This Week. What A Dramatic...

.:Dear Past Week...:.

... thank you.

I think you have been a week of catharsis, so I'm grateful you came along. Thanks for forcing me on my feet because I didn't have the strength to walk away on my own. And for giving me the sheer bull-headedness I needed to get things done in many aspects of my life because I realized I needed to go big or go home at this point.

I'm still a tad disappointed I had to lose a friend (And then some.) rather conclusively this week, but I think it's for the best, for the both of us. We owed it to ourselves to not let the sham continue, because it felt like an embarrassment for us to carry on in a sham of a "friendship" that was an insult to everything we shared before that. There is no blame to go around this time. It simply is what it is, and I understand that now, and can sleep soundly knowing that it's no longer anybody's fault. I hope she sees that, too.

And week, thanks for letting me know that fewer things are more therapeutic than walking a dog around Eastwood at night, even if it wasn't actually my dog. Interesting conversation and interaction with a newfound friend was certainly welcome, but I have to admit, the resemblance is a wee bit uncanny. Still, I guess I really should get myself a dog, soon.

This past week, I was stressed, I was down and out, I was really feeling the crunch. I'm just grateful the universe decided to throw me a bone, because on the work front, I told myself that if I didn't close anything this week, I would heavily consider tendering already before the axe comes swooping down on my head. It looks like I can hold off on doing that for now.

So for now, I guess I can hold off on the vitriol and bask in the fruits of a job well done, even if the results are a bit too slow in springing forth.

Thank you, universe. I get to keep my head for a while longer.

That being said, while my head is still decidedly on straight, let me signpost that these are some topics I intend to discuss soon, be it on this blog, the POC, or the Filipino Freethinkers, whenever and wherever appropriate:

1. This awesome old dude, and how gay marriage, while still far from a topic for discussion in firmly Catholic Taliban Philippines, will crop up sooner than later.

2. This article from a guest contributor on Forbes. Now, admittedly, both things are old news to people more up to date than I, but they are good touchpoints for me to discuss very real issues about progressive thinking. This will probably go a long way into discussing the concept of an online safe space.

3. Some post about Single Awareness Day. That will probably be bitter and passive-aggressive again.

4. Some stuff about local showbiz.

5. About the Top 10 book.

Quite a backlog, but I know I can pull it off.

Backblog: Despedida Night!

.:Despedida Night!:.

It was a nice party a couple of weeks ago with the Nuffies as we hung out in honor of Patty and Dani, who are embarking on their own endeavours in the near future. V8 served as the scene of the crime as we put our musical chops to the test in a free-for-all videoke night.

Project 365 Backlog (222-223)

.:222/365: The Niagara Falls Challenge:.

This is one time where I won’t lavish praise on a Copperfield illusion, and I think it should be obvious why: while the Niagara Falls escape was a pretty good escape, for starters, the script was way too complicated for it to matter. It seemed that nobody really understood what was going on, so it lessened the impact, and it’s not even because the actual scripting of the routine was too complicated to explain, but the way the entire performance was framed made it seem that way, which was devastating to the overall impact of the performance.

Anyways, just watch it to find out. Ultimately, this was still a good performance, but could’ve used a lot more work to simplify the script to preserve the immediate impact of what was being done.

.:223/365: The Vanishing Camera:.

A total classic from Paul Daniels, this illusion is performed by making a video camera disappear while in a crate, all the while transmitting what the camera sees before Paul Daniels makes the camera disappear in a very stylish and impressive manner.

To be honest, it’s hard to top what Daniels did here when it comes to television magic: it was as clean as can be, and it practically left next to no holes in logic as to how he could’ve possibly pulled it off. Overall, it was impressive and stupefying, and I must say, Impressive altogether.

I really must apologize for my shorter posts as of late. I’ve been increasingly busy at work lately, which explains why I’ve been finding it difficult to write at length the way I try my best to.

Project 365 Backlog (187-188)

.:187/365: Cup O’ Change:.

One of David Blaine’s most popular routines involves him approaching a street beggar holding a mug of coffee, shaking the mug, and then producing a whole bunch of coins from it, much to the surprise and delight of the mendicant.

If there’s one feel-good routine magicians tend to perform, it’s money productions. Admittedly, this doesn’t bode well in the realm of counterfeiting and the obvious question of why a magician who can produce money can’t make himself rich is also an inevitably uncomfortable byproduct of such routines, but when used sparingly, these performances certainly amuse and delight more than most other performances, despite the lack of gigantic props or gargantuan preparations.

There really are few routines one can perform that grabs a person’s attention more than conjuring money from thin air, eh?

.:188/365: Prohibition:.

Without a doubt, Charlie Justice’s version of the coin/cap in bottle routine is flat out the best one ever. Prohibition is visual and without a doubt powerful, and can be done with a borrowed bottle and half of the time, even a borrowed coin, assuming the coin can fit into the bottle (Like, say, a mineral water bottle.).

Prohibition utilizes a very popular but not necessarily commonplace magician’s item that has so many infinite uses that if naming it didn’t cause problems in terms of exposure, I’d heartily write a full article about just to extol its virtues and its importance for the arsenal of a magician, especially those of the mentalist persuasion.

The routine one-ups the other coin-through bottle routines I talked about yesterday simply because Prohibition is done at a fast pace and any setup required can be done practically on the spot, and cleanup is extremely simple, for that matter. You borrow a bottle, you demonstrated to them how to put a cap into the bottle, you show them the cap, you have them hold the top of the bottle so that there’s no way you can slip the cap back in the hole, and then you visually tap through the glass of the bottle and visually push the cap into the bottle from the bottom. The fact that the magic practically happened in the hands of your spectator would not be lost on them, and really impress them suitably.

If you still don’t have the item that makes all this possible, you really ought to get it. There’s very little reason for a street magician not to have it if they ever intend to have a wide range of routines that involves very simple yet deceptive touches here and there.

Project 365 Backlog (117/365): The Amazing Jonathan

.:117/365: The Amazing Jonathan:.

The man known to others as John Edward Szeles, the Amazing Jonathan, is arguably the most successful solo comedy magic act of all time. Yes, that includes having a more profitable career than stellar acts like Michael Finney and Tommy Cooper.

The Amazing Jonathan’s schtick is fairly interesting in that he is really more in the realm of comedy, much like Michael Finney, who actually has a pretty good pure standup comedy set himself. Jonathan is also a member of the all-star group, “The Madmen of Comedy and Magic,” finding himself in the same league as Michael Finney in that particular group.

With a gimmick that appears to owe a lot to Tommy Cooper’s distinct look plus bumbling style, the Amazing Jonathan appears to be a very interesting spin on that established archetype, since unlike Cooper, he had Las Vegas as a venue to ply his trade in. While Tommy Cooper’s long TV career may have brought him a lot of fame over the years, not only is Jonathan finding that Vegas is arguably more rewarding for him, he also has far less personal demons to contend with than Tommy cooper had to.

This man has made his mark in comedy and magic, and his really brazen style of performance is something I admire and am very impressed with. For any budding new aspiring magicians, I hope these small features on various people has you taking notes and considering people who could inspire you to become even better than you already are.

Project 365 Backlog (113/365): Teller Gets Run Over By A Truck

.:113/365: Teller Gets Run Over By A Truck:.

The grand finale of the show entitled “Don’t Try This At Home”, This routine gave Penn and Teller their amazing notoriety because they performed the stunt so well, yet at the end of the whole thing, they actually revealed how they did it.

In all honesty, I was overwhelmed by the logistics of this routine because if I were Penn, I’d still be scared silly of the possibility of the truck still murdering me as its tires go over my chest. It doesn’t really matter how well-conceptualized the routine was, it still boggled my mind how it’d work out, and I’d have wanted them to test it on something else before I willingly put myself under a truck for the sake of entertainment.

Throughout the show, Penn made it a point to highlight the fact that this was going to be how they would end the show. It was a crazy idea: can you run a man over with a truck and have him survive it? How is that even possible? Penn and Teller achieve the seemingly impossible, and they do it with irreverent style that amazed and annoyed other magicians at the same time.

As you will continue to notice with Penn and Teller, it’s a very recurring pattern for them to expose magic secrets whenever they see fit. Whether it be their film or certain tricks they perform where they actually talk about taboo terms like “palming” and the like, you just know that Penn and Teller are loose cannons who give plenty of magicians fits as they go through their performances. This is part of their appeal, certainly, but this also means they have burned quite a few bridges in the magic community thanks to their antics. Penn and Teller couldn’t care less.

As my favourite comedy magicians, though, there’ll be even more instances where I’ll be citing their performances as inspiration for me. Up next, I’ll end up discussing a particular routine that I truly dream to perform in the near future.

Project 365 Backlog (112/365): Penn And Teller Get Killed

.:112/365: Penn And Teller Get Killed:.

This black comedy is a feature-length film starring Penn and Teller that really caught people by surprise. It was a film filled with twists and turns, and really made for a bizarre but thoroughly interesting film to watch, to say the least.

When I watched this movie the first time, I didn’t quite know what to expect. It was a film that I was definitely curious about, but I had no idea what it was going to be about, and what they were going to do. It didn’t take long though for me to realize that the film was a wild ride from start to finish. Penn and Teller prank each other, and the one-upmanship gets to a point where it spirals lethally out of control.

It’s a very interesting premise for a movie, in all honesty. It’s something that people may not find very funny, but only because it focuses on dark humor to get its laughs. It’s one of those typical “black comedies” that were in vogue during the late 80’s and early 90’s, and while it may seem formulaic, Penn and Teller as lead stars in this film are stellar.

Give this film a watch if you ever find the chance. It feels odd watching people smoke in airports and do similar shenanigans you’d never expect post 9/11, but it’s all good.

Project 365 Backlog (111/365): Gregory Wilson

.:111/365: Gregory Wilson:.

Someone requested that I discuss the merits of this man, and I was all too happy to oblige. Gregory Wilson is funny and has an amazing character to boot, which really works excellently for him, as he can base his whole show around his zany but likable character.

As a brilliant entertainer with excellent sleight of hand and a slick mouth befitting a con artist, Gregory’s stage show is fast-paced, hilarious, and relies a lot on the fact that his con-man persona will carry him through an assortment of well-connected routines that tend to flow into each other excellently. As he continually gyps people throughout his show, establishing himself as quite a smooth operator, Gregory disarms his audience with the realization that his magic is not only excellent, but it tells a continuous narrative: here’s a con-man. He will probably rob you blind before the end of the show, but you will love every single minute of it.

I think what really sets Gregory Wilson apart as a comedy magician is the fact that his character is not only consistent, it’s not over the top, either. Kockov’s character is consistent because it’s so brazenly rambunctious, it’s hard to break the pattern you sort of expect from that kind of a wild personality already. Penn and Teller are consistent, but nobody would say that their act constitutes a genuine pair of characters insomuch as it’s just simply Penn and Teller doing their thing. Gregory Wilson plays his role very naturally and everything just falls right into place from the moment you lay eyes on the man.

I can see how many magicians of our age could grow to idolize or at the very least respect Mr. Wilson’s contributions to the magic community. He is funny, he is witty, but ultimately, he is such a cad. It’s hard to not like the guy and how arresting his personality really can be.

If you ever have the chance to get to know the man, be sure to shake his hand and keep an eye out for him. He’s going places, and he’s going to keep getting more and more popular as time goes by and his honed act becomes more and more well-known.

And while you keep an eye out for him, keep an eye out for your wallet, too. You never know with this guy, really.

Project 365 Backlog (110/365): Funny IS Sexy

.:110/365: Funny IS Sexy!:.

Yes. Take it from Kring.

Project 365 Backlog (79/365): The Rubberband Escape

.:79/365: The Rubberband Escape:.

If you ever bought Dixie Dooley’s video series, you’d have heard of this one, and it’s one of the nicest escape acts you can do to encourage a bit of audience participation.

Essentially, you hand out a box of rubber bands to go around your entire audience, and you ask them to put the rubber band around their pinky and their thumb, the band running behind of their other fingers. The challenge to them is that without using their other hand or holding the rubber bands against a surface, they should be able to liberate themselves from the rubber band using only one hand.

As they struggle to do that, you demonstrate to them how easy it is, and then move promptly on to the rest of your show.

It’s simple, it’s fast, and because you extended the challenge to everybody else, you’ve made it very clear that you’re a very skilled performer and not everyone can just go out there and do what you do. As an opener or as a breather after a particularly scary act, I think this suits your needs very well, and could take you places, to say the least.

Considering a box of rubber bands isn’t terribly expensive at all, this is a pretty good routine to add to your show if you need a bit of a time-filler that requires some audience participation. It’s also one of the easiest ways to get people interested in escapology, as it’s a basic building block for the skillset they will eventually need if they got very serious with this particular aspect of the art: dexterity and a cool head under pressure. If you did this experiment on an audience, you will notice for sure that a lot of them get frustrated over the fact that they can’t seem to escape from the loop no matter how hard they try.

Project 365 Backlog (76/365): Assistant's Revenge

.:76/365: The Assistant’s Revenge:.

One of the best escapology routines ever that involves no mortal danger to the performers, the assistant’s revenge is an escape act that really catches the attention of people because of the apparent sheer speed it is executed.

Invented by one of the best minds in the world of magic, Robert Harbin, this act features a magician restraining his assistant by an assortment of locks and straps to a large apparatus, then as he closes the curtain around the whole thing, by the time he comes out on the other side, it’s no longer the magician, but the assistant. In one continuous motion, he reopens the curtains, showing that the magician is now in those same restraints, effectively proving that he has gained his “revenge”.

What else can I say about this routine that I haven’t covered in the description? Well, for starters, it’s a very strong favourite among escapologists and illusionists alike, and is certainly capable of ending a show if they wanted it to be the highlight of the night. What makes this routine very amazing is the simplicity of the whole script, and the delayed reaction before people realize that a very inexplicably fast switch just happened right before their eyes.

Even if I know the mechanics behind this particular routine, I still can’t help but be amazed everytime I watch it. It’s like “Metamorphosis” done horizontally, if that makes any sense at all.

With that in mind, this is a fairly expensive routine to set up, what with the curtains and the apparatus and all that. There are plenty of variations on the routine, although I’d be incredibly happy if I could come up with my own presentation for it, since this routine has a lot of legs and can have a ton of options one can work with. Just don’t do a joke where you switch again and again and again and again because after the first or second switch, any further iterations just really turns the routine into a joke, which is the last thing you’d want to do with something that normally costs the average performer $4,000 to have made and shipped to their doorstep.

Project 365 Backlog (75/365): Buried Alive

.:75/365: Buried Alive:.

Can we ever run out of things to say about escapology that doesn’t point back to Houdini, really?

Ladies and gentlemen, what I personally believe to be the most terrifying of all escape acts without having to utilize any additional implements to increase tension: the buried alive act. One of the stunts forever attributed to Houdini, and apocryphally linked to his untimely death (If you read my bit on him in a previous post, you would know this isn’t true.).

I don’t think I even need to describe how dangerous and traumatic an experience it is to have one’s self buried alive. In my estimate, the above video is actually a much more sanitized version of the escape because if something goes wrong, it’s easier to crack the apparatus open than it would be to dig out a guy buried six feet under the ground. Many magicians have attempted to do the buried alive stunt, and some unfortunate souls, such as this guy, have paid the ultimate price.

It’s no secret that being buried alive is a terrifying prospect, but some of the most bullheaded performers just insist on doing something so shocking, so terrifying, that they just might end up regretting it. This routine is something I’m personally very afraid of doing, as I’d sooner have myself hoisted up three hundred feet in the air to do a straightjacket escape upside down than get myself six feet under by choice.

And this is considering I’m deathly afraid of heights. Ultimately, my chances of survival are a lot better at escaping a straightjacket than having nine tons of dirt poured all over me and a plexiglass coffin that may not even sustain the sheer weight of the dirt pouring all over it. The minute that coffin cracks, so do you. There’s simply no two ways about it, and I can’t emphasize enough how dangerous this stunt really is. When you have a skilled and popular performer like Banachek willing to teach his secrets for free to people who wish to attempt this stunt in hopes of keeping them from getting themselves killed, you just know how many people fear and respect the buried alive act for the dangerous performance that it truly is.

Project 365 Backlog (74/365): Bondage

.:74/365: Bondage:.

Kinkeh, ain’t it?

Project 365 Backlog (73/365): The Silk And Rope Escape

.:73/365: The Silk And Rope Escape:.

This is an effect made famous yet again by Harry Houdini, except he actually makes a point of teaching his audience how to do this routine afterwards.

Essentially, you bind your hands with a silk handkerchief, and then run a length of rope in between your hands, effectively held in place by the silk. Without the audience even realizing what happened, you just magically break free from the ropes, with next to no effort whatsoever.

This is a very impressive escape because if you explain the mechanics carefully, it will boggle the mind how you can get away from the loop of rope without even so much as breaking into a sweat. It’s very quick and easy to do, and any magician with a modicum of skill at misdirection wouldn’t find it difficult at all to pull this off.

I even perform a variation of this utilizing handcuffs instead of a silk handkerchief. It works in pretty much the same way, which is a very good thing, since handcuffs are a lot more menacing than a silk handkerchief, to begin with. It doesn’t hurt that I can also lockpick my way out of the cuffs, allowing me a one-two punch when I perform this routine, although I wish it took me significantly less time to lockpick. I still take well over fifteen seconds, and the best pickers take only five seconds.

Project 365 Backlog (72/365): The Crazy Man's Handcuffs

.:72/365: The Crazy Man’s Handcuffs:.

The Crazy Man’s Handcuffs is a classic routine that falls under escapology, and can astound and amaze a lot of people for the small price of two rubber bands.

Essentially, you interlock two rubber bands and hold them with your fingers in such a way that unless you let go of the rubber bands, you can’t free yourself. The magician demonstrates that this isn’t entirely true by rubbing the rubber bands together and magically letting one pass through the other, all the while with the audience looking on very closely and completely clueless as to what just happened.

I must say, this routine is one of the most impromptu demonstrations of escapology available, and if you ever bother picking up the Dixie Dooley Escapology series, you’d even find another neat little escape act there with rubber bands.

Project 365 Backlog (71/365): Don't Try This At Home!

.:71/365: Don’t Try This At Home!:.

With two guestings on "The Sweet Life" under my belt recently (I believe the second one will be on April 5. No word when the first one will be.), I figured I'd take it easy on this one...

We trained long and hard for this. Don’t think it’s all fun and games.

Project 365 Backlog (70/365): The Spirit Rope Tie

.:70/365: The Spirit Rope Tie:.

No pictures for this one, but this is definitely a very popular routine among escapologists.

The spirit rope escape is one of those classic beginner escape acts that gets a lot of humorous byplay working in its favour. Essentially, the appeal comes from the fact that more often than not, most people will be genuinely surprised at how a man visibly tied and restrained can continually show himself free one moment and then still restrained the very next, yet again borrowing from the classic principles utilized by mysticists who do the infamous Spirit Cabinet.

It’s hard to say who popularized this in modern magic, away from the stigma of soothsayers and mysticists who used this particular principle for far more nefarious applications. In this particular case, the spirit rope tie utilizes the same in and out principle of the Shanghai Shackles, albeit it leaves you in a seated position, as opposed to the Shackles, which can be performed from any position you are more comfortable with.

That you only need to borrow a chair, a good length of rope, and a large piece of cloth or jacket to pull this routine off is a big reason to want to learn this. It plays pretty big for something you can perform with all-borrowed materials, albeit I’d personally suggest you bring the rope yourself as that’s something you can’t reasonably expect at any given venue. Nonetheless, with all the different options available to you when performing this particular routine, it shouldn’t be too difficult to understand why it’s very appealing and enticing for any escapologist out there to want to learn it.

Project 365 Backlog (69/365): The Milk Can Escape

As you guys know, I was out for a few days, and this resulted in me having to fill out the days that I missed on my Project 365. However, in reality, I didn't miss a day. I pre-wrote the posts, but just couldn't find a net connection to cooperate with me while I was doing my show in Boracay. Heh.

.:69/365: The Milk Can Escape

This is one of those routines any escapologist would want to do at some point in their lives. This is also a routine that I, Mr. I-Can-Only-Hold-My-Breath-For-Thirty-Seconds, probably won’t be capable of doing. Ever.

Made popular by Houdini, this routine is very popular because it is one that certainly tickles the fancy of the average human being: a spectacle for the morbidly inclined, it’s not very difficult to see the macabre appeal of potentially watching a person drown for your entertainment.

Ultimately, the milk can escape is a safe routine for those who know the mechanics – assuming you can hold your breath for at least ninety seconds. Failing that, this routine can kill you and can endanger your life because you are genuinely submerged in a milk can and it will certainly take time before you can work your way out of it. The working your way out part isn’t that difficult, but it is certainly time-consuming, and is precisely where the danger of the routine lies.

Houdini’s performance of it was deliberately tension-laden. As we all known, Houdini is normally out of the milk can within three minutes, but chooses to prolong the agony of the wait by staying behind the curtain until someone screams to save the drowning man. The wait for his reappearance can go for as long as over half an hour, thereby ensuring that people are on the edge of their seat throughout the routine.

Not something for the faint of heart or the claustrophobic, to be sure. There’s something very eerie about being locked into a milk can that could barely hold a full-grown man with all that water menacingly asking to take you with them forever. If anything, the fact that you have to hold your breath as they lock you in place could be the very thing that would do the performer in.

Project 365 Backlog (68/365), And Today's DK

.:Back On DK After A Whole Week!:.

It was fun being back, although sobering talks about animal cruelty offset with explanations about gay lingo made for a very interesting morning, to say the least. It's good to know that the show went very well, and everyone was on the same page to start the week off right.

.:68/365: The Shanghai Shackles:.

It’s one of my signature routines.

The Shanghai Shackles would be one of the most popular routines I’ve been using for years, and with good reason. If there are two things I’m known for, one is mentalism, and the other is comedy magic.

This routine is technically an escapology routine, but it plays so well for comedy, simply because there’s nothing more amusing than to see rapid-fire in and out moves playing off with rapid-fire patter. There are so many different ways to present this, but for me, the comedic approach works best simply because it allows you to make people laugh but make them still think and wonder how in heaven’s name you pulled off the entire routine.

The (fictional) history of the Shanghai shackles is very colourful. Hailing from Shanghai (duh), the shackles were created to restrain the most maniacal of criminals and prevent them from utilizing chopsticks properly to eat. This forced them to eat with their hands, thereby impugning themselves and resulting in a loss of self-respect. Most prisoners ended up killing themselves in shame.

Others learned to like eating their hands, migrate to the Philippines, and become Capampangans.

Not-so-accurate history aside, this bit of escapology is one of the best routines in my book because it really gets people’s attention. I like performing it on a close-up setting, contrary to popular notion, simply because if you know how to manage the crowd, the fact that it’s that up close and personal can only amaze them even more.

Sir Lou Hilario made it a point to mention that I do the shackles close-up. It seems to me that I was one of the few people who did that, and I’m glad I did, because whether I did it in the middle of the street completely surrounded by onlookers or I did it at a restaurant table, the Shanghai Shackles is one of the best bits of escapology I have ever had. I’ve known several people who have actually asked me for dimensions for my shackles, or tried to duplicate my routine, but they can learn the mechanics of the escape, but there’s no way they could just pick up the subtleties, the panache, and the flair I have injected into the routine that is uniquely me. Ultimately, isn’t that what separates the true performers from those who just know how to do magic?

Backblogging Lineup, Redux...

1. Hole In My Soul
2. Double Standup last Wednesday
3. Bound And Gagged Megapost
4. Establishing contact yet again
5. Cutting ties