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
Friday, July 24, 2015
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
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