Magic Monday: An Ha

Two Things about me

Anyone who has been reading my blog for a while knows two things about me. One, I am a francophile. Two, my favorite type of magic is sleight of hand and when it comes to the stage that shows up in card manipulation routines quite often.

Taking care of the francophile who likes magic

France 2 has a show called Le Plus Grand Cabaret du Monde that I've most likely shown at least once before in a JAMM post.

This JAMM post takes us to Le Plus Grand Cabaret du Monde with an awesome display of card manipulation by An Ha. The routine starts off pretty standard for card manipulation routines but then moves on. He adds color and rhythm in such a jaw dropping way. By the end he gets a well deserved standing ovation. Many fellow magicians look on with childish grins on their faces.

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tHjaRbTfHmQ&w=640&h=360]

Conclusion

I hope you've enjoyed this video. Please let me know what you liked or didn't about it. Better yet, join me at JAMM Live coming up this next Wednesday and let me know what you think live.

Happy Magical Year of the Dragon

Today is the start of the Chinese New Year and the year of the Dragon. Since it is a Monday I thought I'd do a little something special for this week's JAMM post. Since it is a chinese new year I thought I would show a magical way the chinese are bringing in the new year - with Lu Chen. I have showed a performance by Lu Chen before but this is a larger collection of routines put into a great performance that comes across without me understanding anything they are saying. So, without further ado, let's celebrate the New Year with a whole load of magic from Lu Chen.

If you enjoyed this please let me know in the comments below.

Magic By Gif

Just a quick one for this JAMM post, since I wanted to do something a little different. While some might use video to show off magic, others like to take those videos and convert them to an animated gifs.

Magic, really often uses illusion (which can be easier in a 2D format such as animated gifs

Actually, people will turn any video highlight into an animated gif.

If you have any Magical GIF files you have seen, I'd love to check them out here. Thanks.

Magic Monday - Phone Cam Magic

Recently, I finally broke out my EMC2011 DVD as I begin my resolution in 2012 to get back into magic. Because I was less involved in magic last year I didn't watch much of the conference live or even semi live. So far I've watched the first two discs and I've seen and heard some very inspiring stuff. From Rudy Coby's talk How To Be The Coolest Magician On Earth to Jonathan Bayme's Magic 2.0, I have been inspired by what is possible if you just keep moving forward with you goal in mind. One of the people who was parto of EMC in 2010 and again in 2011, probably because he is one of the people behind it, is Marco Tempest. The thing I liked in 2010 and 2011 from Marco is his use of technology. He is updating old tricks with the new technology and new media. He is creating all sorts of magic that may not have ever been seen before.

One of the things that he experiemented with was youtube and the perspective of a phone camera. These are great bits that take a little bit of the old and rejuvenate it with the new. Take it away Marco... [youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nvbQQnvxXDk?wmode=transparent&w=420&h=315] That was a fun little video (pun completely intended) to start off the series. In his eighth video entitled "Proximity", he shows us a little more of the magic behind the perspective of a phone cam. What I like about this video is that it almost feels like he is throwing away some of the magic that he is showing. [youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qWCJ4CkR_qM?wmode=transparent&w=420&h=315]

As always, I'd love to hear what you think of these bits of magic. Did you like them? Did they wow you? Did they inspire you? Let me know in the comments. With my forthcoming experiment of JAMM Live, I'm wondering how much actual magic performance I should put into it.

Resolutions and Chimp Magic

As we end 2011 one of my resolutions is to once again re-acquaint myself with the magical arts. In the past year I haven't really been practicing at all. At the same time, early last year there was a joke where I mentioned the phrase "Magician 24/7" and it turned into a thing that led to the picture you see at the top of this article. On the other hand I learned a lot about how I can be practicing that will bring the joy back into magic. I got this insight from my study of improvisational comedy. What does this mean? It means in the coming year I am going to attempt a regular magic vidcast called JAMM Live. Where as the posts on my blog have the meaning of JAMM be Just Another Magic Monday the JAMM in JAMM Live will stand for Just Another Magic Meeting. This is because I don't believe Mondays will be a good day for me to do these on any sort of regular basis. I will figure it out in the next few weeks so keep an eye out for the vidcast. Also, look for more, regular JAMM posts on Mondays for this blog. [ad#Ellusionist]What about the fun? Well, since I am known for my interest in magic I do get interesting videos sent to me from time to time. So this week I leave you with a bit of Chimp Magic. This guy really blows the socks off of a chimp who just loves his act. Given that chimps process things differently than us, and as such don't have the same expectations, that is pretty dang cool. Enjoy... the chimp did. [youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AOSzxmYEtt4&w=420&h=315] For those who don't see the connection of the video and my point on resolutions, remember that 2011 was the year that Rise of the Planet of the Apes was redone. Just kidding, just bringing the fun back to magic. Do you have any fun magic you'd like to share. Let me know in the comments below.

Halloween themed? - Just Another Magic Monday

In honor of Samhein and/or Halloween I wanted to bring back a classic from my favorite magician, Jeff McBride. Why Jeff McBride? Well, because he is best known for his mask routine. Many who have already followed my JAMM posts have seen his most popular mask routine but I need to show the one that floored me way back when. I couldn't find that original post (it has been removed by the user) but I found another performance from TV that incorporates it. So here it is. Jeff McBride's early Mask routine in honor of All Hallow's Eve: [youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uCKpGauQ2TY&w=480&h=360] [ad#Ellusionist] Do you have a favorite magic routine for Halloween? Do you perform it? Do you have a video? I'd love to see/hear about it in the comments.

Who we f'ing need right now - Just Another Magic Monday

I follow a lot of different people on Twitter. One person I follow is David Copperfield. Recently he retweeted a post from someone else.

In these tough times, who we need now is David F**king Copperfield: bit.ly/qL4C0P #amen

Being intrigued, I followed the link and took a look at the premise of the post. Here's a little taste of the premise of the article.

These are dark times we’re living in, kids. Wall Street is occupied. The current GOP presidential “frontrunner” thinks was totally kidding when he said we need an electrified fence between the U.S. and Mexico. “Whitney” got a full season order. Yes, our collective mood is just short of “F*** this noise, we give up.”

What we need is a pick-me-up. What we need is a who, someone to come along and lift our spirits and make us smile, even if what we’re smiling at is an illusion.

Who we need is David Copperfield.

The original poster is right. In these tough times we do need David Copperfield - or someone else like him. Do you remember when he made the Statue of Liberty disappear? Walked through the Great Wall of China? Well the original poster does, along with quite a few other bits of business he performed.

Here's a link to the full article. This article has links to the following great tricks and illusions:

• Making the Statue of Liberty Disappear
• Walking through the Great Wall of China
• Vanishing the Orient Express
• Death Saw
• The Fan - on Oprah
• Cocoon
• Interlude
• Flying
• At home audience participation
• Ghost

[ad#Ellusionist] All of these are great illusions that David Copperfield brought to us in the past. I loved watching all of them. However, in the comments, there is a hidden gem. In the comments someone mentioned a parody of Mister Rogers's Neighborhood that he did as a routine. It is quite an entertaining bit of magic. The quality is low but it comes across fine.

Here it is, David Copperfield parodying Mister Rogers. [youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dj5dCnbLQSg&w=480&h=360] So what are your thoughts. Do we f***ing need David Copperfield right now? Is there someone else you'd like to see take his place? In my opinion, these performances stand the test of time. He is a true master magician. There are new, younger performers out there but can they produce timeless classics such as these? Let me know what you think in the comments below.

Just Another Magic Monday - David Copperfield

Discussing a book he wrote a forward to, David Copperfield discusses how the brain works with regards to magic. Both Stephen and David do a little bit of magic during this clip. Enjoy watching this clip of the "King of Liars" as Stephen calls him.

As the clip says the book is called Brainworks: The Mind-bending Science of How You See, What You Think, and Who You Are. [ad#Ellusionist] Also enjoy the following magic themed clip that Stephen ended his show with.

Digital vs. Analog Magic

One of the joys of watching magic is trying to figure out how it is done. Sometimes people have a good idea and sometimes they are way off. In this world of CGI and Photoshop people often think all video magic is done with digital trickery. I recently shared a Jason Latimer Buick ad that had to tell people up front there was no digital trickery due to the fact that people would most likely think that is the case. The truth is, some magic is done through digital means and others use the old fashioned "analog" methods. Can you tell which ones are which? [ad#Ellusionist]

Join Scam School's Brian Brushwood through a series of 8 pieces of magic. Some digital and some not. See if you can tell which are "analog" and which are digital.

Which ones are which? Tell me in the comments below. Flabbergasted? Share it in the comments below. Either way, let us know what you are thinking with regards to magic, both analog and digital.

Essential Magic Conference 2010 and 2011?

Friday I came home from work and my wife said, "You got something in the mail from Portugal!?" I had been watching the EMC newsletter and the EMC facebook page and I knew the long awaited DVDs were coming soon. I was very excited to finally get my DVDs!

The 2010 Essential Magic Conference was awesome and well worth the money without watching all the sessions. The funny thing is through video streaming and now the DVDs I can watch all the sessions over and over again. I think you can still register and get the streaming videos ( and possibly the DVDs ), however you will definitely want to sign up for the 2011 conference as soon as they announce it. From the end of the following video it sounds like they are going to have one for sure.

I know my JAMM posts usually showcase a magician performing magic in some way and this post is targeted toward magicians. So if you are a magician I hope you check this out. If the JAMM posts have inspired you to look into performing magic this is great for you as well. I only consider myself a beginner/novice magician and I got a lot out of these sessions.

Did you already know about the Essential Magic Conference? Did you watch it? If you did what did you think of it? If not, why not!? I'd love to hear your opinions.

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