YOU Are The Magic!

 Magic 

The illusion of perfection is an illusion anyway. - Anonymous

Re Quick Change, Second Daughter said, Don't know many magic tricks, but I do like your reference about 5 minutes. =)

First Daugther quipped, They wore several outfits at once? Yes, but how were the changes made?

I must admit that I had been intrigued by the Quick Change act... until I found out how it is done. 

The secret is pretty simple. The most common way is to put on multiple costumes at the same time and for an assistant (hidden from view, of course) to get rid of the layers in such a way that it looks like the performer is able to change the entire outfit in seconds.

Velcros, snaps, and magnets are often used to keep everything in place during the performance. On cue, strings are used to pull on and take off each layer of clothing.

As for me, I'd just keep calm and get dressed. Importantly, I'd be sure to remember this simple dress code. Keep your clothes on!

And now, for the finale of this series...

*****

Come to think of it, perhaps we don't need to watch nor understand how legendary illusionist David Copperfield can make the Statue of Liberty disappear or how he can escape from Alcatraz.

Consider the bewitching moments in every day.

May Calendar Page. Compiled by P.D.Hughes, Hawaii: 2024 

* The deep, wild magic that’s as old as the world itself in the bond shared between dog and human.

* A little boy grown up.

* A dad who held his kids' hands for a short while but who holds their hearts forever.

* The pride of accomplishment.

* The soul connection between mothers and daughters that would carry through a lifetime of smiles, even tears.

Life's magical moments are here, all around us. That's the thing about magic.

There's magic in the feeling that nudges us to delight at the prospect of a new day, a fresh try, one more start, with perhaps a bit of enchantment waiting somewhere behind the morning. 

The sentiment that reminds us that this world, after all our science and technology, is still a miracle. 

Wonderful. Inscrutable.

For the best magic of all, what you need to do is simply to turn it on, for... 

... Y O U are the magic!

Quick Change

Magic 

Illusion is the first of all pleasures. - Voltaire

On the Levitating Woman trick, First Daughter said, I don't know how the trick works! No other responses were received, so it looks like the secret to this trick needs to be unveiled now.

At its core are hidden supports and mechanisms that make the illusion possible. These often involve a mix of metal rods, mechanical platforms, or even strings, all skillfully concealed from the audience's view. 

The key is to create a believable illusion of levitation while keeping the supports invisible.

The magician directs the audience's attention away from the secret mechanisms with movements and gestures, all designed to distract and mislead.

Modern renditions of the trick utilize innovations like electromagnets, advanced hydraulics, and even computer-controlled systems to make the illusion more seamless and mesmerizing.

*****

Now, to this week's magic act.

I really need new clothes. Is this you every morning?

Or this. I have to put on makeup, a bra and pants on? I'm not going.

Or, you do eventually find the stamina to get dressed, although stressed and depressed. You say, Ready in five minutes. But you're using the same time scale a man uses when he says the game will be over in five minutes.

Then, you emerge dressed up like you're going to get murdered in those clothes.

Such dilemma won't apply to the QUICK CHANGE artist.

This kind of magician is able to have several changes of fashionable outfits in seconds, often multiple times in a row, before a live audience.

In an AGT show I watched recently, a couple took this entire performance one step further and got really creative with their tricks. Not only were they garbed in a dozen different outfits in a few minutes, but they also changed their clothes while only being covered by an umbrella or even smoke.

You know magic is not real, but how??!!

Please email (send to me only), if you know how it works. 

The secret is revealed in the next blog.

 

Levitating Woman

Magic 

There is no magic in magic, it is all in the details . - Walt Disney

Not one of you seem to know the hidden mystery behind the Black Magic game, so here it is.

In private, the magician tells the assistant the secret to the game. The latter will be pointing to different objects in the room, and asking the magician whether each one is the object that has been chosen by the audience.

The magician keeps answering, No, but pays attention to the color of the object that is being pointed to. When the assistant points to a black object, that will be the cue. The magician will answer, No, but both know fully well that the next object to be pointed to will be the right answer. 

To that, the magician answers, Yes.

*****

Are you ready for this week's illusion challenge?

Yup, it's the all too-familiar Levitating Woman trick.

A woman lies down, usually on a board or a table.

Then, as the audience watches in disbelief, she rises into the air with no visible means of support. The spectacle is often enhanced by dramatic gestures, such as passing hoops over the levitated person to dispel any suspicions of wires or hidden supports.

How does a magician achieve this feat? Is it pure skill, clever engineering, or a combination of both? 

Please email (send to me only), if you know how it works. 

The secret is revealed in the next blog.

 

Black Magic

 Magic 

It doesn't stop being magic just because you know how it works. - Terry Pratchett

I love magic.

It's not real, but it's fun. When life get serious sometimes, I think magic can bring back a joyful energy to invigorate us.

Thus, in this series, I'd like to feature some of my favorite magic show acts. But not only that. I'd like to ask you if you know or can figure out how the magic is done.

For starters, how about the BLACK MAGIC game? I used to play it as a kid.

As the name suggests, this is a baffling game where the magician is able to guess which object had been pre-selected by the audience.

The game proceeds as the magician's assistant points to different objects in the room, asking, Is this the one? Eventually, as the correct object is pointed to, the magician enigmatically discerns it to be so and says, Yes. 

Of course, he is correct.

Please email (send to me only), if you know how it works. 

The secret is revealed in the next blog.

Grandma's House, On A Helicopter Ride

A Lovely Place To Be

 Don't just fly. Soar high. - Anonymous

 If I flew on a helicopter I would visit... my grandma's house.

Such is the inscription on Second Granddaughter's pre-school art project that leaves a lump in my throat every time I look at it.

It is my favorite page among her stuff that I've compiled through the years and put together in a folio album.

A lone, blue helicopter tinged with a red tail dominates the space. Rotating propellers made of popsicle sticks enable the aircraft to navigate quietly across a sky that is huge and high and impossibly blue.

Overhead, a fat, white, slow-moving cotton ball cloud floats across the horizon. A solitary, gnarled wisp trailing behind seems to say, Wait up.

In anticipation, a stick person peers through the copter's bubble window.

What an endearing work! It has filled a space in my heart that I never knew was empty.

Of course, dear child, when you do come, it will be the loveliest place for you and me to be. 

But know that you won't need a helicopter to fly high. Your wings already exist. All you have to do is make the leap.

Soar high.

Touch the sky.

Dear Future

 A Lovely Place To Be

 Even though the future seems far away, it is actually beginning right now. - Anonymous

In 2039. I am 27.

Such is the title on the last panel of First Granddaughter's mini-autobiographical  pictograph.

A cartoonish girl wearing a purple shift dress that features a shine bright design on its front is winking, looking back, saying, Almost done. An open door with a view of a sunshiny day beckons on the far right.

It's my favorite page on the treasure album that I'd recently put together.

There's confidence in this girl, on her final tween year, no longer a little child, but not quite a teenager.

Her stance is certain, as she seems to assert, My day, my way. I'm looking to the future because that's where I'm going to spend the rest of my life.

It is going to be her happy place - and I'd very much like to be there with her.

For right now, I'm not blinking because I know she's growing up too fast.

So I say, Keep growing and glowing. I love you a bushel and a peck and a hug around the neck whether at 12 or 27!

For in the end, it's not the years in your life that count.

It's the life in your years.

Willie Wonka's Chocolate Factory

 A Lovely Place To Be

 Enjoy the little things... for one day you'll look back and realize they were the big things. - Anonymous

How would you like to get a pass that will allow you to get into Willy Wonka's Chocolate Factory? Moreso, how would you like to be the recipient of a lifetime supply of chocolates?

Yes! And yes! to that.

That, indeed, would be my lovely place to be - and I know just how to do that.

By perusing the pages of one of my treasure albums.

From one of its pocket pages will first fall out a toothpicked photograph. That of a squiggly, bald, wide-eyed baby boy.

Then, a Golden Ticket.

Mementoes of First Grandson's birthday when he turned one.

I remember.

Willy Wonka was the party theme.

Although we didn't quite re-create a palace made out of chocolate nor serve ice cream that didn't melt in the sun, First Daughter saw to it that there was chocolate galore -  from a three-foot fountain with a crown at the top and stacked tiers over a basin of chocolate fondue in which fresh strawberries could be dipped.

A cake was meticulously decorated by Second Daughter/Godmother Nani with spice drops and dots, and M&Ms were scattered throughout. Trees of Kisses and Hugs lined level and undulating surfaces to emulate a Wonka-ish wonderland of magic and whimsy.

Lolo had obliged to be the colorfully-dressed, small, spritely Willie Wonka. I may have worn wide slacks to mimic being a teeny Oompa-Loompa.

I still pull out my Golden Ticket from time to time to recreate that especial time in that lovely place.

A moment that has become a memory.

A memory that has become my treasure.