TUNA ODDFELLOW pulled more than a rabbit out of his hat last Thursday when he appeared in 'The Avatar's Got Talent'. As "Fish The Magish", he walked away with the competition's One Million Linden Dollar Prize.
His "grand illusion" magic act also won him a spot on the ABC's highest rating show "America's Got Talent".
While his original appearance on the SL show got him an audience of 300 people in three sims, his next appearance will be in front of 13 million and the world's press were lined up to talk! I was very gratified that his partner Shava Suntzu and Tuna were free for an interview with me.
"I am finding this whole process to be a type of magic in its own right," Tuna enthused. "I am getting used to staring at the big numbers in the corner of my screen (one million linden dollars is equivalent to $3,800 US) "Is this how you win the game?" he asked jokingly.
"The night of the win, I got sore cheeks from smiling so hard, I swear!" added Shava.
"I've been doing magic since I was five years old," began Tuna. "My grandmother took me to see "The Magic Show", a musical with Doug Henning and I was hooked! It was in the 'grand illusion' style, the old Vegas style, cutting the beautiful assistant in half and charring her to ash and reviving her.
Tuna's own style now shows his unique brand of creativity which contain the fantastic, horror, fantasy, science fiction and sometimes stories about motivation and combining them with haunting, ethereal music.
"I really like magic that tells stories," he continued. "I don't want to just go, 'I can do this impossible thing that I can do and you can't."
"It's about taking someone down this path, where you put them in a magical space and transform them by the time they get to the other side."
Tuna explained that Tuna wrote the routines for his shows, did the choreography, both as choreography or script in the traditional sense and gestures in the SL sense. He also uses a lot of technology and devices that are either on the market for everyone, or that he commissions for himself or is given as gifts from friends - such as Loki Clifton, Mickeywishes Au and others. His favourite costumer is the renowned Vindi Vindaloo.
She pointed out that for Tuna, it was the narrative art that was important. "I'm a storyteller too," she explained, "and sometimes we perform together." "What we have together is a partnership in mind, body and spirit. We're best friends and co-conspirators Tuna is the first person who has matched me for imagination.
When I speculated that their partnership inspired them to greatness, Shava observed, "I don't know about 'greatness', greatness is just a side effect of chasing your passions I think."
Tuna reflected, "I'm being talked about in the media as a mixed reality magician and that's really what I am. I do this magic in real life and IRL I touch audiences all over the United States. Now I'll have an audience of 13 million, I can't even wrap my brain around that."
The couple plan to use the prizemoney on their consulting group "Indigenis" (Native Intelligence for Virtual Worlds) and their magic promotion IRL. "Mostly we are fueling first life dreams," said Tuna, " but I would love a sim when it makes sense."
"We're planning to do not only SL, but also Massive Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Games (MMORPG) and social networking communities."
(Photo above - Shava Suntzu is pictured (centre) in the audience of Tuna's SL4B performance at The Globe Theatre today).
At his magic show for the SL4B celebrations at the Globe Theatre, there was some good-natured ribbing about the tip jar (which is part of Tuna's set up for all his shows), being on the stage.
"A tip jar!" exclaimed Lauren Weyland. "You've got to be kidding. The last tip was 1,000,000L - that's enough!" "I gave him a buck," said RacerX Gullwing." "Well I tried to take 50 from him," retorted Lauren.
Fish The Magish's show which he opened with the words, "Ladies and Gentleman, I am Fish The Magish, here to amaze and amuse, dazzle and confuse was a spectacular one, of crashing trees, colour flashes, disappearing into the floor, devil skeletons, acrobatics and eerie effects - a transporation for the audience.
This was enhanced by the expert camera manipulations of Ina Centaur, which led the audience's eyes to pivotal spots on the stage for maximum effect.
After the show there was more philsophical bantering with Lauren Weyland again quipping, "You know what Descartes would say if he was here today? "I think therefore I digitize."
Not to be outdone, IntLibber Brautigan quipped, "Nah, Descartes would say, "I think, therefore I RAM."
(Top photo courtesy of Shava Suntzu).
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