International Juggling Day 2019 is (by our reckoning) a week from tomorrow (Saturday, June 15)… so once again we are challenging all y’all iTricksters to learn to juggle. This year we present world record holder Josh Horton’s three ball tutorial. If you need advanced tricks then check out this playlist of videos from the International Jugglers’ Association.
And once again I will admit I can not juggle. But I will try again this year.
Impressionist Jim Meskiman recently posted this video featuring his conversations with techno-magician Marco Tempest.
Frank Paris posted this long form video looking at his professional close up case and how it is organized. If you are a performer or have an interest in performing, you might want to check it out… but it comes in at a whopping 25 minutes!
This seems like a great way to close out the week… hope y’all stay safe and warm this weekend!
iTricks Tower Midwest got a Roku a while ago and we’ve been poking around for magic content ever since… So far these are the public Roku channels I have found. If you have a private channel. please let us know.
Magic Live, featuring the magic of Tony Chapparo
Magic Murray, featuring Murray SawChuck
Franz Harary’s Magic Illusions, which is exactly what it sounds like
Magic! the newest magic channel, featuring Daniel Fernandez
Magic Shows, a kind of random selection of magic from YouTube
Haines House Of Cards, videos from the brick and mortar business, the video above is something that you might find on this channel
In addition, there are plenty of other channels (YouToo America, Red Bull, Netflix, The CW etc) on Roku with magic content.
The latest installment of Derek Selinger’s web series Magic Inspired focuses on how working in Las Vegas changed Derek’s life.
“Me At The Zoo” the first YouTube video ever posted!
One of the biggest questions I get about iTricks is “How do you find the stories and videos you post?” The answer is surprisingly simple: I search the Internet! The follow up I usually get is “How can my video get on iTricks?” That gets a little more complicated. I have a few guidelines that I follow you might want to keep in mind. First, things have to be shot pretty well with decent sound. Cell phone video is okay, but remember to hold the phone sideways (so you get a video wider than it is tall, like your TV). Bad sound and portrait style (taller than it is wide) are the top two reasons iTricks skips over videos! Remember, I also try to keep everything under 15 minutes. iTricks also tries to keep everything PG and on a positive note. Finally, I usually pass over videos made purely as commercials. This means iTricks will post your TV appearance promoting a show on the local news, but generally will not run your sizzle or highlight reel with your booking information at the end.
Of course, before I throw your video up against our guidelines, I have to find it. The vast majority of videos iTricks runs I have found… which takes us back to that “searching the Internet” thing. You are welcome to send me links that you think are iTricks worthy (brownbagmagic AT swbell DOT net). This seems like a good time to remind all y’all out there trying to be noticed that Facebook is a great place to post videos, but Vimeo is better and YouTube is still best. I hear you out there asking why and the reason is pretty straightforward. YouTube is basically a search engine for video. In fact, many search engine optimization professionals (a field yours truly has worked in recently) would tell you YouTube is the world’s second largest search engine, right after Google (who, by the way, owns YouTube). Facebook is still primarily a social platform. That means someone looking to find local magicians or cool magic videos can find them much more easily on YouTube, because the site is actively organizing its videos for searches. Vimeo works like YouTube, but it isn’t nearly as big and it isn’t owned by Google (which some people consider a plus). Although you might be found on Facebook, getting your video found primarily relies on people seeing your video and deciding to share it! If you have hundreds or thousands of friends, this might not be a problem but if you are just starting out the chances your clip will “go viral” are practically nil! If in doubt which is right for you, there is nothing keeping you from posting your videos in multiple places.
Dan Sperry gets a little after school special on us in his latest video as he turns his attention to a public service announcement reminding us all not to text and drive.