Catching Up On Some Stuff
/If you want to guarantee yourself a copy of the next Jerx book, Magic For Young Lovers, this is the last week to order. I’m only having printed as many as I’ve sold.
There will likely be some available as “overage” printed by the publisher, but I can’t guarantee that. Of any overage that is printed, half will be made available for sale and the other half will be packaged up with the rest of the items in my back catalog for the occasional person who comes late to this site and wants to get everything.
Don’t feel any obligation to buy the book if you’re not really inclined to. The more limited it is, the better, in my opinion. But at the same time, I want to make sure everyone who does want a copy has the opportunity to get one. So if you want it and you haven’t ordered it yet, now is the time to do so. You can purchase the book, which comes with the second Jerx Deck, 4 issues of the X-Comm newsletter, and the Jerx app (if you don’t already have it) here.
A small update to the Jerx App should be appearing in the app store in the next week or so.. A number of people have requested the ability to store multiple drawings in the app for the drawing swap section, so they don’t have to make a new drawing each time they want to perform a different tricks. That functionality will be in this update.
I don’t look at the analytics for this site very often, so I didn’t notice that about a month ago the RSS subscribers for the site fell overnight by like 90%. I’m not sure what caused it. I may look into it if I get a chance, but regardless, if you did subscribe via RSS you may need to redo it.
In regards to last Wednesday’s post, I got an email that said, “I understand what you’re saying about presentations that are more ‘immersive’ in nature, but I think you underestimate how many people just want to sit back and watch a magic trick.”
Well, I don’t disagree that many people would enjoy that, but I think it’s a rare person who would prefer that to something that felt more interactive, in a social situation. Similarly, I think people enjoy hearing jokes, but they would rather have a funny conversation. People like watching the Food Network, but they’d rather eat a great meal. People enjoy jacking off to YouPorn, but they’d rather fuck. (Maybe not magicians, but normal people, I mean.)
As the possibility of someone having real magic powers has faded, magic has become about the interaction between performer and audience. Take a look at the magic tv shows that have gained traction in the past 20 years, they are all about the magician and the people watching the magic. It’s about Blaine performing for the wealthy and also the downtrodden; it’s Carbonaro peforming for people who aren’t even aware they’re seeing a performance; it’s the magicians on Fool Us performing for Penn and Teller; it Justin Willman performing for people in casual settings, it’s the Got Talent magicians performing for the judges; it’s Criss Angel performing for stooges and bad actors.
Will we ever see another Copperfield or Henning type of special where they’re performing out towards an amorphous “audience”? I kind of doubt it. The next magician who really makes a name for him/herself probably isn’t going to do so because their tricks are so impressive, but because they’ve found a new type of audience to perform for.
This is why I think the idea of just sitting back and observing magic is a concept that is well on its way out. The interaction is what people are drawn to these days. And in a social situation, the interaction they want is one which includes them.
Congratulations to Steve Brooks on the 12 year anniversary of his most recent post on “My Side Of The Screen,” his special section on The Magic Cafe dedicated to his “Thoughts and views on magic, the internet and anything else that’s on [his] mind.”
Wait… hold on…this might not be the cause for celebration I thought it was. Now that I think of it, 12 years is kind of a long time to go without having a thought. And certainly no sane person would set up a special section on a website if he only had six ideas for posts chambered, right?
Has anyone checked on Steve recently? Like, say, within the past 12 years?
Just a minute… I hacked into his webcam many years ago. Let me see if I can time-lapse the footage between then and now.
Aw crud. That’s not good. Steve’s dead everyone. RIP you glorious son of a bitch.