Two Things about me

Anyone who has been reading my blog for a while knows two things about me. One, I am a francophile. Two, my favorite type of magic is sleight of hand and when it comes to the stage that shows up in card manipulation routines quite often.

Taking care of the francophile who likes magic

France 2 has a show called Le Plus Grand Cabaret du Monde that I’ve most likely shown at least once before in a JAMM post.

This JAMM post takes us to Le Plus Grand Cabaret du Monde with an awesome display of card manipulation by An Ha. The routine starts off pretty standard for card manipulation routines but then moves on. He adds color and rhythm in such a jaw dropping way. By the end he gets a well deserved standing ovation. Many fellow magicians look on with childish grins on their faces.

Conclusion

I hope you’ve enjoyed this video. Please let me know what you liked or didn’t about it. Better yet, join me at JAMM Live coming up this next Wednesday and let me know what you think live.

So, without further ado, let’s celebrate the New Year with a whole load of magic from Lu Chen.

If you enjoyed this please let me know in the comments below.

Magic, really often uses illusion (which can be easier in a 2D format such as animated gifs

Actually, people will turn any video highlight into an animated gif.

Me getting a pie(actually a cake) to the face.

If you have any Magical GIF files you have seen, I’d love to check them out here. Thanks.

One of the people who was parto of EMC in 2010 and again in 2011, probably because he is one of the people behind it, is Marco Tempest. The thing I liked in 2010 and 2011 from Marco is his use of technology. He is updating old tricks with the new technology and new media. He is creating all sorts of magic that may not have ever been seen before.

One of the things that he experiemented with was youtube and the perspective of a phone camera. These are great bits that take a little bit of the old and rejuvenate it with the new. Take it away Marco…

That was a fun little video (pun completely intended) to start off the series. In his eighth video entitled “Proximity”, he shows us a little more of the magic behind the perspective of a phone cam. What I like about this video is that it almost feels like he is throwing away some of the magic that he is showing.

As always, I’d love to hear what you think of these bits of magic. Did you like them? Did they wow you? Did they inspire you? Let me know in the comments. With my forthcoming experiment of JAMM Live, I’m wondering how much actual magic performance I should put into it.

What does this mean? It means in the coming year I am going to attempt a regular magic vidcast called JAMM Live. Where as the posts on my blog have the meaning of JAMM be Just Another Magic Monday the JAMM in JAMM Live will stand for Just Another Magic Meeting. This is because I don’t believe Mondays will be a good day for me to do these on any sort of regular basis. I will figure it out in the next few weeks so keep an eye out for the vidcast. Also, look for more, regular JAMM posts on Mondays for this blog.
[ad#Ellusionist]What about the fun? Well, since I am known for my interest in magic I do get interesting videos sent to me from time to time. So this week I leave you with a bit of Chimp Magic. This guy really blows the socks off of a chimp who just loves his act. Given that chimps process things differently than us, and as such don’t have the same expectations, that is pretty dang cool. Enjoy… the chimp did.

For those who don’t see the connection of the video and my point on resolutions, remember that 2011 was the year that Rise of the Planet of the Apes was redone. Just kidding, just bringing the fun back to magic. Do you have any fun magic you’d like to share. Let me know in the comments below.

So here it is. Jeff McBride’s early Mask routine in honor of All Hallow’s Eve:

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Do you have a favorite magic routine for Halloween? Do you perform it? Do you have a video? I’d love to see/hear about it in the comments.

In these tough times, who we need now is David F**king Copperfield: bit.ly/qL4C0P #amen

Being intrigued, I followed the link and took a look at the premise of the post. Here’s a little taste of the premise of the article.

These are dark times we’re living in, kids. Wall Street is occupied. The current GOP presidential “frontrunner” thinks was totally kidding when he said we need an electrified fence between the U.S. and Mexico. “Whitney” got a full season order. Yes, our collective mood is just short of “F*** this noise, we give up.”

What we need is a pick-me-up. What we need is a who, someone to come along and lift our spirits and make us smile, even if what we’re smiling at is an illusion.

Who we need is David Copperfield.

The original poster is right. In these tough times we do need David Copperfield – or someone else like him. Do you remember when he made the Statue of Liberty disappear? Walked through the Great Wall of China? Well the original poster does, along with quite a few other bits of business he performed.

Here’s a link to the full article.
This article has links to the following great tricks and illusions:

• Making the Statue of Liberty Disappear
• Walking through the Great Wall of China
• Vanishing the Orient Express
• Death Saw
• The Fan – on Oprah
• Cocoon
• Interlude
• Flying
• At home audience participation
• Ghost

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All of these are great illusions that David Copperfield brought to us in the past. I loved watching all of them. However, in the comments, there is a hidden gem. In the comments someone mentioned a parody of Mister Rogers’s Neighborhood that he did as a routine. It is quite an entertaining bit of magic. The quality is low but it comes across fine.

Here it is, David Copperfield parodying Mister Rogers.

So what are your thoughts. Do we f***ing need David Copperfield right now? Is there someone else you’d like to see take his place? In my opinion, these performances stand the test of time. He is a true master magician. There are new, younger performers out there but can they produce timeless classics such as these? Let me know what you think in the comments below.

As the clip says the book is called Brainworks: The Mind-bending Science of How You See, What You Think, and Who You Are.
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Also enjoy the following magic themed clip that Stephen ended his show with.