Nothing new on the making side. On the watching side though I finally saw Inglorious Basterds last weekend. I quite enjoyed it, particularly that, given the setting, the usual pop culture chatter was restricted to early German cinema. And thankfully, Mike Meyers managed to restrain himself from hamming it up.
magic (and now magick too)
I’m still exploring my renewed interest in magic and determining if I’m more interesting in actually performing tricks or just academic study. Whichever direction, I’m still trying to pick up little tricks. On that front my interest is still more in looking for tricks I can perform with little to no prep and as few props as possible.
The latest issue of Genii appeared in my mailbox a few days back and I’ve been really digging it. The majority is devoted to a tribute to an old magic ‘zine called The Jinx that ran from the 20s through the 30s. Hadn’t ever heard of it before, but judging from the content put together for this new “issue”, it’s now high on my list of items to track down.
As for the other field of magic (the supernatural kind, which I’ll go ahead and refer to as magick to keep them straight), I’ve started looking back into that again recently. What started as a bit of research for a story I’m working on is slowly becoming a full fledged pursuit. I’ve just recently worked my way through Promethea as a way to get a bit of an overview of the topic (an idea spawned from attending Damien Williams’ DragonCon presentation [video may be online by now, but I don't have the link]). I would appreciate any recommendations on another good primer/magick 101 tome. From some seeking I’ve done, I’m considering Crowley’s Magick Without Tears as a possible next step, but know that some of you probably have a ready answer.
technology
The Monday after MMS went live on the iPhone, I contacted AT&T tech support (via online chat) to see why I still couldn’t send messages. After having me reset my phone and various other pointless time wasters (if I have to turn off WiFi to send a message, your system is broken), I was told their system is still overloaded and I should try again the next day. Now, it’s a week later and I still can’t send.
I’ve seen numerous reports online from people like me who once had an original iPhone and still had a block somewhere on their account. I mentioned that to the unhelpful tech support person, but he said my account looked fine which is clearly not the case. Despite having been with AT&T Wireless since it was originally AT&T Wireless (pre-sale to Cingular and back when getting a pre-paid phone got you an 800 number instead of a local one), given the questionable network and service, if Apple ditches them next year, I’m going to leave too.
life
is life. Which is to say a mix of work and not-work.
writing
I’ve been working recently with my beloved fianceé Rosie on a story she came up with via a dream and the mood of a Bruce Springsteen song. She plotted it out and now I’m in the process of constructing it. Out of all the stories I’ve been working on (read: researching *cough*dicking around*cough*) lately, this is the first one that’s gotten me excited enough to actually start spilling ink. Indeed, it’s flowing like it used to back when I considered myself more a writer than a filmmaker. It certainly helps too that I’ve just finished off Promethea. Alan Moore’s reverence for language really helped me rediscover my own love of words and my trust in them.
Also, given that my current creative focus is more on writing than making movies, I’m switching out “movies” for “writing” in the sub-head/focus of this site. No that doesn’t mean much of anything to anyone, but just a bit of notation for myself. Any future blogging about movies will be done via the Wacko Productions site (and then reposted here, either in full or in the daily digest).
The fiancée’s parents are currently off on vacation, leaving us to house and dog sit. They wanted to bring me back something and Rosie remembered a place called Broadway Magic is near them. After looking over the site I suggested they could buy me a set of cups and balls. My interest in magic these days isn’t so much in putting on a show as in just learning a few bits I can do impromtu and studying the history and theory behind illusions. So cups and balls are a bit outside of the tricks I’d probably buy. However it really is one of the oldest tricks in the book (heck, it predates the book). In that regard it’s right up my alley. Plus, in the hands of a master, it’s truly astonishing.
I’ve been neglectful in posting. A few weeks back Rosie and I took a trip down to Daytona Beach and I keep meaning to write up a summary, but have been too lazy. Short version: we had a marvelous relaxing time. One day while driving along we spotted the Daytona Magic shop and visited it the next day. It was everything I could imagine a magic shop being. We were shown several tricks by the Amazing Anthony (I am horrible with names, but I think that was his) and I ended up buying the Flying Cards.
The other notable event from down there happened our first full day there. While tooling around the Daytona Flea & Farmers Market, we stopped at Amy’s Custom Jewelry so Rosie could examine the loose stones. As her favorite stone is alexandrite, when she spotted a stone with some color change she had to find out what it was. It turned out to be andalusite instead and we bought two of them. More on that later.
The one other big event I should have blogged about since the trip is the 48 Hour Film Project that I shot this past weekend. It was shot all greenscreen, which was quite a challenge. Fortunately I didn’t have to work on the editing or effects at all. I heard something second hand about our team being disqualified for not completing it though the last I had heard before that we had gotten it turned in on time. When it pops up online I’ll post a link.
Oh and one more thing, yesterday was Rosie’s birthday and I asked her to be my wife. A little while after coming back from Florida, I took one of the stones we bought to my dad and had it set in a ring. Yesterday, thinking she was getting something else, I surprised her with it and, after she realized I was serious, she said yes. To answer the most common question, no, we haven’t set a date. It still feels a little unreal to say I’m engaged, but I am.
I don’t remember how my interest in magic started. Maybe David Copperfield sparked it or maybe it just began because of the Eddie’s Trick Shop across the street from where my grandmother worked (this was back when they had a store on Memorial Drive in Stone Mountain). To explain why I first went there requires a quick trip back to kindergarten.
For Halloween that year, my grandmother and great grandmother made me a clown costume. It happened to be red, white, and blue so the next summer, at the age of seven, I walked with a group of clowns from my grandparents’ church in the Stone Mountain Fourth of July parade. I enjoyed the experience so much that I decided to continue. (I ended up walking in that parade as a clown for 20 more years, but that’s a story for another day.)
So I wound up at the aforementioned Eddie’s Trick Shop to take clown lessons. Along with those I took magic lessons, learning such standards as Cup and Balls, Cut and Restored Rope, and tricks with foam rabbits. I never found a shop quite as convenient when I lived in Colorado so I never really found my way into the magic community the way so many did. I do vaguely remember a magic and joke store in some mall out there that may have been called Zeezo’s Zeno’s Magic Castle, but I can’t find anything about it so that name may be completely cooked up by my subconscious.
Whenever I came back to Georgia to visit though I’d make at least one trip to Eddie’s. I always left a little disappointed that I couldn’t afford the big stuff on the top shelves that looked just like tricks I’d seen on TV or read about in books. Instead I’d walk out with a jewel paddle, a money clip, or some other small illusion.
Eventually I discovered Houdini and escape tricks. Finally I had found something that could be big without costing a lot (especially as my father already had a set of lockpicks that he let me play with). I got to be pretty good at picking padlocks. In fact, years later when my mom lost the key to a fireproof safe she had (with the instructions for getting replacement keys inside), I created a set of lockpicks from a hanger and picked open the safe.
My interest in magic continued through elementary and junior high. In high school though filmmaking became my primary passion and magic faded into just another childhood memory. Every time I moved since then I’d rediscover my old magic tricks and briefly consider keeping them close to hand. Other items would take precedence though and that box would wind up in an attic or back of a closet.
Just over a year ago though a mention of the site theory11 popped up on some blog I read. I was intrigued and quickly discovered that magic and magicians were all over the web. Since then I’ve subscribed to Genii magazine, added several sites to my Google Reader list (primarily iTricks and The Magic Newswire), and bought a few items from theory11 and Ellusionist.
I don’t plan to become a professional or even a performing amateur, just the guy that might do a trick or two at a party. Most of what I have been trying to learn are just card tricks and other illusions that don’t require any sort of gimmicks or large props. My girlfriend, Rosie, has been wonderfully supportive of my interest despite how I freaked her out one time with Control.
I often wonder what might have been, if I’d been a bit more driven as a kid. Could I have actually become a true magician? In a certain sense though, I never did leave magic. I just created illusions with a camera instead of a deck of cards.