Oh,

I don't know. I'm just uncomfortable with Dolls.

-Mary Mowder

Mary,

I've tried to get back into juggling but I always seem to drop the ball.

I never got into ventriloquism, but I do use puppets for the Nature Center. I've never found the neccessity to vent. It is amazing the realism audiences receive when you focus all the attention on the puppet. I also know several staff who won't touch them because they creep them out also. I gave a girl puppet to one of my staff to take home and practice. I do admit that the puppet was kinda creepy looking. Well my staff was not real keen on working with people puppets specifically but she gave it the good old college try! However her son who was a 10th grader saw the puppet lying on the couch and picked up in front of his mom (My staff worker) In his best gravelly voice he said, "Hey little kid do you know where I can get a cigar?" She came to work and said she was done with puppets. That did her in. She would have to find another way to connect with the kids. We have has quite a few laughs about that. Some people just have a thing with clowns, puppets and mascots!

So tonight I am performing as 1 of 8 for our holiday party. We will be table hopping. I'm looking forward to this because it is another opportunity to perform. I also recently received Jay Sankey's Gimmicks Lab + a couple other items as part of the end of the year promo. Thursday we had Rick Merrill lecture and I picked up some other great ideas I want to work on as well. With all of this I have plenty of stuff to work on. I haven't set a regiment, but I am just practicing as often as I can with whatever feels like it needs my attention.

I have also been organizing the Ring's Programs for the upcoming year as program chair. So a lot of attention has been spent on that.

Good luck with your Juggling Mary and other projects everyone else is working on!

Pete

We had our holiday Party last night and I performed at the four tables and all went smooth. It is fun to perform for your club. The Highlight of my evening was when I was invited to perform on stage for our Annual Hocus Pocus Party in November 2012. This our Ring fundraiser that serves 300-400 people with food, table hopping and a stage show with 4 members and 1 headliner. I will be going through my list to put my show together and should have several practice regimes to work on over the next few months! It's nice to have something to focus on to help you practice. I will keep you all posted!

Pete

Pete-

Sounds like a lot of fun. I think it is always a good time performing for a party, and I certainly agree having a gig coming up is the very best practice motivator. I remember as a kid being scared to tears by a story or movie where the puppet was real...

I've been working on some material that Howard Hamburg showed me a couple of weeks ago, as well as a Michael Vincent routine and Dai Vernon's Cutting the Aces from Stars of Magic. I'm not crazy about the basic sleight used in the latter, and I'm terrible with slip cuts so I'm trying to figure out an alternative method for producing the cards. I'm going to the castle this week with some friends and would love to try out some new stuff

Jim,

Anthony Hopkins - Magic, always creeped me out!:fuity:

Pete

Dang Typos! Tha was supposed to be,

It's been far too quiet around here lately. What's everyone working on?

Well that answers that! Beautiful work Laurie

Thankyou very much, Andrew.

Love your art Laurie. I especially like the shine on the cups.

I used to draw a lot when I was younger. Pencil was always my favorite medium.

-Mary Mowder

Thankyou, Mary.

Beautiful illustrations Laurie! Are these for a book or manuscript? How did the goose work out?

Andrew and all,

I'm still going through the selction process for my Hocus Pocus performance in November. I tried Mike Close's Big Surprise at our Ring meeting the other night. It went over well for doing it for the first time, but I found out that I only have 10 minutes for my routine in November so the Big Surprise got axed. I continue my quest.

Cheers!
Pete

Very nice Laurie! An order is coming soon for your chopped monkey fists.

Hudson

I have some, Hudson, and they are really nice...

Thankyou for your comments- I value your opinions. The illustrations are 2 of 7 I'm doing to illustrate my chop monkey fist instructions. Magic illustration is something I'm interested in and since reading "Art of Deception" I've discovered I think I am qualified to do it. So the illustrated instructions are a start for me. Hopefully others will like them, too. Pete, the goose is still waiting on me. Soon, been very busy with a lot of other things. Thankyou, Hudson! Jim, you didn't get yours from me, though, did you? I think I may recall you saying you had some of the ones Josh Riel has been making. If so, he certainly does very nice work. It was his artistry in monkey fist ball making, in fact, that inspired me to give them a try. For any who might be interested in further info on Magicalaurie's Monkey Fists, the satin chopped can be seen here: http://magicalaurie.media.officelive.com/chopballs.aspx

Thanks again for your complimentary comments. They're very encouraging and much appreciated.

Laurie-

Pretty sure they were yours, Laurie. This was some years back and I got them in several colors. Then again, I have very vivid dreams at times...

I only started selling them last March, though, Jim.

Well, then, I was wrong. Sorry, Laurie... Hudson, you're on your own bud...