This is the stream of thought that went along with our writing of an article about a magic lecture from John Luka.
John Luka is the Head Muckety-Muck in our Pantheon of Magicians and so we were shocked to receive his invitation to learn the secrets of a certain magician’s act.
We knew it wasn’t a lecture by the magician in question – after all, what professional magician actually lectures on tricks he or she performs for a living.
We assumed, therefore, John Luka had crossed over to the Dark Side. Out of our respect for Mr. Luka, we immediately prepared to stick with him like glue or something equally sticky but preferably non-organic. We have no pride but at least we’re shiftless.
But wait, we read more of Mr. Luka’s email note to us and learned we were wrong. We were completely wrong. Mr. Luka hadn’t moved to the Dark Side. We wish we had read his entire email message before we reacted so quickly to abandon our principles and publish an expose of every magic trick we know.
To all of our brethren and cistern in magic, we apologize for exposing your secrets. We take some solace in thinking that our excited writing made the whole 982 page book unreadable or at least unwieldy. Plus, when we get nervous we revert to our first language.
Nonetheless, the book All of the Magic Secrets Ever is currently available on Amazon.Com. One reviewer noted:
Magician and inventor Jacob Spinney filed suit against Criss Angel on June 8, 2009 claiming Mr. Angel renigned on a promise to pay for rights to Spinney’s Chair Self-Levitation, Spinney’s Chair Self-Suspension and Spinney’s Fork-Bending gimmicks.
Mr. Spinney filed his eight-count complaint against Criss Angel in Nassau County, New York, home of Angel Productions, Incorporated.
According to the complaint, in 2004, Mr. Angel asked Murphy’s Magic Supplies for ”illusions or magical effects” to be used in this upcoming MindFreak television series.
Murphy’s referred Criss Angel to teenage inventor Jacob Spinney. The two spoke, and Angel offered Spinney a position as “Magic Consultant” on the upcoming series.
The maxim for authors is “write what you know.” If you are a hard-boiled detective looking to break into the writing biz, it makes sense to pen great hard-boiled detective novels; tricky dames, fast cars, dark alleys. Cowboys can write about cowboy things; roping and doggies and six guns. Brain surgeons should stick with exciting dramas about doing brain surgery; with brain surgery like themes and items — we couldn’t think of any.
This maxim guides us here at Inside Magic.
You will note most of articles contain a combination of certain subjects: magic tricks, magic history, the hey-day of Citizens Band radio, over-the-counter personal itch cream and ointments, emotional instability, inferiority complexes, system effects of poor dental hygiene, the careers of 1970′s female television sitcom stars, federal prisons in the U.S. and Mexico, third and fourth century patristic writings, and holistic approaches to mucous reduction.
Nate Kranzo knows restaurant magic. He knows how to get the job, how to keep the job, and how to make money from the job. We know how to eat a restaurant but because we are now without a job, we don’t do that so much any longer.
The quick sale and high demand actually caused us to think.
We decided to read Card College Volume One. That mean we had to take it off the shelf and buy it. We are cheap but apparently more curious than cheap.
We were amazed by Mr. Giobbi’s attention to detail and his innovative epistemological approach. His method of teaching was so effective that we even learned from the book. Our ability to learn totally new sleights ended at around 18 years of age.
(Sure, maybe you kept learning new knuckle-busting moves throughout life, but we didn’t. Agreed, that makes us terrible and not worthy of writing a Magic News Site so sue us).
It is a short answer and gets us out of writing a big, long-winded piece on the legalities but perhaps inadequate.
The BBC’s homepage today features Magician and Lawyer Guy Hollingworth to entertain and teach on the issue of what the law has to say about an art designed to avoid laws of nature. (They call him a “Barrister” – we presume that is the metric equivalent of our “Lawyer”)
It is comforting to see that the country from which we have derived the greater part of our legal system, has not backslid into the easy but philosophically unsound world where an idea can be protected. The United Kingdom wants to encourage innovation but draws understands it must draw the line somewhere.
In the case of magic tricks, one can patent the method to perform the effect or even copyright the patter used to describe and deceive; but one may not protect the idea behind the trick itself. Continue reading Magic and Law: Can You Copyright a Trick?
Magician and inventor 
The maxim for authors is “write what you know.” If you are a hard-boiled detective looking to break into the writing biz, it makes sense to pen great hard-boiled detective novels; tricky dames, fast cars, dark alleys. Cowboys can write about cowboy things; roping and doggies and six guns. Brain surgeons should stick with exciting dramas about doing brain surgery; with brain surgery like themes and items — we couldn’t think of any.
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