By Mark
Tuesday, May 18, 2010
Thursday, May 6, 2010
Sunday, May 2, 2010
What you'll see in the House...
Here's some of the things I observed while jamming and performing with the other mages in the House this past weekend...
Nate uses elaborate scientific hooks to catch his spectators. He's a polite neo-alchemist, nefarious in his plots, mastermindful of his methods. He likes to re-locate you- invite you to his lab to view his research, and share with you his miraculous findings. The piece I saw him do invovled a deck of playing cards, two wine flasks, a red lab silk, and two test subjects. He divided the cards in half between the two subjects, and had each spectator shuffle their cards a million times, and place them in the wine glasses. After waving his words over the glasses, the cards unshuffled themselves without moving, and matched number for number, color for color, when he dealt them out one by one onto the table. He then had seven random cards selected and shuffled a million more times. When the spectator dealt the cards out, they created a randomly generated phone number. He had the spectator pull out a cellphone and dial it. It was his.
Sean's a different story, more abrupt and self-explanatory in nature. It's good-natured, and is never serious. He talks slow as if you're stupid, and criticizes what he's about to do before he even does it. He has a strange mouth drawn on his fist, and when he opens his hand, a mini hand pops out and eats whatever you give it. He vanished a coin this way. I couldn't stop laughing. It was the funniest coin vanish I've ever seen.
Jared lights things on fire. He's big on elaborate special effects, and gets reactions by branding images of burned cards in your memory. He has a bluntly-spoken way about his presentation, and gets right to the point without delay. It reminded me of an action movie, with explosions and comic-relief dialogue. The piece I remember him doing was this: he vanished a signd coin inside a flame, and made the coin appear inside a burned playing card. It was the most wild transposition I've seen in a long time.
Sam is the Gambit, and needs no explaination, as he has already made such a big impact on my mind as a spectator and student of magic, but this is what he did: he read a spectator's entire mind based on the card they were thinking of. He's turned into a lazy but still-got-it mentalist, and has his spectators do all the work- the deck of cards is entirely in their hands. He asks them their name, and more questions, to hook them in, and uses that connection to do whatever he wants to them psychologically. To him, one simple pick a card trick is a sting that can bring about a reaction that goes deeper than the deck. It's that venom, and hits them inside then out.
Bryan is a cartoon character, and is outlandish in his presentation. He's loud and crazy, and overwhelming if you disagree with him. His stories are something you're crazy uncle would tell, and the visual punchlines of his effects work perfectly with his persona. What he did was sprinkle pepper into a glass of water, and clean the water to its original clarity with a touch of a finger. He called it the story of the Pepper People Pool Party. It was a comic strip!
Jaz is unquestionably solid in his ability to get a reaction. He's stone cold and confident in his presentation, and the visual impact his magic has on his spectators is sure as a dunk in basketball. He has a calming vibe, and works well with his visual style and smooth speed of movement. What I remembering him doing was turning $1 into $400 in less than a second. It was strong and unquestionable- an instant hit. He also BS's his way through the build-up of each effect- the freestyle dribble-drive that leads to the sure dunk finish.
Andy is still a coin man, and presents his spectators with years of underground practice in complex coin sleight of hand and visually snappy routines. His skill is advanced, and he hits some moves I can't even begin to grasp. His routines are structured nicely, and his story lines are delightful. What I saw him do was transfer three coins from one hand to the other without moving- a triple-hit transposition that is far more complex than it looks.
The new kid Stefan is a miracle hit! He predicted every single card that was dealt, and precisely how many cards were in each pile. He's like a calculator, and I was thrown back and awesomely surprised by his accuracy. He reminded me of a three-point shooter in basketball- quiet but accurate. He was able to deal himself a royal flush out of a shuffled pack of playing cards in the end.
Seeing everyone else's style of magic and choice of material makes me more mindful of my own. It teaches me about my magic, and what it looks, sounds, feels, smells, and tastes like in relation to other mages in general. The House is a great training spot for this art, and once you step in, you're always guaranteed to learn something. I had fun chilling with the guys again, and seeing where their magic has been taking them.
-the antidote
PS Videos from the Spring Cypher coming soon! Check http://www.youtube.com/thehofc for updates
Nate uses elaborate scientific hooks to catch his spectators. He's a polite neo-alchemist, nefarious in his plots, mastermindful of his methods. He likes to re-locate you- invite you to his lab to view his research, and share with you his miraculous findings. The piece I saw him do invovled a deck of playing cards, two wine flasks, a red lab silk, and two test subjects. He divided the cards in half between the two subjects, and had each spectator shuffle their cards a million times, and place them in the wine glasses. After waving his words over the glasses, the cards unshuffled themselves without moving, and matched number for number, color for color, when he dealt them out one by one onto the table. He then had seven random cards selected and shuffled a million more times. When the spectator dealt the cards out, they created a randomly generated phone number. He had the spectator pull out a cellphone and dial it. It was his.
Sean's a different story, more abrupt and self-explanatory in nature. It's good-natured, and is never serious. He talks slow as if you're stupid, and criticizes what he's about to do before he even does it. He has a strange mouth drawn on his fist, and when he opens his hand, a mini hand pops out and eats whatever you give it. He vanished a coin this way. I couldn't stop laughing. It was the funniest coin vanish I've ever seen.
Jared lights things on fire. He's big on elaborate special effects, and gets reactions by branding images of burned cards in your memory. He has a bluntly-spoken way about his presentation, and gets right to the point without delay. It reminded me of an action movie, with explosions and comic-relief dialogue. The piece I remember him doing was this: he vanished a signd coin inside a flame, and made the coin appear inside a burned playing card. It was the most wild transposition I've seen in a long time.
Sam is the Gambit, and needs no explaination, as he has already made such a big impact on my mind as a spectator and student of magic, but this is what he did: he read a spectator's entire mind based on the card they were thinking of. He's turned into a lazy but still-got-it mentalist, and has his spectators do all the work- the deck of cards is entirely in their hands. He asks them their name, and more questions, to hook them in, and uses that connection to do whatever he wants to them psychologically. To him, one simple pick a card trick is a sting that can bring about a reaction that goes deeper than the deck. It's that venom, and hits them inside then out.
Bryan is a cartoon character, and is outlandish in his presentation. He's loud and crazy, and overwhelming if you disagree with him. His stories are something you're crazy uncle would tell, and the visual punchlines of his effects work perfectly with his persona. What he did was sprinkle pepper into a glass of water, and clean the water to its original clarity with a touch of a finger. He called it the story of the Pepper People Pool Party. It was a comic strip!
Jaz is unquestionably solid in his ability to get a reaction. He's stone cold and confident in his presentation, and the visual impact his magic has on his spectators is sure as a dunk in basketball. He has a calming vibe, and works well with his visual style and smooth speed of movement. What I remembering him doing was turning $1 into $400 in less than a second. It was strong and unquestionable- an instant hit. He also BS's his way through the build-up of each effect- the freestyle dribble-drive that leads to the sure dunk finish.
Andy is still a coin man, and presents his spectators with years of underground practice in complex coin sleight of hand and visually snappy routines. His skill is advanced, and he hits some moves I can't even begin to grasp. His routines are structured nicely, and his story lines are delightful. What I saw him do was transfer three coins from one hand to the other without moving- a triple-hit transposition that is far more complex than it looks.
The new kid Stefan is a miracle hit! He predicted every single card that was dealt, and precisely how many cards were in each pile. He's like a calculator, and I was thrown back and awesomely surprised by his accuracy. He reminded me of a three-point shooter in basketball- quiet but accurate. He was able to deal himself a royal flush out of a shuffled pack of playing cards in the end.
Seeing everyone else's style of magic and choice of material makes me more mindful of my own. It teaches me about my magic, and what it looks, sounds, feels, smells, and tastes like in relation to other mages in general. The House is a great training spot for this art, and once you step in, you're always guaranteed to learn something. I had fun chilling with the guys again, and seeing where their magic has been taking them.
-the antidote
PS Videos from the Spring Cypher coming soon! Check http://www.youtube.com/thehofc for updates
Sunday, April 11, 2010
Magic Words At Work
"Illuminating"
Female/45
"...Brought me to another level"
Female/40
"Very unique"
Male/45
Audience! I tried "Magic Words: A show of magical poetry" for the first time on a gig audience tonight, and it worked. I'm so happy- you have no idea how happy I am. I've been wanting to cast this spell on an audience for so long, and it worked. They dug it. It was just me, and them, in close-up sit down show setting, and they dug it! They felt it. I felt it. It clicked, as if the marriage between my poems and my magic was supposed to happen this whole time. I just never had the courage to put them together like this. And they melded! It was a crazy fusion- just the feeling of the entire room zooming in on me like a vaccum as I spoke in strange, imaginative dialogue and whimsical rhyming patterns while flowing through my normal sleight of hand sequences was amazing, and so much more artistically fulfilling then performing magic in the traditional fashion. I always knew this kind of expression through the art of magic could be achieved, I just didn't have the courage to try it. The poems in my show are poems straight out of my chapbooks, and have little to nothing to do with the routines in my existing magic repretoire. But I discovered a shred of relevance in each one. For example, "Cafe Awesome", a poem I wrote about a beggar in a cafe eating bread, was paired with a routine where I produce a cheeseburger from a flaming napkin. It's good, audience- it's good to finally see my artistic visions finally come to fruition. It's "Magic Words: A show of magical poetry". Hit me up at antinoart@yahoo.com to bring it to your next event! And check out the rest of the House at events near you- http://www.hofc.webs.com/ for our full performance schedule. Looking forward to all of it
-the antidote
----
Also, if you want to check out my work, I have poetry books available for sale. $10 a piece + $2 for shipping, or $8 a piece plus $2 for shipping if you buy two or more books. Email me at antinoart@yahoo.com with your mailing address, and I'll give you the address you can mail payment to.
Book 1: Wandering Magician
Book 2: Skies and Scholars
Book 3: Mayday
Book 4: Himala
Female/45
"...Brought me to another level"
Female/40
"Very unique"
Male/45
Audience! I tried "Magic Words: A show of magical poetry" for the first time on a gig audience tonight, and it worked. I'm so happy- you have no idea how happy I am. I've been wanting to cast this spell on an audience for so long, and it worked. They dug it. It was just me, and them, in close-up sit down show setting, and they dug it! They felt it. I felt it. It clicked, as if the marriage between my poems and my magic was supposed to happen this whole time. I just never had the courage to put them together like this. And they melded! It was a crazy fusion- just the feeling of the entire room zooming in on me like a vaccum as I spoke in strange, imaginative dialogue and whimsical rhyming patterns while flowing through my normal sleight of hand sequences was amazing, and so much more artistically fulfilling then performing magic in the traditional fashion. I always knew this kind of expression through the art of magic could be achieved, I just didn't have the courage to try it. The poems in my show are poems straight out of my chapbooks, and have little to nothing to do with the routines in my existing magic repretoire. But I discovered a shred of relevance in each one. For example, "Cafe Awesome", a poem I wrote about a beggar in a cafe eating bread, was paired with a routine where I produce a cheeseburger from a flaming napkin. It's good, audience- it's good to finally see my artistic visions finally come to fruition. It's "Magic Words: A show of magical poetry". Hit me up at antinoart@yahoo.com to bring it to your next event! And check out the rest of the House at events near you- http://www.hofc.webs.com/ for our full performance schedule. Looking forward to all of it
-the antidote
----
Also, if you want to check out my work, I have poetry books available for sale. $10 a piece + $2 for shipping, or $8 a piece plus $2 for shipping if you buy two or more books. Email me at antinoart@yahoo.com with your mailing address, and I'll give you the address you can mail payment to.
Book 1: Wandering Magician
Book 2: Skies and Scholars
Book 3: Mayday
Book 4: Himala
Friday, April 9, 2010
Saturday, April 3, 2010
Antino on Musashi
You figured it all out. The magician knows all his secrets, right? Magic, on the contrary, reveals your secrets. In practicing it, you practice yourself into mastery of the mystery- in a way, it's a way. The swordsman Miyamoto Musashi, said to have never lost a duel, practiced until he carved enlightenment out of the wood his sword was made from. That's the mystery- to polish all the dark mysterious spots of your universe until soul clarity is reached. The practice of magic to me has been kept this way to me- a way of polishing mirrors and clearing smoke, until all the secrets that I've kept tucked and sleeved and palmed from my consiousness is revealed. I'm learning to be teachable, to take the advice and critiques of others to make my performance as clean and water-clear as it can be. I'm learning to listen, and hearing that I'm very set in my ways much as an old man is- deaf and oblivious. And the worst student is the one who calls himself master and stops learning. I'm learning to smile- smiling is simply light, so why hide it. In a good performance, a performer that smiles makes for an audience that glows- smiling is contagious that way. I'm learning silence- I speak too much, and impose my ideas and thoughts and philosophies on my stupid audience. And yes, they're lovingly stupid, but I'm the fool- who am I to impose my thoughts on them. If I stop thinking, they can feel it, the astonishment- uninterrupted and pure and thoughtless. I'm learning to be patient, and take them step by step through each effect I do, so that each piece might be savored like pie. I've been practicing magic for more than 8 years, I feel new at this. Every duel with my audience is a new day, a step closer to mastery of the mystery. And until I get to that, I'll love everything that gets in my way.-the antidote
--
Catch us next Saturday at the Hollywood Artspark from 6pm-8pm. visit http://www.hofc.webs.com/ for full performance schedule
Wednesday, March 31, 2010
April Fool's Day
What's going on house? I'll be performing in Winter Park tomorrow night from 7-8 at a casino night hosted by The Athlete's Connection. You can get some info about it here:
I'll report back after the gig hopefully with some video footage.
_Sean
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