Below are the 20 most recent journal entries recorded in Marc van Bulck's LiveJournal:

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Wednesday, July 15th, 2009
1:27 pm	Marc reviews the film, "Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince"      I come to praise Potter, not to bury him. For the most part.        Aside from dragging into work a little bit this morning after finally getting to bed at 3:00 A.M. after the movie, my initial reaction is that I really enjoyed it a lot. It’s a very fun movie. Half-Blood Prince is my second favorite book in the series right behind Deathly Hallows, so I was very nervous.        You see, one of my favorite elements of the Harry Potter films was this very interesting pattern of hiring a different director helming each movie, and thus each movie felt like a fresh and interesting new take on the series, which I really liked. Now, I was not a fan of The Order of the Phoenix.  First of all, it’s my least favorite book in the series, and I felt the movie (outside of a few outstanding sequences) was overall an awkward, clunky mess. So, when I heard that David Yates (the director of Phoenix) had been brought on board to finish out the series, I was very much against this idea.         I think my biggest problem with Half-Blood Prince (and it’s not a terribly big one) is the film’s ending.  Yates does more or less a pretty good job with Prince’s third act (which is arguably, emotionally and developmentally the second most important third act of any story in the series, right behind Goblet of Fire), but unfortunately that’s all it is. Pretty good. Maybe I’m just biased to the books, but I felt like while the third act of Half-Blood Prince is wonderfully portrayed by the actors and beautifully photographed, it lacks some of the emotional rawness that I experienced reading the book.  From all the characters. It’s still done really well (despite rumors I had heard that it was a disaster, which I think is a pretty gross exaggeration after having seen the film).        The biggest flaw here is the ending. The movie just ends without any sign of emotional anguish or grief that you feel from the book, and it feels clunky. This was also my biggest complaint of the Order of the Phoenix film (also directed by David Yates), which leads me to wonder if Yates struggles with ending these stories. Kind of a disconcerting feeling to have of a director that’s recently been hired to orchestrate the end of the ENTIRE FRANCHISE. But I digress…        So, what’s great about the film? Lots! I think this film’s biggest strength is its ability to perfectly balance being simultaneously both the funniest film in the series and also the darkest. The balance of these two qualities feels seamless and natural. The awkward humor and amusing teenage hormonal shenanigans smoothly relieves the growing darkness and dread in this film more effectively, I think, than it even did in the book! When I read Half-Blood Prince, I didn’t particularly feel the need to linger on all the kissy silliness as much as it did, and I found myself much more interested in the plot and the darkness and Voldemort’s back story and all that. Watching the movie, however, I thoroughly enjoyed every minute of the teenage shenanigans.  It's just really funny and very entertaining, and I could have easily sat through another hour of it.         Which brings me to another praise of this movie.  The performances. The performances here are top notch. Jim Broadbent is just absolutely fantastic as Horace Slughorn – a character that, I should note, I had little to no interest in whatsoever while reading the book. He’s just so deliciously awkward while desperately pretending to be cool that he eats up every scene in all the right ways, and it’s really comedy gold, particularly in the midst of all the teenage hormonal humor (he’s also a great comic foil for the always fantastic Ron Weasley). Kudos to Broadbent.        Tom Felton as Draco Malfoy really steps up his acting game this go around. This is the first movie where I didn’t feel like Malfoy was just a jackass running around glaring at everyone like he was about to make out with them at any minute. Instead, for the first time, he comes across as a kid on the verge of a very legitimate emotional meltdown and for very good reason. He becomes a rival with real menace towards Harry, but for the first time he actually comes across as human who feels, dare I say it, worthy of empathy.        Sir Michael Gambon’s portrayal of Dumbledore’s vulnerable mortality this time around is very compelling. His scene with Harry in the cave is heartbreakingly beautiful, and I really wished they had kept the dialogue from the book during one particularly important act he is forced to endure down there. It was just such a big part of what made that scene so spooky to me in the book. While Gambon’s performance is the strongest here of any Dumbledore performance in the series so far, I couldn’t help but suspect that Gambon could have been pushed even a little bit further as an actor into those dark places, and it would have really added to the scene.        I could probably say more. The kids are fantastic, as always, Harry is fantastic, Alan Rickman, Helena Bonham Carter, and all the other characters and gobbledygook are fantastic as well. Those were just some of the main points I had in my head while watching this movie. Overall, I would say that the film is an elegant success for Potter fans (although it may be a bit more bewildering to all you Muggles out there who haven’t read the books or seen the movies). I recommend this movie to Potter fans, but more strongly than that, I strongly recommend reading the book first. Almost view this movie as a companion adaptation to what is much more so a heartbreaking, thrilling, and brilliantly written book.        I don’t think fans of the other movies in the series so far will be disappointed by this film either.      -Marc (1 Comment |Comment on this)
Saturday, July 11th, 2009
1:43 am	Wow!  What a fun birthday!  :-)      I want to give some props to the seminary folk and especially the peoples at Thinking Man's for putting up with our shenanigans.  First of all, I got to take the day off from the hospital and finally SLEEP this morning, which was REEEEEALLY nice.  Got a nice little birthday package in the mail from Amazon (which I ordered for myself...*cough, cough*...)       Had a nice lunch with in the seminary refectory and got a little singin'-to.  Had a really nice Italian dinner with some friends of mine and then taken to Duluth, GA for some big-ass Korean Bingsu ice cream (I may have spelled that wrong...my apologies...) and then not one...no, not one, my friends, but TWO trips to Thinking Man's (my favorite hang-out spot in Decatur) with a shit-load of seminary friends.      And my Dad is here.  My dad was at my birthday party.  :-)  That might be the best part of the whole damn thing.      So for the remainder of the first full weekend of my 25th year (hey, the Presbyterian Church gave John Calvin the whole damn year.  I think I can let myself stretch mine out over three days, eh?) Dad and I are going to hang out and cavort around Decatur a bit, and I'm probably going to pick-up that piece of artwork at Sweet Melissa's I've been thinking about buying for a while now.       Then we're going out to dinner with some friends of mine.  Sunday, Dad and I are grabbing brunch, and then he's taking off back to Sumter, and I'm off to Six Flags with some friends from out of town to ride roller coasters all day.      And then next month...as if that all wasn't insane enough...MY BIRTHDAY RETURNS!!!  THAT'S NEVER HAPPENED!  FOR MARC VAN BULCK'S FABULOUS LAS VEGAS WEEKEND OF MAGIC RIDICULOUSNESS!!!      Pretty kickass quarter-life crisis.  :-)      I'm so happy.  This has been a really, really nice birthday.  Thank you all for being so sweet and so kind and doing the Facebook comments and all that.      Thank you all again.  :-)      -Marc (Comment on this)
Friday, July 10th, 2009
12:20 am	Today, the Presbyterian Church (of which I am a member) all over the world is celebrating the 500th birthday of John Calvin, it's founder.      Today, as a student of a Presbyterian seminary, I would like to celebrate this day in my own special way by saying...      SCREW YOU, CALVIN!!!  IT'S MY BIRTHDAY NOW!!!      :-)  :-)  :-) (Comment on this)
Friday, June 26th, 2009
11:24 am	THE MAGIC NERDINESS CONTINUES...        Apparently there is a bar at the Monte Carlo hotel where I’m staying at during my trip to Las Vegas this August called the Houdini Lounge, which as I understand it, was where Michael Close performed for three years. Now, Michael Close is not a name that anyone should recognize (well, they should, but no one does), unless you are just uber, uber magic aficionados.       Michael Close is literally one of the country’s greatest performers of close-up sleight-of-hand magic. And if your brain just conjured up names like Copperfield or Criss Angel, or David Blaine or even Blackstone, or Henning, these guys are / were all titanic showmen, but when it comes to sheer technique and skill, true masters of sleight-of-hand artistry, no one…absolutely NO ONE can touch the likes of Michael Close, or Eugene Burger, or Eric Mead, or Jamy Ian Swiss.       It was brought to my attention recently that for three years, Michael Close performed close-up sleight-of-hand magic nightly at the Houdini Lounge in the hotel where I’m staying, and I decided this was absolutely something I needed to see during my magic trip. It would have been like seeing Slydini perform in front of you back when he was alive. Seriously, forget his stupid ass name. If you have any interest in magic whatsoever and have half an hour to kill, click on cavett.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/03/27/conjuring-slydini/ and watch the video of his performance on the Dick Cavett Show back in the 70’s. I got chills down my spine watching that man’s hands at work. What an amazing performer…      Anyway, so again, for the third time, Michael Close performed for three years at the Houdini Lounge in the hotel and casino where I’m staying, and I decided I needed to see this.  Unfortunately, after doing a little bit of research, I discovered that Michael Close actually retired from his run at the Lounge some few years ago, and as far as I know the Houdini Lounge is just a bar that serves fairly kickass drinks but no live magic to speak of that I’m aware.       Damn!  Oh, well.       So, as of right now, I will be in Las Vegas the weekend of August 13-16.  I've spent the last year scrimping and saving at the hospital and,in defiance of a crappy economy, have nevertheless lined up front row VIP seats for Lance Burton, Mac King, and Penn and Teller, all of whom are fabulous magicians. I have, for all intents and purposes, a full free day in Las Vegas before my non-stop 32-hour smorgasbord of magic shows begins (every time I type that out, I get just a little more excited. The sheer unapologetic nerdiness of it is just exhilarating!) I would like to explore Vegas, see the fountains at the Bellagio, maybe check out the lions at the MGM Grand, etc. So, if anyone has been to Las Vegas and has suggestions of things I should do during the day, I welcome any suggestions.      HOWEVER, if any one knows of some good close-up guys I can see…i.e. if my time can be filled up with MORE MAGIC, then it automatically defaults to the schedule. Seriously. This weekend is not about going to see Las Vegas and also seeing magic shows as a byproduct.  It is, in fact, the exact opposite.       Yes, that’s right. That’s right. You heard me.       I, Marcel van Bulck, IN DEFIANCE OF GOD’S WILL, am setting out to Las Vegas, Nevada, with the sole agenda of seeing as much damn magic as I humanly possibly can, and the fact that this just happens to take place in Las Vegas is merely a circumstance of an almost blasphemously nerdier agenda.      That being said, though, if anyone has been to Las Vegas before and knows of things during the day that they feel very strongly that I absolutely have to see before leaving the city, I would absolutely love to hear from you. (Comment on this)
Monday, June 1st, 2009
2:27 pm	A PLEA FOR EDUCATION IN THE PUBLIC SPIRITUAL DIALOGUE      I'm going to exercise my right on LiveJournal to use it as a purely emotional knee-jerk reaction soap box for my own intellectual agenda because, really, if I can't do it here, then when can I?       Last night, I watched a video on YouTube. It was an old episode of Politically Incorrect with Bill Maher from waaaay back in 1999, and the topic was the "ethical dilemmas" of buying and selling celebrity eggs to parents who want good-looking children.  The issues they discuss are a little dated, (not to mention fairly ridiculous), but here's the clip if anyone is interested.      Now, as many of you have probably surmised by now, what drew me to this clip was Penn Jillette because I enjoy virtually everything that comes out of his mouth.  As I watched this clip for the first time, I ranted to my friend, Lindsay, over instant messenger giving my live commentary.  But the content of the video isn't even my real issue.  It's something just a wee bit deeper than that.      First of all, I don't like this religious lady who is arguing with Penn.  She's condescending, and she perpetuates the stereotype of the spiritual community.  I am a religious man.  I'm a seminary student.  I am by no stretch of anyone's imagination a Bible scholar.  I'm more than 2/3 away from having a Master's Degree in my chosen field, and I've taken enough classes and read enough books to hold a decent conversation about the Bible and spirituality to maybe, kinda, sorta pretend like I know what I'm talking about.  But that's about it.      There are, however, people who have spent the better part of their lives devoted to the intimate, scholarly, academic study of collections of writings such as the Torah and the New Testament and theological theory.  These are people like Walter Brueggemann, Kathleen O'Connor, Beth Johnson, George Stroup, David Bartlett and the late, great Shirley Guthrie.  People who eat, drink, live, bleed Scripture.        And then there's this chick.  People who, when someone with a different point of view actually challenges them, will just laugh and say, "He has no spirituality!" like this somehow writes off their thoughts and beliefs.      If the media wants to include the spiritual community in the public dialogue (and yes, I realize that the agenda is really more about advertising than it is about education), then at least do the public the service of finding someone who knows what they're talking about.  I mean, I understand if a certain percentage of the population has had it up to here with what the religious and spiritual community has to say.  Believe me, when I see someone who claims to be religious on television, my first thought is usually, "Oh, boy, here we go..." and I'm saddened to confess that I'm rarely surprised by what tends to unfold.       But I also feel that if there is a percentage of the public that is, at least, vaguely interested in that point of view, then they deserve an actual academic, Biblically, historically, and contextually educated perspective on it, rather than simply being preached at by the likes of Kirk Cameron, Ray Comfort, or Billy Graham like they're the local heathens in church (yeah, that's right.  I threw Billy in there.  I'm not a huge fan).      Back in the 90's, PBS did a six hour special with Bill Moyers called "The Power of Myth" where he interviewed Joseph Campbell.  I have it on DVD, and it's fantastic.  I highly recommend it to anyone interested in this stuff.  Now, Campbell was by no means religious at all (at least, not in anything organized), but he was by his own admission a spiritual man, and I really wish networks had the chutzpah include more educated spiritual folks on television rather than just finding crazies who can TALK REALLY LOUD AND CREATE DRAMA! (Read: attention, ratings, and advertising revenue)       Walter Brueggemann should do interviews.  Shirley Guthrie should have done interviews when he was alive.  People who can maintain civilized discourse for the public conversation.  The public deserves that when learning about religions, cultures, beliefs, myths, and spirituality.      But let's take this lady, for example.      "I think we should just kick back and let the Man Upstairs take control."       Again, we're talking about the buying and selling of celebrity eggs.        Disclaiming again that I'm only a 24-year-old with two thirds of a Master of Divinity degree, I think this woman is doing a very, very, very horrible disrespect to God.  And she doesn't realize that she's doing it.  She's disrespecting the viewers, secondly, but she's also disrespecting God or the idea of God, depending on how secularly or non-secularly you want to look at it.      "I think we ought to sit back and let God take control."      The topic here is reproduction.  Whose eggs we choose to fertilize with whom.  It's basically, "Who do we want to have sex with (without actually having sex?)"  If the argument here is that you want God to "take control" over who you reproduce with...regardless of how you do it whether through these means or my preferred method (the ol' fashioned way)...you are giving God responsibility for your own actions and choices.  At least, when it comes to sex, in this case.       By that very same well-intentioned but totally crazy logic, I, Marcel van Bulck, a bona fide good ol', Southern, Presbyterian, church-goin' boy, would like to point out that when her roommate in college gets drunk and bangs some random frat boy, this lady is saying that it was God's decision.  Not hers.      I'm sorry.  But no.      NO.      NO.      NO!      God gave him a penis and some sperm. God gave you a vagina and some eggs. And God gave you the capability to decide as adults what you choose to do with them and the responsibility to deal with the consequences.      See, here's the problem.  What this lady is REALLY trying to say is, "I don't like this idea. It doesn't appeal to me."  That's it.  That's all she's trying to say.  Watch that clip again.  Look me in the eye, and tell me that's not what she's really thinking deep down but just doesn't know how to articulate it.  The problem is that for some back ass-wards reason, her thought, "I don't like this idea.  This does not appeal to me" comes out, "THIS IS NOT WHAT GOD WANTS."      Me = God.  What I want = What God wants.  What I enjoy = What God enjoys.  That's pretty self-absorbed.  I mean, Penn Jillette is a hardcore atheist, and he's making more theologically sound arguments than this woman.  She means well, but she has no idea how to have this discussion.  She is not self-aware of what's coming out of her mouth.  She's not thinking about what she thinks while she's thinking it.  She just has a knee jerk emotional reaction and just says it (kind of like what I'm doing right now.  Hence my disclaimer at the top of the post).      I went back to the beginning of the clip to see what her credentials were to represent the spiritual voice here in this discussion.  She has none.  She is an actress.  I totally understand why the media would be wary about being too spiritual-friendly.  The spiritual voice in the media hasn't exactly made a reputation for itself of being a kind one.  But if the viewers and the public are interested in what that demographic has to say, then they have a right to be spiritually educated, without necessarily being indoctrinated.  To actually learn something rather than just being preached at.  I could care less if the public agrees with folks like me, theologically, but it's painful to see someone like Kirk Cameron on TV and wonder if my friends, loved ones, or peers who know I'm in seminary think that I feel the same way they do.      So, that's my plea to the media.  I mean if CBS, for example, wants to hold a debate on evolution, instead of watching the Reason Response Squad versus Kirk Cameron and Way of the Master bitching each other out, I would love, love, LOVE to see folks like Richard Dawkins and Walter Brueggemann engaging dialogue about the creation of the universe and humanity's reflections.  Why are we not seeing programming like this?       And who knows?  Maybe one day, it will happen.  Colbert got Anne Lamott on his show.  Maybe eventually, the media will stop just putting extremist nuts on either side of these debates on television and start inviting real live scholars or academics who actually understand civilized discourse and dialogue so that we can actually learn something.  That is, you know, without being made to feel guilty for being intellectually curious.      Take care,      Marc (1 Comment |Comment on this)
Saturday, May 30th, 2009
2:13 am	COOLEST NEWS ALL DAY, WEEK MONTH...      Jenny Mirken is bringing back The Beams!!!      http://www.TheBeamsAreOn.com      More to come...      -Marc (Comment on this)
Sunday, May 24th, 2009
11:42 pm	MARC AND LINDSAY'S CONVERSATION LAST NIGHT I think the monkey should come out onstage for each trick wearing a different outfit. I think the fact that you would have to have an assitant backstage to help your assistant with quick changes complicates matters. Well, there should definitely be someone backstage to help the monkey with his quick changes. I think they would resent not being first assistant...you know...since it's being filled by a monkey. She'd understand.  She would respect the chimp's role. Very understanding of her.  I hope you pay her well. I will pay her exceptionally well.  Not as well as the monkey, but she wouldn't have to know that. What is the monkey going to do with a paycheck? BUY BANANAS, OF COURSE. You've got this whole thing figured out. Could you imagine someone explaining what they do to the DVD documentary crew?  "I am a quick change assistant for the monkey in Marc van Bulck's magic show."  That's just layers of humiliation. And you enjoy it. Yes.  I would be sitting in the back room, counting money, and giggling evilly. And every night the monkey locks the assistant in her cage with some hay and a bowl of water. I think the assistant should get locked in the water torture cell while the monkey parades around in a dress, looking a little tarty, and the assistant is panicking and looking angry while she's holding her breath, pounding on the glass. Okay...I think you just wrote yourself out of your own magic show, but I appreciate the use of the word "tarty." No, I would be the one talking to the audience while the monkey parades around and occasionally mimics my flamboyant arm movements. And you still want a boy monkey? Yes.  I think that's absolutely necessary.  Monkey in drag.  For the magic show. So, now all you need is the monkey...to go out to breakfast with you tomorrow. I know. :-( -Marc (and Lindsay) (Comment on this)
Thursday, May 21st, 2009
12:20 pm	ANIMAL SHIRTS WIN AGAIN.      Greatest.  Article.  Ever.  Period.      Thanks to Christine for sending me this!      http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/8061031.stm        -Marc (1 Comment |Comment on this)
12:40 am	So, the greater Atlanta Presbytery is holding a big tent show / thing in Centennial Park in the middle of metropolitan Atlanta (for those of you Boston-ers, think Atlanta's version of the Boston Common), and the seminary has asked me to do magic as part of the show.      I agreed to do it, but my first thought was that this could either be really fun (which I think it will be) or one of the more embarrassing moments in my life.       But then I thought about the comic potential that would ensue from a 75-year-old Presbytery moderator having to fasten the crotch strap of my straight jacket in the middle of downtown metropolitan Atlanta, and then I remembered why I do this stuff in the first place. (Comment on this)
Thursday, April 23rd, 2009
1:27 pm	The Vegas planning continues...      I got a package in the mail today with some materials for a new piece of magic I’m very interested in learning. I’ll be taking a look at that later. And speaking of magic, the planning for Marc’s Fabulous Las Vegas Weekend of Magic Ridiculousness in August is making progress. I’ve already got the hotel and plane tickets booked (thank you, Mom and Dad for birthday presents...), and thanks to calling nearly 5 months in advance, I’ve gotten pretty reasonably priced front row center seats for Penn and Teller.        The next phase is Lance Burton and Mac King. I called the Lance Burton box office at the Monte Carlo hotel where I’m staying about a week ago, and despite my best attempts to work the ol’ Van Bulck charm on the box office girl over the phone, she insisted that the tickets were not on sale yet and to call back in a few weeks.       I am going to get good tickets.        See, I am really proud of the seats I got for Penn and Teller, and I would love to get great seats for Lance Burton. Whether it’s big illusions or close-up stuff, magic is really an art form that I like to see as close as possible. I’m willing to shell out a few extra paycheck dollars once a month if it means slowly accumulating these good magic seats over time until the trip starts in August.  I’d also love to see some close-up at the Monte Carlo while I’m there, and I’m told one of the guys who works for Lance in the parlor / shop / whatever does close-up.   I might have made that up, but I would love to see it if that’s true.         Mac King will be the third phase and probably the easiest to get tickets for (and the cheapest – just $24!).  I might be able to even get tickets for his show and Lance Burton's at the same time if my budget permits.  If not, I'll just wait until the following paycheck and grab'em online.  Also, I think he and Penn and Teller will be the easiest to meet-and-greet with after the show, although the inner 13-year-old magic nerd in me would love a photo with Lance Burton.  Even if they’re not all household names, these men are celebrities in my world, and I will stalk them in classic Van Bulck style.        Look, judge me and mock me as much as you please. I don’t care. I am dead serious here, people. I am going on this Vegas trip to see magic and as much of it as I can. Period. End of story.       This is a tailor-made-for-Marc-van-Bulck-and-nobody-else Las Vegas trip, which is part of why I’m going by myself (the other reason being that it’s just too damn expensive). I could just picture somebody else going with me and saying, "Oh, but don't you want to go see this show?" or "Don't you want to do this?"        No.  I really don't.  I don’t care about your favorite Cirque du Soleil show. I’m not interested in gambling or strippers (well…). I want to see grown men dressed in silly clothes acting campy and goofy and funny as hell, pulling doves out of their socks, showing off sleight-of-hand, and just generally being kickass at magic.        Now, that being said, after the Lance Burton and Mac King tickets are secured, I will have some very important planning to do.       THE SCHEDULE SO FAR:      (Updated!)      THURSDAY      Evening:  Plane leaves for Las Vegas that evening after work.  Arrive at hotel and crash or roam around and do stuff.      FRIDAY      Morning: (Free time)  <--      Afternoon:  (Free time)  <--      Evening: (Lance Burton, also possibly close-up parlor magic)      SATURDAY      Morning: (Free time)  <--      3:00 P.M. Mac King comedy magic matinee show      8:30 P.M.  Penn and Teller      SUNDAY      Fly home      MONDAY      Extra day off to recover at home before returning to work      These small windows of free time with arrows pointing to them will be tests of planning, time management, and decisiveness on my part. Las Vegas has a lot of really cool shit to offer, and I will have to decide what I think is the coolest and do that. I have a few ideas, but those plans will probably become more clear as time grows closer.         Any suggestions? (Comment on this)
Tuesday, April 7th, 2009
6:22 pm	I. LOVE. LIFE. (Comment on this)
Sunday, April 5th, 2009
9:07 pm	I'm considering the possibility / potential of doing a silent magic show next year.  Music cues, sound effects, visual gags, etc, but no spoken word.  I'd have to work pretty hard to develop / incorporate enough new material, adjust old material, and keep it entertaining without speaking, but I think I could do it.  And I think it could be fun.       Any thoughts?  Ideas?      -Marc  (2 Comments |Comment on this)
Friday, April 3rd, 2009
11:37 pm	Penn and Teller.       Front row, center.      One down, two to go...      Marc van Bulck = Epic win. (Comment on this)
Monday, March 30th, 2009
10:58 am	Why Is Marc Thinking About His Birthday Four Months In Advance?      UPDATED!!!      So, since I started CPE back in the beginning of last summer, I have fantasized about how I would like to “reward myself” at the end of what will be my 15-month tenure here at St. Joseph’s Hospital. And now, with the help of a certain “birthday advantage” this summer, I’m going to take a trip to Las Vegas!        I’m going to Las Vegas the weekend before my CPE residency is over (I won’t have time the weekend after it ends because classes at seminary will start back shortly after) for four days and three nights with one agenda and one agenda only.         Magic shows, magic shows, magic shows!        That’s right. My one and only agenda for my trip is to see as many Las Vegas magic shows as humanly and financially possible in a single weekend.        My plan right now is to see three big stage shows – Lance Burton: Master Magician, Mac King (comedy magic), and Penn and Teller – with some possible stops for close-up parlor magic sprinkled in between.       (NOTE:  I've decided not to add David Copperfield or Criss Angel to this list.  I've already seen Copperfield's show three times already, so I don't feel the urgent need to go see him AGAIN.  I might as well spend my time in Vegas checking out acts I've never seen before, and Criss Angel's show has been getting TERRIBLE reviews from other magicians, so I decided to skip it)        My communal family birthday package is that my parents are going to help pitch in by paying for the plane ticket and hotel, and I’ll pitch in by paying for all the show tickets. That will be my birthday package. That’s why I’m thinking about my birthday four months in advance. The plane and hotel are already booked, and my plan is to slowly start buying show tickets as soon as they become available / my paychecks come in. I’m pretty sure I’ll be able to go ahead and get the Penn and Teller tickets this Thursday for the August weekend, but it looks like I’ll probably have to wait another month or so before Lance Burton and Mac King go on sale that far in advance.        It also helps that the hotel I’m staying in is the hotel that Lance Burton performs in and, as I understand it, has a regular close-up magician who performs juggling and parlor magic in the evenings. Also, Mac King only performs afternoon matinees, which will allow me to see Penn and Teller later that evening. Thus cramming two big shows into one day. So, basically, the plan is that I will land on Thursday night, go typical Vegas sight-seeing Friday morning and afternoon, and then from Friday evening until I take off on Sunday, it is basically a 48-hour bonanza of magic shows.        I could not be more freaking excited.        So, over the next month or so, I will slowly begin buying show tickets as they become available and start laying the groundwork for Marc’s Fabulous Las Vegas Weekend of Magic Ridiculousness.         Happy 25th Birthday to Me.        -Marc      UPDATE:       MY FRIEND TIM:  You're just going to see magic shows?      MARC:  Uh, huh.      (Pause)      TIM:  By yourself?      MARC:  Yeah.      (Pause)      TIM:  You are such a nerd... (Comment on this)
Friday, March 20th, 2009
9:53 pm	I. Love. Life. (1 Comment |Comment on this)
Friday, February 27th, 2009
12:21 am	And the Award for the Greatest Obscure Animated Feature From the 70's This Week Goes To...      ...The Hobbit by Rankin / Bass circa 1977.  I watched this DVD two nights ago.  This was one of my favorite movies as a kid, and it's aged remarkably well.  Plus, I downloaded the soundtrack this afternoon (had to scour the net a bit to find it, but sure enough...)      My favorite track definitely has to be the one from the following clip...hee hee hee!  Yay, nostalgia!      -Marc      "The goblins are upon us!"      "Down, down to Goblin Town..." (2 Comments |Comment on this)
Monday, February 23rd, 2009
8:21 pm	Marc's unashamedly dorky post-magic-show recap!      So, the magic show was this weekend here at the seminary, and it was seven different shades of awesome and fun.  It’s dorky as all hell, but I can’t help it.  Mock me if you must, I shan’t be deterred!  I freaking love magic!       So, sorry folks.  I’m just going to spend this entire post gushing about the magic show and how much fun it was and talking about the pieces in the show.  Just figured I’d give you fair warning in advance.      The turnout for the show was pretty good considering the weird scheduling during the conference.  The show was performed in the Harrington Center Auditorium which is an intimate lecture auditorium with a stage.  We wound up having about 80-100 folks show up for the show, which is about 2/3 capacity, and the whole front row was filled with children.  I was a little nervous about this because I knew I was going to be doing some dangerous stuff, but the crowd seemed very excited, supportive, and determined to have a good time, which was really nice.      I got to try out a lot of new material this year, which was pretty cool.  Vanishing Coke Bottle was the opener.  It's an old-as-dirt stage piece, but I've never done it before, and it was cool to do.  May carry that one over again in the future.  Might not.  Cut-and-Restored Rope is one of my favorites to do, and I did an extended version of that routine with some added sleights and flourishes that I liked a lot better than the version I've been doing.       This was also the first time that I’ve had an assistant in the show!  Laura, who’s one of the first-year students was my assistant, and she was really great.  The assistant part was only in two bits, and they’re mostly comedy bits.  For example, during the show I make a red handkerchief disappear using sleight-of-hand and ask the audience if they want to see how I do it.  I explain that I have to slow it down to show them how it works, and I proceed to do the trick in “slow-motion.”  Laura runs onstage in slow motion, and I throw the handkerchief to her, and she catches it,  She “hides” onstage in comic fashion.  Then she “runs” back and gives it back to me, and the handkerchief “reappears” in my hands.  It’s super camp but lots of fun, and the audience seemed to like it.  I may try to add more to the assistant part next year.      The only trick that went kinda haywire was sawing-in-half.  A friend of mine brought his soon-to-be fiancé and asked me if I would saw her in half.  I picked her for the piece but then realized too late that she was WAAAAY too thin for that frame, and if you were sitting in the dead center of the audience, I’m pretty sure you could look right into it and see the method.  No one from the audience mentioned anything about it (either they were being polite and didn’t want to say anything, or they didn’t notice), but my magician friend in the audience confirmed this for me.  Note to self…      Escaping from a straight jacket to a punk rock cover of “Hava Nagila” may have been the most fun I've had in a magic show.      This was also the first time in two years that I’ve left “Time Travel” out of the show, but I just felt like it was time to give it a rest.  It’s a really great piece (Spak collaborated on creating the original method, and I've revised it since, and I’m currently working on an even more revamped version of it), but I’ve done it so many times now that I don’t want the audience to get tired of it.       Instead this year, I did a really dangerous new piece called “Razor Blade Roullette,” and I got some GREAT feedback about it afterward.  I’m blindfolded through most of the trick, so I can’t see the audience, but according to some friends of mine, folks were covering their eyes, and one friend of mine mentioned that one of my exes was in tears during it.  Damn!      Interestingly to me, all the children that showed up in the audience seemed eerily fine with it.  I think this encourages my theory that really young folks can handle a lot more than they’re given credit for (although this is certainly not a trick I would do for a "kids' show").  It looks much scarier than it actually is and it’s really not that dangerous at all, but I really tried to play up the drama of it, particularly after it was over, but I may pull that one out of the mothballs later on down the road.      The last piece I did was a new piece I developed this year called “Psychic Improv.”  The piece involves an improv scene and some audience mind reading, and it utilizes some principles in magic that have been around for a very long time.  It was pretty cool, and the audience responded well to it, but I’d like to maybe develop that one a little bit more.  It feels like a work in progress.      The only thing that struck me as kind of weird was during the card magic portion in the middle.  I did a card prediction piece in the show where I write a prediction down and seal it in an envelope.  A spectator shuffles the cards, selects one, puts it back in and shuffles the deck again while my back is turned.  I turn around and try to find the card, only to “screw up” several times.  After she finally tells me what her card is, I ask her to open the envelope, and there’s a large piece of paper with the prediction of her card on it.  It’s a trick I’ve done for years and years and years (it’s one of my favorites), but after the show I got several comments from folks saying, “Marc, didn’t you realize she’s engaged?”      I didn’t know she was engaged, as a matter of fact, but I wasn’t sure why this mattered.  I didn’t flirt with her onstage or anything (at least, not that I'm aware of.  Some magicians like to do this, although I generally don’t).  I just asked her to help out with a card trick, but several people mentioned it later after the show.  Note to self: According to seminarians, if you’re engaged or attached, helping out with magic is off limits.      So much fun.  I really wish I could do this sort of thing more often.  This would be a really fun regular gig.      TTFN      -Marc      P.S.  UPDATE!  We also filmed the whole thing, so I may try to post a few clips online if I can. 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Monday, February 16th, 2009
5:18 pm	Marc *calmly expresses his concerns* about "Lost" and "Battlestar Galactica"      *SPOILER ALERT!  SPOILER ALERT!*      Okay, crew.  You know the drill.  I’m going to talk about spoilers in this post.  So, if you're not completely caught up or just aren’t interested in either show, then you might as well just stop reading now ‘cause that’s where this ship is headed.      Let's talk about Lost and Battlestar Galactica for just a moment.  I have a bone to pick with them.       Both are very different shows.  Battlestar Galactica is science fiction.  Lost is a sort of suspense-mystery-adventure.  Two shows with different styles and aesthetics set against the backdrop of large, complex overarching mythologies and mysteries.  However, both shows have something very important in common.  They’re coming to an end.  Lost is nearly halfway through it’s second-to-last season on the air, and Battlestar Galactica has literally five episodes left to go.  While they’re at different stages of their respective narratives, they’re both in the process of “wrapping it all up.”      And at the same time, I feel that both shows have the very real potential of falling into a similar trap.  Lost and Battlestar Galactica started off with very simple premises.  Battlestar Galactica was based on the premise that humans created artificial intelligence, and believing to have been enslaved by their creators, these artificial intelligences known as the Cylons rebelled and nearly exterminated the human race and destroyed their home planet.  Now, the last of humanity inhabits a fleet of space ships on the run from the Cylons - trying to find a new home somewhere in the universe while being hunted by their very creations.      Very simple premise.  Very cool story.      And then there’s Lost.  Lost follows the survivors of a plane crash who land on an island.  The first season of Lost focused almost entirely on the survivors trying to contact the outside world while trying to survive.  But there’s a twist.  Polar bears are discovered living on the island.  Well, that’s very strange.  Also, there’s this sort of mysterious, unseen monster.  And then, while wandering through the jungle and digging through the foliage, the survivors discover a hatch in the ground.  As Charlie asks at the conclusion of the pilot episode – a quote which seemed to sum up the series in one sentence pretty nicely – “Guys, where are we?”      Two very cool and mysterious premises for two very cool and mysterious shows.  With one very important ingredient – both are held together by their interesting, developed, and compelling characters and the relationship dynamics between them.      So, now we’re coming towards the ends of both shows – although more immediately with Battlestar.  Lost still has a little bit of time left to go.  And this, my fellow nerds, is where my concerns with both of these series are starting to take shape.  It seems that both shows have taken the core mysteries and mythologies that were the heart of the stories from the very beginning and have since made them more unnecessarily complicated than either show ever needed to be.      With Battlestar, there have been a few examples of this over the last few seasons.  First they introduced this idea of the “Final Five” Cylons and that these “Final Five” that we hadn’t seen yet were special.  Okay.  Then, the scavenger hunt that was supposed to lead to Earth back in Season Three.  Now, I actually kind of liked the “Scavenger Hunt” idea.  Those were some of the most compelling moments of the show for me in Season Three.  Except that it never really went anywhere.  And we just sort of forgot about it.  Then this season, there was the introduction of Baltar’s religious entourage, a creative decision I’ve never really fully understood.  However, I was very appreciative that Baltar acknowledged that he had not actually gained religion but mostly used this entourage to stroke his own ego (I was afraid the opposite was true).      And then it picked up!  Once we hit the halfway point, Season Four seemed to drop all the silliness and re-focused on the human drama and primordial conflict.  There was a mutiny onboard the Galactica.  Gaeta and Tom Zarek betrayed the colonies and wiped out the Quorum.  Now, Adama and Tigh are fighting for their lives against the mutiny like grizzled ol’ war dogs.  It was fantastic.  And suddenly, the show was interesting again.      But then…there was this week.  What’s-his-face, whose name I can’t even remember (Starbuck’s ex-husband, boyfriend, whatever), got shot in the head, and the bullet in his brain conveniently caused him to remember nearly four seasons worth of exposition.      Seriously.  That was the plot of last week’s episode.      Now, it would have been one thing if this had been done with flashbacks, so we could have actually seen all of this, but instead he just sat there in his hospital bed for nearly twenty minutes monologue-ing it.  On top of that, instead of him having memories that actually explain why the Cylons believe in God, or why Baltar sees a Six in his head, or what the hell Starbuck is – you know, mysteries that the audience actually cares about or that have roots from the very beginning – we’re given this ridiculous 13 Colonies / Tribe of Cylons / “all this has happened before” timeline which makes absolutely no damn sense.  The Cylons existed thousands of years ago, and there was a giant war?  Since when?  How are we only just now finding out about this?  Really?  There was no mention of them in the Scriptures?  Anywhere?  I mean, a massive war thousands of years ago and the existence of Cylons just managed to conveniently fly under the radar of history?       Really?  Are you sure?  Sounds EXTREMELY fishy to me.       “But, Marc,” I can hear some of you saying, “Don’t you get it?  Humans created Cylons.  Cylons created skinjobs.  Or hybrids.  And there was a war.  And then there was the Final Five.  And they created humaniform cylons.  Or something.  But don’t you get it?  ‘All of this has happened before, and all this has happened again.’  That’s the phrase they’ve been saying over and over again since Season One.  It’s like they’re referencing that!”      No, it’s not.  It doesn’t count as “tying it up” if it doesn’t make any reasonable sense.  You are right about one thing, though.  All of this has happened before.  Unfortunately, it was called Twin Peaks.       On top of that, just a few weeks ago, Ron Moore said in an interview that the writers didn’t even know for sure that Ellen was the Fifth Cylon until the beginning of Season Four.       What?!?!  I thought.  Are you serious???  Until Season Four???  You mean, they didn’t know that until this year?!  You mean to tell me that when my friends and I were sitting around debating who the final Cylon was after “All Across the Watchtower”…at that moment, the actual writers of the show were doing the exact same thing?!       Apparently so.  And that’s when it hit me.  And I didn’t want to accept it.       “Holy cow,” I said out loud after reading that interview, “they really are just making it all up at the last minute.”      ---      And then there’s Lost.       Lost’s entire first season was, I would argue, nearly perfect narrative storytelling.  Sort of like Battlestar’s first season.  There was not a single episode that didn’t have my complete wrapped attention and full emotional investment.  And then there was the second season, which even though it started to become a little more convoluted, was still just as compelling.  On top of that, the season two finale was quite possibly the single greatest cliffhanger I’ve ever seen on television.  Ever.  Seriously, I cannot remember a cliffhanger that I have ever seen on a TV show that left me more completely satisfied and yet simultaneously unabashedly excited for what was to come than the Season Two finale of Lost.       But then there was Season Three, which made absolutely no sense at all.  The writers introduced a second island, right off the coast of the first island, which conveniently nobody noticed.  Yeah, remember that?  Then, the writers revealed that the Others were living in houses, which conveniently nobody noticed.  Then, Desmond blew up and then conveniently had superpowers, and before long, I was contemplated quitting the show.  It was just becoming ridiculous for no apparent reason.       But then, it picked up.  Just like Battlestar did.  The producers announced they were ending the show in three seasons, and they were ready to execute the game plan!  Great! I thought.  And then they hit us with the absolutely phenomenally awesome Season Four, and it seemed like they were right.  The show started becoming slightly more graphic novel-esque in narrative style, but it was more tightly-written, returned to the character drama and the original mythology, and started slowly answering some of those long-term questions.  Bam!  Bam!  Bam!      And then there was this season.  And boy, was I excited.  I mean, if Season Four was awesome, I just could not WAIT for Season Five!  Then I heard that opening line of dialogue of Dr. What-His-Face-Scientist-Man in the premiere.      “Don’t you see, man?!  This island has enough power…to travel through time!!!”       …      …      …      What?!  I thought.      What the hell?!  Are you kidding me???      Now, the island is traveling through time.  I kid you not.  We are on a time travelling island.       Now, to be fair, the producers have slowly started using this device to answer more questions about the island’s back story and some of the mythology’s secondary characters.  Also, the show has hinted at the idea that the island has always been sort of abstractly isolated from “the rest of the world” either spatially or temporally.  And the series has hinted at that since…well…Season Two, really.       But seriously?  A time traveling island?  With that line of dialogue?       This better start making sense, fellas.           Are you starting to notice something about both of these shows?  They both started out with very simple, very compelling premises that make you want to invest in them.  And then, in what appears to be an attempt to make it more interesting they started adding just a little more…just a little more…just a little more.  Until now, both shows have become nearly massive webs of interconnecting narratives, characters, and mythologies.  The problem here is that now, we’re coming up on the end of both shows…but instead of seriously starting to untangle these webs, they’re still adding just a little more….just a little more…just a little more…       As a friend of both Lost and Battlestar Galactica, as they both approach the twilight of their tenures as television shows and prepare for their respective final bows, I would like to offer just this one humble nugget of…constructive criticism.      STOP IT!!!  You hear me?  Just stop it!       You can’t keep adding “just a little more” at this point!  You can’t introduce MORE STUFF this late in the game!  Your shows are almost over!  Battlestar, you basically ARE over!  You are at the narrative juncture where you need to start wrapping up the established mythologies, or both of your shows are going to completely fall apart at the end of the final inning before the eyes of your adoring, devoted, and deserving fans.        Battlestar should have basically wrapped all that up by now.  You shouldn’t be spending your final six episodes explaining what was essentially four seasons worth of exposition.  If that information was even remotely relevant to what's to come, you should have started planting those seeds back in, like, Season Two.  The final five episodes should comprise of the final conflict.  I couldn't even tell you what that is anymore.  These shows are supposed to be about character drama.  Not how many narrative twists can we possible come up with?  I have already made the deliberate decision to stick with both of these shows to their bitter and hopefully satisfying ends.  But I’m very nervous.  I am very, very nervous, indeed.       When I think about a show like Joss Whedon’s Firefly and Serenity, one of the things that made that show great (and Whedon is really good at this) was not how complicated they could make the story or how many twists and turns they could give to their universe.  It was always about the characters.  Their flaws.  Their moments of greatness.  Their beliefs and convictions.  It was about what made them human and the dynamics between them.  And that was always enough.  And at their very best moments, this is exactly what Lost and Battlestar Galactica are about.  But then I think about what happened with the Star Wars prequels and the Matrix sequels.  They kept adding midichlorians and Architects and “chosen ones” all that nonsense.  It stopped being about the mythic growth of the characters and became about all this other “stuff.”  They kept adding just a little more…just a little more…just a little more…       Showrunners of Lost and Battlestar Galactica, I really hope you know what you’re doing.  I really, really hope you know what you’re doing.  Because this it, friends.       And you will be remembered for it.      -Marc (2 Comments |Comment on this)
Thursday, December 25th, 2008
11:43 pm	Marc and a Dalek (2 Comments |Comment on this)
Sunday, December 21st, 2008
3:49 am	I.  HAVE.  A. PET.  DALEK. (1 Comment |Comment on this)