The Thrillusionists: May 4th premier

Updated at 8am to add:

• Suspicion confirmed, Sorcerers Safari alumnus Brad Bond is one of the three stars in The Thrillusionists!
• From the April 27th article "Tricky Orillia teen set to make magical debut on CBC series" in Barrie Today:

  Brad Bond has been fascinated by trickery, sleight-of-hand and the mystery of illusions since he received a magic kit from his grandparents as a Christmas present when he was 10-years-old.
  
  But for him, this has never been child’s play. Bond, now 16, has approached the craft like a professional, painstakingly working on his technique, delivery and persona. That work has paid off.
  
  The Grade 10 Patrick Fogarty Catholic Secondary School student was one of three youths chosen – more than 1,000 auditioned from coast to coast – to host The Thrillusionists, a ground-breaking magic show set to make its debut next month.
  
  “It’s almost surreal,” Bond says of his new gig. “It’s something I’ve wanted to do since I was very young.”

I have a sneaking suspicion that a Sorcerers Safari alumnus is one of the Thrillusionists!


From The Thrillusionists Facebook page:

The Thrillusionists will PREMIERE on CBCKIDS.CA and on-demand MAY 4TH 2018!!! Stay tuned to this page for news update, live appearances and more! Thanks for watching and have a magical day! Bought to you by CBC Kids & 5'7 Films

From the CBC:

The Thrillusionists explored the mystical and fascinating world of magic with kid magicians! Our team of three master magicians are guaranteed to blow your mind!

Watch as they travel the city of Toronto, gaining access to various VIP locations — backstage at concerts, professional sports arenas and amusement parks — and perform their trickery for celebrities!

The Thrillusionists is brought to you by television-magic masterminds who have worked with some of the biggest names in the industry, including Criss Angel, David Blaine, Dynamo and David Copperfield.

The Thrillusionists are two boys and one girl (ages 8-12). This is the first magic series that involves kid magicians performing “grown up” illusions, all to delight and entertain kids!

Read more.

Check out the Thrillusionists YouTube channel.

Oakville: "Real or magic?" and "Westfall's World"

From Evenbrite:

Fri, 27 April 2018

What's included:
- 1 ticket to Ben Train's "Real or Magic" show - half comedy show, half mindreading show, and all amazing, you have to see what Ben can do to believe it!
- 1 UNLIMITED PLAY video game card, good for all the non-redemption games in the building until 2am!
- 60 credits for the redemption games
- 1 seat upstairs in the private theater, with full food and drink service available before and during the show!

There's no better way to have fun in Toronto on a Friday night- delicious food, fun games, and mind blowing magic!

Also from Eventbrite:

Sun, 29 April 2018

What's included:
- 1 ticket to Chris Westfall's "Westfall's World" show - half comedy show, half comedy show, and all amazing, it's fun for ages 3 to 103!
- 1 UNLIMITED PLAY video game card, good for all the non-redemption games in the building all day and night!
- 60 credits for the redemption games
- 1 seat upstairs in the private theater, with full food and drink service available before and during the show!

There's no better way to have fun in Toronto on a Friday night- delicious food, fun games, and mind blowing magic!

Browser's Magic Bash 2018 recap

I'm delighted I was asked to live-Tweet and live-blog the 2018 Browser's Magic Bash last Saturday!  

I enjoyed catching up with the friends I've made at previous Bashes (hi Adam, Sonny, Noah, and Nicole) and making new friends too (I'm looking at you Maria, Tara, Mark, Carter, and Carter's brother).

Here's the traditional consolidation of the posts and Tweets. (For the complete list of Tweets and photos check out this Twitter link to Tweets tagged with #BrowsersBash2018 or #BrowsersBash.) 

It's a very long post.  Click "read more" below to view it.

I hope you all had as much fun as I did!

Jason Latimer and the "Impossible Science Student Challenge"

From the "Jason Latimer & engineering.com presents: Impossible Science Student Challenge!" Project Board:

ProjectBoard Description
What cool projects are you working on in science (and STEM) classes today? We want to know about them! Your experiments, drawings, videos, and papers... All of them qualify!

Winning team with the most awesome, crazy, creative experiment, or STEM project will receive a LIVE IMPOSSIBLE SCIENCE STAGE SHOW at their school, by World Champion Magician and curator of Impossible Science, Jason Latimer!
https://youtu.be/mFH6eWeqKh0

See DETAILS & WHITEBOARD to learn more about how to enter, challenge guidelines, and more!

ProjectBoard Details
Who can compete?
Current Middle School & High school Students in USA & Canada

Read more and sign up.

Kickstart Mahdi Gilbert's new deck, "Hidden Leaves"

From the "Hidden Leaves" Kickstarter page:

The cards are made from the same Premium Bee Stock used in world class casinos for durability & flexibility. This premium stock has been Crushed Thin so that they can be used for superior and fine card manipulation by card experts worldwide. Finally they have been enveloped in a Smooth Finish so that they are long lasting and glide effortlessly in any environment.

~~~

Every single card in every pack of Hidden Leaves playing cards has been drawn by Mahdi to evoke a nostalgic feel. Crafted with love, this deck is inspired by & a homage to the legendary card artist who in 1885 designed cards for Andrew Dougherty including Tally-Ho.

~~~

Many of Hofzinser's finest deceptions were only possible because of the playing cards of the era. Hidden Leaves playing cards feature no indexes just like playing cards used to be made. This unique feature allows you to explore all sorts of forgotten card transformations, hypnotize your audiences with hallucinations of duplicates, renders well-known prearranged stacks completely invisible (even to magicians).

These are only a sliver of the secrets you will find in Hidden Leaves.

~~~

I have also found through performing with Hidden Leaves that the audience is able to concentrate more on the plot of the card effect you are performing. I believe the reason for this is that there is less information for the spectators to process (they are not seeing a bunch of numbers & letters all the time) which allows them to focus on their cards and the magic that you are presenting.


Read more and back this project.

Fort Macleod: Ben Price's "Rabbit Stew"

From the April 18th article "Empress Theatre to host magic show" by admin in the Macleod Gazette Online:

The Empress Theatre Society plans to pull a rabbit out of its hat with a new fund-raiser on Saturday, April 28.

Magician Ben Price brings his new show Rabbit Stew to the Empress stage at 7:30 p.m.

Admission is by donation and proceeds from the show go to the Empress Theatre Society.

“My new show, Rabbit Stew, is set to hit the stages of festivals around Canada this summer and I thought what better place to premier the show than right close to home?” Price said.

Read more.

Remembering Harry Anderson

By now you have likely heard the news that Harry Anderson passed away last Monday at the age of 65.

Mr. Anderson was kind to me.  Back in 2003 he gave me permission to market an effect of mine that is based on one of his better known routines.  I'm grateful that I was able to thank him in person and see him perform live and lecture, when he came to Ontario in 2012.

Little known fact: David Merry and Harry Anderson are tangentially responsible for the start of this blog!

Our condolences to his family and friends.


Here's what others have to say...

From Matt DiSero's Facebook post:




From Shawn Farquhar's Facebook post:



Some thoughts from John Larroquette on Twitter:

Harry Anderson. He was wicked smart. He was wicked funny. He had a big laugh. He had a big heart. He delighted in legerdemain especially when he caused someone to scratch their head and proclaim; How the hell did you do that? And he could eat a hamster like no one I ever knew.

— John B. Larroquette (@johnlarroquette) April 17, 2018

Markie, Charlie, Marsha, Richard, me and the N.C.gang were on a carnival fun ride with Harry. It was a blast. Out in the cosmos tonight, with his fedora at a rakish angle and a 'Watch this' wink to us, he’s coaxing whoever might be out there with him; Pick a card. Any card.

— John B. Larroquette (@johnlarroquette) April 17, 2018

And from his son, Dash's Facebook post: