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Watch this video of this kid as he climbs inside one of those claw game machines.

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The Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince movie Trailer.

My online friend and fellow magician Alym Amlani has been getting some media attention lately in a big way.

“We’re not saying let’s explain exactly how magic tricks are done. We’re saying scientists should look at why they work,” says study co-author Alym Amlani, a magician who has been transformed into a researcher at the University of B.C.

Read the whole article over at Canada.com

More articles on the same topic over at google news.

I took the time and figured out how to solve a rubiks cube this past year. The reason I did is because I wanted to be able to solve a rubiks cube while blindfolded during my show. The cube is handed out, mixed up, I get blindfolded, the cube is returned, and then I solve it.

I haven’t had the opportunity to perform it too often just because it takes about 5-7 minutes to solve the cube, which is a long time for the audience to watch you. I still love the concept of the blindfolded cube solve and hopefully in the future i can include it in shows more often. I’m thinking I might also be able to include it in my evening school show program.

Anybody who really sets out to try can learn to solve a rubiks cube. Maybe not blindfolded, but, just the regular way. You can order a regular cube from amazon at the link below. To learn how to solve the cube this is the website I used.

The reason I mention all this is because today I came across some rubik’s cube ad’s that I thought were funny. (3 in total)

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With all the people who are watching Celebracadabra in Canada now it seems like there’s more and more people talking about the judges that were on the show.

I saw Rocco perform live once in Calgary several years ago, but I was too young to know anything about him. I did pick up a couple of d’lights though and I remember playing around with them in the hotel room. The only trick I remember Rocco doing was something where he takes a dice and slams it between his hands and it goes flat. I can’t remember if there was more to the routine or anything. I seem to recall something about it appearing on somebodies shoulder a few times, but I honestly can’t remember.

I’ve looked for videos of Rocco performing online but most of them are really bad quality with poor lighting and camera work. I came across this video today of Rocco’s award winning act. He won “Most Original Magic Act” in 2006 at FISM.

Great stuff. I love the smoke in the glass, the appearance of the popsicle, the fruit, and the glass filled with confetti at the end. Just fantastic!

It also looks like all of the Celebracadabra episodes are available as a digital download from amazon now. If you missed an episode then it might be worth it to check it out:

For some strange reason I get lots of people ending up at my blog that are looking for a “magic bottle holder”. Well I searched around online and it turns out that there’s lots of cool ones out there. I posted about one that I saw in MAGIC magazine a few months ago.

Anyways, So I did a search for it on google and I came across this really cool one that they sell at Amazon.com. I’ve added it to my amazon wishlist. I really want to get a bunch of “magical home decor” to decorate my space.

Well you can download Presto in highquality from the iTunes store if you’re from the USA. Well I’ve got great news for everyone everyone else, you can watch presto online right here (no torrent needed!)

It isn’t really great quality, but its watchable

Edit: Well it looks like the video is no longer available. youtube says “This video is no longer available due to a copyright claim by The Walt Disney Company.” That was fast!

Edit #2: Looks like another version made its way onto youtube

Edit #3: Well it looks like that video got taken down too, but it seems that it just keeps getting reposted over at youtube. Just goto this youtube search page to find a full video that works.

Well there’s be lots of talk on the blogs about how amazing Wall-E is. But, here at the magicblog we’re more interested in the short film before the movie called “Presto”. Well if you haven’t seen the movie (like me) you can still buy the short film online for $2 from iTunes. Or you could spend $5 more and go see the short film and Wall-E in theaters. Although… I’m sure that was their master plan all along!

You can find more wall-e tid bits over at kottke.

This is a preview of Pixar’s newest short “Presto” that I talked about the other day. It will be releases along with the new Pixar film “Wall*E” that’s playing now.

Ten Cool (and Free) Magic Bar Tricks Check em out. A few I had never seen before.

Kind of neat trick. I’m too lazy to try it out myself, but here’s a cool video below of somebody trying this little experiment. This could actually be a fun activity at a birthday party for kids.

I got this from boingboing.

Cirque du Soleil of course! Last night my girlfriend and I went to go see the show “Saltimbanco” at Prospera Place. It was the second best live show I’ve ever seen (Mark Kalin and Jinger’s Magic Show being 1st)

The entire show from start to finish was just amazing. On one side of me was a mom and her 4 year old, and on the other side was a 30 year old girl and her date, and it was amazing to see both of them react in exactly the same way.

I’ve listened to Cirque music before and I’ve never really been impressed by it, but during the show it creates the perfect mood. The sets, the music, the choreography, all of it was just wonderful! My favorite part of the show was when a clown pulled somebody up from the audience and did a “do as I do” pantomime routine. I don’t think I’ve ever laughed so hard before, i was in stitches for a solid 10 minutes.

[Left: This was my favorite costume from the show. Love it!]

At the end of August my girlfriend and I are going to goto Vegas, and now I’m pretty sure that we need to go see “O” while we’re there. I’ve had so many people say to me “Oh you’re going to Vegas? Don’t miss O!” So I’m pretty sure we’re going to have to go see that now.

After coming home from the Cirque show last night I began looking up circus stuff online. I came across this video from the Vancouver Circus School. It has some contact juggling, gymnastic silks, juggling, blue d’lights, and a really neat ring thing at the end that I’ve never seen before. I’d love to learn it though!

Speaking of the circus, I just saw an ad on TV for a new show on NBC called “Celebrity Circus“. The premise is that celebrities learn circus stunts and perform them in just 8 weeks.