Naquada

Dynamo is one the UK’s young an bright magicians.. In huge demand for a number of high profile companies, he’s now turned his hand to helping Nokia with their new Nokia Connectors campaign

Both videos feature some nice magic with the Nokia phone’s

It’s nice to see magic coming back into the mainstream again.. and it’s nice to see it’s the UK guys working in conjunction with companies like Nokia to bring it to the public eye..

If you read my blog, you’ll be aware that Dynamo did his first UK lecture last year at the International Magic Convention in London

So its been a little quiet on the blog the last month, mainly due to wedding planning commitments (invites, information sheets, websites and so on), but also due to some of the other projects I’ve been working on.

The Magic Convention Guide is now up and running well and attracting a lot of visitors, especially now that you can search for and book hotels for conventions through our partners on the site. The Home Counties Magical Society Website is also going great, with literally thousands of visits now per month!! I’ve also now joined the management team at what I think is one of the best Magic forums on the internet, The Magic Woods.

I’m very proud to have been asked me to come on board to The Magic Woods Team and help further the forum. There are some exciting things that I hope to do with conjunction with The Magic Woods Forum over the next year.

Recently The Magic Woods completed a Q&A session with Teller from Penn and Teller that ran for over a month, and other names that have frequented and openly discussed magic with the members have been Ben Hart, Simon Drake, James Randi, Jeff McBride, Jason Palter, Dynamo, Angelo Carbone, Justin Miller, Michael Paul, Jay Sankey, Whit Haydn, Eugene Burger, Cardone, Zenneth Kok, Paul Zenon, Keith Pascal, Nathan Kranzo, Banachek, Paul Daniels, Daniel Garcia, Steve Dela, Luke Jermay, and Daryl.

It’s also always been my goal to join The Magic Circle, in fact I actually joined as an associate member when I was much younger, but neglected to really pull my finger out and do my exam. The Magic Circle don’t run associate memberships anymore, so it’s all or nothing now!!

Our Society now has in it’s midsts The Regional Representative of the Magic Circle for the Home Counties, Keith Churcher who is a Member of the Inner Magic Circle with Gold Star. This of course means that if your in the ‘Home Counties’ area, which includes Bedfordshire, Berkshire, Hertfordshire, Northamptonshire and Oxfordshire, arranging your Magic Circle entry has never been easier. and you can contact him for more information.

This morning Keith kindly delivered my welcome pack, which is a bit daunting when you see it in black and white (and a splash of colour!).. It looks like our regional exams might be around September, just in time for the wedding!!

So I just need to work out, and polish my routine, practice, relax and practice a bit more!!!

Fingers crossed, and sorry to everyone over the next few months who will have magic forced on them whilst I’m practicing…

I said previously that I’d been busy, and hence the blog has got a little side tracked, so what have I been up to.. Well quite some time ago a site was set up to list Magic Conventions, talk Magic Conventions, review Magic Conventions, and cover.. well.. pretty much everything you needed to know about Magic Conventions..

The sites been a little dormant for a while, but after a long period of dust settling on the site, I’ve taken over running it, and The Magic Convention Guide is back and cranking up to running at full speed again!

I’d like to express my sincere thank yous to Table Magician Noel Qualter, Creative Design Agency - Monster Creations, and Publisher and fountain of all knowledge Andi Gladwin, for their generosity, and agreeing to let me loose with their original project.

I have some very exciting ideas for the site, and I hope that you will support it’s growth. As well as the features that were part of the site before, I’ll be offering a lot more, including more interviews from the convention celebrities, convention gossip and rumors, and even practical things like a list of hotels in the area of each of the conventions (as well as the reviews), I’ve teamed up with a number of hotel providers to allow you hopefully an easy method of finding hotels near to the convention centers, and we hope to get the inside track on whats coming up. You might even see the odd game on the site to fill those convention gaps.

This site will now be running to generate money for two organisations, we will be donating all money from the site to The Home Counties Magical Society, and The Conjuring Arts Research Center. I hope as visitors, and contributors to the site, you will help me support both of these worthy organisations. Advertisers should contact me for information on how to sponsor the site, or advertise on it.

I’m also now looking for a team that will help me with information, although anyone can submit a review of a hotel, or convention to the normal email: info@magicconventionguide.com, I’m looking for a small team to cover conventions outside the UK, again if you are interested in joining the team, please let me know on the above email.

If you know of any conventions not listed, please let me know, and I hope, together, we can make a site dedicated to magic conventions, and how to survive them.

The Magic Convention Guide can be found at : http://www.magicconventionguide.com/

I’ve been pretty tardy with updating my blog, mainly down to a number of reasons (all good) that I’ll go to in another post at some point, but last Monday, Clive, Ian, Mo and Simon invited me up to The Magic Circle in London to see Joshua Jay.

Contrary to popular belief, I am not a member of, and have never actually been up to The Magic Circle itself, so the prospect was quite exciting, and, of course the double plus was that I’d also get to see Joshua Jay lecture.

The Magic Circle itself is located not far from Euston Station, and from the outside looks very unimposing. Turning the corner into Stephenson Way, a pair of doors with the Magic Circle Logo on them hides the wonders inside. Walking in, I was greeted by The Magic Circle’s security guard, given my guest pass for the evening, and we headed up to the Devant Room to watch the examinations for that evening.

Standing at the back of the room, watching the performers getting ready, and waiting for them to start, I actually started to feel quite sick. That nervous; I shouldn’t be here kind of sick, I’m not sure why. I think it might have been some sort of sympathetic nerves for them, about to perform for those sitting in the room, ready to mark them and establish if they were the caliber to join the ranks of The Magic Circle. I think it was the stone cold thought that soon, that might be me sitting in front of the same audience, waiting to be judged.

Once the auditions were over, we headed down to the Club Room. It was nice to bump into a few people I knew; Sav, Andi Gladwin, Noel Qualter, Iain Moran, in fact there probably were more people I knew that I didn’t get a chance to talk to during the evening, as it turned out to be quite a busy night..

Almost too soon after sitting down, it was time to head up to The Magic Circles own theatre, a 162 seater custom theatre located on the top floor of the building. I’ve never been to a magic club that really boasts such great facilities as The Magic Circle, it’s not many clubs thats can seat 162 and project the lecture onto a back screen behind the performer.

Joshua’s lecture was excellent, although I’ve read most of the content of his set in various publications it was great to see Joshua himself perform them. It’s actually quite thought provoking that Joshua is so young, and so talented.

After the lecture we headed down to the the club room for some drinks (again, a club room with it’s own bar!!), to chat and savor the atmosphere. It’s quite overwhelming, but a great place to be..

..I just need to polish up my skills to get through the interview and audition…

I’ve seen all the previous shows Derren has done, indeed I’ve seen this show at least twice, and after a busy day up in London I headed back to Reading to meet up with two other members of HCMS and two non magical friends to see the show.

Thankfully Derren has also opened a west end run of this show this time, and the Home Counties Magical Society hopefully will have some interesting news about that event in the next few days.

Last year Derren didn’t do a run in Reading (possibly to do with the Reading crowd managing to, lets say deviate most of the effects from their intended outcome year!!) but thankfully he’d decided to give them another chance and return to the Hexagon this year. We had back of the flat stalls, center tickets, a very good view point. I think one of the nice things about Derren Brown shows is that the tickets are very reasonably priced (unless you pay the £200 odd on ebay!!) and the programs are a fair price at £5.. anyhow… On entering the theatre I instantly spotted a Malloy Master Prediction box hanging above the stage, that was quite exciting in itself, since I’ve been wondering how it worked (now I know!). The stage was set in the guise of a Victorian front parlour, think Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, seances, mediumship and mystery, fitting the show very well

Before I go further, I should warn you there are some spoilers in this review, so.. if you’re lucky enough to have tickets to the remaining sell out shows.. go away.. come back after the shows run is over.. You’ll just enjoy it more…

(more…)

The Magic Woods has started it’s voting process on The Magic Industry Awards. The Magic Woods Awards are awards given to magicians, tricks and institutions in the magic industry, by fellow magicians. Nominations are made by magicians on The Magic Woods forum, and then anyone is welcome to vote on The Magic Woods Awards website. The awards cover everything from best new trick, to best magic website, and the awards are run annually in April. The nominees looks very good for this year, including our own Home Counties Magical Society Website!!!

TMW Award for Best Trick

Current Nominees for TMW Award for Best Trick
The C.A.N.N.A.B.I.S Effect - Daniel Young & Lee Hathaway
Between The Lines - Michael Murray
The Casanova Closer - Steve Haynes
Extreme Burn - Richard Sanders
iKnow - Jason Palter

TMW Award for Best Teaching Video

Current Nominees for TMW Award for Best Teaching Video
The Casanova Concept - Steve Haynes with Big Blind Media
Don Driver’s Jam Auction DVD - Don Driver
Past Midnight - Benjamin Earl
Here I Go Again - Bill Malone
The Roadrunner Cull - Kostya Kimlat
No Camera Tricks - Richard Osterlind

TMW Award for Best Book

Current Nominees for TMW Award for Best Book
Jack Parker’s 52 Memories- Andi Gladwin
Designing Miracles - Darwin Ortiz
Scripting Magic - Pete McCabe
The Secret Life of Houdini - William Kalush, Larry Sloman

TMW Award for Best Magician

Current Nominees for TMW Award for Best Magician
John Archer
Jeff McBride
David Stone
Shoot Ogawa

TMW Award for Best Website

Current Nominees for TMW Award for Best Website
Magic Unlimited -Tim Ellis
iTricks
Magic Video Depot
MagicWeek
Home Counties Magic Society

TMW Award for Best Newcomer

Current Nominees for TMW Award for Best Newcomer
David Forrest
Benjamin Earl
Justin Lee Collins
Peter Harrison

TMW Award for Lifetime Achievement

Current Nominees for TMW Award for Lifetime Achievement
Wayne Dobson
Michael Ammar
Harry Lorayne
Pat Page
Ali Bongo

Make sure you get over to the awards site and vote for your favorite in each category, voting closes at the end of April

After almost six months of hard work, from conceptual stage to launching last night, I’m very pleased to say that the new Home Counties Magical Society Website is now up and running.

A fully fledged content management system is now in place, and the site provides a full and flexible portal to the magic community and our members.

Visitors to the site will be able to see everything about our Society, from joining instructions, through to finding the location of our Society though interactive maps, you can even get the site to plan a driving route for you!!

As well as the normal Society information, the site provides information about the next lecture, reviews of previous lectures, magic related news and events, show and convention reports.

Members of the society get access to the private side of the site through their own unique username and password, giving them the ability to look through previous society news letters, the DVD Library lists, reviews and new purchases, and other content that is private to the society.

Members can also become more involved in the society through the ability to vote, and have polls on subjects, as well as a number of surprises that we have in store for later in the sites development. Members can also contribute to the site by writing article and news reports.

Advertisers also benefit as we are running a banner advertisement program for magic related companies and magazines, our rates are very very low! If you lecture for us, as an added advantage you’ll get one month of free advertising space following your lecture, which is a great way for members to buy additional items or other societies to contact you following a successful lecture.

We feel that the Home Counties Magical Society now has one of the leading and most flexible society resources for it’s members, and look forward to the opportunity to welcome more visitors and members to the site.

The Ellusionist Blog has some interesting news about a potential new UK Magic show coming up this year

Magic on UK TV seems to be taking an upturn as of lately with a number of specials and shows having aired. These shows have subsequently spread across the shores to the US; the trend seems to be continuing. We’ve heard of a new magic show will be shooting this summer at bars around the UK.

The show that has yet to be named is being produced for a new UK channel launching this year. The difference—they are working with a little known magician who’ll be performing his own material alongside the cream of effects from the magic community in a ‘new and unique way’.

Having spoken to the magician at the center of the show, we’re sure that UK viewers are in for a treat, and a refreshing change in magic shows. “Everything I’m performing in the show, from my own material to the already released material, will be very unique in its presentation.

As to what the unique slant is and who the mystery newcomer is—stay tuned, and don’t touch that dial—we’ll be right back!

It all sounds very interesting, and a bit cryptic, but I’m hoping to do some more digging to find out what’s going on..

FISM Europe in sofa seems to be canceled according to their website;

Dear All,

Due to unforeseen circumstances, restricted organizational capacity and unexpected financial strains, jeopardizing the initial budget, it is with great regret that the FISM European Executive Board has to inform you that the FISM European Championships of Magic, planned to be held in Sofia, Bulgaria, from 6 to 9 November 2008, have to be cancelled.

The first European Championships of Magic are postponed to a later date, to be announced as soon as possible.

Best regards.

FISM
European Executive Board

Andre Ciocca
Interim President

Seems a few others have spotted this as well.. as to what it physically means, and the decisions behind it are unclear…

FISM is the Olympics of the Magic world, I went to my first one in 2006 and thoroughly enjoyed it. The next one is scheduled for Beijing, China, and I’m keen to attend again. Each country hoping to host the FISM convention has to create a case, and bid for the honor of hosting the event, in 2006 it was down to three, one of which was China.

I think one of the major points for the Beijing bid was the use of the newly constructed National Center for the Performing Arts, a mammoth $400 million titanium and glass half dome. Housing a concert hall, opera house and theatre under one space, the venue looked amazing, and really seemed like a great home for FISM 2009.

However reading an email on the Electronic Grymoire last night, and checking the FISM 2009 site, it seems there has been a quiet change of venue..

New Venue for the FISM World Championships of Magic 2009 in Beijing

After multiple discussions about the best venue to host the 2009 event in Beijing, Mr Lin Jian, President of the organising committee has proposed to drop the National Grand Theatre in favour of the China National Convention Centre, in the heart of the Olympic Green in the North of Beijing.

Reserves and concerns expressed over the initial venue on Tianenmen square were the difficulty to organise a compact event with great distances between the different rooms (dealer fair, competitions, lectures, etc.) and the lack of hotels nearby.

The China National Convention Centre, which is to be home of the modern Pentathlon as well as the broadcast centre for the 2008 Beijing Olympic games, will allow a much more intimate event. Further details about the new venue will be released later on www.fism2009.org

This news is actually not on the main FISM front page, and is almost shown to be an after thought, raising for me some questions. Firstly did the venue have problems to start off with (lack of nearby hotels, venue too large?), and if it did, then why was it selected ? and secondly, each country bidding for FISM had to make a case for it’s selection. Delegates from around the world were shown the National Grand Theatre as part of the site inspection, and based on inspections and ability to give FISM a good home, Beijing got the vote.

Changing the venue with less than 18 months to go sounds very worrying, the majority of Beijing’s bid was around the ultra modern and sophisticated new performance venue.

We know very little about the replacement The China National Convention Centre and it’s my guess that no site inspection has taken place of this venue. I hope the FISM main committee will be updating us on the changes..

UPDATE: Magic Unlimited (Tim Ellis and Sue-Anne Webber) are also now reporting on this, and shed a little more light on the subject:

Though no official word has come out yet, it appears that the FISM 2009 convention in Beijing has moved to a newer and possibly more practical venue (with a hotel right next door!). You can take a look at the Chinese National Convention Centre and take a ‘virtual tour’ of it right here.

Having a hotel right next door sounds good, but with no official word, except the snippet on the FISM main media site, it makes arrange hotels a little more complex. It’s good news if the venue is more practical, but the Chinese National Convention Center site is all in Chinese,  so it’s not that enlightening!!