If you're new here, you may want to subscribe to my RSS feed. Thanks for visiting!

I find it amazing that James Randi is still out there debunking Uri Geller. In an age where anybody can go online, spend some money, and learn “the secret” to bending metal. Uri has explained countless times over and over again that he does what he does for entertainment. Sure, he claims he’s legit, but, the reason he does that is to add to his performance. This is nothing more than the rest of the performers who appeared on “Phenomenon”.

I guess if you know that Uri Geller isn’t “legitimate” then he becomes a joy to watch.

Just by searching “magic” or “magic tricks” into google and you’ll find lots of websites, and nearly all of the suck! But, never fear! With a bit of digging you can find lots of information on magic, weather you’re looking for magic news, new magic tricks, or even the latest magician gossip. Here is my list of the top magic websites online:

1. Without a doubt the top magic website online is www.iTricks.com. They cover basically everything going in the magic community at large. In fact, they cover so much, that sometimes you can hardly tell where the magic part comes in Dispite this, I check their website everyday and I never miss a post.
2. Coming in at number two is the highly controversial www.themagiccafe.com. Easily the best resource when looking for specific information on something magical when you don’t have something better in your own collection. Lots of the time they’ll mention sources that you might even already own, or can borrow from somebody, or get from the library, etc etc. I use this site all the time when I’m researching something new, or before I make a purchase.
3. I’m going to give #3 to www.Magic.org. This is where I buy almost all of my magic from. Their customer support is helpful, and I think the site was even designed by my Internet friend Ryan Philling. Go Ryan! Also, if you sign up for their newsletter, every couple of weeks they run a special where you can get 25% off everything, or other specials. (But shhh, it’s a secret!)
4. Here’s another blog that I read everyday. It’s Magic Unlimited run by Tim Ellis and Sue-Ann Webber alllll the way from the land down under. Although not _every_ post is magic related, he always dishes up some good stuff. He also runs the “magic fakers” page that everybody links to online. He manages a list of all the copy-cat tricks out there so that you stay away and give your money to the inventor. I mentioned Tim in my last post too, I posted the same movie he did
5. Love em, or hate him, Ellusionist has made a splash in the community. Although I think most of their stuff is overpriced, watching their magic trailers is entertaining. For the beginner magician, there’s better things to spend your money on rather than a $25 one trick DVD, but the production value on them is great, and if nothing else, again, it’s entertainment for an hour.
6. I’m giving slot six to MYSELF! It’s my blog, so I can rank things however I like. Check out www.alikzam.com and you can see all the different types of shows I offer, past clients, and all of that sort of stuff. I also have an interview clip on that page, hopefully soon though that website is going to be changed. I’ve got something in the works and I’m not going to reveal what it is just yet. Hopefully it’ll happen within the next month or two. But, in part that website will be changed, and the current interview thats on that page will be edited down into something else along with other footage.
7. Some people are going to disagree with me on this one- well- half agree/half disagree. YouTube is without a doubt a place where you can find some of the worlds best magic, some good magic, and some awful awful magic (sadly it took me like 2 seconds to find that). Please please please, don’t use youtube as a place to learn magic! And, don’t use youtube as a place to get feedback. thanks
8. Although not magic related, Seth Godin inspires me to work harder on my business, my magic, and on life in general. More often than not he challenges you to excel at what you do and become great while doing it.

That rounds up my list for now, If I think of any more I may come back later and edit this post. I hope you found something of use! Cheers.

A video post over at Tim Ellis’ blog inspired me to post a collection of quick change artist videos. According to wikipedia a quick change artist is “a performance style in which a performer or magician changes quickly within seconds from one costume into another costume in front of the audience.”

First off here is the famous David and Dania performing their act on America’s Got Talent!

The next is Sos & Victoria as they perform the world record for number of changes.

I tried looking for other ones too, but those are the best ones I could find. If you search on youtube you can find a few more as well.

For your enjoyment here are all three David Blaine parody video’s:

Looking around online I found www.trickmagic.com that has a bunch of the classic beginner magic tricks for free. One of my favorite beginner tricks is “The Jack Robbers” and you can learn how to do it on their website too!

Effect:

The four Jacks act as robbers who successfully rob a bank (the deck) and make a miraculous getaway! Each jack goes into a different place in the deck, and as the police come, they all rise to the top and get away! This is a great beginner card magic trick!

It really is a great trick… Enjoy

This creative wine bottle holder is designed and sold by Jason and Justin Senft and was featured in January’s MAGIC magazine. In the magazine there’s a larger picture, and they have another one as well but it isn’t listed on the site. Their website has this to say about it:

Don’t just store your wine, DISPLAY your wine. Inspired by the legendary Indian rope trick, Jason & Justin Senft’s design for a magical wine holder will have your guests scratching their heads, or just thinking they drank too much!

I know, I know, I keep mentioning things I found in the magazine but there’s just so many cool things inside each issue! If you want to buy one of these for your home email them at houdiniart@hotmail.com.

I must say that I’m loving my subscription to MAGIC magazine! I’ve been eagerly awaiting my new issue, everyday checking my mailbox, usually twice because I check it before the mail lady comes. Today January’s issue came out. I had found out through iTricks that this months Talk about Tricks was going to feature Tyler Wilson. I met him at the PCAM convention this past summer and he’s an excellent performer, very creative, and super funny. It’s good to see some of his tricks again in print because I didn’t get a chance to really understand them too well during the lecture. I doubt I’ll ever perform any of them, but they’re certainly a good study none the less.

This month’s issue also included a link to December’s cover magicians Phillipart and Anja. I tried looking online for a video of them myself, but I didn’t come up with anything. Check out the Thrillusions video online on the MAGIC magazine website here.

If you want to be connected to the magic community at large, ditch the online magic forums and get yourself a subscription to Magic magazine!!

Yesterday I posted a video of Criss Angel from the 80’s and today I came across an interview where Criss mentions his adventure in editing video. It turns out that producing those music videos is how he learnt editing and it helped him later on while working on Mind Freak. Now that he’s almost in season 4 though, he basically has a whole team that does it for him now. Still interesting though how life works like that.

Read the full article at the LA Times.

Q: There is also editing. Have you become as familiar with the mechanics of television as you are with magic?

A: I’ve been incredibly familiar with directing and editing since I was in my teens, because I didn’t have the money to hire people to do that stuff for me. Some of my first music videos I directed and edited and did for $2,500 and favors to get edit rooms on off times. I was always familiar with that. In my first three TV specials I would spend on average 18 to 20 hours a day editing with the editor doing that. Now, we have gathered six or seven editors who are great and who have been with the show for a while and know how I think. So, I just go to my warehouse here in Las Vegas, and I have a facility where I am able to communicate in California and Las Vegas at the same time, and we do editing. That saves a lot of time, and I am able to oversee it but yet not be there.

I stumbled upon this highly entertaining video of beloved Criss Angel performing in his rock band from the 80’s. Along with his fantastic vocal ability, in this music video you can see him transforming a balloon into a dove, vanishing a girl and making her reappear, floating a girl, and a number of other effects. I knew Criss had a goth look, but I never knew he was a rock n’ roll fan. Watch “Don’t you want my love?” by Criss below:

I wouldn’t be able to bring you this youtube video of some magic. Enjoy!

I received an email today and it had a poster for Ted’s new tour show that I hadn’t seen before.

Look! A floating girl! It looks like the rumors are true. I look forward to seeing this one live

Pen and Teller are constantly in the news it seems, and I’ve already talked about them before here on my blog too. last time I posted a video of Tellers performance on Letterman, anyways, the video quality of the version I posted before wasn’t very good. I found a better quality one on youtube, so here it is again for you all. Enjoy!