heierman the drag comedian was funny the first time, but he bombed this time. I feel really bad, because I really liked the act. I'm sure he's going home which sucks, because I was looking forward to seeing more.
The choir is up, and despite being a singing group, I didn't really hate it. This is another case of not wanting to watch a whole show of it, but being entertained enough to pay attention to the act.
All right, elimination time! Let's crush some dreams!
DM Nation is going through, which I agree with. Eliminated a couple other dance acts, which I also agree with.
Benjamin is also going through. God for him I suppose.
Ladder balancing circus guy is going through, while cutting Chris Jones and the straitjacket guy. I think I agree with this since I love the circus act and Chris didn't have good luck this time.
Daniella Mass went through, though seeing who they sent her on stage with it wasn't really a surprise.
The puppet act is going through, cutting Dr. Danger and Aiden Sinclair. Sucks that a magician got cut, sucks more that the lost to a puppet.
The choir made it through in the last spot. They were good tonight, but like I've said a million times about a million acts, I'm personally only a fan in small doses.
That's it for this week! I wish I could swap Aiden Sinclair for one of the singers maybe, but hey I'm not a judge. Looking forward to next week.
- Andster
Tuesday, July 21, 2015
Masters of Illusion
Finally got a chance to watch the couple episodes of Masters of Illusion that I had recorded. Rather, I made myself have a chance because the DVR is getting full and I need space to record UFC this weekend since I have to work.
Before I get into what I thought, I want to say how cool it is that there's so much magic on television now. I've got AGT (which is not strictly magic, but still features a lot), Masters of Illusion, Fool Us, and Don't Blink recording right now. I have a recording set for Troy: Street Magic whenever it airs, and Brain Games (another that's not strictly magic, but still features a lot of magicians). I know I'm missing out on other shows like Wizard Wars and The Carbonaro Effect, both of which I've seen and loved, I just don't watch regularly mostly due to time and DVR space. I'm sure there's more out there that I can't think of at the moment.
My point is that there's probably more magic on television now than ever before. When I was growing up I had a yearly-ish David Copperfield special and occasional World's Greatest Magic shows with Mac King's School of Magic. Then David Blaine came around, and the Masked Magician specials (which I will admit to watching, more because I just wanted to see magic and less that I gave a rat's ass about how things were done). But even those were yearly, at best. Magic back then was rare and occasional, and I love that it's becoming more mainstream and popular. I am a pretty firm believer (I think, I'm sure if I write in depth about it I'll change my mind three times) that there's no such thing as bad press, even bad magic is good in the grand scheme of things, etc. etc.
I'm going way off my planned topic. TL;DR: There's a shitload of magic on TV now, and I love it.
I have very limited knowledge of stage magic and illusions, so a show like Masters of Illusion is not something I sit down and try to critique, it's more something that I just enjoy watching. To be fair, that's pretty much what I try to do with all magic shows since who the hell am I to be playing critic? They're the ones on TV, I'm just an asshole with an opinion sitting in my living room.
I love watching all magic and Masters of Illusion is no different. I'm not the biggest fan of magic boxes, and the prancing and dancing with assistants is something I don't think I could personally do without cringing so hard I implode. So, obviously, some of the acts aren't going to be my cup of tea but I still find them cool to watch.
Some of the highlights of the first couple episodes were Barry and Stuart doing what appears to be a handling of Andy Nyman's Diceman that I really enjoyed and Murray Sawchuck with a vanishing watch to impossible location routine. This is the second time I've seen something end up in a sealed can of food (Piff's appearance on AGT being the other) and I'm kinda digging it. I would like to try to find out more about how to do that. I think the loading of both items seems kind of awkward to me, but I still don't get how it goes in. I know "something" is being done and I'm pretty sure I can spot when, but it still gets me.
From the second episode, I liked Ed Alonzo's act. The guy doing the CD manipulation was very technically skilled, but I felt like it was too obviously carefully concealing things and loading and whatnot. Felt more like juggling than magic. Nathan Phan was very entertaining to me, and I think a prime example of not needing the biggest, newest thing to be good. The props don't make the magician.
Keeping in mind I know very little about stage illusions, I have to say I would like a trick like Greg Gleason's more if he didn't have to randomly put on sunglasses to do it. I think that should be a rule for magicians: If you need to do something to alter your appearance for the trick to work, don't do the trick. I think the exception to that is dressing like an assistant to slip offstage. If you suddenly need to put on a mask or a hooded cape, everybody out there is thinking "That's not him anymore." I guarantee it.
I can't put my finger on why, but I feel bad that Dean Cain is hosting this show. Regardless, Masters of Illusion is a fun watch. It can be cheesy, not everything is great, but I really like watching magic and I think this is a great way to see bits and pieces of a lot of acts I might otherwise miss. I don't know if this is a review or a critique or what. I guess just the ramblings of an idiot watching magic tapes. But you know what? I'm gonna keep doing it.
- Andster
Before I get into what I thought, I want to say how cool it is that there's so much magic on television now. I've got AGT (which is not strictly magic, but still features a lot), Masters of Illusion, Fool Us, and Don't Blink recording right now. I have a recording set for Troy: Street Magic whenever it airs, and Brain Games (another that's not strictly magic, but still features a lot of magicians). I know I'm missing out on other shows like Wizard Wars and The Carbonaro Effect, both of which I've seen and loved, I just don't watch regularly mostly due to time and DVR space. I'm sure there's more out there that I can't think of at the moment.
My point is that there's probably more magic on television now than ever before. When I was growing up I had a yearly-ish David Copperfield special and occasional World's Greatest Magic shows with Mac King's School of Magic. Then David Blaine came around, and the Masked Magician specials (which I will admit to watching, more because I just wanted to see magic and less that I gave a rat's ass about how things were done). But even those were yearly, at best. Magic back then was rare and occasional, and I love that it's becoming more mainstream and popular. I am a pretty firm believer (I think, I'm sure if I write in depth about it I'll change my mind three times) that there's no such thing as bad press, even bad magic is good in the grand scheme of things, etc. etc.
I'm going way off my planned topic. TL;DR: There's a shitload of magic on TV now, and I love it.
I have very limited knowledge of stage magic and illusions, so a show like Masters of Illusion is not something I sit down and try to critique, it's more something that I just enjoy watching. To be fair, that's pretty much what I try to do with all magic shows since who the hell am I to be playing critic? They're the ones on TV, I'm just an asshole with an opinion sitting in my living room.
I love watching all magic and Masters of Illusion is no different. I'm not the biggest fan of magic boxes, and the prancing and dancing with assistants is something I don't think I could personally do without cringing so hard I implode. So, obviously, some of the acts aren't going to be my cup of tea but I still find them cool to watch.
Some of the highlights of the first couple episodes were Barry and Stuart doing what appears to be a handling of Andy Nyman's Diceman that I really enjoyed and Murray Sawchuck with a vanishing watch to impossible location routine. This is the second time I've seen something end up in a sealed can of food (Piff's appearance on AGT being the other) and I'm kinda digging it. I would like to try to find out more about how to do that. I think the loading of both items seems kind of awkward to me, but I still don't get how it goes in. I know "something" is being done and I'm pretty sure I can spot when, but it still gets me.
From the second episode, I liked Ed Alonzo's act. The guy doing the CD manipulation was very technically skilled, but I felt like it was too obviously carefully concealing things and loading and whatnot. Felt more like juggling than magic. Nathan Phan was very entertaining to me, and I think a prime example of not needing the biggest, newest thing to be good. The props don't make the magician.
Keeping in mind I know very little about stage illusions, I have to say I would like a trick like Greg Gleason's more if he didn't have to randomly put on sunglasses to do it. I think that should be a rule for magicians: If you need to do something to alter your appearance for the trick to work, don't do the trick. I think the exception to that is dressing like an assistant to slip offstage. If you suddenly need to put on a mask or a hooded cape, everybody out there is thinking "That's not him anymore." I guarantee it.
I can't put my finger on why, but I feel bad that Dean Cain is hosting this show. Regardless, Masters of Illusion is a fun watch. It can be cheesy, not everything is great, but I really like watching magic and I think this is a great way to see bits and pieces of a lot of acts I might otherwise miss. I don't know if this is a review or a critique or what. I guess just the ramblings of an idiot watching magic tapes. But you know what? I'm gonna keep doing it.
- Andster
Monday, July 20, 2015
Rhys Darby is Derren Brown in Disguise.
Seriously. I can't be the only one seeing this. Derren is obviously running a long con for a future project. I'm onto him, though. Can't fool me, Mr. Brown. Check it out:
Derren Brown. No, Rhys Darby. I think.
This one's Rhys. I'm pretty sure. Unless this is Derren. I don't know anymore.
- Andster
Thursday, July 16, 2015
AGT Mega Post
Since my DVR is getting full, I'm going to combine two episodes of AGT into one blog post. I'm watching and writing again. We've got audition episode 7 and the first elimination episode to go.
I'm probably butchering the name, but Xavier Mortimer was pretty cool. Even though all we saw was a quick clip of his audition, I liked it. He seemed funny and I liked the gimmick of things appearing between cymbals. That's something I've not personally seen before.
Too much singing and dancing for my tastes, but that seems to be every episode. I would be really curious to see what would happen if AGT did "Magic Week" and "Singing Week" and "Dancing Week" and "Danger Week" and whatever else. I'm sure a lot of people would tune in for everything, but I personally would only watch a couple and probably other people would as well. I think the ratings would be interesting.
I wish I had the ability to do that human flag stuff. It's always seemed so fluid and magical to me. I'm a sucker for it. And since I'm talking about strength and acrobatic acts, Duo Volta was amazing. I think that was one of the few acts (besides magic, of course) that I would watch a whole show of.
Did Howie offer to bench press Heidi just so he could feel her up? Good work.
I think I found the first musical act I like. It could just be that I'm a sucker for Nina Simone ever since playing The Saboteur (and hearing Sinner Man in Sherlock) but I really really liked them. We'll see if I stay a fan after hearing them next time.
This show is fucking dragging. I feel bad because I recognize that these people have talent, I just don't care. Apropos of nothing, why does everyone call Mel B. Mel B? There aren't two Mel's on the panel. Just Mel would suffice. A minor annoyance I just realized annoyed me.
Okay, finally on to the judge cut rounds. Glad to see NPH on as a guest judge. These first dancers are very good. I've always liked the multimedia dance acts. I think they will stick around for a while.
I liked Paul Ponce in his first audition, not really sure how much I cared for this. I feel like it was about the same as the first time around, one stunt repeated over and over. It was certainly impressive, but I'm not sure about it. I think, though, it speaks to his multitude of skills. I have no doubt he could carry a show by himself, he's just not blowing through everything he can do at once.
At the beginning of this crossbow act, I'm more impressed by the guy balancing a bottle on top of a balloon than anything else. I've always liked the multiple crossbow thing where you shoot an apple from your own head. I'm sure that has a name, but I don't know what it is. Very cool.
Not a big fan of the big dance group. They are talented like crazy, don't get me wrong. I did enjoy the 90 seconds of their act, but I think that's about the threshold for my own personal enjoyment.
This professional cuddler is not making it through this round. She hasn't even started the act yet and I'm calling this. I took that opportunity to go to the bathroom and didn't even see the act, but when I came back she had four X's. Called that one.
Now we've got the little kids dancing and the little kids orchestra. Either of these have a shot, just based on the kid factor alone. I feel like they give more chances to the kids. I could be wrong, I have no data to back this up. I could probably find it, but this blog is about me spouting off bullshit, not research and facts.
I fast forwarded past the girl singing. She's lovely, but I just don't care. I'm a dick, I'm sorry.
Time for some magic now! Finally! Michael John is first up. I liked him the first time around, though after the fact I saw a lot of chatter about how can someone get through just using a Svengali deck. First of all, I didn't even realize it was a Svengali which is kind of embarrassing. Secondly, everyone seems to forget about the second half of the trick with still blew me away. Looks like he's doing Sinful here. I've played with this trick in the past. I feel like he doesn't have good presentational skills. He's talented for sure, but he needs to open up. Smoothini went quite far doing close up magic, but he has a much more gregarious personality. I don't think he's going to make it out of this round.
Motherfucking Piff! I love Piff, loved him since I first saw him on Fool Us. The only negative thing I can say about him, and I think I already said it, is he thought of this shtick before I could. I love it and wish I could steal it. Surprised he's working with Heidi again, I thought she was a pretty shitty assistant last time. I really liked this trick. Great presentation, great magic. Piff is going to go far. Golden buzzer yo!
Stand up comedian up next. I like comedy, I feel like this is a rough audience for comedians though. Myq was really funny. I would like to see him again, hopefully he makes it through.
Got some singers going on now. Not my cup of tea. I think I'm going to run out of time to watch the rest of this before I have to get to work.
Oh, my band's back! Gonna give these guys a shot and see if I still like them or if it was just Nina Simone. Yeah, I don't like them as much as I used to. They are very good and I don't hate them, but I'm not the biggest fan. They would be great as a bar band or playing at a keg party in a stereotypical college movie. I just don't feel it for the big picture. The judges completely disagree with me. Probably why I'm not a judge.
They're showing dance acts. I liked the bit I saw with the guy and his hats and twisting arms. I like the tumbling and gymnastic act. I don't think either of them is gonna be a Vegas show.
I gotta go to work. This is officially to be continued tonight.
OK, 9 hours later I'm back into this. Got about a half hour to go.
I genuinely don't know if this grandmaster kung fu guy is for real or not. I feel like at the very least he could be doing a shitty magic act, like someone who wants to be taken at face value. If that's the case, he needs to hit the tricks a little sooner so people quit booing. Special Head from a couple seasons ago was good at that. He stretched the chanting out a little bit longer than I feel a traditional magician would, but got to the levitation before the crowd completely hated him.
Have I mentioned I don't really care for singers? This last girl has some pipes though. Started off not fast forwarding because I was lazy, but I ended up listening because I liked it. Again, it's not that I don't think the singers have talent but I wish they'd go on a singing show. I can't go on The Voice and start doing card tricks. Or can I? I might have to try that...
All right, time to start actually sending people home. Let's see how this goes. Spoilers ahead, but it's probably too late for that anyway.
The tumblers and the children's orchestra are both going home. Personally, I'm okay with that. Makes me sad to see the kids cry though.
The big dance company is going through. Like I said above, they're crazy talented but they just don't do it for me. I would rather see a magician or variety act in their place.
Michael John got eliminated over Myq Kaplin and I think I'm okay with that. I love magic and would rather have had Michael over the dance group, but I agree that Michael really didn't bring it this round.
The multimedia dance group is going through, and I'm super happy about that. Freelusion. Finally caught their name. They're good, and I'm a sucker for that kind of stuff.
The rock band beat out the kid dancers and the dancer with the hats. I can't be mad about that, because I think I would have made the same decision even though I didn't really care for their last song.
Oh great, bring out mom and dad versus the child! Silvia Silvia is going through, and I think that's okay. I liked Paul's act, but I can see why they didn't think he was big enough for the live shows. I will be interested to see how Silvia brings it.
Finally, the girl with the great voice who sang last is going through. Of the three singers they brought out together, I liked her best. Not really any complaints here.
I have to say, I liked this cut down show better than how it's been handled on previous seasons. Seemed a lot shorter and to the point, which I appreciate. Gotta say, trying to watch 4 hours of this shit at once got a little rough.
Now that this is done, I've got Penn and Teller and Masters of Illusion to catch up on. Another day.
- Andster
I'm probably butchering the name, but Xavier Mortimer was pretty cool. Even though all we saw was a quick clip of his audition, I liked it. He seemed funny and I liked the gimmick of things appearing between cymbals. That's something I've not personally seen before.
Too much singing and dancing for my tastes, but that seems to be every episode. I would be really curious to see what would happen if AGT did "Magic Week" and "Singing Week" and "Dancing Week" and "Danger Week" and whatever else. I'm sure a lot of people would tune in for everything, but I personally would only watch a couple and probably other people would as well. I think the ratings would be interesting.
I wish I had the ability to do that human flag stuff. It's always seemed so fluid and magical to me. I'm a sucker for it. And since I'm talking about strength and acrobatic acts, Duo Volta was amazing. I think that was one of the few acts (besides magic, of course) that I would watch a whole show of.
Did Howie offer to bench press Heidi just so he could feel her up? Good work.
I think I found the first musical act I like. It could just be that I'm a sucker for Nina Simone ever since playing The Saboteur (and hearing Sinner Man in Sherlock) but I really really liked them. We'll see if I stay a fan after hearing them next time.
This show is fucking dragging. I feel bad because I recognize that these people have talent, I just don't care. Apropos of nothing, why does everyone call Mel B. Mel B? There aren't two Mel's on the panel. Just Mel would suffice. A minor annoyance I just realized annoyed me.
Okay, finally on to the judge cut rounds. Glad to see NPH on as a guest judge. These first dancers are very good. I've always liked the multimedia dance acts. I think they will stick around for a while.
I liked Paul Ponce in his first audition, not really sure how much I cared for this. I feel like it was about the same as the first time around, one stunt repeated over and over. It was certainly impressive, but I'm not sure about it. I think, though, it speaks to his multitude of skills. I have no doubt he could carry a show by himself, he's just not blowing through everything he can do at once.
At the beginning of this crossbow act, I'm more impressed by the guy balancing a bottle on top of a balloon than anything else. I've always liked the multiple crossbow thing where you shoot an apple from your own head. I'm sure that has a name, but I don't know what it is. Very cool.
Not a big fan of the big dance group. They are talented like crazy, don't get me wrong. I did enjoy the 90 seconds of their act, but I think that's about the threshold for my own personal enjoyment.
This professional cuddler is not making it through this round. She hasn't even started the act yet and I'm calling this. I took that opportunity to go to the bathroom and didn't even see the act, but when I came back she had four X's. Called that one.
Now we've got the little kids dancing and the little kids orchestra. Either of these have a shot, just based on the kid factor alone. I feel like they give more chances to the kids. I could be wrong, I have no data to back this up. I could probably find it, but this blog is about me spouting off bullshit, not research and facts.
I fast forwarded past the girl singing. She's lovely, but I just don't care. I'm a dick, I'm sorry.
Time for some magic now! Finally! Michael John is first up. I liked him the first time around, though after the fact I saw a lot of chatter about how can someone get through just using a Svengali deck. First of all, I didn't even realize it was a Svengali which is kind of embarrassing. Secondly, everyone seems to forget about the second half of the trick with still blew me away. Looks like he's doing Sinful here. I've played with this trick in the past. I feel like he doesn't have good presentational skills. He's talented for sure, but he needs to open up. Smoothini went quite far doing close up magic, but he has a much more gregarious personality. I don't think he's going to make it out of this round.
Motherfucking Piff! I love Piff, loved him since I first saw him on Fool Us. The only negative thing I can say about him, and I think I already said it, is he thought of this shtick before I could. I love it and wish I could steal it. Surprised he's working with Heidi again, I thought she was a pretty shitty assistant last time. I really liked this trick. Great presentation, great magic. Piff is going to go far. Golden buzzer yo!
Stand up comedian up next. I like comedy, I feel like this is a rough audience for comedians though. Myq was really funny. I would like to see him again, hopefully he makes it through.
Got some singers going on now. Not my cup of tea. I think I'm going to run out of time to watch the rest of this before I have to get to work.
Oh, my band's back! Gonna give these guys a shot and see if I still like them or if it was just Nina Simone. Yeah, I don't like them as much as I used to. They are very good and I don't hate them, but I'm not the biggest fan. They would be great as a bar band or playing at a keg party in a stereotypical college movie. I just don't feel it for the big picture. The judges completely disagree with me. Probably why I'm not a judge.
They're showing dance acts. I liked the bit I saw with the guy and his hats and twisting arms. I like the tumbling and gymnastic act. I don't think either of them is gonna be a Vegas show.
I gotta go to work. This is officially to be continued tonight.
OK, 9 hours later I'm back into this. Got about a half hour to go.
I genuinely don't know if this grandmaster kung fu guy is for real or not. I feel like at the very least he could be doing a shitty magic act, like someone who wants to be taken at face value. If that's the case, he needs to hit the tricks a little sooner so people quit booing. Special Head from a couple seasons ago was good at that. He stretched the chanting out a little bit longer than I feel a traditional magician would, but got to the levitation before the crowd completely hated him.
Have I mentioned I don't really care for singers? This last girl has some pipes though. Started off not fast forwarding because I was lazy, but I ended up listening because I liked it. Again, it's not that I don't think the singers have talent but I wish they'd go on a singing show. I can't go on The Voice and start doing card tricks. Or can I? I might have to try that...
All right, time to start actually sending people home. Let's see how this goes. Spoilers ahead, but it's probably too late for that anyway.
The tumblers and the children's orchestra are both going home. Personally, I'm okay with that. Makes me sad to see the kids cry though.
The big dance company is going through. Like I said above, they're crazy talented but they just don't do it for me. I would rather see a magician or variety act in their place.
Michael John got eliminated over Myq Kaplin and I think I'm okay with that. I love magic and would rather have had Michael over the dance group, but I agree that Michael really didn't bring it this round.
The multimedia dance group is going through, and I'm super happy about that. Freelusion. Finally caught their name. They're good, and I'm a sucker for that kind of stuff.
The rock band beat out the kid dancers and the dancer with the hats. I can't be mad about that, because I think I would have made the same decision even though I didn't really care for their last song.
Oh great, bring out mom and dad versus the child! Silvia Silvia is going through, and I think that's okay. I liked Paul's act, but I can see why they didn't think he was big enough for the live shows. I will be interested to see how Silvia brings it.
Finally, the girl with the great voice who sang last is going through. Of the three singers they brought out together, I liked her best. Not really any complaints here.
I have to say, I liked this cut down show better than how it's been handled on previous seasons. Seemed a lot shorter and to the point, which I appreciate. Gotta say, trying to watch 4 hours of this shit at once got a little rough.
Now that this is done, I've got Penn and Teller and Masters of Illusion to catch up on. Another day.
- Andster
Monday, July 13, 2015
Magic on TV
Wow, it's been a couple weeks since I've checked in. Been pretty busy in my personal life, not really feeling like doing much lately.
I've got a lot of new magic on TV to write about. Penn and Teller: Fool Us started up again, AGT is is still rolling on, Masters of Illusion is back, and a new show called Don't Blink premiered last week. Unfortunately, I missed the first 3 episodes of Don't Blink because I couldn't find the channel it was on. Found it now, have a recording set so I'll be good to go from now on.
I'll try to watch stuff and comment on it soon. Heard that before, though.
- Andster
I've got a lot of new magic on TV to write about. Penn and Teller: Fool Us started up again, AGT is is still rolling on, Masters of Illusion is back, and a new show called Don't Blink premiered last week. Unfortunately, I missed the first 3 episodes of Don't Blink because I couldn't find the channel it was on. Found it now, have a recording set so I'll be good to go from now on.
I'll try to watch stuff and comment on it soon. Heard that before, though.
- Andster
Thursday, July 2, 2015
America's Got Talent Episode 6
Almost let this one get away from me. I've got to start watching these sooner, especially with live shows coming up. Watching and writing again. So far we've had a pretty good dance act and now a singer's coming on.
I gotta say, I like the multimedia dance acts. It's probably the only dancing type act I could see myself watching for an hour in Vegas. Not taking away anything from the hip hop groups or the salsa groups, because they are all quite talented. I just don't think watching that for an hour would be entertaining. When you take one of those multimedia groups, I feel like the dancing is almost secondary to the overall story being told. It reels you in and keeps you entertained and just makes you want more. I feel like there's a connection to magic there, I'm just not able to tease it out at the moment.
This hat juggling guy was pretty cool. I liked it, though I agree that it was basically one thing over and over. I feel like someone like that though has more skills that they can showcase in the future, so putting him through was the right decision. Not like the guys a couple seasons ago whose only goal was to make a one hit wonder song and kept doing the same thing stage after stage and inexplicably getting put through.
I liked the crossbow couple as well. I may just have a soft spot for circus and variety acts though, because pretty much anything different like that is going to be a win in my book.
I've never tried, but I feel like I could hold a bicycle with my teeth too, if the back wheel is resting on my chest.
There's a whole lotta nothing going on here. The comedian was funny though. It's gotta be hard to be funny coming on cold like that. I'm always pleased to see a comedian get the crowd laughing because they're notoriously unamused by comedy.
Can I just go on record here and say I hate Heidi's fucking hand binoculars? They don't help and you look stupid. Stop that shit.
Ok, we're moving outside now for some bigger acts. I generally like this kind of stuff, but as I've said before, if you can't do it on stage for the judges, how are you going to do it on stage in Vegas?
The kids on horses were pretty neat. I remember a wild west themed act from a couple years ago that didn't go very far, but they also brought the horse on stage. These guys were doing some neat stuff.
The Godfrey Clan was fun. They remind me of like a Jackass family. I think Howie hit it when he said they need stuff we want to watch, not stuff we want to do.
I liked the high jumper just because I thought it was cool. There's no way in hell he can translate that to a Vegas show. Although I'm terrified of heights, I would love to do a drop from significant height into a bag like that.
Getting blown up in a car is another thing that I've always wanted to do but would be too much of a pussy to actually do. I need to find a stunt school that would just let me go mess around for a couple days. I would like to see more from this woman.
That's it for this week. No magicians, unfortunately. Looks like we've got one more week of auditions before we move to Vegas and start cutting down the field. Bittersweet times, because they'll send home acts I like but I also get to see more performances.
Until next time.
- Andster
I gotta say, I like the multimedia dance acts. It's probably the only dancing type act I could see myself watching for an hour in Vegas. Not taking away anything from the hip hop groups or the salsa groups, because they are all quite talented. I just don't think watching that for an hour would be entertaining. When you take one of those multimedia groups, I feel like the dancing is almost secondary to the overall story being told. It reels you in and keeps you entertained and just makes you want more. I feel like there's a connection to magic there, I'm just not able to tease it out at the moment.
This hat juggling guy was pretty cool. I liked it, though I agree that it was basically one thing over and over. I feel like someone like that though has more skills that they can showcase in the future, so putting him through was the right decision. Not like the guys a couple seasons ago whose only goal was to make a one hit wonder song and kept doing the same thing stage after stage and inexplicably getting put through.
I liked the crossbow couple as well. I may just have a soft spot for circus and variety acts though, because pretty much anything different like that is going to be a win in my book.
I've never tried, but I feel like I could hold a bicycle with my teeth too, if the back wheel is resting on my chest.
There's a whole lotta nothing going on here. The comedian was funny though. It's gotta be hard to be funny coming on cold like that. I'm always pleased to see a comedian get the crowd laughing because they're notoriously unamused by comedy.
Can I just go on record here and say I hate Heidi's fucking hand binoculars? They don't help and you look stupid. Stop that shit.
Ok, we're moving outside now for some bigger acts. I generally like this kind of stuff, but as I've said before, if you can't do it on stage for the judges, how are you going to do it on stage in Vegas?
The kids on horses were pretty neat. I remember a wild west themed act from a couple years ago that didn't go very far, but they also brought the horse on stage. These guys were doing some neat stuff.
The Godfrey Clan was fun. They remind me of like a Jackass family. I think Howie hit it when he said they need stuff we want to watch, not stuff we want to do.
I liked the high jumper just because I thought it was cool. There's no way in hell he can translate that to a Vegas show. Although I'm terrified of heights, I would love to do a drop from significant height into a bag like that.
Getting blown up in a car is another thing that I've always wanted to do but would be too much of a pussy to actually do. I need to find a stunt school that would just let me go mess around for a couple days. I would like to see more from this woman.
That's it for this week. No magicians, unfortunately. Looks like we've got one more week of auditions before we move to Vegas and start cutting down the field. Bittersweet times, because they'll send home acts I like but I also get to see more performances.
Until next time.
- Andster
Wednesday, July 1, 2015
Festival Update
Wow, this weekend did not go at all as I expected. It was an exercise in thinking on your feet, and I definitely learned a lot. I think I would call it a success, though it definitely wasn't what I was expecting to do in the first place.
Saturday was a complete loss. Severe thunderstorms all day, with very brief periods of not so heavy rains. I knew my original plan of busking on a corner was not going to work out. I had no cover, so I'd be standing in the rain. A lot of the vendors didn't show, and though there were nutcases out in the rain, there weren't lots of people walking around. I grabbed a name badge and made a quick "I Work For Tips" tag for my shirt, planning to do some walk around when the rain let up. The rain never let up. I waited inside one of the businesses for an hour and a half and it just straight up poured the entire time.
I figured even if the driving rain let up and I could go out in the light sprinkles, was I going to be able to get people to actually stop and watch me? If they did stop, was the rain going to ruin the cards and stuff I had with me? If I did manage to get someone to stop and my stuff wasn't ruined, were these people going to then dig out their wallets and give me a couple bucks? The answer I came up with to all of those questions was no. So I went home, threw my clothes in the dryer, and started watching season 2 of The Americans in my underwear.
Sunday was calling for rain, but not as much as Saturday. I figured with the potential of rain, I still wasn't going to have luck pulling a decent crowd for busking. I managed to borrow a 10x10 EZ Up tent from a friend and was able to set that up in a spot where on of the vendors cancelled. I put on a back and a side and set myself up in the corner. My plan was to do smaller shows with whatever crowd I could fit under the tent.
I wrote a little bit of copy for the DJ to announce what I was doing when he made other announcements about the festival. He convinced me to omit a line about the shows being free but donations being accepted at the end, and instead put out a tip jar. I wasn't too keen on the idea of the tip jar, I wanted to just build a crowd and hat them at the end. Turned out to be a good idea because I never ended up getting enough people to do a whole show.
People trickled by and the rain came off and on. I was glad to have the tent for sure. I ended up doing the same handful of tricks over and over, which actually worked out pretty well. Like I said previously, I wasn't doing anything knuckle-busting or earth shaking, but everyone really had fun. I started with a 52-on-1 card gag that lead into an Invisible Deck. Everyone liked that, but sometimes I could tell people just wanted to move along so I didn't push the routine further. If people were receptive, I followed it up with another gag card, the 3 1/2 of spades. I built this up as my "No Fail, Never Wrong, All Day Long prediction." I said it was my "money trick" and I would "bet a lot" on it, while indicating my tip jar. Not sure if it helped or not, but I liked the allusion to money to get people thinking about it. I usually ended there, especially if there were only one or two people. The couple times I had a decent crowd, I finished off with a Stebbens deck that I presented as a human lie detector. That really went well the few times I did it.
Once or twice during the day I had some kids come up that were too young for my other material. I had a regular deck of cards with me and so I did some basic pick a card tricks, a few color changes, just messing around stuff. They liked it. I had some kids come back for like the third time with a $5 bill and asked if I knew any tricks with money. I dug around in my case looking for a Sharpie and slipped on an extra tip. I had the kid sign the bill and then made it disappear. I pulled it back out of my wallet and gave it back to them, and they were both going "Whoa! Oh my God! That was crazy!" and just stuffed it into my tip jar and walked away.
I made a couple mistakes during the course of the day too. Fortunately I never screwed up my force for the 3 1/2 of spades which would have been supremely embarrassing. I did screw up the revelation on the invisible deck a couple times, which I can attribute to just not being able to math in the moment. Fortunately the misses were pretty close, like a 5 of diamonds instead of a 7 of diamonds. I mean, it sucks from the magician's perspective because you know it was supposed to be an exact match, but you also gotta figure from their perspective it's still pretty damn close! It also enabled me to follow up right away with the other prediction that seems to go wrong but ends successfully. It was fun to see the facial expressions change from "Wow, two in a row. This guy is not good." to "Holy shit! That was good! Maybe that first one wasn't a mistake after all!"
I screwed up my Stebbins routine once, too. Again, I attribute it to not being able to math in the moment. I think I miscalled a King of spades as the Queen of spades, so at least I was really close on that one too. Since my patter involved reading body language to determine lies, I think it was still impressive to get that close. Plus, I was able to follow that up with the rest of the routine that hit dead on again and got great results.
I got pretty good tips throughout the day, several fives, lots of ones, only change twice and it came from kids. Honestly, I kind of appreciate change from a kid more than five bucks from an adult. It's easy for an adult to give away money (for the most part). A kid giving me change is basically saying, "You have blown my mind so badly and I appreciate that so much I'm going to give you literally all the money I have." I don't want to say exactly how much I made, but I was thrilled with the outcome. Keep in mind though, I'm the type of guy who wins thirty bucks at a casino and feels like a baller.
I passed out a lot of cards and I have a few leads on some stuff for the future. We'll see if anything pans out, and if it does I'm sure I'll be writing about it. I've got another episode of AGT to write about in the next day or so here. Lots of goings on. Gonna be busy.
- Andster
Saturday was a complete loss. Severe thunderstorms all day, with very brief periods of not so heavy rains. I knew my original plan of busking on a corner was not going to work out. I had no cover, so I'd be standing in the rain. A lot of the vendors didn't show, and though there were nutcases out in the rain, there weren't lots of people walking around. I grabbed a name badge and made a quick "I Work For Tips" tag for my shirt, planning to do some walk around when the rain let up. The rain never let up. I waited inside one of the businesses for an hour and a half and it just straight up poured the entire time.
I figured even if the driving rain let up and I could go out in the light sprinkles, was I going to be able to get people to actually stop and watch me? If they did stop, was the rain going to ruin the cards and stuff I had with me? If I did manage to get someone to stop and my stuff wasn't ruined, were these people going to then dig out their wallets and give me a couple bucks? The answer I came up with to all of those questions was no. So I went home, threw my clothes in the dryer, and started watching season 2 of The Americans in my underwear.
Sunday was calling for rain, but not as much as Saturday. I figured with the potential of rain, I still wasn't going to have luck pulling a decent crowd for busking. I managed to borrow a 10x10 EZ Up tent from a friend and was able to set that up in a spot where on of the vendors cancelled. I put on a back and a side and set myself up in the corner. My plan was to do smaller shows with whatever crowd I could fit under the tent.
I wrote a little bit of copy for the DJ to announce what I was doing when he made other announcements about the festival. He convinced me to omit a line about the shows being free but donations being accepted at the end, and instead put out a tip jar. I wasn't too keen on the idea of the tip jar, I wanted to just build a crowd and hat them at the end. Turned out to be a good idea because I never ended up getting enough people to do a whole show.
People trickled by and the rain came off and on. I was glad to have the tent for sure. I ended up doing the same handful of tricks over and over, which actually worked out pretty well. Like I said previously, I wasn't doing anything knuckle-busting or earth shaking, but everyone really had fun. I started with a 52-on-1 card gag that lead into an Invisible Deck. Everyone liked that, but sometimes I could tell people just wanted to move along so I didn't push the routine further. If people were receptive, I followed it up with another gag card, the 3 1/2 of spades. I built this up as my "No Fail, Never Wrong, All Day Long prediction." I said it was my "money trick" and I would "bet a lot" on it, while indicating my tip jar. Not sure if it helped or not, but I liked the allusion to money to get people thinking about it. I usually ended there, especially if there were only one or two people. The couple times I had a decent crowd, I finished off with a Stebbens deck that I presented as a human lie detector. That really went well the few times I did it.
Once or twice during the day I had some kids come up that were too young for my other material. I had a regular deck of cards with me and so I did some basic pick a card tricks, a few color changes, just messing around stuff. They liked it. I had some kids come back for like the third time with a $5 bill and asked if I knew any tricks with money. I dug around in my case looking for a Sharpie and slipped on an extra tip. I had the kid sign the bill and then made it disappear. I pulled it back out of my wallet and gave it back to them, and they were both going "Whoa! Oh my God! That was crazy!" and just stuffed it into my tip jar and walked away.
I made a couple mistakes during the course of the day too. Fortunately I never screwed up my force for the 3 1/2 of spades which would have been supremely embarrassing. I did screw up the revelation on the invisible deck a couple times, which I can attribute to just not being able to math in the moment. Fortunately the misses were pretty close, like a 5 of diamonds instead of a 7 of diamonds. I mean, it sucks from the magician's perspective because you know it was supposed to be an exact match, but you also gotta figure from their perspective it's still pretty damn close! It also enabled me to follow up right away with the other prediction that seems to go wrong but ends successfully. It was fun to see the facial expressions change from "Wow, two in a row. This guy is not good." to "Holy shit! That was good! Maybe that first one wasn't a mistake after all!"
I screwed up my Stebbins routine once, too. Again, I attribute it to not being able to math in the moment. I think I miscalled a King of spades as the Queen of spades, so at least I was really close on that one too. Since my patter involved reading body language to determine lies, I think it was still impressive to get that close. Plus, I was able to follow that up with the rest of the routine that hit dead on again and got great results.
I got pretty good tips throughout the day, several fives, lots of ones, only change twice and it came from kids. Honestly, I kind of appreciate change from a kid more than five bucks from an adult. It's easy for an adult to give away money (for the most part). A kid giving me change is basically saying, "You have blown my mind so badly and I appreciate that so much I'm going to give you literally all the money I have." I don't want to say exactly how much I made, but I was thrilled with the outcome. Keep in mind though, I'm the type of guy who wins thirty bucks at a casino and feels like a baller.
I passed out a lot of cards and I have a few leads on some stuff for the future. We'll see if anything pans out, and if it does I'm sure I'll be writing about it. I've got another episode of AGT to write about in the next day or so here. Lots of goings on. Gonna be busy.
- Andster
Thursday, June 25, 2015
Spencer Horsman Almost Died!
How's that for a clickbait title, huh?
There's a video going around showing escape artist Spenser Horsman (no relation to BoJack) being rescued from an escape gone wrong. I remember him from a few seasons back on AGT. I liked him, and he seems like a capable performer. Too bad he didn't go further on the show.
That said, I doubt the legitimacy of the footage and the story behind it. That's my PC way of saying I think it's shady as fuck. According to some of the comments, I'm not the only one who thinks so. Again, I have no knowledge one way or the other, this is just my gut.
I think it's just a little too perfect. You've got the show a couple days before opening, trying to generate some buzz. You've got a weird cellphone video of a rehearsal that I would assume would be a closed set to begin with. You've got Criss Angel heroically climbing the chains and knocking something free to get the box open (which incidentally, as an escape, should be harder to open right?) and then an abrupt finish with no word on his condition.
I mean, it's dramatic as hell and it certainly got me talking about the show so I guess as a publicity stunt it served it's purpose. I think the main thing that's got me smelling a rat is that I've recently been toying with a similar idea to draw some heat for a future project. Again, I don't know for sure that's what this is, but there's enough there to make me question it.
This is a good lead in for an article I want to write about escapes, but I think I'm going to save that for another day. A brief teaser: The audience knows you're not going to die and a capable performer is not going to put themselves in danger. This above all else is why I feel this whole thing is just a sham.
I could be wrong. I'm probably not. Either way, I hope Spencer's doing well. He seems like a nice guy, and I wish him luck on the show or more fake drownings or whatever he's up to next.
Come back next week for a post on thirty ways to write your own clickbait titles! Number seven left me speechless! This one weird trick will triple your readers! Bloggers hate him!
-Andster
Edit: Upon further viewing of the video, it appears the lid to that box is made up of a metal grate. How the fuck do you drown when all you have to do to breathe is tilt your head up? That makes me feel like this whole post is unnecessary and nobody in this world took the stunt seriously.
There's a video going around showing escape artist Spenser Horsman (no relation to BoJack) being rescued from an escape gone wrong. I remember him from a few seasons back on AGT. I liked him, and he seems like a capable performer. Too bad he didn't go further on the show.
That said, I doubt the legitimacy of the footage and the story behind it. That's my PC way of saying I think it's shady as fuck. According to some of the comments, I'm not the only one who thinks so. Again, I have no knowledge one way or the other, this is just my gut.
I think it's just a little too perfect. You've got the show a couple days before opening, trying to generate some buzz. You've got a weird cellphone video of a rehearsal that I would assume would be a closed set to begin with. You've got Criss Angel heroically climbing the chains and knocking something free to get the box open (which incidentally, as an escape, should be harder to open right?) and then an abrupt finish with no word on his condition.
I mean, it's dramatic as hell and it certainly got me talking about the show so I guess as a publicity stunt it served it's purpose. I think the main thing that's got me smelling a rat is that I've recently been toying with a similar idea to draw some heat for a future project. Again, I don't know for sure that's what this is, but there's enough there to make me question it.
This is a good lead in for an article I want to write about escapes, but I think I'm going to save that for another day. A brief teaser: The audience knows you're not going to die and a capable performer is not going to put themselves in danger. This above all else is why I feel this whole thing is just a sham.
I could be wrong. I'm probably not. Either way, I hope Spencer's doing well. He seems like a nice guy, and I wish him luck on the show or more fake drownings or whatever he's up to next.
Come back next week for a post on thirty ways to write your own clickbait titles! Number seven left me speechless! This one weird trick will triple your readers! Bloggers hate him!
-Andster
Edit: Upon further viewing of the video, it appears the lid to that box is made up of a metal grate. How the fuck do you drown when all you have to do to breathe is tilt your head up? That makes me feel like this whole post is unnecessary and nobody in this world took the stunt seriously.
Wednesday, June 24, 2015
America's Got Talent episode 5
Watching my recording of AGT and live blogging again. Let's see where this goes.
Oh here we go, Oz Pearlman is up. This should be good.
I really liked this! It went over very well with the judges and the audience. The thing I liked best is that even though the methods seemed to be straight out of Corinda and could be easily overlooked by people wanting the latest and greatest, it still killed to the lay audience. Just goes to show you that classics are classics for a reason and you shouldn't always be focused on what's new. I need to take my own advice and start mining my magic shelf.
Not sure if there's going to be any more magic or anything worth mentioning in this episode, but I'll ride it out.
I'm sorry, but if this bird lady goes through I'll shit. She's talented, yes, but is anyone going to watch this for an hour? Oh good, she got nos.
I could be wrong, but I feel like there's not as many acts being shown this year than there were on previous years. It could just be poor memory, but I don't think it used to be come back from commercial, show one act, go to another commercial. Maybe this has something to do with them not bringing people on solely to make fun of this season which I appreciate.
Not magic, but I liked this guy. I'm a sucker for danger acts, if for no other reason than it's something different than the usual singers and dancers. He went through to the next round, so hopefully we'll see some more of him in the future.
I almost shit myself because I accidentally closed this tab. Thankfully this autosaves drafts, so I didn't just get pissed and not write today.
I know it probably wasn't the goal of the act, but the Juggling Taxi (or UGGING TAXI as his hat said) made me laugh my ass off. Especially when Danny ran out of steam and just started doing a little soft shoe and a little hat balancing.
That's another show in the books! Next week's show looks pretty entertaining, but I again question the ability of doing high jumps and exploding cars as a Vegas show.
I've got my festival this weekend, and will be back next week (or before, but probably not cause I'm working a ton) with new stuff.
- Andster
Oh here we go, Oz Pearlman is up. This should be good.
I really liked this! It went over very well with the judges and the audience. The thing I liked best is that even though the methods seemed to be straight out of Corinda and could be easily overlooked by people wanting the latest and greatest, it still killed to the lay audience. Just goes to show you that classics are classics for a reason and you shouldn't always be focused on what's new. I need to take my own advice and start mining my magic shelf.
Not sure if there's going to be any more magic or anything worth mentioning in this episode, but I'll ride it out.
I'm sorry, but if this bird lady goes through I'll shit. She's talented, yes, but is anyone going to watch this for an hour? Oh good, she got nos.
I could be wrong, but I feel like there's not as many acts being shown this year than there were on previous years. It could just be poor memory, but I don't think it used to be come back from commercial, show one act, go to another commercial. Maybe this has something to do with them not bringing people on solely to make fun of this season which I appreciate.
Not magic, but I liked this guy. I'm a sucker for danger acts, if for no other reason than it's something different than the usual singers and dancers. He went through to the next round, so hopefully we'll see some more of him in the future.
I almost shit myself because I accidentally closed this tab. Thankfully this autosaves drafts, so I didn't just get pissed and not write today.
I know it probably wasn't the goal of the act, but the Juggling Taxi (or UGGING TAXI as his hat said) made me laugh my ass off. Especially when Danny ran out of steam and just started doing a little soft shoe and a little hat balancing.
That's another show in the books! Next week's show looks pretty entertaining, but I again question the ability of doing high jumps and exploding cars as a Vegas show.
I've got my festival this weekend, and will be back next week (or before, but probably not cause I'm working a ton) with new stuff.
- Andster
Sunday, June 21, 2015
Upcoming Show
Falling off the posting bandwagon already. This doesn't bode well. I've been working my ass off lately, although I know I can't complain because my two jobs are easy and fun and it sure beats real work. Still sucks when you've had two days off this month. Anyway, no personal bullshit.
Next week I'm booked to perform at a festival doing some busking. The past few months I've been getting stuff together and have a decent routine worked out. I haven't done dick about a script though, but I have a general idea of lines I want to hit and where to work them in. I'm hoping to find time in the next few days to actually get it written down and see how it flows.
I will do a full recap of how the shows go next week, but I'll warn you now: Lower your expectations. There will be nothing groundbreaking, there's nothing that's gonna fool a magician, it's all pretty basic stuff. You could probably go to your magic drawer right now and do pretty much my whole act. And you know what? I'm okay with that. I don't care about being a magician fooler, I care about being entertaining. I think I'm doing pretty good in that regard. We'll find out Saturday.
- Andster
Next week I'm booked to perform at a festival doing some busking. The past few months I've been getting stuff together and have a decent routine worked out. I haven't done dick about a script though, but I have a general idea of lines I want to hit and where to work them in. I'm hoping to find time in the next few days to actually get it written down and see how it flows.
I will do a full recap of how the shows go next week, but I'll warn you now: Lower your expectations. There will be nothing groundbreaking, there's nothing that's gonna fool a magician, it's all pretty basic stuff. You could probably go to your magic drawer right now and do pretty much my whole act. And you know what? I'm okay with that. I don't care about being a magician fooler, I care about being entertaining. I think I'm doing pretty good in that regard. We'll find out Saturday.
- Andster
Wednesday, June 17, 2015
America's Got Talent Ep. 4
This week's show is the extreme episode, featuring danger acts. I'm watching the recording and kinda live blogging along, so we'll see what comes up. I've always been a big fan of the danger acts, mostly because it's something different. That's why I get kind of annoyed when singers and dancers start moving up in the show, there's a million other shows for that. AGT is, in my mind, for variety acts that don't have a place to go. I'm sure there are singers and dancers that I've liked (I will admit I'm a very big fan of multimedia dance acts) but I'd rather see weird shit than an opera singer. End soapbox.
One thing I've noticed this season is that there seems to be fewer acts that they bring on just to make fun of how bad they are. I appreciate that. I used to think that these auditions were basically open casting calls and delusional people showed up in front of the judges and got told no. Then I found out (really, embarrassingly, late to the party on this) that you have to audition in front of producers first and they call you back to audition in front of the judges. Which makes a lot of sense, but then I feel bad that these people that just suck are getting told by producers to come back and they've got to be thinking "Wow, I really am good! I can't wait to tell everyone!" Then they come on in front of judges and get told, basically, "You suck, we brought you here to laugh at you, go home." As much as I like the show, that aspect of it sucks.
Second commercial break just ended and they called for magicians!
Aiden Sinclair is the first magician up tonight. I liked his trick, although I'm not 100% buying his reformed conman shtick, especially when Googling for a bit of background info on him brought me to his Facebook page where he talks about changing his public image from a paranormal magician to a more general magic image. Anyway, the trick was cool. I was expecting it to be an invisible deck but it doesn't seem to be which is pretty neat. Question is though, is his method, whatever it is, any better than just using an ID? Hard to say.
Uzeyer is not a magician, but this act is mesmerizing as hell. I really liked this, don't have much to say about it. Just wanted to make sure people saw it (if anyone reads this dreck) and say how much I enjoyed it.
I might have misunderstood the theme for this week. Oh wait, Nick is saying the next hour steps up the game. Let's do this.
Damone Rippy makes this look easy. I had two thoughts while watching this: 1) I wanna do this so bad, even though I'm almost positive it will end with me drowning. 2) This is gonna be hard as fuck to do at Radio City if he gets through and harder to make a Vegas show out of.
Not a lot of magic this week. Makes sense though, not many magicians fall into the danger act category. I figured there would at least be an escape artist or something.
Not gonna bother linking the video, but isn't BASE jumping going to be hard as fuck to do in a live show too. And for that matter isn't jumping out of a helicopter, by definition, not BASE jumping? I think at that point it's just low altitude skydiving. Splitting hairs here, cause I'd still never fucking do it.
All right, Dr. Danger is on and there's about 6 minutes left so I've gotta assume this is about the end of it all. Interesting night, but lacking on the magic end of things. I think the danger acts themselves were kind of a letdown based on previous years. Hopefully there's some more in the weeks to come.
Tune in next week for another AGT recap!
-Andster
One thing I've noticed this season is that there seems to be fewer acts that they bring on just to make fun of how bad they are. I appreciate that. I used to think that these auditions were basically open casting calls and delusional people showed up in front of the judges and got told no. Then I found out (really, embarrassingly, late to the party on this) that you have to audition in front of producers first and they call you back to audition in front of the judges. Which makes a lot of sense, but then I feel bad that these people that just suck are getting told by producers to come back and they've got to be thinking "Wow, I really am good! I can't wait to tell everyone!" Then they come on in front of judges and get told, basically, "You suck, we brought you here to laugh at you, go home." As much as I like the show, that aspect of it sucks.
Second commercial break just ended and they called for magicians!
Aiden Sinclair is the first magician up tonight. I liked his trick, although I'm not 100% buying his reformed conman shtick, especially when Googling for a bit of background info on him brought me to his Facebook page where he talks about changing his public image from a paranormal magician to a more general magic image. Anyway, the trick was cool. I was expecting it to be an invisible deck but it doesn't seem to be which is pretty neat. Question is though, is his method, whatever it is, any better than just using an ID? Hard to say.
Uzeyer is not a magician, but this act is mesmerizing as hell. I really liked this, don't have much to say about it. Just wanted to make sure people saw it (if anyone reads this dreck) and say how much I enjoyed it.
I might have misunderstood the theme for this week. Oh wait, Nick is saying the next hour steps up the game. Let's do this.
Damone Rippy makes this look easy. I had two thoughts while watching this: 1) I wanna do this so bad, even though I'm almost positive it will end with me drowning. 2) This is gonna be hard as fuck to do at Radio City if he gets through and harder to make a Vegas show out of.
Not a lot of magic this week. Makes sense though, not many magicians fall into the danger act category. I figured there would at least be an escape artist or something.
Not gonna bother linking the video, but isn't BASE jumping going to be hard as fuck to do in a live show too. And for that matter isn't jumping out of a helicopter, by definition, not BASE jumping? I think at that point it's just low altitude skydiving. Splitting hairs here, cause I'd still never fucking do it.
All right, Dr. Danger is on and there's about 6 minutes left so I've gotta assume this is about the end of it all. Interesting night, but lacking on the magic end of things. I think the danger acts themselves were kind of a letdown based on previous years. Hopefully there's some more in the weeks to come.
Tune in next week for another AGT recap!
-Andster
Monday, June 15, 2015
Card Trick for Couples
This is gonna be a quick one. I've got a handling for Be Honest, What Is It or Two Card Monte, or whatever the kids are calling it these days. I use it when performing for couples or if someone mentions an anniversary, or pretty much any time I can steer the conversation towards marriage. I'm not claiming originality here since I just mashed two previously thought of things together, but I also haven't seen anybody else do this. Granted, I haven't looked too hard, but still.
I don't want to give away the entire trick, so I'm going to be intentionally vague. Those of you in the know should be able to fill in the blanks, those who want to be in the know can learn the trick and go from there.
You're going to be showing the two of hearts and the ace of diamonds, and changing them into the ace of clubs and the ace of spades. Set it up to your preferred handling.
The patter is as follows: "Marriage begins with two hearts in love and a diamond. As the years go on, the diamond stays strong but the love may fade, leaving you wishing for a club and a spade."
Look, I'm not saying this is gonna set the world on fire, but it's cute in a cynical way. Give it a shot, let me know how it goes over for you.
- Andster
I don't want to give away the entire trick, so I'm going to be intentionally vague. Those of you in the know should be able to fill in the blanks, those who want to be in the know can learn the trick and go from there.
You're going to be showing the two of hearts and the ace of diamonds, and changing them into the ace of clubs and the ace of spades. Set it up to your preferred handling.
The patter is as follows: "Marriage begins with two hearts in love and a diamond. As the years go on, the diamond stays strong but the love may fade, leaving you wishing for a club and a spade."
Look, I'm not saying this is gonna set the world on fire, but it's cute in a cynical way. Give it a shot, let me know how it goes over for you.
- Andster
Sunday, June 14, 2015
Escape Gone Bad
This is something I've been wanting to write about for a couple years now, and was actually what first made me realize my other site was down.
Back in 2013 I was working at a bank. My branch manager was (probably still is) a member of the Masons. There was some sort of charity event where the lodge was open to the public and had entertainment, singers, comedians, etc. He knew I was a magician and asked me if I would be willing to do something for the lodge, and I agreed.
I had a couple months to think about what I was going to do. I knew I wanted to tie it in to the Masons somehow, not just do some card tricks. While doing some Googling, I found out Harry Houdini used to be a Mason, the date he was sworn into his lodge was within a few days of 90 years from my performance, and I had a full view mail bag escape I bought from Cannon's years ago that I loved to perform but rarely did. Perfect.
Normally the escape is done by having a spectator create their own 4-digit combination on the lock and "figuring it out" through the canvas bag. To streamline the performance, I set the combination to Houdini's day of death (1031) and focused the presentation on figuring out the position of the dials through the canvas even though I knew the combo. I had a set of leg irons and handcuffs connected with chains attaching to a chain padlocked around my waist. I used a paperclip as a tie clip to pick my way out with, and I was all set.
Getting to the lodge I noticed two things right away. First, there were a ton of people. Many, many more than I expected. Nerves kicked in a bit, but I was okay. I figured the escape was a good way to go for a good sized crowd. The second thing I noticed was that it was fucking hot. The lodge was in the upper floors of an old brick building with no air conditioning on a hot summer afternoon. Even with windows open and fans on, I was sweating like crazy just sitting still. I was a little concerned about that since the bag gets hot quickly, but I figured I could get out quickly and be okay. We all have to suffer for our art, right?
The event was already going on when I got there, so I found my manager found out when I would be on, and got a bottle of water to sip on while I waited. I was going to be going up last, right after an historical impersonator. He was dressed up as an historical figure and was supposed to give about a five minute talk in the first person about this guy's life. Instead, he went on for over a half hour, taking us from birth through death. The audience was getting restless and as soon as he finished, a good two-thirds of them got up and left.
Fantastic. Here I was ready to go on and most of my audience has walked out and the ones that are left are just oozing with "Oh fuck, there's more?" Oh well. I got introduced, said my piece, got locked up and locked into the bag. Then the trouble began. Almost instantly I was drenched in sweat. That bag was hotter than hot and it was almost hard to breathe.
I figure if you've read this far, you deserve to have the curtain pulled back a bit. It makes it easier for me to explain what's going on without spilling the beans too much, too. The paperclip does nothing. Although I can pick cuffs open with a paperclip, I had a handcuff key in my pocket. I got out of the cuffs quickly, popped the lock holding my belly chain (self gimmicked to easy open), opened the cuff on my left ankle, then dropped the fucking key.
I felt around on the bottom of the bag for it briefly, but it wasn't readily available and I was way too hot. I decided to forget about it and just get out the bag, taking the one cuff as a loss and trying to spin it somehow. The lock holding the bag shut it a very clever gimmick. There's something you can do to it from inside the bag that lets it open, regardless of what the combo is set on. I did what I needed to do, and the lock wouldn't open. I tried again, still nothing.
Now I was starting to panic a bit. I didn't want to admit full defeat so I punted for a plan B. I managed to force the cinched top open just a hair and was able to swing the padlock up and maneuver it inside just a bit. Fortunately I knew what the combo was this time and was able to open the lock the traditional way. I dumped the lock, opened the cinch, and climbed out drenched in sweat and gasping for air.
I did get a heavy round of applause from the people who were left, and my manager had an ice cold bottle of water waiting for me. I used my paperclip to pop open the cuff on my right ankle in full view of the audience which got me a little more applause. People mostly left after that, but I did have a few people come by and shake my hand as I was packing up and tell me it was good.
Since then I've discovered that the lock basically works when it wants to. The best I can figure out is that once you open it the gimmicked way, it needs to be opened the regular way before the gimmick will work again. But that's not always the case either, so I have no idea what's going on with it. If anybody has experience with this effect, shoot me an email because I'd like to talk it over with you.
I had a lot of fun with the performance and the escape. I wish it had gone a little smoother but I think I managed to take something going bad and turn it into something decent. It's like using an Invisible Deck as a backup during a card trick: Might not be what you wanted to do when you started, but the audience doesn't know that and they're still entertained.
- Andster
Back in 2013 I was working at a bank. My branch manager was (probably still is) a member of the Masons. There was some sort of charity event where the lodge was open to the public and had entertainment, singers, comedians, etc. He knew I was a magician and asked me if I would be willing to do something for the lodge, and I agreed.
I had a couple months to think about what I was going to do. I knew I wanted to tie it in to the Masons somehow, not just do some card tricks. While doing some Googling, I found out Harry Houdini used to be a Mason, the date he was sworn into his lodge was within a few days of 90 years from my performance, and I had a full view mail bag escape I bought from Cannon's years ago that I loved to perform but rarely did. Perfect.
Normally the escape is done by having a spectator create their own 4-digit combination on the lock and "figuring it out" through the canvas bag. To streamline the performance, I set the combination to Houdini's day of death (1031) and focused the presentation on figuring out the position of the dials through the canvas even though I knew the combo. I had a set of leg irons and handcuffs connected with chains attaching to a chain padlocked around my waist. I used a paperclip as a tie clip to pick my way out with, and I was all set.
Getting to the lodge I noticed two things right away. First, there were a ton of people. Many, many more than I expected. Nerves kicked in a bit, but I was okay. I figured the escape was a good way to go for a good sized crowd. The second thing I noticed was that it was fucking hot. The lodge was in the upper floors of an old brick building with no air conditioning on a hot summer afternoon. Even with windows open and fans on, I was sweating like crazy just sitting still. I was a little concerned about that since the bag gets hot quickly, but I figured I could get out quickly and be okay. We all have to suffer for our art, right?
The event was already going on when I got there, so I found my manager found out when I would be on, and got a bottle of water to sip on while I waited. I was going to be going up last, right after an historical impersonator. He was dressed up as an historical figure and was supposed to give about a five minute talk in the first person about this guy's life. Instead, he went on for over a half hour, taking us from birth through death. The audience was getting restless and as soon as he finished, a good two-thirds of them got up and left.
Fantastic. Here I was ready to go on and most of my audience has walked out and the ones that are left are just oozing with "Oh fuck, there's more?" Oh well. I got introduced, said my piece, got locked up and locked into the bag. Then the trouble began. Almost instantly I was drenched in sweat. That bag was hotter than hot and it was almost hard to breathe.
I figure if you've read this far, you deserve to have the curtain pulled back a bit. It makes it easier for me to explain what's going on without spilling the beans too much, too. The paperclip does nothing. Although I can pick cuffs open with a paperclip, I had a handcuff key in my pocket. I got out of the cuffs quickly, popped the lock holding my belly chain (self gimmicked to easy open), opened the cuff on my left ankle, then dropped the fucking key.
I felt around on the bottom of the bag for it briefly, but it wasn't readily available and I was way too hot. I decided to forget about it and just get out the bag, taking the one cuff as a loss and trying to spin it somehow. The lock holding the bag shut it a very clever gimmick. There's something you can do to it from inside the bag that lets it open, regardless of what the combo is set on. I did what I needed to do, and the lock wouldn't open. I tried again, still nothing.
Now I was starting to panic a bit. I didn't want to admit full defeat so I punted for a plan B. I managed to force the cinched top open just a hair and was able to swing the padlock up and maneuver it inside just a bit. Fortunately I knew what the combo was this time and was able to open the lock the traditional way. I dumped the lock, opened the cinch, and climbed out drenched in sweat and gasping for air.
I did get a heavy round of applause from the people who were left, and my manager had an ice cold bottle of water waiting for me. I used my paperclip to pop open the cuff on my right ankle in full view of the audience which got me a little more applause. People mostly left after that, but I did have a few people come by and shake my hand as I was packing up and tell me it was good.
Since then I've discovered that the lock basically works when it wants to. The best I can figure out is that once you open it the gimmicked way, it needs to be opened the regular way before the gimmick will work again. But that's not always the case either, so I have no idea what's going on with it. If anybody has experience with this effect, shoot me an email because I'd like to talk it over with you.
I had a lot of fun with the performance and the escape. I wish it had gone a little smoother but I think I managed to take something going bad and turn it into something decent. It's like using an Invisible Deck as a backup during a card trick: Might not be what you wanted to do when you started, but the audience doesn't know that and they're still entertained.
- Andster
Saturday, June 13, 2015
America's Got Talent Magic
I am a big, big fan of America's Got Talent and am extremely happy that a magician finally won last season. I've wanted to talk about the magic acts they featured for a long time, but I haven't had the platform. Now I do, so strap in. I'm commenting on the first three episodes from memory, so if I miss someone it's not on purpose.
Piff the Magic Dragon is back, doing mostly the same act he did on Penn and Teller Fool Us. I absolutely love Piff. I love his humor and would probably watch his act even if there was no magic in it. His byplay with Heidi was hilarious, especially his line about "No, I can't find it, the will to live."
Wayne Hoffman had an interesting take on the Russian Roulette plot. I liked him on Phenomenon and I've seen him live before. He's a nice guy, but this particular piece didn't really do it for me. I might just be looking at it through magician eyes, but Russian Roulette effects aren't my cup of tea. They go over well for audiences though, and I have done one myself, but I just find it lacking something.
I met Derek Hughes years ago at Monday Night Magic. I don't remember anything about what he did. but I do remember he was talented and funny. I really liked his act here, the judges obviously did too, and I think he's gonna do pretty well.
I don't even know where to begin with Stevie Starr. I'm not even sure if I would classify him as a magic act or not, but I want to talk about him so he's here. Stevie is interesting, to say the least. I think I like his act, but there's only so much you can watch someone swallow and throw back up. The problem I have is that I'm not willing to suspend my disbelief enough to believe some of the things I've seen him do in the past. Like most of what is in this act I could plausibly see as real. Except the sugar. But things like solving a Rubik's cube with his stomach or unlocking a padlock with his stomach can only be a trick in my eyes. And that leads me down the path of, if he's using trickery to do that, what else is he using trickery for? It'll be interesting to see where he goes.
Xakary was interesting. I personally haven't seen a sawing in half that doesn't use a trained assistant, but it's probably just because I've been living under a rock. I liked it well enough, but I wonder if he got through more on the gimmick of cutting a judge in half than actual good magic. I'm interested to see where he goes from here and if he can keep it up.
Michael John was pretty good. At first I was kinda bored with the card trick since it seems that everybody is doing it nowadays, but the second part was pretty neat and unexpected. I feel like he's going to do well in the voting (depending on who he's up against) because he hits all the notes that people seem to like: young, good looking, in shape, sensitive. I feel like women are going to vote for him in droves.
Well, I think I hit everyone. Now that I'm caught up with the first three episodes, I'll try to get a magic recap done soonish after the new episodes air. I don't watch them live so it may be a couple days after. Bear with me.
- Andster
Piff the Magic Dragon is back, doing mostly the same act he did on Penn and Teller Fool Us. I absolutely love Piff. I love his humor and would probably watch his act even if there was no magic in it. His byplay with Heidi was hilarious, especially his line about "No, I can't find it, the will to live."
Wayne Hoffman had an interesting take on the Russian Roulette plot. I liked him on Phenomenon and I've seen him live before. He's a nice guy, but this particular piece didn't really do it for me. I might just be looking at it through magician eyes, but Russian Roulette effects aren't my cup of tea. They go over well for audiences though, and I have done one myself, but I just find it lacking something.
I met Derek Hughes years ago at Monday Night Magic. I don't remember anything about what he did. but I do remember he was talented and funny. I really liked his act here, the judges obviously did too, and I think he's gonna do pretty well.
I don't even know where to begin with Stevie Starr. I'm not even sure if I would classify him as a magic act or not, but I want to talk about him so he's here. Stevie is interesting, to say the least. I think I like his act, but there's only so much you can watch someone swallow and throw back up. The problem I have is that I'm not willing to suspend my disbelief enough to believe some of the things I've seen him do in the past. Like most of what is in this act I could plausibly see as real. Except the sugar. But things like solving a Rubik's cube with his stomach or unlocking a padlock with his stomach can only be a trick in my eyes. And that leads me down the path of, if he's using trickery to do that, what else is he using trickery for? It'll be interesting to see where he goes.
Xakary was interesting. I personally haven't seen a sawing in half that doesn't use a trained assistant, but it's probably just because I've been living under a rock. I liked it well enough, but I wonder if he got through more on the gimmick of cutting a judge in half than actual good magic. I'm interested to see where he goes from here and if he can keep it up.
Michael John was pretty good. At first I was kinda bored with the card trick since it seems that everybody is doing it nowadays, but the second part was pretty neat and unexpected. I feel like he's going to do well in the voting (depending on who he's up against) because he hits all the notes that people seem to like: young, good looking, in shape, sensitive. I feel like women are going to vote for him in droves.
Well, I think I hit everyone. Now that I'm caught up with the first three episodes, I'll try to get a magic recap done soonish after the new episodes air. I don't watch them live so it may be a couple days after. Bear with me.
- Andster
Friday, June 12, 2015
Smoothini
This has been bothering me for a while, and I really want to address it.
I can't recall all the details, but I remember somehow finding that Smoothini was going to get run over by a truck if he didn't raise a certain amount of money. I found that to be the dumbest thing I had ever heard, and I was rather vocal about that. Smooth left a rather detailed comment on my post, and I ignored it and hid from confrontation like a little bitch.
I forgot all about it until last year. I was watching America's Got Talent and saw him walk on stage, and instantly it came flooding back. I even told my wife, "Oh my God, I know him. I talked shit on him years ago, and I feel bad now."
Smooth is the prime example of what I said in the last post. I formed an opinion of him quickly and without all the facts and I was wrong. I knew nothing about him, his life, or his magic beyond the little blurb I found about his stunt. Seeing him on AGT was the first time I had ever seen him perform. It showed me he wasn't just some asshole, he actually had skills.
I still don't know that I like the idea of "If I don't raise $X, then I will Y" as a publicity stunt though. I may talk about that another day, but even though I didn't like one aspect of one performance of his, I shouldn't have trashed him like I did.
Bottom line is, Smoothini is doing much more in magic and in life than I probably ever will. He's out there performing and going on AGT, while I'm sitting here on my couch feeling guilty and writing about it. Even if he legitimately sucked, he's at least out there doing his thing. More than I can say about myself, and more than can be said about a lot of magicians.
I really enjoyed watching him on the show, and even thought about emailing him to apologize personally. Ultimately I decided that he probably didn't remember me or didn't care and an email would do more harm than good. Hopefully that was the right decision and I didn't fuck up again by airing laundry that would have been better done privately.
I don't know that he'll ever see this, and I don't know that he'll ever care, but Smooth, I was wrong and I apologize.
I feel better getting that off my chest. Enough of this self-referential stuff though. Let's get back into talking magic tomorrow.
- Andster
I can't recall all the details, but I remember somehow finding that Smoothini was going to get run over by a truck if he didn't raise a certain amount of money. I found that to be the dumbest thing I had ever heard, and I was rather vocal about that. Smooth left a rather detailed comment on my post, and I ignored it and hid from confrontation like a little bitch.
I forgot all about it until last year. I was watching America's Got Talent and saw him walk on stage, and instantly it came flooding back. I even told my wife, "Oh my God, I know him. I talked shit on him years ago, and I feel bad now."
Smooth is the prime example of what I said in the last post. I formed an opinion of him quickly and without all the facts and I was wrong. I knew nothing about him, his life, or his magic beyond the little blurb I found about his stunt. Seeing him on AGT was the first time I had ever seen him perform. It showed me he wasn't just some asshole, he actually had skills.
I still don't know that I like the idea of "If I don't raise $X, then I will Y" as a publicity stunt though. I may talk about that another day, but even though I didn't like one aspect of one performance of his, I shouldn't have trashed him like I did.
Bottom line is, Smoothini is doing much more in magic and in life than I probably ever will. He's out there performing and going on AGT, while I'm sitting here on my couch feeling guilty and writing about it. Even if he legitimately sucked, he's at least out there doing his thing. More than I can say about myself, and more than can be said about a lot of magicians.
I really enjoyed watching him on the show, and even thought about emailing him to apologize personally. Ultimately I decided that he probably didn't remember me or didn't care and an email would do more harm than good. Hopefully that was the right decision and I didn't fuck up again by airing laundry that would have been better done privately.
I don't know that he'll ever see this, and I don't know that he'll ever care, but Smooth, I was wrong and I apologize.
I feel better getting that off my chest. Enough of this self-referential stuff though. Let's get back into talking magic tomorrow.
- Andster
Thursday, June 11, 2015
Mea Culpa
There's something I need to get off my chest: I used to be a dick.
I mean, I still kinda am, but I also think I've mellowed out a bit, I'm not trying to make excuses because I know I said some awful shit, but I am trying to give some context to it.
When I first started blogging, I was in my late teens/early twenties. I was more interested in drinking beer and (unsuccessfully) chasing women than I was in thinking about the effects of my words. I can't say I necessarily stand by everything I said, but I also don't necessarily apologize for all of it. Anything I said I meant, at least at the time.
I have always been a passionate person, quick to form an opinion and not necessarily the right one. However as time passes and I get older, these opinions may change. Maybe not, though. I'm still not a big fan of Criss Angel, though I probably don't have the venomous hatred that I used to.
Let's be honest, we've all done or said or felt really dumb things in the past. Hell, I used to think Hanson was the shit when they first came out. I was wrong about that, I can be wrong about other things too. I do know that if you give a hotheaded seventeen year old free reign of a platform with a worldwide audience, things aren't always going to go well.
I know I said a lot of shit and made some enemies. I also know I'm a gigantic pussy and wouldn't have said a tenth of that to people's faces. In person I'd probably say, "You know, it's not really my style but I can see where you put in the work and other people enjoy it." Online it was more, "Fuck you, you suck, douche-bag, go kill yourself." Which, again, at seventeen I thought was funny and I was hot shit. Now that I'm knocking on the door of thirty, I see that it isn't funny and remembering doing that makes me cringe.
As I remember things that make me cringe or I've changed opinion on, I'm going to discuss them here. I would also like to extend an offer to anyone who may read this: If I have said something about you, or you remember me saying something about someone else, email me with the highlights to refresh my memory and I'll revisit it here. Give me the chance to say "Hey, things changed, I was wrong."
Normally I hate when people apologize for things they've said and I know it's hypocritical for me to do so. Just remember, I have no advertisers or sponsors to appease. This isn't someone trying to save his job. I'm just a guy who, after having a lot of time to reflect, realizes he said some douchey, shitty things when he was young and is genuinely embarrassed and sorry for that.
- Andster
Wednesday, June 10, 2015
Mission Statement
For the moment, andster.com is no more. We'll see what the future holds, but for now it doesn't look good. With a new blog and a new address comes a time to refocus. One regret that I have about the old blog is that too often it got bogged (blogged?) down with personal crap and lost its focus as a magic blog.
Above all else, this is a blog about magic. It will contain my thoughts about magic in general, product reviews, magic on TV, and stories from my personal magic life.
What I'm going to try really hard not to do is write about family, friends, relationships, jobs, what I did today, etc. unless it's somehow tied in to magic. I used the last blog as kind of a brain dump which was good for me, but not good for the blog. You come here to read about magic, not how tired I am. I might do a personal blog or journal or something in the future, but I sincerely doubt there's enough interest to actually publish it.
I'm also going to make a concerted effort to not write about what I'm going to do (yes, I realize the irony here), but what I have already done. Too often last time I would find myself writing that I plan to do A, B, and C and then never following through with it. I think a big part of that was that I wouldn't update for weeks on end, then feel compelled to just write something to have content. These first few posts are going to come sporadically, but when things settle down I'd like to get onto a regular posting schedule. Not sure what that's going to be, but that's my intention.
I've been really torn about keeping the Andster persona. When I first started blogging, I was pretty adamant about staying anonymous. I still value my privacy so I don't think I'm quite ready to "come out" just yet, but I also know there's enough information about me out there that would make it pretty easy to get doxxed. That's my own fault, I know. Andster kinda bled into my personal life and things commingled and now here we are. I'd still rather not broadcast all that information through here, but I figure if you want to know badly enough, email me and ask.
I think that's all I've got for now. Check back tomorrow for more. Now, I'm going to enjoy my birthday.
- Andster
Tuesday, June 9, 2015
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