Dale's Blog

Free Trick In The Mail

2006-12-09T10:17:00.000-08:00

Hello,

You can get a free trick, with all the necessary props, by signing up to receive my Holiday Letter. Simply email me at mirrorname@inebraska.com with your physical address and I will mail the letter out to you, with the free trick. There is no charge for this. This is open to everyone, even people living outside the USA. This offer ends Dec. 23, 2006 so act now.

Sincerely,
Dale A. Hildebrandt
http://www.mirrorname.com/

Ultra Nerd

2006-12-07T14:16:00.000-08:00

I've created another blog, titled "Ultra Nerd". Ultra Nerd is For Nerds, By Nerds. I'd apprecitae it if you went and checked it out at http://ultimatenerd.blogspot.com/

Thanks.

Sincerely,
Dale A. Hildebrandt
http://www.mirrorname.com/

The Love of E-Books

2006-08-30T10:17:00.000-07:00

Have you always wondered how to research, write, produce, and market an e-book?

People often ask me how they can do what I do, and now I'm revealing my processes for a select group of 20 people in an email course titled "Inside Infopreneuring".

This is an 11 week course, where you get a lesson each saturday for eleven weeks. The lessons are around one page long, short yet powerful, direct and to the point.

The first email course starts this Saturday, Sept. 2, 2006. I still have some spots open, so if you've always wanted to learn the ins and outs of e-books, sign up now.

Simply PayPal $25.00 US to mirrorname@inebraska.com with the subject line "Inside Info".

Sincerely,
Dale A. Hildebrandt
http://www.mirrorname.com/

The Love Of Physical Books

2006-08-19T17:28:00.000-07:00

First, I want to thank everyone who has supported me and this blog.

Some people do not enjoy reading from a monitor. I'm not one of those people, but I still enjoy physical books as much as electronic books. I value each one in different, but equal, ways.

If you want to read "The Life And Times Of B. Bizarre" as a physical book, simply go to http://www.lulu.com/mirrorname

There you will find an uninterrupted version of the BlogBook I have posted to this blog (meaning there are no comments between chapters on various things)

Sincerely,
Dale A. Hildebrandt
http://www.mirrorname.com/

PS If you want an electronic version of the book you can get that at http://www.lulu.com/mirrorname as well!

PPS I realize this probably won't generate many sales (after all, you could potentially read the entire book right here on this site) but I thought some of you might like to have this volume in a more cohesive form or in a physical form.

What The Devil?

2006-06-03T08:26:00.000-07:00

My blogging activity is going to be concentrated on my new blog "The Devil Still Deals". "The Devil Still Deals" blog looks much better than this blog. You should go check it out at:

http://devilstilldeals.blogspot.com

I've been posting things there and you'll want to take a look.

Sincerely,
Dale A. Hildebrandt
http://www.mirrorname.com/

Other Stuff 3 released

2006-05-29T20:32:00.000-07:00

Other Stuff Issue Three has been released. Check it out at http://www.lybrary.com/

Sincerely,
Dale A. Hildebrandt
http://www.mirrorname.com/

About The Last Chapter

2006-04-17T11:24:00.000-07:00

Well, the previous posting to this was titled THE "LAST" CHAPTER. And it is the last chapter for "The Life and Times of B. Bizarre". The book ended up being nearly 55 pages when double spaced on 8.5" x 11" paper in Times New Roman 12 point Font.

However, if you enjoyed the writings about B. Bizarre then I have some good news for you. I am going to write a second book--again, chapter by chapter--titled "THE ADVENTURES OF B. BIZARRE". It will start off with what happened when B. Bizarre returned from Asia. It looks like "THE ADVENTURES OF B. BIZARRE" will be published in "Mind Over Magic", a wonderful hardcopy magazine published by TC Tahoe. "Mind Over Magic" is published quarterly. You can find more details about "Mind Over Magic" at http://www.tctahoe.com/mom

I am currently writing the first chapter, so I have no idea which issue of "Mind Ove Magic" that the first chapter will appear in. As soon as I find out, I will post to this blog and to my newest blog "The Devil Still Deals" (found at http://devilstilldeals.blogspot.com/ )

I really hope you enjoyed "The Life And Time of B. Bizarre".

Sincerely,
Dale A. Hildebrandt
http://www.mirrorname.com/

THE "LAST" CHAPTER

2006-04-17T11:16:00.000-07:00

The Life And Times Of B. Bizarre
by Dale A. Hildebrandt
copyright 2004-2006

CHAPTER ELEVEN: FORTUNES

B. Bizarre was going to visit Asia for six months. So, I gathered some friends and clients together to bid him farewell. We had Chinese food delivered to the Victorian style house where B. Bizarre had been spending much of his time.

Naturally, the topic of B.’s strange powers came up and B. took that opportunity to perform a little something for the small crowd gathered. To my own surprise, he performed a slight variation of a trick I had published. For the first time since meeting B. Bizarre I actually knew how he was accomplishing what he was doing. I guess this was a “Good-bye Gift” from B. Bizarre to me, almost done like a secret cipher (as I was the only one who would know the mechanics of the effect since I created it).

B. Bizarre talked about coincidence being things happening together at the same time and synchronicity being a MEANINGFUL coincidence. He said that if you look at clocks and every time you see the same time on the clock, then it’s just coincidence. But if you look at a clock at 1:15 PM for three days and then you find out a friend entered the hospital at 1:15 PM three days ago, that is a Synchronicity. B. Bizarre then explained he could make a synchronicity happen.

B. gathered all the wrapped fortune cookies. He started opening them and reading off the fortunes. The second fortune was the same as the first fortune. The third fortune matched the other two. B. Bizarre stopped reading, and quickly opened the rest of the cookies. He held them all in his right hand along with all the fortune cookie wrappers. He dropped the wrappers, and dumped the fortunes into his other hand, doing both actions almost at the same time.

The fortunes were handed to a lady sitting nearby, and the lady confirmed that the fortunes were all the same.
Of course, B. Bizarre had just performed a slight variation of my routine “Fortuitous Fortunes” from my book “Hypnohole & Other Absurdities”. Instead of doing an individual billet switch with each fortune, he used a type of shuttle pass to switch all the fortune billets at the same time. And he added a very sneaky ploy by miscalling the fortunes as he read them! That is, when he read the second fortune, it didn’t match the first one but he pretended that it did and pretended to read the same thing that was on the first fortune. This miscalling of the fortunes made everything seem even more fair than my original version. And last, but not least, when he threw away the wrappers from the fortune cookies, he was able to ditch the fortune billets that had originally been in the cookies.

After the friends and clients (who were still amazed at B.’s demonstration) gave their Bon Voyage’s and farewells to B. Bizarre, I stayed behind to help B. clean up from the small party.
“You knew how that was done, but I’m going to bring back something from Asia that will really knock you for a loop.”

That would be the last time I would see B. Bizarre for a while, so I thanked him for everything and gave him a small parting gift in the form of a Bonsai Tree.

Head Trip

2006-04-08T18:54:00.000-07:00

I should not be telling you about this website, because I'd like to keep some of the information that's on it to myself. But I suppose many people will never act on anything there, instead just thinking "Oh, that's cool." Or "Neat" or whatever. The few who do take the knowledge on the website I'm about to mention and find ways to apply it in an entertaining manner will have some real winners on their hands. But I'm betting most people won't put in the work. That's what I hope. Like I said, I'd rather have this all to myself.

The website is the Grey Matters blog, ran by Scott, at http://headinside.blogspot.com

Once you've realized how powerful an entertaining application of some of those ideas can be, you might just feel the same way as me.

Sincerely,
Dale A. Hildebrandt
http://www.mirrorname.com/

Eccentric Lives

2006-04-08T18:09:00.000-07:00

If you want an odd (and fascinating) read, then go get a copy of the book "Eccentric Lives, Peculiar Notions" by John Michell. Sub-titled on the hardcover edition "True Tales of Flat-Earthers, Head Drillers, Ufologists, Frantic Lovers, Welsh Druids, Finders of Lost Tribes, & Other Obsessed Individuals".

All the tales are interesting, but a few stand out more than the rest. One that stood out for me was a discussion of one of the "Founding Fathers" of Ufology (the study of UFO's), Georgre Adamski. Adamski claimed to be a mystic and in contact with Venusians. Sounds like a good plot to me.

According to the book, in 1952, Adamski was witnessed by six people in a conversation with a Venusian who had just stepped out of a Flying Saucer in the California desert. The witnesses were so adamant that they signed affidavits.

But, as magicians, we all know how reliable eye witness testimony is and how fallible memories can be about such things.

Oops, I've got to go, there's some men wearing all black who just pulled up in a black car....

Sincerely,
Dale A. Hildebrandt
http://www.mirrorname.com/

Incredible Deal Has Ended

2006-04-08T15:03:00.000-07:00

The Incredible Deal described in the last post is now officially over. Thanks to all who signed up.

Sincerely,
Dale A. Hildebrandt
http://www.mirrorname.com/

Incredible Deal

2006-02-15T11:31:00.000-08:00

AN ALMOST FREE COPY OF “Hypnohole & Other Absurdities” can be yours just by signing up for my free, monthly email newsletter “Success Secrets of a Mystic”.

The only cost you pay is for shipping and handling. The books will be shipped by media mail in an envelope. Total cost for you is $4.00 US. That cost covers media mail shipping and the price of the envelope.

“Hypnohole & Other Absurdities” is a HARD COPY, SPIRAL BOUND BOOK. It’s over 180 pages long. It retails for $32.00 on my website.

BUT YOU CAN GET IT FOR A MERE $4.00 US for shipping and handling costs.

Why am I practically giving away this valuable book?

Because I want to reward you for subscribing to “Success Secrets of a Mystic”, my free monthly email newsletter. Because I want you to get in on the success secrets I’ll be sharing. Because I want to build my email list. Because I want you to be able to apply the secrets of success that I’ve spent over ten years learning.

Sign up by going to http://www.mirrorname.com/newsletter.htm

Then, after you have subscribed, PayPal the $4.00 to mirrorname@inebraska.com
I will verify that you have subscribed and will mail the book out to you as soon as I possibly can. (Shipping may take 2 weeks or longer using media mail).

I’m sorry, but this offer only applies inside of the United States. This book will not be shipped outside of the USA.

If you’re already a subscriber, and you don’t yet have “Hypnohole & Other Absurdities”, email me and I’ll send you out a copy for just $4.00 U.S. shipping and handling.

This is the most incredible deal I’ve ever made. I can barely believe that I am offering my first book for so little.

And you’ll get so much out of it.

Read the review from Online-Visions at:

http://www.online-visions.com/reviews/0402hypno.html

Read more about the book at my website ( http://www.mirrorname.com/ )

What are you waiting for? I have a limited supply of these books, and you don’t want to miss out on this great deal. You can ONLY get this book at this price if you sign up for “Success Secrets of a Mystic”, my free monthly email newsletter. This offer may expire at any time without warning.

Subscribe now by going to http://www.mirrorname.com/newsletter.htm

Feel free to tell a friend about this incredible offer.

When you sign up for my newsletter, “Success Secrets of a Mystic”, your email and address will not be shared with anyone else. I respect your privacy.

Sincerely,
Dale A. Hildebrandt

P.S. What are you waiting for? Go take advantage of this incredible deal by signing up at http://www.mirrorname.com/newsletter.htm then sending $4.00 to mirrorname@inebraska.com using PayPal and you’ll get your copy of “Hypnohole & Other Absurdities” (A $32.00 Value) within a few weeks. Make sure you include a physical address when paying with PayPal so that I can ship the book to you.

P.P.S. Already have “Hypnohole & Other Absurdities”? Then I suggest you still take advantage of this limited time offer and ebay or resell one copy.

P.P.P.S. Feel free to email this offer, in its entirety, to anyone you think would appreciate it.

THIS OFFER MAY END AT ANY TIME WITHOUT NOTICE OR WARNING.

Instant Downloads

2006-02-14T09:53:00.000-08:00

My e-book, "Risk & Reward" is now available from Lybrary.com at http://www.lybrary.com/

Lybrary.com is also carrying "Other Stuff" Issue One and Issue Two.

I also now have my website set up to allow instant downloads of "Other Stuff" Issue One and/or Issue Two. You can find details in the Magic Tricks section at my website http://www.mirrorname.com/

Sincerely,
Dale A. Hildebrandt

CHAPTER TEN

2006-02-08T13:12:00.000-08:00

The Life And Times Of B. Bizarre
by
Dale A. Hildebrandt
Copyright 2004-2006

CHAPTER TEN: WINDOW

The next time I heard from B. Bizarre, he was in a few towns over from where I reside. He invited me to come visit that night. B. said he had something really spectacular to show some privileged guests. I was to be among one of those to have the honor to see his latest creation.

When I arrived, I noted that the building was quite spooky looking in and of itself. It had three floors. I rang the doorbell, and B. answered. He led me up to the second floor, where the other 11 guests were waiting. I immediately made a mental note that B. had arranged for thirteen people to show up to this get-together.

“I’ve invited you to witness a demonstration,” said B., and with that he led us to one of the rooms facing a street.

“Stand here,” motioned B. Bizarre.

Then the most incredible thing began to happen. B. looked as if he was summoning up all of his energy, and he pointed at the window. Suddenly, everyone gathered heard three distinct raps.
Some of those gathered immediately went to the window. They opened the curtain and looked out. One of them later admitted to me, that he expected to see a kid throwing rocks, or a tree branch positioned in such a way as for B. to get lucky in such a demonstration. However, there was no kid, and no tree.

B. Bizarre then asked everyone if they would join him for tea and cookies. Everyone agreed. The talk of the night centered around B. and his apparent powers. B. booked a couple of engagements from those present.

As the night came to an end, people began to leave. As I was beginning to head home, B. took me aside. “Wait until the other guests have left, and I’ll let you in on the secret.”

I impatiently waited for the other two guests to leave. One of the guests asked B. if he could demonstrate some more of his powers. B. Bizarre hesitated for a little bit, looked around the room, and then, with a sigh, said

“Most of my energy was used up with the demonstration I gave tonight. It’s not easy to do such things. But I’ll try.”

B. Bizarre then told the guest to hold his fists one on top of the other. B. swiped his own index fingers across the fists of the volunteer, and the fists went flying apart. B. then turned around and started moving his shoulders up and down as if gathering energy. He turned back to face the volunteer, and now had his own fists positioned the same way that the volunteer had positioned their fists. B.’s left fist was resting on top of this right fist. He looked into the volunteer’s eyes with a hypnotic stare, and commanded “You will be unable to move my fists in the same manner.” The man took his two index fingers and was unable to even budge B.’s fists. He looked quite impressed, and booked B. for an engagement later in the year.

The two final guests finally left, and B. went into the kitchen. When he came out, he had a couple of sodas. He handed me one, and offered me another cookie. He got relaxed, and didn’t look as if he were really as wore out as he had pretended during the demonstrations.

Then, another man came out from the kitchen, one who I hadn’t seen at the gathering. He bid B. farewell, as B. handed him some cash.

“By now, you’ve probably started to figure things out,” B. began, “I cheated. I used a hidden assistant to accomplish the tapping on the window. I supplied him with a telescoping rod, much like fake mediums used in their heyday, and had him positioned on the roof. Most people aren’t going to look through a window and look up. And even if they did, he was long gone by that time. You do have to make sure that your watches are synchronized so that the guy taps the window after you point to it and not before.”

“Did you have any problems in setting this up?” I asked out of curiosity, thinking maybe a hidden assistant would cause problems.

“You’d think the hidden assistant might cause some problems, but he’s a fellow entertainer who I’ve secretly assisted before. We have a mutual respect for each other. We did have one problem during a rehearsal though.”

“What kind of problem?” I asked.

“Well, the fifth time we rehearsed, we had one major problem. The glass had been worn out from being tapped in the same spot so many times. So the fifth time we rehearsed, the window shattered.”

“You’d think that would be an even more spectacular effect than having just taps come from the window,” I replied.

“The clean-up is horrible. Windows can be expensive. And it’s a danger to all those involved, with the broken glass everywhere. Especially when they want to go examine the window right away,” pointed out B. Bizarre.

“Well, the tapping was impressive by itself,” I mentioned.

“That was the point,” said B.

We parted company that night, as I drove back to where I was residing. I thought about how many seance performers ended their show by having a glass fall and break. Then I thought about B. talking about clean-up and dangers to the audience.

Bizarre Net

2005-12-10T20:32:00.000-08:00

Like Bizarre Magic as much as I do? Then head on over to http://www.bizarremagic.net/ to help with your fix for bizarre magic! So far, it has turned out to be a really great forum.

Sincerely,
Dale A. Hildebrandt
http://www.mirrorname.com/

A Mystic Blog

2005-12-06T10:41:00.000-08:00

The "Success Secrets Of A Mystic" blog is now up and running. Go ahead and check it out at http://mysticsuccess.blogspot.com/

Sincerely,
Dale A. Hildebrandt
http://www.mirrorname.com/

Success Secrets Of A Mystic

2005-12-02T12:31:00.000-08:00

You can sign up for my free information-packed email newsletter "Success Secrets of A Mystic" by going to http://www.mirrorname.com/ and subscribing. The newsletter is free!

And look for a related blog coming soon...

Sincerely,
Dale A. Hildebrandt

CHAPTER NINE

2005-11-25T12:12:00.000-08:00

The Life And Times Of B. Bizarre

by Dale A. Hildebrandt

copyright 2004-2005

CHAPTER NINE: RICH MAN'S TIE

I was attending a small party along with B. Bizarre. The hostess came up to B. Bizarre as we entered the room.

“I love your work. Could you please show us something? Just one little thing.”

“I don’t know about that. Are you sure?” asked B. Bizarre.

“Oh, please. Just one thing would be enough to satisfy our appetites for the evening,” replied the hostess.

“I’m not so sure...” continued B.

“I would consider it a great favor,” mentioned the hostess.

“Well, okay. One thing,” replied B., as he took out a hundred dollar bill from his upper left breast pocket.

“B. is going to show us a little something!” the hostess practically screamed with delight, getting the attention of the small circle of people. They gathered around in a small semi-circle, ready to hear what story B. had to tell.
B. started to fold the hundred dollar bill in his hands as he began to talk.

“After a private party, where I was being paid to perform, a very wealthy, but eccentric, client invited me to have dinner with him. I’ll call him Howard. Now, we both were wearing suits, but Howard had no tie on, this is important for later in the story. We arrived at the restaurant, a place that Howard could easily buy with the snap of his fingers. The maitre’d looked us up and down and then, with a sneer, said ‘I can’t let you in. We have a policy. You must wear a jacket AND a tie!’ I told you the tie would be important later on in the story. Howard brought out a hundred dollar bill, much like the one I’m holding now. The maitre’d said, with snobbery in his voice, ‘Oh THAT won’t get you in.’ Howard simply replied, ‘Oh yes it will. Go get your manager.’ Howard folded the hundred dollar bill and when he was done folding he had....” by this time B. Bizarre was done folding the hundred dollar bill and it looked like a bowtie, “made it into an impromptu bowtie. He stuck a paperclip on it and attached it to his collar. The manager and the maitre’d arrived back on the scene. Howard gently explained that the matire’d wouldn’t let us in, but Howard did have a tie on now. The manager, laughing, let us both in to dine.” B. Bizarre attached the bowtie to his collar with a paperclip. “And that’s how I learned this fold.”

The audience applauded. They had enjoyed the story. B. Bizarre spent some time folding a few dollar bills, belonging to the audience, into bowties for them to keep as souvenirs. The hostess thanked B. and told him that she owed him one.

After the party, I drove B. Bizarre to where he was staying. We discussed his entertainments for that evening.

“You always want to make sure people really want you to entertain them. You don’t want to force entertainment on people. That’s why I made sure the hostess really wanted to see something. As for the dollar bill bow tie, with George Washington’s face in the knot, I had a lot of trouble tracking down who to credit. It turns out that nobody really knows who to credit, but the published history is very interesting. I got most of the information for it from David Lister off the Origami-L Archive in two December 3, 2000 posts titled “Paper Money Folding Part Two” and “Paper Money Folding Part Three” It turns out that apart from magicians, money folding was most popular with servicemen and bartenders, and it looks as if it didn’t catch on right away with most origami enthusiasts. In 1958, Victor Frenkill told Lillian Oppenheimer that he got the fold from an unnamed former GI. Gershon Legman’s “Bibliography of Paper Folding” (privately printed in 1952) has four references to money folds. Legman attributes the fold to Mitchell Dyszel, but whether or not this is correct is anybody’s guess. In a “Jinx” magazine dating from about 1942 are the instructions to the bow tie fold. Legman mentions there is a note from someone asking for this item in the February 1949 issue of “Hugard’s Magic Monthly”. Legmans most impressive reference, however, is “Bill Folds” which originated with a magician called Al O’Hagan and was issued by George Snyder’s Magic Shop of Cleveland, Ohio in 1945. In 1956, “Paper Magic” by Robert Harbin was released and it contains the bow tie fold. It’s rather difficult to say, for sure, who originated this particular item. The story I invented to go along with the fold is of my own invention, as I thought it would be interesting to add some sort of context and story while doing the fold, in order to better arrest the attention of the audience. I believe the story is a good one, because it has a problem and a resolution, and the guy who is getting dogged at the beginning comes out on top at the end. People love to root for the guy because the waiter’s such a jerk. And most people have experienced rude service before, so this allows, in a way, for them to imagine somebody disliked getting one-upped. And yet, it’s not a real person getting one-upped, it’s an imaginary character, so we don’t feel as bad when they get what’s coming to them.”

We ended up at the place where B. was staying just as he finished his dissertation on why he thought this was a good story. I bid him farewell, and told him next time he was in town to call me. He told me, “Next time, I’ve got something I’ve been working on that will blow your socks off.”

The Prototypes

2005-11-23T12:23:00.000-08:00

I've just released a parody in e-book format. The title is "The Prototypes of the Everymen of Magicians". You can read about (and purchase) the e-book here: http://www.mirrorname.com/parody.htm

Presenting The Dollar Series

2005-08-16T12:22:00.000-07:00

Four Tricks For Four Dollars! The Dollar Series Volume One E-book is now here!

Check it out at:

http://www.lulu.com/content/153100

Sincerely,
Dale

CHAPTER EIGHT

2005-08-14T19:03:00.000-07:00

The Life And Times Of B. Bizarre

by Dale A. Hildebrandt

CHAPTER EIGHT: The Gypsy Pencil

I was having dinner with B. Bizarre and three of his clients: two women and a man. I was eating steak and B. was preoccupied with a pasta dish. I forget what the others were eating. One of the women asked B. if he would perform something for them. B. said he’d be happy to show a little something.

Out of his pocket, B. took something wrapped in a handkerchief. B. unwrapped the handkerchief and revealed a small wand with a nylon loop attached to one end. I immediately recognized this as a version of Sam Loyd’s Holetite Pencil, also known as the Buttonhole Puzzle. Loyd had created it for advertising purposes for John McCall, the head of the New York Life Insurance Company. It is used mostly as a topological puzzle by magicians, so I wondered what B. Bizarre was going to do with it.

“When I was in Scotland, I met a group or band of what we would call gypsies. They shared some stories with me. An old lady of the group shared this little scam with me after I had duly earned their trust. It turns out that once she was telling a fortune for a man. The man didn’t like the outcome of his fortune and so he asked for his money back. The woman returned the money. But, before he knew what was happening,” B. looked at the man sitting next to him at the table and started threading the loop and pencil into the top buttonhole of the man, “She attached this small wand to his shirt. She promptly explained that it was a wand of misery, and that to cut the loop or buttonhole would result in even more misery...perhaps even instant death.” The man sitting next to B. tried to remove the pencil but was having great difficulty and unable to accomplish such a feat. “Of course, the woman said, the man could have the wand of misery removed if he paid for his fortune...plus a small nominal fee. The man refused at first. He went home. He spent an entire day trying to remove that evil wand. Then he went back to the woman. He apologized and offered her anything she wanted if she would just remove the curse. She picked up a handkerchief,” B. picked up the handkerchief on the table, “Covered the wand,” B. covered the wand, and brought the pencil out from underneath it, no longer attached to the man’s shirt, “And removed the wand of misery.”

The audience of two women and one man were absolutely astonished. It seemed as if they bought into B.’s explanations of a gypsy woman and a curse. B. set the wand down on the table, and wrapped the handkerchief around it. He then put the package back into his pocket.

“That was absolutely astonishing. I have no clue how you removed that wand,” said the man.

“You must have had a lot of interesting adventures,” said the blonde woman.

“A few, a few,” replied B. Bizarre, “That was just one of the few.”

“Don’t be modest,” said the redheaded woman, “You actually hung out with a group of gypsies and they gave you one of their secrets!”

“Oh, they shared more than one secret with me. I learned a great deal from them,” replied B.

I sat their astonished at the level B. had taken Loyd’s Holetite Pencil to in his presentation. Most magicians present it as a puzzle and then show the person how to solve the puzzle. However, B. had turned it into a magic effect.

For the rest of the dinner, the women and the man talked to B. about some of his adventures and kept discussing amongst themselves that wand of misery and how fascinating it was to them. B. ended up reading the palms of the two ladies, giving them the warning, with the wink of an eye, that if they didn’t like their fortunes, he still had the wand of misery.

After B. Bizarre and I parted company with the clients, we went to a coffee house. B. ordered a triple espresso and I got a cappuccino. I promptly complimented B. on his handling of Loyd’s Holetite Pencil by saying, “That was a great handling of Loyd’s Holetite Pencil!”

B. said, “Thanks for the compliment. I was prompted to come up with the presentation because one version I received was a pencil that had the notation: Do not burn, cut, rip, or tear string or you will have seven years bad luck. That got me to thinking. WHY would it bring seven years bad luck? After all, it is ONLY a puzzle, right? So I started thinking about how to give Loyd’s Holetite Puzzle context for bad luck. Naturally, I thought about mirrors breaking but then I thought about gypsies. And I thought, what if some guy didn’t pay because he didn’t like his fortune? Naturally, we expect the gypsy to level a curse. But what if that curse weren’t just said? What if there was a physical reminder of the curse to plague the victim? Loyd’s Holetite Puzzle worked perfectly. I was able to give the “bad luck” a meaningful context. I use the handkerchief for cover when I removed the pencil so the secret isn’t given away. Too often this is presented as a puzzle and then presented with “let me show you to take this thing off, because I’m so clever”. Some days, I’d rather be perceived as mystical and magical rather than a clever puzzle solver. Okay, most days.”

B. Bizarre had explained his reasoning behind his presentation in a very short time, but it was all very useful information. B. sometimes had a way of distilling the most powerful concepts in a few sentences. The Holetite Pencil invented by Loyd now had something added to it, giving it context.

“Why a wand though, why not just keep it as a pencil and have it be a Gypsy Pencil?” I asked.

“Well, with my scripting, it makes more sense for it to be a wand. Plus, people don’t see wands every day, and a gypsy would be more apt to have a wand of misery than a pencil of misery. And remember, Sam Loyd originally didn‘t use a pencil! He used a small piece of wood shaped like a policeman‘s billy club”

“All good points,” I replied, “So I’m assuming you never met a band of gypsies in Scotland?”

“That’s something you’ll have to keep wondering about,” replied B.

Knowing what I knew of B. Bizarre, it wouldn’t have surprised me if he did know a band of gypsies in Scotland. B. liked to keep an air of mystery about him, and this seemed to make what he did even more believable to people. Perhaps that was just as important of a lesson as how to turn a topological puzzle into something almost mystical and something that was quite special.

Website Is Up And Running

2005-08-14T08:51:00.000-07:00

You can now access my main website by using http://www.mirrorname.com/

Sincerely,
Dale

ACT TWO

2005-08-11T22:27:00.000-07:00

I'm reading "Act Two" by Barrie Richardson. I really like his approach to the Ring On Spring Puzzle. He takes an old puzzle and adds a clever twist, all the while giving a great motivational metaphor! Excellent work. You can really learn a lot just from this one trick, but the rest of the book contains interesting material as well. After the Ring On Spring effect, my second favorite part of the book is his discussion on the Memorized Magazine Act. Pure genius!

Sincerely,
Dale

ZEBU Cards

2005-08-11T10:20:00.000-07:00

I have one deck of ZEBU cards for sale. ZEBU is card game that teachs hypnotic language patterns. These are tough to find. You can get more details at http://www.freewebs.com/daleshop/

Sincerely,
Dale

"Other Stuff" Issue Two

2005-08-09T12:25:00.000-07:00

"Other Stuff" Issue Two has been released. It is a One Man Issue feautring The Light And Dark Side of Liam Montier.

Subscriptions are no longer being taken, but you can obtain single issues from http://www.magic-mirror.co.uk or http://www.magic-notes.com/

Sincerely,
Dale

CHAPTER SEVEN

2005-08-06T23:01:00.000-07:00

The Life And Times Of B. Bizarre
by Dale A. Hildebrandt
copryight 2004-2005

CHAPTER SEVEN: Strong Stunts

I stepped inside the tent as the show was about to begin. B. Bizarre would be opening the show with a series of strongman feats, according to the MC that was on stage. B. was introduced and walked to the center of the stage. He introduced himself and said, “You’ll see I’m not a muscle bound giant, but tonight you will see just how strong one human can be given the proper trainings. First, I’ll need a small warm-up before we get to the more spectacular feats.” He then took out a cased deck of cards.

He removed the deck of cards from the case. He held them between his hands and tore them in half. “One more time,” he announced. He took out another deck of cards and ripped those in half as well. The crowd was suitably impressed. He picked up a phonebook.

B. held the telephone directory between his hands, on top of his knee, and slowly he ripped it in half. The two halves fell to the ground with a bit of a thud. The audience clapped enthusiastically. “I’ll need a volunteer now. You, sir, look strong enough for this task.” A man who was at least three times as muscular as B. Bizarre was brought up on stage.

B. had the man hold his arms out horizontally. He then had the volunteer make two fists and put one fist on top of the other. The man was then instructed to push up with the bottom fist and down with the top fist. B. pointed his own index fingers at the man, took a deep breath, and then--with only his index fingers--separated the mans fists as if it were child’s play. “Perhaps you think it’s easy. I’ll let you take a turn,” B. commented.

B. turned his back to the audience, and looked as if he were concentrating as he took several deep breaths. He then turned around with his fists in the same position as the muscular man’s fists had been in a moment before. The muscular man took his two index fingers but could not budge B.’s fists. The crowd gave ooh’s and ahh’s galore.

B. invited the man to stay on stage for one more demonstration. “You’ve tried moving my fists. I’ll make it easier for you. Try to move my fingers apart.” B. held his index fingers tip to tip and the tips were touching his sternum. The man pulled and pulled on B.’s arms but was unable to separate B.’s fingers. “Let’s give a round of applause to this wonderful volunteer!” B. exclaimed. The audience dutifully applauded.

B. set up two concrete blocks and put a brick on top of the concrete blocks. “You’ve seen people break pieces of wood in half. Wood is easy, its a softer material. Years of training have led to this next demonstration of strength.” B. chopped the brick in half, then signed each half and handed one half to one spectator and the other half to another spectator.

“What’s about to follow is one of the most difficult feats to perform. I rarely perform this. I need a man wearing a belt.” Several men stood up. I was wearing a belt, but I decided to stay seated. B. chose one of the men.

The man stepped up on to the stage. B. told the man, “I am about to lift you by your belt....using MY TEETH!”

The audience looked as if this were unbelievable. They simply had to see this. B. had the man unloop his belt, so that the excess of the belt was not in the loop of the belt, but rather sticking straight up. B. had the man lay down and told him to remain rigid because that would make it even more difficult for B. to lift him. B. tested the belt to make sure it wouldn’t break. He then bent down and grabbed the excess belt with his teeth...and picked up the man! He picked up a man by his belt using his teeth. The audience gasped, then applauded. B. sent the man back to the audience after getting the audience to applaud for the volunteer.

“I’m able to do that because I have very strong teeth. I built them up by doing this...” B. said as he hammered a nail into a piece of wood. He placed the wood on the concrete blocks. He wrapped the top of the nail with a handkerchief and then he bit the nail in half. He showed the nail in his mouth, and held his hands out in a natural applause cue. The audience went wild and after a few seconds gave him a standing ovation.

B. had certainly entertained the crowd. I wondered if what he had done was legitimate or if he used stooges and trickery. I would soon find out that what he did was a combination of the two. The other acts came on and I watched them as well. There was a juggler, and a fire breather, amongst other things. I met B. outside the tent after the show, where he was signing autographs for some children who had seen the show. B. finished signing the autographs and invited me back to his trailer.

I stepped into the trailer, and the first thing that caught my eye was about forty phonebooks sitting in a pile. B. noticed me eyeing the telephone directories and promptly explained, “I need those for the telephone book tear.” He then started making some coffee and said, “I’m betting you wonder if that was legitimate or trickery. Well, it is a combination of the two.”

“Why do you tear a deck of cards in half twice? Why not just once?” I asked, as that had made me really wonder.

“Because after the show, some people will tell their friends “He tore two decks of cards in half.” and it sounds like I tore two decks at the same time. It’s just a bit of psychology. Not everyone will describe it that way, but a few do,” explained B.

“What if someone asks you to tear two decks in half at the same time?” I inquired.

B. took out two decks of cards and tore them in half...at the same time. “I’m prepared for it,” he responded.
I picked up the cards but they seemed normal, ordinary, torn-in-half cards.

“I supposed you’d like an explanation of the act,” said B.

“If you don’t mind,” I replied.

“Of course not,” B. said, “The first thing that’s important in this act is the tearing of the cards in half. That gives the impression later that I could tear two decks at the same time. More importantly, it is a stunt that I can do without a volunteer. So I’m alone on stage, which I feel is important when opening an act. It allows me to establish a connection with the audience and also to look out there and see who’s going to be the best volunteer for later stunts. Tearing the decks of cards is a legitimate stunt. It takes a bit of muscle and a certain knack. You have to hold the cards the correct way. The palm of the right hand faces away from you and holds the card from behind. The palm of the left hand is towards your body and holds the cards from the front. You then twist the hands and the hands act almost like a vice. The cards then tear. Start with a quarter of a deck and work your way up to a full deck...at least that’s what I did to learn the stunt.”

B. handed me a quarter deck of cards, and I was almost able to tear them in half. After a few tries I was able to tear the quarter deck of cards in half easily. B. complimented me on my fast learning. B. then swept up the cards that were all torn in pieces on his trailer floor. He then started to explain how he tore two decks in half at once.

“It’s quite simple because I cheat,” he told me, “I take the time to prepare two decks of cards. You cut them almost in half. You leave the top and bottom card unaltered. This allows you to easily tear two decks. This is a method that some use to tear one deck in half, but I figured if you are going to cheat you should cheat spectacularly. That is why I tear two decks at the same time.”

I glanced over at the pile of phonebooks and B. guessed my next question.

“To tear the phonebook is a legitimate stunt...sort of. You bevel the pages while resting the directory on your knee. Thus you are tearing the phonebook a few pages at a time instead of all at once. However, to the audience, it looks as if you tear the whole thing in half all at once. That is the impression that the audience is left with in their minds. It still takes a bit of practice, though! You can’t just pick up a phonebook, bevel it, and expect to tear it the first time.”

The coffee was ready at this point, and B. poured both of us a cup. B. then held out his fists like the man had held his fists out for the demonstration. “Go ahead, try moving the fists with your fingers,” he said. I tried and was able to quite easily. “As long as the person is pushing down and up, this becomes very easy. An old lady could move the fists apart. However, when it is my turn, I put the thumb from my lower hand into the upper hand, with the fingers closed around it. You will have a very tough time getting the hands to move when I’m not pushing up and down and I’ve also grasped my thumb to boot! The finger stunt is an old Georgia Magnet stunt that I’m sure you're familiar with. That relies on simple physics. The point of these stunts is to show my strength over a person who is bigger than me. That’s when it works best, when there is a person who is quite muscular trying to move my two fingers apart and not being able to. Of course, they have to grasp my forearms, and not my wrists. Also, they can’t use their feet! The moment where I break the brick...” B. gave a sly smile, “...is one of my favorite moments. It helps reinforce that I’ve had some sort of unspecified special training and that’s why I’m able to do this. I lift the brick with the other hand, and smash it down on the blocks while all the attention is on my chopping hand coming down to break it! It’s quite an old stunt, but it still works. I sign the brick and give it away to prove there’s no trickery involved. After all, if it were a trick, I wouldn’t give away the brick, now would I? But by that time the trick has been performed. Signing it also adds an aura of celebrity to the act and tells the rest of the audience, “Sure, I’ll sign autographs and you should want one!” The last items in the act are my favorites.”

My coffee had cooled down and I was able to start drinking it. B.’s reasoning behind his stunts was as fascinating as the secrets behind them.

“Lifting a person by their belt with my teeth...I don’t recommend trying this at home. I actually did something kind of stupid and learned this from a book, I suggest other people learn it from a live person! Dominic Valentine was credited with submitting it to the book I read. I then later read an earlier book that had a similar stunt. Valentine’s addition--and I don’t know if he was the one who added this--was to use the belt already worn by the subject.. You have the volunteer tighten their belt as much as possible. Then you take the excess out of the loop so it is sticking straight up. You lean over the volunteer with both of your hands palm down just above the knees. Make sure the volunteer crosses their arms over their chest and that they remain as rigid as possible. Make sure the belt is strong, this is very important, you don’t want a belt to break on you. Also make sure there isn’t a lot of stretch in the belt or you’re in for a rough time. Chomp down comfortably on the belt with your teeth and start to rise. You will lift the person. You probably won’t lift them very far, but it’s darn impressive! The last thing I do is a finale that leaves me on the stage alone and leaves me in a natural applause cue, which is very important. You want to prompt the audience that this is your final bit and that they need to clap and stand up and holler and what not. You want to get a relatively big hammer. It will make more noise and look more impressive. Hammer the nail one third of the way into the board. Make sure two thirds of the nail is sticking out. Wrap a handkerchief around the head of the nail, and clamp your teeth down on that. Move your head back and forth, and the nail will act like a fulcrum and eventually break. You will have to practice to obtain speed with this item. Of course, this leaves me with a nail in my mouth, and my hands out for an applause cue.”

B. and I talked some more about the structuring of his act. I then had an appointment to attend to, and parted company with B. Bizarre, resolving to stay in touch with him and let him know how my own attempts at tearing telephone books were going.

Risk & Reward Reviewed

2005-08-06T22:59:00.000-07:00

Peter Marucci reviewed my Ebook "Risk & Reward" at the Online-Visions site. You can read his review at http://www.online-visions.com/reviews/0511risk.html

Sincerely,
Dale

CHAPTER SIX

2005-05-08T18:37:00.000-07:00

The Life And Times Of B. Bizarre
by Dale A. Hildebrandt
copyright 2004-2005

CHAPTER SIX: Delicious Encounter

I went to a small carnival one fine summer day. I went up to a food booth, and I noticed that B. Bizarre happened to be working behind the counter. We said hello to each other and I ordered one of my favorite carnival foods: funnel cake. B. told me that he’d show me around the carnival in a couple hours after he got off work.

A couple hours passed by and B. joined me on the “midway”, which wasn’t much of a midway as this was a rather small carnival. B. explained that each person was doing two or three different things each for the carnival and one of the jobs he had taken was food concession. I asked him what other jobs he was doing for the carnival and he replied that I would soon find out. First, though, he wanted to share something with me.

What he shared with me really made my day. It was a recipe for how to make funnel cake at home. Now I need not go to a carnival or wait year-round for a local fair in order to enjoy this most delicious food. He wrote the recipe down for me on a couple pieces of small notebook paper.

2 eggs

1/4 cup brown sugar

2 cups flour

1 1/2 tsp. baking powder

1/4 tsp. salt

1 1/2 cups milk

oil

powdered sugar

Beat together 2 eggs and 1/4 cup brown sugar, to create an egg mixture.

In a separate bowl, mix 2 cups flour, 1 1/2 tsp. baking powder and 1/4 tsp. salt, to create a dry mixture.

Add dry mixture to egg mixture along with 1 1/2 cups of milk. Stir until it is a smooth batter.

Heat oil in a deep fryer or electric skillet to 375 degrees.

Use enough oil to cover the bottom of the pan.

Ladle 1/2 cup of batter into funnel while holding your finger over the hole.

Hold funnel over hot oil. Remove finger from hole and move funnel in a spiral motion until the oil batter has dispensed.

Fry on each side for 2 minutes or until golden brown.

Remove from pan. Place on paper towel to drain.

Place on plate and sprinkle with powdered sugar while still warm.

Wait for it to cool a bit, then eat it.

This recipe was truly awesome for now I could make funnel cake anytime I wanted and didn’t need any special equipment. I could easily make all the funnel cake I wanted and eat it, too. I tried out the recipe that night at home and it worked beautifully.

B. Bizarre then jokingly said he would reveal the secret to Pickle On A Stick, since he had given me the secret to funnel cake. B. said, “Insert stick into pickle.” We both had a good laugh over that one. B. then told me he was having a greater laugh at the people paying two dollars for a pickle on a stick. “I guess a stick adds more value to a food,” he added.

It turned out that the two other jobs B. was helping out with were the ticket booth, which he said was rather mundane, and he was also doing a short act. I asked him what type of act he was doing and he replied that he was in the sideshow doing various and sundry things. He looked at his watch and it was time for the sideshow to begin, so he hurried to the tent. He comped me a ticket to get inside. I stepped into the tent to watch B.’s sideshow performance. It would prove to be a strong piece of entertainment.

CHAPTER FIVE

2005-03-07T22:01:00.000-08:00

The Life And Times Of B. Bizarre
by Dale A. Hildebrandt
copyright 2004-2005

CHAPTER FIVE: Lights Out

The travel plans of B. Bizarre and I happened to coincide in the same large city for a few days. I agreed to pick up B. Bizarre and a couple of his clients from the airport. I drove up to the airport and entered the building. When I found B. Bizarre and his clients, B. was about to start a demonstration.

“Glad you arrived,” he said to me without turning around, “I’m just about to show these two a little stunt you can use to win free drinks and pick up attractive women,” he jested, “Or at the very least look silly in an airport.”

I noticed that B. Bizarre was in full suit regalia, with a vest. This turned out to be important, as he announced that the stunt involved taking off his vest without taking off his jacket. “It’s something I picked up while studying the art of escaping from straitjackets, handcuffs, and the such, although a little less dangerous,” he extolled.

We saw him wriggle around for a few seconds and then suddenly his vest came out of his sleeve, completely detached from his body.

“How’d you do that?” asked one of his clients.

“Part of it is the art of dematerialization. Some say that’s what Houdini used to walk through a brick wall...dematerialization...the art of making parts of your body intangible. Weird things like that seem to happen to me quite often, and I’ve been able to figure out how to control some of them. Sometimes watches stop around me or microwaves break or smoke detectors go off when I stand under them without anything smoking. Let’s go for a little ride and I’ll prove these outstanding powers.”

We all got into the car, and B. told me to drive down a certain street. He said that street had a more focused energy to it. The time was 1:13 AM. As we drove by the street lights, the lights went out--one by one. We would pass a street lamp and it would go out, then the second one would go out, then the third one.

“That’s the power I’m talking about,” explained B. Bizarre.

The clients looked at each other with dazed looks. They hadn’t really believed B.’s explanation about the dematerialization in the airport, but after this demonstration they were willing to believe just about anything. B. had a rather smug look on his face. We drove past the last street lamp and as it flickered off, one of the clients gave a gasp.

“The time on my watch has been changed,” said the client.

“Let me look at it,” said B. as he held her wrist.

When B. moved her wrist up, the watch hands began spinning all over the place. The woman shrieked and B. let go of her hand.

“Wow. I have no idea how you made those street lamps go out,” said the other, male, client,

“Do you know how he did that?” he asked me.

“I have no idea,” I said, being intrigued and shocked at just how he had pulled off such a stunt. I was definitely going to find an answer to this. I looked at the clock and it was late at night. Street lights aren’t supposed to go out at night. They go out when daylight starts.
I dropped the clients and B. Bizarre off at their destination and made an appointment to have lunch with B. the next day. He looked me and I knew that he knew I was going to pester him for the secret. I had to pester him for it, this was too great of an effect to not know the secret behind. Plus the build up was great. They didn’t believe his powers, but after seeing that demonstration they started to doubt themselves.

The next day I went to a small diner to meet B. for lunch. He showed up and started laughing.

“I already know what you’re going to ask, but I’m not going to give up the secret.”

I had to know this secret. I begged him. I cajoled him. I offered him money. He refused. But I wore him down. “Go down that street at 1:13 AM again tonight,” he said, “And you’ll see the residue of my psychic power.”

We ate lunch and parted ways. I ran a few errands that day, waiting for 1:13 AM to come. Finally, the time arrived and I went down that street again. As I went by, the street lights went off one by one as I drove past them. Just like before.

I called up B. and told him his psychic residue was still there. I told him the lights must be broken and he knew that those lights needed fixed. I told him that he couldn’t do it on a different street. He made an appointment with me for later that night. We drove down a different street, at a different time, and the lights went out one by one.

“Okay, okay....you win,” I told him.

“I’ll let you in on it now,” he told me.

I looked up at him, surprised that he was going to give away this secret. It just seemed too good to give away. But by now, we were friends and shared these secrets with each other. We had both earned each other’s trust.

“In some large cities, in certain areas of those cities, the street lights are on timers. They go off at night at a certain time for what I guess is a two-fold purpose. One is to discourage people from loitering there, and the other is to save energy. At certain times people aren’t likely to be on those streets so there’s no reason to keep lighting them,” explained B., “I first found this out when a friend in Colorado showed me the lights go out one by one. It had happened to him when he was biking through that street late at night. It’s really pretty eerie to see those lights go out, especially when they go out one by one. Of course, most people aren’t going to go to the trouble to replicate this. First you have to find lights that go out, then time it just right to be going by those lights as they go out. So even though I’ve given you the secret, the effect will probably never be performed by more than a handful of people. It took me a couple of weeks to find out the first street and another couple of weeks to find out the second street for a repeat performance.”

I now realized that he had reset the lady’s watch at the airport and hoped she wouldn’t notice until the lights went out, and that he had a magnet concealed in his hand when he held up her wrist, in order to move the watch hands. During the performance I didn’t try to backtrack all of that stuff because I was so flabbergasted with the lights going out. It is a rather spooky experience to be driving down the road and have the lights go out one by one as you pass each light.

Taking off the vest without taking off the suit jacket is an old stunt, but B. Bizarre‘s explanation of dematerialization was interesting. I’ll now tell you how B. Bizarre accomplished this stunt. First make sure that your vest and jacket are both unbuttoned. Otherwise the effect doesn’t work. Grab the left hand corner of the jacket and keep stuffing it into the left armhole of the vest. Stuff the jacket into the vest’s left armhole until you can’t manage to stuff any more coat into any more vest. Then slip your left arm and shoulder, which are clothed with the jacket, out of the vest. Be careful not to tear your vest or jacket. Once the left arm has been freed, reach around behind yourself and pull more of the coat through the left armhole of the vest. As the coat passes through the vest, the vest will pass across your back and toward your right shoulder. Bring your right shoulder and arm, along with the jacket that’s on both of them, through the armhole of the vest. Again, be careful not to tear anything. If everything has been done correctly, you are now wearing the vest on only the right shoulder. The vest is flopping down the side under the jacket. Use your left hand to grab some loose vest near the shoulder and stuff it into the right sleeve until you can reach part of the vest from the other end of the sleeve (the hand end). Reach into the sleeve from the outside, grab the now loose vest, and pull it out through the sleeve. The jacket is still on and the vest is now off. This will take some practice before you are able to do it quickly.

B. Bizarre had some more work to do with his clients and we parted company. The street light lamps extinguishing because of B.’s power was quite a powerful plot device, and there were no gimmicks involved. I felt quite satisfied now that I knew the secret. The next time we met would prove to be a delicious encounter.

CHAPTER FOUR

2005-01-21T17:05:00.000-08:00

The Life And Times Of B. Bizarre
by Dale A. Hildebrandt
copyright 2004-2005

CHAPTER FOUR: Home Levitation

CHAPTER FOUR: Home Levitation

The special event B. Bizarre was holding was a seance. It was to be held for ten people at a time in a darkened room. He was to hold ten seances. That meant 100 people would end up seeing the seance over a period of two weeks. It was going to be, as described by B., a classic Victorian seance. I had my invitation and was rather excited by this experience...the first seance I had ever attended. It would be the first of many B. Bizarre seances that I would attend.

Nine other people and myself were ushered into a candle lit room. The windows had been covered with dark construction paper so that no light could get into the room. B. Bizarre was wearing a very classical outfit. I noticed that the group consisted of five men and five women. B. Bizarre seated them alternately, man-woman-man-woman, around the table. B. then sat down at the head of the table. “For our first experiment, let us all clasp hands in this manner.” B. showed everyone how to clasp hands. “This is to create a circle of energy,” B. explained, allowing the subtext to set in that it also prevented him from moving his hands during the seance.

B. then stood up and blew out the few candles in the room. He sat down again and told everyone to clasp hands. “Spirit, our you with us? Rap once for yes.” he commanded.

RAP! came the answer. The Spirit then answered questions for the sitters. It spelled out names of some of the sitters by rapping when certain letters were called out. It communicated quickly. The raps were loud and strong. “Can you show us your presence?” asked one daring sitter.

RAP! came the answer.

Suddenly, a luminous form appeared in the center of the table and started moving around. It went in the direction of B. Bizarre and seemed to slowly fade away. B. quickly said, “That was a dangerous question...”

Another loud Rap! came from the room, indicating agreement with B. Bizarre. “I feel a bit faint,” said B., “Break the circle, these spirits might prove too dangerous...” The circle was broken. Everybody let go of each other’s hands. I felt the sweat dripping off the lady to my right’s hand and the cold shivers of the lady’s hand to my left.

“Wait. Wait. I’m...I’m being lifted up out of my chair. I’m, I’m floating. I’m levitating in the air. Reach up and you can feel my boots,” exclaimed B. in a half-trance like voice.
“I can feel his boots and his leg” squealed one of the ladies present.

Soon B. floated too high for the sitting spectators to reach, as B. warned them to not stand up or he might be knocked out of the air with dire consequences from such a fall.

“I’m at the opposite end of the room now,” said B., “I’m marking the ceiling with a pencil. I’m putting X’s there. Now..now I’m returning to my seat. I’m being pushed down. I’ve stopped flying. Quick turn on the lights.”

The lights were promptly turned on. The table was at one end of the room, and the marked ceiling was at the complete opposite end of the room, away from any chairs or tables. There were no ladders in the room, or for that matter even in the house. Everyone looked up at the marked ceiling, there were a few X’s marked there in pencil. One gentleman picked up a chair to see if he could reach the ceiling on top of a chair, but it was to no avail. Even standing on his chair, and only his chair could have been used, B. could not have reached the ceiling. B. had no rods or devices on him either. Nothing he could have attached a pencil to and put the marks up there.

“He really levitated,” exclaimed one of the ladies.

“He must have,” agreed a gentleman.

“I don’t know how he did it.....unless he has powers of some sort.”

“I don’t have any powers, it was just the power of the spirits taking over,” explained B. Bizarre, but nobody really believed him.

For the next two weeks, B. Bizarre would hold seances in that darkened room. The levitation wasn’t always done, only sometimes. But when it was done, it really amazed the sitters. There was just no possible way B. could get to that ceiling. Some of the sitters from that first night went back on a couple of other nights to try and catch the levitation again. I, myself, had learned from my ghost walk tour experience to just wait until it was over to ask B. what he had done.

Two weeks of curiosity passed by, and I called up B. and told him I’d be happy to help him dismantle the seance room. I helped him take down all the black he had put in the room, but that was all that was there. I half-suspected there to be some sort of mechanically rigged device that would allow him to float, or a telescoping ladder hidden somewhere.

“Okay, I know how you did the rapping,” I said, “You did the old mediumistic stunt of having the person to your left clasp the top of your left wrist, and the person to the right clasp the bottom of your right wrist and then when you went to blow out the candle, you just had them clasp each other’s wrists.”

“You’re quite correct,” admitted B.

“And the luminous form was just a piece of cloth with luminous paint on it, and that’s why it faded when it approached you...because you were putting it into your pocket.” I explained.

“Correct again,” B. replied.

“But what I don’t get is how you managed to levitate!”

“Well, I derived the idea from Daniel Dunglas Home, a famous spiritualist medium,” B. started to explain.

“D. D. Home just happens to be my favorite fake medium,” I replied.

“Well, I read up on him and had a few ideas because of my readings. The whole matter is pretty simple. While I’m setting up the room, and alone in that room, I move the table to the opposite end of the room. Then I set a chair on top of the table. That allows me to reach the ceiling. I take out a pencil and mark a few X’s on the ceiling. I then move the table back to the opposite end of the room. Since the table is at the opposite end of the room, I obviously could not have stood on it during the seance to reach the ceiling. And since my chair is the only chair available to stand on, and it doesn’t reach the ceiling then I could not have stood on the chair either. I must have really floated. People don’t inspect the ceilings of places they go into and even if they give it a cursory glance, they don’t see what they’re not expecting to see. Plus, the room starts out in candle light, not the best light to see a few light pencil markings,” explained B.

“But then how did they feel your boots and legs? A fake leg hidden somewhere?”

“Much simpler than that!” exclaimed B., “If you remember I wore boots that went almost up to my knees. My pants were made of the same material as my suit. The boots were of the slip-on variety, which meant there were no laces. I slip off those boots and put them on my arms. I then reach up over the table and they can then feel my boots. Since they feel my boots, psychologically they assume that they are feeling my legs as well. Since it’s the same material used for the pants and suit it feels the same as well. I then tell them to let go so that I don’t fall. This gives me time to put the boots back on while I tell them I’m floating higher above them and to the end of the room. I then suggest that I’m now putting pencil marks on the ceiling. People believe it. I don‘t always let them feel the boots and legs. With the right crowd, I just suggest I‘m floating and tell them I‘m marking the ceiling. Which, as you now know, was marked from the very beginning.”

“Wow, that’s really worked out. That’s a great in-the-dark levitation.” I replied, “But what if someone asks you to levitate in daylight?”

“Well there are quite a few methods of accomplishing that out on the market,” replied B., “But I think too often magicians are in search of some sort of Holy Grail of Levitations. They want to be able to do it in daylight, surrounded, with nothing to balance on, etc. etc. When you come down to things, what was the effect I accomplished at that seance? The effect that was accomplished was a levitation. The audience remembers me levitating. They don’t ask if it can be done surrounded or in daylight. After the spirit rapping and the luminous form appearing, they’re willing to accept my word that I’m levitating, because my words have matched my actions. Much like Kenton Knepper talks about in “Kentonism”, a very valuable book for people who want to study the real work. Like I said, when it comes down to things, in the audience’s minds I levitated. It is amazing what you can get away with using psychology and suggestion. Plus, I almost feel that a dark levitation can be superior, at times, to a levitation done in full daylight. It leaves the levitation in the minds of the spectators, and they exaggerate it far beyond what I could do in daylight. It is much like when Alfred Hitchcock only hints at a monster, leaving your imagination to fill in the rest. The human imagination is far more powerful than any fancy special effect.”

B. Bizarre made a lot of good points. I resolved to consider all of them to better understand my own magic. B. then had an airplane to catch. We made an appointment to see each other in seven months. B. told me he had something he was working on that just might surprise me. I told him that I had come to expect the strange from him and he replied that I wouldn’t be disappointed with his new work.

CHAPTER THREE

2004-12-14T11:29:00.000-08:00

The Life And Times Of B. Bizarre
by Dale A. Hildebrandt
Copyright 2004

CHAPTER THREE: One Dollar Auction

I was browsing through a store in a shopping mall when I thought I spotted B. Bizarre. I took a second look, and sure enough it was him. It had been over a year since we had last met, and now he happened to be in the same store in the same mall at the same time as me. He turned around, as if he sensed me looking at him. He saw me and flashed a big smile and started walking towards me.

“Good afternoon,” I said, “What are you doing here?”

“Oh, I’ve been hired by a charity here,” he replied.

I’ll leave the charity nameless just to help protect B.’s identity.

“That’s interesting. What tricks will you be doing?”

“Oh, I won’t be doing any magic tricks. I’m not putting on a charity show. I’ve been asked to be a consultant for the charity. We’re going to hold an auction.”

“What are you going to auction?” I asked.

“A one dollar bill,” he replied.

“Oh, I get it. A rare, collectible one dollar bill, huh?” I said smugly.

“Oh no, no. Just an ordinary dollar bill like you can get at any bank in the country,” he said, and added with sly smile, “And bidding starts at one cent.”

“How do you plan on making any money by auctioning off a dollar bill for a penny?” I asked.

“Because I plan on appealing to two fundamental human emotions: greed and vanity,” he retorted, “You should come to the auction and see what happens. It‘s going to be a black tie affair.”

I reluctantly agreed to attend the auction. I thought it was going to be a disaster. At most someone might pay fifty cents for a dollar bill. I was soon to be proven wrong.

It was a week later and time for the auction. I showed up to the place where the auction was to be held and noticed that it could, indeed, use a few repairs. Unfortunately, or so I thought, B. Bizarre wasn’t going to raise much money auctioning off a dollar bill. Then things started.

B. Bizarre walked to the front of the platform. “Ladies and Gentleman,” he started, “I have here an ordinary run of the mill one dollar bill. Bidding starts at one cent.”

Someone quickly bid one cent. Then another person bid two cents. Then three cents was bid. Someone bid a dime. Things weren’t looking good from my viewpoint. Someone bid twenty cents. Not to be outdone, one person bid fifty cents. Yes, B. was appealing to human greed. However, where was the vanity, I wondered. Someone then bid seventy-five cents. Another person bid ninety-seven cents. One person bid ninety-nine cents. And there was a pause. I thought that was the end. B. was going to sell a dollar bill for ninety-nine cents. Then someone who had bid two cents, bid a dollar. Well, even money, I supposed. Then something strange happened.

The bill became more valuable then it was worth, and each person was trying to bid up the price for the other person to pay more. Also, it became a status symbol, as I noticed some gentlemen bidding large amounts to impress their dates or to impress other people. Soon the bidding was up to one hundred dollars. Then two hundred dollars was bid. The bidding ended at three hundred dollars, and the dollar bill went to a guy dressed in a cowboy hat and matching shirt and boots. He looked as if he had just bought a winning lottery ticket or something, when all he had done was over pay for a dollar bill by two hundred ninety-nine dollars.

B. Bizarre thanked the gentleman. Some other stuff started to get auctioned off, but that night the dollar bill was the talk of the event. The gentleman who won it was showing it off to friends and other people were asking to take a look at it. B. had made almost nothing into something pretty special. It was quite a talent to have, making something from almost nothing.

Later, B. Bizarre and I went to get some ice cream. “I’m getting to know you pretty well,” I said, “And I want to know what you got out of that auction.”

“Well, I wanted to help out the charity. You saw the place, it needed some repairs. In return, I got a letter of reference from them, after the auction, for consulting work. Before the auction, they all thought I was crazy. Nobody thought I would get more than ninety-nine cents for that dollar bill. That’s what you thought, too.”

“I guess I underestimated you,” I conceded.

“Actually, you underestimated the power of vanity over the human psyche. It can be a pretty powerful tool when applied correctly,” B. said.

During that small talk, most of my ice cream had melted on to the table. I went up to order another ice cream, and B. told me had to leave. He had a few errands to run. Before he left, he invited me to a special event he was holding in a few months. It would be a very strange event.

Positively Poker

2004-12-10T16:13:00.000-08:00

I've just finished a great book titled "Positively Fifth Street" by Jim McManus.

McManus, a reporter for "Harper's", enters the World Series of Poker and ends up...well, you'll have to read the book to find out where he ends up.

This is an enthralling read, suspensful, yet at times very funny.

There isn't much poker strategy discussed. One should think of this more as "gonzo" journalism at its best.

With the current Poker Craze, this book comes along at just the right time.

Sincerely,
Dale

Conditions, Conditions

2004-11-30T11:12:00.000-08:00

I've been playing around with a card trick I found in a Martin Gardner book. The reactions I've been receiving from it have been minimal.

Fortunately, I've also been reading "Strong Magic" by Darwin Ortiz. I'm just at the beginning of the book, and it has already provided several answers to making this Gardner effect more of a magic trick and less of a puzzle.

This has been accomplished so far by using conditions. Originally, the effect has the magician shuffling. I realized I can have the spectator shuffle and get the same end result. The effect also calls for counting cards, and I realized that the spectator might think I'm doing something fishy while they are counting their cards. I now have a second spectator count the cards.

I haven't changed the method of the effect, but I have changed the presentation. Most of the work happens outside of my hands now. The effect is a little bit more powerful now.

According to Ortiz's book, the effect still has something going against it: the counting of cards. He cites innumeracy and math anxiety as two reasons people don't want to do any counting or math. And people can count wrong as well.

So, I haven't abandoned this effect...yet. I'm still looking for a way to get around the math issues. I think I might have stumbled upon something but I'll have to test it to see how well it works.

"Strong Magic" has greatly improved this weak trick, making it into something at least interesting, if not yet strong. I've learned a lot, but more importantly I've been able to apply a lot, from this book.

Sincerely,
Dale

Daredevils

2004-11-27T07:03:00.000-08:00

"The Daredevil's Manual" by Ben Ikenson will tell you all about daredevil stunts. From eating fifty hot dogs in twelve minutes to parachuting off a building, this book makes for a fascinating read.

However, do not attempt any of the stunts. The author has purposely kept instructions vague so that you won't go out and try this stuff. This was a good idea. DO NOT TRY THIS STUFF AT HOME!!! You'll find warnings about just how stupid you'd be to try this stuff all through the book.

The book sometimes has a humorous slant to it, and sometimes a bit of philosophy slips through into the book. It's a fun read, but not an instructional one.

Sincerely,
Dale

CHAPTER TWO

2004-11-23T15:33:00.000-08:00

The Life And Times Of B. Bizarre
by Dale A. Hildebrandt
copyright 2004

CHAPTER TWO: The Locked Room

The next time I would meet up with B. Bizarre was during one of his ghost walk tours. I’ll leave the location secret to protect his identity. These were simply tours where B. would show guests around a supposedly haunted location and tell them the history behind it. Nothing much happened on these ghost tours, except for the first time I went on one.

B. Bizarre was leading people through the house. I was among the group of ten people B. was telling the stories to. This was the first night of B.’s ghost walk. We came up to a room in the upstairs of the house and suddenly a moan was heard from inside the room. B. tried opening the door, then realized it was locked. He quickly unlocked the door. A couple of the other tour guides were nearby and had heard the moan and ruckus and came up to see what was going on upstairs. The room was empty.

The windows were locked from the inside. There was nowhere for anybody to hide. There were no secret passages. It was an empty room, locked from the inside. Nobody could have got in that room. Knowing B. from our previous meeting I suspected he had something to do with this strange occurrence. My curiosity got the best of me.

I went on that ghost walk tour for the next three weeks. I hoped to try and figure out how B. Bizarre had accomplished this feat. But my goal would be in vain, for the moaning ghost from the locked room never happened again on that tour. Although, word spread fast about it.
The ghost in the locked room soon became legend among the town. People were booking spots in the tour weeks in advance. The tour ran for a few months, but after three weeks I figured out that B. wasn’t going to repeat what he had done. Instead, he let the legend build and build.

The last time I went on the tour, I waited for all the other guests to leave and then arranged a meeting with B. Bizarre. He said he was busy for the next few months, giving lucrative ghost tours, but he could meet me in May. I asked him the secret, and he said he’d tell me in May. That was six months of agonizing waiting to learn how he had pulled off this most amazing stunt.

As I was leaving the town, I noticed that B. had gotten the haunted house into the newspapers with his escapade. The publicity was good for a run down house, that was probably never haunted in the first place. Although, the more I pondered it, I figured it wouldn’t surprise me if B. told me the place was really haunted and he made a deal with the ghost...just to keep the real secret to himself.

Months passed by and I received a morning telephone communication from B. Bizarre. He would be near where I was at in a few days. And he would tell me all about the voice in the locked room. I groggily looked at my calendar. It was May! I was delighted. It was like Christmas had finally come. I was finally going to learn the secret.

B. Bizarre arrived in the small anonymous town where we had agreed to meet. We were sipping coffee and eating bagels. I could hardly contain myself. He looked me dead in the eyes, a big grin coming across his face. “So, how do you think it was done?” he said, antagonizing me.

“I inspected that room,” I said, “And there were no recorders, no secret passages, no way for a person to get out without unlocking the door or windows. If I knew how it was done, I wouldn’t be sitting here having coffee and bagels with you.”

“It really did give that old place some badly needed publicity,” B. said, “but I never thought it would become so far reaching. So many people went on that tour. The profits were really nice,” I noticed B. looking out the window at a new car, “And I did keep you waiting until May. This probably seems like Christmas to you!” with that B. gave a laugh.

“So tell me how it was done,” I persisted.

“I hired a person to help me.” B. said.

“But there was nobody in that room! No way anyone could get out of that room either. And no secret passages. We all looked.”

“EVERYONE looked for secret passages. The tour was supposed to be fifteen minutes and got dragged out to a half hour or more with people looking for secret passages and testing the locks on the windows and the doors. The key is, there was never anybody in the room in the first place. Sound is a precarious thing. Suggest a sound is coming from somewhere and everyone will agree that’s where the sound is coming from. Just ask any ventriloquist. In fact, ask the ventriloquist who I hired to be on that ghost tour that day.” B explained.

“So you...”

“I hired a ventriloquist to throw his voice. I had him do his ventriloquist moaning bit and then I suggested it was coming from inside the room. Everyone took that suggestion to heart, including you. And then people on that tour told their friends and their friends told their friends and soon it was a small legend,” said B.

“You are really sneaky,” I told him.

“I just do what gets the job done,” he replied.

We finished our coffee and bagels and parted ways. B. Bizarre got into his new car, obviously bought from his proceeds from the ghost tour. Little would I know, our next meeting would involve the raising of funds as well. This time for charity.

Doyle on Houdini

2004-11-23T06:53:00.000-08:00

All magicians interested in spiritualism (either debunking or supporting it) should obtain a copy of "The Edge of The Unknown" by Arthur Conan Doyle. After they obtain a copy, they should thoroughly read the book.

The first chapter of Doyle's book deals with Houdini. It appears as if Doyle truly believes Houdini had some supernatural powers. Doyle's logic, however, may frustrate the most learned of readers, including but not limited to magicians. The logic Doyle uses is something akin to "If he had supernatural powers, and he didn't want anybody to know, he would say such things were fake and go to great lengths to prove such things are fake".

There is flawed logic all throughout Doyle's argument, which is disappointing when you consider the very logical character Doyle had created in his novels--mainly Sherlock Holmes. Doyle says a medium accused Houdini of putting a rod in the cabinet to discredit her. Doyle sides with the medium and her "spirit guide" and takes Houdini to task. Doyle's logic goes a bit like this: Houdini was a master of sleight of hand, so getting a ruler into a closed cabinet while surrounded by other people would be an easy matter for him. Doyle doesn't consider one of the many other possibilities: the medium found herself stuck in a situation, she had her reaching-rod but no way to use it without Houdini detecting it, so she came up with an "out" by saying Houdini put it there to discredit her.

Now, I'm not saying that Doyle was stupid--far from it. He appears to be a very bright man, who just happened to need to support a belief system with whatever logic he could use. I'm also not saying his belief was wrong. For all I know, Houdini could materialize his body through a wall using supernatural powers, but then that begs a few questions. If you could do something like that, why would you need a curtain to cover the wall? The obvious answer is that you don't want people to know you really possess such a power, at least according to Doyle.

Doyle's book also has a chapter on Daniel Dunglas Home (who happens to be my favorite medium). The legend surrounding Home says he was never exposed and that he did all his miracles in full daylight. Upon closer examination of the facts, and enough research, you will find that Home was "exposed" at least three times, and that he didn't do everything in full light. Home, however, was quite clever, and is a fascinating character to read about. Interestingly enough, Home wrote a book exposing fake mediums. This only adds to Doyle's hypothesis that if you have real powers, you just might set about proving how everyone else is a fake.

Sincerely,
Dale

Weird Travels

2004-11-22T09:49:00.000-08:00

"Weird U.S." by Mark Moran and Mark Sceurman is a fascinating book. Hailed as a "travel guide to America's local legends and best kept secrets".

I'm not sure about the "secrets" part there. For those of us who enjoy the weird, there are few surprises.

Included in this "travel guide" are pieces on Emperor Norton, Anton LaVey, and The Mutter Museum.

The graphic layout of the book is really nice. The authors admit in the beginning of the book that they don't really check on "facts", they just let people report "the weird". This makes for an interesting test of one's sensibilites. It also makes the book more useful as a prop or fun read than it does as a factual reference guide. If you want facts--look elsewhere. If you want entertainment--it's in this book.

Sincerely,
Dale

Folding 1,000 Cranes

2004-11-21T07:40:00.000-08:00

Origami credits are not the easiest to look up. Who invented what and when are often not detailed in many of the books aimed at the general public. Perhaps other books offer better sources, but recently the materials I've come across mention nothing about the history of the creators. I understand that some cannot be credited, but I'm sure many more are just being lax on crediting.

I've been told that if you fold 1,000 cranes, you get a wish. Perhaps I should start folding and wish for a comprehensive book of origami credits when I finally finish the thousandth crane.

Speaking of folding 1,000 cranes, here is a short tale I created. You might find it useful to tell while folding a crane, or you might not.

FOLDING FOR LOVE

There was a man who was smitten with love for a certain woman. All day and all night, all he could think about was her. She was on his mind and in his heart. But this wasn't his only love, for he also loved to make origami models.

He knew about a certain legend. It was rumored that if you folded 1,000 cranes you would get your wish. He had only one wish. He wanted her love in return. So, he sat down in his parlor and started folding.

Days and nights passed by, melting into one another. He started to refuse meals, so that he could work on folding the cranes, and get his wish as soon as possible. The day finally came when he was to fold the last crane.

He began to fold, and as he folded, he slowly knicked himself on the paper. He had received a papercut. Without thinking, he looked down at his bleeding finger and said "I wish that hadn't happened". In front of his eyes, the papercut disappeared. He slowly realized what he had just done.

Sincerely,
Dale

CHAPTER ONE

2004-11-20T16:49:00.000-08:00

As promised, here is the first chapter of my "blogbook".

The Life And Times Of B. Bizarre
by Dale A. Hildebrandt
copyright 2004

CHAPTER ONE: The Mind Reading Fly

B. Bizarre is a most interesting person. I have no idea what his real name is, but when he was first introduced to me, he was introduced simply as “B.” Later, he revealed his last name, or at least the name he was going by, as Bizarre. I shall not give a physical description of the man, as he has asked for his identity to be kept somewhat of a secret for reasons best known to him. The first thing he shared with me was as intriguing and mysterious as his identity.

He brought out a jar containing a fly, and a box that held sugar cubes. He removed four sugar cubes and asked me to select one. I selected the one on the far left. “This fly happens to be trained with a special power. Sometimes one can communicate with insects and other animal life forms if they have practiced enough meditations. This fly and I have a sort of harmony. I’m going to mix up the sugar cubes a little bit, please keep track of your sugar cube, so that you don’t think “Oh, the fly always lands on the far left”. When the sugar cube is where you want it to be, simply tell me to stop moving the cubes.” The sugar cubes were moved around and when my chosen cube was second from the right I told B. to stop mixing them. “Give me a few seconds to communicate with the fly.” At this point B. seemed to go into a sort of trance for a few moments and then snapped out of it and hurriedly opened the jar housing the fly. The fly flew around, as flies are prone to do, for a few seconds and then landed on my chosen sugar cube.

I, naturally, wondered how B. Bizarre had accomplished such a thing and approached the matter in a delicate manner. I asked him “So...how’d you do that?” Okay, it wasn’t the most delicate of manners. It turns out the story behind how he learned to do this was just as amazing as the effect.

“I was in North Carolina,” related B., “When I saw what in carnie terms could be called a pitchman. Only he wasn’t pitching Svengali decks or the wonder mouse or the worm. He was pitching The Mind Reading Fly. He’d have a sugar cube chosen and placed anywhere the person wanted it to be placed amongst the other sugar cubes. Then he’d release a fly from a jar, and just like I have shown you, the fly would go to the chosen sugar cube. He was a bit unscrupulous and was selling a fly in a jar for thirty bucks a pop. And people were buying them! Now, flies only have a very short life span. Some of those flies probably died the next few days after being purchased. By then, the carnie had moved on to the next town. But here he was, getting thirty bucks, for The Mind Reading Fly. Naturally, I was intrigued, but I didn’t really believe in Mind Reading Insects. I knew there had to be a gaff. And I presumed that for enough money, he would tip the gaff to me. I waited until the crowd had dispersed and nobody was around. I went up to the man and told him I was more interested in the pitch than the product. I offered him a certain amount of money to tip the secret, and after negotiations, I ended up paying him three hundred dollars for the secret. Boy, did I ever feel like the biggest fool for spending that much money after I learned the secret. But I guess we all learn somehow, and now I feel a bit awkward in giving away the secret to you for free.”

At this point, B. paused and I wondered if he was casing me to see how much of a mark I was. I promptly offered to trade him one of my secrets for his secret of the Mind Reading Fly. I gave him the secret to one of my pet effects, and he was more willing to open up at that point.

“Well, your secret is pretty interesting and fair is fair,” continued B., “This actually relies on an old gambling trick principle. The operator wets his second finger, usually with a bit of saliva, sometimes with a bit of water, and picks up the chosen sugar cube. This transfers the saliva to the sugar cube. The sugar cubes are then mixed around. It turns out that flies have a natural affinity to damp sugar cubes. For some reason or another, I’m not a bug expert, they prefer the damp sugar cube to the dry sugar cube. The carnie had heard about this, but he didn’t try it until one day. A fly had been bothering him in his trailer for a couple of days, so he licked an M & M and put it on the floor. The carnie then smashed the fly with a fly swatter. The guy would then do a simple coin switch to switch out the wet cube for a dry cube, and everything was examinable. Magicians would probably think “I could use equivoque to force the wet sugar cube”, and they’d be right, but this guy just used a finger with spit on it. The man that showed this to me operated outside a tent, where a fly isn’t going to stay in someone’s house. You really have to choose where to do this and for which people to do this effect. I mean, you don’t want to release a fly in the house of any client, but especially a wealthy client that will be put off by it. That’s why this effect is best performed in one’s home, or if possible, in the great outdoors.”

B. Bizarre and I talked for a little while longer about this effect, especially about his presentation. “There’s a whole load of mystical and meditation writings that talk about communicating on the same level or wavelength as an animal or insect. So I chose to use that as a presentation framework,” B. said, “And it works very well. People who are into this sort of thing have read about animals communicating with humans and vice versa, or are willing to learn about it and believe in it. The first book I read about this communication with animals was “Beyond The Occult” by Colin Wilson. There’s a whole host of presentational frameworks in that book. A man named Rolling Thunder, I think, was supposed to be able to communicate with animals and bugs of all sorts. He would reportedly point at ants and then point in the direction he wanted them to go and they would follow his instructions. Naturally, I took that presentational framework and applied it to the Mind Reading Fly. There’s other accounts of insect and animal communication in other metaphysical books. I don’t know if it’s a real phenomena or not, but I know that it works to frame the Mind Reading Fly around it.”

So now I had the secret to the Mind Reading Fly, as well as presentational framework for it. At this point, B. Bizarre had an appointment to attend to and we parted company, but we managed to stay in touch with each other. Some of the things he’s done and some of the things he’s shown me are simply astounding, but I’ll leave those for another day and leave you to ponder The Mind Reading Fly.

Starving For Attention

2004-11-20T09:20:00.000-08:00

I've just come across the book "The Fasting Girl" by Michelle Stacey. It has a copyright of 2002. This is a biography, of sorts, of Mollie Fancher.

Fancher supposedly lived without food for twelve years. However, according to "Jay's Journal of Anomalies" by Ricky Jay, (page 122) she was exposed as a fraud by Dr. William Hammond.

The preface of "The Fasting Girl" talks about one Dr. Henry Tanner. Tanner, supposedly, survived with only water for forty days and forty nights. Tanner charged money for the public to watch him waste away. He survived the ordeal, and became at least five hundred dollars richer (according to "Jay's Journal of Anomalies, Tanner claimed he netted only five hundred dollars).

This apparent display of the human will reminded me of the United States media coverage of David Blaine. I'm sure readers can draw their own parallels.

On the opposite end of the scale, both metaphorically and literally, are the Gluttons. These performers ate large amounts of food for long periods of time and ingest large amounts of alcohol without becoming drunk. This is an entertainment rarely seen today in the United States.

Sincerely,
Dale

Intentions

2004-11-20T08:06:00.000-08:00

On this blog, I shall be posting things related to high weirdness and the impeccably strange. You'll find things on this blog that I find of interest.

I shall also attempt to create at least one "blogbook", this is a free book posted chapter by chapter on this blog. You get to read the book as it progresses. Do not expect a chapter per day!

Interlaced between chapters of the "blogbook" will be anecdotes and other things that fit into the world of weird and the sphere of strange.

Sincerely,
Dale