Author Archive

Smoke ‘em if you got ‘em

I consider Jim Coles a friend, even though I never met him in the classic sense. He’s a fellow blogger and a good guy. You only need to look at his postings like The Geek Factor to realize Jim really thinks about and cares about magic.
Jim asked me to read and give my honest opinion [...]

Something Seriously Cool

At my age I seem to suffer from ID (Interest Dysfunction). I seldom see something on the Internet that really makes me sit up and take notice. This is especially true for web services. Maybe I’ve seen so much that I’m very discreet or I just may be too damn old!

Today I ran [...]

A little faith restored

I don’t attend many magic lectures any more. Although I came to the conclusion long ago that most professional magicians are pompous, overbearing and over-rated gas bags, I used to be willing to attend 20 or 30 lectures a year hoping to find a few gems. I had the opportunity to see David Williamson, [...]

It wasn’t always like this…..

My friend Scot over at Scot’s Magical Mystery Tour takes a break to recall Ronald Reagan on the 4th anniversary of his death. I invite you to read it. With optimism such a rare emotion these days, I trust Scot won’t mind be posting his quote from President Reagan:
And whatever else history may say [...]

Pure Magical Delight

I’ve really been enjoying David Regal’s new book. With all of the unadulterated crap floating around, it’s nice to find a genuine future classic.
We’re fortunate that we have people like Regal involved with magic. This type of quality and magic thinking is becoming increasingly rare.
I understand he’s going on a lecture tour shortly. I hope [...]

Maybe they’re right

The ESPN morning radio host is Colin Cowherd. Colin’s an opinionated blowhard and Colin Cowherd’s biggest fan. He, like Rush Limbaugh, speaks with an infectious energy that’s hard to ignore.
Anyway, last week he was talking about attending a social function of some sort and the hosts had hired a magician -  dare I say [...]

Virtual Hypnotist

I’ll have to admit a fascination with hypnotism, even though I know very little about it.
I ran into a program on the Internet recently called Virtual Hypnotist. It was free, so I downloaded it.
I haven’t even looked at it yet. Are any of my readers familiar with it?
i/m

Counterpoint

Back in March I wrote a review of the Winter Carnival of Magic and I was very critical of a young man that performed and competed as a blind magician.
Chris Baldwin, the magician in question, has taken the time to respond and I think it is only fair that he be given the appropriate [...]

The Secrets Of The Universe

I’m writing a book where I reveal all - ALL - of the secrets of the universe, but I’m not going to sell it…
 
SO THERE!!

Observation

I took a dump this morning and it smelled like a fresh spring meadow. Hmmmm….. I must be (tada) a PROFESSIONAL MAGICIAN.

It’s an easy call

On one side, you have a bitch who is a lawyer, married to a lawyer, running against a lawyer who is married to a bitch who is a lawyer.
On the other side, you have a war hero married to a good looking woman with big tits who owns a beer distributorship.
Is there really a contest [...]

May Genii

Kaufman continues to deliver early. I got mine yesterday. For those of us that suffered through the Bill Larsen regime, it is a pleasure to have a regular publishing schedule.
 
Danny Orleans has become a quality reviewer.
 
I wish Jamy Swiss would spend less time trying to impress and more time reviewing worthwhile products.

I didn’t need this on tax day

Today, the bitch that delivers our mail picked up my hard won tax return and left - a revised 1099 that changes the return.
Damn!!

516 and Counting

Without a doubt, Patrick Page’s Easy Money is one of the most reinvented and revised tricks in magic. In all fairness, it was a, somewhat, obscure trick until it was repopularized by Greg Wilson as Hundy 500. Since then we’ve had a number of variations offered. One of the most popular was Heiny 500 [...]

Now THAT is a bad day

British Airways has lost the hand luggage of a passenger who died on a BA flight from Hong Kong to London Heathrow last week.
The luggage contained his mobile phone and address book, leaving the family unable to contact some colleagues and friends about his funeral.
Professor Joel Richman, 74, a retired professor of social anthropology, was [...]