European Championships of Magic

Only three days to the Blackpool magic convention 2011. It will also be the world's first European FISM with the championship competition. I am attending and I will be competing next Friday around 2:20 PM. Needless to say, I am very nervous, yet excited. My competition act consists of two of my favourite sleight of hand pieces with an ordinary deck, with a special FISM-esque finale. I will do my updated version of Suit Apparation (or "Tamed Spades" as I once called it) and a special Sandwich routine that I've been working on for the past few years.

I will try to capture lots of video footage over the weekend to share with anyone who couldn't make it this year. And you can be sure that there will be a special 52 Times a Week episode filmed during the convention. Possibly even more than one.

Exciting times. That they are.

To clear things up...

People keep asking me if I got the idea for this project from a guy named Calen Morelli.

So did I?

-No, I didn't.

Who came up with the idea first?

Well...

It is of course very easy to check the dates who posted the first video. I found out about his thing after people started asking me about it. I started doing this on August 10th of 2010, and a month later (September 9th) he posted his first video and started his project. I believe he was inspired by 52 Times a Week, since he appears to be a longtime subscriber of mine on YouTube.

So there, I hope that clears things up.

Good luck to Mr. Morelli with his "365 days of Magic".

#23 Counterintuition

This is a video I filmed a few weeks ago but decided not to release it since there is something that I'm not happy with. I have many tricks ready to film, but the most difficult part of this project is not coming up with something every week - it's getting things filmed with some spectators.

This was filmed during the same session as the "Guessing Game" was shot. There were a few other things as well, but I don't think I will be uploading the whole set.

COUNT-er-INTUITION

#22 Blankwich

Here is an interesting little idea that I came up with a friend of mine a while ago. Having any thought of card appear in a blank deck in sandwich style. Now the video here may seem a little goofy all around, but that's what happens when you have a nice night out and do too many card tricks.

Thanks to Vilho for the camera work and thanks to Juan Tamariz for being such a lively assistant.

Situation check

I have two tricks ready for filming, but I'm missing a camera man and an audience. The other one I could do without an audience, but the other one would be simply pointless as it has a thought of card involved.

Last week's video is already late and I'm trying to get it filmed ASAP. If I can't get it done then I'll just have to come up with something easier shoot.

Thanks for your patience.

#21 Alone

I'm all alone. I don't have a camera operator. Oh, well, actually... I do. But I haven't had time to work with her. I'm actually doing shows pretty much every day at the moment to prepare for Europe's FISM Competition in Blackpool next month. The act has been well received by the general public, but I have no idea if magicians are going to like it. Exciting times. That they are.

Anyway, here's my hand.

#20 Guessing Game

Here is an intresting idea I came up with few days ago. The trick is based on an Al Baker idea (I think) and when I started playing around with it I quickly came up with three different handlings for this effect. This handling is the cleanest one.

The performance is maybe a little bit too long and each revelation could be presented more dramatically, but this is what you get when you have a tight schedule to keep up with. Guessing Game.