The Russian Illusionist Korablev says, he can “arrange a show of a higher level than the greatest illusionist of our time David Copperfield on condition that he is provided with a sufficient sum of money.”
That’s a strange challenge but according to Pravda (which means ‘truth’) Jonathan Pendragon has put up the cash. Pendragon “promises to provide financing to Korablev?s performance, all necessary equipment, show organization and says that the house will be always full. In his (Pendragon’s) words, “Las Vegas needs new fresh ideas that are expected to come with the Russian magician.”
Unlike American or Western Magicians, Korbalev does not keep the secrets to his magic secret. He reasons, ?How many people will learn secrets? But all the same, there will be much talk about my tricks. People will say: ?I know what Korablev has invented, I saw it!?
It will be interesting to see how this plays out. Korablev proudly claims that he performs the same tricks as Copperfield but for less money. If that is a virtue, then he has reason to be proud. To me, it sounds like the wrong approach to advancing the art of magic.
I
disconnected the daily mail service today. While most of the entries
over the months were from me or people granting direct permission to
publish either on the web page or in the news service, I was also
including what I considered the best of the news or entries on the Ring
2100 service.
The
folks in charge of the Ring 2100 news service correctly pointed out
that this was a violation of the membership agreement to join in on the
Ring 2100 list serve.
I am embarrassed by this mistake and have apologized to the Ring 2100 owners as well as the readers of Ring 2100.
I
pride myself on having original stories and articles on Inside Magic
updated daily. This page represents my passion and is almost an
obsession. To taint it by violating the rules associated with the IBM’s
listserve is, as I’ve said, embarrassing and causes me to regret the
inside magic listserve.
I
hope that the reputation of Inside Magic is not tarnished by my actions
and I am committed to providing the best magic news, insight and
articles as well as interviews and reviews in the future.
There is a wonderful story about Oh Eun-young, one of the few women magicians in Korea and her desire to learn and teach the art to apparently anyone she meets. She has a large photo of Lance Burton and was excited to talk with David Copperfield recently. She opened the Magic Cafe Bagdad in western Seoul and has begun a school to teach aspiring magicians.
To me, the proof that she was bitten by the magic bug came in one of the last comments in the wonderful article, “Wherever Ms. Oh goes, she is thinking about her next big illusions. “My life revolves around magic,” she says. “‘When I buy hairpins, I think of how I could use them as an accessory to my next act.’” I think all magicians can relate to that feeling.
Her website is a treat. You’ll need to have Korean fonts downloaded for your browser but it is, as she has been described, “enchanting.” Check it out for yourself. http://www.bagdadmagic.net
I am sorry that I missed her at the Society of American Magicians Convention in New York this summer.
I have asked if she would be willing to allow www.insidemagic.com to interview her and write a story about her career in magic. I hope to have more information for you then.
The acid test of any trick, magician, show or site for our review is whether it shows a true love for magic. The kind of love that encourages and resonates with magicians. Ms. Oh Eun-young’s story and site do exactly that.
Color Changing Knives are usually used for exactly that: to have knives change colors. Two decks of cards are usually used for a “you do as I do” or some sort of revelation. In Whit Haydn’s Intricate Web of Deception, Mr. Haydn has used the color changing knives to perform a miraculous vanish of an item held in his hand — it just happens to be a knife.
In Simon Aronson’s incredible Red See Passover, two decks of cards are used apparently simply to record and verify a spectator’s mental selection.
I’ll give the bottom line to my review up front. They are both wonderful effects and stand out as a great combination of staging and audience participation.
Simon Aronson’s Red See Passover’s effect is remarkable in its simplicity. Each guest is given twelve cards off a blue deck or a red deck. One guest looks at the cards dealt to her, and simply memorizes a card — no force. The 12 cards are closed into a neat pile and the guest is asked to put her hand over the pile. The other guest is asked fan the cards out to ensure that they are all blue backed.
The first guest is now shown the fan of cards and her card is gone — yet she has not yet mentioned its value. In the blue deck, there are now 13 cards and one of the cards has a red back. The first guest is asked to name her card for the first time — she does and it is shown to be the red backed card in the blue deck.
The effect is simple in presentation and I think that is what adds to its impressive effect on the audience. There are no false moves — not one. Yet the impossible happens. I contend that this is not a “card trick.” The cards are used only to document the impossible mindreading experiment.
Similarly, Whit Haydn’s The Intricate Web of Distraction uses a prop to demonstrate not that the prop is magic but that by creating “an Intricate Web of Distraction.” I can’t do justice to the remarkable routine that Whit provides but it takes a very simple, slow process to demonstrate that one of the toughest effects a magician can do is to make an object vanish under test conditions.
The only way it could be done — in this case, a knife placed fairly in the palm of the magician’s hand and that hand secured by a spectator — is by causing the audience to see what the magician wants them to see.
The moves that Mr. Haydn provides obviously work for any color changing knife routine but as assembled here, they make for the perfect non-color changing knife routine.
The knives provided are from Joe Mogar and have the perfect weight and surface. You can’t make a mistake in pulling out a knife the wrong side up.
I’ve purchased two sets because one was confiscated by the security folks at the L.A. Airport. But I think it is well-worth purchasing it twice.
If you do a color changing knife routine, you must have this. If you do close-up, you must get it. If you’re interested in learning how to script an act with perfection, this is an essential piece.
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