What Image Do You Project?

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Professional magicians don't often have the money to invest in an image consultant. So when it comes to their "look" they are frequently flying blind. And "blind" may be almost too apt a word as many magicians look like the got dressed in the dark, while holding a stick in one hand and a dog on a leash in the other, and with a clothing budget equivalent to what one might make selling pencils from a tin cup.

A lot of people think of me as "the most helpful guy in magic." I try to be humble, but that's pretty hard to argue with. I guess in keeping with that reputation I've decided to give back to some of my magic brethren to let them know how they are perceived by others. How did I do this? Well first I found an image of some luminaries in the magic world. I didn't use a posed photograph, I wanted to catch them in a candid moment, so I took a still from a video they appeared in on youtube. Then I took that picture and put it through Google's Reverse Image Search. What that does is it analyzes the picture and finds if there are any other versions of that picture online anywhere. Now, in these cases there wasn't because these weren't photographs originally, they were stills taken from a video. And when Google can't find a match it will provide you with "visually similar images." So now I'm just presenting these magicians with the suggested "visually similar images" so they can get a good sense of how they look to the world at large. This is all completely legitimate. I suggest you do a reverse image search on your own pictures to see what you look like to others. An image consultation like this would cost 1000s of dollars, and I'm only happy I can provide this outside perspective to some members of the fraternity as my gift to them.

So here, according to Google's Reverse Image Search, are some people who are "visually similar" to the image projected by some esteemed members of the magic community.

We'll start off simple. Here you can see how Tom Stone gives off a Conan O'Brien vibe.

Again, Google nails it. At this point I don't even know if it's Andi Gladwin who is ripping off Ariel Sharon's style or the other way around.

Who could deny that John Archer has a similar je ne sais quoi, to this heavyset woman waiting for her cruise ship?

JohnArcher.jpg

Joshua Jay will be married in a matter of days. Should something tragic happen and he ends up being taken out by a street-sweeper (for example), perhaps his lovely bride could take comfort in the "visually similar" arms of this kid who was charged with murder after tweeting "Come on a death ride with me," and then driving his car into a couple bicyclists while going 85 miles-per-hour on a busy California road. Both have a great head of hair and the same dead eyes.

How many times have you thought, "Is that Derek DelGaudio or Pakistani senior anchor person and investigative journalist for Dunya News, Kamra Khan?" 

Being "visually similar" does not mean you're at all similar behind the outer facade, as is proven here with the ultra-Conservative, bible-thumping, Trump-supporter, Rob Zabrecky and MSNBC's Rachel Maddow.

See, now to my untrained eye, I would say the look Max Maven is going for here is "sassy emo flight-attendant for Air Transylvania." But Google has pointed out that no, in fact, his look is a match for a stock image of the Greek god, Pan. I think that will please Max.

This one's a slam-dunk (see what I did there?). You can't look at Michael Weber without thinking "Larry Bird," (and vice versa). Look at those shoulders! Both have the silhouette of Herman Munster or a doorframe.

This one is complicated and goes to show you that you can't just judge these things with your eyes, you really need Google's sophisticated algorithm. "Fat Mark Elsdon" is visually similar to a skinnier, sexier Mark Elsdon look-a-like. While "Skinny Mark Elsdon" is visually similar to the mugshot of a fat guy who knowingly infected women with HIV or any number of black people.

And finally, can we stop calling John Lovick the biggest honky in magic, or #1 Cracker, or "whiter than sour cream"? As google so accurately suggests, he is pretty much the spitting image of Flo Rida.

  

 

 

I know what you came here to see
If you're a freak, then ya coming home with me
And I know what you came here to do
Now bust it open let me see you get low
                       -- either John Lovick or Flo Rida (I forget which)