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I just came across the Street of Cards online, on-demand, magic tv station. They play stuff either streaming or you can choose to watch videos on-demand.

They also stream live from Las Vegas Jeff McBrides Wonderground on Friday Nights, Saturday Nights, and some other nights… I can’t remember which. Just go to http://streetofcards.tv/ to find a schedule.

They have a chat too with some great company. Don’t forget to check it out. Cheers!

The location for the PCAM 2009 convention has been announced.

Time and PlaceStart Time:
Monday, September 21, 2009 at 12:00pm
End Time:
Saturday, September 26, 2009 at 11:55pm
Location:
Sailing from Vancouver, BC to Los Angeles, CA
City/Town:
Vancouver, BC
Contact InfoEmail:
shawn@magichampion.com

The PCAM continues the tradition of holding the “biggest little convention” in the world on board the NCL cruise ship: Norweigan Pearl. Shawn Farquhar is your host for this amazing event full of exceptional talent (as always).

OK! I want to join you for PCAM 2009 … what do I do?

1) Call and book your cruise 1st. Cabins are limited and are available outside our group to the local public so book your cabin NOW! (Also - the cut off date is fast approaching!)

Merit Travel
1- 800-409-1711 (ext 2)
Janice Dalziel
250-412-8260
Janice.Dalziel@merit.ca

2) After you have your cabin booked through our Official Travel Agent then you can register for PCAM by visiting http://www.magicatsea.com and paying with PayPal. If you don’t want to use PayPal you can send a cheque, made payable to Shawn Farquhar (address also on www.magicatsea.com).

3) Consider booking your return from Los Angeles in the afternoon or evening of Sunday, September 27th. It is my intention to offer a special extra event which will be to either the Magic Castle or Magicopolis for the Saturday evening.

4) Tell your friends your going to be a part of the coolest magic / cruise ever!

For more information goto http://www.magicatsea.com/pcam2009.html

On Thursday was the luncheon event to present the nominations, and the semi-finalists for the 2008 KEY Business Excellence Awards. I was nominated in 4 categories including Young Entrepreneur, Quality Excellence, Service Based, and Customer Service. Since I won Young Entrepreneur last year I can’t win it again this year. I’m in a semi-finalist in two categories- Service Based, and Customer Service.

The KEY Business Gala Awards Night is coming up on October 18th. I really hope I win again this year, keep your fingers crossed for me!

Well I pretty much thought about David Blaine’s Dive of Death all day today. I’ve had many conversations with people about what they thought of the special, including the magic tricks, the bullet catch, the endurance stunt, and ultimately the “dive of death”. Opinions seem to be all over the place.

The thing I love about David Bline’s work is that its such a great conversation piece. Love him or hate him, everyone’s talking about it. If he’s in a glass bubble holding his breath, sealed in a block of ice, or hanging upside down people talk about it weather they love it, hate it, or just think its pointless.

I think David is a true showman, and artist. After all, isn’t all art subject to the same critique? Some will love it, some will hate it, and others couldn’t care less. It can be music, dance, painting, magic, or endurance challenges.

I feel sorry for him that his “Dive of Death” didn’t work as planned, but that’s the nature of attempting an untested stunt on Live TV. You’ve got to respect that fact that he went ahead with it even though he knew there was a chance it wouldn’t look right. He took the risk and failed. People that were at the event starting booing him. You can see it on youtube clips from people who were at the live event.

At least he didn’t resort to pre-recorded footage and pass it off as “live” like others have done recently.

One thing is for sure though. His name will forever be in the books alongside David Copperfield, Penn and Teller, and Houdini. I’m sure he’ll use that moment as motivation to succeed in his next challenge.

I hope David goes for the world record of staying up the longest.

Hopefully you got to see David Blaine’s “Dive of Death” last night on TV. As I posted over on itricks I thought the show was amazing.

The Bullet Catch was amazing.

I’m not sure if the magic lived up to the hype of “the best magic he’s ever done”. I still enjoyed watching it though.

The ending of the show was very confusing. I watched the program with a bunch of friends, and we were all very confused as to what was going on. He jumped, touched the stage, and then went flying up on the cable. Then the announcer said that he had “vanished”. It really didn’t play well for the TV at all. I’m interested to hear what the ending looked like live at the event.

If you were like me and the ending confused you- David explained on the Regis and Kelly show what was SUPPOSED to happen.

Still, David Blaine is a living legend.

Don’t forget about the “David Blaine: Dive of Death” tomorrow(September 24th, which may be today by the time you read this) on ABC. (9:00-11:00 p.m., ET) Its going to be broadcast in HighDef too, Yum. There’s going to be lots of pre-recorded magic in this episode, so I’m really looking forward to see what David and his team have come up with. Daniel Garcia was working on the project with him so you know its going to be good.

It looks like the product hype is already in full swing. Ellusionist, The Vanishing Rabbit, and T11 are all going to be doing special David Blaine product releases right after the show airs.

[via magic unlimited]

Here’s another Jc Penny ad, it isn’t magic themed but its still great. The AD agency that put these together is brilliant.

I love Rocco’s work and I’ve posted a few video’s by him on my blog before. I’ve never seen or heard of this routine, and its quite unique (like all of his work).

I had heard that “Cards as Weapons” by Ricky Jay was a valuable book before, but I never knew that it was worth in the $200-400 range. I’ve got a copy of that book sitting in a box downstairs that I got a long time ago. I don’t remember what type of condition its in though. I think I’ll hold onto the book though, if its worth that much now, it will only increase in value

Ricky Jay is so unique, his performance is brilliant.

Public Shows
Rock Creek and Boundary Fair Associationl
Rock Creek BC - Sept 13 & 14

“Located in south central British Columbia’s Boundary Country, amongst the sun drenched mountains of the beautiful Kettle River Valley, The Rock Creek and Boundary Fall Fair is one of the last “true” country fairs. It is commonly referred to as “The biggest little country fair around”. Bring the whole family to our exhibition for a fun filled two day experience.”

On September 13th I’ll be performing some mingling magic in the early afternoon, and a stage show at 2:30PM on the Main Stage.

More information about the festival can be found at:
http://www.rockcreekfallfair.ca/index.htm

Inspired by Las Vegas

Where do magicians go to get inspired? Las Vegas of course! The magic hub of the world.

I went down to Las Vegas recently with my girlfriend on Vacation for 11 days where we saw 9 different magic shows. I was able to meet up with my magic teacher Jeff McBride as well as some of the other top magicians in the world.

[ Left: Myself with my Magic Teacher Master Magician Jeff McBride,
Middle: Me with Teller of "Penn and Teller" fame
Right: Me with Criss Angel from A&E's "Mindfreak"]

If you ever plan a trip to Las Vegas don’t forget to plan to see lots of shows. The top shows I would reccomend to go see are Lance Burton, Jeff McBride, Penn and Teller, and Cirque du Soleil “O”. I’m pretty sure the show we saw David Copperfield perform at the MGM Grand will be very similar, to the show he will be performing when he comes to Kelowna.

Of course I took the opportunity to perform some street magic while I was in Vegas. Below is a photo of me performing for a street vendor on Fremont Street (That’s the street with the canopy that has the colorful lightshows).

[ Metal Bending: Fremont Steet - Las Vegas, NV ]

Vegas is an amazing place and I can’t wait to go back!

Telephone number trick
Try it

Use your phone number - 7 digits, do not use the area code - and see what you get

1. Multiply the first 3 digits ( not area code) by 80
2. Add 1
3. Multiply by 250
4. Add the last 4 digits of your number
5. Add the last 4 digits of your number again.
6. Subtract 250
7. Divide by 2

Neat eh?

Magical Christmas Parties

Christmas is just 107 days away, but who’s counting? It may seem like a long time away still but many organizations and companies have already begun planning for their Christmas party. For dates in November and December I usually book three months in advance!

If you or anybody you know is looking to book entertainment for their Christmas party now is the time to reserve the date. To reserve a date and time for your Christmas party call Ali K. Zam at 250.575.SHOW(7469) to receive your free quote.

Magical Quote:

“Magic is believing in yourself. If you can do that, you can make anything happen.”

– Foka Gomez

Las Vegas is an amazing place! I’ve made it back home safe and sound now, and I’m trying to catch up on all the people who contacted me while I was away. Once I have some time I’ll post about the trip along with pictures and possibly some video.