Dustings of Woofle #18
/Does anyone know if Houdini came back during the seance last night to prove the existence of life after death? I checked the news but didn’t see anything about it.
I have a folder on my computer called TATITS (not to be confused with the folder on my computer called FAT TITS).
TATITS = There’s A Trick In There Somewhere
I have 1000s of pictures, articles, concepts, and quotes sitting around in the folder. I will start posting them from time to time. Below is a recent image I saved.
The sad thing about magic is we have 1000 tricks that tell the story of some boring encounter between a magician and a gambler, and not a single one that tells this story:
SansMinds is releasing Will Tsai’s Visual Matrix aka The Rose Act which he performed on America’s Got Talent.
It’s $300. And if you could buy it and actually perform the effect live in front of real people, that price would be a steal.
But something about the ad copy for this effect suggests maybe we should temper our expectations. Specifically this part:
Who is this for?
If you are serious about the art of magic.
If you are serious about owning a piece of history.
If you are serious about learning all the thinking that goes into the Rose Act.
If you are serious about using this act to learn and inspire yourself to create a masterpiece for yourself.
Notice it doesn’t say, “Who is this for? Someone who wants to perform the effect.” It’s just for someone who wants to own a piece of history or “think” or be “inspired” by the act.
What if I’m someone who wants to perform the trick? Shouldn’t I be included in the the group the trick is for? I’m guessing the answer is “fuuuuuccckkk no,” because there’s no way the trick holds up in person. There’s a reason they crammed Tyra Banks 100 feet away in the wings of the theater rather than sitting table-side to witness the magic.
SansMinds has some stuff that looks great, but with rare exceptions, almost everything they’ve put out was made to be performed on magic demos, not in real life. It’s very strange. I’m not 100% sure why they exist as a magic company selling to magicians.
It would be as if one of those companies who stages food for commercial shoots—and uses motor oil for pancake syrup and Elmer’s glue for milk because it looks better on camera—said, “You know what? We should open a restaurant!”
Honestly, I had never seen that trick from AGT before. Other than the odd episode of the Carbonaro Effect, I don’t think I’ve seen any magic on TV in the past couple of years. Not due to a lack of interest, necessarily. It’s just because I spend so many hours a week writing/performing/thinking about magic, that it’s not the thing I want to relax with at the end of the day.
I’m fairly out of the loop on any magic that doesn’t happen on my couch or over lunch.
For instance, I had never heard of this magician named Reza, who is famous enough to have his own theater show in Branson, Missouri.
If you’re not familiar with Reza, he looks like if Criss Angel was cast as the lead in the stage version of Dallas Buyer’s Club.
I stumbled across him a couple weeks ago and was watching some of his videos on youtube and he did one of the most amazing things I’ve ever seen in this video.
He made a black guy not react to a magic trick.
This is incredible. If I showed you this and asked you what he was watching…
You’d say, “I don’t know… a leaf falling into a puddle?” That can’t possibly be a black guy—magic’s greatest spectator—seeing a magic trick. But it is.
I need to inform Aziz.
That’s our friend Alice—who got her start posing for the JAMM—in her latest Playboy feature.
I like to acknowledge her from time to time on the site because I feel bad for her. It must totally eat her up inside that she peaked so early. It’s sad. Can you imagine the constant pressure she feels trying to get back to the point where she had achieved the portrayal of ultimate eroticism: Dan Harlan on the cover of Magic with Rubberbands, Volume 1?
