Not actual tape measure “tricks” but more of a stunt. The fake enthusiasm makes me think that this took a lot of takes.

I imagine these coin tossing videos took a lot of takes too

Oh Lance Burton, You’re so smooth with the ladies.

More and more I’m thinking about this blog and what its purpose will become over the next year, or two years, or five years. With the social media landscape being completely different now than it was a year ago. How will people continue to share information with each other?

I’m getting more and more of the viral videos and updates from Facebook , and more of my articles and research through RSS. For now I’m going to continue using both this blog and my facebook account to keep people updated.

Right now I’m using facebook to post things that don’t necessarily have a long ‘information lifespan’, and instead use the blog where I want to post content that I think should stick around for longer. Plus the blog acts like a personal diary rather than just a string of updates. Something I can look back on to see what things were like. There’s only a few of you who read this blog whenever I make updates, and most of the traffic comes from the long-tail of google search results.

For those of you who do read my blog, thank you for giving me the gift of your time! I will continue to blog in 2010, though its certainly going to take a back seat to all the other exciting things I have planned.

PS: Here’s a cool magic video I found on youtube last night. (Skip to 40 seconds in)

Here’s the segment for those who missed it on TV today.

Here’s a neat “trick” I found for the adults out there. Here’s another way you can open up a wine bottle without a corkscrew. All you need is a shoe… and a wall…

Very cool. I’m going to have try that out sometime. Even if I do have a corkscrew.

It isn’t very often these days where I get nervous before performing. There’s always those little minute jitters there where you worry if everything is setup properly, or if that new routine or joke will go over as well as you hope. But there are lots of people out there who suffer some such debilitating stage fright for even the smallest of presentations. In this day it seems there’s a drug to cure just about anything- even stage fright. There are “beta blocker” medications on the market that can reduce anxiety when giving a presentation! It just seems like something out of the future… I guess it is 2010 after-all. The problem is these “beta blockers” can cause a slew of other problems that sound quite nasty… For the average person you’re just going to have to suck it up and give the presentation with those shakes and sweaty palms.

Two years ago a woman accused David Copperfield of doing un-gentlemen like things to her while she visited David’s private island. The only problem is this woman had a history of claiming these things against famous and rich people. Well, after two years its being reported that the charges have been dropped. Its so sad that some sick woman is able to drag somebody’s name through the mud like that. Glad to hear that the whole thing is finally settled.

The comments on the article that I linked to have some pretty funny jokes. I wonder if this story will hit the late-night joke circuit? The jokes practically write themselves on this one.

My friend in magic Shawn Farquhar will be appearing on Ellen this Thursday (January 14th 2010). Check your local listings for the exact channel and time. Dodd over at TMNW has reported that its possible that Shawn will be making several appearances on the show, kind of like Justin Kredible on RachelRay’s TV show.

If a recording of the show makes its way online, I’ll be sure to post it here along with on my FB page.

Break a leg Shawn. I can’t wait to see what you decide to perform!

Chris Yuill will be putting on a lecture for magicians on January 17th, 2010 from 1:00-3:00 PM in Vancouver. For more info please visit the facebook group. I’ve never seen Chris perform before, but from the info on the facebook page it sounds like its going to be a nice mix of close-up magic, stand up, and parlor magic- Something for everybody.

If any of you see the lecture, let me know how it went.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a91eiu_eer4

If you’re a fan of optical illusions, you should get a good laugh out of this little sketch.

This optical illusion is crazy! Follow the directions in the video.

If you do it properly you should be able to see an image of Jesus. Look at anything white after and just blink a few times and you’ll see it. It sticks around for a long time too. One of the best optical illusions I’ve seen in a long time.