With much gratitude to Mike Jacobson and Jamy Ian Swiss.

I could go on and on about about it. But most know what I mean allready. These two kept my sanity this month in a mostly pole smoking magi world. Mike did much better (and proved a few simple points). And Jamy is a rare alpha in magic land we should be thankful for. We should take it to the bank, Jamy did a very good, informative, opinionated yet worthy of the points given podcast. Would anyone actually debate Mike’s simple yet supreme act to Shawn’s? Probably. Shame really.

Three cheers.

Understand it’s nature and it will give anyone rewards. Yay!

My main computer died a small death. It will be resurected soon like zombie Jesus, because it’s true these things really do happen.

Till then I have my trusty phone and laptop, but will probably post a little less for these reasons. I have so many projects and trips in the near future things will be a little slower I feel.

Fear not my friends we are doing well over here, other than a power supply that is with Tesla at the great gig in the sky.

Did you know at the beginning of that song it says “if you can hear this whisper you are dying”? Creepy stuff.

Much thanks to Trigger for his great posts also. I appreciate your time and effort fully.

Also a shout to Cursed. Our convo the other day was really cool. Hopefully we’ll roll in August. I’ll still try and upload more videos on the project too. To those 8ish I hope some of those items give you as much pleasure as they do for me. You guys rock the house as David Copperfield said.

Hey magish peeps!

Check out the latest issue of MAGIC magazine (February) for a new trick from Roy Walton. Apparently it is a self-worker. Roy is great at coming up with self-working beauties. But – I do enjoy his sleight-of-hand efforts even more. Hopefully some more of them will see print soon (Recently ‘Penumbra’ magazine had some great examples of this. As did some of the GENII magazines of 5/6 years ago) Still – it will be worth checking out!

Also – another genius of the pasteboards (David Britland) has a card column starting in the February issue of GENII magazine. He is brilliant and if you spend a few hours on his blog you will agree…

I can’t wait to get mine! Only 7 dollars is a steal for all the information packed in this 36 minute download. Thanks T11! We love you! Who needs books these days anyway? Why the hell does he have so many? So he can teach us! Yay!

Your point is ruined by your poor spelling and grammar. Don’t you have access to a spell checker?

You are so right Cardman. Ellen was so visibly disappointed in Shawn’s act, and I swear I heard booing from the audience.

Your comments are all spot-on. Can’t wait to see you perform. With all that knowledge you must have mad skills in both technique and showmanship.

Obviously Ellen will never have Shawn back. But you should definitely send in a demo tape! Show her what a real Cardman can do!

God speed!

Thank you for your continued support.

Okay – I want to talk about something which was touched on earlier. Ecological Magic. That is how Phil Goldstein described it in ‘FOCUS’. He is the only magician I have seen who has briefly written about this simple idea. The idea being that we can use clever routining to clean up effects – or to set
up effects…

Here are a couple of examples. This is way of approaching method which suggests that this is an area that could be explored further.

1) On the ‘LVMI – Live! 2003’ DVD there is an interesting routine by Daryl. He has a trick where 4 randomly touched cards turn out to be the 4 aces. At the end of that effect he is left ‘unclean’. However – he is in the exact situation required to do Alex Elmsley’s ‘1002nd’ aces effect. So – he does that effect next which leaves him with a ‘clean’ deck which can be either examined or used for other effects. Elegant routining is used here to clean up one effect and to set up for another.

2) Here is a great idea from Johnny Thompson. He performs Alex Elmsley’s BRAINWEAVE effect (probably the strongest THINK-A-CARD trick possible with an ordinary deck). However – there is a problem at the end of that effect. You are left with a mixed deck of cards (some face up and some face down). What Johnny does is give the cards a face up / face down riffle shuffle. He then times the spectator in how long it takes him to straighten out all the face up cards. Johnny then demonstrates how quickly he can do it. He then goes into a TRIUMPH effect… A wonderful solution which I treasure just as much as the original effect by Elmsley…

Now this is something that Phil Goldstein demonstrates in some of the effects in ‘FOCUS’. Also – Roy Walton often stuctures his effects in this way. Two nice examples are TIT FOR TAT (page 90 – VOL.1 of THE COMPLETE WALTON) and Open Acrobatics (July 2004, page 86 – GENII MAGAZINE).

Now – I find it interesting that these are the only examples I have come across of this sort of thinking. I am a big believer in trying to look to unexplored areas when seeking new creative challenges. It stands to reason that treasure still buried in such fields, may not require much digging to uncover.

I have found this avenue to be fun. It means that I have a reason for taking an interest in literally every card trick I come across. Even if it is one that I am not a big fan of – it could still be of use for setting up (or cleaning up) effects that I am fond of…
This level of analysis is important since so much has being discovered in card magic over the past thirty years. An absolutely humongous amount of creativity, publications, DVDs, videos, conventions and time has been spent exploring card tricks in the past few decades. So – it seems likely that the more conventional avenues have already been over-explored…

So – let’s hit the books and get routining. Which effects start ‘clean’ and end ‘dirty’ – and which effects need a ‘set-up’ and end clean? And – more importantly – which combinations help solve the problems latent in both? Can we discover combinations in which the overall routine is stronger that the sum of it’s parts?

This is a topic I have posted on before on one of the magic forums. I just wanted to share it here since it runs nicely with what cardman mentioned earlier .

Tue-Woke up too early.  While in the shower I thought I was in a sinking submarine.  Sang we all live in a sinking submarine.  Next time remember to take the plug in the tub out.

Wed-While at the grocery store the lady asked me “Will that be all?”  I insisted on seeing a manager.  I told the manager this is the item I don’t want, I want everything else in the whole goddamn store.  The Snickers bar was free, and was asked to never come back.

Thu-Woke up, got out of bed, dragged a comb across my head.  Did some magic for a MILF.  She asked if I did shows for kids.  In response I said it wasn’t my gig.  She said “would you for sexual favors?”.  I responded I don’t have any personal saviors and began to claw at the air and hiss.

Fri-******* wore that hilarious outfit to the club again.  I shot a dart in his boob.  

Sat-Got kicked out of the mall because they keep thinking I’m gambling or busking.  Whenever any so called “authority” escorts you out, make sure your legs go limp.  Just like on TV.  Cussing loudly with no actual conclusion is fun too.

Sun-While eating Alphabet Soup today I found after the first bite “pneumonoultramicroscopicsilicavolcanoconiosis” was spelled in a line.  I knew I should have stopped sniffing ash.

Mon-Went to another club. Some hard ass jock asked me if I was gay because I was wearing a Hello Kitty backpack.  I said “No I’m not but I have a relative who is, if your looking!”.  My girl came looking for her chapstick in her backpack.  Timing can be a bitch there eh Sparky.  Only gay curious guys would ask another guy such questions…..yet those type usually look like they want to kill you after they ask.