magic is about honesty
everything here is true
except for the bits I made up
Last night, at SpiritHouse in Downtown Toronto, we hosted another sold-out Magic & Martini. Thank you to everyone who came out to see the show. We had several very large groups celebrating special occasions so it was a lot of fun. Here are some photos from Tyler Williams, including two brides to be.
We have several upcoming dates in Toronto, Oakville and Hillsburgh. Readers can use the code secrets for a discount on the price of tickets when purchasing online.
Last night at O'Finn's Irish Temper in Oakville, we had another sold-out Magic & Martini. Here are some photos from the show from Tyler Williams.
We have several upcoming dates in Toronto, Oakville and Hillsburgh. Readers, if you live nearby, can use the code stirred for a discount on the price of tickets when purchasing online.
Our next three performances of Magic & Martini at O'Finn's Irish Temper in Oakville are sold out. We've added an additional night on Friday, June 16. The show is designed to be an extremely intimate and interactive performance for small audiences; perfect for those who want to get dressed up for a special night out. Performances are strictly 19+ with dress code.
Tickets are now available. Readers can use the code olive for a discount on the price of tickets when booking online:
Tickets are also available for performances in Toronto and Hillsburgh.
An interesting TEDx Talk about the search for ghosts with a surprise twist at the end. (Less of a surprise if you're familiar of the work of "Ross and Carrie":
Spoiler alert: It does have a happy ending.
According to The Onion (according to some, as reliable a source of news as any these days)
“LAS VEGAS—Fearing the regrettable incident from his past would continue to follow him for the rest of his life, white Bengal tiger Montecore confirmed Friday he was still struggling to find work after mauling magician Roy Horn during a show at the Mirage casino in 2003. “Whenever I go out looking for a job, it seems like the first thing people focus on is the time I attacked Roy in the middle of a performance, and that usually ends my chances of landing anything right then and there,” said the chronically unemployed tiger, who explained that show directors’ discomfort with his work history had forced him to cobble together a variety of “small-time gigs” at low-end circuses and, at certain points, even busk on street corners by jumping between milk crates to make ends meet. “I’m motivated, I’m highly trained, I’ve got visually stunning pigmentation—I should be getting offers left and right. But you have one bad night and, poof, it’s all gone. Was it a mistake to bite my trainer in the neck and drag his body offstage as he screamed for his life? Of course. But does that mean I shouldn’t get another chance to dazzle audiences with my grace and litheness? I don’t think so.” At press time, Montecore was waiting in line for his unemployment check and contemplating selling his anal gland secretions for extra cash.”
On April 2 at the University of British Columbia in Vancouver, the Pangburn Philosophy Club hosted an evening of magic. I wish I had been there; I was actually on a plane as this conversation was happening flying back to Toronto from Vancouver after having done some shows there the week before.
The renowned Canadian magician and escape artist, James Randi, was interviewed as a kick-off to the evening before the magic show.
Randi was a respected performer and escape artist and also designed illusions for Alice Cooper. He had another facet to his career exposing fraudulent psychics and faith healers — the two names that spring to the top of that list are Peter Popoff and Uri Geller. Later he founded the "James Randi Educational Foundation" which investigated claims of the paranormal and offered a "million dollar challenge" to anyone who could demonstrate psychic or paranormal ability under controlled experimental conditions. Later still came out as gay well into his eighties. So an important role model to many, many people the world over.
Matt Dillahunty is a magician, but is primarily known for his debates with religious people. He runs a video channel called the "Atheist Debates Project" where he deconstructs different arguments, good and bad, and is an ongoing project to make people more reasonable. I love his personal motto:
“I want to believe as many true things and as few false things as possible.”
Here is their full conversation on stage, which runs just over an hour:
The one thing he said, which seems to have generated some discussion is that he prefers to be called a conjurer instead of a magician. Superficially, conjurer just sounds like a snobby British equivalent to magician. Although originally, a magician was supposed to be a person with "real" powers whereas "conjurer" has built into the definition the idea that it's magic tricks — a facsimile of magic.
Personally, I've opted to go with magician. This is primarily because it's simpler. (There's nothing worse than having a word on your business card that most people won't understand.) But also out of a desire to reclaim magic as a secular term. Since we all know "real magic" doesn't exist — subject of course to your own personal definition of real — we should be able to use that term for the magic that people do in real life... you know... in a magic show.
