Browsed by
Month: October 2016

Meet the ‘magician’ saving children from life on the streets

Meet the ‘magician’ saving children from life on the streets

Andy Stein shifts on the balls of his feet, leans against a wooden railing, and fidgets.

In front of him, a CNN camera-man readjusts the light stand. Behind him, a group of children calls out from a distance, “Tio Mago.”

Stein turns. “They’re calling me ‘Uncle Magician,’” he says with a gleam. “We really do need to hurry. I have to do the magic show before we leave. I promised them."The interview ends a few minutes later, and Stein, 52, bounds up the brick steps of the Senderos de Paz, a home for Colombian children ranging from ages 3 to 10, with the same youthful energy as the dozens of tiny audience members, awaiting the show.  Read more…  (Image from CNN )

http://www.cnn.com/2016/10/26/americas/andy-stein-orphaned-starfish/

David Copperfield is the highest paid magician in the world.. See the list..

David Copperfield is the highest paid magician in the world.. See the list..

While most people give up on magic tricks when they hit puberty, the fortunate few who persevere can wind up on a lucrative career path.

To put this into context, the highest paid magician, David Copperfield, earned far more in the last year than the highest paid TV actress, Sofia Vergara, and virtually the same amount as the highest-paid actor in the world Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnsonaccording to Forbes.

While Copperfield, a famed American illusionist, made an estimated $64m (£52m) in 2016, Johnson earned $64.5m (£53m) and Modern Family actress Vergara earned $43m (£35m) in the same period.

Copperfield, who has walked through the Great Wall of China, made the Statue of Liberty disappear and levitated over the Grand Canyon, is a near-billionaire. Forbes estimated his net worth at $800m (£654m) in 2013 and estimates him to be the most commercially successful magician in history.  Read more…

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/people/forbes-highest-paid-magicians-david-copperfield-a7381856.html

What Houdini ate: An Austin archive reveals foodie facts about the magician…

What Houdini ate: An Austin archive reveals foodie facts about the magician…

Eric Colleary, curator of the theater and performing arts collection at the Ransom Center, has a side interest: The history of foodways, how eating habits and culinary practices change through the eras.

Colleary maintains a blog, The American Table, in which he documents his experiences trying historic recipes for dishes such as Election Cake  and delves into topics such as the story of butchering in America.

“Food hits all the senses,” says Colleary. “Tasting foods made from historic recipes gives you a sense of the labor, the skill, the economy, the geographic and historical influences, and the palate of a person.”

And so when he set out to organize an exhibit in conjunction with the 90th anniversary of Harry Houdini’s death, Colleary culled the Ransom Center’s collection of the magician’s papers and books for any information on what the famous illusionist liked to eat.

Says Colleary: “For a figure like Houdini, (understanding what he ate) cuts through the legend directly to the person, who, like everyone else, has to eat.”

The Houdini exhibit, on view through Nov. 6, dovetails with “Houdini Speaks to the Living,” a new play devised from the Ransom Center’s Houdini and Sir Arthur Conan Doyle collections to imagine the two men in a debate about the true nature of magic. Read more….

http://arts.blog.austin360.com/2016/10/20/what-houdini-ate/