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Choo Mantar 2014: Magicians from all over India gather at the national biennial magicians’ convention

Choo Mantar 2014: Magicians from all over India gather at the national biennial magicians’ convention

Thanks to the EconomicTimes for the article..

Eggs are constantly appearing from people’s ears. You can’t unfold a handkerchief without a coin falling out of it. Bouquets routinely flutter into life as pigeons. Rabbits lower and raise themselves from top hats with sombre professionalism.

I am at Choo Mantar 2014, the national biennial magicians’ convention. All around is frenetic activity. The convention features seasoned veterans as well as jittery debutants making their big splash in front of their peers. There is a competition round and participants are making frantic last minute practice passes. The auditorium is slowly filling up with friends and family. Wives of magicians look on fondly as their husbands await their turn. Magicians from all over India have gathered, from birthday party conjurors to top-flight illusionists who disappear elephants on whim…

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That’s not magic: Penn, Teller and Derren Brown reveal all (or do they?)

That’s not magic: Penn, Teller and Derren Brown reveal all (or do they?)

Brian Logan for the Guardian..

In tune with our sceptical times, magicians debunk the supernatural. But are they really as rationalist as they claim?

It’s odd that we use the same word to describe those who merely pretendto make magic happen on stage. Few in their audience – kids notwithstanding – may ever have believed that stage conjurors genuinely dabble in the supernatural, but at least that’s what the acts occasionally purported to do. They called themselves magicians because they enjoyed generating the sense that what they did on stage was real magic.

Not any more. These days, the big magic acts – including the biggest of them all, Penn and Teller, who are in the UK this week – debunk the supernatural. Derren Brown’s another prime example..

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Steven Galloway’s ‘The Confabulist’ Reimagines the Legend of Harry Houdini and Explores the True Power of Magic..

Steven Galloway’s ‘The Confabulist’ Reimagines the Legend of Harry Houdini and Explores the True Power of Magic..

By Morgan Ribera for Bustle..

Magic: the art of illusion, the masterful practice of sleight of hand and deceit, the tools through which magicians can make others believe, if only temporarily, in something they know to be impossible. Such magic, and its evolution in the early 20th century, is the subject of Steven Galloway’s latest novel The Confabulist (Riverhead). In it, he explores the veracity of memory, the fictionalization of identity, and the role of magic and illusion in our everyday lives through the story of infamous illusionist Harry Houdini.

The novel opens with narrator Martin Strauss, a magic enthusiast and rather ordinary man whose story is told alongside Houdini’s in alternating chapters. Strauss is Galloway’s fictional version of the real life fan who allegedly punched Houdini in the stomach at a Montreal theater in 1926. In this opening chapter we find Strauss in a therapy session…

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Darcy happy to give magic good name..

Darcy happy to give magic good name..

Thanks to Yahoo TV and Press Association..

Britain’s Got Talent magician Darcy Oake has said he is grateful to get some recognition for his act, because there are so many bad magicians around that it can be difficult for people to get excited about.

Darcy is Canadian but has come to the UK to compete in the ITV talent contest in the hope of launching his career, and flew through to the live semi-finals with approval from all the judges, including known magic-hater Simon Cowell.

He said: “Magic is never really the most respected art form and it’s kind of, I wouldn’t say looked down on, but it’s like, ‘Oh right, you’re a magician, right here we go…’ Because in the grand scheme of things, there are a lot of bad magicians…

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