Gardyloo #78
/Once early December rolls around, I hope you will take a moment and remember the “day that will live in infamy.” No, I’m not talking about Pearl Harbor. I’m talking about another senseless tragedy.
That’s right, you can stop your clamoring, your prayers have been answered. Our old pal, Brooksy, is having a magic lecture.
Here is the facebook event post.
I know you’re thinking, Oh, what’s your angle here, Andy? Are you going to say Steve won’t be teaching his Bill in Lemon trick because he keeps eating the lemon?
How dare you. I’d never say that.
Were you going to say that this line from the ad:
WARNING: Due to the hands on nature of this workshop seating will be limited to the first 20 PAID reservations.
Should really say this:
WARNING: Due to the hands on nature of this workshop bring a deck of cards that you don’t mind getting chicken grease on.
No! Knock it off. I won’t tolerate such disrespect.
All I want to say is that I hope Steve’s lecture/workshop goes well. And if there are any Jerx supporters in the area of Haines House of Cards (Norwood, OH) who would like to go, I will reimburse you the cost of your ticket. You just have to send me a pic or some other proof you went. I’m completely serious. I want to pack the place for Steve.
We got some big news from our brothers at Vanishing Inc. this week.
I was hoping we would finally get the news we all know is coming, that Josh is carrying Andi’s baby. Sadly, that wasn’t the big announcement. This was:
“Effective immediately, Joshua Jay and Andi Gladwin (on behalf of Vanishing Inc) are pleased to announce the purchase of Art of Magic and all its content from Dan and Dave Buck.”
Okay, that’s a little less #exciting than I had hoped, but whatever. They’re two quality organizations and I think they’ll mesh well together. It’s a good acquisition for them.
Speaking of…, if Vanishing Inc. or anyone else is interested, The Jerx is also for sale. $84 OBO.
In the fall issue of the X-Comm newsletter, I mentioned Michael Weber’s Charge Card effect and its use with Marc Kerstein’s ChargeMe app.
Well, Marc informs me that ChargeMe is no longer available in the app store because Apple didn’t like an app that mimicked the battery charging aspect of the iPhone. So if you were going to get the Charge Card to use with this app, then don’t.
Marc may try and come up with some workaround for the app that Apple will approve of, or we may bury it somewhere in the Jerx app. I’ll keep you updated if either of those things come to pass.
In response to Monday’s Witch’s House post, reader Daniel Lee suggested doing a version of the Trapdoor Card with a Stranger Things style of presentation. So one side of the page would have a relatively normal, colorful drawing, and the other would have some ominous image in black and grey representing the “Upside Down.”
I think it’s a good idea when presenting the effect to someone who is familiar with the show. I haven’t done it myself, and I don’t see myself saying, “Here’s a trick about Stranger Things!” But I might perform it and approach it more obliquely. “Have you seen Stranger Things? My girlfriend’s sister teaches elementary school and apparently they have a kid who acts out in the same way as the kid on that show. Like he freezes up and when he snaps out of it he implies he’s seen some other plane of existence. But not in those words. At first I thought she was saying that he’s imitating the kid on the show, but then she told me it was something he did before the show even aired. She gave me this picture he drew….”
I would probably experiment with not showing the other side of the paper first. That way, when the other side is revealed, their first instinct will be, “Oh, well you just turned it around or something.” Then it will dawn on them that I couldn’t have just turned it around since they were holding it the whole time.
More Friends of the Jerx with some notable accomplishments in the sphere of magic for the general public’s consumption…
First, famously non-pregnant magician, Joshua Jay, is going to be on the Tonight Show tonight, October 26th. Set your DVRs. Or, if you don’t have anything better to do, watch it live.
But here’s the thing, if your life is at the point where you feel you don’t have anything better to do than stay home and watch Joshua Jay on the Tonight Show on a Friday night, then you actually do have something better to do. It’s called suicide.
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Last week I mentioned Justin Flom’s new book for kids who are interested in magic. At the other end of the age spectrum, we have Allan Kronzek’s new book, Grandpa Magic. This is a book for people who want to use magic to entertain their grandchildren. What a good idea. I read the preview on Amazon. It looks like it will be a pretty fun read.
If nothing else, the cover and illustrations are so much more pleasant than Allan’s previous magic book for the public.
Who is the monster that designed this hideous book cover for young magicians? Has he never met a kid? Or does he just hate them?
Dover always had the bleakest covers. If you saw this book from across the room and couldn’t read the title you’d say, “What’s that? A book on what to do with your loved one’s possessions after watching them die from gallbladder cancer?” No, no. This is a book about magic aimed at young people.
How does Dover choose the color palette for their magic books? Do they just mix a giant vat of shit and vomit together until they capture the color of chronic depression?
Chris Grace in an actor and comedian who I haven’t met before, but I have seen him do improv in NYC a few years ago, as we have a couple of friends in common. He stumbled on this site recently and I’m glad he did because he makes me laugh. He sent along the video below which has him re-dubbing the demo for Cameron Francis’ trick, Captivated. As I mentioned on Wednesday, I hate the brand of patter Cameron uses in that trick. Here Chris ratchets the stupidity of that type of patter up profoundly and it’s actually much more entertaining, in my opinion.
My friend Stasia, who is the illustrator on the forthcoming book (as well as JV1), has been doing “Inktober” on her Instagram. This is a drawing challenge where people draw one ink picture per day in the month of October based on some prompt words. Here are some of my favorites…