Making your own decisions can be hard work. Often, I turn to my trusty Magic 8 Ball. How have things turned out? "Ask again later." Read the rest
My 'Magic 8 Ball' is ALWAYS unhelpful
Unintentionally self-working magic
Magic lifts the spirits. Read the rest
Allow one of the world's greatest magicians to melt your brain
Eric Chien's got some nimble fingers, a shit-ton of showmanship, and a magic trick that'll blow your mind. The trick is so frigging good that Chien won a 2018 Fism Grand Prix award with it. Read the rest
Escape artist rescued after losing consciousness in tank during international magic festival
Pedro Volta, an escape artist from northern Spain, was paying tribute to Houdini at an international magic festival near Madrid by trying to get out of a water tank while wearing a strait jacket. In the video, it's not clear at first that he is struggling, but he later told reporters that he had trouble with a buckle to release his arms. "I made an effort and managed to release the buckle but the energy and oxygen used in doing so was too much."
It wasn't until he lost consciousness and his body went limp that onlookers realized he was in serious trouble and people rushed to rescue him. Once they lifted him out he quickly regained consciousness.
Via Metro Read the rest
To do near Minneapolis: The Passing Zone, magical nerd juggling artists (Sat. 9/8)
This weekend I'm camping in a secret location with a bunch of nutty geniuses. Two of them are Jon Wee and Owen Morse, a comedy juggling team who work together as The Passing Zone. They're performing Saturday night, September 8, 2018, at the College of Saint Benedict and Saint John's University in St. Joseph MN, not far from Minneapolis-St. Paul. Read the rest
Magician and audience make two guys believe they are invisible
Netflix has a new magic six-part series called Magic For Humans. The show's star, magician Justin Willman, worked with an audience to help him pull off the trick in this clip. Working together, they make two guys believe they've become invisible, and they really, really do believe they can't be seen. (I was a little worried about the second guy. I think "being invisible" broke his brain.)
“When I was a kid I put a tooth under my pillow, went to sleep, and in the morning there was money there. That tangible evidence was more than enough proof to make me believe in the tooth fairy. To find out how far I could take that premise, I set up a large flash-mob style social experiment all to convince one guy he had turned invisible.” - Justin Willman.
Young man's PhD research focuses on the historical secrets of summoning fairies
New PhD student Samuel Gillis Hogan and colleagues at the University of Exeter are launching a deep study of 15-17th century spell books to understand how people attempted to summon fairies throughout history.
"Fairies were thought of as wondrous and beautiful, but mostly dangerous. But people wanted to summon them and harness that power for their own gain," Hogan told the BBC.
Hogan, a lifelong fan of the supernatural (see photo above) and, yes, Harry Potter, received a fellowship to move to the UK after completing his master's degree at the University of Saskatchewan. His thesis topic? The history of chiromancy, aka palm reading.
From the Canadian Press:
Gillis Hogan said taking a closer look at the magic people believed in gives us an intimate window into how they understood the world.
The way we see the world now, he noted, is just one perspective among many.
“I think that should give us a bit more pause when we have a tendency to look at past cultures, or even other cultures than our own that exist right now, and look down our noses at it as being backwards or strange.”
(via Daily Grail) Read the rest
Rainbow magically appears during Aretha Franklin tribute at a Detroit Tigers game
Last week, Aretha Franklin died at the age of 76 in her hometown of Detroit.
On Tuesday, during a pregame moment of silence at Detroit's Comerica Park dedicated to her memory, a full rainbow appeared.
Some pictures say it all. pic.twitter.com/abFKT7gsQM
— Detroit Tigers (@tigers) August 21, 2018
Modern-day samurai fools Penn & Teller with "impossible" coin trick
According to his website, Ryan Hayashi is the "world's most famous samurai entertainer." He's also a helluva magician, as evidenced by this video. In it, he performs a mind-blowing coin trick act (at times one handed!) that leaves both Penn and Teller left wondering what they just watched. The best part of the video might be when Hayashi, a fan of the magic duo since he was a boy, is given the big F.U. award at the end. I don't think he can believe that his childhood heroes have just acknowledged his skill.
Disappearing magician confounds dog and will confound you too
Magician rips his assistant's head off, onlookers flip out
There's nothing like a bloodless decapitation to get someone's attention. Read the rest
This is how you dance (without moving)
YouTuber Ryan Higa admits that he can't dance. When one of his viewers asked if he could dance without moving, he put together this amazing stop-motion video with his friends.
This is how it was made:
Why you might see flying boats
A Fata Morgana is a spectacular optical illusion in which you may see boats floating above the sea or city skylines in the clouds. (The term is named after the Arthurian sorceress Morgan le Fay as her castle was said to hover above the coast of Sicily.) In the video below, Seeker explains the science behind the magic.
(via Daily Grail)
Read the restThis insane optical illusion will make you see flying boats. pic.twitter.com/YddWM9Fz2a pic.twitter.com/bHpEt9zWmv pic.twitter.com/jgPGsLWosa
— Seeker (@Seeker) April 23, 2018
Harry Anderson, TV's 'Night Court' star, has died at 65 in Asheville, N.C.
Actor Harry Anderson, best known for presiding over NBC's 'Night Court,' has died. He was 65. Read the rest
Macabre and creepy, I like the Karnival Dose deck of playing cards
This elegant, yet faux-distressed set of playing cards is just lovely.
A bit more shocking, while every bit as lovely as the Arch Angels or Skulls I have been using, these offer a bit more a gonzo element. Perfect for magic, this is a deck of US Playing Cards with the Bicycle Airflow finish.
Red provides a nice change from the black and white I've been so focused on.
Karnival RED Dose Deck Playing Cards -Redux Edition (Ltd Ed) via Amazon
Images via Amazon Read the rest
Limited edition Bicycle Karnival Midnight deck of playing cards
This purple and black deck of cards is absolutely lovely.
I like to tell myself that decks with lovely and unexpected art work distract people from mistakes as I'm performing sleight of hand. Mostly, I just like fancy decks of cards.
Limited Edition Karnival Midnight Purple Deck Playing Cards by Bicycle via Amazon
Image courtesy Amazon.com Read the rest
Watch this Rubik's Cube magician baffle Ellen
In this clip, magician Paul Vu spends a few minutes blowing Ellen's mind with his Rubik's Cube tricks. Though, I kind of got the feeling that she didn't like being duped by Vu, even in fun. Did you notice that too?
