Aaron Fisher knows how to keep a card magician’s hands busy with a deck of cards. If you know Aaron, then you’re totally not snickering after reading that last sentence.

If you don’t, this is the perfect chance to meet the creator of Search & Destroy and The Graduate and the author of “The Paper Engine.” Recently, Fisher has rolled out a series of videos. In his Card Magic Minutes, he has covered some basics and added some oomph to some already sick-looking effects. In the video below, an Aaron Fisher card minute equals almost seven minutes of must-watch info about one of the most basic controls we all should be using — and ensuring that it’s up to snuff.

The videos are based off of recurring questions he gets from students of his personal coaching sessions. Good stuff.

Look out, Texas and Oklahoma. Kranzo’s comin’.

Nathan Kranzo, creator of Box Monster, four effects on Loops and The Card That Can’t Be Palmed and author of “The Gig” (and performance master of the Mind Reading Crotch) is giving lectures over the next few weeks in those states.

Kranzo is a devious creator, but his performances are hilarious. He’s performed for a long list of corporate clients, including Sam’s Club and Dale Carnegie Training. Catch him in the following cities:

• Jan. 26: Tulsa, Okla.
• Jan. 28: McCallen, Texas
• Jan. 29: San Antonio, Texas
• Jan. 30: Dallas, Texas
• Jan. 31: Oklahoma City, Okla.
• Feb. 3: Austin, Texas
• Feb. 4: Midland, Texas
• Feb. 7: Tyler, Texas

E-mail him for times and locations. He’d love to see you. And you don’t want to miss what he’s going to talk about.

One of the first things people realize when they start learning magic is that their brains begin to work differently. Especially those who find magic later in life: They go from people who generally take things at face value to those who wonder what’s going on behind the scenes. They learn to size things up more. From our experience, we see people get more confident, assertive and charismatic.

That’s why it doesn’t surprise us that a lot of our customers and members turn to us to gain advantages in the workplace.

But a lot of guys rush into magic headlong — trust us, we’ve been there — and end up in embarrassing situations. Maybe they become known as that weirdo magic guy. Maybe they don’t fool anybody. Maybe their mentalism is so good that it freaks out co-workers. Or maybe they cause more distractions than pleasant diversions. The transition doesn’t go well, and the guy ends up never picking up a deck of cards again.

If you’re getting into magic, congratulations. This craft will change your life for the better. Your co-workers may not be ready for that change, however. So here’s five steps to make the transformation smoothly: (more…)

From Eric Ross’ Twitter, we heard that his performance on “Ellen” went fantastically. And the tape proves it.

Ross, a delivered a great six-minute set on Ellen’s Thursday show. Ending with Rizer (the trick Ellen saw him do on YouTube, which led to his appearance), he put together a set that featured some classics (Here Then There is still a killer) and his own creations.

Our favorite part: When doing a rubber band trick, Ellen said, “Do that again.” Most magicians are trained to never repeat a trick. Ross did without a second thought — and knocked it out of the park. A close second was his version of Election for Ellen: He performed it with cards from Ellen’s souvenir store. The reaction from how they had picked the same card was so strong that they almost missed how the cards had different colored backs.

Check out the vid from Ellen’s site. Then show Eric some love on his Facebook or Twitter:

People from all industries watch YouTube. Ellen DeGeneres is one of them.

According to the show description for this Thursday’s episode, Ellen saw a video of Eric Ross doing a trick. She was so impressed that she had to get him on the show. Ross, creator of Rizer, Election and Conspiracy, will perform and hopefully get to hobnob with Amy Poehler during the taping for Thursday’s show.

This is a major score: Ellen has a great reputation for featuring magicians and treating them well. Check your local listings for airtimes. And check back later in the week, when Eric will dish to us what it was like behind the scenes.

EDIT: This post has been corrected to reflect scheduling changes made after this original post.