Magic Magazine Comes To The iPad!

Posted on January 13, 2011 by Aaron Jones

Magic Magazine App

Magic Magazine has come to the iPad! This is great for me because being in Japan it is hard to get the magazine at a good price. However now I can get it easily and at a good price. I just downloaded the magazine last night but so far I am enjoying the iPad layout for it. I look forward to how they will take further advantage this digital format. I am glad they went with an interactive version a and not just a PDF version. So far I recommend this. You canfind it here at the iTunes App store.
Aaron

Halloween Magic Fun

Posted on November 2, 2010 by Aaron Jones

This year’s Halloween was awesome but very busy! My magic buddy Shinnosuke and I had shows together in Takamatsu Kagawa Prefecture. Our first show was a stage show at Yonden Plaza ( Shikoku Electric). We performed an hour stage show in their modern electricity show room. It was like performing in a very modern home. There was a great turn out the the show was fun for both of us. This was the first time we performed a stage show together professionally and it was great fun. After that we hustled down the the other end of the shopping district in Takamatsu to perform close-up magic for people attended the shopping district Halloween event. We both were very tired, but had great shows and great fun. This week we will both be working the Intiki Magic Bar from Wednesday to Saturday. Should be fun!

Aaron

Doug Henning Walk of Fame.

Posted on October 24, 2010 by Aaron Jones

I have blogged about Doug Henning on my blog before and how he was the first magician I saw on TV as a child. Well he is going to be on the Canadian Walk of Fame. Here is the tribute video enjoy!

Last Night’s Magic Friends Meeting

Posted on October 17, 2010 by Aaron Jones

Last night’s magic meeting in Takamatsu had a great turnout. It’s a small club and most meetings have between 4 and 6 people. Last night we had 10 which was great. Our normal meeting this year consists of learning effects from the Japanese magic book “Encyclopedia of Card Magic” which is different than the English book of the same name. We started doing this in January of this year. Over these 10 months we have discovered many mistakes in the book. LOL If we were smart we should have kept detailed notes and sent them to the publisher. I am sure this book has not been reedited since it was originally published. Anyway its been fun going through the effects in this book. Two of our members, Terushita and Jack Amano will be competing in the AMA (Asia Magic Association) Convention in November. They both did a great job. It was a great meeting last night and I hope the next one will be able to keep up the momentum.

Aaron

: Weird Magic

: Terushita

: Jack Amano

: Shinnoske

Creating Good Memories

Posted on September 28, 2010 by Aaron Jones

Making Memories

Part of the enjoyment of performing magic is creating great memories for my audience members and myself. Every show is different and the audience is different as well as the atmosphere. This is a great opportunity to use our magic to create great memories for everyone at the event. I also believe it is a part of our job when he are hired to perform for a group of people. It makes our magic more relevant and helps us to create better routines that make good memories for people. There has been a lot written by many magicians over the years on methods for making our making memorable but I believe we should always pursue this. Not just with effects but with the whole show experience. This goes beyond just the tricks themselves but to how we interact with the audience and create this feeling. It also means that sometimes we have to let audience members be the star as this is one of the best ways to do this. This is one of the things I have been thinking about recently and I am interested what you have to say about this. Please let me know!

Aaron

Magic Renaissance In My Head

Posted on September 14, 2010 by Aaron Jones

Street Festival Magic In Takamatsu

If you have been following my blog, and I am not really sure how many regular readers I have if any at all, you will have noticed I have have been blogging about magic basics, books etc. Well because I a have been going back and reading old books again and thinking in different ways about magic there seems to be a magic renaissance going on in my head. What do I mean by this? Well because I have been going back to basics recently many things I read and learned when I was younger have suddenly all started coming back to me. However they are not coming back to me in the form they did when I first learned them. They are coming back different and it has started my brain to think different about the magic I perform. It also has changed my magic taste as well. My performing style seems to be staying the same but my technique and the way I have worked out routining has changed a lot in the last little while. I have moved into having more engagement with my audiences as well have been working deeper to apply magic theories in terms of misdirection, timing, and audience management. It has also caused me to edit my performances and cut unnecessary performance parts, techniques and props. I am not sure where this is leading me but I see a new light and I am excited. It is like when I started magic for the first time again, but this time with the experience and knowledge and how to apply the knowledge. It is going to be a fun ride! Have you had a magic renaissance in your head?

Aaron

Going Back To The Basics

Posted on September 7, 2010 by Aaron Jones

Coins!

Recently I have started reading some of the old basic magic books I haven’t read since I was young again. These books are the basics of stage and close-up magic. After looking through these again I have started to re-read them in more detail relearning all the basics of magic once again. Going through these books again after years of doing magic, I feel I have a new perspective on what they teach. My attitude towards what I need to learn and improve on is much more mature now that 20 years ago. Even though I remember many of the techniques I read in these books and use many of them today, re-reading them has given me greater insight into how to make them even more effective and find points I missed when I read them the first time. For me the old has become new again. I find myself as I read them again thinking of new applications and the creative side of my brain is once again stimulated. I am glad that a few weeks ago that I started looking though these or I would not have started to read them once again. My goal over the next couple of months is to try to re-read as much as a can from the classic texts of magic and digest them and start to really apply them in new ways to my current routines and I am sure I will start to work out new and even better routines over the next year or so. So I suggest if you are starting to feel stale with your magic and are tired of many of the newer products, go back and re-read the classics. Your brain will start to awaken.

Aaron

Impressed! My First Copy Of The Gibecière Arrived

Posted on August 28, 2010 by Aaron Jones

Gibecière

This week I officially joined the Conjuring Arts Research Center, party because I was so excited and impressed by the access to the Ask Alexander search engine. I blogged about this here. With membership you also receive their semi–annual journal on Magic History Gibecière edited by Stephen Minch. All I can say is WOW. This 180 page publication is worth the price of the basic membership alone. It already has me captivated. One reason is there is an article that relates to my University Degree which is on Japan Society from the Meiji Restoration (1868). There is a series that continues in this issue about Magic in Japan from that time so I am all set to get into it. If you are serious about magic the Conjuring Arts Center has done a great job of producing, and researching on the history of magic very academically and you should really check them out.

The Expert at the Card Table

I also ordered their reprint of Erdanse’s The Expert at the Card Table. It is done “Bible” style. A great little carry around version of this classic text on card magic. I was just impressed by Ask Alexander and now they have impressed me again with the publication that goes with membership. I highly recommend joining the Conjuring Arts Research Center.

Aaron