Inside Magic

Tony Spain

It
is the policy of Inside Magic to offer its readers new and different
views on the art of magic — even if they are offered by those who have
no reputation for honesty or integrity.  We are thinking about changing
this policy but any change has to be approved by the Bankruptcy Trustee
and that takes forever. 

Anyway, we have today an essay on a new and different approach to
magic for kids.  Inside Magic does not approve of Tony Spain's thoughts
or approach to kids' magic.  In fact, we find them horrible.

With that praise, we offer you Tony Spain.

It is a given – and
so I'll write it at the beginning and get it over with – that people
are reluctant to accept the new and cling so tightly to the old.  The
old is comfortable, fits well with their beliefs (in part because the
beliefs have been formed by the comfortable fit with the old pattern)
and to leave the comfortable is to risk the unknown. 

I think it was John
Wilkes Booth that yelled "Sic Semper Tyranus" as he hit the stage floor
after assassinating President Lincoln.  His words are
reportedly from some foreign language, maybe Latin – even though people
didn't speak Latin then – and some scholars have translated them to
mean, "So Always Goes (or With) Tyrants."  Ironically, it
was Phillipe Anjou, the cartoonist and creative mind behind the 1870's
most famous one frame comic, "Li'l Trachea: The Funny Passage Way,"
that first declared in his comic that the last statement meant, "Let's
Do Something Different."  The cartoon showed LT jumping
from the Presidential Box at Ford's Theater with a pistol in his
ligaments and the ever-present hand-rolled cigarette balancing ever so
gently on the top of the animated and loveable organ. 

LT's little friend,
Liver Boy is about to jump from the box as well and by all estimates,
will land right on the proud little trachea.  He doesn't
know how different it is about to get and only we, the audience, can
anticipate the fun when a liver lands on the trachea from 17 feet above.  LB
is also holding a pistol and a bottle of rum – again, as always – and
seems oblivious to the pain he is about to inflict on his putative,
fleshy friend below.

I traveled down that side road of cartoon history, to make a point.  Even within 10 years of the death of a great public leader, the method of his assassination is lampooned as trite.  Indeed,
with the death of the Archduke Ferdinand that was used as an excuse to
begin WWI, critics were very harsh on the murderer because he killed
the Archduke and his new bride but more so because it was done with
shots to the back of the head in a theater. 

So what does this have to do with my innovation in Kid's Magic?

Only this: I believe
I have hit upon a formula that works and works independent of the
traditional trappings we associate with the Kid Show or Kid Magic.  I believe it takes a certain kind of personality to perform this method but then again, so does any kid magic.  You
have to feel comfortable with the children and make them feel that you
are safe and you are there to entertain them for exactly 55 minutes
pursuant to your written agreement with their mother, father or legal
custodian. 

Rather than go into
the nuts and bolts right now, I thought I would relate to you my
experience this weekend as I tried out my new, novel, approach to Kid's
Magic.

At the age of seven, psychologists tell us, children become aware of mortality generally and their own mortality specifically.  Perhaps a relative has passed away or maybe a family pet or close friend.  Regardless of the trigger, the age of seven, is the time to understand that few will make it out of this life alive. 

Tony Spain

Most Kid Shows ignore this ground-shaking revelation and allow the
Birthday Boy or Girl to reflect silently that their birthday also means
they are moving irreversibly along the canal towards their final day.  Those kids are terrified but they cannot verbalize their fear.  By pretending all is sugar and donuts, the entertainer is really just reinforcing their fear.  Every breath used to inflate a balloon is one less breath available to the child.  Blowing
out the candles on their cake provide only a harsh reminder that, as
Buddha said, they too will vanish from light like the flame from a
candle. 

I say, don't fight these fears.  Exploit them.  Use them to make this the best birthday ever. 

That's where I came up with my concept for Kiddy Séance.  I will get to the marketing opportunities in a second, but imagine this scene. 

You:   Kids, how many of you believe in ghosts?

Kids:   (Wild yelps of approval and raised hands)

You:   Who is your favorite ghost?

Kids:   Casper the Friend Ghost!!

You:   Did you ever think that Casper used to be just like you?  He was a little boy who died.

Kids:   Silence

You:   We don't know how he died.  Maybe
he was hit by a car while riding his bike; got kidnapped; caught on
fire while he was sleeping; or had bad thoughts that caused his heart
to burst

Kids:   Silence

At this point, I know I have something.  The kids are quiet.  They are listening.  Some are crying.  I turned down the houselights and invite the kids to sit in a circle around an Ouija Board.  Some were scared and I told them that unless they were in the circle, their soul could be snatched when Casper comes back.

The rest of the presentation was simply a spiritualism act but brought down to the kids' level.  We
spelled out the words of Casper, "Help Me!" and "Avoid Candy and Pop!"
(this was particularly hard for one little girl because her father had
divorced her mom and married a Dental Hygienist ironically named
"Candy."  But for the most part, it worked well. 

We had a bell ring
when anyone was thinking a bad thought and I released some really foul
odors to give them a smell of the sulfur of Hell.  I covered the sound of the release of the odors with the ringing of the bell.

It was great fun and
at the end I reminded the kids that they needed to keep the channel to
the other world open or it would fester like a wound.  To keep it open, they needed to have me entertain at their parties to regularly communicate with Casper. 

What did the parents think?  This was the first party I have done where the parents got into the act as much as the kids.  Granted,
the parents were preconditioned because they were all participants in
my adult séances and have pretty much bought this stuff hook, line and
sinker.  I think having the parents approve of the act really goes a long way to selling it to the kids. 

If you are interested
in the act or would like to develop your own, contact me and I'll
direct you to the resources (all made by and sold by me) you need to
have a successful act they'll remember and talk about (probably with
court appointed counselors) for years.  The magic of the mind is the magic of the heart.

Tony Spain

master@themagicwire.com   

Continue reading Guest Article: The Kids’ Show Done New

Last night, we read the story of two men with a group called
Pirates With Attitude ("PWA").

The Feds (as opposed to the "Well-Fed," which
describes us) claimed that the PWA folks were hacking software to take of the
copy protection and thus allowed anyone on the Internet to download the
software for free.

This was premium software. PWA thought that because they did
not charge for the downloads, they shouldn't be prosecuted of theft.

The Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals disagreed.

They stole, they got caught and now they go to jail.

It got us thinking — it could happen — of a novel method
to protect magic inventors intellectual property.

We don't know why this idea hasn't been suggested before –
perhaps because it is either too obvious or unworkable.

We, as magic-consumers, and we, as magic
dealers/manufacturers, could be honest about what we are buying.

We live on the east side of Mystic Hollow, Michigan and those familiar with the
neighborhood, know it has its seedy side.

The least offensive or dangerous character wandering our
realm is the guy in the tan, non-descript Chevrolet Astro Van.

We think the Van Man's selling skills must be week. He cannot afford to upgrade his wheels to
something made in this century. Or maybe
his customers recognize him by the van.
Either way, the Van Man won't get out of his home on wheels unless you
give him the nod.

He hasn't changed his van, his sales methods, or toothbrush
in the 15 years we've seen him work for customers.

As residents stroll along the tree-lined boulevards of
Mystic Hollow, the Van Man slowly pulls astride from a safe distance in the
roadway. Once he has your attention, the
Van Man politely inquires whether you might be interested in stereo equipment
or, and this is a recent addition, video games and consoles.

Mr. Van Man offered us a system he claimed cost in excess of
$2,500.00 in the stores. (We've since
checked the actual retail price for the products offered: it priced out at just
under $2,000.00 — close enough).

His price for the system? A mere $200.00 — cash.

Is it better to avoid temptation or to withstand its
attraction? We didn't have $20.00 much
less $200.00.

We're not noble, just poor.

Still, we'd like to think that if we had the cash, we would
righteously reject the offer.

Of course, we can also be convinced we would maintain our
vow (involuntary) of celibacy if Lindsay Lohan started stalking.

We think it was that dad character in Hamlet who said to his
son, ". . . [a]nd this above all, to thine own self be true." Of course he got stabbed through the curtain
and the two guys his son was leaving to find were dead. True Dat.

Let's return to the theme of this article: temptation, noble
causes, and temptation causing us to be less than noble.

We asked Mr. Van Man his source for the deeply discounted
product.

"Where'd you get
it?"

"Why?" he asked quickly but without an irritated
tone.

Mr. Van Man probably didn't make us for a law-enforcement
officer but looked us over quickly; perhaps out of habit.

"Just wondering," we said.

"I have a friend who had a store that went out of
business and they didn't get a last pay check — they were allowed to take some
of the stock. He needed money, not
stereo equipment, so he sold it to me."
So far the story sounded possible.
Michigan
is in the midst of a pretty bad economic downturn.

Mr. Van Man continued, "I was just driving home and
then I remembered my wife's gonna kill me if she hears I helped my friend out
or that I spent all that money on this stuff."

If we ignored the fact that Mr. Van Man is an institution on
the East Side of Mystic Hollow, this was a plausible story.

Sure, that could be the case.

It is possible Mr. Van Man's recently fired buddy needed
help; Mr. Van Man helped him out but now had buyer's remorse.

It was as our feeble brain considered the situation that we
became enlightened.

Mr. Van Man's plausible story was likely not the truth; but
it was plausible.

We would never knowingly
buy stolen goods. But perhaps we are
evil enough to buy stolen goods if we have a convenient or plausible
explanation for the incredible opportunity.

There is a saying amongst the farmers south of Mystic
Hollow, "Let's get down to the Lick-Log." The Lick-Log is a salt or sugar encrusted
piece of wood tossed into the pens of some animals to keep them happy. Eventually, the sugar or salt is gone and
you're left with a log.

At its most basic level, Mr. Van Man was hoping to make us a
fence for the stolen goods and to sweeten the deal, he would throw in the soul
assuaging, plausible explanation.

Michigan
codified the statute years before our encounter with Mr. Van Man. A "fence" or possessor of stolen
goods of more than $500.00 in value is guilty of a felony and subject to more
than a year in prison.

So, where is the Magic Lick-Log? Was Mr. Van Man selling magic tricks as well
as stereo equipment? What is the relevance of this story? Is it possible people searching Google for
"Lick" and "Log" will find this story and wonder why they
were directed to a magic news site?

The application to our current crisis in Magic isn't that
difficult — but that doesn't mean we can't write about it a very confusing and
convoluted manner.

Let's divide magicians and manufacturers into a few
categories:

First: brand-new
magicians without any experience or knowledge of the craft's history;

Second: magicians
with some knowledge of both the market place and the recent magic history;

Third:
manufacturers or dealers just starting out in the business (such as a mom and
pop shop); and,

Fourth: experienced
manufacturers or dealers.

We want to encourage young people to get into our wonderful
art form.

The new magician is unlikely to purchase a counterfeit
version of David Copperfield's latest illusion.

The rookie magi will probably find satisfaction practicing
Cups-and-Balls, Chinese Sticks, or Cut-and-Restored Rope.

For the most part, novice magicians will purchase effects in
magic's version of the public domain.

The amateur or semi-professional or professional magician
should not receive the same benefit of the doubt extended to beginners.

A magician at this level knows or should know certain tricks
are not in the public domain. They may
not know the true inventor but they can discern those tricks we've had in our
craft for decades versus a more recent entry into the commercial magic market.

A "real" magic shop always has the hand-written
sign, "No Refunds. The Secret Is Told When the Trick Is Sold." It is de rigueur in the magic shop cohab.

We'll venture out onto a sturdy limb to suggest all
magicians know this maxim.

When we bought Jerry Andrus' Linking Pins we didn't really expect the cost of the five (?)
safety pins made up most of the $25.00 price.
We were buying the secret. We
were paying for Mr. Andrus' innovative routine and secret.

Are you still with us?
Let's review. If you're a new
magician, you probably don't know any better.
If you're a professional or semi-professional you do know or should know
whether a trick is in the public domain or the property of a magic
inventor.

Karl Marx said if one was going to object to his economic
philosophy, they would have to object to his most basic premises. Once you accept the premises, he said, the
philosophy and structure is logical and invulnerable to attack.

So if you accept our premise that we have responsibility for
acting in an ethical manner, you are ready for our logical exploration.

The experienced magician knows or should know that the price
tag reflects not the raw materials but the innovation of the trick's inventor.

We are not audiophiles but we generally know when something
is too good to be true.

(We're definitely not any kind of audiophile but we almost
were, we think. Eight years ago, we sort
of made out with a person at a family reunion who we kind of thought was our
cousin but it turned out we were wrong.
So, we didn't really do anything wrong after all. Our true cousin was really angry when we told
her the story though. She couldn't see
any similarity between her and the 82 year-old man rummaging through the trash
cans).

If we bought the stereo equipment, Mr. Van Man would get a
windfall and we'd get a stereo system at a crazy price. The true owner of the equipment would get
zip.

So didn't we have a duty to the victim of Mr. Van Man's
theft?

Sure. And not just
because we didn't want to break the law.
It was more than illegal, it was wrong.

We sleep with a loaded .38 under our pillow and our arm
wrapped around our 22 year-old Sony Betamax Video Player. We'd hate to lose the machine. Sure, we don't really sleep that well –
we're worried we'll fire the gun while dreaming about being fitted for a new
bowling ball — but the Betamax has value to us. It may not command much on the street but it
means something special to us.

(By the way, have you noticed there are less and less tapes
available for the Beta format? We
haven't seen a new release since The
Daring Dobermans Go To France).

You protest.

Hey Mr. Moral, who are you to judge whether a seller is
legitimate?

What if they have a plausible case for claiming the right to
sell a particular trick, isn't that good enough?

How is a simple magician to know the true owner or inventor
of every trick I want to purchase. I don't
live at the Magic
Castle or breathe the
rarified air of the elite historians. I
am just trying to make it month to month and have to shop solely on price.

We can't judge you or your motives. We can tell you, however, purchasing magic
based on price alone will often reward the thief and punish the inventor.

Let's head back to the Lick-Log for a second.

In your heart of hearts, your deepest self, you know you can
discern knock-offs from authentic magic effects.

Whether shopping at a brick and mortar magic shop or on the
internet, you know if there are two very similar versions of the same trick but
with disparate price points, one of the two is the knock-off.

The salesperson or web site will probably not tell you the
difference in price is because knock-offs cost him much less than the authentic
version of the trick.

But you don't need that explanation. First because we're telling you here and now;
and second, because if you possess the skills to use the internet or get to a
magic shop, you have the innate intelligence required to discern something that
is too good to be true.

Sure, it's possible the more expensive effect is a knock-off
or even just a better quality version of the authentic version authorized by
the inventor. We play the odds everyday
in our real job and we're willing to bet great price disparity evidences a
knock-off.

Test our theory.
Pause before pushing the purchase button long enough to post an inquiry
on Magic Café, the Genii Forum, SAM Talk, or the IBM Listserv. You will receive feedback almost instantly.

You can turn a blind eye to the issue but we all know not
seeking the truth is ethically no better than doing what we know is wrong.

The manufacturer and dealers are held to a much higher level
in our ethical model.

Whether a "mom and pop" magic store or a
sophisticated magic dealer or manufacturer, the dealer/manufacturer knows or
should know the history of the effect they are buying and selling to the magic public.

This is a radical concept.
It is tough to measure, impossible to enforce, and there is no official body
to sanction buyers or sellers who buy knock-offs. We have integrity and when the integrity fails
to keep us honest, we should be able on the peer pressure and support of our
magic brothers and sisters.

The costs are potentially very high if we ignore our ethical
responsibility to inventors. Eventually,
we will force the quality and innovation out of our art.

Continue reading Mr. Van Man Learns Us Good: Just Say ‘No’ to Knock-Offs!

When required by court order or threat of litigation,
Quinlan's Inside Magic publishes letters to the editor and issues corrections,
retractions, or admissions of total fabrication. 

If you have a beef with something written, said, not said,
or not pictured, on Quinlan's Inside Magic, please feel free to send an email
to editor@insidemagic.com.  We always answer the letters either in this
type of feature or directly by email. 

To the Editor:

 
You made numerous mistakes in your article, "Harlan
Tarbell – Turban Wearing Liar from Gary Indiana." 

First of all, Dr. Tarbell is no longer
living.  You said he was retired in the
"south of France with
his third wife, a mail-order bride from Belarus."  Second, you claim he was from Gary, Indiana but the
reality is he was from Chicago,
Illinois.

Here are two big
blunders in just the article's title and first line.  I could name the rest of the errors but that
would be longer than your already ponderous article.

Here's a couple, though. 

You claim Dr. Tarbell was originally half of a Siamese-twin
pair and that under his turban "[he] hid the remnants of the operation
that freed him from his sister Anita Tarbell who also wore decorative hats to
hide her most direct connection to her magician brother."   

This is not only disgusting but it is untrue.  There was no Anita Tarbell and no evidence
that Dr. Tarbell had anything on his head other than hair.  He didn't even wear the turban all that
much.  In fact, he rarely wore it at all.

You next suggest that while Dr. Tarbell became famous for
his Tarbell Course on  Magic, he was
better known as a burlesque dancer performing as "Doctor Tee." 

While I can't prove that is not true, you can't prove that
it is.  There is nothing in any biography
to suggest Dr. Tarbell even knew how to dance, much less "dance the hootchie-cootchie
to entertain our fighting boys overseas."

Then you said he was an inventor and was the first patent
owner for the process behind "Scratch-n-Sniff" technology.  I checked the U.S. Patent and Trademark
Office and they have no such record.  I also
checked with the Kraft Foods Company in Chicago
and they have nothing to support your bizarre suggestion that Dr. Tarbell
developed the first "Scratch-n-Sniff applications to aid blind shoppers
find their favorite brands."  While
I would agree Dr. Tarbell was a caring and giving man, I do not know of any
responsible historian who would suggest this nugget.

I also must take great exception to your persistent and very
irritating style of writing.  You use the
royal or papal "WE" throughout your articles and you end almost every
paragraph with a series of exclamation marks. 
It is the type of writing I would expect if the Pope was a 16
year-old-girl and I was reading his/her diary. 

Finally, while I don't know how Dr. Tarbell obtained his
title "Doctor," I can virtually guarantee it was not, as you wrote,
"because he trained for seven years as a freelance colorectal
therapist."

You should be ashamed of yourself.  Get your facts straight before you defame
someone so important as Dr. Harlan Tarbell.

To the Editor:

I read Inside Magic all of the time.  You used to have a newsletter that came out
very often but not now anymore.  Why and
do you think you will have it come out again?

To the Editor:

In one of your articles, you featured a magician who did a
trick with a ball the floated or something like that.  Do you know who that was and how I can get
that trick?

To the Editor:

Are the Mandrake the Magician cartoons original or are they
re-prints from the old series?  That is
the first page I look for each day. 
Thank you for running them.

To the Editor:

Are you tired of paying good money for bad drugs?  Is your spouse tired of putting up with your
excuses?  Are you too embarrassed to solve
personal problems because you don't want to ask your own doctor for the
prescriptions YOU REALLY NEED? 

To the Editor:

I did that trick you had in your "Learn a Trick
Column" but it didn't come out right. 
You said they will always pick the Six of Spades but I've done it 19
times and not once did they say they picked the Six of Spades.  Are you wrong or did I read your trick wrong?

To the Editor:

I am a Pediatrician and member of a fairly large practice
here the Des Moines
area.  I also enjoy magic and was excited
to read your article about using tricks with kids to encourage healthy
habits.  I shared your column with my
colleagues and we were all impressed and have made or bought the tricks as you
taught.  I did have concern about one
trick, though; that is why I am writing to you. 
The Rising Card trick is a classic and I love your innovative method of
making the card appear to float up and away from the pack but there must be
another substance as sticky and pliable as mucous that can be used to attach
the card to the performer's forehead.  While
there probably is not much risk of infection from one using one's own mucous to
stick a card to one's forehead, you suggest the performer "secretly secure
mucous from either his nose or a friend's nose."  The spread of germs through the nasal
passages is well-documented as one of the most efficient methods.  In fact, next to exposure to serum or blood,
the mucosal lining of the nose or other areas stands ready to actually incubate
infection-causing genes upon contact. 
Can you make a correction to your article or bring this to the attention
of your readers?  Keep up the great work!

To the Editor:

My story is sad but true. 
I am the former mistress of Deputy Prime Minister Kastan Trijolie of Nigeria.  The now famous military coup forced us from
the royal palace with little more than the clothes on our backs and one
suitcase of luggage each.  Fortunately,
we were able to carry with us – on our persons at great risk and danger if
caught – the keys to our very large Switzerland banks account boxes
that have millions of Euros in gold stored inside of them.  Because we are in exile, we cannot get to the
boxes directly but and so we need your help as a honest man, Mr. To the Editor,
to get the gold out.  We would be willing
to give you 60 percentages of the gold if you can help us.  We can live many lifetimes on just 40
percentages of the gold so we don't need more than that.  You can help us by sending your credit
information to my attentions here on the email. 
I will send you a test checque to see if you can deposit it into your
account to show that we can have the rest of the millions of golds sent to your
account by a wire transfer.  Please times
of the essence, Mr. To the Editor.  Send
your informations to me now and I will send the test check right aways.  You are the only one we can trust to help us
and we have not tolded anyone else about this. 
Only you.

To the Editor:

I asked the magic store owner if he had ever heard of a nest
of boxes made out of bubbles.  He said I
was "KRAZY!!!"  He said he saw
the same lecture you saw and Losander did not teach anyone how to do a nest of
boxes with bubbles where you pop ever-smaller bubbles until you reach the last
one where the audience can see the marked coin floating inside the bubble.   He said he thought you were making this
up.  Were you because if you weren't it
sounds like a great trick.

To the Editor:

You should be better in your description of this
website.  I wasted alot of time on it
because I thought it was about Magic the Gathering but its' not at
all.  It's about MAGIC THE BORING.  Say it upfront in your
google listing that
this isnt' a website for people who want to play the greatest game ever
but for
people who like to "do" magic like spazzes.

To the Editor:

You seem to have a thing for Lindsay Lohan and Natalie
Wood.  I can see the Natalie Wood
obsession, she was a talented actress who matured into beautiful movie star
with solid acting credentials.  Lindsay
Lohan seems to be a self-absorbed teen-idol. 
Surely you must have more depth than a tabloid-reader.

To the Editor:

What ever happened to your challenge to David Blaine and
Criss Angel to go head-to-head  in a
magic contest.  As I recall, you or the
ezine were going to pay some award to the winner and it was going to be
judged
by impartial non-magic judges.  Did that
already happen and I just missed it or haven't they accepted it
yet?  Just wondering.  Personally, I think Criss Angel would
win but
I am biased because I met him when he was filming the first season of
MINDFREAK
in Las Vegas
and he was so nice and asked me about what kind of magic I do and what
I wanted
to do when I got out of school.  He is a
star but he is still a magic fan like us.

To the Editor:

Is there a way you could make your web site less
interesting?  Perhaps you could take
stories in the regular news and then add a hole bunch of nonsense to them and
post them with pictures of pretty girls who have nothing to do with the story
at all.  Oh Wait, YOU ALREADY DO
THAT!  Okay, maybe you could write stupid
"fiction" about a stupid "family" of magicians who drink
too much and don't have real homes or real booking schedules and who probably
don't even exist and then post them with a picture of a pretty girl who has
nothing to do with the story.  OH NO! YoU
ALREADY DO THAT TO.  Hmm. Let me
think.  Maybe you could write reviews of
your obviously favorite magicians or youre favorite magicians tricks and books
and DVDs and have pictures of pretty girls with the stories but who have
nothing to do with the stories or reviews. 
NO.  That wnot work.  YOU DO THAT ALREADY TO!  Well, I guess youv'e tried all of the idea's
I would suggested to you so you're doing all that you can to make it boring
already.  I will just have to take what I
can got.

To the Editor:

Why don't you have more pieces about Li'l Tom Hardy and
family.  I look forward to those stories
and even send the links on to my friends when I see a new one.  Thanx.

To the Editor:

I met you in Las
Vegas at the second Magic Live.  You said you were going to write an article
about me and an interview but I never heard from you again.  Do you still have time and do you want me to
resend my clippings and pictures?  It's
no problem if you need them re-sent. 
Thank you again!

Our responses (in
no particular order):

We don't care what you think, we feel royal enough; and
besides, a Pope can't be a girl.

We were just joking.

Yes, send them again.

We're glad you like the stories, it's nice to hear that.

We like pictures of pretty girls so sue us.  By the way, every photo we show has something
to do with the stories or reviews.  You
need to look more closely.
 

What about the Deputy Prime Minister's Wife?  Won't she notice 60 percent of the gold is
gone?  Or doesn't she know about you and
the Deputy Prime Minister?  Why would I
trust someone who would cheat on a government official thrown into exile by his
own country men and women?

We have never been embarrassed asking our trained
physician's assistant for drugs.  Our
partner is disappointed and we're embarrassed but not about the same thing.
 

Not Losander.  We think there was a miscommunication.  We said we saw "Losander's evil twin"
teach the trick at a lecture recently.  As
your neighborhood magic shop owner for Blowsander's
Nested Bubbles.

We heard back informally (we think) from Criss Angel – any
time, any where.  No word from Mr.
Blaine's people. 

We're glad he is a nice guy on and off television.

You're probably right. Nothing can compare with a game where
you sit amongst your same gender, popping the same type of whiteheads, eating
the same kind high fructose foodstuffs, while living a life of fantasy where
you're not sitting at a table with the same guys, with zits, eating Twinkies.
 

We will have the newsletter again soon.  We just need to figure out the programming so
we don't send spam out unintentionally. 
(That doesn't mean we want to send out spam intentionally either.  You
know what we mean). 

We were just joking about the Siamese Twin – the rest of it
is true, though.  Look it up.

We were using the Six of Spades as an example.  Read the sentence fragment right before the sentence
you reference.  "for example, the
Six of Spades."   They can take any
card and it would work as long as you handle the deck as we described.  On the other hand, we can just about
guarantee that if you handle the deck correctly but they did not take the Six
of Spades, the Six of Spades will not be the card you show at the end of the
trick.  Start at the end and read
backwards. You don't just yell, "Six of Spades" while handling the
cards. You actually produce the card they selected and then lost in the
deck.  Does that make sense?  If not, write us again and we'll go through
the handling step-by-step.  We probably
didn't explain it right.

Why would we want to review products that are no good or
promote magicians we don't like?  If the
trick, book, video, or DVD is bad, we won't cover it.  So assume if you don't read about a given
item in our pages, it is because it is either terrible or we haven't finished
our comprehensive review of all tricks and magicians in the history of
mankind. 

We were just making a joke based on that old saying, Vous pouvez sélectionner votre nez.  Vous
pouvez sélectionner vos amis.   Mais vous ne pouvez pas sélectionner le nez
de votre ami  ("you can pick
your nose, you can pick your friends, but you can't pick your friend's
nose.")  We were trying to be
witty.  We were also just joking about
re-using the tongue depressors for the paddle trick, and the used cotton balls
as a sponge-ball substitute.  But you
probably already knew that – we hope.

 
We cannot claim to have any depth of character or
integrity.  You would likely break your
neck diving into our soul – even in the deep-end.
 

Based entirely on Princess Narda's rather contemporary hair
style (she used to wear a "flip") we think this is a new series.  The artist does give credit, however, to the originator
of the strip in each panel.

The effect is called The Zombie or The Zombie Ball.  You can buy it on the internet or better yet
your neighborhood brick and mortar magic store. 
We didn't provide the secret because it is not our trick and it is
commercially available. 
If you can't find
a brick and mortar store in your neighborhood, travel to a neighborhood where
they have a real magic store.  You'll
find a wealth of knowledge there.  Chances
are the reason you might have difficulty finding a brick and mortar store in
your neighborhood is because the internet stores' cut-rate prices make it
impossible to pay the rent.  You will
learn so much just hanging around the counter of a real-live magic store.  We promise.

Continue reading Letters to the Editor – Magic in Writing (and Answering)