2013-11 Dennis' Deliberations

 Newton's Third Law of Emotion: For every male action, there is female overreaction.  

“No great mind has ever existed without a touch of madness.” ― Aristotle 

Elon Musk is the P.T, Barnum of the 21st century. You can’t help but like and respect the guy, even though much of his accolades rest on the clever myth that he perpetuates about himself. All magicians and entertainers need to realize what a genius he is  in separating you from you money. It all started with his creation of Pay Pal.  If you are interested in a career in show business you need to see what he is doing and copy his public relations techniques.  
First he has that cool accent and international sophistication and beautiful woman are dripping off his arms. But what did he really ever do? Not much on his own , absent your tax-payer dollars. Okay, he got his start by developing the system called Pay Pal. Much of those profits he plunged into schemes that are largely based for using government tax dollars.  Space X is almost entirely funded by NASA tax dollars. Musk’s Tesla Electric Car has sales heavily subsidized by federal dollar tax credits.  One of them burst into flames on a freeway after a piece of highway debris poked a hole in the lithium battery case and that tarnishing of the Musk mystique so far has cost stockholders 10% of their portfolio value.
Lesson for magicians?  Get government sponsorship!  Musk, again hogging the spotlight and enhancing his myth, offered to tell how to fix the Boeing 787 Dream liner battery problems!  I seriously doubt that he knows how to change the laws of physics and thermodynamics. It takes a magician to do that.  It is hype…all spotlight grabbing; all  old fashion P.T. Barnum grandstanding.  
A few weeks ago Musk offered to design hyper sonic gerbil tubes run by vacuum to whisk people from New York to LA in less than an hour.  “You go, Elon, and build a museum of technological oddities in LA for New Yorkers to tube out to the coast and see the Fiji Mermaid and Two-headed man who can sing harmony with himself on an .mp3 player.”  Musk also just bought one of the James Bond movie props, a car that turns into a submarine. Maybe that idea would be great for CIA spy operations using tax dollars but I seriously doubt that it will be a profit-making consumer product.The Myth of Musk can’t last…His P.T. Barnum act  will end because sooner or later Wall Street is going to want to see a viable consumer product such as Steve Job’s Apple created.
In the meantime Wall Street needs another Whiz Kind, another mythical Steve Jobs and more hype to separate you from your IRA dollars. Just think before you invest, The greater lesson is that if you want to be a big time magician, take lessons from Musk, the modern P.T. Barnum,  but just be sure to give the audience some solid entertainment.

Mary Doyle Brodien is married to famous magician Marshall Brodien. Marshall is the creator of TV Magic Cards and Marshall Brodien magic sets. He also played the clown/wizard character Wizzo for 26 years on Chicago’s WGN TV’s Bozo Circus Show. She says, “In our 18 years of marriage, I’ve entertained a steady stream of guests here to see Marshall and his magic, assisted Marshall on stage a couple of dozen times, and have attended countless magic conventions with him. All this magic got me thinking about how it’s influenced me.”

Top 10 Ways You Know You are a Magician’s Wife

You know you are a magician’s wife when:
10. There is a magic museum in your home
 9. Your ceilings are decorated with playing cards
 8. You act surprised when you see the same trick for the hundredth time
 7. You are shopping and notice clothes that would look good on stage
 6. You discuss eyeliner and face powders for reducing shine with groups of men
 5. Everyone in your household, including the family hamster, is part of the act
 4. A romantic dinner out includes disappearing salt shakers and card tricks for the wait staff
 3. You’re not opposed to your husband coming at you with swords
 2. You look at a box and wonder if you could fit in it
And the number one way you know you are a magician’s wife -You don’t consider it abusive if your husband ties you up, stuffs you into a cloth bag, and locks you in a crate.
©2013, Mary K. Doyle

I hope that Halloween was good for you… People up here in the rural area are a little backwards and associate Halloween with real witches, ghosts and goblins. It is one time of the year that I do NOT want to claim to be a magician! This year one of the High Schools where I Substitute teach banned teachers from wearing costumes. My understanding was that a local religious group objected to costumes.  By the way, Martin Luther tacked his 95 Thesis on the Wittenberg Church door on Halloween 1517 beginning the Protestant Reformation.  I am not saying it is backwards up here but even the local Episcopalians handle snakes.