Tag: Kickstarter

Mark Panner’s Genius Magic Idea: TUBER

Inside Magic Image of the TUBER InterfaceMichigan magician and estranged relative Mark Panner continues his contribution — in a sense — to our virtual pages.

Genius is what I call it.
Unless you have been living under a rock or have had a rock hit you in the head, you know the hottest thing in the world is UBER. It is a remarkable service that allows ordinary people to summon a cab or a limo to take them places.
It used to be the only way you could get a cab or a limo was if you lifted your hand in the presence of a cab or booked a limo. Now, you can use an App (a shortened version of the original “applique” – a hold-over from the early days of the inter-net when it was all based on handicrafts from the 1970s; decoupage, tie-dye and LSD) to summon a cab or a limo without raising your hand in their direction.
Everyone is doing it and when “everyone is doing it” I know it is a goldmine waiting to happen. That’s why I am launching TUBER. Inspired by – not copied from – UBER, it lets you summon a magician to your location to perform anything from a single trick to a full-evening show.
Let’s say you are on the corner of Fifth and Main in Anytown, USA. And let’s say you want to get a good Oil and Water or Cups and Balls performance and you want it right now. You click on the TUBER app and you’ll see all the magicians able to do the trick – literally. You click their icon and they will be there in a hurry.
Uber has a couple of different levels of service. You can use Uber and get a limo or town car. You can use Uber-X and get some guy with a car and possibly a valid driver’s license and less than bald tires. There is a price difference – obviously – but you get what you pay for.
Tuber will act the exact same way. Tuber will get you a magician with real skills, dressed appropriately for his or her act. Tuber-Ex will summon a guy or gal who knows some tricks but might need to borrow props from you (like coins or cards) and will probably be dressed like a normal person.
But I am adding a third level. Under Tuber will bring a person who will tell you about a cool thing they saw on YouTube and may even share his or her guess on how the trick is done. This will be the cheapest level but just as entertaining as the top-flight magician you could hire through the top-level TUBER service because you will be seeing videos of real, talented magicians.
I have started a Kickstarter campaign to raise the first million but after that, I will be selling shares to investors and then, I hope, selling out to Google or Microsoft.
The best thing is that even if the magic angle doesn’t work, I have already gotten leads from a consortium of potato growers who like the name and would like me to do something similar to deliver potatoes to people.
I don’t know how I come up with these genius ideas. It is truly a gift. You’re welcome.

Magician & Metal Bender Morgan Strebler Joins Fallen Cards Project

Inside Magic Image of Magician and Metal Bender Morgan StreblerMentalist and magician Morgan Strebler just signed with the Fallen Cards team to play the metal bending character, Arcturus.
We heard the news from Kristina Ellery one of the project’s producers and star actress — and she has yet to lead us astray.
One of our rules of thumb is: it takes a metal bender to play a metal bender.  And Mr. Strebler is nothing if not a metal bender.
In fact, his tagline is “The Man Who Bends Steel“; his outstanding web site includes a credit to Molten Media, he has effects named after various metal components or states of transition from liquid to solid; his site boasts images of horribly misshapen pieces of flatware; and he is a known expert on the subject of PK (“Psycho Kinetic”) effects.
And if that was not enough to establish his street cred as a metal bender — he set a record for the youngest person to successfully perform the notorious bullet catching trick.
We understand Mr. Strebler has completed construction of “a revolutionary, multimillion dollar show, which ranks as one of the largest in existence.”
How large?  We have read it will require a cast of more than 20 dancers and crew.  That’s big.
And so it is big news that he has signed on to perform in Fallen Cards.  If you have not yet visited their Kickstarter page to contribute to the project, you should head there promptly.
We will keep you up-to-date on developments as we learn of them.
You can follow Mr. Strebler (@MorganStrebler) and Ms. Ellery (@KristinaEllery) on Twitter for even more breaking news.