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Marvin’s Magic conjures sales success in Australia..

Marvin’s Magic conjures sales success in Australia..

By Robert Hutchins for Toy News..

The firm is now forecasting sales in excess of $1m for 2015/16 and reports strong response to its magic sets from children and parents alike.

Marvin’s Magic has conjured an international following, with reports of annual sales for 2014 reaching $1m in Australia.

With an expanding Australian customer base, the magic play-set specialists have secured partnerships with big name Australian store groups, including Australian Geographic, David Jones, Myer and Kidstuff.

The firm is now forecasting sales in excess of $1m for 2015 and 2016.

The Hertfordshire-based firm, founded by Marvin Berglas, a magician and entrepreneur, embarked on its Australian adventure in 2012 when it contacted UKTI for advice on finding the best route in to the market.

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What a Magician Carries in His Travel Bag..

What a Magician Carries in His Travel Bag..

By Hilary Potkewitz for The Wall Street Journalimage

Back in his hotel room after every performance, Ryan Oakes methodically goes through all his pockets and lays everything out on the bed, taking inventory.

The ritual takes a while. Mr. Oakes is a professional magician who has his suits custom-made with extra pockets—10 in all. He performs at corporate events and parties. He might mingle in the crowd doing card tricks, mind games and lighting the occasional $100 bill on fire. He has an hour-long stage show that incorporates magic and mentalism.

Mr. Oakes, 36, has performed for Fortune 500 companies like TD Bank, the Ritz Carlton and Google, and at executives’ private homes, including Paul Tudor Jones of Tudor Investments and Stephen Schwarzman of the Blackstone Group. He is based in New York City but is on the road seven to 10 days a month.

He needs to pack strategically. “Many of the items I carry will get flagged by TSA, not because they’re dangerous, but because they look funny,”….

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The Unbelievable Skepticism of the Amazing Randi..

The Unbelievable Skepticism of the Amazing Randi..

A very in-depth article by ADAM HIGGINBOTHAM for The New York Times..

A few minutes before 8 o’clock one Sunday evening last July, around 600 people crowded into the main conference hall of the South Point casino in Las Vegas. After taking their seats on red-velvet upholstered chairs, they chattered noisily as they awaited the start of the Million Dollar Challenge. When Fei Wang, a 32-year-old Chinese salesman, stepped onto the stage, they fell silent. Wang had a shaved head and steel-framed glasses. He wore a polo shirt, denim shorts and socks. He claimed to have a peculiar talent: from his right hand, he could transmit a mysterious force a distance of three feet, unhindered by wood, metal, plastic or cardboard. The energy, he said, could be felt by others as heat, pressure, magnetism or simply “an indescribable change.” Tonight, if he could demonstrate the existence of his ability under scientific test conditions, he stood to win $1 million.

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Behind the Scenes With One of Broadway’s Biggest Magicians

Behind the Scenes With One of Broadway’s Biggest Magicians

By Aimee Heckel for Huff Post Weird News..

The cold blade brushed against my shoulder. The sword snagged my left sleeve. He pushed, but noticed resistance. He quickly pulled me out of the box.

Aha, I thought. That’s why magician’s assistants wear tight clothes.

This is where Adam Trent, one of the world’s biggest, up-and-coming magicians, began. Nearly a decade ago in a small theater in Boulder, Colorado, with a starving writer hoping to make an extra buck as his magician’s assistant.

The magic world is calling him “the futurist,” the next big thing for magic. Others call him “Justin Timberlake meets David Copperfield;” he’s been known to dance on stage, and he’s an admitted boy band wannabe.

Today, Trent, now 29, is taking his magic to Broadway in New York, as part of a group of the first magicians to hit Broadway in nearly two decades. The last magician on Broadway: David Copperfield, at the launch of his career.

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