Pop by Nikola Arkane Review

Hi my name is Steve Faulkner, this is Real Magic Review and today I will be reviewing Pop by Nicola Arcane. Before I do the review, remember the rules. The rules are one, like and subscribe. They could be one and two, couldn't they? Like. One, if you like it. Two, subscribe. Three, share it if you want. And four, is the important one, well they're all important, check out onlinemagic.co, that's my online magic course, over 600 videos, 97 live sessions uploaded, Zoom sessions where I was discussing, teaching, me doing lectures, other people doing lectures, people like Debbie Williamson, Steve Reynolds, Looch, loads of cool stuff on there so check that out, thanks. Right, so a couple of years ago I think, more than that probably wasn't it, terrifyingly, I reviewed Becoming Fizz with Pop and I looked at this and it was a kid's book on becoming a kid's magician, so I thought I don't read that do I? And then I read it and really liked it and reviewed it very favorably indeed. Now since then, favorably indeed, favorably isn't a thing is it, don't think, favorably I reviewed it. Now, quite a long time ago, I was sent this and I did my usual judgy thing and I apologise, it's going to be noisy, it's hot in here, as I've opened the window there'll be traffic, but I did my usual thing of taking my sweet time to get around to this, a little bit, I judged the book by its cover and that's a very good cover, it's a very cool cover, but it's a kid's magic book surely and of course it's much more than that, knowing Nicola and I'll just say a little bit about Nicola over lockdown, I've been following Nicola and enjoying her social media and I love her transparency, her honesty, her lack of ego and she talks about the challenges of being a magician, I think it's very, very difficult and being a person of course, which is very difficult for some people to do in this industry, oh my words today, and it's very important I think, because we all struggle with certain things and I think that to talk about those struggles and achievements is very important, I like that that's happening in Magic More now and Nicola's doing this very well, since reviewing Becoming Fizzways Pop she has done Talanga, which is the Sweden's Got Talent, it's a beautiful ring and silk routine on there and the cups and balls, she's performed at the Magic Castle and I suggest you check that out and you can see she's very, she thinks about magic a lot and she's very rehearsed and very professional and it's really, really good to see, and now to say she's developed from a kid's magician into a proper magician is ridiculous of course, because I know what one I'd find more difficult and I'm not saying she wasn't doing this before, but there's more stuff that you can now watch of her doing what's the best adult magic, again that sounds a bit sleazy doesn't it, but you know what I mean, well great for families as well, got them tying myself up in knots here, being desperate not to sound like I don't know what I'm talking about, which I don't really, but there you go, so it's been really nice I suppose what I'm trying to say is seeing her widen that net, do lots of different things with that same level of professionalism, there is an awful lot to learn here, so she, like in the first book she does, there is the autobiographical stuff in there about her putting stuff together, about her thoughts, about her challenges, again which really, really make magic books a lot easier to read for me, so even though I'm reading this going, okay I'm probably not going to do these routines, I'm enjoying the read, so that's one thing, it's a really well written book, I thought the first one was as well, but I think this one flows a little bit better, she's matured as a writer, you know it's a few years later, so that's kind of a natural thing and I thought it was really professionally written, again not that the other one wasn't, but I did see a kind of development there and all the nuances I think about putting together a kids show, so this is, you know, this is still based on her creativity and her development of her kids, or family I should say, material, but all the things, you know, I've written them down here because I don't remember them all, but all the things that she says I think are so transferable for us and we could, again as close-up performers, you know, that are not thinking this deeply about her work, our work could learn quite a lot, so the nuances of performing, synchronising her reactions with the kids, you know, which I think is such a, sounds like such a simple thing, and I remember reading a Darren Brown thing about him synchronising his reactions, or kind of priming his spectators to react in a certain way, making sure there's a logic to the performing of the show, and again sounds so simple, but sometimes our tricks just don't really follow a logic, because it is dyslogical, you know, who is my character, and I don't mean it has to be some really out there character, I mean Nicola is very character-driven, you can tell she's performing as herself, but it's a version of herself, and it's a very, it's her performing self, where some of us are a little bit looser with that, but we still have to kind of understand what it is we're trying to, trying to communicate to people when we're doing our magic, and she has a, she's got a bit where she talks about doing a solo show in the middle of a kid's show, and a solo routine, sorry, and the reason she does that solo routine is because she wants to establish credibility with that audience, and this is something you don't hear, you know, some people think that putting a kid's show together, or a family show is kind of like a lesser version of a normal one, but it's this, with her work you can tell there's just as much respect for those kids as there is for when she's performing at the Magic Castle for adults, or maybe even more, I don't know, but there's definitely an equal thing there, so she wants to establish credibility with them, and I think that's such an important thing, because I've seen kids entertainers that don't bother with that, they almost think, well I can get away with this, so I'm going to do it, and as we all know, that never works. I think this is a really lovely piece of work, it's got so much more than you think, I mean look at it, you know, it's a self-published piece, it looks like you're going to bang through it and learn a few things, but it goes into detail, like I said, about equipment, about her online shows and putting together that, and also what I was going to say, oh yeah, even funding, getting funding and talking about money and things like that, which again, we don't get, I don't know why people are so cagey about money, but they are, but this is a bit of a rambly one, because there's quite a lot to say, but like I said, it isn't a massive book, so I don't need to give you the whole contents of the book, but what I will say is, don't judge it like I did, Nicola's created a really lovely piece of work here, and it's a shame in a way that it isn't all over the magic shop, because I think it should be, I think that it should be read by all of us, and you will be very surprised if there was anybody that didn't really learn something from this, and her productivity and the fact that she, you know, she puts together so much and is so productive, and is so productive and creates quality work, is something to be, that will inspire and I think will help you with your magic, so blimey, that was a rambly one, wasn't it? Sorry Nicola, not very good at reviewing books sometimes, but I have read it honestly, sounded like it didn't a couple of times though, didn't it? No, I've just finished it, it's great, so there you go, use the links below, and do do that, all right, use the links so you can get it off Nicola, I hope she's got some, I haven't checked she's got an follow her on social media, all the links for that will be below as well, thanks Nicola for sending that to me, sorry it took so long, I hope any of that made sense, if it didn't, ask questions and I'll answer them on the live shows on Thursdays, five o'clock, live here, come and say hello and make me feel less alone in the world, and go and check out onlinemagic.co and then you can hang out with me every week on a Thursday if you want, and I can teach you stuff, and you can probably teach me a few things as well, right I'll stop waffling now, like and subscribe, bye.