How long?

It's been a while since I've written anything here and for that I do apologize. I imagine that there might not even be anyone reading at the moment but really that is okay.

Where have I been? Around. I took a long break from magic mainly because I got a regular day job. As much as I love doing magic professionally the economy combined with a mortgage isn't always easily sustainable on a humble magician's earnings.

I haven't been inactive though. I've spent time working with the lovely Daya on magic for her forthcoming musical tour as well as developing some new material of my own. I hope to have a full scale stage production written some time soon and from there will begin the process of finding a place to perform it and pulling together the funds to properly produce the show.

The process has been long, finding the time in my otherwise busy schedule to stoke the creative juices and produce something, but I have done a number of things lately to bring that creativity back to life and it is working.

So thank you for your patience. If all goes well it may not be to far in the future when you will see my theatrical presentation out there on some marquee.

Rainbow Weddings doesn't respect their vendors.

Okay, look, at this point I think it's pretty clear that I am indeed "gay and lesbian friendly." I have offered my magic services to "gay and lesbian" weddings and other functions. I'll work with virtually anyone.

Well, there is now one organization that is "gay and lesbian friendly" that I refuse to work with and I'm going to explain why.

Rainbow Weddings. If you are someone who has a service to offer to "gay and lesbian weddings", seriously consider doing so on your own instead of using their advertising services.

About two years ago I purchased advertising with them. I was totally fine with it. A little on the expensive side but I felt it was worth giving it a shot like so many of the other advertising venues I've tried. I did it to see if it was worth it. And like any half way decent business person I kept track of my ROI with their advertising.

Zilch. I bought a years worth of advertising and never even got a query let alone a gig. Now I'm not bitter about that. This is just business for me at this point. I spent the advertising dollar and gave it a reasonable amount of time to show me if it was going to be worth while or not. If I had gotten a query or two that would have been sufficient. A gig or two would have been great. In this case, nothing.

Well, at the end of the year I got the expected emails saying "Hey, your account is about to run out. Time to renew." I told them "No thanks" and then had the expected exchange of messages asking why. I explained that financially it didn't work for me and that my ROI didn't justify continueing to spend money with them. There is one other reason which is, simply, that I'm just not doing as much with magic these days and that what I want to focus on where my magic is concerned is the creation of my stage show.

Now at this stage I would have thought that I would not hear from them anymore. Contract done, etc.

No.

I started getting advertising emails from them. Special event notices like wedding expos and such. No automated means of getting off their lists so I sent messages asking to be removed. Nothing. More SPAM. More requests to be removed. More SPAM.

I called them. I spoke to them on the phone and politely asked to be removed from their mailings. Got promises. Got more SPAM.

I called them again. I spoke to them on the phone and more firmly asked to be removed from their mailings. Got promises. Got more SPAM.

Notice the pattern here?

Well, today takes the cake. I am getting the same fucking message I got originally asking me if my services are "gay and lesbian friendly" and how would I like to advertise with them.

So, here we are.

People at Rainbow Weddings, you clearly have no respect for your vendors and I will not only not be doing business with you, but I am informing everyone I can that you don't seem to be very trustworthy.

"Scrolls" is now available!

Well, the time has finally come. My book, "Scrolls: A Book of Story Telling Magical Theatre" is finally available for order from Leaping Lizards Publishing.

"Scrolls" contains routines, essays and a one-man show of magic based on the works of Edgar Allan Poe entitled "Poe's Grave."

Effects include "The Devil's Suicide" (my version of the six card repeat), "The Eye of The Seer" (a spooky approach to The Egg Bag), "Reincarnation - The Broken and Restored Thread" and many other effects.

And if you order before August 1st you will receive a bonus CD of effects as well.

For a sample from the book or to order please visit:

http://www.leapinglizardsmagic.com/scrolls.htm

Enjoy!

Doing Demo Videos

Well it's taken a fair amount of work, but I've managed finally to put together my first website demo video. It's not much, but I rather like it for a first effort. Once I get a better handle on how to do this video editing stuff I can make improvements until I get the kind of thing I really want all together.

On the artistic integrity of a good story...

Okay, usually I'm talking about magic, or perhaps I'm talking about my rapier studies and SCA related things.

This time I'm talking about story telling via "Heroes."

So we now have ended the story. Or have we? Now that the first season is over, let's talk a little about how it ended. I am not satisfied. A couple of months ago I heard that they were going to take the story into another season. I knew then that I was likely not going to be happy about it. And here it turns out that I am correct.

First the big continuity error: Peter Petreilli should have just flown away. He could you know. The first power he absorbed was his brother Nathan's. We know that once he absorbed a power he could use it again and again. He could fly. And if Peter loved everyone "unconditionally" then he should have been willing to fly off and blow up at a safe distance. Why did it take Nathan to do that for him? Because he's scared? Well, yes, they established his reliance on his brother throughout the season, but I'm still no so sure. He seemed ready to use other powers to protect people despite the danger to himself.

But who else should have died? DL certainly. I'm guessing that in the original story that DL probably did die. Why didn't he? We'll get to that.

Who else? Ando probably, and definitely Syler. Ando's death would have turned Hiro into the hero he is supposed to be and Syler was the villian that needed to be destroyed in the end.

So why didn't these guys actually die? (And yes, Syler is still alive. The image of the manhole cover is painfully obvious even without the "symbolic" cockroach crawling on it.) I'm guessing "Corporate Greed."

The network sees that they have a good thing going making them money. So they say "Hey, let's change the story a bit so we can keep everyone's favorite characters and milk this thing for more money." So out goes the artistic integrity of the story. You could see it. You could feel it. The ending didn't justify all that had gone on before.

Imagine how much more powerful the story would have been if Ando had bought the farm at Syler's hand in Isaac's loft? That would have been the moment that Hiro's heart would have been sacrificed to the dragon just like in his favorite story of Kensie. How much more would it have meant to Nikki to save Micha once she truly realized that he was all she had left of DL now that she knew that despite the manipulation of their lives and relationship they really did love each other?

Someone once told me that the difference between a Hero and a Champion is that a Hero is dead. Cynical, but think about that in light of little Molly looking at Parkman and hoping that he doesn't die.

I've enjoyed this series right from the beginning and I expect that I'll continue to enjoy it into it's second season. But this would have been so much better had it been a one shot thing. The artisitc integrity of the story would have been maintained. I know that it's a battle for writers to keep their visions intact in the face of corporate greed. It's sad to think that this story seems to have suffered that.

For those of you who are the "artistic story teller types," whether you be magicians or writers or whatever, think about the artisitic integrity of the story you create and tell. Think how much more it could be if you don't hold back and especially if you don't sell out. Those moments are precious and it sucks to give them up to something that might be easier to do or will be "more commercial."

Oh, and while you're thinking about that, also think about who was wearing Kensei's armor at the end there. Looked like "Hiro's dad" didn't it? *smile*