Tis the Season for an Education

School has officially begun, and I couldn't be more excited and nervous all at the same time! I am taking one class in particular about investing and it literally scares the  crap out of me. I have zero experience investing, and even less experience looking at stock options and values. I am very excited to learn about how stocks and investing in general work, and I am anxious to see where the next 15 weeks take me. Other than that I have some fairly easily classes that I know I will not get terribly overwhelmed with.

As of writing this, I am a full time car salesman, I am in school a little more than part time, and I also have more projects in the works than I know how to juggle, so please hang in there while I get everything sorted out and get the juggling balls back in the air! I do have a show coming up in February as well! The show will be at Sauced in the Paseo District on February 12th, I will update the upcoming touring dates with all the info soon so keep your eyes peeled. Best of all the show is free! 

This is the part where I would like to open up the floor to you, whether you're following me on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, Tumblr, or even SnapChat (johnshackmagic) I would like to hear from you! I want to know what kind of content you would like to see published, whether it be interesting magic videos, Stand Up Sets, instructional magic videos where you can actually learn fun tricks to show your friends, Live Streams? I do not care, I just want to know what you think would be interesting and of the most entertainment value to you! 

So I am going to create a little contest for this reason, find me on the various social platforms from now until March 5th, I will be accepting your ideas, Maybe even you have a cool idea for a magic trick you would like to see come to life, really anything you think would be interesting. Find me on the social platforms be sure to follow me if you have not already, and drop a tweet or tag me in something, just reach out! I will collect the ideas that I also like and we will collectively vote! There will be three winners and as a prize, you will be included in the video/blog/podcast/show whatever the ideas turn into! I have some other plans that tie into all of this. So Let's get some momentum on this and I will drop some more details in another blog post. 

Remember, Be Creative, Share this post, and Reach out with your ideas!

John

William H. Macy

I want to tell you about the time I met William H. Macy. For those of you that may not know who he is, William H. Macy is an American actor that has appeared in known for his appearances in Fargo, The Cooler, the TV Show Shameless, as well as many other great projects.

My experience with Mr. Macy was in his directorial debut for the film Rudderless, in which he took a small acting role as well as directing the entire film. Rudderless was my first experience on a film set, I told my mom that I was going to be an extra for the film and told her the actors that were starring in it. She was most excited about William H. Macy, In fact she told me that if I meet Mr. Macy that I HAVE to get an autograph for her. Well filming a movie is a very hurry up and wait business, there are times when at least for the extras you're literally doing nothing for hours. During the waiting period for a scene the extras were involved in we had to learn a dance of sorts, the Assistant Director brought in Mr. Macy to see our progress on learning the moves, he was in and out very quickly. I had missed my opportunity once, eventually we were ushered into the room we would be filming in, I ended up in the very back of this room, Everyone was moving around and having a good time so I just made my way as close to the front as I could. I ended up in the front right corner of this room.

At this point Mr. Macy was in and out of the room to watch the takes that were filmed, and he was standing next to me waiting to start the next take, however, the production assistants were working on some technical difficulties. I of course took my opportunity, I said "Hi I'm John" he looked at me and reached his hand out and said "Nice to meet you I'm Bill" then there was a little more waiting around. I turned to him and said "You know my mother told me I was not allowed to be in this movie unless I got an autograph from you for her" he said "Really, well we can't disappoint your mom, do you have anything to write with?" I of course pulled out a deck of cards and a sharpie, I gave him a playing card and the sharpie he asked for my mother's name and signed the card!

He asked why I had the cards with me I of course told him that I was a magician! He said "well show me what you got" I proceeded to show him several card tricks, he even gathered other cast and crew members in to watch what was going on. I had impressed him enough that he wanted to show others, after showing several others magic it was time to go back to work for the amazing film that is Rudderless! 

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NOW On Demand and DIGITAL HD! Buy Now: http://www.rudderlessthemovie.com/#digital A grieving father in a downward spiral stumbles across a box of his recently deceased son's demo tapes and lyrics. Shocked by the discovery of this unknown talent, he forms a band in the hope of finding some catharsis.

Happy New Year!

This will be my first blog post for the website which you will also be able to find on tumblr, and for me it is crazy to think that I now have a website in the first place. I had made excuses and put it off for so long simply because I didn't feel I had the right ideas or the right content to share or even if anyone would even be interested in any of this. Then I just decided that I was over thinking it, I bought the domain, I bought the website, I put in some work and began planning things that I want to share with the world.

Firstly, I am a magician, I have been performing since I was still in diapers! I have had my fair share of crazy experiences and I want to share them with you! With that being said In future posts I will include pictures and stories that I find interesting about doing magic for everyone I come into contact with. Magic is truly my life's passion I ALWAYS have something on me to share with people I meet and people I have known for years. It has been basically my backbone for as long as I can remember.

Secondly, I am an actor, I have been in plays since I was in elementary school however it was never really a big deal to me. Then, in 2013 I finally made a jump and started doing auditions and seeing where things take me. So, in this blog I will also share experiences I have had as an actor, some of which may bleed into being a magician, in fact most of the acting work I have done so far include magical experiences as well. Again, first and foremost I am a magician so you will probably get sick of hearing about magic from this website.

Lastly, I want to be open and honest, I want to share my goals, troubles, epiphanies, really anything that I think people would care to know about/talk about. If at any point in time I come off like a soapbox feel free to slap me, I can take it.

Thank you for taking the time to read this quick post, I intend to do them at least once a week if not more. I enjoy writing and who knows that could end up being my third passion I can share interesting experiences about! I hope you have a safe and happy new year, I'll see you in 2016!

John