How Calvin & Hobbes Changed My Life

The title alone will get mixed reactions from some. For more than a few, they will share in my feelings. Others will think I have something more wrong with me than usual. Others will say "Wasn't That a Comic Strip in the 90s?" (Just kidding... almost everyone will know what I'm talking about).



This decade-long monument to thinking outside the box was quite profound to me as a child. I was born the year it premiered in newspapers and I started reading the comic strip at 6 years old. Immediately it took effect. Aside from the amazing visuals that held me captivated with "static pictures" in a way no movie or television show ever could, it also started to change my way of thinking.

If I ever came across a word I didn't understand (quite often in such a verbose work) I would quickly run to my family's dictionary to find out what it meant. So, unwittingly, it helped me improve my reading and comprehension skills. I was always in advanced reading classes in Elementary school and even now I read very quickly and comprehend with the same level of speed... and I owe it to Calvin & Hobbes.

It also opened my eyes to the wonder of Comic Books. Many have stated that comic strips are a gateway drug to comic books and graphic novels and when you have such an unbelievable jumping off point, it's far easier. Having older brothers who were, in the case of my eldest bro, obsessed with comics also helped.... but Calvin & Hobbes allowed me to make that leap.

Even my imagination was helped by this "simple" comic strip. The story about a 6 year old boy who creates entire worlds in his mind showed me that it was okay to let my imagination run wild, but in every story, they showed there is a real world side to Calvin's life as well. And even though I wouldn't always understand some of the theoretical discussions unfolding in front of my eyes until many years later, it did make me want to understand the real world more. So I always had one foot in the fantastic and one foot in the everyday, and I have to thank Calvin & Hobbes for that.

Finally, Calvin & Hobbes affected my sense of humor. At 6 years old, I laughed at the visual jokes and the easily understood humor (The Word "Booger" is still funny to me to this day) and as I reached 12 and 13 (reading the collections in book form after the strip ended its run) I started finding all of the other jokes funny. It showed me that "juvenile" humor can be intelligent and that, if you can walk that fine line, you can create something that connects to everyone. And the show that I perform today is one that I can play for audiences of all ages because I learned that no audience should be treated like idiots. Bill Watterson refused to insult my intelligence at 6, at 16, and even now... so I pass that courtesy on to my audiences (at least, I hope I'm not insulting their intelligence).

The collected, hardcover-bound edition of Calvin & Hobbes graces my shelf (in its weight-belt-required-to-lift glory) which I received as a gift from my brothers the year it came out. And I will often look through it to laugh, to enjoy, and to even be inspired. I recently heard about a movie trying to be made on Bill Watterson's life and the effect his work had on the world called Dear Mr. Watterson and I am greatly looking forward to it.

If you haven't experienced Calvin & Hobbes, you can read strips online here:
http://www.gocomics.com/calvinandhobbes/

Does this seem like a love letter to a comic strip? You bet your ass it is. And it truly is the least I could do.

Creating Magic (Or How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb)

Amongst the act of banging my head repeatedly against the wall while I try to figure out new ways to sell my show, keep my business afloat, and keep myself in a healthy state of insanity (Not sane enough to come to my senses about my life choices, but not insane enough to walk down the street wearing nothing but a coffee pot on my head singing Folsom Prison Blues), I do spend quite a bit of time trying to figure out new routines to put into my show.

Inspiration comes in so many forms, there isn't any one method that's worked above the others. There's a couple of things I'm currently working on that I hope to have ready for the Summer and they're coming from different places creatively. Maybe by showing how I get my material, maybe someone will find a way to be inspired with whatever they're doing (or maybe it'll just be an interesting read).

One of my effects is growing from a prop I used years ago. The official name of the effect is "20th Century Silks" and the general idea is that two blue silks are tied together, placed in a glass or the pocket of an audience member. Then a red silk is brought across the room, it disappears, and then reappears tied between the two blue silks. It's a pretty cool trick, and I did it in my shows a loooong time ago. But it didn't really have as much of my style and personality as my effects do now, so I'm trying to rework it to make it fit the show? Will it? I have no clue.

Another is coming from a few different poems from The Book of Irish Verse which is put together by John Montague. It's one of those books that you'd find for $6.98 in the Bargain-Priced area of Barnes & Noble (One of my favorite sections) but it's full of great poetry spanning many centuries. I'll often find myself drawn to these books (I have a few on Irish Horror in such a way) in hopes that they will spark something in my brain.

Bobby McFerrin is also sparking some serious creativity lately (Yes the Don't Worry, Be Happy guy. But has also 10 Grammys to his name and is the most amazing vocalist and vocal improvisationalist in the world). I love the idea of mixing music & magic and McFerrin's style really inspires me to find new ways to inject vocal music into magic. I have sung in my live shows in the past, but any time I've attempted to combine vocals and magic, it hasn't turned out the way I wanted. Darren Romeo is a magician who is notably fantastic at doing this (and a past counselor at Tannen's Magic Camp which is where I first met him), but it's certainly not the style I'm going for. Also I'm only looking to highlight this in one piece of magic, as opposed to a whole show.

Finally, an idea that is maybe 1 to 2 years from coming to form is adding a grand illusion to my show. The best way I can describe this is a piece of magic that usually involves another person such as sawing in half, production, suspension, levitation, etc. Unfortunately, due to the cost and the amount of effort it will take to put this into a show, it is quite a bit down the line. Especially since I usually refuse to use an illusion "as is bought" and will have to remake it to fit a theme which means rebuilding, repainting, and hoping I didn't destroy it in the process. This is on top of creating a story for the illusion, choreography, figuring out music, practicing it until perfect... all of the stuff that SHOULD be going into a magician's creation process with ANY routine (Unfortunately, as I have seen time and time again, this is nowhere near the case).

There's a little glimpse into my current creative process. My brain is a squishy place. But it's okay... they know me here.

-Much love,
Daniel
GreenWolfMagic.com

JK Rowling: The Fringe Benefits of Failure

This is a very comforting speech to hear for me, especially in this cold, unprofitable, & stressful January time. I hope someone else gets something out of it, as well.

JK Rowling: The fringe benefits of failure | Video on TED.com

-Much love,
Daniel GreenWolf
www.GreenWolfMagic.com

Lectures, Car Crashes, and Free Knock-Off Ipods

"It's easy to maintain your integrity when no one is offering to buy it out."

-Marc Maron

So the last couple of weeks have been full of all kinds of Magicfulness (In one way or another). Last Friday, I had the pleasure of lecturing at the Tricky Business Magic Shop in Hicksville, NY. It was a really great group of magicians that seemed to not be annoyed by what I had to say. I've only done a handful of lectures in the past, and hopefully this will be the beginning of many more to come.

Things got even more interesting post-lecture. I went to a local diner with John Reid (the owner of Tricky Business), one of his employees Brian and his lady Amanda. On our way out, we noticed this rather odd prize-vending machine game. I decided I had to give this odd looking creature a try and I ended up winning an Ipod Shuffle. (Okay, it was a Chinese Ripoff of a Shuffle, but a victory is a victory dammit. And it seems to work alright... don't take this moment from me!)

Anywho, on the way back from Hicksville, I noticed John's car on the side of the road next to a heinous crash where the demolished car was sitting without a front end in the farthest left lane. I stopped and realized John was just lending a hand so I also attempted to help. The crash occurred on a major highway just around a bend so needless to say, the demolished car almost got hit 5 more times in the 10 minutes we were there waiting for an ambulance to arrive.

Is it impossible for people to slow down when they see a bunch of cars with their hazard lights on? Are people so mentally vacant while driving that they see people waving them to slow down on a highway that they figure "If I go REALLY fast, maybe I'll be invisible" (Although the thought does border on theoretical physics, I doubt the drivers are that deep).

I know it's always going to be a problem, but moronic drivers have been affecting the lives of those around me quite regularly lately. Between my roommate getting hit by a car as he crossed a LIT CROSSWALK, Losander (a phenomenal magician and creator) gets t-boned by a driver who goes right through a red light, my friend's son gets into a vicious accident... sweet fluffy monkeys people! Open yer friggin' eyes when you're driving! Sorry about the outburst. As someone always on the road, it's a personal buggery of mine.

In more pleasant news, with rehearsals for the Renaissance Banquet at the end of February in Stratford, CT (You need to login to Facebook to see the link) in full swing, I'm really getting into the spirit of collaborative play. I have peculiarly high standards when it comes to a performance I'm involved in, which sometimes makes me come across as nit-picky and controlling, but everyone else involved is aware of this and know when to listen to my thoughts and know when to tell me to stuff it. It's going to be a great show.

We are also inching close to Wicked Winter Renaissance Faire in NJ the 3rd weekend of February, I'm both excited and nervous. It's always a wondrous time and I have no doubt of that, but I'm going to be doing an effect I haven't done since last August. It's a rather involved escape which actually has some dangerous elements to it, and this time, I'm going to be using bondage experts to tie me up (It IS that kind of Faire). It's a little nerve-wracking to say the least. I'm spending the remaining weeks retraining my body to deal with the extra stress of holding my breath for longer than my big-ness wishes. I'm not quite back to where I was in August, but hopefully the next 3 weeks will fix that.

As some folks can tell, I'm trying to define where this blog is going to go. Part philosophy, part updates, part stories, part ramblings... are people liking what I'm putting up here? Is there something you want to see me write about? Let me know in the comments, folks.

And a quick shout out to Scooter, Losander, and Galen for a speedy and full recovery!

-Much love,
Daniel GreenWolf
www.GreenWolfMagic.com
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Coping with the January Lull

Behold the fool saith, "Put not all thine eggs in the one basket"--which is but a manner of saying, "Scatter your money and your attention;" but the wise man saith, "Put all your eggs in the one basket and--WATCH THAT BASKET."

-Mark Twain

Being a professional magician, you get just as many highs and lows as any other self-owned business. Statistically, January acts as the preparation month for the rest of the year, primarily because you don't have much else to do (And although the whole Conan v. Leno thing is intriguing... there's not too much I can do about it...Go Conan). So I've spent my January doing a few random gigs here and there, redoing the website, sending out press kits, and preparing for a lecture to Magicians in NY.

The untrained eye might consider this "keeping myself busy" or "waiting for something to come up" but the truth is that it's actually keeping myself focused on the job. I think the biggest downfall of magicians trying to make it professionally is that they lose focus. So many take these low points as an unsolvable problem and just "wait by the phone" or worse, take it as a sign they should take a second crap job to "soften the blow"... then they start relying on the second job. They turn down magic gigs because they can't miss work and then BAM... they make the transition from professional magician to hobbyist in denial. Then eventually, after a few years, just a hobbyist.

Now, please know I have nothing against hobbyists. In fact, I know some awesome hobbyists who have created some great and indeed legendary magic... but they're not running a magic business at that point. And to be in show business, you have to embrace both parts; Show AND business.

I have been told by some that to run a business, you have to compromise your art and I certainly believe it's not so. In fact, there is an altogether different art to running a business. But aside from that, I think if you you're focused on the type of art you do, then you will find an audience to buy it. In my case, my show is highly adaptable (I am a Shameless Whore, after all), but I often have to find ways to tell new clients that. It sometimes took a bit to tell corporations that I was what they were looking for and didn't want a suit & tie type performance. Luckily, they usually end up listening.

I'm eternally grateful to have a better half who slaps me back into focus when I fall into the occasional Am I a Failure-type depression that plagues many of my magician cohorts. I also have a great family that helps in this problem. And it's not like I don't do other things to supplement my income aside from performing magic. I've built websites for other magicians, I host karaoke, I've done tarot readings for corporate parties... but I've never let it get in the way of magic. And the fact that all of those side jobs are connected very wholly to performing or the business doesn't hurt either.

What's my point? Keep focused on your goals. Don't let the low points scare you away. If you put a fall-back profession into place... you're more likely to use it. Much more likely. Maybe it sounds pessimistic to some, but the idea of not having a net keeps me much more focused on the high-wire.

To leave you folks with a really cool TED talk that focuses on the subject of success. It's only 3 minutes but it's very interesting.

http://www.ted.com/talks/richard_st_john_s_8_secrets_of_success.html

(If you don't know about TED.com, this is a great time to learn. It's VERY cool.)

Welcome Special Hell-Mates!

This shall become the future home of many mindless "frothing-at-the-mouth silly" posts of me, Daniel GreenWolf.

For those who don't know me- I'm a professional Magician of 14 years, I perform at Renaissance Faires, corporate events, and private events all over the USA.

I'm also a shameless über-geek who delights in the social awkwardness of my recreational past times.

You'll most likely be seeing various posts on my journeys as a magician, my loves as a geek (that hopefully other geeks will love also), and any other blather I wish to push out into the world. I hope you enjoy reading it.

In any case, Much love.
D.G.

Gods I'm pale. I must be Irish.