Register to compete at the FISM 2020 North American Championships of Magic!

The FISM 2020 website is up and running!  Register now to attend or compete at the FISM 2020 North American Championships of Magic!


From the FISM 2020 North American Championships of Magic website:

May 6 to 10, 2020.

Together with the 2020 Canadian Championships of Magie and the 8th Concours International de magie Michel Cailloux.

During the 2020 FISM-North American Convention (held in conjunction with the Club de Magie de Québec and the Canadian Association of Magicians) in Québec City, May 6-10, there will be a triple magic championship competition. The combination of the Canadian Championships of Magic and the 8th Concours International de magie Michel Cailloux  along with the 2020 FISM-North American Championships of Magic will offer the greatest magic competition ever held in Canada

A potential of fifteen competitors will have the opportunity to advance to the FISM 2021 World Championship of Magic also held in Québec City. Also, the North Americans with the highest marks will be crowned 2020 North American Champions in each of stage and close-up event.

In addition, contestants who are members of the host organizations will have the opportunity to compete for their respective awards and performing contracts.

Read more and register.

Congratulations to the 2018 Canadian Rising Star

The winners of Magicana's Allan Slaight awards will be announced every day this week, starting yesterday. Special congratulations to Carisa Hendrix for winning the Canadian Rising Star award!


From the Magicana Twitter feed:

Here's 1 of 5 #AllanSlaightAwards celebrating #excellenceinmagic The Canadian Rising Star award, acknowledges outstanding work by an emerging artist & comes with an iPad, & $5,000 from the Slaight Family Foundation. ... AND, it's @CarisaHendrix WATCH: https://t.co/EBWbKTAG8J pic.twitter.com/n2PWVxeapx

— Magicana (@sharingwonder) June 24, 2019

Guelph: Mastering the mystery of the mind with The Evasons

From the River Run Centre:

Thursday, April 16, 2020

Jeff and Tessa Evason make extrasensory connections using an incredible talent known as “second sight.” Audience members are amazed when Tessa perceives birth dates, personal details and even the names of distant loved ones — all while standing on stage wearing a blindfold. The Evasons intuitive gifts will captivate you!

“This act is so good – we’ve never seen better!” – Penn & Teller

Read more and buy tickets.

Winner of Cheap Tricks 2

Earlier this month, The Sentimentalists hosted a contest for inexpensive impromptu magic: Cheap Tricks 2.


One of the participants, James Alan, had this to say on his June 12th post on his blog:

I appeared alongside John Roldan, Jim Byrnes, Beyond Mental Borders, Jonah Babins, Harry Zimmerman, Jacqueline Swann and Shamus MacGregor. The contest was judged by Steffi Kay of the Sentimentalists, Ben Train, Rayn, and the previous champion Chris Westfall. (I was a judge on the first contest in 2017, but agreed to give up my spot to Chris.)

My set of constrains was that I had 3 hours to build an act using a budget of $5 with only material procured at a the nearby A&W. I also had to present in the theme of a XXX-rated Adult Film…. magic for grownups indeed. I’m so glad I forgot to invite my mother to watch. I’m more glad that magic elder statesman Mark Lewis was in the audience to witness me debasing the art of magic.

You can watch the winning NSFW performance on James Alan's YouTube channel.

Congratulations James!

Memdeck - The Next Step Webinar with Michael Close

From Michael Close:

Sunday, June 23, 2019
10:00 am (EDT)  &  4:00 pm (EDT)

Memdeck - The Next Step Webinar
You’ve put in the hours, memorized a stack, and can now perform a few basic effects with it. What’s the next step? What skills do you need to acquire on the road to memdeck mastery? You’ll find out in our new webinar, “Memdeck, the Next Step.” You can ask questions during the live broadcast of the webinar; if you can’t join live, you’ll have unlimited access to the replay. The webinar will run about ninety minutes.

We’ll discuss:

• A review of basic memdeck skills
• A review of basic memdeck effects
• The challenges of “the next step”
• Estimation
• Culling
• False shuffles
• Thinking on your feet
• Other useful tools
• Explanations of many useful effects

The information in this webinar is “stack independent” – it will apply regardless of which stack you have learned.

This webinar is geared to those who have memorized a stack and have some confidence with it. It is not geared to memdeck neophytes. (If you have not yet memorized a stack, you should wait for another presentation of our “Demystifying the Memorized Deck” webinar.

Read more.