According to Variety, Steve Carell of The Office, Bruce Almighty, and The 40 Year-Old Virgin fame, is bidding for the ‘Burt Wonderstone’ role in a new magic-themed film.
The plot seems interesting: Burt Wonderstone is the typical Las Vegas magician working through some issues on his way back to the top. Chief among those nagging concerns is his accidental killing of his partner.
Mr. Carell has cache and clout in Hollywood. The script sat on shelves in New Line Cinema’s offices for four or five years looking for that special something to attract investors.
The film does not yet have a director, producer, key grip, best man, clapper-loader, caterer, or unit accountant but it has Steve Carrell. Apparently the rest will follow in his footsteps. Everyone likes a winner and Mr. Carrell’s film and television track record looks solid, bankable.
Inside Magic Favorite Dean Gunnarson is one of the fittest folks we know. That’s one advantage of being an escape artist. A recent study by the non-profit (but not by choice) Inside Magic Foundation showed a direct and correlative relationship between the physical fitness of an escape artist and his or her longevity.
To wit: Houdini was the gold standard of fitness for his time. His career lasted for decades, throughout and despite spectacular physical injuries and infections.
On the other hand, Tommy “Binge” Hardy II began his escape career on July 4, 1952 and ended six hours later. It actually took firefighters only four-and-a-half hours to unlock the wheezing and whimpering performer from the portable toilet from which he was to escape.
The Interlake Spectatorof Manitoba, Canada carries the inspiring story of Dean Gunnarson’s visit to a local school to deliver an important message for the kids. "It's important kids learn how important physical activity is," Mr. Gunnarson told those at the Arborg Middle School’s Physical Activity Day. As The Spectator noted, Dean Gunnarson’s “performances require him to hold his breath to escape from certain death.”
We love the turn of the phrase “escape from certain death.” It reminds us of our favorite Houdini poster for The Milk Can Escape, “Failure Means a Drowning Death.”
Dean Gunnarson performed some effects and then escaped from what looks like a rope tie or chain escape. He also shared his secret for success. He told students of his vow in junior high school to live healthy; no smoking, no drugs or alcohol. He made these choices precisely because he wanted to be an escape artist. “These are the decisions I made in junior high school," he said. "You have to be in good shape. What I do is very physical."
The Flipper Quarter is Sold Out on the Schoolcraft Store. If you want one, this may be your best chance.
If you are not a Magician — you likely do not know what a flipper coin is or why one would want it. If you are a Magician — you know exactly what a flipper coin is, why you would want it, and how disappointing most coins are.
PLEASE NOTE: The image of the two coins overlapped is the gimmicked set but the set we are selling is a 1999 Connecticut with the tree (Nutmeg?) on the back.
I have uploaded a picture of the reverse of the actual coin just now.
If you are a Magician who works around real people in real settings, you have probably always wanted a flipper quarter. The gimmick usually comes as a half-dollar or dollar coin. This is because the technology into making the weight and force work is too far advanced for mere mortal gimmicked coin manufacturers.
You can not "grind out" a quarter version of the flipper coin. It probably could not be automated. The task takes time and patience to make it look perfect — suitable for audiences within arms' length — but also work perfect and perfectly every time.
The Schoolcraft Flipper is an extremely well-made gimmicked coin that can allow a magician to perform pretty amazing effects with little or no sleight of hand. We are not going to give the secret away. Besides, if you are a magician, you already know.
The Schoolcraft Flipper coin differs from traditional Flipper coins in three ways:
1. The coin opens via gravity. This means no shaking. Pick it up and use it. And once it closes, it stays closed as you continue with your effect.
2. When open, the coin can lay flat on your hands or on a table surface. This means, you can pick it up, and set it back down in the open position without any bizarre hand moves.
3. There is no visible rubber band — it is internal. An internal rubber band means the gaff can withstand reasonable scrutiny from the side.
The Schoolcraft Flipper coin has been sold to many inventive magicians in the last two years.
This is a great opportunity to purchase a brand new gaff at a great price.
The 3CF is an original Schoolcraft creation. The 3CF is everything the 3CM is and more! This gimmick is basically an all-in-one gaff. The outer most shell is expanded, so you can use it with regular coins.
The middle shell is Deans Set sized, so it will work with the Deans Sets. And lastly the magnetic insert coin is also a magnetic flipper. Giving you four coins that will all go into one. The magnetics are perfectly balanced just like the 3CM gimmick, and the entire unit is lined with industrial grade Teflon.
There are several artists currently working on routines for this new unique gaff. There are some exciting additions to this gaff also coming in the near future. The 3CF is a 3CM, Magnetic Flipper Coin, Shimmed Shell/Magnetic Flipper Combo, and an Expanded shell all rolled into one compact gaff. Giving you endless routine possibilities!!
How great are Jamie Schoolcraft’s coin sets? They are so great that we do not deserve them. We have skills and we can handle much of what is taught in Bobo’s Coin Magic but there is little chance you’ll see our coin routine in Vegas – unless it is in a contest at one of the many conventions. And we do believe anyone performing close-up should use the best props available and necessary to achieve the intended effect. So, by our logic, we should keep the coin set. Unfortunately, logic doesn’t thrive in our skull; it is drowned by floods of emotion and scorched by the searing sun of self-doubt.
Is the Schoolcraft 3CF the finest piece of equipment we have ever owned? Yes. Do we deserve it? No.
A reasonable person might ask, why or how would a person “deserve” one trick or another?
We have no retort. It is not a matter of price – although the set is not inexpensive – or even its relative rarity. The question is only whether we deserve to have a set made with such precision, such skill?
We have come close to listing the Schoolcraft 3CF on eBay several times but hesitated before clicking the final button. We bent over the coin set, stroking it slowly and intoning Gollum’s “precious, precious.”
If you are interested and deserving of such a fine effect made by the master craftsman, you can check out our listing on eBay. If you believe yourself undeserving of such an item, you can join us at the group therapy session on Tuesdays in conference room C-1 at the community center.
Congratulations to David Blaine and French model fiancée Alizee Guinochet.
We read TV3.ie religiously – it is a strange religion; to have a ritual where the devout read a particular Irish television-centric web site. But it is our religion and we read the U.S. Constitution to protect that right – no matter how others may judge. Plus Channel 3 in Ireland has a four-hour special about how people shouldn't judge religions that may sound strange or different. Oh, by the way, do you want to buy a copy of our seminal religious text, TV Guide This Weeks and Puzzles?
David Blaine and the lovely and now slightly larger than a size 0 model Alizee Guinochet made the announcement at a cancer charitable event on a roof top someplace.
We say the event was "someplace" because there were 300 hits for the news item but not one had a location for the event other than "a rooftop."
We were able to do some detective work and determined it was not in Pueblo, Colorado.
The houses there are built into the side of cliffs (at least the cool ones) and they technically don't have rooftops and even if they did, it would be too scary to stand on an adobe clay roof at night when one is drinking (except for Ms. Guinochet and the future heir to the Blaine magic estate.).
We also ruled out Santa Fe, New Mexico.
The city planners do not permit buildings higher than the tallest historic structure — about eight feet. Santa Fe — named after Saint Fay, a red-headed dwarf martyr who was burned near a stake by heathens who mistook her for a safety match – is home to statistically the shortest individuals who by contrast make the buildings look “normal” height.
We were quite sure it was not Asunción or Ciudad del Este in Paraguay.
The U.S. State Department advises American travelers to avoid outdoor nighttime events. The State Department warns there is a high risk of injury or death due to intentional or accidental gunfire from by bad guys with guns and little ability to aim.
(Actual listing from Ireland's TV3 Week's Guide for the day on which David Blaine announced his happy news. Coincidence, we think not.).
We were about to give up. We felt dejected and defeated. We decided to use the restroom to do some thinking.
According to Variety, Steve Carell of The Office, Bruce Almighty, and The 40 Year-Old Virgin fame, is bidding for the ‘Burt Wonderstone’ role in a new magic-themed film.
Inside Magic Favorite 
We put up our 
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