Gardyloo #24
/"Card effects are the poetry of conjuring."
-- J.N. Hofzinser
In a matter of a week or so, two services calling themselves "The Netflix of Magic" launched (Ellusionist's Magic Stream and Steve Valentine's Magic On the Go). And that's on top of Reel Magic, which has been calling itself the Netflix of magic for a while now.
This is very confusing. To keep things clear, please only use these new designations when advertising your services.
Reel Magic - The CBS All Access of Magic
Steve Valentine's Magic On the Go - The Pley.com (the Netflix of Toys, but for videos and not toys) of Magic
Ellusionist's Magic Stream - The GayPornZone.net of Magic
In my failed vaudeville career I was known as the "King of Polaroid Zip Printer Magic." This is a product I've mentioned a few times on this site. Most notably in the tricks, The Look of Love and a presentation I offered for Tomas Blomberg's Konami Code.
If you own one of these printers, you may be interested as I am by this idea of JM Beckers where he hollowed out a book to put the printer in. As he writes:
I was wondering where I could hide the zip printer when not having a jacket or pocket. In some of my performances I use a notebook with fake statistics (strong bias towards strange coincidences of course) done by myself as a scientist with my participants. I thought that this book could be left in plain sight and hide the zip printer. I tried with a book that lay around and cut out the necessary parts. The printing is possible without problem with the printer still in place (I added two poker cards to help the printed image slide out). Sound is a little lower too and one would have the additional benefit that the book can be used as a transport protection.
I like this idea.
Your wallet could be on top of the book and you could grab both the photo and the wallet at the same time (to then load the photo in the wallet).
The ultimate idea would be to build the printer into a photo album itself, and then have it set up somehow so it would print the photo and it would be delivered (through some kind of slit) onto a page into one of the little display pockets.
One thing I did with my printer, which I don't know if I ever mentioned, is I put a little velcro on it, and stuck the opposite pieces of the velcro on the underside of the tables in my apartment, so I could just stick it there when I wanted to perform. Then I could sit down at the table with apparently nothing in hand and pull off all sorts of tricks.
Rubik's Cube magic has become very popular. But just a quick heads-up: Rubik's Cubes themselves aren't very popular. You may want to mention why you're busting out this dated object (as many people view it). Yes, people recognize what it is, but it's not exactly an "everyday" object. So a little justification wouldn't hurt. Or just an acknowledgement that this isn't something you see much these days. Again, we think it's sort of common because it's become common in magic, but to the general public you might as well be doing a trick with an Etch-A-Sketch, a Teddy Ruxpin, or Gay Related Immune Deficiency.
