Last week on Magic Tonight

Very strange weather this week with a mix of hot hot hot and wet wet wet. All of which just serves to remind of of why I call myself an indoor magician. But we had a wonderful time with our audiences on Magic Tonight with special guests Phil Pivnick, Ben Train and Chris Mayhew. If you haven't seen our show, take a look at some of the fun you missed! And if you recognize yourself or your friends, in any of the photos, feel free to share them.

Magic Tonight is performed weekly in Mississauga and Toronto. Readers of this blog can use the code reality for a discount on the price of tickets and dinner when purchasing online.

New Professional Site

This has become the month of website updates. First we launched www.MagicTonight.ca, then did a major overhaul at www.Abracadabaret.com. Now, my professional site — the one I use for my private and corporate magic — has a fresh new look as well. So take a look over at www.JamesAlan.ca (proudly Canadian). It's still new so if you spot any issues, please let me know.

SOULO Theatre Festival Gallery

I wear many hats.* *That's a metaphor. I never wear real hats, they mess up my hair

One such hat is as the general manager for the SOULO Theatre Festival which presents a weekend of exceptional one-person shows and a series of seminars and panel discussions teaching actors how to present their own material. From behind the scenes it's an exhausting four days, but also a very uplifting, inspiring and entertaining four days.

Take a look at what we got up to down at the Red Sandcastle Theatre in Toronto.

The New Abracadabaret.com

The website for Abracadabaret just got a major facelift. It's now much easier to navigate, particularly if you're visiting on your phone. Go take a look at www.Abracadabaret.com!

A Surprising Twist on a Science Demonstration

I stumbled across this while watching the Walter Lewin MIT Physics lectures. Fortunately, it also appears as a stand alone video (isn't YouTube wonderful?) so you don't have to watch an hour on kinetic friction coefficients. But you could if you wanted to. In magic there is a dramatic device known as the "kicker ending", which involves adding on an additional incongruous climax following the apparent ending to a trick. For example, you remove a pack of cards from its box, perform a brief trick and when you try to return the cards to the box, you discover that it is now filled with a block of ice. Essentially, you turn your magic show into an episode of Family Guy.

Magicians will sit up in bars and coffee shops for ridiculous amounts of time debating the merits of this type of dramatic structure. But I never thought I would see it used in a physics demonstration. Just trust me when I say, you will not see this ending coming:

The New MagicTonight.ca

We've got a brand new website for our show, Magic Tonight! Before it was a sub-domain of Abracadabaret.com and now it's off on it's own (*sniffle*) Readers of this blog can still use the code reality for a discount on the price of tickets and dinner when purchasing online!