Six Hour Memorized Deck →

If you are into Memdeck work as I am, you might be interested to know you can get the out-of-print Martin Joyal book as an ebook from Hermetic Press for $20. If you haven’t learnt a stack you might consider this, as you can learn the rules, and it should take you, as the name suggests, around 6 hours. Although you will have non of the advantages of using a stack with in-built features, so it might be worth reading round first. However the book also contains some great stack-independent routines such as a three deck ACAAN called Red, White & Blue. You can read more about the book on The Magic Cafe.

A Blog in English →

Woody Aragon has just published his new book, A Book in English, this is the accompanying blog, to showcase some videos and anecdotes. I have the book and haven’t yet made it past the tools/sleights section, that isn’t the books fault, it’s just that I can’t stop playing with some of the original sleights in this first part. The Separagon move is superb, I couldn’t stop smiling as I was working through it. I will be making my way through the tricks and will post a full book review shortly, but in short, buy it!

Five Ways to Improve Your Magic

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It’s very common to have customers ask how they can make there magic better. While there is no carved in stone formula, there are some practical steps you can take to improve your magic.

Five ways to improve your magic from Paul Richards of Elmwood Magic, courtesy of our friends over at The Magic Session. While there check the rest of the site, watch some of the On Demand Content, and head over to their new facebook page to see the new version of the site.

The Journal of Secrets

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Helder Guimarães and Derek DelGaudio launch the Journal of Secrets with a manifesto that is well worth reading, and then reading again, then printing out and sticking in your magic den! Inspired by Bruce Mau’s Incomplete Manifesto for Growth it should be required reading for any magician, young or old, amateur or professional! Can’t wait to see where they take this site, and for the launch of The Ontology Project.

Who Reviews the Reviewers

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It’s about thinking carefully, seeing past the tricks and seeing what the performer is trying to achieve, magic is and always will be more than just tricks. The tricks are the bones of it, but it’s everything else which makes it watchable. We are not here as magicians to make you believe we are really performing the impossible, we are here to entertain.

An article from Chris Cox about a review of his recent Edinburgh Festival show, and the problem with people reviewing magic.
I have reviewed a lot of magic shows in my time, and I think I am guilty of the ‘list of tricks’ however my reviews where not aimed at the lay public, and as a magician I do like to read what other people are doing in their acts, but have tried to add a bit more of my own thoughts and feelings into my reviews.
I guess that is the crux that reviews are just that, one persons thoughts and feelings of a show, but I do agree that unless we can get past the tricks and look at the show/act as a whole then reviewing magic will suffer, certainly something I am trying to improve in my own reviewing.

Writers Talk featuring Joshua Jay

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Ohio State University Centre for the Study and Teaching of Writing interviews magician and author Joshua Jay. Fascinating, particularly the part where Josh shares some thoughts on the development of his own show, and giving the spectators a peek behind the curtain into the process of magic, a presentational concept I am becoming more enamoured with. Also check out the trick at the end, this might be a sneak peek at The Prism Deck coming out soon through Vanishing Inc.

Secrets of Magic Forum

Secrets of Magic Forum: Are you looking for a magic site with a solid community? At SOMF, we have everything, we do everything, we talk about everything. The rules are simple, help each other!

If you are stuck on a certain effect, can’t get a presentation right, or just need to ask a question, then sign up now!
We have forum sections on everything ranging from Presentation and Reviews, to Coin Effects and DIY Magic. You are entitled to full free speech on SOMF, in-fact, it is encouraged! We take a different view of magic online at SOMF, if you are interested in magic, or are learning magic, or even a professional, you should be able to ask for help and advice from other magicians, without fear of being told “You can’t ask that hear!”.

We are full of magicians ranging from Hobbyists to Professionals. We do get people coming in to just learn David Blaine or Criss Angel’s newest effect, but these people are usually to lazy to sign up in the first place, let alone read through the forum.

It is encouraged to try and help as many people as you can, and in return you will get help yourself. Need some opinions on your newest trick? Don’t have a solid presentation? Looking for that one effect to add to your repertoire? If you want to learn magic then this is the place. Please try and help other members as much as you can, and you in turn will receive help when needed!

Magic Video Blog

Magic Video Blog: The Magic Video Blog was started in 2008 by a select group of magicians who love vintage magic videos. Their intention is to provide an amazing magic clip – every 24 hours. The more they can expose you to great magic, the chances of helping you improve your own magic will increase. In turn, the art of magic advances. And ultimately, that

John G Magic Blog

John G Magic Blogspot: One of my favourite magicians John Guastaferro has just opened a magic blog, if you haven’t seen his products go to his product page do yourself a favour and order everything he has, then thank me later! You can see some clips on his Youtube Channel. John has some seriously good material that is both strong in construction as it is charming in presentation, and his DVDs are among the handful I can watch the performances from, again and again. I’m excited that John is making his way to the Session in January, as I look forward to seeing him lecture.