Magic Bullets from the Magic Roadshow

What can I say ?

noreply@blogger.com (Rick Carruth) — Fri, 04 Jul 2008 04:24:00 +0000

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

BBC's History of Magic - Disappearances

noreply@blogger.com (Rick Carruth) — Mon, 23 Jun 2008 17:03:00 +0000

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

noreply@blogger.com (Rick Carruth) — Thu, 29 May 2008 19:25:00 +0000

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

noreply@blogger.com (Rick Carruth) — Mon, 28 Apr 2008 08:13:00 +0000

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

noreply@blogger.com (Rick Carruth) — Mon, 28 Apr 2008 08:02:00 +0000

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

noreply@blogger.com (Rick Carruth) — Tue, 08 Apr 2008 06:38:00 +0000

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

Misfortune or Stupidity ?

noreply@blogger.com (Rick Carruth) — Fri, 25 Jan 2008 05:55:00 +0000

"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...

****************************************

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

------------------

Nice Ricky Jay Video

noreply@blogger.com (Rick Carruth) — Fri, 25 Jan 2008 04:19:00 +0000

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

noreply@blogger.com (Rick Carruth) — Sat, 12 Jan 2008 04:58:00 +0000

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

The Holy Grail card effect

noreply@blogger.com (Rick Carruth) — Sat, 15 Dec 2007 18:03:00 +0000

The first test video of the Holy Grail by Jordan Johnson.. How I hope it can actually be performed as easily as it can be demonstrated. What a card trick...

Selling Magic eBooks from Clickbank

noreply@blogger.com (Rick Carruth) — Wed, 21 Nov 2007 05:46:00 +0000

I know some of you promote Clickbank products, whether it be magic related or something totally unrelated. Take it from me, promoting the RIGHT product is the key to success, and as marketers we do not always know the right product. We THINK we know the right products, and then the stats prove us wrong. Clickbank has already tallied the info we need to make informed decisions. Here's an interesting article by Brad Jones telling us how to read and process those stats..

----------

The Most Profitable Clickbank Products To Promote..

Advertise on this SiteEverybody wants to know which Clickbank products to promote! Ain't this the $64,000 question? To begin to understand the most profitable Clickbank products to promote, you first need to understand a little about how Clickbank groups their products and how they are ranked. Clickbank basically has four factors by which they organize the products in their database.

% Earned Per Sale. This is the average commission earned per affiliate per referred sale.

$ Earned Per Sale. This is the average net amount earned per affiliate per referred sale. This figure is affected by refunds, chargebacks etc. Hence, it is Net.

% Referred. This is simply the percentage of the Publisher’s sales that are referred by affiliates.

Gravity. This is the number of unique affiliates that made a commission by referring a customer to a publisher’s product and the customer purchasing the product. Clickbank lists it not as an actual number but as a weighted sum. Gravity is basically a measure of the popularity of a product and how well the product is selling. A higher number would indicate that a product is selling well. Of course, this means that there are others selling the product, which means that there is competition. What is a high number? 40 or higher would be what I would call high.

So, How Do We Use These Numbers? I think the best way to use the information Clickbank provides to us regarding the digital products in its database is to first aim for products with a fairly high gravity number but that also have a low refund rate percentage, which equates to promoting a product that is selling well but also is being refunded at a low rate. This would indicate a quality product. (Remember that just because a product sells well does not mean it is a quality product, it may just have a fantastic, high converting sales page and the actual product may be a dud, thus prompting many refunds. So, we need a way to calculate Refund Percentage Rates.

How To Calculate Refund Percentage Rates Here is a formula to use in order to calculate the Refund Rate of Clickbank products:

(Product Price – 7.5 percent) - $1 = Clickbank’s commission on each product sold Product Price After CB Commission x Payout percentage = Your Affiliate Commission - $Earned Per Sale = The Refund Difference ($Refund Difference / Affiliate Commission) x 100 = Refund percentage Let’s Try An Example With A Current Clickbank Product We’ll use The Forex Trading Machine as our example.

Data:

Product Price = $97.00

$ Earned/Sale = $40.15

Payout % = 50%

So,

Clickbank Commission = ($97 X 7.5%) + 1 = $8.28

Post Clickbank Commission Price = $97 - $8.28 = $88.72

Affiliate Commission = $88.72 X 50% = $44.36

Refund Difference = $44.36 - $40.15 = $4.21

Refund Percentage = ($4.21/$44.36) X 100 = 9.49%

What does this mean to us? Well, first off, I think that any product with a Refund Percentage of less that 10% is a quality Clickbank Product. Clickbank will tell you that every product can be assumed to have an inherent 5% Refund Percentage Rate due to consumer fraud. So, less than 10% is pretty good.

Why do we care? Because you don’t want to spend your time and money promoting a product that is going to end up generating a lot of refunds. You would, in essence, be wasting your money, as a high Refund Percentage will certainly lower your Return On Investment. Remember, Return On Investment is simply measured as the amount it costs you to generate a certain amount in sales. If you spent $5 in Google Adwords® promoting a product and you made $10 from this advertising, your ROI would be 100%, which is excellent.

Generally speaking, products with High Refund Percentages yield a lower ROI. Not good. So, I would stick with promoting products with a low Refund Percentage in order to prevent a low ROI and also promoting high quality products with high customer satisfaction just makes sense.

Brad Jones is an author and businessman with a background in internet marketing and investment planning. His primary goal is to educate others on how to increase and preserve their wealth. For more information on his latest venture please visit http://www.infoproductmax.com

Kreskin - The Original Phenomenon

noreply@blogger.com (Rick Carruth) — Wed, 07 Nov 2007 04:53:00 +0000

Kreskin was the original 'Phenomenon' to most of the American public. Through the years, Kreskin has continued to perform, write, and make appearances on national TV. Here's an interesting ten minute video of Kreskin on CBC's 'The Hour'...

The Law of Dissatisfaction

noreply@blogger.com (Rick Carruth) — Fri, 05 Oct 2007 05:39:00 +0000

If you market, in any way, then read this article. If you have a web site.. read this article. If you sell cars, or furniture, or insurance.. read this article. It doesn't matter whether it's magic related or not. Many folks other than magicians are going to profit from these words.. It discusses a principle not often talked about, and one certainly not often used by those other than the experts... The article really isn't that long, and you'll be sorry one day if you don't take the time to read it.. I read it about once every other week just to stir my memory and keep me focused.

-----------------------

The Law of Dissatisfaction: How To Motivate Prospects
By Jerry Bader (c) 2007

The 7%-38%-55% Communication Rule

Dr. Albert Mehrabian, Professor Emeritus of Psychology, UCLA is best known for his 7%-38%-55% Rule that states 55% of communication is attributable to non-verbal behaviors like body language and facial expressions; that 38% of communication is attributable to voice including volume, tone, pitch, cadence, and quality; and only 7% of communication is attributable to the words used.

Despite this persuasive evidence, companies continue to pile on the Web-text in the vain hope that search engines will index it and that someone might actually read it, even though the reality is 70% of website visitors scan for headlines, bulleted points and captions.

The evidence is clear; the most effective way to deliver a marketing message is a Web-video using a professional performer who knows how to use his or her voice, expression, and body language to drive the point home.

"But Wait, There's More …"

I have noticed a proliferation on the Web of the sad old direct marketing formula that you see in sales pitches for magazine subscriptions. Can you really expect people to take you seriously when you adopt this 'Barnum and Bailey' approach to marketing? It is a formula that flies in the face of Dr. Mehrabian's research and every other usability study that warns against over-burdening website visitors with too much text. Your search engine optimizer may think it's great for driving traffic to your landing page, but I'll bet if you check your logs, 50% of that traffic disappears in under 5 seconds.

This format is an outdated sales technique that doesn't work in a Web environment where people find it difficult to read large amounts of text. It is also a tactic that insults your customer's intelligence.

A Red Flag Marketing Formula

If ever there was a red flag telling people to stay away from your company it's a website presentation that includes:

- Huge bold headlines,

- Copious amounts of text,

- Bright yellow highlighted key phrases,

- Photos of smiling semi-ugly customers,

- Photos of smiling semi-pretty nonexistent staff,

- Lots of useless free crap,

- Loads of bulleted points with big red check marks,

- Numerous testimonials on pale yellow backgrounds and quotations in Courier with more bad photographs,

- More extra bold, underlined, red text,

- The phrase 'But Wait, There's More' offering more useless free e-books you'll never read and special bonus gifts you don't want or need,

- Lots of 'Click Here To Order" buttons,

- And finally make sure you bury the price at the bottom of over 4689 words.

The entire presentation could be made in two minutes using a cost effective video presentation delivered by a professional, but that wouldn't be search engine friendly would it, never mind it's the best way to sell your product or service.

Reducing Video Load Times

Which brings me to the issue of load times. We all know that video and audio files take longer to load than text, however there are many ways that load times can be reduced and kept to a
minimum.

1. The size of the video can be adjusted.

2. Choose an alternative codex to compress the file.

3. Design your presentation with simple, minimalist backgrounds so the number of pixels that change from frame to frame are reduced.

4. Decrease the frame rate.

5. Alter the audio settings.

6. Adjust the amount of video that is preloaded.

We also know that there is a class of Web-surfer who will not wait for videos to load. This is a fact of life, I admit it, but from a marketing and sales perspective it really doesn't matter and I'll tell you why: websites visitors who will not wait a reasonable amount of time for a presentation to load will also not read your copious amounts of text and the reason is simple: they are not motivated enough by what you sell and if they aren't motivated they're not potential customers.

If They Aren't Motivated, They're Not Customers

Two things motivate all potential customers: a feeling of dissatisfaction and a desire for change. All good advertising creates a focused storyline with a singular message that stirs the emotional dissatisfaction in the audience and offers a solution that will initiate change.

Thank goodness people are insatiable for what's new and improved. We are a species motivated to constantly strive for more: more money, more power, more success, more stuff; and when we have more stuff, we want better stuff. We are in a constant state of desire. The advertisers job is to access that desire and push that motivational button so that the audience takes action.

The Law of Dissatisfaction

The job of advertisers is to create dissatisfaction in its audience. If people are happy with how they look, they are not going to buy cosmetics or diet books; if people are happy with their old twenty-inch tube television they are not going to buy a sixty-inch LCD flat screen TV. If people are happy with who they are, where they are in life, and what they got, they just aren't customer-potential, that is, unless you make them unhappy.

Most cosmetic advertisements feature a beautiful woman, igniting the promise that you too can look like a drop-dead glorious model if only you use their product. This approach is based on showing an ideal that the audience will undoubtedly be unable to stack-up against. The audience after seeing what they could look like, is no longer happy with what they do look like, and are now motivated to buy into the promise of change.

The Psychology of Contrary Thinking

Anyone who is interested in marketing and the Web is most likely aware of the brilliant Dove Self-Esteem campaign. For those who want to excise all video from the Web in favor of search engine optimization tactics in order to drive traffic, it should be noted that the original Dove Web-video has been viewed by over 3.3 million viewers and has driven huge numbers of traffic to the Dove website, not to mention an incredible amount of free publicity.

On the surface it may seem like the Dove campaign is an example of the opposite of the law of dissatisfaction. The series of campaign videos show real people with all their flaws and the message that people should be happy with who they are, and how they look. But what's the real underlying message of advertising videos that show slightly over-weight, wrinkled, aging women?

If ever there was a case of reverse psychology, this is it. Women may initially be attracted by the sentiment expressed and it certainly generated a lot of media coverage, but when all is said and done, women will look at these ads and say, 'hell no, I don't want to be fat, wrinkled and old, and I'm going to do whatever I can to avoid it." Dove has masterfully managed to create a positive campaign that still remains true to the law of dissatisfaction. Whether or not that was Dove's intent doesn't matter, the psychology of contrary thinking works.

Creating Successful Dissatisfaction

In order to implement a Web-video marketing campaign that motivates action, you must present a storyline that accesses the emotional and psychological subtext of desire. Your campaign is based on this defining underlying message.

In order to create this underlying communication we must first decide to whom the campaign is aimed. We each have a self image, in fact we each have four self-images. We must figure out which self our product or service serves.

1. The Public Self is the self we present to the world. If we sell high priced luxury goods or services that appeal to status, we are probably aiming our presentation at the public-self, the
one we display to others.

2. The Private Self is the self we hide from the world. If we sell a hidden pleasure product or service we should probably direct our presentation to the private-self, the one we keep
locked away and hidden.

3. The Ideal Self defines who we wish we were. If we sell a self-improvement or motivational product or service, we want to access the ideal-self, the self we desperately wish to become.

4. And the Actual Self defines who we really are. If we sell a product or service that justifies our real behavior, then it's the actual-self we want to target.

The dissatisfaction we are accessing may be active or inactive. Active dissatisfaction like having acne, being overweight, or worrying about a dysfunctional website is a concern that the audience is aware. Inactive dissatisfaction like halitosis, body odor, or ineffective marketing is a problem that the audience is unaware.

To what degrees is our audience able to acknowledge a problem exists even after we make it active? Does our audience acknowledge they are overweight, have halitosis, or need a new marketing strategy or do they deny or fail to recognize the existence of the problem?

Next we need to decide whether the essence of dissatisfaction is general or specific. Will our audience suffice with any solution that comes along or does satisfaction depend on fulfilling a specific requirement.

Lastly we must determine if the dissatisfaction is based on a desire for something or on the avoidance of something. We may desire an exotic sports car to show-off our wealth and status to friends and colleagues, or we may avoid driving a flashy car no matter how rich we are to avoid showing-up our friends and colleagues.

Once we have analyzed the nature of our audience's dissatisfaction and the ability of our product or service to effect change, we can create an effective Web-video marketing campaign. If your website content doesn't connect with your audience's desire for change, if you're website traffic is not motivated by dissatisfaction, then that traffic is just congestion, not prospects.

=========

Jerry Bader is Senior Partner at MRPwebmedia, a website design firm that specializes in Web-audio and Web-video. Visit:
http://www.mrpwebmedia.com/ads, http://www.136words.com, and
http://www.sonicpersonality.com.
Contact at info@mrpwebmedia.com or telephone (905) 764-1246.

Chemical Magic for Restaurant Magicians

noreply@blogger.com (Rick Carruth) — Wed, 12 Sep 2007 19:26:00 +0000

When working in a restaurant performing magic, bring a glass of this to 'work' with you, and store it in the restaurants fridge.. Make an arraingement beforehand with one of the wait staff to bring you your 'water' from the fridge upon request. At the proper time, ask the waiter for a 'glass of water' and have them bring you this solution.. Perform your freaky magic trick and take a bow..

Casting Call

noreply@blogger.com (Rick Carruth) — Wed, 12 Sep 2007 04:33:00 +0000

Las Vegas Magician Looking for Kids to Participate in Next DVD Project.

Does your child have an interest in magic and would like to appear in an instructional video that teaches kids how to perform magic? Professional magician Will Roya will be filming his next series of instructional DVDs
"Magic Tricks R 4 Kids" Friday, October 26 (Nevada Day) & Saturday, October 27.

The DVDs will teach kids the principals of magic and some of the most amazing effects they will be able to accomplish with a little practice. Tricks will be demonstrated and taught in an informal class like setting.
Kids will then be invited to show off the mastery of the tricks learned after each session.

Will Roya, who moved to Las Vegas in 1999, has headlined in multiple shows on and off the strip as well as entertaining people of all ages and backgrounds around the world. In addition to his performing career, Will
started producing and starring in instructional DVDs in 2004. His current DVD titles are Diabolo, Learn Juggling, Float This, Easy Card Magic and the Entertaining with Balloon Sculpting series. In addition to selling his DVDs
on his website and after shows, they are also distributed to magic and specialty shops around the world.

Children 8 to 12 years of age are invited to audition for this exciting project on Saturday, October 13 between 10am and 2pm at the PM Digital Group Studios located at 5670 Wynn Road, Suite B. Children must have written permission from a parent or guardian and feel comfortable performing a simple magic trick on camera.

For more information feel free to contact Will Roya via email at: will@willroya.com.
You can visit Will Roya online at www.WillRoya.com and PM Digital Group at www.PMDigitalGroup.com.

Yet Another Color Change

noreply@blogger.com (Rick Carruth) — Fri, 07 Sep 2007 02:13:00 +0000

Yes.. another color change card trick for your viewing pleasure. This one is a 'brush change', where you brush one card over the face of another and the change occurs quickly.

I like this particular change, as it's fairly easy to master with a little practice. It's a good way to reveal a chosen card after you appear to fail the first time.

My main problem with most of these video's... the music. I wish they would leave the music on their computer and out of their video's. I started to publish another video card change aside from this one, but the music was so annoying..

Room 401 - Episode 2

noreply@blogger.com (Rick Carruth) — Thu, 30 Aug 2007 08:06:00 +0000

You know.. I haven't heard much buzz in the magic community about MTV's new show , ROOM 401. I've watched 4 of the 8 episodes to date, and have the other 4 recorded to view when I get around to it..

I was surprised to see Cyril on episode 2, doing his great 'dropping head' effect for a bus load of unsuspecting passengers. That's the premise.. pull pranks using illusionists and/or illusionists directed effects that occur in a setting designed to terrify and not amuse. Street magic at it's best. ;o)

Some of the situations have been priceless, if you can get into the slightly sicko type of MTV humor. Imagine Ashton Kutcher's Punk'd with a really mean twist. Actually, if you check the producers at the beginning of the show, you'll see Ashton's name...

Oh.. if you haven't seen the show, I've included a link to episode #2 for you viewing pleasure. It will play four different segments, one at a time. Links to the other 7 episodes are on tis page as well.

To quote from MTV's own description:

Inside this creepy episode of Room 401 a chainsaw accident cuts an ice sculptor in two, an old head inside a jar shows signs of life, a taxi driver floats out of a speeding ticket, and a sickly bus rider loses his head, literally..

http://www.mtv.com/overdrive/?id=1565073&vid=164485

This episode, and the other 7 to-date, all appeared on MTV2. Let me know what you think..

Toothpick Star Trick

noreply@blogger.com (Rick Carruth) — Mon, 20 Aug 2007 05:39:00 +0000

Watch the video and see if you can duplicate this effect. If you can.. well.. you've got a great little bar trick. I can even see someone performing this as a bit of mental magic. It's probably good that Uri Geller didn't discover this effect thirty years ago.

Try this an let me know how it works for you.

A little tip: Instead of using ten toothpicks, try using five toothpicks that have been snapped in the middle but NOT completely broken into..

5 Toothpick And A Star... - The best video clips are right here

Snap Change Video

noreply@blogger.com (Rick Carruth) — Fri, 17 Aug 2007 04:07:00 +0000

This snap change is pretty much self-explainatory.. English is a little rough, but the change itself is well executed.. Try it..

How To Card Trick - video powered by Metacafe

Magic Roadshow - Best of

noreply@blogger.com (Rick Carruth) — Sat, 11 Aug 2007 07:59:00 +0000

I wanted to give those of you who might not be subscribers to the Magic Roadshow a heads up that I have just published the second 'Best of' the Roadshow in two weeks.

Two weeks ago I published Best of Magic Roadshow #4, and followed up with Best of Magic Roadshow #5 a couple of days ago. This covers all material published during most of the last year. I should have published a 'Best of' six months ago, but life got in the way and everything was on hiatus until now.

Check it out, I think you'll find something useful in each issue. Heck, I did, and I'm the editor. It's amazing what you can forget in a year.. ;o)

Best of.. Issue 4

Best of.. Issue 5

Cheers

Rick C.

Ricky Jay

noreply@blogger.com (Rick Carruth) — Thu, 02 Aug 2007 04:11:00 +0000

How good is Ricky Jay? Watch the video and see..

Sam the Bellhop

noreply@blogger.com (Rick Carruth) — Wed, 18 Jul 2007 05:44:00 +0000

I like Bill Malone. Not so much because of his magic skills, although they're considerable, but because of his personality and ability to sell virtually any effect with sheer force.. Check out his performance of the classic Sam the Bellhop.

The Muscle Pass - great video

noreply@blogger.com (Rick Carruth) — Wed, 04 Jul 2007 05:54:00 +0000

A wonderful tutorial on the virtues of the muscle pass, one of my favorite chip and coin moves. Properly done, you can fool even the best with this move, aside from it being an impressive coin magic flourish. Add this effect to your street magic routine and watch the dollars roll in.. maybe..

Criss Angel Getting Divorced..

noreply@blogger.com (Rick Carruth) — Sun, 01 Jul 2007 05:47:00 +0000

MINEOLA, New York: Magician Criss Angel's wife says the magic has gone from their marriage and she now wants to make him vanish from her life.

Angel, the punky illusionist known for his "Mindfreak" show on the A&E cable television network, subdued his sometimes flashy look at a court hearing Friday. But he displayed a bit of humor during a break, gesturing toward his estranged wife's lawyer and saying, "I can make him disappear."

The 39-year-old Angel, whose real name is Christopher Sarantakos, and his wife, Joanne, 37, married five years ago, after a decade of dating, according to her lawyer, Dominic Barbara. But the magician kept quiet about his marriage and then deserted his wife as he became famous and hasn't given her "a cent" of his millions, Barbara said....

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SCAM 2008

noreply@blogger.com (Rick Carruth) — Thu, 07 Jun 2007 03:18:00 +0000

Just heard from one of my magic buddies.. John Tudor. Aside from being one of the most talented and respected magicians in the South, John is also one of the forces behind the South Carolina Association of Magicians...

Believe me.. it's never to early to prepare for my personal favorite convention.

" SCAM Convention will be January 18-19, 2008, Columbia, SC, - David Roth, Charlie Frye, Kostya Kimlat, Just Alan, Danny Archer, Chris Capehart, Matt McCoy, Joey Vasquez+ more! visit http://www.scamcon.org "