It’s always a nice thing when someone mentions this blog. (Even the creative ways it’s been described are deeply appreciated.) Steve Pellegrino’s Magic Rants was first to point people here. Tommy Gunn’s Gunnsight recently said kind things about this blog. I also got a very kind plug from Andrew W. in a post he made […]

This is about Essays. (No, not mine.) If you’ve read through everything I’ve written in the relatively short period of time this blog has been up — and you really should, if only to keep in context these occasional, later outbursts — you’ll note I have a great deal of regard for Richard Osterlind. A […]

Teaching. Lovely word, that. The definition includes, “to impart knowledge or skill; to cause to learn by example or experience.” It invokes the admired and cherished two-way teacher/student relationship. The student seeks a teacher, who…well, teaches. Exposure. Dastardly word. Clearly The Dark Side material. The definition includes, “an act of subjecting or an instance of […]

Yesterday Steve Pellegrino wrote in his blog about a folder full of stuff he found, which prompted him to start a new category at Magic Rants about the history of magic. To get things rolling, he’s scanned a tent card for “An Evening of Magic” with Harry Blackstone and Lance Burton. He’s posted the scan […]

It’s not enough that the world of mentalism is so much smaller than that of magic. No, some of those who are ostensibly in the higher echelons of its practitioners — to hear them describe themselves, anyway — are of smaller minds, too. I’ve already mentioned the upcoming, highly anticipated set of DVDs by Richard […]

Shameful. Just shameful. In a conversation with a close friend not so long ago, I found out he isn’t a James Bond fan. (For the more reasonable among you, I’ll give you a moment to settle down and recover from the expected, and perfectly understandable hyperventilating.) Now, to be clear, it’s not that he’s specifically […]

I love obvious contrasts. The greater the difference between two things, the easier it becomes to embrace one over another. Given the choice between two items that are nearly identical, wouldn’t you choose the less expensive one? Given the choice between two methods of completing two tasks, isn’t it human nature to choose the easier […]

I got my start in the world of advertising and marketing when I was fourteen years old. This was before the Internet. It was before MTV. In fact, it was before desktop computers. I was a runner for an ad agency which immediately led to a part time gig at the local radio station. My […]

Actually, I don’t think mentalism sucks at all. I happen to love mentalism with the same degree of feeling I do close-up magic. Mentalism appeals to a higher order of entertainment, to be sure, and it’s in that stratosphere that sometimes bad things happen. Like magic, some presentations of mentalism reek. Generally speaking, that’s not […]

I’m not sure where is the best place to begin this quotation, so this is as good as any to begin: But lacking some larger substantive goal, the audience is left watching trick after trick after trick, each time receiving this most dreary of messages loud and clear: See, I fooled you. See, I fooled […]