Mario Marchese had no idea that a hitchhiking trip would lead to a career in magic. He had all the essentials for himself and his dog packed in a guitar case — the ability to pack that way became an art form. On that trip, he went to all the places that were supposed to inspire creativity.

But nothing inspired him like his home, New York City. And nothing inspired his magic like that trip.

Now, Mario the Magician is performing a unique colorful show that fits inside a suitcase. A whiz with electronics, Mario has handcrafted all his props, including a suitcase that turns his act into a Buster Keaton-like flurry of activity.

And for the first time in seven years, he finally feels like he has some comfort with his creations.

Mario will perform live in the Metropolitan Room over the next few Saturdays. Before his first Saturday show, he talked with us about exactly how rigged his coat is, his unique path to magic (spoiler: he didn’t get a magic kit as a kid) and what some of the experts taught him about the basics.

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“The internet has a lot to do with piracy. And prevention.”

Yesterday BBC released a report about theft in the magic industry. Featuring legend Jeff McBride, the story covered how he handled a copycat performer of his well-known mask routine in Thailand, and also covered the theft suffered by creators such as Kevin James and Losander. (Full disclosure: Ellusionist.com has also seen its products and training videos pirated, copies and sold by other unauthorized dealers.)

But for those who argue that the Internet has ruined magic, McBride said it has also strengthened it. In a quick break in his schedule, the founder of Magic and Mystery School told us that the Internet and social networks have become a form of magic police.

“Our fans blow the whistle, and our fans are global. All of a sudden we get emails and Facebook messages, and situations get handled pretty quickly.”

McBride said he reached a quick resolution with the Thai performer, who turned out to be a fan. Rudy Coby discovered, a day after getting cut on “America’s Got Talent,” that a Russian performer lifted his act for a similar TV show.

But those are problems that the pros deal with. Those who are learning, or those who are working performance gigs in their communities, what can they do to help?

McBride said it’s a combination of supporting the ethical companies and ignoring or boycotting the copycats. Additionally, they should continue to polish their performances.

“I spend as much time with masters such as Eugene Berger, Johnny Thompson, Juan Tamariz. I travel around the globe to study with them. The best thing is to get a really good guide. And because of the Internet, students Skype with me from all over the world. They can spend time getting expert instruction by masters.

Also, spend more time practicing, polishing, taping and reviewing than you spend with podcast or in magic chat rooms. They maybe are making you more informed, but they are not making you a better magician. In ‘Outliers,’ Malcolm Gladwell invokes the Anders Ericsson study on virtuostic performance and the 10,000 hours rule. How are you spending those 10,000 hours?”

We’ll post more of our interview with McBride in the coming days.

Magicians love technology, and it’s even better when we get a hold of new tech before the rest of the public, a la Glen David Gold’s “Carter Beats the Devil” or Christopher Priest’s “The Prestige” (yes, the movie was adapted from the book). And we’ve all seen what Marco Tempest does with things on the cutting edge.

That got us thinking about what tech magicians would like to see. We asked you to think big, and you thought even bigger. Your responses on Facebook and Twitter fell into four general categories. We dived deep and picked the best ideas, then searched the Internet to find out how close that tech is to actually existing.

Smart paper

Some of our favorite ideas involved things on paper that could change, whether it was moving inks or really thin touchscreens.

• ~ Doug Hunnington: See through paper with special polarized glasses!
• ~ Zach Werden: A playing card that is actually a super thin touchscreen monitor. The possibilities for gaffs and color changes would be infinite!
• ~ Cedrick Burcena: I wish I could invent a “touchscreen card” with the same thickness, flexibility and feel as a regular playing card. The screen will also have sort of easily replaceable screen protectors.
• ~ Kirkland Agaskadodv Butcher: Having playing cards that reflect other playing cards for a short amount of time with heat and pressure. They have a special ink and paper that reflects and captures the image of another playing card underneath it so you can have this playing card the wrong way around on the bottom of the deck and have it reflect that playing card.
• ~ Ernests Stroinovs: A computer in the size of the card. Same thickness, same flexibility. With a hidden mic and face side being screen. At first, it shows back pattern of a card, but when a spec names a card, it records it and the image of card named instantly appears instead of back pattern.

Almost here? This paper tablet computer was all the rage at the most recent CES show. About the size of a regular sheet of printer paper, the PaperTab is built mainly to work with other similar devices.

Levitation

One of the 10 theories of magic, performers have developed plenty of ways to levitate things, from rings to themselves. But you thought bigger than that. And smaller.

• ~ Alustaazu Bitun Gina DhonAhmed: float a water drop
• ~ Kieran Porter: Dam the top of a waterfall and wait for the water to stop flowing over the edge and then reverse the flow of the waterfall so the river at the bottom is sending the water back to the top.
• ~ Craig Farquharson: Something to suspend a table cloth and it’s contents so when I yank the table out from under it everything stays. I would lead everyone into thinking its a normal tablecloth trick when it is in fact a reverse table cloth trick
• ~ Robbie Yeadon: levitation of a chosen object in a room!

Almost here? Sadly, our searches for floating water didn’t pan out. But we were mesmerized by what Brussup does to water under the influence of sine waves.

Energy production

From fire to electricity, many of you wish you had the power of the elements at your command (the powerful ones, anyway — no one wanted to shoot dirt or water out of their fingertips).

• ~ Michael Mayo: Lightning from my fingertips Raiden style….hands down
• ~ Lazare Londaridze: Pure fire from nothing
• ~ Tom Vella-Lott: Liquid that ignites with friction and burns similarly to lighter fluid, but doesn’t dissipate so quickly, so a ‘light your cigarette with my finger’ type effect.
• ~ Pete Esquivel Jr: I would love to write in mid air with fire
• ~ Wolfgang Schürz: How would really cold fire work? Perhaps: Invisible with a burning ring might even look like producing fireballs in your hand.

Almost here? We’re not exactly sure, because all we can find are homemade projects and circus acts. A man shooting electricity out of his hands was featured on the TV show “Maximum Exposure.” And this guy in 2009 posted a video of his wrist-mounted flamethrower, and adds some fire to his hadouken. If you’re looking to produce smoke, then let us introduce you to the best smoke system on the market.

Data mining

Plugging into the machine has a lot of magic potential. Several wanted the ability to access the internet in better, more subterfugal ways.

• ~ Sean Mccarthy: I wish i had the ability to instantly post information gathered during a performance to youtube whilst still performing for the same group. Its one thing to have a prediction on a piece of paper in front of you, but if the spectator could see information that was very personal to that performance on youtube it would be amazing, not to mention they could then show the video to their friends later as a great reminder of the effect.
• ~ Philip Alexander: Some type of radio which could find the phone number of the person I’m performing to. I would force a card and then tell them to think of their card. I would then trigger the radio and they would get a text message saying what they’re card is.

Almost here? We fully expect our brains to be WiFi capable in a few decades. Until then, Google Glass appears to be the next step in internet devices.

FOUR POINTS is a regular feature that celebrates magicians’ favorite number by highlighting four critical bits of importance, awesomeness or otherwise. Send your suggestions to joe@ellusionist.com.

Sold out. Again.

Two times, we’ve sold out. Each time, we’ve reordered bigger quantities. Yet Invisible, the trailblazing new system from Damien Savina, keeps selling out.

This is the effect that Brad Christian watched Damien perform in an exclusive high-end restaurant, and he captivated the whole place. This is the levitation effect that introduces an ingenious hookup with a stunning result — the ability to push a floating object sideways.

Invisible features six full, impromptu routines from Savina’s repertoire, which he has honed over many years in magic. It also includes a high-quality reel and a booklet that contains further teaching, advice and ideas.

Out of 50 reviews, 47 of them are five-star (the other three are four-star). Workers and newcomers to this type of system alike have raved about the cleverness, instruction and quality of Damien’s effect. What all those performers have in common is that they are blowing minds:

• ~ RYAN H.: Leery at first but after watching the video and practicing (and practicing some more) I have been won over. It’s like having an invisible partner who does a ton of work for you. I thought I would get caught (in some lighting situations you will) but I performed the ring levitation surrounded and when that ring rose up off my hand everyone actually took a step back…quite the thriller.
• ~ CLAY SKIBINSKY: I have never reviewed a product before, but this is worth reviewing. This is a set-up I could never have thought of in a million years and is so useful. I was very pleased with the tricks presented, and also the fact that it came with suggestions for effects to use in case your thread breaks. I feel like there is hardly anything on the market to teach you how to use invisible thread, but this TOTALLY changes that.
• ~ CHRISTOPHER OUELLETTE: On first glance with the trailer, I thought, “Oh Great, more thread miracles”…until the moment when Mr. Savina decided to push the ring and have it stay in place and it gave to me the same feeling I’ve been trying to convey all along: Awe. The DVD is top professional quality, all aspects of ‘what could go wrong’ and possible outs for these are covered, the gimmick supplied is top notch and with proper practice will last a very long time. His work on the new set-up is fantastic (I’ve played with quite a few “set-ups” and this is by far the one I feel easiest and most comfortable with), great out of the box thinking, AND all movements within routines are JUSTIFIED.
• ~ MICHAEL CANDELARIA III: This effect is beautiful. The reel is smooth, quiet and a lot better than the one I had before. The package it came in is real nice and can house both the DVD and reel, which I really like. As far as the DVD quality goes, its also great. The only problem I had was that there is no voice walk through, but the close up views and subs make it easy to learn. I’m still practicing so the movements look more natural, overall I love the effect(s) and price.
• ~ STEVEN JOHNSON: New to ITR, very comfortable setup. Still learning the strength of the IT. My favorite effect is the floating ring. Not a fan of coin magic and the haunted deck seems too unnatural to me. The floating ring effect totally fries people’s minds. The video has no talking for instruction, but it is so well done, it doesn’t need it.

Invisible will return soon. When it comes back, don’t miss it.

Whatever they say about boxes and creativity, Derek McKee has different ideas.

As part of a fundraiser for the Little Red Wagon Foundation, McKee will live in a Plexiglas box for a week stationed at 16th Street Mall in Denver. While in the box, he’ll perform magic for passers by, according to a report in the Littleton Independent.

McKee, who has performed at The Magic Castle and was featured in “Make Believe,” said he hopes to raise food donations and raise awareness about what Denver’s estimated 1,500 homeless youth and teens endure. The boxed benefit is the product of a lot of talking and brainstorming with friends, family and mentors, he said.

“It’s a way to raise awareness about Denver’s homeless youth and to have the most unique canned-food drive in the state. This subgenre of kids are the most likely to be bullied, beaten up, put into sex slavery and abused, and are the mostly likely to die at a young age.”

The foundation gathers those supplies in “Zachpacks,” which contain basics such as food and hygiene products, and other goodies such as toys and coloring books. McKee is a board member of the foundation, which was started by Zach Bonner in 2005.