Today Magic Bunny celebrates its very first year of online magic. To mark this special event the "Special Guest" forum has been modified to allow you the opportunity to question the very people who are responsible for the smooth day-today running of these forums; the members of the moderating team and Admin. This is your opportunity to discover a little of the make-up of the team that has provided the very best magic Internet site on the web. Due to the number of different replies each question may gain, the settings of this forum have been tweaked very slightly so that only new posts may be made. This is to afford courtesy to all the moderators and to allow them the opportunity to reply to the original question before the discussion in a thread diverges to a different subject. Of course, some questions may not be relevant to some of the moderating team so please do not expect ten replies to each thread. This will be the first time such a project shall be undertaken so please allow some flexibility in the way that the threads develop. I hope that you may enjoy reading a little about the very people who have provided so much to the effective running of these forums. Best wishes, Admin.

Oliver: Hi all, This is weird, being the first to post a topic here and all, but anyway, here it goes: You all obviously do different types of magic be it stage, children's, close up etc... So, what is the theme that surrounds your show? And for close-up performers, what is the running story line (If you have one) for your effects?

Andy D.: Congratulations on being the first to post a poser to the team.  Mmmmm.................Well actually Oliver, being a performing Magician is not a prerequisite for being a moderator. I personally am only a 'Hobbyist', and suspect that 99.9% of the members could wipe the floor with me in any sort of contest!  I hope some of the 'others' will give you a better answer, I don’t think I will ever have an "act" so to speak................but I am happy to be involved with Bunny, and in my spare time, learn (albeit slowly) from my vast array of videos.

Laura: Hi Oliver, Thanks for the question. I'm not entirely sure that I am going to be able to answer it all that well. I was a stage magician, however, I have had an idea playing at the back of my mind, and have been sub-consciously moving towards it with effects that I have learnt. I am going to be a children's entertainer! It's not all that different from the stage, the audience are a lot harder to control, but you get to interact with them more. I don't really have a theme running through the show. It's more a case of just keeping their attention and making them laugh. I know that doesn't really answer you question, but hey, I tried!

Mike: In all honesty, if you want your show to go somewhere and you want to be able to market it, it should be themed. That being said, I don't specifically have a theme for my show. Unfortunate, but I am working on something that's been nagging at me... A burned out hippy dude from the '70s. Instead of pulling regular cigarettes out of the air, I could pull left-handed cigarettes out of the air (stage props of course, not real ones). Everything that happens just happens and somehow becomes manifest from my hallucinations and flash backs. This summer, though, I shall be busking out in front of a mall that is in financial difficulties, and from there I should be able to spring board into a restaurant. I've not come up with any given theme for these, however.

Nigel: Although I am site administrator, I'm no professional magician. I'm just a schoolteacher who loves to practice magic and thoroughly enjoys the reactions of those who watch. My favourite genre is close-up magic and I tend not to use a theme. I thoroughly enjoy effects that employ sleight of hand and my own private target from about a year ago was to be able to perform impromptu using the props that can found close to hand. I must admit that my favourite props are elastic bands and I often carry a pocket of these around so that, when there aren't any bands to be found in the vicinity, I'll throw a few about ad hoc and then home in on those! It is my own personal belief that the strongest effects are produced from objects found in the local environment and that is why my "theme" tends to be one of borrowing items or taking things from close to hand and using these in magical effects. I must admit that my line of patter tends to follow scientific principles (being a science teacher) and so, for example, the patter for "Osmosis" follows a "change of state; solid, liquid and gas" type patter line. My only hope is that no child fails their SAT's after quoting that changes of state may be induced by placing objects within the mouth!

Sean: I do close up magic, and I have a comedy theme really. I hate doing the whole mysterious thing, so I just try to act natural, and make a few jokes. I try to get my audience to laugh and start enjoying the performance

Rich: I do a bit of stage and a bit of close-up, and only really my stage presentation has any sort of theme to it. I try to be a kind of modern magician with a twist, doing things with sunglasses, a bit of flash, silks, silver balls etc. I compliment it with 'cool' and 'icy' sounding music. As for close-up, I don’t  really have a theme, but I try to do effects that are somewhat unusual and more interesting than your usual pick a card effect. Things like crossed deck, card warp, reset etc that are more interesting and also go quite well together if I do one or two to a small group of people.

Wallace: In days gone by we (my wife , daughter and moi!) actually used two 'themed' acts. The first was a Chinese act which was thoroughly researched to make sure that the symbols on the props were not, by mischance, 'rude' sayings!! :roll: The other was a Casino act where all the props used were related to Casino apparatus, cards, dice, slots etc. Took quite a while to ensure that all the items used were in fact to be found in an actual casino setting!!  A heck of a lot of effort which, when I look at the 'modern' Idols like Blaine, makes me wonder, but it was, in a way, 'theatre'!!  I sometimes feel that 'theatre' is very often completely lacking in a lot of the 'latest', stroll on, pull it out of your pocket, do it and 'wander' off!!  Put my cynicism down to advancing years!

Sam X: Following on from Oliver really. What are the style of magic you guys perform or like the best? be it stage or close up etc and also Why? ta!

Laura: Again, I was a stage magician, but now I am a children’s entertainer. I have been wanting to do little bits of close-up for a while, as I think there is a lot more that can be achieved by doing the magic in someone’s hands! However, I, so far, have not really looked to much in that direction, although I have been practicing the finger palm! I love doing children's shows and I loved doing stage shows as I crave an audience. I guess in some ways, I am in magic for the wrong reasons. I enjoy what I do, and I hope my audience do too, but I just love being in front of people and entertaining them.

Huw: There are two areas that fascinate me: 1) mentalism 2) optical illusions (vanishings, floatings, mirrors, black art etc.) You might think that those two areas are at the far ends of the 'magical' spectrum. In fact, in their way, both these arts pose the same challenge - namely: why are people prepare to believe what they see.  As some of you may have noticed, I tend towards the skeptical persuasion, so anything that makes people challenge their assumptions about what appears to be happening 'before their very eyes', has a tremendous appeal for me.

Andy D.: Well Sam.............I have always liked 'In yer face' magic, so therefore Close-up is my genre. Also I tend to look at stage magic as using expensive mechanical props, and flexible females, although I am still entertained by it.  I feel that the close-up guy appears exposed, and vulnerable to 'angles' and the like, and so tends to impress me more...................mind you, I am easily impressed as Lady Laura will confirm....................just ask her about the 'Fried Egg' levitation!!

Mike: I love magic in all its forms. I do kid's magic, since I've been doing it for 25 years, I figure why change now? Still, I looking to do some busking (classic street magic) this summer and hopefully will get a gig at a restaurant.

Nigel: My background has always been close-up and so that is the style with which I am most comfortable. However, recently I have had the opportunity to perform to a larger audience of 300 people and I found that I thoroughly enjoyed participating. It was a struggle to decide what effects that I know could be adapted for this larger audience but I was pleased with the final choice. I'd like to extend my experience in this field and explore other ways of making my presentation visually exciting in larger groups. Overall, I still present most of my effects to smaller audiences; parties, social gatherings, school classes, children's clubs, residential homes, private functions and so on and I would guess that this is my ultimate direction.

Rich: My favourite style of magic is stage manipulations. That's not big illusions (which I don't like) but more intimate things that can be done to music on a small stage. I like this genre because I think the most interesting things can happen and it uses the performer's hands the most out of all stage genre's. You could say the same about close-up, but there's something about being up before lots of people, rather than just performing to a few people. It's kind of a sense of grandness about it and also allows you to perform to far more people.

Chabang: I really enjoy a truly GREAT manipulation act (though the market is flooded with bad ones) likewise a good stage act (not necessarily mega illusions) failing that anything involving shiny things and movement will hold my attention for hours.

Wallace: Confession time!!  I was reared on the likes of Benyon, Levante, Kajar and Virgil, the full evening shows which were 'headliners' and theatre fillers in the years gone by.  Those shows were, to me, the very epitome of real 'Magic', colour, music, spectacle and, above all, wonder. Sadly these are "gone , like my youth too soon", but they live in the memories of a few OFs like me!!

Darryl: Hey guys, hope you all are well & thanks for making this the best magic site on the net (don't worry, I've done creeping now) It seems to me that fairly recently every Tom, Dick & Harry is making videos teaching magic. Have any of you made a tutorial video, or thought of doing so. Oh yes, what are your views on making videos, do you think it's 'selling-out' or a good way of spreading the magic?

Mike: A friend of mine and I are working on the possibility of hitting conventions this year and selling stuff. I have toyed with the idea of making a video on TT use. I see the Kevin James set at $25.00 a pop (or $60.00 for a three video set) and consider that downright pathetic. As far as I'm concerned, that's raping the public. So, were I to do such a thing, it would be a home made video and marketed very cheaply (and I would sell it as just that - A cheap video at a cheap price, but with priceless information). I don't think that making a video or selling your ideas is "selling out." I do think that the market is glutted with far too much information, though. I can't help but wonder how we've gotten to the point in our industry that there are hundreds of thousands of items on the market. Especially when you consider the size of the magic community. Still, somebody's making money or there wouldn't be that much stuff out there.

Sean: I have actually made an instructional video! Granted, it was only on my home camcorder to send to a friend to talk him through one trick, but hey! I don't think making a magic video for sale is "selling out" in anyway. The people that make these videos are usually professionals, meaning they make their trade from magic, and they need to find new and different ways to make their money

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