The No Magic Magic Book Lecture

Here are the powerpoint slides for the Gospel Magic presentation I did on my book for the Creative Ministries Conference in Colorado Springs, Co. Larry Mahan did a great job setting everything up- my top hat is off to you. If you want to slow down or stop the slide show just "mouse over" the slides as they move past. If you want copies of each slide, double click on the presentation and it will take you to slide.com where you can view each individual slide.

Nice little film from Pixar

Worst Magic Acts of 2008

Youtube has a posting of the worst magic acts of 2008. Some are self-evident. But I was in one sense a bit surprised by the inclusion of Dan Stapleton. Stapleton is an extremely experienced performer with decades on cruise ships. I think it was perhaps the bit of apparently taking off the head of a dove. Also, likely, his sparkly suit is a bit out of place in 2008, more suited to Vegas, if one has sparkly suited ladies behind you. I can't figure out what the guy with the chairs was doing. I usually don't watch this show so I can only go on what is on the video.

Toothpicks but no Tenure

According to Fox News a substitute teacher performed a simple trick of making a toothpick disappear. It was reported and the school quickly made his job disappear- he was accused of "wizardry" and fired. This is not only stupid it is medieval. Anyone knows that he cannot make toothpicks disappear- he just swallowed it and then regurgitated it.

Psychic Smells

I learned a new trick this past week. I was watching clips of the Sci-Fi channel show "Ghost Hunters," and they were investigating the Lizzie Borden house. You know the story... Lizzie Borden was accused of killing her parents, who were found hacked to death in their house. That they were dead is a fact. Apparently Borden was ultimately found innocent. But the house is now a bed and breakfast (go figger). Anyway, the TAPS team were being given the tour and one of the tour guides said they had brought in a psychic. They were in one room and moved to another. Then the psychic said, "I feel we have to go back to that last room." The guide said that when they went back, it was no more than 10 seconds, but the room now smelled of perfume.

The guide said it was the presence of a ghost.

But I smell the presence of a rat.

How do you make a room smell? Simple- stay at the back and be the last person to exit the room. No one is expecting to return to that room. As you exit pull the small perfume atomizer from your pocket and spritz the room behind you quickly. Then count to 10 and insist that you return to the room. Be the last one into the room and all will say they smell a ghost.

Were I to investigate this house...the first thing I would have asked was whether Lizzie liked to wear perfume and what kind it was.

Tops Magazine CD

I just received my copy of the Tops magazine 2 Volume CD set. Both CD's are packed with scanned PDF files of the Abbotts Magic Company magazine that began publishing in the 1930's. It retails for $50.00 and is jam-packed with thousands of pages of magic. On the plus side, you can't beat the price for what you're getting. There are hundreds if not thousands of tricks inside. What is really interesting is that in the opinion columns they were arguing in 1936 about crediting magicians, how to do shows, etc., all topics that we still are discussing today.

Interesting is in Vol.6, p. 24 is a method for presenting a "Death Ray." This contraption is demonstrated to snuff out a candle and kill a rat. Yes, I said kill a rat. They literally tell you a method for electrocuting a live rat live on stage. Probably won't go over well with PETA and I wouldn't recommend it.

Personally, I love history and I love magic history. In the 2 volume set you can read all about the greats of magic: Thurston, Houdini, Blackstone Sr., and some lesser known magicians. In addition you can discover old magic tricks that made their way into magazines and books years later. You can purchase the 2 VOL CD set from us at Magic Etc by emailing us at magiclaffs@gmail.com for 50.00 plus 4.60 priority mail postage.