Links for 2011-Feb-11

• Toronto: Roy Kueppers at Browser's Den in March
   
• Lecleric Show episodes on YouTube:
  34. Post office Magic - Day 34 of 365
  35. Zone Zero Hole - Day 35 of 365
  36. PURE COIN MAGIC - Day 36 of 365
  37. The Chill Pill - Day 37 of 365
  38. MOM WATCHES 1 GUY 1 JAR! - DAY 38 of 365
  39. Hyper Visual Twisting the Aces - DAY 39 of 365 (New contest announced!)
  40. The Floating Laptop - Day 40 of 365

Looking on the bright side of things

At a time when it's almost de rigueur to find fault and complain about how badly things are broken, it's refreshing to see someone consciously focus on the positives within their domain.  Imagine my delight to see that Andrew Musgrave, in the course of his own 365 project, has declared February to be his "favourites" month.

From his first post in February:

The ironic thing is that if you get really good at being the opposition, however, and embracing that mentality, it can almost have a paralyzing effect upon you. It becomes that much harder to commit to an idea because you can almost start automatically seeing both the flaws in the idea, and the merits in competing ideas in dealing with those flaws. Unfortunately, if you shift to a new idea, then the flaws of that idea start making themselves known, and still more ideas occur to you as being superior (including potentially the one you abandoned earlier on). It can become the psychological equivalent of MC Escher’s “Treppauf und treppab”, and, if you’re like me, that can have a paralyzing effect on one’s development as a magician.

 
Andrew's favourites so far include:

• Favourite Torn and Restored Card Routine
• Favourite Triumph Presentation
• Favourite L&L Performance
• Favourite Approach to “Be Honest, What Is It?”
• Favourite Cups and Balls Routine
• Favourite 2 Item Transposition
• Favourite Fictional Depiction of Magicians
• Favourite Cheap Magic Trick

I can't wait to read about the other favourites he has in store for us!

Tax lawyer transforms self into conjuror

That's the title of Michael Rappaport's article about David Ben in the January 28th issue of The Lawyers Weekly.

To access a PDF version of the article, visit Sharing Wonder.

Eleven years ago today

The hard must become habit. The habit must become easy. The easy must become beautiful.
-- Doug Henning

Eleven years ago today, at the age of 52 Doug Henning passed away five months after being diagnosed with liver cancer.

Last October 16th he posthumously received Canada's Walk of Fame Legends Award.

View the tribute to Doug presented by Howie Mandel at Canada's Walk of Fame Tribute Show:
 


Read more about Doug at Wikipedia, the Canadian Magician Archives, or purchase the book Spellbound: The Wonder-filled Life of Doug Henning.

James Randi took entire bottle of homeopathic sleeping pills

Skeptic James Randi joined hundreds of consumer advocates in more than 25 countries in exposing so-called homeopathic remedies.

From his website:

In his message, Randi issued a one-million-dollar challenge to the manufacturers of homeopathic products to prove their claims, and challenged major drug retailers like CVS, Rite-Aid, and Walgreens to stop tricking consumers into paying real money for fake medicine.

To learn more, visit Randi's site or view his video statement below:




[h/t: Mr. Teller]

Montreal: Caleb Wiles lecture February 19th

Can't make it to the Caleb Wiles lecture at  Browser's Den of Magic in Toronto on the 16th?

No worries, he's also lecturing at the Chinese Cultural Centre in Montreal on Saturday February 19th at 1:30pm.

For details, visit the Montral Magic Jam website.

Toronto: Bob Fitch performance workshop May 6 & 7

Bob Fitch is offering a two full day performance workshop on Friday May 6 and Saturday May 7.

Location: 

Holy Trinity Church, Guildwood, 85 Livingston Road, Scarborough

Fees:

Full Registration - $300 with performance critique (limited to 6 people)
Non-Critique Registration - $100 for two full days Enrolment is limited

Contact Stephen Kirkegaard or Ron Guttman for more information.