Phil Hoffman in the Northwest News

From Northwest News:

Hoffman, who began performing the same year he first started learning magic, won the Under-18 Amateur Magician competition sponsored by Miracles and Magic, according to his mother.

In 2013, he was awarded a scholarship from Ultimate Magic Productions to attend the Sorcerer's Safari magic performance camp in Ottawa, Canada.  [Editor's note:  the camp is in Haliburton, ON.]

"He likes the idea of doing the magic right in front of someone," Mrs. Hoffman said.

"No smoke and mirrors," her son chimed in.

Has the teen found his life's calling?

"I think so," Hoffman said.

Read more.

Shin Lim in the Huffington Post

From the Huffington Post:

I saw my first magic show when I was 6 years old at a friend's birthday party. While I was easily fooled at that age, I remember not being impressed by the magicians 'tricks.' Now, twenty-something years later, the only moment of magic I witness is when a new episode of Scandal is uploaded to Netflix. So when I came across Shin Lim, an internet 'sleight of hand artist' (aka magician) with 17.5 Million video views, I wanted to find out how someone practicing an art form I thought was dead, could engage and entertain the easily distracted modern audience. By melding new media, music, and sleight of hand card tricks, Lim, a self taught playing-card fiend, returns simplicity to the spectacle of magic. And if I'm honest, something about his authenticity makes even skeptical 6-year-old me believe in the wonder of magic - at least for a few minutes.


Read more.

[via Clive Court]

Ottawa: "Magic Monday" March

March 28th, with Gabriel Le Marquand Perreault, Steven Lafond, Alex Boyer, and Eric Leclerc!

From Gabriel Le Marquand Perreault's Facebook page: A note to subscribers: the content of this post is embedded from another website and is not available to preview. To view the content of the post, please visit http://CanadasMagic.blogspot.com. Some of the embedded code may be visible in this notification.

Je suis très heureux de vous annoncer que le lundi 28 mars prochain à 21h dans le cadre de MAGIC Monday à LIVE on Elgin...
Posted by Gabriel Le Marquand Perreault on Sunday, 6 March 2016

Calgary: Malcolm Russell and Atsushi Ono

 From Malcolm Russell's Facebook page:
A note to subscribers: the content of this post is embedded from another website and is not available to preview. To view the content of the post, please visit http://CanadasMagic.blogspot.com. Some of the embedded code may be visible in this notification.

Hey everyone! Here it is - the biggest public show I've put together so far. One night only, and it's coming up fast! It...
Posted by Malcolm Russell on Thursday, 3 March 2016

[via Gwyn Auger]

Toronto: Best Magician Contest 2016

From the Browser's Den of Magic Facebook group:

"Best Magician Contest 2016"

Hello all Magic Lovers, the BEST MAGICIAN CONTEST is BACK for you. This is your opportunity to show your skills.

In the evening of April 16th, 2016, A1 Chinese Radio (http://www.ccue.com/a1_radio/web/) is giving out opportunities to the magic lovers! Bringing along with your own incredible skills, the candidates will enter into an exciting competition held on a magical platform in Market Village.

This is the 5th year magician contest to gather a large amount of Toronto magicians within the magic community and the qualified contestants will be challenge among each other and then finally compete for the fame of Top Magician in Toronto.

This might be the LAST YEAR we are having the contest at MARKET VILLAGE because this famous landmark will be renovating very soon. Hence, this is a historical moment for all magic lover to witness the contest of BEST MAGICIAN one LAST TIME at Market Village.

This Year, we will also have Lee Asher, Jim Tam, Jeff Pinsky and Magic Mike to be our judges.
Performance: Stage Magic or Close-Up Magic.
Contestant: All Ages, All Genders
Event date: Apr 16, 2016 (Saturday) 7:30pm
Venue: Market Village (Steeles & Kennedy) 

(Event will be host in Cantonese and English. Contestants can use any langue for their Magical Routine.)

We are now starting the YOUTUBE audition. From now till 30th of March, all participants only need to submit a roughly 2 - 5 minute video to starz@classicforce.com
- Please submit your video before March 29th, 2015 to waive the $20 entry fee. Any video(s) submitted after March 30th, 2015; a $20 entry fee will be applied.
- When submitting the video, please provide us your name and contact, so we can contact you.

*We will arrange an audition, AFTER we got your videos. Roughly 8 magicians or Magic group/ team will be chosen at the audition by the director of A1 media Toronto. These magicians will be competing on April 16, 2016 for the BEST Magician award 2016 & People choice award. ONE VIDEO entry per contestant only.

The winner of the competition will be receiving the following:
- “Best Magician 2016” trophy, “People Choice Magician 2016”
- Your chance to perform at CNE on with A1 Radio at Canada Day.
- Gift(s) from our main sponsor(s).

Look forward meeting you guys, See you all at there!!

Greg Frewin's Imagine Tour

Be sure to check the Imagine Tour website often for updates and additions.

From the Imagine Tour website:

BELLEVILLE
TUESDAY MARCH 22, 2016
MARANATHA AUDITORIUM
100 College St W, Belleville


OSHAWA
WEDNESDAY MARCH 23, 2016
EASTDALE COLLEGIATE AUDITORIUM265 Harmony Rd N, Oshawa


BRANTFORD
WEDNESDAY APRIL 20, 2016
SANDERSON CENTRE88 Dalhousie St, Brantford


OWEN SOUND
THURSDAY APRIL 21, 2016
O.S.C.V.I1550 8TH St E, Owen Sound


SIMCOE
FRIDAY APRIL 22, 2016
SIMCOE COMPOSITE SCHOOL40 Wilson Ave, Simcoe


Read more and buy tickets.

Monday musings: Search engine optimization

It's time consuming to become a master of manipulation.  I get that.  On top of that you're trying to grow your business.  One of your tactics, you're told, should be harnessing the power of your website through search engine optimization.

"Search engine optimization" as defined by Wikipedia:

Search engine optimization (SEO) is the process of affecting the visibility of a website or a web page in a search engine's unpaid results—often referred to as "natural," "organic," or "earned" results. In general, the earlier (or higher ranked on the search results page), and more frequently a site appears in the search results list, the more visitors it will receive from the search engine's users.

But you find the tubes and gears and pulleys of the interwebs overwhelming.  So you decide to outsource this task to people who know it better than you.  This makes perfect sense.

What do you really know about these people who promise you high search ranking for your money?  Does it matter?

Yes.  Yes it does matter.

When you hand over the promotion of your internet identity to the lowest bidder, some interesting things can and do happen.  The people doing the work may be located in a different country and may not have a great handle on the English language.  The people doing the work may use the strategy of comment spamming any semi-related website they can find.


Why should this matter to you?

How do you think it reflects on you if the people who are promoting you uses spammy language?  It's a red flag for many people, who view paid comments as meaningless.  (If you're a believer that any publicity is good publicity, then maybe it doesn't matter.)

As for comment spamming to impact SEO, not only does it not work, it can work against you.  It doesn't work for one or more of the following reasons: a) the comment section of many websites are coded so as to not pass on "Google juice," b) comments are sometimes left on untended sites which don't have high PageRank, and c) when comments are left on actively managed sites like this one, the spam comments are deleted within 24 hours  (you've paid good money for something that gets permanently deleted in less than a day!!).

Worse than that, some SEO organizations will target blogs of potential clients, and leave comment spam representing themselves as you and your brand.  These can hurt both you and your SEO in the long term.

When I get those types of spam comments, it's annoying to be sure -- and I remember who you are because you're wasting your money and my time every time I have to cleanup the spammy mess you paid for.  However, when potential clients get those kinds of spammy comments, they often black list you and share your name around with all of their contacts as people to avoid.  It happens.  I've seen it.  It's not pretty.


What should you be doing?

You know your business best.  You know your budget.  I can only suggest to you that you do a quick search for "things you should ask before hiring seo company," and that you remember you pay for what you get.