Day 1- Thursday June 4th, 2009.

Ben Train · Day 1- Thursday June 4th, 2009.

Day 1- Thursday June 4th, 2009.

Apparently I'm an undesirable (keep your comments to yourself).

There are several essential things you need to have with you if you intend to cross the border.

The first is a passport and ID. This I had.
The second is a planed itinerary. This I sort of had.
The third is proof of travel plans. This I did NOT have.

Due to an error I had to rebook my flight from NY to San Fransisco early this morning. I did not have a chance to book a return flight home yet though.

So when I got to the border I had a huge bag full of clothes, no proof of anything "tying me to Canada" (no proof of school enrollment, I don't pay rent, no job, etc), and no ticket or definite plan on how I was getting home. I was told I was the classic case of "person to be rejected".

This, obviously, made me unhappy.

Anywho, I'm in prison now so I'll write more later....

No, I'm kidding. I made it through. How? Believe it or not, because of magic. I explained, as I always do, that I do magic as a hobby and that I was meeting up with friends to exchange tricks (then I added, as I always do, that it's like "playing Dungeons and Dragons, but less cool"). He opened my bag and found:

1. Five Points of Magic
2. Transformations
3. A ratty copy of Erdnase
4. My journal filled with trick ideas
5. 7,000 decks of cards

Suffice to say he not only believed me but probably felt bad for what a loser I am. Once again pity comes to the rescue.

So I got to NY, made some calls to let people know I got here safe, and now I'm meeting up with some guys tonight to watch game 1 of the NBA finals (Magic vs. Lakers- no Lebron but somehow I think the Magic will provide a better series...). Later tonight I'll be crashing at Tony Chang's house (check out Vanishingincmagic.com, and the CHANGe to see his stuff).

I'll try to post daily, if possible, and let you guys know how things are going.

Thanks for the private comments so far, and I'll get to some of the questions soon!

Ben

Michael Kras

Sweet man! Ugh, I hate it when laypeople see all the bizarre stuff we carry with us sometimes.

As a side note, I dropped my cards into someone's sandwich today.

Michael Kras

Sweet man! Ugh, I hate it when laypeople see all the bizarre stuff we carry with us sometimes.

As a side note, I dropped my cards into someone's sandwich today.

Reuben The Great

Hey Ben, don't know where to put this in the forum but I have a question to ask people. Ask them the question (well discussion ) i posted about the value of milking a magical effect against over milking it, where is the balance? Also, could you ask them what they (whoever you are asking Razz

) believe is the strongest presentation skill a successful magician must possess and how they attain this.

Ben Train

1. What is the strongest presentation skill a successful magician must possess and how they attain

Derrick Chung: Understanding your audience, and doing things for real people.

Ricky Smith: Trial and error bitches.

Steven Ling: Damn straight!

Derrick: You can theorize all you want but you have to go out there and apply the stuff.

2. Milking a magical effect against over milking it, where is the balance?

Ricky: I probably under milk and move up from there!

All: Laugh.

Ricky: If you have too much milk bring it back to the store!

Derrick: I just want to know if it's 1 or 2 percent!

Steven: I like how you shoved it in my face before zipping it up (in regards to Jon putting on his pants).

Ben: It's a hard question to answer. You want to work on creating magic, but too much can seem pretentious and just plain out weird. My suggestion? Start with killer magic that's strong enough to speak for itself, then add yourself, build that shit up.

Derrick: If they're bored its too much!

Ben: Peace out yo!

Michael Kras

Wow, questions answered by those awesome guys!

I have one that shoots to mind, after seeing this happen to Gazzo just today... is there anything you can/should do if you perform a routine, then a spectator starts openly telling the group "how you did your trick" (even if their "guess" is likely incorrect)... it's not as though they're telling YOU, they're telling the rest of the spectators in blatant disregard or your presence.

What Happened To Gazzo: He was performing his legendary Cups and Balls routine on the street... and during his final load sequence some dipshit in the audience starts saying to all friends within earshot "I seen how he do that... so EASY! He take the oranges from his pouch and stick them really far up in the cup so we can't see it, until he bang it real hard on the table."... I'll tell you, I was THIS CLOSE to turning around and smacking this loser upside the head.

Gazzo either didn't hear this, or ignored it, it's unclear what the situation was.

Ben Train

We had that happen tonight, and you can read about it here:

http://magicanada.myfastforum.org/sutra3655.php#3655