Yes it got made!

My fucking idea has turned into reality:

More than two years ago I posted this: http://weeklymagicfailure.blogspot.de/2011/07/on-creativity.html

And now there is this:



Now I want credits, royalties and all the other bullshit that belongs to me. Me, me, me alone. Of course they done it all wrong. A facedown version would have been much more subtle. But hey...

Honest Question!

Let's say you are a magic publisher. You publish books, DVDs and tricks. A creator gives you new material to sell. How should the revenue be split?

50/50, 40/60, 30/70 or 20/80? Who should get the most? The publisher who offers the framework for selling, and deals with the shipping, handling and advertisment, or the creator who actually came up with the idea that is being sold?

Tell me!

Stop, just stop alright!

Dear magicians, could you please, for the love of whatever is holy to you, stop posting every single magic show you did. Seriously!

I know that you are proud that you do so many shows. I know that you think that a social network is exactly for posting such shit. Well it is. But it also tells something about you. That you are so desperate to get praise for your work that your inferiority complex shines through. And that is a sign of a social loser.

So stop! Just stop!

Hey Boys and Girls

Do you want to come across as socially awkward? As someone who has trouble figuring out the line between what is okay to do and what is not okay to do?

If so, become a magician.... no wait, even better... become a Street Magician. I'm not talking about busking, which is time honored and requires you to be alert and to manage people. No! I mean Street Magic, the kind that David Blaine made popular.

Strangers on the street love nothing more than being stopped by a young person with a deck of cards in his/her hand. "Hey, I'm a magician, and would you love to see a card trick? If you don't I will either run amok or commit suicide. Whatever!"

So the stranger, who is just a friend you haven't met, thinks long and hard about the things you're about to do and figures that a card trick is probably the least horrific scenario. Probably!

Card tricks it is then. You do some crazy flourishes... of course not as fast at in those YouTube videos you watched, and then ask somebody to pick a card. After that graceful display of skill the stranger surely thinks that you are not capable of finding the card, after it has been lost in the deck. So you do your perfect pass and pull out the two jokers from the pocket. "Look three jokers. One on my right, one on my left and one in the middle." Those two jokers then trap the selection in between then. "OMG you must be a wizard." is the what the stranger says after careful consideration as what to say. The stranger's initial thoughts on how to respond where: "So what? You found my card. My uncle Jeff does a similar trick with 21 cards" and "What a pitiful little creature attempting to be one of the grown ups, I should say something that doesn't offend the magician, and something that can be understood as something positive." So "OMG you must be a wizard" is the final response.

If you are getting that particular dismissive reaction you are on your way. Optional choices would be: "That was wonderful!", "I have no idea how you did that", "You should be on TV", "Not bad for your age", "I wish I was that good with my hands", "No fucking way man"

But if you really want to know if your magic is good: Give them a show and ask for money. Busking tells you where you are.

Extra points if one of your tricks involves an iPhone.

Filler Material!

Let's be honest! Every single magic show needs filler material. You simply cannot have just great pieces, as in that case nothing would stand out. So technically a filler would be a framing to make the center piece stand out. And also to fill the time, hence the name.

So it is a good thing then that so much material that is sold nowadays is just filler. Marcus Eddie's uTurn comes to mind. A great looking trick, but not show stopper. But a perfect prologue routine to get into the Linking Fingerrings, which is a show stopper. Especially in the awesome Harry Anderson version of the trick. (Yes, check out "Wise Guy", it is that good)

But it's also a bad thing that so much material that is sold nowadays is just filler. Marcus Eddie's uTurn comes to mind. A great looking trick, but not a show stopper. This is the sort of stuff that should be published in conjunction with a great follow-up routine like the Linking Fingerrings. Especially in the awesome Harry Anderson version of the trick. (Yes, check out "Wise Guy", it is that good)