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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.

I’ve seen lots of contact juggling, but this guy is defiantly one of the best I’ve seen. There’s lots of moves in there that I’ve never seen before either.

Contact Juggling - Watch more free videos

I’m sure by now that most of you at some time have come across “TED Talks” presentations online. Below is a talk given by Ken Robinson posing and discussing the question “Do schools today kill creativity?”

http://www.ted.com A must-see for every parent and teacher. Education guru Sir Ken Robinson makes an entertaining (and profoundly moving) case for creating an education system that nurtures creativity, rather than undermining it. Sir Ken Robinson is author of “Out of Our Minds: Learning to be Creative,” and a leading expert on innovation in education and business. (Recorded February, 2006 in Monterey, CA.) More TEDTalks at www.TED.com

A Rube Goldberg machine that is used to squish a Creme Egg. It goes around the walls of our lounge.
This is an entry in Cadbury’s “Unleash The Goo” competition, in which entrants must find the most creative way to break a creme egg.

The music is by the Jews Brothers Band - they are awesome: http://www.jewsbrothers.co.nz

Here are some answers to questions people keep asking me:
- the ringing ball comes out of the red flipping box.
- the painting tilts, which causes the top ball to run down it.
- a keen eye will notice the egg unravels out of its foil wrapping.

Cool!

Download the files of pictures from the 2008 Valley Wide Afterhours

This past week I performed some mingling magic at the Valley Wide Afterhours event at the Cove Lakeside Resort. Once a year all the Okanagan chambers get together and host a networking event with trade show style booths, wine tasting, and entertainment. This years theme was “A New Beginning” to mark the birth of the newest city in the Okanagan Valley.

As you can see by the photo’s below, it was gorgeous out with approximately 600 people!

I also helped setup for the event, which was fun because I got to help people bring in their equipment with a golf cart. I had never driven one before, so it was kind of exciting.

When people book me for a birthday party magic show, I send them a PDF that they can print off, fill in the information and send out. Its great because everybody needs invitations, and printing them off yourself at home is so fast, so easy, so cheep, and can be fun too.

I’ve decided to share that joy with the entire world by putting my birthday party invitation online. Just click the download link to open up the PDF. I hope to design more and when I do I’ll post them up on that website.

Actually, the invitations aren’t even on my Birthday Guide right now, but once I make a few more I’m going to include a link there as well. My guide is a work in progress! I did a birthday party just a few days ago for an 11 year old girl and at the start of the party the girls were making crafts with beads. It was the perfect activity for a birthday party so in a future edit of my guide I’m going to include that as well.

I’m a fan of motivational quotes, and Constant And Never-ending Improvement (or CANI as dubbed by Tony Robbins). The easiest way to stay motivated though is to do things that are worthy of being excited about in the first place. Thats why I love magic so much!

Anyways, Here’s a story that’s been around for many years, and you my have seen it before, but here it is again.

A boat docked in a tiny Mexican village. An American tourist complimented the Mexican fisherman on the quality of his fish and asked how long it took him to catch them.

“Not very long,” answered the Mexican.

“But then, why didn’t you stay out longer and catch more?” asked the American.

The Mexican explained that his small catch was sufficient to meet his needs and those of his family.

The American asked, “But what do you do with the rest of your time?”

“I sleep late, fish a little, play with my children, and take a siesta with my wife. In the evenings, I go into the village to see my friends, have a few drinks, play the guitar, and sing a few songs. I have a full life.”

The American interrupted, “I have an MBA from Harvard and I can help you! You should start by fishing longer every day. You can then sell the extra fish you catch. With the extra revenue, you can buy a bigger boat.”

“And after that?” asked the Mexican.

“With the extra money the larger boat will bring, you can buy a second one and a third one and so on until you have an entire fleet of trawlers. Instead of selling your fish to a middle man, you can then negotiate directly with the processing plants and maybe even open your own plant. You can then leave this little village and move to Mexico City, Los Angeles, or even New York City! From there you can direct your huge new enterprise.”

“How long would that take?” asked the Mexican.

“Twenty, perhaps twenty-five years,” replied the American.

“And after that?”

“Afterwards? Well my friend, that’s when it gets really interesting,” answered the American, laughing. “When your business gets really big, you can start buying and selling stocks and make millions!”

“Millions? Really? And after that?” asked the Mexican.

“After that you’ll be able to retire, live in a tiny village near the coast, sleep late, play with your children, catch a few fish, take a siesta with your wife and spend your evenings drinking and enjoying your friends.”

And the moral of this story is: ……… Know where you’re going in life… you may already be there.

So what do you think. Do you know where you’re going? Do you work towards your goals everyday?

I found this video on Boing boing awhile ago with a man creating balloon hats for people in a nursing home.

A few years ago, on Christmas day my dad and I used to go down to the Hospital and perform. My dad is a professional clown and has been performing since before I was born. Shriner clowns go out to help raise money for Children’s Hospitals and things like that. Anyways, So on Christmas day the hospital tries and sends as many of the people home as they can. So, those that are in the hospital are usually in pretty rough shape. Sometimes you’d get people who really didn’t want to see anything, sometimes you’d end up with people who didn’t care otherwise, but it was the last group that I found so interesting- those people who let you in and you made their day a little brighter with a bit of clowning around or some magic.