commentary
-
Read more: History in Flames: Why Magic Needs Public Museums Now
The magic community recently suffered a significant blow with the devastating fire at Vanishing Inc.’s warehouse. As many of you know, Vanishing Inc. is not just a magic shop; it’s a cornerstone of our community, providing magicians worldwide with the tools and resources they need to create wonder and astonishment. The fire resulted in the…
-
Read more: In Memoriam of Katakura Yuichi, a Japanese Underground Legend
The purpose of this post is to shed some light on a young underground star who passed away decades ago. Katakura Yuichi was a Japanese magician who was revered among his colleagues and fellow magicians. He was a sleight of hand beast, and possessed a unique flow. I’ll be linking you to some information about…
-
Read more: Dr. Strangelike or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Like Dariel Fitzkee
I originally became interested in reading Showmanship for Magicians by Dariel Fitzkee after Darwin Ortiz coined the phrase “the Fitzkee fallacy” in Strong Magic. The way Ortiz characterizes Fitzkee’s philosophy seemed objectionable to the performance of magic but especially so to the social performer. Recently, I chose to read it, if only out of morbid…
-
Read more: Challenge Mentalism: A Follow-up to How To Be Suave
The article How To Be Suave got me thinking about the differences between challenge mentalism and challenge magic. Mentalism is often insistent on a collaborative element. The magician can get away with a degree of arrogance backed up with skill, but mentalism often requires falling back on a more collaborative mindset to assuage the challenger.…
-
Read more: How To Be Suave: Jason Ladanye vs Brian Tudor
This is an odd one. We took up a request for a post from a reader, asking us to contrast Jason Ladanye and Brian Tudor. We couldn’t resist, and decided Drew would be perfect for this one. Jason Ladanye is a professional corporate magician and recent internet personality. He’s fun to watch because he’s beyond…
-
Read more: What’s All The Flap About Prop Quality?
I have been in the market for a locking flap card box recently, the reason isn’t important. But tracking down such a prop has been more trouble than I was anticipating. That isn’t to say I couldn’t find any, but the props I saw came in two varieties. The choices were the cheap plastic non-locking…
-
Read more: Shit, I Forgot About Craig Petty’s Evoke: A Follow-Up
I don’t want to be writing this post. The night before Like Cards In Rain was published I had an epiphany, realizing how relevant the recently released Evoke deck would be to the topic. I intended to be lazy about it, to just include a quick addendum at the end, but then I fell asleep…
-
Read more: …And Then You Show Your Shirt
(With apologies to The Roots and their excellent album …And Then You Shoot Your Cousin.) This post is a bit of a rant, with a moral and actual advice at the end. I’m warning you, today we’re going to be looking at YouTube comments. Don’t worry, this isn’t a feature where we’re going to look…
-
Read more: Jazz in Social Magic #4: Wrap-Up
It is with great sadness that we mourn the loss of David Berglas. In a very Berglas-appropriate coincidence, he is featured in this article, which we have left as written save for the painful decision to change present tense to past tense. Magic has truly lost a titan. It’s been fun doing this series. There’s…
Search
Categories
- commentary (12)
- essay (21)
- fluff (16)
- mail (4)
- oval news (22)
- presentation (10)
- recommendation (3)
- review (5)
- story (8)
- tips (27)
- trick (18)
Recent Posts
- Notes on the Number Forcing Stack
- New Year, New E-Mail
- The James Hydrick Presentation, or Amateur Telekinesis
- Bricking Around with Drew Perry’s “Bricked”
- Holiday Hiatus and Schedule Scuttling
- Conducting Trains and Bones
- Excessive Errata, Non-Jerry Edition
- Zen and the Art of EmotiPsychic Maintenance
- Constructing Your Own Matrix Force
- Cut Your Nails
- Decoding the Matrix Multi-Force
- The Magic Oval 101
- The Annual Company Picnic (In Lieu of Bonuses) Part 1
- Odds and Ends #7: The One About Asian Competitions
- The Poor Man’s WikiTest Approach
- A Review of Michael Kras’s Synthesis & Secrets
- Meeting of the Masterminds
- To Put Too Fine a Point on It
- The Zen of Magic: Avoiding Method Overloading
- Double Blind Control, or Move Them With Your Mouth
- Memorability: A Misguided Proxy Metric
- I Was Wrong About Memorability in Card Magic
- Mnemonic Possession: The Arc of History Bends Towards Oblivion
- Spectators as Mirrors
- No One Is Keeping Your Souvenirs
- Odds and Ends #6: Electric Boogie Licks
- History in Flames: Why Magic Needs Public Museums Now
- Reader Mail #4: The Benefits of Not Using the Same Decks
- The Stripper Fakes A Breather
- Prisoners Passing the Pat Downs
- Banachek’s Salad: Eggplant Is the New Broccoli
- Taking a Peek to the Cinemas
- In Memoriam of Katakura Yuichi, a Japanese Underground Legend
- Thinking Through Methods, Pt. 2
- Thinking Through Methods, Pt. 1
- Oops, Private Post Fixed, and An Unscheduled Update
- “Sorry, I Have To Ditch This”
- Why Do People Hate Crazy Sam’s Mind?
- Magic Mirror on the Wall, Who Has the Fairest Dribble of All?
- Curse You, Andy
- Easter Errata, and a Schedule Shift
- The Forbidden Library: A Prelude
- The Chinese Knockoff: A Presentation For Obvious Gimmicks and Other Things
- Sharing A Thank You
- Monkey Business
- Odds and Ends #5: Hate Mail
- Stop Using the Same Damn Decks
- Dr. Strangelike or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Like Dariel Fitzkee
- Challenge Mentalism: A Follow-up to How To Be Suave
- How To Be Suave: Jason Ladanye vs Brian Tudor
- What’s All The Flap About Prop Quality?
- Chinese Black Magic (The Last Method You’d Think Of)
- Reader Mail #3: Calm Goat Hive
- An Ultra-Mental Memory
- Happy Valentine’s Day, Ya Filthy Animals
- Odds and Ends #4: The Fig One
- Shit, I Forgot About Craig Petty’s Evoke: A Follow-Up
- Like Cards In Rain: Why Card Tricks Are Forgettable
- Jazz in Social Magic #7: Tripling Down
- Jazz in Social Magic #6: Doubling Down
- Jazz in Social Magic #5: Cloud Seven
- Don’t Be A Dick
- Aesthetics: A Damn Principle In Magic
- (Fuck) DJ Hawkins
- Ch-Ch-Ch-Ch-Changes
- 12 Magical Bad Habits (#13 will shock you!)
- Death of a Blogge (Jolly Almanac of Card Knavery Download)
- The Site Goes Down On You
- House of the Rising Peek
- Vanishing The Fucking Moon!
- Reader Mail #2
- New Year, New Site
- Start A Resolution
- Odds and Ends #3
- Happy Counting: Advocate Addendum
- A Visit From St. Trick
- For Your Convenience
- Rubiked Mentor
- Happy Counting
- Introductions, an Erratum
- …And Then You Show Your Shirt
- Dying People
- Gemini Twins Reloaded
- The Oval Credits
- The World’s Greatest Trick Review
- A Quickie in the Back Seat
- The Akinator Peek Presentation
- Odds and Ends #2
- (Card) Monogamy is Overrated
- A/B Testing
- Action Button
- Ten Second Star Sign Tip
- The Study Center Tear
- Imagination Thieves
- Berglas: The Man, The Mystery, The Legend
- Jazz in Social Magic #4: Wrap-Up
- Odds and Ends #1
- Jazz in Social Magic #3: Rhapsody in Marked Blues
- Jazz in Social Magic #2: Lightning Strikes Twice
- Jazz in Social Magic #1: The Greatest Jazz I Ever Played