I’ve been terribly derilect in my duties in keeping my blogroll up to date. Links make the blog — both incoming and outgoing. I do my best to pepper my posts with interesting links that are, on the surface, only tangentially related to the words from which they are linked. I hope some of you […]

How do you find a web site? As a general rule, most people find a web site through another web site. It could be a site you already have visited. It could be a search engine’s results. One site links to another, you click the link, and like magic here you are. That’s how the […]

Steve Pellegrino, on his blog Magic Rants, posted a note about Richard Stokes’s website about Jasper Maskelyne. As you probably already know from reading this blog, I am a fan of the history of magic. And Steve’s post called to mind a note I sent back in November of last year in to a Yahoo! […]

Those intimately familiar with Phil Goldstein’s Color Series know a couple of things. They know these booklets originally sold for a very small amount of money. They know the material, while not overflowing the covers, was thought provoking and practical for a working mentalist. They also know the prices these booklets fetched on the eBay […]

It should be fairly obvious that the posts on Escamoteurettes lean more toward the essay side of the fence than they do current events. (My previous blogs were of the current events/what am I thinking at the moment type.) That was a decision I made early on and I think I’ve done a pretty good […]

There’s a common path trodden by many in the world of mystery entertainment. I’ve been down that path, watched others walk it, and pointed still others down it from time to time. It’s tried, true, and — for many — virtually unavoidable mostly because they don’t know there’s any other way. (Not that there’s anything […]

As I get my bearings on what’s new in the world over the last two months and gear up to resume my usual publishing schedule here at Casa Escamoteurettes, I want to mention Richard Osterlind’s new blog. If you’ve read this blog for any length of time, you know how much I admire and respect […]

There are certain non-spiritual, but closely held beliefs that sometimes take on great, life-and-death spiritual importance for some people. These beliefs tend to guide decisions and actions in a completely illogical, if comfortable manner. When you hear words like “should” or “always” or “never” or “ever” always ask, “Why so?” Not asking perpetuates deeply held […]

In 1977 — long before some of you were even born, I’m sad and/or frightened to say — NASA launched from a pad at Kennedy Space Center Voyager 1 and Voyager 2. The initial primary mission of the Voyager program was the exploration of Jupiter and Saturn. (I’m sure no one at mission control ever […]

Since it is December 23rd, it is incumbent upon me to wish each and every one of you a joyous Festivus holiday.