From the unstoppable @MrTeller Twitter account.

Penn & Teller chart strong this week on the TicketNews.com Vegas rankings. They are the only magic show to rank this week.

Punchdrunk Love star Adam Sandler and his family took in a magic show at Magicopolis in Santa Monica, CA. As reported by Just Jared.com…

Adam Sandler, wife Jackie and his adorable daughters have a fun day at at Santa Monica’s fun magic show Magicopolis on Sunday (November 8).

Sunny, who turned 1 last week, got a ride from mom Jackie in the stroller while Adam carried Sadie, 3. So cute!!

They go to magic shows! Stars, they’re just like us!

This weeks new magic review features NEW Magic by Matthew Johnson & Christopher Taylor, Steve Haynes and Chris Webb. Plus, an E-book by Ben Harris! So let’s check it out!

ALONE By Matthew Johnson and Christopher Taylor

From the creative minds of Matthew Johnson and Christopher Taylor comes a device so devious that it will change the way you do mentalism forever. The world of mentalism is about to change. Get ready to open the gateway to the human mind, get ready to experience ALONE!

Its power is in its simplicity. The device is right there in front of the spectator but it looks so ordinary that they will never suspect a thing.

Here are just a few of the things you can do with ALONE:

-Repeatedly locate a hidden object in a spectator’s hands while wearing short sleeves!
-Find a hidden object anywhere in a room without the use of a confederate!
-Name a playing card that a spectator simply thinks of!
-Psychically solve a crime with weapons, victims and locations that the spectator has in their mind!
-Be able to tell how many times a tossed borrowed coin lands on heads or tails and predict the date on the coin before it was ever borrowed!

ALONE is an incredible electronic device built by Taylor Imagineering and comes with a fully comprehensive instructional DVD, the device, batteries and everything you need to get started right out of the box.

Availability: www.Hocus-Pocus.com
Price: $300.00

Hand Out 500 By Steve Haynes Presented By Paul Harris

Steve Haynes’ Hand Out 500 starts off like all the other wonderful versions of Pat Page’s easy money; you display four or five single dollar bills, then in a flash, the ones visibly change into hundreds.
The Big Handout Happiness is that you can now immediately hand out all of the hundreds for examination!

If you’ve performed other versions, you’ve probably heard that little voice in your head saying “Boy, it sure would be sweet to hand out all the hundreds at the end and not have to deal with hanging onto that thick gaffed bill.”

With Haynes’ Hand Out 500, that little voice is joyously silent as you naturally and cleanly hand out all the hundreds to your spectator! No palming, no pulls, no complicated moves. The audience simply sees you change the ones into hundreds and place them onto the spectator’s hand. All of the hundreds are completely normal… so there’s nothing to find but pure astonishment! Even with the glorious hand-out ending, Steve’s radically new gimmick would still make this the bill change of choice.

Hand Out 500 is actually easier and safer to handle than previous versions. There are no bad angles. You never have to worry about your audience seeing any extra thickness!
And for the final big hunk of Haynes’ Hand-Out Happiness: Because of the unique construction of the gimmick, you save hundreds of dollars in gaffed bills. It’s a whole new approach to easy money.

Availability: All Major Dealers
Price: $34.95

GumSlinger By Chris Webb

align="right" alt="DVD-2417" title="DVD-2417" width="111" height="160" class="alignright size-full wp-image-2200" hspace="10" vspace="10" />GUMSLINGER is a visual transformation using chewing gum. You remove the sticks of gum from the box, gum
in one hand, sticks in the other, and they change places instantly!

After three live performances on the streets, it’s back to the studio so Chris can take you through all the techniques needed to create the GumSlinger magic that will simply mess with people’s heads!

This is eye popping magic at its best from UK magician Chris Webb and the guys at Wizard FX Productions.

‘The transposition used in GUMSLINGER is one of those rare do that again moments. Great visual magic!’
- Marc Oberon – World Champion Magician

‘I’ve been using this as an opener since Chris first showed me this. It just gets great reactions every time!’
- Craig Petty- Creator of Quarantine and The Mirage Coin Set

Availability: All Major Dealers
Price: $25.00

BANDS OF GOLD (1987) By Ben Harris

“Ben’s Band Book is some of the best band and card magic ever.
Some could be plucked out and used as single trick downloads. Highly recommended.”
***** 5/5 Stars – Jamie Daws”

The opening trick in this gorgeous book is just cool. A mini bet in which 2 bands are shown around the card case width ways. One will win the spectator $100 and the other one will win the magician $100. One is selected by the spectator without equivoque. Of course it’s just a normal band. The other is removed and there is a $100 bill attached. Such a mini trick but so hard hitting. The best thing? It’s brilliantly clever. Very simple and uses some very old methods in band magic but in a completely new way.

A couple of effects follow suit and indeed use the same sort of principle. Sleight of Band. Another stunning effect and really can be imagined as a one trick download on one of these new polished sites. It’s just wicked. A band that’s wrapped around the deck lengthways rises up and down them deck. It begins wrapped around the whole deck. With a wave, it’s seen to jump up through the deck and now be wrapped around just half of the deck. It continues to jump up and down the deck in an incredible way. It really is an awesome trick. Rising card plots have been on the increase in recent years. But what better way to do it then with the elastic band. It’s fast growing to take over my normal rising card trick.

The final is one of he best in the book. A card visually slices through a rubber band and restores. It looks mad. Another one for the download generation. A great stand alone effect or in a routine. Of course every single one of the effects can be used as part of a routine and Ben gives credits and additional thoughts all the way through his book. As with every Ben Harris eBook of wonder, it’s beautifully laid out with lots of photos to help you along. (excerpt from Jamie’s Review at The Magic Cafe).

Availability: www.WOWBound.com
Price: $9.95

New Magic This Week is compiled by Edward Upthegrove. Send any listings for your new effects to NewMagic@iTricks.com for inclusion. Remember to check our New Magic section for a constantly updated list of new products

After over six months of delicate revisions, theory11 is proud to unveil the third edition of Dan and Dave’s Smoke & Mirrors playing cards.

The Luxury Edition is a case study in attention to detail. The feel and finish is flawless – and all of the artwork was illustrated by hand in pen and ink by renowned artist Si Scott.

The result is a true luxury deck. The First and Second Editions sold out VERY quickly – so be sure to grab a deck (or two) while they’re still available…

: : SMOKE & MIRRORS – Luxury Edition
: : theory11 news : forums : media : 1-on-1 training

Stunned to find ourselves in on the outside looking on the new healthcare legislation, the iTricks Clinic is closed this week. However, we are back at full steam with live programming starting THIS WEDNESDAY when iTricks Live is back with Andrew Mayne.

If you’ve never been a part of a Mayne live chat, buckle up. There will be no holds barred and certainly no time restrictions. He’ll also talk extensively about In Half, which is shipping as of today from ShockMagic.com.

Meanwhile, one week from today XCM legend De’vo vom Schattenreich joins us. Make sure you send all of your XCM vids to iTricksClinic@Gmail and get critiqued by a legend.

Mayne. De’vo. iTricks Live. iTricks Clinc. Cancel. Your. Appointments.

In summation: Bang a gong.

Dan Sperry makes a poor boy named Noel devour an entire packet of ranch dressing before he shows him his version of Pressure.

Anyone have any napkins?

Head on over to World Magic Awards website (Beware: autoplay) to see a highlights package of show’s past and present. With our untrained eye, we could spot clips of Barry and Stuart, Marco Tempest and The Twins which must be from the show that will air on MyTV this Thanksgiving.

Most of the other clips are from last year’s broadcast hosted by Neil Patrick Harris.

Lance and Nathan get big pats on the back today from The Las Vegas Sun, as the paper glowingly reviews both shows.

First: Nathan.

He gives a goofy twist to such time-honored tricks as the locked-box word prediction, which he tweaks to incorporate childhood breakfast cereals. His fast-paced act favors vanishings and reappearances, with Burton putting himself or one of his flirty, cute showgirls into some sort of box. In one of these apparatuses, his head revolves at an anatomically impossible 360 degrees at dizzying speed.

Then: Lance.

His effects run from elemental gambits with white doves and ducks and a tiny white bird named Elvis to more fantastic maneuvers: Burton levitates a showgirl — and himself — in a love scene to remember. He invokes Frank Sinatra, multiplying liquor bottles on a cafe table. He ups the ante on the old sawing-a-woman-in-half illusion, cutting a man and a woman into eight pieces, reassembling them incorrectly and then gender-switching them. And he outdoes David Copperfield, materializing a white convertible and driving it around the stage, before flying away with it.

Well deserved praise for two of the best on the Strip.

It’s mean, it’s course, it’s like shooting fish in a barrel.

Our industry now has an answer to Go Fug Yourself with BadMagicPhotos.blogspot.com. Be warned, there is some adult language but if it makes every iTricks reader take a second look at their promo shots, we’ll consider it a win.

It was reported back in June that Cyril had begun filming for a new series of magic specials to be broadcast on the AXN Asia TV network. The project is now complete and the air dates have been announced.

The three-part series, entitled “Cyril: Simply Magic” will debut on Nov. 19. Here’s a recent Twitter post from Cyril:

“My new TV show airs Nov 19th, 26th, and Dec.3rd in 28 countries across south east Asia! Sorry, no Japan, USA, and Asia yet. More to come”

Two promos for the specials can be seen above.

The AXN Asia website describes the series:

Journeying with Cyril to various locations across Asia, this special series will show Cyril continuing to captivate unsuspecting passers-by with his incredible illusions and disarmingly fun personality, while making a positive impact on the people he comes in contact with.

In keeping with Cyril’s status as “magic’s first cyber-celebrity”, I assume it’s only a matter of time before those of us living outside of Southeast Asia will be able to see clips from the programs on Youtube. Looking forward to it!

Click AFTER THE JUMP for a look at a shorter version of the ad with some footage not shown in the long version.

-

Neil Henley is a magic enthusiast and occasional performer who still hasn’t given up his day job. He lives near Tokyo, Japan, and can be found on Twitter.

Here is the shorter version of the ad:

From Eric Mead’s Twitter on Sunday…

This automaton is “Psycho” who performed with Kellar and Houdini. Amazing to see up close

We are guessing there are more than one Psycho since the Museum of London lays claim to a decidedly swarthier model. Still super awesome.

Good day, Monday.

As you’ll remember Derren Brown took to his blog to express his feelings over Acorah’s latest show writing:

Can you honestly imagine anything – anything – more anus-invertingly unpalatable than this? I hate myself for drawing attention to it. So proud to be in telly.

In reply, speaking exclusively to Digital Spy, Acorah responded:

He’s looking for publicity! He always does it. Every time. I don’t know why he wants to do it that way. We are worlds apart – Derren Brown is a magician and an illusionist. He can’t do what I do and I certainly don’t claim to do what he does. He’s riding the publicity off my back.

Since being ousted from Most Haunted in the midst of a fraud storm, Derek Acorah’s reputation as a medium has become somewhat tainted. Acorahs’ ’séance’ pulled in 607k viewers, just 3.5%, compared to Derren Brown: the Event Live which had 2.7 million viewers, a 17% share.

Magician and actor, Andy Nyman and Jeremy Dyson, who is the writer of ‘League of Gentlemen’ have co-written ‘Ghost Stories’ a new play called which opens at the Liverpool Playhouse, February 4th through 20th before moving onto the Lyric theatre in Hammersmith from February 24th through April 3rd.

Ghost Stories promises to send shake you up like no piece of theatre ever has before.

Leading performers dazzle the audience with incredible trickery, while amazing archive footage features performances of some of the world’s greatest magic tricks

With some info already out there on the performers in the show (Pete Firman, Marco Tempest and others), The Objective Productions program should be something worth sitting down for. Special 3D glasses can be obtained from Sainsburys in the UK.

Magic has different aspects. Magic is only the defiance of the rules that we’re supposed to live by. Of course, one of those rules is that you can’t read minds. So when acts like David Burglas and now Derren Brown do the performance, you have to remember that they are actors playing the part of the person doing the impossible. It all comes down to whether or not you like the actor or the presentation or not. Some like Derren, some don’t, some like me and some don’t. That’s the way of life. I can’t respect David Blaine, Chris Angel and particular others coming from America. There was a rule for us magicians when we were on television, and that was that if you can’t do it live then you don’t use technology to change the appearance. You have to be able to do it live, that’s the job of being a magician. If I give you a card and say remember that card, I wouldn’t tell you to pretend that it was the right card on camera. I want to see the magic.

Paul Daniels and Debbie McGee have been traveling the UK  judging regional finals of the Britain’s Bangers Competition.

It really is a must read, great quotes from so many whom he influenced including Steve Martin and David Copperfield.

Take a look at the stuff created by Mario Marchese a.k.a. Mario The Magician, according to the Tannen’s blog he has spent his down time crafting one-of-a-kind illusions from found items and repurposed material.

Mario’s favorite creations, chosen especially with Tannen’s Magic loyalists in mind. These are truly works of art, intricate and intriguing. Each item is made-to-order and completely handmade, so you will receive a collector’s item that is uniquely yours and one-of-a-kind (design of box or tin will vary).

Check out what he’s offering at Tannen’s site. Cool stuff.

Pictured at right is his Old Tin Card Rise.

The headline to this is a quote for this book by Lance Burton, but here is the official description for “The Official CIA Manual Of Trickery and Deception.”

Magic or spycraft? In 1953, against the backdrop of the Cold War, the CIA initiated a top-secret program, code-named MKULTRA, to counter Soviet mind-control and interrogation techniques. Realizing that clandestine officers might need to covertly deploy newly developed pills, potions, and powders against the adversary, the CIA hired America’s most famous magician, John Mulholland, to write two manuals on sleight of hand and undercover communication techniques.

Kind of like Men Who Stare At Goats, except this stuff actually works.

The book is available now at Amazon and other fine retailers.