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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…
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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.…
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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…
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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…
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Read more: Like Cards In Rain: Why Card Tricks Are Forgettable
Editor’s note: This post sucks. It sucks so much, Jerry wrote a followup explaining himself. And although this art is so wonderful, still it is held in no honor…The reasons are various, it seems to me;first, the art is concerned with useless matters;second, it is practiced by men of low degree. Girolamo Cardano (no relation)…
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Read more: Aesthetics: A Damn Principle In Magic
Aesthetics play an important role in our performance. Your style is an extension of your persona and helps create the magical atmosphere. In Tarbell Vol. 2, Dr. Tarbell says that clothing is the silent salesman. This is not to say we should be rushing off to buy playing card ties and growing goatees. Rather, for…
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Read more: Berglas: The Man, The Mystery, The Legend
The international man of mystery, Mr. David Berglas, passed away on Friday, November the 3rd. He was an absolute titan in the art of magic, establishing new and never-before-considered philosophy that has become essential learning. He vanished a piano in an instant, helped deliver a baby using hypnosis, drove through London blindfolded, was awarded the…
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Read more: Jazz in Social Magic #3: Rhapsody in Marked Blues
This is a continuation of the previous two posts, so check them out if you haven’t read them. Whenever I perform, I look for opportunities. I try to tailor what magic I do to the situation that I am in. I think most of us do. I do the same with a marked deck. I…
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Recent Posts
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- 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
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- Odds and Ends #4: The Fig One
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- Don’t Be A Dick
- Aesthetics: A Damn Principle In Magic
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- Ch-Ch-Ch-Ch-Changes