Less is More

Two jugglers are doing the exact same routine, one with 3 balls, the other one with 5. One might think that the one with 5 balls will get the best reaction. But we are wrong.

Chris Bliss has done a nice juggling routine to a Beatles song. He truly connects to the song and his actions/tempo/mimics… perfectly match the music.

Chris Bliss :

Jason Garfield does the same routine with 5 balls. The technique is perfect and he does it with ease. And that's the problem. He doesn't connect to the song. He copied a choreography but is unable to reach his spectators on an emotional level. More technique, less presentation…

Jason Garfield :

Jamy Ian Swiss – Psychics, Science, and Magic

After the podcast with Max Maven, Point of Inquiry posted a new interview about magic. Jamy Ian Swiss discusses the intersection of Psychics, Science and Magic.

Magic is NOT dead

I’m just back from a weekend with our local youth magic group. There were about 25 kids present this time. Fellow magicians here in Europe are always astonished by the youth work we are doing here in Luxembourg. We have 2 or 3 times more active young magicians than adults in our club. Not that we aren’t trying to get new adults into our club, but the results aren’t that good…

What’s quite unique in our case, is that we work together with the official nation youth organisation to organize magic weekends and also seminars. They get the team doing their workshops and we get the exposure. Every year our youth magic community gets bigger. Couldn’t get a better reward for our work !

Cyril Takayama videos

Someone (maybe Cyril himself) posted loads of Cyril Takayama videos on youtube. He has some really nice creative ideas.
I also noted I could include youtube videos into wordpress now, sou lets give it a try :

David Stone – Close Up

Just finished reading trough David Stone’s book about close up magic. 400 pages, no trick. It’s written in french and gives you the real basics about table hopping and cocktail magic. Interesting insights and tips you WILL need one day. What I also liked is the fact it is published as a paperback book which makes it much easier to read in everyday situations.
Basically the book divides into describing :

- the different situations in which you might be asked to do your magic

- how you should look like or behave as a magician and also managing stagefright

- the visibility of your magic, where to place yourself on a table etc..

- how to start working at a table, mamage interruptions, leaving a table…

- how to manage the different type of spectators…
Recommended reading even if you have already some close up experience. Just mind his R-Rated language !

First Blog – First Post

After reading trough loads of blogs everyday I decided to start my own one. So lets start with some interesting topics I read the last week.

Ever heard of Benford’s Law ? Following a post on digg.com I found this interesting site. Benford analyzed 20,229 sets of numbers and came to the conclusion that the number 1 turned up as first digit 30% of the time. Have a look for an interesting explanation.

Guy Kawasaki has a lot of interesting articles in his blog. Be sure to read at least this one about effective emailing. Even if you send out hundreds of mails a day it’s till likely you will get some fine tips out of his post. The Art of Execution is another great article!

From now on you can let google talk save your chats directly into your gmail box. Works already with my account. Soon we will also be able to see who’s online using the Quick Contacts tab. Have a look at these features :