Mr Hyde's Other Notebook

Magic Movie

As you know, I've studied, performed and written about magic for the the last 40 years or so!

There is a bit of a buzz about magic in the movies at the moment. The Illusionist, The Prestige and another coming out soon.

Did you know many magicians were very closely involved in the early days of the industry and the first short clips were in fact of classic stage magic effects done with "camera tricks." Magicians also quickly bought into the technology, hiring or buying the early projectors to put on their own combination shows of live performance and film. What would be called "multi media" or "performance art" now!

So it was a nice surprise a few weeks ago when the promotions person at Village Roadshow kindly gave me 30 tickets to The Prestige to help promote the film. Sort of seeding a Seth Godin style "sneezing campaign".

I posted a not so tricky question on my website and the tickets were quickly snapped up.
Thanks Roadshow and I hope to check out the film this week.

This is a mysterious story of two magicians whose intense rivalry sparked a life-long battle for supremacy,
coloured by obsession, deceit and jealousy.

From the time that they first met as young magicians on the rise, Robert Angier (Hugh Jackman) and Alfred Borden (Christian Bale) were competitors.
However, their friendly competition evolves into a bitter rivalry - jeopardising the lives of everyone around them.

Full of twists and turns, The Prestige is set against the backdrop of turn-of-the-century London.

 URL: www.prestigemovie.co.uk

Creativity at the Movies #1

Most people remember one particular line from the movie "Dead Poets Society".

"Carpe Diem, lads, Sieze the day. Make your life extraordinary!"

While its a fabulous thought, I prefer the scene where Robin Williams character John Keating first stands on his desk in front of the class.

"Why do I stand up here? I stand upon my desk to remind myself that we must constantly look at things differently!"

While of course he was refering to the eyes of the poet, the words should be a reminder to us all, that to be Creative Innovators, we must also remember to look at the world differently.