Naquada

Surfing the web this morning and playing with Flickr, I found a note about London-based print geeks MOO. MOO say they have re-invented the the calling card, and recently dreamed up these neat photo cards.

The business card is the single most successful networking tool of all time, predating mobile phones, the internet, and PDAs by some 300 years. Not bad for a bit of paper with your name on it…

In a market worth in the region of $3b a year, The business card has seen little change since it first appeared around the 18th Century. Used primarily for business, but often in social settings as a ‘calling’ or ‘visiting’ card, the business card has largely remained the preserve of the business person.

But business cards are boring. They are dull, uninteresting, and really tell you very little about the person who’s giving it to you..

In an ambitious reinvention, that will address both form and function, MOO has taken the business card back to its roots as a sophisticated social tool for non-business use and have introduced a new, advanced generation of calling card for the networked, mobile and social young communities of today (that’s you by the way..)

These little beauties, called MiniCards, come in sets of 100 and can feature a different photo on each card, as well as contact details, buddy icons, urls or whatever info you want. Full colour both sides, they’re printed on a wonderfully silky card stock that feels great in your hand.

To help spread the word, MOO are giving away 10,000 FREE packs of 10 cards to Flickr pro members, as well as offering free international shipping (a saving of $4.99) on all other orders until the end of September.

Sign into MOO with your Flickr account to get started.

I’m sad.. I ordered mine this morning.. and I’m already busting with excitement…

UPDATE: apparently they are all sold out..!!

So its actually been such a while since I’ve posted… life’s been busy and mad the last few weeks, and having also had a bad bout of a cold/flu hasn’t helped..

I’ve been seriously ramping up the amount of magic reading I’ve been doing, looking around the theory and background to magic, and well as the physiological aspects.. I’ve been watching The Real Hustle on BBC Three and it prompted me to try and dig out a copy of Simon Lovell’s Billion Dollar Bunko Book.. unfortunately now out of print, this massive tome lists all manner of confidence tricks, swindles, bets and cheats.

However after alot of searching I think I’ve managed to obtain a copy from a particular source, and Simon said that he’s republishing it as “How to Cheat at Everything: A Con Man Reveals the Secrets of the Esoteric Trade of Cheating, Scams and Hustles” under Thunder’s Mouth Press. At over 595 pages its a wonderful source for anyone interested in that area.

Also on the magic scene there’s a ton of new magic related stuff coming up, both on TV and in the theatres.. Derren Browns recent theatre run ‘Something Wicked This Way Comes..’ was filmed and should air as a special over the next couple of months, and he’s also working on the next series of TV shows, scheduled to air spring 2007..

Derren is also appearing at the London Theatre Royal, tomorrow (the 24th) in a show to recognise the unsung Heroes of the London bombings in July last year. Alot of the acts will also be at the IBM Eastbourne Magic convention this evening, tickets for tomorrow can be obtained through the box office on 020 7494 5062 or through SeeTickets

FISM is also due to be airing soon. The international competition was filmed in Sweden, and should be going out ’something’ in the future. Some first cuts of segments have appeared on YouTube and look quite promising..

I’ve always been fascinated with the idea of quick-change in magic. Quick-change is where a performer or magician changes quickly within seconds from one costume into another costume in front of an audience. Normally this is done behind a screen, but in recent years the art-form’s got advanced enough to be able to do the change behind things like a confetti blast.

Quick change isn’t new, a book dating from 1600 describes the performance of an Italian actor called Giovanni Gabrielli, he performed different changes of costumes and characters in the public square of Bologna. Magicians in the 1800 used quick change effects in their repertory. Amongst them, Castor Sfax performing his podium act, as well as Italian actor and mime artist Leopoldo Fregoli, (1867-1936) who used quick-changes on stage and in front of the camera from 1895 to 1922.

It was probably Leopoldo who really started the ball rolling by transforming this surprising skill into a full evening show, changing outfits to represent 60 characters in the same show. Relatively modern magicians such as the The Great LaFayette (1872-1911) further popularised quick-change. LaFayette’s excellent quick-change routine as well as dramatic illusions such as his own lady to lion illusion – Lion’s Bride made him very popular.

Modern day quick change is something that really needs to be seen.. Arturo Brachetti, the worlds leading exponent of quick change holds the Guinness record as the fastest change artist in the world.

Recently one of the hottest quick change acts is David and Dania, whose act is very similar in style to The Sudarchikovi’s art from the 1950’s Moscow State Circus, appearing recently on NBC’s America’s Got Talent. Its worth looking at the videos on the site to really understand just how fats quick-change has become.

I’ve ordered a few things this morning from the USA, including some quick-change stuff from Lee Alex (I do like this video of his changing waist coat) and Lex Schoppi, unfortunately my ability to quick change my bow tie to 6 different ones won’t be here in time for Saturdays trip to the ball in Birmingham, but hey.. its Christmas soon!!!