11 December 2020

Random thoughts about Changing Cards by Richard Young

Bob Swadling mentored teenage Richard Young for several years.
 
Bob was a judge in The Magic Circle's "The Young Magician" annual close-up competition the year Richard won.  Bob lived near Richard and offered to tutor Richard for free (as a way for Bob to give back to the magic community).

Regular readers of the blog will know that British magician Richard Young has toured through Canada with Champions of Magic every year since 2017.  You may know that in 2019 he won The John Nevil Maskelyne award presented by The Magic Circle for his excellent work on "The Magician's Podcast."  

But were you aware that he recently acquired the rights to manufacture and sell Bob Swadling's "Swadling Magic Changing Card?"  Enter Richard Young's Changing Cards.

The pitch:


How are these cards made? 
  
Richard spent a significant amount of time with Bob and Val (Bob's wife) to ensure that Changing Cards continue to be made with the high standards of the original. (Val's August 9th Facebook posts suggests that Richard has made improvements from the original!)

Here are some random thoughts about Richard's gorgeous Changing Cards:

  • The official trailer (above) shows Harry De Cruz beautifully demonstrating a multitude of different uses for a card that appears to completely change in mid-air.
  • This summer Kidlet, KOP, and I let our imaginations run wild with speculation as to the method of this effect.
Will they last?

Richard has some sets from Bob which were used for over three years and they never broke.  Richard has used the cards he makes almost daily, for more than year so far!
  • Imagine our delight when the universe saw fit to put one in our mailbox!
  • The cards come handsomely packaged with attention to detail reminiscent of Bobby Motta's lecture notes for "thirteen."
  • It feels like one is opening up something really special.
As advertised
  
"Completely self working beautiful hand crafted gimmicks that look like trick photography that you can perform anywhere. Perfect for Close-Up, Parlour, Instagram and even Zoom shows."

"No elastic thread to break, no lines on the cards, no half flaps or sliding panels. Just simply the best changing card ever conceived. You won’t believe how brilliant these are in the flesh."
Will it play big?

Watch Stephen Mulhern perform the Changing Card earlier this month at The Royal Variety Performance.

 

Richard Young’s Changing Cards are practically real magic.

 

Get yours before they disappear!

A thread at The Magic Café suggests that these cards may only be available for a limited time. 

Look for our formal review of Changing Cards in an upcoming issue of Vanish Magazine.

 

 

 

Disclosure:  We received a complimentary Changing CardThe opinions expressed above are entirely our own. We did not receive compensation for the writing or the publishing of this article.


10 December 2020

Jason Verners from The Moment House

Listen to the December 1st episode of Magicians Talking Magic podcast to hear Jason talk about the show below, among other things.

 

From The Moment House:

Join in the magic from the comfort of your own home! Jason Verners will be live streaming a brand new interactive magic experience on Moment House for one-night-only. Every ticket purchase will include a "Mystery Envelope" which will be mailed to you, inside you will find the ingredients and tools to have magic happen in your own hands during the performance. This is not like watching magic on TV or being a part of a ZOOM conference call, this is something brand new. Jason is excited to provide his supporters and fans with an intimate virtual experience like never before.

Only 1 ticket purchase is required per household.
Join us for Episode 1 of Virtual Magic!

Envelope Shipping Cut-Offs: (You will recieve a .PDF if purchased past date)
Canada: December 28, 2020
USA: December 21, 2020
International: December 14, 2020

Live-streamed from VicVR. Directed by Livestream Victoria.

Read more and buy tickets.






09 December 2020

Vote now for the 2020 Readers' Choice Award

Reader's Choice logo 

The nominations are closed and voting is now open for the fifth annual 2020 "Readers' Choice Inspirational Canadian Magician of the Year" award!

Take a moment to acknowledge that this has been an extraordinary year.  Many of you embraced new skills and a new performing landscape.  Some of you took on work outside of performing.  Some of you continue to struggle with the day-to-day.  No matter your situation, give yourself a pat on the back.  You've made it this far.  To paraphrase Tom Brady, you didn't come this far to only come this far.  You've got this!

Congratulations to everyone for inspiring someone(s) enough for them to submit your name!  (I'm always tempted at this point, to declare all of the nominees as winners and not bother with the voting part. However, a vote was promised and a vote there shall be.)

Voting will close on Wednesday, December the 23rd at 11:59pm EST.

To vote, scroll down to the bottom of this post and participate in the poll. (Click through the Google Forms link if the poll does not appear in your browser.)

Let's have a look at the nominees (listed in alphabetical order by surname):


2020 Nominee: Gwyn Auger
Gwyn Auger (aka The Magic Assistant)

Nominated by Jonathan I. who wrote:
"The bigger the magic, the more important all of the team players are, and when it comes to a magic community, the same definitely applies. For me, personally, when I returned to magic about 10 years ago, Gwyn kindly befriended me (not knowing who I was) and it’s been an important part of my ongoing journey through the art of magic. She’s been quite an ambassador for the art and is one of those glues that holds a community together—which is especially important during a time like this. So, I humbly nominate Gwyn for this recognition."

Editor's note:

Website: Magician.org/member/magicassistant.





2020 Nominee: Carisa Hendrix, Miranda Allen, and Richard Lee

Carisa Hendrix, Miranda Allen, and Richard Lee (aka Team Lucy Darling, The Star Ship Quarantine)

Nominated by Anonymous.
"They took the lockdown by storm. In their isolation they created a unique virtual performance that was simultaneously witty, creative and magical with a wicked blend of technology and Lucy Darling sass. Surely that counts as inspiration."

Editor's note:
Website: CarisaHendrix.com, MirandaAllen.ca, and NorthernLightTheatre.com/richard-lee-hsi/.




2020 Nominee: Ryan Joyce and Graeme Reed

Ryan Joyce and Graeme Reed (aka Graemazing)

Nominated by Ryan P. who wrote:
"They have been producing a ton of stuff, podcasts, tv shows, pizza parties and more all giving an opportunity for other Canadian magicians to perform and connect. The high quality standards of their production are certainly inspiring to me!"

Additionally, Graeme was nominated by Doug H. who wrote:
"He has not let COVID 19 interfere with his ability to present his magic. He has and continues to perform his excellent Magic in awesome creative ways - online. He is not only the most entertaining guy I know, he's Graemazing!"

Editor's note:

 

Website:  RyanJoyce.com and GraemeReedMagic.com.






2020 Nominee: Magicana

Magicana (David Ben and Julie Eng)
Nominated by Ben T. who wrote:
"My nomination this year is Magicana. Not only did they start the year off by helping curate the Art of Illusion exhibit at the AGO - which created all sorts of new magic fans - but they also mobilized quickly to set up the "Allan Slaight Magicians Relief Fund" to help magicians across Canada deal with the pandemic."
"Because of all that they've done for the community this year, I nominate Magicana!"

Editor's note:
  • The Illusions: The Art of Magic exhibit at the AGO featured more than 55 colourful vintage posters from the Allan Slaight Collection, in addition to employing many local magicians.
  • They handled the implementation and administration of the Allan Slaight Relief Fund, which helped to defray cost-of-living expenses incurred by professional Canadian magicians early in The Great Pause.
  • Magicana also runs the annual Allan Slaight Awards which recognize excellence in magic.

 

Website:  Magicana.com




2020 Nominee: Phil Pivnick

Phil Pivnick (aka WonderPhil)
Nominated by Ian C. who wrote:

"Phil is already Toronto’s best family and children’s entertainer (A1 media) and has a 5 star rating on Google and YELP.  But apart from that he is truly a really nice guy. He’s recently started creating magic for sale to the magic community demonstrating his creativity.  He’s really helpful to anyone who asks.  Sitting down for a session with Phil is a roller coaster of ideas.  What if we do this, how about this or that move.  I’ve always been impressed with his business sense and it shows in his marketing and shows."

Editor's note:

Website: MagicInToronto.com





2020 Nominee: Romaine

Romaine (aka Roman Szydlowski)

Nominated by Luiz C. who wrote:
"I nominate Romaine ( Roman Szydlowski).  He has been one of Canada's hidden talent for too long.  He shared stage with the best magicians, has been a mentor to many famous magicians and inspiration to thousands.  If you ever had a chance to sit down with him you know that you always learned something new from him."


Editor's note:




2020 Nominee: Alex Zander

Alex Zander

Nominated by Shawn F. who wrote:
"I would like to nominate Alex Zander, who during this year has united magicians, not only in Canada but around the world by using the IBM JAM online to bring magic into the homes of all of us at no cost. For the first thirty days of the lock down we had a lecture every single day and now, eight months later the IBM JAM continues on a weekly basis to offer all magicians a way to connect. He gained nothing personally from doing this task and it taxed his free time greatly. It's inspiring to see the selfless acts of another in support of the greater good."

 

Editor's note:
  • Alex, the youngest IBM President, finished his term with tough decisions to make about the IBM Convention.
  • He was part of the organizing committee for this year's virtual PCAM.

 
Website: GottaBeMagic.com

 

 

Vote now!

In an effort to combat bots and spam, you are required to sign into a Google account before voting.  Your vote will not be shared.  Your email address will not be used for marketing.

 

 

  

 

 














08 December 2020

Thank you to our December 2020 sponsors!

This is a reminder that our sponsors also have bills to pay and mouths to feed.  If you have the means, please support them by making a purchase. 
If you would like to show your support for our sponsors, but have no immediate need for their products, consider purchasing a gift certificate which you can put to use (or not) at a later time.

Thank you to our sponsors for their generous support.

This site would not be possible without their backing.

We're grateful to have the support of:

The next time you see them, let them know you saw their sponsorship here!







For more information about purchasing Sponsored Posts or about our Platinum, Gold, or Silver level sponsorships, please visit our Sponsorship page.

Or you can Be Our Friend for only $20 per year! 

Donations of any size are always welcome.








07 December 2020

Gwyn Auger and Marion Outerbridge interviewed by Bruce Kalver

From the Backstage S.A.M. podcast website:

A boxjumper is a magician’s assistant that willingly goes into boxes to get cut up, transformed, or levitated. How does one become a box jumper? What training does it take? Are there any accidents that happen?  

Bruce Kalver interviews Gwyn Auger, a box jumper for hire, and Marion Outerbridge, the one-half of The Outerbridges - a well-known Illusion show.

Read more and listen to the podcast.


 



05 December 2020

Penn and Teller: Fool Us casting for season 8

From the November 18th Facebook post by Michael Close:

Well, here's some fun news for all of you from the executive producers of Penn & Teller: Fool Us.

  1. We just finished shooting the second half of season 7 at the (empty) Rio in Las Vegas, for a total of twenty-six episodes this year, including our one-hundredth episode. Go Magic!
  2. New episodes will begin to air on or about January 8, 2021.
  3. Shooting with Covid protocols proved challenging but possible, and the show looks great – including our virtual audience.
  4. International acts participated with pre-taped tricks and as "live remotes."
  5. The CW just can't get enough Fool Us. We are CASTING SEASON 8 now! Tell your friends. Tell yourself. Tell anyone with cool magic even if they are not your friend!  Please send submissions to fooluscasting@gmail.com.

All the best,
Andrew Golder and Lincoln Hiatt, Executive Producers 





04 December 2020

Jay Chun's virtual circus magic shows every Saturday

From Jay Chun's December 1st Facebook post:

I will be doing zoom virtual shows every Saturday 6:15pm  MST. The shows are family friendly, LGBTQ+ inclusive and run by QTBIPOC artist.
 
Friends, please give this event a share/react/respond. That would help my business facebook algorithm. Thank you.

Show is publicly available through zoom and has no charge.
(though I will accept  donations if you can afford to give and feel like supporting me!)