New Blog for New Haunters

I have started a new blog to chronicle my adventures in halloween prop building.  I will showcase my sucess, my failure, and everything in between.  If i figure out a way to do it, I will share.  No secrets here. I will link to supplies, give tips on how to do things, and even tell you what not to do.  My main projects will be video puppeteering, animatronics and peppers ghosts.  Be sure to check out http://diaryofahauntvirgin.blogspot.com/.  There is plenty of time between now and halloween to watch me screw up a lot of things.

Scaling back to go big—believing in something magical.

Well, it’s time for a rebirth…again.   This happens from time to time. I get bored or disenchanted with something, and I have to make a change.  This time, my ideas are bigger than my budget and my abilities… so what to do?  Try them anyway.

I grew up with heroes like Jim Henson, Walt Disney, and Tim Burton.  These people taught me it’s ok for grown-ups to play with puppets.  They also taught me that there is magic in the world. Real live magic.  They created the magic that didn’t exist in nature.  Just because it’s mechanical or animated, doesn’t mean it’s not real.  They also taught me that it’s ok to retreat to my happy place when reality gets too real.

Along these same notes I will tell a story.  After a lifetime of waiting, I finally got to go to Disney World, as a 30-something year old adult.  It was just as magical for me in my 30’s as I imagine it would have been in my youth.  Sure, I noticed different things.  How clean everything was.  There were no bugs whatsoever… unless there were supposed to be bugs.   Everything was completely controlled to give the illusion of perfection.  You see, Walt was so obsessed with producing magic, that he controlled every aspect of the parks… there are automatic trash collectors that run underground and secret passages for employees so you don’t have frontier people in future land.  When you are there, you forget that there is a whole imperfect bug-ridden world outside those walls…that is until Splash Mountain breaks down and you have to be evacuated through the parking lot… what a disappointment.

Which makes me wonder.. is magic still magical to the magician?  Once you learn how to make the magic, is it the joy of the magic that keeps you going or the ego of making the magic that propels you?  I am going to try to find out.  You see, I kind of have a theory that part of the magic of being the “man behind the curtain” is that you get to create magic for others…even if it’s at the expense of losing a little for yourself…in turn, I think a whole different kind of magic is made.

I know Im babbling like a brook right now, so I will get to the point.  I’m planning big, big things this year… it means, few traditional bobbin birds, fewer magazine appearances, etc.  I’m okay with this.  I am going to start experimenting with animatronics, video puppetry, outdoor –grade paper mache and special effects.  Hopefully, I will have something to show for dreaming big this fall.  

Not having kids of my own, I have the ability to remain one myself.  I am going to become a magician…and even though I may not have theme park, or movies, or lunch boxes, I am going to create magic at least on SkyPark Drive.