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Month: August 2016

Brooklyn Magician Jim Vines Wins National Close-Up Magic Championships of 2016..

Brooklyn Magician Jim Vines Wins National Close-Up Magic Championships of 2016..

NEW YORK, Aug. 15, 2016 /PRNewswire/ – Jim Vines, a sleight-of-hand artist from Brooklyn, NY, has won 1st Place at both major US National Magic Championships of 2016 performing his unique style of Close-Up Magic.

Photo – http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20160815/397988

Close-Up Magic happens in the hands with ordinary objects using sleight-of-hand dexterity to accomplish the magical illusions. In his award-winning act, Vines uses new techniques and original methods never seen before.

In the world of professional magicians, two major Magic Championships take place in the United States each year. The International Brotherhood of Magicians Gold Cups Championship was held in San Antonio, TX, on July 4, 2016, and The Society of American Magicians Contest of Magic was held in Indianapolis, IN, on July 14, 2016, with hundreds of professional magicians from around the world in attendance.

By winning 1st Place in both of the major magic championships,Jim Vines became the 2016 National Champion of Close-Up Magic.  "To me, close-up magic is the purest form of the art.  It happens right in front of the audience’s eyes, with no place to hide,“ Vines says. "It was thrilling to compete with such amazing magical artists from around the world.”

Vines, age 49, a member of the Academy of Magical Arts, has been practicing magic for over 35 years. He has won over a dozen major magic awards for his sleight-of-hand performances, but the 2016 National Championships are his highest awards to date. In his championship act, Vines starts with empty hands and sleeves rolled up, and then proceeds to make a profusion of coins, credit cards, $100 bills, and even a gold bar appear from nowhere.

Over the next year, Vines will be performing his act in New York City, Las Vegas, Canada, Italy, France, the United Kingdom, and Argentina.

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MAGIC Magazine Ceases Publication..

MAGIC Magazine Ceases Publication..

Las Vegas, NV
Tues, 16 Aug 2016
23:13 PDT

After 25 years, Stan Allen announced here at the MAGIC Live! convention last night that the current (August) issue of MAGIC magazine is the last. As his swan song, he will publish, over the next two years, a set of 25 magazines called “MAGIC Legacy”. These will be issued with no fixed schedule, but the complete set (and you must purchase the whole  set – they won’t be in stores and you can’t buy by the issue) will have arrived by August 2018.

At that time, there will be one more (the ninth, and the last?) MAGIC Live! convention. If you enjoy magic conventions at all, I predict this will be The One to attend.

I spoke with Stan this afternoon, thanking him for all he’s done for magic over the years. As we chatted, I tried to read whether he’d considered turning over the reins of MAGIC magazine to someone else. He saw where I was going with my questions and stated emphatically to me, “Nobody else is going to publish my baby. This is it.”

For more info, go to magicmagazine.com > In This Issue > subscribe
and you’ll be told about the Legacy Magazine instead…and what to do if you currently have a MAGIC subscription that has not yet expired.

Your magic reporter,

Bob Leedom…. 

Editors note: A special THANKS to Bob.. who is currently attending MAGIC Live! and is reporting directly from the convention.. 

Will Houstoun: Magicians don’t think imitation is sincerest form of flattery..

Will Houstoun: Magicians don’t think imitation is sincerest form of flattery..

Will Houstoun is a writer, editor, magician and consultant. He has a PhD in Victorian conjuring and is the current literary fellow at the Academy of Magic Arts, Los Angeles. 

If there is one thing I have learned in more than a decade working as a conjurer, it is that coming up with a good magic trick is really hard. The process fundamentally involves doing two things. First, you create the effect, what the audience will see. Obviously this must be something impossible, but that is just the starting point. Impossibility should be taken for granted, the thing you create must do something more. Having chosen an interesting impossibility, you must then work out how to make it happen in a way that is undetectable to an audience. Even after doing both of these things you will still have little to show for your effort, beyond a few scribbles in a notebook. It takes a huge amount more time and effort to produce something that is ready for performance.

And that’s just for one trick….  Read more

https://www.thestage.co.uk/opinion/2016/will-houstoun-magicians-dont-think-imitation-is-sincerest-form-of-flattery/