This week is National Fire Prevention Week (Oct 5-11th) and I was invited to perform at the Kelowna Fire Hall for the “Fire Chief for a Day” event. 50 kids from different schools across the Okanagan and their parents came to the Kelowna Fire Hall on October 8 for activities. For the show I was requested to include some special fire prevention related magic. During the show I showed all the kids a Smoke Alarm, and had the fire card put into one of 4 envelopes. The other 3 had just blank paper. One by one I put the envelopes on the Smoke Alarm to see if it could find the fire. Finally the Smoke Alarm being to ring as it had found the fire!

At the event they did a live fire demonstration showing how fast a fire can spread in your house. I had no idea that by the time the smoke alarm goes off you only have 2 minutes to get out of your house.

Home Fire Safety Tips – Half of these I had never even heard of before I did my research!

• More than half of all fatal home fires happen at night while people are asleep. Smoke detectors sound an alarm when a fire starts, waking people before they are trapped or overcome by smoke. With smoke detectors your risk of dying in a home fire is cut nearly in half.
• Install smoke detectors outside every sleeping area and on every level of your home, including the basement. Follow installation instructions carefully, and test smoke detectors monthly. Change all smoke detector batteries at least once a year. If your detector is more than 10 years old, replace it with a new one.
• Smoke alarms should be tested and maintained in accordance with manufacturer’s instructions. Alarms should be tested once a month by pushing the test button and listening for the alarm.
• For battery operated smoke alarms, replace batteries at least once a year or for extended life batteries according to manufacturer’s instructions. Batteries should also be replaced when the smoke alarm makes a chirping sound.
• Smoke alarms should be cleaned, at least once every six months, by gently vacuuming the exterior.
• Smoke alarms do wear out and should be replaced at least every 10 years.

[ xkcd ]

Malcom Gladwell and Seth Godin would disagree.

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

http://view.break.com/536276 – Watch more free videos

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.