Bullets: Mindfreak’s prank, Blaine’s marathon, Asher’s trip, iTricks’ call for vids

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October 17, 2009

Whadaya know… a correction helps us get that possessives thing we wanted. ANYWAY… click, click, BOOM, here’s some bullets:

Dodd Vickers called it: Criss Angel was never arrested in Mexico, despite all the mysterious tweets and pics. The Mindfreak has been vacationing across the border with his family. But Dodd (can you name a living magician he HASN’T interviewed? We can’t) posts the videos that prove the whole thing wasn’t exactly for realsies.
David Blaine is preparing for a marathon in a contest established by Edward Norton, star of The Illusionist (though he was great, we’ll always love him more for Fight Club). Blaine is asking for your donations in support of the race’s mission: Fundraising to support the Maasai Wilderness Conservation Trust.

Card lovers will have a heyday with a recent post in Lee Asher’s Cardstar Diaries: The creator of the Diving Board Double recently attended the joint convention of 52 Plus Joker and the International Playing Card Society in Toronto, Canada. He has pictures of some incredibly cool, antique cards.
Said The Whale, the band that performs the catchy “Camilo (The Magician),” has released the official video for the song. Justin Robert Young had earlier asked magicians to submit videos of their performances for the video, at the request of the band. That project is still in the works, and needs a video editor. Below is the video:

Editor’s note: This post has been corrected. For details, click here: Read more

Posted by Joe Hadsall | Filed Under Criss Angel, David Blaine, General, Magic on TV

Brown, Blaine take share of U.K. ratings

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September 14, 2009

Photo courtesy The Guardian

Plenty of British magic fans flocked to their TVs over the weekend to catch a master mentalist and a street magic legend.

The Guardian reports that the first episode of Derren Brown’s “The Events,” which included an explanation of a lottery prediction, claimed a 20 percent share with 4.4 million viewers. The amount of viewers dominated other networks at that time slot. A show providing the explanation also

Channel 4, which aired the Brown special, also showed David Blaine’s “What is Magic?” and snared a 10 percent share for its time slot with 1.7 million viewers. Blaine’s show came in second place to BBC2’s “QI,” a rerun that snagged 11 percent, or about 2 million viewers. “What is Magic?” is basically “Dive of Death” without the Dive of Death — the finale was that sweet bullet catch.

Back to Brown: An explanation of the lottery effect didn’t go over very well with fans, apparently. The Guardian’s live blog got fairly cantankerous, actually.

Posted by Joe Hadsall | Filed Under David Blaine, Magic on TV

Blaine gives advice to campers through Garcia’s cell phone

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September 10, 2009

You know that Daniel Garcia was at Sorcerer’s Safari this year, right? You also know that he was a consultant for David Blaine’s “Dive of Death” special, right. Safe to say that DG has Blaine on speed dial. He took advantage of that connection this year and got Blaine to give some advice to the campers. The video is, well, you’ll see:

Posted by Joe Hadsall | Filed Under David Blaine, General

Top 10 best easy magic tricks named

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August 27, 2009

Judging is under way for the 2009 Video Contest, and all the entries reaffirm something Brad Christian has said from day one: “Simple hits hard.” That, and watching too many episodes of Late Night with David Letterman, got us thinking: What are the top 10 easiest magic tricks available? Here’s the list we came up with:

No. 10: Indecent, by Wayne Houchin. A card ends up inside a plastic bag, with little work from you.
No. 9: Two Card Monte, from Kard Klub. This is a David Blaine regular; the only reason it’s not higher is because that one part is kinda nerve-racking. But what a payoff!
No. 8: Mercury Aces, by David Kong. We can’t tell you how many times this has blown people away. This is an outstanding, powerful packet trick that is easy to perform. And we like how this one directs newcomers to discover Arturo Ascanio.
No. 7: Negative Erdnase, from Army of 52. We’re big fans of the Erdnase color change. But in this one, Justin Miller adds his smooth handling to the classic color change, and with one simple tweak makes it look so much more beautiful and convincing.
No. 6: Trick Sharpie. This thing combined with a simple force blows minds left and right. The hard work is already done for you with this one. All you do is point it out when you’re good and ready.
No. 5: Fallen, by Danny Garcia. As an ending to an ambitious card routine or a great reveal, Fallen opens eyes. And it’s easy to perform, especially when you use a fresh deck of playing cards.
No. 4: Biddle trick, from Inside Magic. We love watching all the different presentations you come up with for this. It’s a find the card effect with an inexplicable, impossible ending. What you guys do with that ending is awesome.
No. 3: Search & Destroy, by Aaron Fisher. This is the best invisible pass on the market, even though everyone sees it. This is a powerful sandwich effect that puts all the work in the spectators’ hands, leaving you to focus on the magic and suspense.
No. 2: Invisible Deck. What magician doesn’t have one of these as a Plan B? They name any card, and it turns out to be the only one flipped over in a deck. All it takes is some deft handling from you.
And No. 1: Here Then There, from Crash Course 1. This is another effect that Blaine uses regularly, and he gets as many dropped jaws as you guys did in the videos.

Let the debating begin. What do you think of the list?

Posted by Joe Hadsall | Filed Under David Blaine, Ellusionist Products, General

Bullets: Blaine makes waves, Barry on Conan, Canadian magic, new mascot

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August 24, 2009

When I write up Bullets, I try to find a theme. This time, I just can’t find one. Mea culpa. Really, I’m all ripped up inside. There may be tears.

David Blaine made waves by jumping in the waves caused by hurricane Bill, while vacationing in the Hamptons. According to the New York Post, it did not go well — he was escorted from the waves by two lifeguards who had warned him to stay on shore.
Keith Barry dropped Blaine’s name while talking about his upcoming Thursday appearance on Conan. Says Barry: “He’s a super nice guy.”
Shawn Farquhar, who recently won the World Championship of Magic at FISM in China, can get gigs all around the world, but not in his home country. Apparently, Canadians just aren’t into magic: “There doesn’t seem to be a lot of support for magic as an art form in Canada,” he said.
The Orlando Magic needs a new mascot, according to the blog Both Teams Played Hard. We got a big kick out of its suggestion: It introduces the perfect magician to represent the new face of the “Orlando Illusions”: