Training for the Invisible Deck.

For those of you who need practice with maths, check out the game Pyramid Solitare.

See if you can do it in CHaSeD order!

The Magic Castle

2 weeks go, I went to L.A. It was a great trip. My main focus, aside form the visiting family stuff, was to go to the Magic Castle.

I posted a few messages on magic message boards, and got a great response (I could get in with my SAM card). Luckily, a member of the Castle Knights (the guys that take people on tours of the castle) contacting me, and offered to accept me as his guest. This was a remarkable oppuratunity, I couldn't turn down.I got dress coded up, and headed to the castle.

It is a unique building, just a block away from the busy Hollywood Blvd., but it is like stepping back in time.

I slowly made my way up the hill, went around the block to see it from the other angle. and then made my way up to the door to meet Rafael. We slipped in, I got to say the magic word to open the door. And there it was. One of the five, yes, five bars.

It was Young Adults night at the club, and also Future Stars week. Which, apparently means...it was really busy, and no one was really around.

We went on a quick tour of the castle, and saw all that there was, quite an amazing place. Then we got in line for the first show. in the Parlour.

Aaron Rabkin did a set of some great magic, ending with an popping card reveal that left me thinking.

Next, it was Tam Vo (I think)in the gallery. Some great card and coin magic.

Then tried to get into the palace, but long line, and so I waited, did some magic, and wandered around for awhile. The I got in line to see Derek Hughes.

Derek Hughes was inn the parlour, and his set was fantastic. Each trick was more impossible than the next. Resulting in a completely head scratching finale.

Again waited in line. People around said there usually isn't this long of lines, but due to the abundance of people, the lines were long, and hard to get into shows.

So I saw the revue in the Palace, a nice variety of magicians, including the adorable little kid who performed some nice ball manipulations. It was a fun show, a great chance for the youth to perform.

I then tried to get to see the late performer at the gallery, but no, too late, full.

I hung around a bit, tried to find a group of magicians. Didn't see any, I guess I picked the wrong day/week to try to sit in on a late jam session. I might have left too early, but I didn't want to press my luck walking back to the Metro station, and then back to my brother's neighborhood.

I also went to the Hollywood Magic Inc. made a leisurely browse, but there was nothing I could think of that I just had to have. I thought about some stuff, but their main target is passer-bys and walk-ins....magic "noobs"

I didn't want the latest trick, I wanted something old, and dusty, but I'm not sure if they had anything, since they were busy with other people.

All in all, it was a great experience. I look forward to going again, hopefully when it's cooler.

I would recommend it to all, here are the pictures from it.


Walking up to it.

The Sign.

The Front

You can almost see Vernon.

And there I am, in front of the Magic Castle.

thanks everyone, and especially Rafael for the great time!

oh and by the way....the cup holders suck.

Things that go Bump in the Night

No, this isn't the Doug Henning routine...

While I was laying in bed, I heard a thud, I just imagined one of my unsteady binders had fallen on the ground off the shelf. However, I noticed today a strange bend in my bookcase.

As you can see, the joint where the two pieces of the bookcase meet, un-met. This bookcase contains most of my heavy magic books, and a lot of Genii magazines (they had caused a shelf to fall, so I put them on the lowest possible shelf).



So, now, I have going to have to quickly remove them, and find new homes for all those books and magazines.

Here is it from the front....

For those of you concerned...Kermit is in stable condition.

Looks like I've added "Zig-Zag Bookcase" to my act.

Robert Ruse

Looking Back

The Sphinx"
Volume XLV
Number Three
May, 1946

From the Article "Cartooning and Magic"
By William Tefft Schwarz





Illustrations are also by W.T. Schwarz.

Max Andrews on the Future of Magic.

Max Andrews was the editor of "The Magic Magazine" published in England. he wrote these words:
----
Recent travels to Holland, Switzerland and various English cities have given me added proof that the newer generation of magicians is dead keen to make our art more lively and keep it in line with the modern outlook. Everywhere I have been, I have seen evidence of the move to give old tricks a new angle and to introduce "the latest".

Why not? nothing has done so much to keep magic a subsidiary entertainment than a lack of enterprise, which leads to audiences saying (if only to themselves) "the usual tricks, you know". Yet it is astonishing, how the most "usual" things can be given a new appeal; either by way of presentation or by adroit twists that lift a show on to a new plane.

That is one of the things we try to keep in mind in connection with MAGIC MAGAZINE. Not all brand new tricks surpass the old ones; and it is a fact that many of the standard ones are still superb. ALthough, for example, the secret of the Chinese Rings has been given away, even in the cheap-price stores, only an experienced performer can do the trick with finesse. Further the performer who presents this and other famous magical feats with polish or in a freshened form, still completely confounds the people who have only a superficial knowledge of the modus operandi.

----
(Emphasis as per original)

These words reflect the recent trends in magic, but the words were written in 1952 (September, 1952 Vol. 1 No. 6).
According to MagicPedia: The Magic Magazine was published from 1952 to 1956 and had 54 issues.

Video: Talent Show

So, here is the video of me performing at a talent show.

Just a few points:
The lights were fine live...just white washed on the video.
The beginning was cut off, so you miss the part where I ask if anyone has a dollar bill, and to fold it so Washington is on the inside.
This is the raw video of a raw performance, so there are some rough spots, and parts where it grinds to screeching halt. I've made note of where some problems lie and I am working on fixing them.

So, for your enjoyment, hopefully, my video:




Comments and suggestions are welcome.

Old Magic Videos

A while ago I started Magic Archives. I recieved video tapes of old magic performances, mostly from Japanese television, from eBay. I felt that these videos could be better served than sitting on my shelf. I uploaded them onto YouTube to let public, and magic community see the past masters of our art. I feel this is a great tribute to them, and I feel a great respect when I see them posted on other sites. I regularly check the comments the videos get, and delete any that even hint at methods (although the other comments are sometimes worse). The Dai Vernon videos are clips from a Dai Vernon documentary, and are only there to pique the interest and encourage people to watch the documentary (Dai Vernon: Spirit of Magic). There have been DVDs released in the past few years that are "performance only" clips of past magicians performing on TV shows, and live shows (Fred Kaps, Magic Ranch, You Asked For It). I thouroughly enjoy those kind, and I own a few. I could simply upload them onto YouTube, but since they are now commercially sold, I would encourage other people to actually buy them. I wish other people would not post commercial videos on YouTube. All the response I've gotten from the videos I put up has been positive, and I will try to upload more videos (I swear there's a missing tape I have yet to find). In the mean time, I will be posting information about old magic magazines every once in a while. I did that with Genii magazines, but I think it would be more interesting to do the lesser known journals.

I look foward to posting.

Step Inside,
R. Ruse