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Mandrake the Magician Returns to Inside Magic Daily..

Mandrake the Magician Returns to Inside Magic Daily..

image  Tim Quinlan, publisher of the uber-informative INSIDE MAGIC, and the undisputed, foremost magic writer on the entire planet, announces that Mandrake the Magician has returned… 

Check out Mandrake and Inside Magic at:   http://www.insidemagic.com/magicnews/  

He’s back.

The most famous magician in all of comics has returned to grace the pages of Inside Magic.  We are so excited to have Mandrake available to the loyal readers of Inside Magic.

Lee Falk  created the iconic character and it started its continuous run in the newspapers of the world on June 11, 1934.  That was several years before Inside Magic took shape but we carried the strip for years.

Now that we have relocated to our current Hollywood, California location and are flush with cash, we decided to re-up our subscription through King Features.

Wizard Wars Series Premier..

Wizard Wars Series Premier..

  From Syfy news release. 

Premieres Tuesday, August 19th at 10PM – This competition series takes viewers behind the scenes of magic by challenging a new team of magicians each week to create the most jaw-dropping illusions using an array of random objects and transforming them into eye-popping miracles. The winning team of challengers in the first round then take on the expert “home team” of world-renowned wizards – two-time World Championship of Magic winner Gregory Wilson, Wynn Resort resident magician Shimshi; YouTube sensation Justin Flom, and internationally renowned Mentalist Angela Funovits. Judges include Penn & Teller, Jason Latimer and Christen Gerhart. Production company: A. Smith & Co. (Hell’s Kitchen, Joe Rogan Questions Everything, America Ninja Warrior). Executive producers: Arthur Smith, Kent Weed, Frank Sinton, Tim Eagan, Penn Jillette and Teller…

(Editors note: This series was originally scheduled for broadcast in March. Due to unannounced conflicts, the series premier has been rescheduled for August.. Stay tuned for any further updates..) 

Why Kids Are Better At Figuring Out Magic Tricks..

Why Kids Are Better At Figuring Out Magic Tricks..

Why Kids Are Better At Figuring Out Magic TricksBy Richard Feloni for Business Insider..  Photo:Flickr/PhotoAtelier

If a magician’s life depended on fooling either an audience of adults or an audience of kids, every magician would rather perform for the adults, says Alex Stone, a lifelong magician and author of “Fooling Houdini.”

In “Think Like A Freak,” the new book from “Freakonomics” authors Steven Levitt and Stephen Dubner, Stone explains why the average 8-year-old is much better than even the most brilliant adult at seeing through a magician’s illusions.

The theory is based on the idea that kids operate without a lifetime’s understanding of how the world works, “and magic is all about turning your assumptions and expectations against you,” Stone says. “When you’re pretending to shuffle a deck, they don’t even notice you’re shuffling.”

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A wave of the hand, a trick of the eye..

A wave of the hand, a trick of the eye..

By Bill Brownstein for The Gazette

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MONTREAL — Richard Sanders performs an incredible feat on stage. Something akin to alchemy. He can take a $20 bill and transform it into a cool $100.

“The funny thing, though, is that this trick never works offstage, in real life,” says Sanders, holding court on the Comedy Nest stage. “If it did, I might be inclined to give up this magic business.”

The Montreal native is considered to be one of the world’s greatest sleight-of-hand magicians. He even fools other magicians. He has also imparted some of his knowledge to such superstars as Criss Angel, David Blaine and David Copperfield.

Sanders, 45, has been mystifying audiences around the world for 25 years. He will do more of the same Sunday at the Comedy Nest, when he performs along with such noted tricksters as Jonathan Burns and the legendary Romaine in a spectacle with the hopefully prophetic title Spectacular Sunday!

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