Tuesday 21 February 2012

Blackpool Magic Convention

I just got back last night from Blackpool, a place I had never been, to go to a magic convention - no, I'm not a magician.  I actually had to explain about not being a magician much less than I thought I would.  I am also happy to report that, though no one offered me a job, every magician I spoke to about targeting stage management for magic thought it was good idea. 

Never take a bus ride longer than four hours.  I am not sure the science behind it but I have taken plenty 3-4 hour bus rides and never had a problem but my legs ached all weekend from six and half hours.  Now I know why so few people who got on in London stayed on to Blackpool, smart people paid the extra for a train.  It was an over night bus and I didn't even get as much sleep as I figured, the driver wasn't the smoothest shifter in the world.

I will now go ahead and recommend Cavendish Hotel, Blackpool.  Admittedly, I chose it because it was inexpensive and the name reminded me of Cavendish Sanitarium from the Marx Bros. film Horse Feathers.  But they were so nice, they greeted me at the door by name and let me check in early since I had to go straight to the convention and the breakfast that comes with the price is made to your order.  By that I mean they asked me when I arrived what I wanted for breakfast and so I has sausage, egg, toast and tea each morning (I could have changed each day but I liked it).  So Cavendish Hotel in Blackpool - don't go if your expecting luxury, but do if you want some place sweet with friendly people.

Golly, it must be ten years since I'd been to a magic convention.  I really had no idea how long it had been but David Ginn (magician) said that the last ACE conference was about ten years ago (ACE=Association of Christian Entertainers).  If you don't know how magic works and you don't want to be a magician I do not recommend you try to find out how it's done.  You're bound to be disappointed and it could very well ruin the experience for you. Now I already knew about magic, Mom's a magician and I used to be a clown and I've been to seven or eight magic conferences in my day, so I just got to see different ways of doing things.  I went to see what magicians are doing these days so I know what props and tricks are in vogue at the minute so as better to support it in a stage management role and also to meet magicians.  Magicians that could either hire me or give me some insight into support I hadn't thought of or introduce me to magicians who might hire me or just pass the time of day with them.  It was a great weekend.  I saw some magicians I recognized (not just David Ginn) although I didn't see John van der Put who I guess was there Sunday.

The first night the gala show had magicians from Korea and they were spectacular.  One of them produced cards to even impress other magicians.  You know when magicians produce a fan of cards from nowhere?  Well he did it in such a way as to show he wasn't using the normal technique, it's hard to explain, but one by one he made moves to take away the different ways those cards are generally produced.  There was also some very different acts, things I hadn't seen before.  One guy did this act where he changed t-shirts, not just what he was wearing but he'd take a blank shirt and suddenly add an object, or take one away or change it's colour completely.  And while I saw several performances where they interacted with a screen I didn't see one as amazing as the first act that night where he used a couple screens and his clothes as projection surfaces and unlike the other acts he actually did quite a bit of magic as well.

All in all, the lectures were cool and informative (mostly) and the performances incredible.  I would definitely go again.  One word of warning to those going to Blackpool - all but one of the cappuccinos I had were atrocious, so be wary.

Wednesday 25 January 2012

The Intimacy of Reading

I've never realized before what an intimate thing a book recommendation was.  You are inviting another person to inhabit a world you once lived in, and deeper still you are giving it your stamp of approval - saying you enjoyed your time there.  Reading, unlike visual arts, is harder to distance yourself from.  The author's words enter your head, whether you like what is being said or not you are allowing it access to a place only you know.  Words flash across your mind,  images are conjured - words and images that are not your own.  Perhaps your brain puts its stamp on the images, but the content is the author's, you are seeing (if they're any good) what they want you to see.

I love books.  I have to always be reading something and my mind functions better or worse depending on how the author's thought process coexists with my own.  The words I sprinkle into my vocabulary in cycles is based upon the books I'm reading at the moment.

When someone recommends a book to me, and I actually read it, I invariably think about that person while I read it.  I see the personality, I try to imagine them reading it.  When I react (good or bad) - I ponder how that person reacted when they first read it.  I also like to talk to the person afterwards and talk about the characters or what part they most enjoyed.  It can be an amazing bonding experience, or it can be quite awkward depending on how you take the book.

For the first time I read a book recommended by someone I don't know, heck, it's the first time I've read a book on any recommendation not given by one of my very closest friends.  A strange feeling.  Journeying into the head-space once occupied by someone who is basically a stranger.  I think it was that bizarre feeling that made me so entranced by the book.  I did enjoy the book, and there being no natural stopping places lead me to stay up all night (until 7:30am) to finish it, but in the end I think it was my fascination with that kind of closeness shared, one-sidedly, with a stranger.  I don't imagine I'll ever get to talk to this person about the book, that makes me a little sad, missing that part of the experience.  But hey, you never know I might just get to have that conversation one day.

No, I'm afraid I am not going to say which book it was that I read, or who recommended it or even why I took their word for it and read it - that's not really the point.  The point is the experience, reading really is a powerful thing.