Thanks to MGM4MAGIC for the heads-up on a cool article.

The article is from AOL News and it's titled "Magic Does the Trick in Upcoming Thrillers".
http://articles.news.aol.com/movies/article.adp?id=20060215070109990001&cid=19

The article reminded me of a thought I had watching King Kong (the new movie) a few weeks back. I thought to myself, "by itself, magic is just a bunch of special effects that people can do in real life."

King Kong was the first time (and to date the only time) I've ever seen CGI so perfectly realistic that it fooled me. It was also one of the most BORING movies I've seen in a long time.

Watching it felt a lot like being fooled by a magic trick. Two DINOSAURS were fighting on screen so I KNEW someone was doing a trick..., but I didn't know HOW it worked. I knew it was "computers" like a spectator might know it's "strings" that make a levitation work... but I couldn't tell you how it ACTUALLY WORKED...

I'm not saying it's boring to get fooled by a magic trick. I actually like the feeling. But, magic tricks usually last three minutes and King Kong lasted THREE HOURS. Imagine watching someone float a dollar bill for three hours!

My point is this:

You can use your "special effects" to get noticed, to make a point, to get a laugh, or to open someone's mind. Or, you can use them to fool people. Fooling people is fun, but meaningful and memorable experiences are a much better gift to the world. So create them.

Of course, if you're a little brother like me you're still going to have to fool the heck out of your big brother once in awhile... just enough to keep him scratching.