Magic Bullets from the Magic Roadshow

Keith Barry Mentalism lecture

2009-11-26T23:04:00.004-05:00

As Arthur C. Clarke said, "Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic." Think of Keith Barry as an elite software engineer of the human brain. Featured with specials on both MTV and CBS, Keith also starred in Close Encounters with Keith Barry, a European TV series with aired in 28 countries.

Barry's repertoire ranges from the outright stunt -- driving a car at full speed blindfolded -- to mind control, mindreading, and hypnosis. The Irish magician's style has made him an extremely popular performer worldwide, both in live shows and on his European television series.

"Mr. Barry is not content merely to perform sleights of hand; he wants his audiences to know how deeply he embraces risk, how very life-affirming careering toward the canyon of eternity can be."
New York Times

Lennart Green video..

2009-09-20T01:46:00.003-04:00

Swedish maestro Lennart Green has been baffling audiences for many years with card effects that seem barely possible. In 1991 he won the grand prize in close-up card magic from the International Federation of Magic Societies (FISM). Rumour has it that he might have won in 1985, except his act of seemingly impossible cardplay fooled even the judges.

This is a great 31 minute plus video performance. Click the square in the upper right corner of the video player to go to full screen mode..

Danny MacAskill video.. Very entertaining.

2009-07-14T20:21:00.002-04:00

Not magic, but just as entertaining.. Danny MacAskill has suffered tons of defeats in order to do what he does. Success looks good.. but it certainly doesn't tell the whole story.

Army Kite video

2009-06-24T01:30:00.001-04:00

Army Kite.. It takes guts to participate in a maneuver like this! (thanks Elaine)

Spirit Match Box - video

2009-05-28T20:19:00.002-04:00

Take a match box, hold it in your hand, and as you gesture with your other hand watch as the match box both turns, flips and opens by itself. This is a fairly simple, straight forward effect/gimmick that can be prepared in minutes..

Magic Trick Revealed - Click here for more magic videos

Johnny Carson and Dom DeLuise Egg Trick

2009-03-23T22:16:00.002-04:00

Thanks to my friend Jim Canaday for this classic video of Johnny Carson and Dom DeLuise 'performing' an egg trick.

Another Four Ace Assembly Effect

2009-02-19T00:11:00.002-05:00

This effect is 'almost' self-working. As long as the aces are in the proper position to begin the trick, everything will work out fine.

Mountain Dew Glow effect

2009-01-21T01:32:00.002-05:00

Here's an interesting little 'trick' involving Mountain View, baking soda, and peroxide. The video looks interesting, although I personally haven't tried it yet. If one of you guys try it, post back and let me know how it worked for you..

Oil and Water video

2008-12-05T02:32:00.002-05:00

A great performanced of the classic 'Oil and Water'. This performance is of Anthony Owen's version, as performed by Sebastien Clergue. You can find many versions of Oil and Water on Youtube, but this is one, if not the, best of the lot.

New Streetmagic video player

2008-11-29T01:04:00.002-05:00

This is a new Adsense video player, embedded with adsense ads. I am posting it as a test, of sorts, to see the type of content that is generated. I hope it has something to do with magic, street magic, magic tricks, tutorials, and what not.. We'll see..

Watch the latest videos on YouTube.com

Turnover Pass Video

2008-11-08T00:42:00.004-05:00

I ran across this video on Revver. I have used a similar pass for some time and know that it DOES work, if done casually enough. Try it and see..

Richiardi's Brand of Magic and Horror - video

2008-10-13T22:39:00.003-04:00

Richiardi was one of the original masters of magic and horror. Magicians who use 'shock magic' or 'extreme magic' have nothing on Richiardi. His shows featured a perfect combination of magic, mystery, and macabre..
( Thanks to Lee Asher ( www.LeeAsher.com ) for the link..

Ice Cubes From Water..

2008-10-03T22:07:00.004-04:00

OK.. here's a neat little trick.. take a cup full of water, put it in the freezer, wait two hours, and presto! Ice Cubes!

Yeah, lame. Actually, get a styrofoam cup, a few ice cubes, a napkin or piece of sponge, and you can actually create 'instant' ice cubes, right in your spectators face.. Watch the video..

Ths effect is IDEAL for those who perform for children. The look on their faces when you pour the ice cubes into their little hands is absolutely priceless...

Get A Party Trick:How To Turn Water Into Ice

David Blaine Special

2008-09-22T23:09:00.006-04:00

Yes, David Blaine is hanging by his feet, upside down, as we speak. Here's one of many articles discussing his feat and the street magic special preceding it on ABC TV..

http://www.okmagazine.com/news/view/9106

Conan O'Brien - ''Pilobolus''

2008-08-06T23:57:00.001-04:00

A nice little 'magical' video...

What can I say ?

2008-07-04T00:24:00.003-04:00

Much 'Thanks' to all my supporters in the magic world.

BBC's History of Magic - Disappearances

2008-06-23T13:03:00.004-04:00

The BBC explains how magicians make things appear and disappear. Nice 6 part series that you will find entertaining at the least. I enjoyed the footage of magicians past and the conversations with modern illusionists who describe the theory of visual trickery.

Part 1

Part 2

Part 3

Part 4

Part 5

Part 6

Free Kranzo Video Effect and Reveal

2008-05-29T15:25:00.003-04:00

This is a good example of the type effects Kranzo shares with magicians who subscribe to his newsletters. Go to his site and sign up and receive special notice of links like this. Plus, Nathan will give you the opportunity to purchase some of his amazing effects at special pricing.. I subscribe - where do you think I got this link? ;-) http://kranzomagic.com

The Retention Vanish

2008-04-28T04:13:00.002-04:00

One of coin magic's basic moves. The Retention Vanish is used to set up many different effects. Master this and you are one building block closer to being a very good coin manipulator..

The Back Palm - Video

2008-04-28T04:02:00.002-04:00

Nice video of the Coin Back Palm. This isn't easy. Although you can do the move within the first few times, it will take you awhile to get to the point where you are comfortable enough to perform it with confidence. It's really more of a motor skill than a sleight, in that you will learn to do this move through repertition.. Keep at it and you will be rewarded..

Survival Magic

2008-04-08T02:38:00.002-04:00

Look for a SPECIAL offer in the Magic Roadshow, Issue# 88, on Simon Lovell's SURVIVAL MAGIC..

Misfortune or Stupidity ?

2008-01-25T00:55:00.000-05:00

"Why does this always happen to me?" "Because you're stupid."

Harsh? Perhaps. But it may also be quite true. I learned this first hand recently when I almost lost a year's worth of work to an "unfortunate" computer error. While the computer problem would have been due to a hardware failure, the loss of data would have been due solely to my own idiocy.

Here then, is the case for stupidity...

People's exhibit #1:

I'm in the shower, and for some reason at that moment I think to myself, "you know, I haven't backed up my hard drive in a while, I should do that today." Why did that thought come to me while I was in the shower? Who knows. Like many people, I do my best thinking there. If I could figure out a way of moving my office into my shower and getting the hot water to last more than 10 minutes, then I would in fact, become the most brilliant person on the face of the earth. As the rest of the article demonstrates, that is clearly not the case.

This thought occurs to me while I am showering, but a few minutes later, after I have dried off, dressed, and shaved, all thoughts of backing up my computer are long gone.

To be fair, my hair follicles burst out of my face with the ferocity and speed of an alien baby bursting from John Hurt's chest, so shaving can be a long process for me. But still, it's at most twenty minutes later, and I am back at my computer without a thought in the world of backing up my hard drive...

People's exhibit #2:

I am driving in my car, and for some reason at that moment I think to myself, "you know, I still haven't backed up my hard drive. I should do that today." Driving time is second only to shower time when it comes to quality thinking time. If I could get my office into my car, then I would be really cooking. (and if I could create some kind of "driveable automobile shower," I think I could solve all the mysteries of the universe). Unfortunately, it's not just being in the car that helps, but rather the actual act of driving. This would make things like writing articles and taking mid-workday naps very difficult and dangerous.

In any case, this brilliant insightful occurs to me while I am driving, so you can guess what I did as soon as I returned. That's right: nothing. By the time I got back, my mind had moved on to other critical issues like, "What was the name of the guy who played the police lieutenant in the original Terminator movie?" The hard drive was a forgotten memory. (if you're playing along at home, the lieutenant was played by Paul Winfield).

People's exhibit #3:

I am sitting on my couch watching TV and for some reason at that moment I think to myself, "you know, I still haven't backed up my hard drive. I should do that today." I don't actually do my best thinking on my couch, or any thinking at all, really, but this thought came to me due to the fact that I have a home office. My computer is always only a few steps away from me. So now the thought is in my head at a moment
where I can get up and immediately run a backup. I am sure that you can guess what I did...that's right: nothing.

There were three *insurmountable* obstacles that kept me from running the back up right then: 1) My couch is a little old, so there is an ever so-slight indentation where I sit, which means it takes .0005% more effort to get up. May not seem like much, but inertia's a tricky thing. 2) When watching an episode of American Idol, turning away is hard - I think they emit a hypnotic ray that makes it impossible to stop watching these amazingly bad singers. 3) (and this is the truly brilliant one) I thought to myself, "The computer has been working fine, it can wait...." Famous last words, like, "Come on, we can take 'em
Colonel Custer!" and "It's ok, Mr. Nixon, no one will ever find out."

People's exhibit #4:

Cut to a nice weekday morning, when I hit the power switch on my computer and see the gloriously depressing sentence, "Primary Drive 0 failure," splayed on my screen.

"Hmmm, this shouldn't be. Let's try again."

Once again..."Primary Drive 0 failure."

So now my computer is refusing to work. This is not good. As you may have picked up, I haven't backed my machine up in little while. All I can think to myself is, "I am such an idiot. I should have backed this up!"

I try the computer a few more times, and nothing. If you have been in the self-improvement/motivational world for more than a day, you have heard insanity defined as, "doing the same thing over and over expecting a different result." Wanting to prove my sanity to the "pithy motivational sayings Gods," I stop
hitting the power button hoping for a different response. Instead, I spring into action like the "professional speaker who speaks on how to quickly react to the unexpected," I am by packing up my computer and taking it to show to a friend who has all sorts of diagnostic tools to analyze this sort of thing.

Here's the interesting resolution to the story. We hook the computer up at his place and it boots up fine. I swear it did not work at my place! While there, I back up a few critical folders (like the "electronic gold" that is the folder containing all of the past "Improvised Musings" Newsletter :-) ), pack it up again, and bring it back to my office. Hook it up, hit the power switch, and it boots up just fine.

Nothing changed, but trying it the exact same way netted a different result. So much for the definition of insanity. This just goes to show how accurate pithy motivational sayings can be.

I'd like to think that the Universe was giving me a warning shot, smacking me in the head, and telling me, "hey Einstein, get off your lazy moronic behind and take the 15 minutes to run the backup." (I did)

I could not have foreseen the hardware failure. That was a truly unexpected event. But I could have easily done the work to turn what could have been a four day delay into a one hour one.

The verdict:

Guilty as charged.

How many times does this happen to all of us? Life will always throw us curveballs, but oftentimes it is our own lack of preparation that gets us stuck. Many people respond by throwing their hands up and saying, "why does this always happen to me!" or, "I knew this would happen!" Well, if you knew this would happen, you should have done something about it...

One of my taglines is, "planning is important, but improvising is essential." In my speeches, I of course focus on improvising. However, never forget that planning is in fact important. And the better you prepare (not obsess, just prepare), the easier it is to improvise.

Now maybe I should do something about that "Check Engine" light that keeps popping up when I'm driving...

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Avish Parashar - Get What You Want through the Art and Science of Improv
215-310-9263
2801 Pennsylvania
Philadelphia, PA
http://www.AvishParashar.com
http://www.ImprovForEveryone.com

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Nice Ricky Jay Video

2008-01-24T23:19:00.000-05:00

Interesting video of Ricky Jay performing a very commercial effect for ten audience members. I tried to embed it here, but couldn't. Instead, I've published the link to the site that features the video. Great card trick..

Ricky Jay Magic Performance

Copyright infringement

2008-01-11T23:58:00.000-05:00

There was a post, an embedded YouTube video of a mentalism effect, in this very spot at one time. A faithful reader pointed out to me that the video was of a Jay Sankey effect, although the creator of the video failed to mentioned that he had lifted the effect from Jay..

I will not knowingly post video's or effects that are copyright infringements. Because I don't have the time to read every magic book or watch every magic video, I need help keeping both Magic Bullets and Magic Roadshow as magician-friendly as possible. I don't want anyone stealing from me, and I will never publish something that does not belong either in the public domain or is freely gifted to the public.

Bottom line.. if you recognize anything in either of my publications as being the work of another magician, please let me know..

Honestly.. I appreciate the help.

Rick Carruth / editor