Magic Musings...

.:Ooohh... Regular Caption Contests!:.

I tried my luck at Improved Archie, an LJ community that provides non-stop fun at the expense of Archie and the gang.

It was pretty amusing that I got in there.

.:And Now, It's Time For A New Routine:.

1. Open with a De'Ring Exhibition.
2. Move onto The Ring Thing.
3. Finish the Ring Magic segment with Pinnacle.
4. If a bottle and its cap is present, move onto Prohibition and close the routine from there.
5. If not, do Cardtoon.
6. Then close with Coinci-Cube.
7. If asked for an encore, do Liquid Metal.

I think that's a fairly solid routine already, although I can't wait to do Spun. I just wish I knew how that bend was done though, because I didn't quite understand it when I was watching the video.

And of course, I have a few other effects I'm lining up but refuse to speak about until the time is right.

.:Archiving My Effects:.

Having been into magic for years and having had an information gorging over the past few months, I think it's time I took a step back and evaluated for myself exactly what I know already.

You see, the problem with me as a magician is that I tend to have a few pet effects on me at all times, such that once my routine is finished, when asked for an encore, or pressed to do more, I end up having a mental block on what to do.

And so I decided to make a database for every effect I know about. If there are any magicians out there who are just as currently disorganized as I am, maybe you could use this idea. Any magicians out there who are more organized than I could probably help me refine my stuff even further.

I plan to categorize into the following: Mentalism, Coin, Children's Party, Card, Closeup, Ring, and so forth. I don't know if these supercategories are a good idea, or if I should classify the effects in a better way, as certain effects would overlap, such as a card trick like Stigmata, which is both Card Magic and (Freaky) Mentalism.

In any case, each effect would be described this way...

Name Of Effect:
Source Of Effect:
Genre Of Effect:
Description:
Difficulty:
Points Of Concern:
Current Level Of Mastery:
Other Ideas:

So for example, if I wanted to classify one of my favorite effects...

Name Of Effect: Kaos
Source Of Effect: Video by Daniel Garcia, Kaos. Effect created by Sean Beard.
Genrer Of Effect: Card magic.
Description: Surgically extract a card from a window from one side. Card can be signed.
Difficulty: Requires a bit of nimble card handling.
Points Of Concern: Spectators on the side where you are extracting the chosen card from might prove to be a slight speed bump.
Current Level Of Mastery: Almost perfected.
Other Ideas: Ideal for a finisher or a one-effect routine at coffee shops.

So... what do you think? I figured if I just enumerated 5 effects a day, I should be able to finish enumerating all the stuff I know in a month or two. This would allow me to refresh my memory about old effects I may have neglected to use yet might actually still be useful in some other routine, or with some variation here or there.

I think archiving what I know, how well I can do it, and where I can ideally use it would help me be a more organized performer all-around, and I won't have to constantly scrounge around for new effects all the time when I actually have one or two that I just happened to forget yet would simply be perfect for me to employ.

That way, I don't waste a lot of good ideas.