Alvo Stockman's Coffee Shop Magic

magimap global release

Wednesday, September 24th is the release date for magimap, a project I've been working on for some time.  All I can say at this point is that it will be your new best friend.

        

Public Calendar

I've made my personal calendar available to the public.  You can access it by clicking here

It's an easy way to keep up on the coming events I'll be attending.  If you're going to be at one, let me know!

Postmentalism on the radio

Daniel Jay Robison posted a great clip of the stunned aftermath of his performance of Postmentalism at WANR. You can listen to it here.  Congrats to Daniel on creating a miracle and getting an extra mention on the air!

Perfect Practice

Practicing can get boring. 

Well, not at first, but once we get about 75% good at something, our results slow down, and when talking to ourselves we start using phrases like "good enough" and "pretty good".

It's the world-class performers who take it all the way through that final 25%.

One main cause of the boredom is when we don't zero-in on our flaws.  Practicing the same way, we're seeing very little difference, which is really really boring -- and unproductive!

We get stuck evaluating ourselves from 0-100 scale instead of focusing in on that 75-100 scale.

Zoom in.  It's a whole new world.  Now you're making HUGE steps in the right direction when you get 5% better, it's a 25% improvement.  That feels pretty damn good.

Work hard.  Make it feel good.

Mountain View

I have been unusually quiet these last few weeks and I apologize.  I've been moving Michigan apartment all the way cross-country to sunny Mountain View, California.

I was walking down Castro Street (the main downtown street here) and I saw a street magician performing.  I did not stop to watch.  I didn't think about why at the time, but I believe part of the reason is that I don't have a very good way to indicate to the performer that I am myself a magician and would prefer to not be used as a spectator. 

It would be nice if there was some kind of gesture or phrase we could use to indicate this immediately.  Not to say "I know how your tricks work, little man" but to say, "I appreciate the artistry of what you're doing and enjoy watching, but just wouldn't give the reactions you're looking for" in a discrete way so as not to alert the rest of the audience thereby taking away any attention.

Perhaps this exists and I'm just unaware?