Still Worth the Drive to Acton

I was in Acton last weekend doing a special fundraiser for Heritage Acton. It was a gorgeous space and a wonderful audience and we had a great time.

I was a little surprised to wake up to an email saying that our fundraiser made the front page of the local newspaper, The New Tanner:

The Tanner - March 8, 2018 (Photo by Les Schmidt)

From the review:

“James Alan amazed and amused, baffled and confused, but mostly delighted and entertained the audience at the Acton Town Hall Centre last Saturday night, with his Magic and Martini show. The full house enjoyed dinner, cocktails, and an evening of playful sleight of hand puzzles, loopy rope entanglements, and hilarious audience participation.”

The World's Greatest Stevens

What could be better than waking up on Monday morning and finding out that there is a clip of two of your favourite thinkers chatting for an hour? The fact that both are named Steven. 

Stephen Fry and Steven Pinker are two of the most eloquent speakers and writers I've ever come across. They're talking about Pinker's new book Enlightenment Now. You can see it sitting on the table between them as they chat. It's quite large and I'm about a third of the way into it. So far it's amazing. The thrust of the book is simply that the world is not actually going to hell in a handbasket. Things are getting better... much better... shockingly fast... and for some reason, nobody wants to notice. More importantly, we can understand why it's happening, and try to do more of it.

So if anyone needs me for the next little bit, I'll be watching this:

Photos from Magic & Martini in Toronto

Thank you to everyone who attended our performance of Magic & Martini last night. Here are a few photos courtesy of Ivan Bekcic.

We have dates available in April. Readers can use the secret code OLIVE for a special discount on the price of tickets when booking online. 

Photos from The Newest Trick in the Book

The Newest Trick in the Book, a special show put on every week by the Toronto Magic Company. It's hosted by the zany and magical Jonah Babins (who uses words like "bonkers" and "bonanzos" in everyday conversation.)

It's a safe place for magicians to try out new material, and always a great deal of fun to go to. I try to make it out even when I'm not performing. The best part of all, it's a pay-whatever-you-feel-like show. 

Tuesday night, I was on with Leigh Beadon, Ryan Brown and William West. Here are some photos from the night, courtesy of Philip Bowser. 

The History of the Universe in Ten Minutes

One thing almost everyone is genuinely terrible at is thinking about large numbers. Any time you can take huge numbers and make some more comfortable comparison, it's a huge help. Here someone put together a history of the known universe (13.8 billion years is the current best estimate) and condensed it down into ten minutes so you can get a sense of the relative timescales.

Don't hold your breath looking for humans. We don't show up until the very last frame.

The Newest Trick in the Book

Tomorrow night, I'll be taking part in a fun pay-what-you-can event in Toronto called The Newest Trick in the Book. 

This is a weekly event put on by the Toronto Magic Company. A group of magicians get together for a show which only has one rule: new material only. This is the magic community's safe place to play and experiment with new ideas, and it's a place to see things never before seen. 

I'll be appearing with Jonah Babins, William West, Ryan Brown and Leigh Beadon. 

The event is entirely pay-what-you-feel-like. If you're free, please join us at:

See-Scape
1840 Dundas Street West, Toronto
Tuesday, March 6, 2018 - 8:30 PM

The event is usually quite full, so come early and grab yourself a good seat! See-Scape is also a video game bar, so after the show is done, you can indulge in some good old fashioned Mario. Start at 8-bit and work your way up!