New Videos on YouTube

Here's another video for those who just love mind magic

Tell me if you enjoy the trick by leaving a comment below :)

Venturing into New Grounds

I am known as a close up card magician. I am really into cards more than any type of magic. Lately I have been rereading other books on magic theory and more on presentation points. Most of this books are more on mentalism and this has made me think that I could incorporate more of this mind-reading and mental effects into my routine.

There are two things which made me venture into learning mental effects. One is my left wrist had an injury and I might now be able to do card tricks and other sleight heavy close up magic if this injury becomes worse. This is also why I really do not write much in my blogs anymore.

Also what pushed me into venturing into mental effects is that I am seeing very bad mentalism acts on TV. Acts that supposedly come from psychic powers from the performer who is claiming to have honed it through the years. I mean why the hell should I believe him when all I see is him duplicating drawings which could be easily done. As for his other effects, all of these are readily available in the Internet.

I really couldn't forget how he did White Star by Jim Crithclow (a Titanic themed act) to people who might actually be to young to know about the ship or even to see the movie. I mean if this was done 13 years ago then it might have an effect. However for teenagers, I mean do they even give a damn about it?

The worst thing that he did which bothered me a lot is that he claims to talk to the dead. I mean if you brand yourself as a mentalist, then you shouldn't brand yourself as a genuine spiritualist. Capitalizing on grief and emotions from the relatives of the dead is really very disturbing especially when you talk about the ethics of magic. I think that the network airing the show should reconsider about continuing a show with an obvious charlatan who claims to have powers.

Anyway, with all that ranting, I just hope that people I could show to more people what does really mentalism look like without any claims of possession of supernatural or paranormal powers. I want to share an experience of real magic and astonishment instead of sharing something which you obviously know is fake.

Two New Magic Videos

I have two new magic videos of my live performances during a get together with friends. Watch and enjoy these two new videos and I hope you subscribe at my YouTube Channel.

Jordan's Live Magic Show Part 1

Jordan's Magic Show Part 2

Subscribe and Rate.

Stop Performing Half-baked Tricks

I admit, this is how I have been when I was a beginner in magic. After learning a trick, I practice a little then perform it almost immediately. It was okay at first but after learning the more complicated tricks, I find myself struggling in performing and end up "flashing" a couple of times. It wasn't really a big problem back then but as time went by, I had tougher audiences and this was not helpful at all in performing. It has affected my confidence as a magician and it results to a mental block. This problem is obviously not only my problem, but a problem of magicians as well. I've seen a lot of magicians performing (actually murdering) a very good trick.

This is why now before performing any trick for audiences, I practice it everyday and if I think I am ready, I perform it in front of my family and my friends. If the trick goes well then I will perform it one more time to the toughest audience there is in my magic, who is no other than my girlfriend who sees if I'm doing it well. Her silence is good enough but when she laughs then I know that the trick has gone good.

So have someone who could provide you the proper critique when performing. It may be a magician, but I prefer a non-magician because after all, the one you would be performing for most of the time is a non-magician.

Happy 137th Birthday Houdini

I came across today's Google doodle and I was surprised that it commemorated the birthday of one of the most famous and successful escape artist of his time, Harry Houdini.

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What I want in a magic book

As you may know, I learned magic from books and I have a lot of books and e-books on magic. Unfortunately, I don't find all the material that's in there useful. There are just a lot of bad tricks in there that are not really performable in shows.

There are a lot of bad magic books out there. Some have bad photos, bad instructions and the worst is a lot has bad tricks in them. With a lot of bad things in a lot of magic books, I really can't blame those who prefer to learn from videos.

The solution I could see is to include the following things in the description of a book.

1. List of tricks with descriptions.

This may not be applicable to beginner's magic books but for intermediate or advance books (especially e-books) this would really be helpful. I have books that contain over 50 tricks that are most of the time essentially the same. I think having descriptions would help us to know if your book is really worth buying.

2. Simpler instructions

Okay here is something that not all may not agree with me. I have to say that most e-books have instructions that contain a lot of jargon. Well they expect you to know how a sleight for a trick is done however they don't even care to explain how it is done. Even worse is that they keep on using acronyms or abbreviations for a sleight mentioned at a beginning of the trick. Example of this is something like "DL top two cards then do the DS then cull the rest..." I wish they include even a simple explanation or method for any necessary sleight for the tricks.

3. Clearer pictures

Here is a problem with a lot of books. Either they have bad drawings or really blurry pictures. I really have to say that I hate e-books with bad photos that you can't even understand if a picture is explaining something necessary. Also something related with this is that if a photo is placed beside a text only to see that the photo is for an instruction for another page. I think that if you can't place a good photo, don't place it at all.

I just have to say that these are the things that I wish I could see in magic books. In this way I could really appreciate not only the tricks in it but also the magician who took the time to write a book.

A tip to be a successful magician: Interaction

One thing I noticed with good magicians is that they are able to maintain a certain level of interaction with their audiences. They are able to make their audiences participate and interact with them that they are not just performing but leaving the audience an experience.

This brings me to think that magic is not just performing but having interaction to leave your audience with an unforgettable and magical experience. Though I heard a lot about the magic moment within a performance, I think a more magical moment is what you leave with them to be remembered.

This is something that I've been thinking of, since I'm seeing a lot of not so good magicians on TV. You can't even say they are the best in technique and their performances are not really that magical. To top it all most of them don't dress properly especially that one of them has too much make up.

Yes I know that Stage Magic is a different thing altogether but performing and interacting properly with the audience should still be seen. Especially that you keep on performing with the audiences behind you that inadvertently gives away the secret.

Anyways, what I really just want to say is that, magic should not be about you or them, it's the interaction between you and your audiences, the experience that something magical is happening, not the experience of being tricked.

Magic E-books for learning

I actually download a lot of e-books over the internet. Unfortunately not all are good material and worse some are really just a waste of money. I'm writing this post to give fellow magicians advice on the things to consider when buying an e-book.

Tip # 1: Always buy from a reputable site

Buying an e-book is the next best thing on how to learn from books. Getting it from a good website and not from torrent downloads, not only supports the magician who spent time and effort, not to mention cash, in building a great website, but also protects your computer from malware and other viruses.

Tip # 2: Don't get too tempted with the "blurb"

A blurb is more like a testimonial on what the book is all about. Mostly they are true but sad to say some are really exaggerated. Also be careful when reading an e-books description, what you should look for is the content of the book. Try to look if there is a preview of the contents and if possible a description on each effect in the book. In this way you could see what your money’s worth before buying the book.

Tip # 3: Buy a book that suits your level

Most e-books on magic either teach one effect (usually priced from US$1-5) and those that teaches a lot (from US$10-20). Usually I go for the one with more material as it offers me a variety of things to learn and usually it has better effects than those that teach only one. Also if you’re going to buy one make sure that you have a good grasp of the basics in magic as most of these books expect you to know already what the sleights that are mentioned in the book.
I hope these tips help before you go purchase and e-book.

The importance of knowing and doing well a lot of sleights or moves

I am currently reading two new magic books containing more advanced material for both card and close up magic. Reading these books made me realize the importance on how when I was just starting to learn, I tried to learn a lot of moves rather than the effects themselves. I invested a lot of time studying, dissecting every effect into each move, memorizing them and applying them to other effects (both original and adapted) so that it would be more convenient and natural for me when doing it.

I added a discussion on what I think are the most essential (most useful in a more exact sense) sleights that a magician should learn. I added the discussion since I am seeking more opinions and insights on what else should a magician learn so that he/she could improve his/her act.

I was really thankful that I learned the moves and practiced them a lot since it helped me understand new-learned effects better and made it easy for me to perform something new with minimum practice.

Product review: Sleight of Hand and a Twist of Fate by Joshua Jay

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I really think that Joshua Jay is one of the best magic mind out there. His effects are really stunning and the originality of his ideas really make it suit the magician of today. There are a total of nine effects on a 65-page e-book and I think it's worth every cent of it. Honestly, I think this book is suited for intermediate level magicians as some of the terms listed as well as the effects need a better basic understanding on the fundamentals of magic. The photos provide a good view of the methods, however the text related to it could have been explained more clearly. Over all this e-book gave me new insights as well as powerful effects that I will surely add to my repertoire.

The e-book is available for US$15.00 on Vanishing Inc Magic

My MAGIC Inventory

For the past few years that I've been doing magic, I never thought that I'd collect things related to it. I'm surprised that my magic stuff filled up one big box and I'm thinking of getting another one just in case my collection grows.

With all that I collected through the years, I shared the best and worst experiences in magic with them. I hope that someday I'll become better and share only the best with them.

Putting the Context in your Effects

This is maybe one of the most important lessons I learned from Joshua Jay's book. Putting an effect in context is something that most magicians,especially beginners, miss. The bad thing about this too is that even soem seasoned magicians actually fail to do so (refer to this post).

In my opinion what makes most effects out of context is that most of the time we stick to the methods up to the patter and presentation that we forget to make an effect our own. Quoting Bruce Lee he would always say about martial arts is that one should absorb what's essential and make it your own. In other words when we learn an effect we should think on how to perform it right to suit our own style and when we should perform it.

Going back of putting an effect out of context, I remember myself when I was still beginning with magic, I would actually copy almost every word that ws written in the book. In doing this I get the most bored reactions from the audiences and that really is the worst feeling a magician could get.

Well copying an effect up to the level of word per word isn't the only way to put an effect out of context. Another way is that adding the wrong and unecessary things and performing it at the wrong type of audiences. I've seen a lot of very powerful effects being performed by seasoned magicians that ended badly and boringly, and honestly I rather watch an amateur magician perform mediocre effects with the right audiences.

I hope that with this new learning, I would see improvement not only me but also with others who have read this blog.

Until then,

Receiving a letter from a great youtube magician

Just this Monday I received in a letter from my e-mail from one magician whose videos are in this blog. I wrote a few entries about beautiful magic videos found on youtube. Here is his letter to me:

Hello Jordan.

My name is Antonio Zuccaro, a non-professional cardician from Naples, Italy. The reason why I'm writing to you right now is to give you a warm "Thank You" for putting some of my Magic videos on your blog. I really appreciate that! One minor thing: my surname is "Zuccaro" and not "Zucarro" :-P

Your blog is a thing of beauty, keep it up!

Warm regards,
Antonio Zuccaro

To show you how really good he is with magic here's a sample video from his offical channel:



I really appreciate how those I look up to in magic would actually find this blog and actually appreciate the effort. Hopefully my blog will reach more readers to share more magic from all over the world.

If you think you have good videos on youtube, you could send me an e-mail then who knows I might feature it here and if I feel more generous I might even throw in an e-book or two. So tell me about your videos so that we could share them to everyone in the world.

Make your own magic

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In one of my magic books, it is strongly encouraged that a magician be creative when he makes his own props. Most of the time the materials needed when constructing props could be found just around your home.

I admit that there are times that I am a pack rat. In other words I keep lots of materials that I might find useful someday when I need it. Well it has prove to be worthwhile to store some items but of course I immediately throw out those without any use already.

An example of this are all my nonworking earphones from my MP3 player. I saved a few of them knowing that I could use some parts of it. Lo and behold I was actually able to harvest from it a prop that sells in some magic shops fro over $12.00!

Well as we all know it all comes down to creativity. The stuff that the stores are carrying might have started from the garage or even from the garbage. Just remember to let your imagiiantion flow and soon you might be able to create your own magic.

Magic Review: Gecko

I received my gecko two weeks ago from Magicians.com. The Gecko is described as a utility tool used primarily for vanishes. It could vanish almost anything, provided that you have a lot of practice and mastery of the device.

The Gecko itself is not a trick, rather I would say it is a utility device that could help you achieve miracles. Here are a few things that you could do with it according to it's description.

Here are just a few of the effects you can master with The Gecko:

* Vanish coins!
* Vanish cell phones!
* Bent and restored bottle cap routines!
* Instant coin transformations
* Vanish business cards and credit cards!
* Use as a Hold-Out Device too!

The possibilities are endless. You are only limited by your imagination!

Yes the Gecko could truly all do that but don't expect that you can do it immediately after you open the box. As I have said it requires a lot of practice and an intermediate level in magic. This device isn't recommended for beginners since a beginner would surely have a hard time

The kit includes 2 complete assemblies; one regular and one heavy-duty. It also comes with a spare "change out" gimmick and all necessary supplies. Also it includes a DVD that would cover the basics of the device and some killer routines to perform.

For the kit I am really happy that it is assembled before hand and all you have to do is adjust it to conform to your body and after that you could start practicing with it. Although it would be hard at first, after you have learned how to adjust yourself to certain aspects then surely you're off to a good start.

You could buy your Gecko here at a limited time low price offer. To see it in action you could watch my video here.

The weekend was great and the magic was better

Last Friday, I went home immediately upon the news that the package that I have been waiting for has finally arrived. Upon arriving home I got the package, opened it and started tinkering with my new "toys"

I was really surprised that there were a lot of extras in the package and of course as part of sharing the magic I gave one extra: the wonder mouse to my younger brother. (He collects by the way prank stuff such as a sticky mouse, a fake cockroach etc.)

I had fun with the Party Magic which I won at Club Magicians during the anniversary week. I had fun producing a flower out of an empty pot, refrigerator, and even on a shoe. Also I had fun with the wand which doubles as a blowgun for hecklers LOL. NO just kidding the wand is really something useful in the kit.

Anyway with the other package I received (something I wouldn't want to reveal as of the moment) I was really surprised with it on how simple it is despite the effect it brings. Also what I loved about it is that it is also very versatile in terms that you could use it other than it's original purpose.

I really love these two new toys of mine and I'll be posting a video of me doing what I learned from these.

Come Join us at Club Magicians 1st Year Anniversary

If you have nothing else to do on the week of January 26-30, why don't you log on the internet and go to Club Magicians by Magicians.com and we'll be celebrating its First year anniversary! Club Magicians is one of the leading Magic websites out there when it comes to exchanging ideas among magicians and other magic enthusiasts.

Here are the details:

Join in the party!
When: January 26-30, 2009
Time: All day, every day with special appearances nightly by very special guests!
What: Live video chats from leading experts and magicians in the magic world! Lots of fun - contests, prizes, giveaways, and more!

Special Guests
Live Video Chats (all chats scheduled for 8pm EST/7pm CST/5pm PST):

* Monday - 26th: Jeremy Hanrahan - Magician, Creator (Entity)
* Tuesday - 27th: Justin Meitz - Magician, Author
* Wednesday - 28th: Jim Rosenbaum - Creator (Gecko), Magic Innovator
* Wednesday - 28th: Andy Amyx - Magician, Creator, Magic Instructor
* Thursday - 29th: Danny Orleans - Corporate Magician


Magic enthusiasts and the magic community alike are invited to join in the “Magicians.com: Sharing 1 Year of Magic” festivities for a jam-packed week full of magical events! During the week of January 26-30, 2009, Club Magicians will feature an all-star lineup of special guests for live chats and discussions, contests and giveaways, prizes and much, much more.

So what are you waiting for mark these dates on your calendars!

Watching TV and discovering a magic show

I was watching TV last night when I saw Rannie Raymundo's The Boss The conjurer show on ZTV on local TV. It was ok especially when they perform but problem is the set of the show makes it look very cheap. In my opinion it looks as if it was a home video shot in a garage.

Here's a sample video of the show




Sad to say but the show seems to me to be a very low budget one. The Black Background on the hosts table made it look bad and even worse the lighting was really bad. Sad to say although the magic was great the show isn't and some acts are quite boring.

Like last night there was this guy who was supposedly doing card manipulations. Honestly it was very boring. Obviously there was a mistake when the black flash string was lit it didn't burn the flash paper wherein supposedly the fan of cards would come out. Besides that the music was boring and producing fans and fans of cards (actaully the same two fans I think) are quite boring. I switched the channels after seeing how he produced the same cards over and over again.

I may not be good at card manipulations but hell I know which is a good one.Anyway back to the show, I have a suggestions though for the show not to be boring. Seeing that it is a show made for magicians, I think too much is given for magicians to see rather than just entertaining audiences. Maybe they should think about the format of their show rather than just showing magic tricks why don't they entertain using it?

Anyway just voicing out my thoughts and maybe just maybe I could find a better TV magic show.

What a magician does when he Buys Shoes

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Over the long weekend, there was a big sale on a mall near us and fortunately I just received my salary, so I thought of buying something for myself and that is a pair of rubber shoes. The ones I bought were the exact ones in the photo and I was really able to buy it at a very good bargain.

Before I was able to buy this pair, I looked all over the mall, in each stall trying to find a good pair for a good price. If I were a normal guy I would have been annoyed with myself because it took me very long to buy a shoes.

It took me so long to buy shoes because I am really conscious first of all with the fit then of course the look. The shoes should be comfortable when I wear them, that's why I need a perfect fit of it. When it comes to style of course I wouldn't want to look anything like a clown with over sized shoes.

Something I think that most people wouldn't do is to levitate when they buy shoes. Actually I was just looking on the shoe mirror on how it looks like on me, until a saleslady suggested that I use the full body mirror. So I followed her advice and as I was looking through every detail on how the shoe looks, I decided to practice a very simple levitation trick performed by David Blaine for his first TV series.

Here is how he does it.



I was actually practicing it and a good thing is that no one else was watching me perform it in front of the mirror. I really don't know what will happen if anybody had seen it.

Oh well it really seems a little weird but whenever I buy shoes I try to levitate one or two times to see if it works well with what I buy.

Give a man enough rope and he will hang himself. Give me enough rope and I'll show you a trick!

Cross posted at Magic Daydreams

Yeah the first line of the title really sounds desperate. Yes Desperation is actually an anagram of "A rope ends it"and a lot of us has felt despair one way or another but if you are reading this it means that you haven't ended yours yet with a rope. Good for you because for me if you give me enough I'll end your desperation by using rope too.

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No I'm not hanging you or anything! If you give me enough rope maybe we could end your desperation if you let me show you a trick or two with it. If we are both desperate the better because we'll be learning that it's not by the rope around the neck that will end it rather it will be by the rope on skillful hands that would make you believe that no matter how impossible a thing is to achieve as long as you believe you'll be able to achieve it. (Ok this is redundant but you get my point right?)

Honestly I have always wanted to do some rope magic. Although I don't get to practice it a lot I have a lot of methods right here in my head ready to be performed even with borrowed rope. I'm not bragging or maybe I am but maybe I should just be performing rather than bragging right?

Well hopefully I could get some rope to practice on but I must be careful with it because the moment I get mad at a heckler I might be showing a trick: Bind the heckler. Anyway until then my rope magic still has to wait.