Wayne's Magic & Illusion Blog May 2008 Archive

Snakes. Why Did It Have to Be Snakes? After gaining traction last week with a genuinely entertaining episode, this week, Celebracadabra stopped in its tracks. With "Phobia" as its theme, ... Read More

Knives of a Different Color Another title in L&L's "World's Greatest Magic" series, this DVD compiles color changing knife routines from famous magicians such as Bill Malone, Johnny Thompson, René Lavand, ... Read More

Another Way to Bend a Spoon We taught a spoon bend a couple of weeks ago (please click here to learn this trick). While this version is similar, it's more ... Read More

Angelic Card Trick? If you want angels to become part of your magic, here's a card trick that does just that. Christopher Gustin's"Falling Angel" is a card effect that makes it ... Read More

Comedy Carnival Greg Otto is a comedy magician who performs entertaining magic using straight-forward methods. He's a worker with a distinctive style and character who has had lots of success on ... Read More

"Snooze-a-Cadabra" Wakes Up I was giving up on this reality series. The magic was barely adequate, the conflicts trite and trivial and the show was, overall, becoming boring. But this week, ... Read More

Winning Big? While this effect doesn't offer an opportunity to win a cool million, it's got an intriguing angle. A spectator's selected card is turned into a virtual lottery card that ... Read More

A Great Deal Another poker-related title that capitalizes on the game's recent popularity is Boris Wild's Wild Poker Trick. This effect offers a visual and spectacular transformation where a poor poker ... Read More

A Real Puzzler This is no simple puzzle, but a strong mentalism routine that involves a jigsaw puzzle. And it's the latest from Larry Becker and Lee Earle. Somehow, a spectator's ... Read More

"Snooze-a-cadabra"?? C. Thomas Howell Shines but the Show Cheats Viewers In a show segment, an audience member falls asleep during a magic performance. And likewise, viewers could have simply slept through ... Read More

Magician Murray SawChuck, one of seven magicians starring in VH1's "Celebracadabra," is profiled in a recent article. In the article, he talks about how Marvyn and Carol Roy (Mr. Electric) ... Read More

There are lots of packet tricks on the market and Gordon Bean's "Bikers" is the finest that I’ve reviewed. Here, four jokers visually turn into four kings in four phases. ... Read More

If you want to find out more about Celebracadabra and listen to interviews with the judges, magic coaches and some of the contestants, check out The Magic News Wire. Here ... Read More

The First in an Occasional Series I thought it was finally time to memorize a deck stack and pursue all of the possibilities that a memorized deck can add to my ... Read More

Infallible Prediction Here's an easy packet trick with playing cards that offers a strong prediction and an easy, straight forward method. It's a great effect for beginners. There's minimal sleight of ... Read More

College Crowds, Grunts and an Act Ruined by the Bottle This week, the crew takes on comedy magic in a college bar. And with his win last week, C. Thomas Howell ... Read More

The Australian Institute of Magic is an organization that's dedicated to furthering the standard and reputation of Australian magicians both nationally and internationally. The organization holds informal sessions twice monthly ... Read More

Like David Copperfield, Like This Trick Geoff Williams' "I Hate David Copperfield" is a strong three phase routine where a single card appears to change locations among a group three cards. ... Read More

Celebracadabra Offers a Hypothetical Matchup What type of training should one choose to become a successful magician? In my recent interview at the My Cool Job Blog, I stated that the ... Read More

The professional world of magic is part of show business, with an emphasis on the word "business." And to help you promote your magic business, Kipp Sherry's "Kings Fool" provides ... Read More

The Magic Word As the name implies, "Magic Bingo" is much like conventional Bingo - the first player to get five numbers in a row wins - except for one major ... Read More

As the Crowe Flies As the title implies, this DVD teaches a routine where you make a silver ball appear to float in the air. However, unlike the usual zombie routine, ... Read More

Kids At Heart? Celebracadabra week two, with its theme of kid show magic, promised to be interesting. And in true reality show fashion, the series' creative team set-up contestants and ... Read More

Canton, Ohio Event Features John Calvert The International Battle of Magicians, now in its 17th year, is profiled in this news story from the local CantonRep. About 300 magicians, which range ... Read More

Blanking Out You bring out a deck of cards, shuffle it and spread it face-up on the table. The spectator can see all the cards and then freely selects one. You ... Read More

Magician Vows to Die in Odd Case I've heard of bizarre magic, but this is just plain...bizarre. If I understand correctly, Indian magician Samraj, we'll call him "A," was arrested after ... Read More

Spoonful of Magic Here's a classic trick that every smart aleck needs to know. You grab any spoon, press down on it with your hands and appear to bend the ... Read More