Category: Uncategorised

There’s a term used by magicians to refer to other types of performance which blend well with magic. Things like juggling, ventriloquism, quick change, balloon modelling and shadowgraphy. That term is Allied Arts

Often the allied arts will be included in a gala show at larger magic conventions and they are usually the most popular part. This may be because they are a novel diversion in a sea of magic that all starts to look the same after a while. It may also be because the things defined as allied arts are usually, but not always, overt displays of skill.

A colleague of mine once said that the difference between juggling and magic is that you can see the juggler’s hands. To put it a little more directly: jugglers can make something difficult look easy, magicians can make something easy look impossible¹.

But there’s one magic trick that has its method as clearly visible as juggling or balloon modelling, and yet refuses to be demoted to an allied art, because there’s no overt skill, very little actual skill, and only magicians seem to like it.

But not me.

I cannot fucking stand Troublewit.

Continue reading “Troublewit’s end
or Feel the Hate”

I was trying to explain this to a friend of mine recently over messenger and my inability to stay on topic basically fucked it up for her. Probably sounded like nonsense. I say recently… When I wrote this paragraph and some of what’s below it was still 2019 and it felt like the world would soon be my oyster, forgetting that oysters are one of the main vectors for hepatitis and sure enough we would descend into a plague.

So anyway I’m going to have a crack at explaining it now.

This is how to turn problematic nervous energy into useful performing energy, and cast a few fireballs while you’re at it. It’s worth noting that while this works for me, it won’t necessarily work for anyone else. There is always the possibility that I’m just fucked up and accidentally found a glitch in my own emotional hardware.

But hey, maybe you can break your brain too!

Continue reading “Nervous Energy
or Casting Basic Fireballs”

I just wanted to add a few extra points about my previous statements about the circle. Bits and pieces that didn’t fit the flow of the points I was making but do have a little relevance.

Quirky side avenues like the few people who really do want to abolish the exposure rule, some examples of what happens if you break the rule, what joining the circle is like, and reasons you might want to.

After all, I’m a member of the magic circle, surely it can’t be all that bad?

Continue reading “On the Inside of a Circle
or Bits and Pieces”

There’s a lovely little story in Eugene Burger’s book Magic And Meaning about an aboriginal¹ custom of going out hunting evil spirits once a year, each time taking the young boys who have come of age and are ready to face the monsters themselves. The boys must take a brave stand against the unseen creatures roaring in the distance as the group splits up, and only those brave enough to face the beast will learn that the roaring is produced by a strip of carved wood swung around on a piece of cord² by one of the elders, and there are in fact no monsters. The instruments are then burned in a great fire, leaving ash to show the creature was defeated without the lack of a corpse giving the game away³.

This could be considered the earliest form of magic, similar to the magic of Father Christmas, The Easter Bunny, or the Tooth Fairy⁴. A magic for everyone, a secret kept by the elders but which is eventually known by all.

But of course, when we normally talk about magic, we talk about the performance of apparent miracles by secret methods known by very few. Indeed, revealing these secrets to the world at large would destroy an entire performing art, industry, and the livelihoods of tens of thousands of magicians.

Or at least, that’s the theory.

Continue reading “The Charmed Circle
or The Empty Safe”

The Magic Circle is a club for magicians located in London, near Euston Train Station. For decades the club was considered, in the UK at least, to have a special place in the world of magic. If you were a magician the first question anyone would ask is whether you were in The Magic Circle. To a degree it also had international prestige, which they use to declare themselves an international club, even though the majority of their members are located within 50 miles of the London headquarters.

A massive change occurred in the club in the 90s, when due to a huge public campaign run by and on behalf of female magicians, the club accepted women for the first time. Yeah, in the progressive wonderland of 1991 they allowed female members. Conversely the International Brotherhood of Magicians has always been open to female members, since it was founded in 1922.

The actual shift in the club though was an after effect of the campaign to open The Magic Circle to women rather than the impact of the rule change itself.

Continue reading “The Magic Circle
or The Men’s Hut”

You may have noticed that the three music related posts contain within Their titles a joke, minus the first line.

The joke is this:
Author: I’m writing a book
Critic: What’s it Sbout?
Author: It’s about 400 pages.
*Pause*
Author: They all serve the same nobleman.

The first 3 lines are a classic joke, conflating the two meanings of the word “about” the critic meaning what’s the topic and the author replying with the approximate length of the work. The additional line however re-contextualises the author’s reply, by implying that the author correctly interpreted the context of the word “about” but that we as an audience (and from the silent pause, the critic also) incorrectly interpreted the meaning of the word “pages” which could mean a side of paper in a book bit could also mean a servant to nobility. Hence About 400 Pages is a post regarding a lack of topic, a book about the properties of the book if you will. Shows which repeat the same theme over and over on the other hand, is touched upon in They All Serve The Same Nobleman, which is a more obvious reference. Then finally I ended the series on What’s it About, which touched upon how to create cohesion between effects without hanging them on a single peg, by looking for connections between different effects and creating a flow.

Because of the huge time gap between the first two and the last one I kind of lost my flow and in the intervening time my focus was drawn by… other things.

Which is why my next post will be about the Magic Circle’s exposure rule.

Whereas the two previous posts in this series have been about genres of music, this post is dedicated to the living genius Neil Cicierega, who created the three greatest albums in the world.

Those links aren’t Spotify playlists like the others by the way, those are links to download the albums, made freely available by Neil himself.

Because sometimes you gotta mix it up a bit.

Continue reading “Somebody once told me
or What’s it about?”

Oh did you think the “continued in part 2” was a joke?

Consider the following:

It it hadn’t been for Cotton Eyed Joe, I’d have been married a long time ago. Where did he come from, where did he go? Where did you come from, Cotton Eyed Joe?

Do you remember Rednex’s 2nd single?

Continue reading “Cotton Eye Joe
or They all serve the same nobleman”

Back in the late 90s I was very fond of a song I heard on the radio called Nth Degree. I bought the single and after a while humming it wasn’t enough and I wanted to learn the lyrics. That’s when I realised what a bloody awful song it was and promptly never listened to it again.

The problem, you understand, is that the song was about the band, which sadly was named Morningwood.

This is the point when I tell you that this post has a Spotify playlist associated with it, so you can listen along. I will warn you though, some of the music is terrible.

Continue reading “The Vengabus is coming
or About 400 pages”