Alexander the Great; Ottawa Magician

By Alexander the Great Magician

It’s been a few months since I made my trip to California for Magic-Con and I’ve been really swamped with writing, working behind-the-scenes at my Ottawa Record Label, and taking out Ottawa’s new Bixi bikes.

I have been writing on a variety of subjects, mostly updating my websites, which include my Ottawa Restaurant reviews blog, this magic websites, my record label website and also my music and technology blog. Phew, thats a lot of websites, considering not all that much goes on in Ottawa. While not very many bands and DJ’s touch down in Ottawa, it does allow for some excellent opportunities for me, Alexander the Great Magician to perform my magic show around Ottawa.

One of these events this month was for a community association that was celebrating the revitalization of the Bingham Park. This park can be found just down the street from the Royal Canadian Mint off Sussex Drive at 145 Cathcart Street. On Monday August 1, 2011 I will be performing a short outdoor magic show for the Lowertown Summer
Festival at 4pm. You can read more at the main page for Bingham Park.

Thats all for this update, except I wanted to share with you a panoramic shot I got of the Museum in Civilization in Gatineau, I just love this shot, there’s so much sunlight.

Until Next time!

By Alexander the Great Magician

There are many reasons why you might want to hire a magician.

Some people who hire my services were browsing for sweet 16 party ideas, or just looking to rent entertainment in Ottawa. Very quickly they are drawn into the mystery and prestige that is intrinsic to the conjuring arts.

If you are looking to rent a magician in Ottawa, or just looking for any type of entertainment consider how much fun a magician would be at your next event or kids birthday party.

Posted by Alexander the Great Magician

Similar to my post on the world famous magician David Blane, this fellow has pushed his body to the limits of what it is capable of. To find out more about how this technique is done check out this post on how magician David Blane held his breath for 17 minutes.

“A Swiss freediver held his breath underwater for 19 minutes and 21 seconds, according to news reports this week. The gasp-inducing feat beat the previous world record by 19 seconds, and blew away the record of 17 minutes and four seconds that magician David Blaine set on Oprah Winfrey’s talk show in 2008.

For most ordinary humans, all that breath-holding can be hard to fathom. The feat might also bring up some basic questions about biology. For example: Is it really possible to survive without inhaling for that long? And is it healthy?

“It is, as a matter of fact, possible — with certain tricks,” explained Claes Lundgren, a physiologist at the University of Buffalo School of Medicine in New York.

It is probably not, however, good for you, and consequences can be deadly.”

By Alex the Great

Hey everyone, I have just come back from picking up some new cards that advertise my job as an Ottawa magician. I started my business in the summer of 2009 with 500 business cards and I have now run out completely. I got 2000 this time because I tend to go through them quickly.

I started giving my business cards to the kids when I used to do my magic over 10 years ago and I stopped for a few reasons this year. Thee first is that I actually didn’t want to be too busy until 2010 so I have time to work on school. Luckily now I can focus all my attention to getting the word out: This is one magician who is ready to work.

Feel free to contact me if you are looking for an exciting Ottawa Magician

By Alexander the Great Magician

In general the promotional sites for a magician are not popular web destinations. Most of the people visiting my site are looking for entertainment or got lost on google somehow. For more and more visitors of this site though, they are about to find out about an Ottawa magician that is becoming more and more popular every year.

My website for Alexander the Great has been getting more and more hits as the months go on. Generally the first couple months get many hits, from web development and other testing, then as the actual site gets used, the hits drop off. After you have emailed all your friends, the real hits that matter start to come in. My site was the same for the first two months. Then, as I moved over to a wordpress platform to manage my business I needed to visit the website myself less.

My site happens to focus exclusively on keeping up with my work as a magician and this is a quick rundown of what we will be focusing on in the next few months.

1. Photo Gallery. This is one I’ve wanted for a little while and hopefully in 2010 this site will have a web gallery where some nice photographs from my performances can be found.
2. Halloween Promo Video: I recently did a kids Halloween show for a large community group and I’m waiting to edit and post it to YouTube and this site.
3. Extra promotional Video. This is some stuff that I want to film in a nicer atmosphere, with some friends of mine showing off some of the more visual effects that I’m starting to perform. I really try to perform a very expensive, high-end blend of mentalism and magic for adults and I want some video to support all the work I’m doing in this field of magic.

By Alexander the Great Magician

I sorta would like to host some photos on my own website, but for the time being, Facebook is a simple alternative.

Here is the gallery: Alexander the Great’s Mobile Gallery

By Alexander the Great Magician

The next few months should have a few brand new, cutting edge tricks that I’m adding to my repetroire.

I’ll probably be adding some YouTube videos of the new material which many magicians would balk at. Your newest stuff, free, for everybody to see?

Well yes, why not? It’s going to be such strong stuff that I have no problems with showing it off to the world

I have finished editing my kids show down to length; just a few key effects. I also put the audience reactions back in the “lights, oh my!” video.

Today I also wanted to post about some inspirational words about card magic that i found today posted in the Dan & Dave Community forums (sweet forums btw!)

1. Relieving Tension – I used to get the shakes all the time when I performed, but once I learned to relax, they went away. Thanks Aaron Fisher.
2. Letting my Spectators Hold the Cards – The more they participate, the more they feel they were a part of the magic. Thanks, Paul Harris.
3. Doing Less – The less arbitrary movements I make in the course of a trick, the more streamlined it becomes. Thanks Paul Le Paul
4. Using the Proper Sleight for the Right Trick – Every sleight was developed for a reason. I should use it for said reason. Thanks Paul Le Paul.
5. I Don’t Have to be Good at Card Tricks – If I’ve done my job, my audience should never know how much I practiced. Thanks Guy Hollingworth.
6. Obscurity is a Good Place to Start Looking for Good Card Work – Just because I’ve never heard of a move doesn’t mean it isn’t worth my time. Thanks, Arthur Buckley and Dai Vernon.
7. Be Natural – No one should ever suspect anything. Thanks, Erdnase and Larry Jennings.
8. Cards Have the Capacity to Convey True Creativity – They do. Thanks, Chris Kenner and Paul Harris.
9. Card Tricks are Useless – But they can still be beautiful. Thanks, John Bannon.
10. Timing is Everything – Card tricks are easy. Magic isn’t. Thanks Lennart Green and Pit Hartling.
11. (Bonus) Perfection is attainable. Thanks, Ricky Jay.

Well I was at dows lake for a few hours on Monday. Fantastic weather, and enough shade to practice a few new tricks. The family of 5 that stopped under the tree for a bit was the highlight; they really enjoyed my professors nightmare (magicians nightmare in my books though!).

It gave me more confidence to focus on this trick once again. I have Richard Sander’s routine Three Ropes and a Baby but am still working on polishing it up and memorizing the last couple phases. The “public’s” reactions to these, at least in my mind, simple, vapid illusions was inspiring.

While I always strive to truly astonish people when possible, I must never loose touch with the effectiveness of simple tricks.

A few tricks I want to add to my repetoire ASAP:

1. Three Ropes and a Baby
2. Oz Perlman’s Ambitions Card explanation DVD (I believe this is a four phase, standard ambitious card routine broken down simply)
3. Stigmata (in particular with names and numbers, but cards are also excellent for this effect)

Today, aside from integrating new material (my right brain stuff) I will also be updating this site. I have a new video to add that will hopefully be filling out the variety of material posted in my videos section.