Kinda sad!

There are two shelves in the background of the WPR. One is full of DVD's and the other one books. Really? Does anybody of the regular cast of the WPR read at all? This has got to be a decorative purpose only?

You almost got me Brian Happie Foshee!

 Almost, but I don't fall for it. No way!

Brian has this cute little Kickstarter project. A busking table that is the ULTIMATE close-up and busking table, case, and stand. For a second I though he was being serious with this ugly, ugly piece of homemade prop slapped together with moderate skill, modified from a hardware store purchase. But then I read the description and it became obvious that this is an elaborate hoax on the magic community.

He writes: "I have found 3 kinds of tables and cases available on the market." Oh, I'm interested. What is the first kind of table: "#1: Unprofessional: Homemade with moderate skill, modified from a hardware store purchase, or the worst... a case for poker chips that has been dumped out.... ugg. Aren't you charging hundreds per hour? Do you really want to walk into that wedding, corporate gig, or even bar-mitzva with a case that a 13 year old says, 'Hey, I have one of those at home!'"

It gets better the third kind of table shows the utter brilliance of the scheme. "#3: Fantastic (looking). Yeah it's got a ton of fancy containers that pop out when you open it... then what? You can't carry it table to table and open it for all to see the contents! Where do you put it... on the ground? What do you perform on?" Great, he really suggests to table hop with a table. Carrying a table as you do serious table hopping is the greatest way to come across as totally unprofessional or at least not having done any table hopping at all.

So his solution solves all of it. You can carry his table from table to table. You can get to your props, as you get rid of some props first, which allows you to open the case, then place the previous props in first, taking out the next, then closing the case and continuing. This wouldn't totally destroy your pacing.

Of course it would and Brian know this. And he has decided to play a trick on all of us but even asking for 10.000 dollars. And his goal has been met.

Brian you are a genius. I applaud you! But I ain't falling for that. I gots the brains and I can sees it comin' from a mile away!

Btw: I have used two types of busking tables. This first one has an X base. You can see on the bottom right of the picture. The table stands really solid, the wind won't blow it away. But you have plenty of space to work with. And you can strap the top to your back and the base you can fold and carry like a grocery bag. It was quite practical.

The other type is the one I use right now. The base is three legs crossing in the middle so it is almost like a tripod. On top rests the foldable plate, which is secured to the legs with magnets. It has a servante which serves the openly displayed purpose of holding props. So the secret nature of possibly ditching props gets obscured.



As for holding props you can clearly see that in each case I wear bags. I always have my props with me. It's my bread and butter. No way I would leave my props in a case.

Something to look out for

Whenever a product is endorsed by the following people it tends to be shit:

Eric Jones
Shin Lim
Chris Wiehl

Feel free to add more!

Unsocial Interaction 101

I visited a magic club last night. It was a sad, sad experience. A member drove me there and I sat down. Other members arrived. And talking started. No magic. Just talking about all sorts of things dealing with the club itself. I was okay with that. During that talking a magician arrived that I knew. I nodded towards him and he sat next to me.

Further talking and still no magic.

After half an hour of me being silent and just drinking beer I leaned towards the magician I knew. I asked him when the magic starts. He told me that it is his first time here. I said it was my first time here at the club too. Then more talking and so on.

After an hour or so I got vocal, I couldn't bear it much longer. "I know I'm a guest, but when does the magic part of the magic club start?"

This led to a rather fruitless and poor discussion of the TT.

Oh well. Some had to go. Only 5 members were left. That new guy, the one who drove me, a young card obsessed magician, a senior member and me. It was then that we slowly got into some magic talking. It was about card magic but it was good.

As everyone got up to leave I asked the new magician if anyone had even asked him his name. He smiled at me and shook his head. So this new magician, that nobody knows of comes to the club and nobody even acknowledged his existence. Seems to be a common theme in magic. We both had a laugh at this social train wreck, but seriously this must not be.

Finally done!

I moved, it took a while now I'm back. Living in a house that is from 1566.

So what happend magicwise? There was this debacle over at Penguin. Bob Cassidy was doing one of those live lectures and did way less than what was advertised. The comment section of the page gives us golden quotes such as this

"Whilst I genuinely appreciate Bob Cassidy's contribution to mentalism, I feel aggrieved at paying for 4 hours of wild-eyed semi-inebriated rambling, regurgitated product and punctuated with toilet breaks."

"What a car wreck !"

"Bob Cassidy is a huge influence on Mentalism today but seeing him drunk was a heart breaker."

Also, what the fuck is Octopalm?