Tomorrow's my birthday. Happy Birthday to me. I'm gonna have a good time. 'Cause my birthday falls on Saturday and I can sleep late. I am very excited about my birthday this year. The big 55. Finally, my age matches my IQ. I would never ask any of you to do anything special for my big birthday, unless of course you want to. Cards are nice, even those sent by email. Presents are nice, but certainly not expected. Really. Anyway, I am hopeful that this year I get to be both older and wiser. Could happen.
We are in the heat of the holiday excitement right now. The holiday season is all around us. The orders are flying in. The elves are scurrying about. I am sitting in the big chair reading "The Little Engine That Could" aloud to inspire them all. It's a beautiful sight. Just so you know, the elves are doing an amazing job this year. All the orders are going out the door, on time. We have multiple Fedex pickups every day, as well as USPS pick-ups. Sometimes four a day. They can't believe the number of parcels we are shipping this year.
For those of you who are last minute shoppers. We can ship as late as Friday the 23rd by overnight Fedex and still get your order to you in time for the big day. Of course, we'd prefer that you not wait until the 23rd, but if you must, you must.
Don't forget that the Conclave is coming up sooner than soon. The dates are April 21-23, 2006. Honestly, there is no better holiday gift than a Conclave Registration for someone you love. And, you can even get it online. Just click on the Conclave Button at magicfact.com. So easy.
And now it's time to check out the holiday Hotlist!
Burning Up DVD - Nathan Kranzo - Strong routines with cards and coins from the working repertoire of a professional magician.
If you have seen Nathan’s previous releases Outside The Box and Visual Voodoo then you know what to expect from this new release. Strong audience tested magic with a high level of visual impact.
Highlights include:
Tip Trey: Visual card magic at it’s best! Inspired by the work of Lee Asher, Karell Fox and Gaeton Bloom this is one of most amazing and easy card suspensions you will ever see.
Homing Tie: At the end of a marathon card routine a signed selection becomes part of your wardrobe!
Funtac Inflation: You will freak when you see a penny visually grow to 100 times its original size! Then you will laugh when you see the easy method.
Fire Coins: This one is worth twice the asking price of the DVD! Silver Dollars appear one at a time with each strike of a match. You’ll have to watch to see what happens next.
Smells Like Aces: The four aces explode into reality. You wouldn’t think things like this were possible with a deck of cards.
Nathan’s handling of cards and coins is smooth and elegant.
On this DVD Nathan teaches you exactly how to produce and vanish a silver dollar so it looks like real magic.
He teaches tips on coin magic, tips on the versatile Mercury Card Fold, tips on pocket management and sleeving and much more. $34.95 (on special this week for $31.95!)
(http://www.hanklee.org/xcart/customer/product.php?productid=8081&cat=&page=1)
Shufton Okito Box - What's so special about Steve Shufton’s Okito Box?
First, it’s a box that will hold five coins. Why five coins? Standard Okito boxes are designed to hold only four. That means that when you shake the full box, your audience will hear nothing! If the box is designed to hold five coins, when it has four coins in it your audience will still hear a distinctive rattle, letting them know the box is full! Another advantage to the five-coin chamber: In a standard box, the fourth coin is level with the rim. When one coin is removed, it is visually obvious. With a five coin chamber, this becomes a bit less obvious and adds another level of deception, allowing you to display the interior much more freely.
Second, the box has a little extra height. Why extra height? Standard Okito boxes make rim stealing rather difficult because your hand has to be pushed so low, it becomes difficult to make the steal. Although extra height is already added to this box by the five-coin chamber, Steve added just a little extra in the base. This makes rim stealing so much easier! Now the move is quick, easy and invisible!
Third, the box has an extra thick rim. Standard boxes have thin, dainty little rims that make depositing a coin on the rim difficult. When you do balance the coin on the rim, standard boxes barely make an audible sound. It just doesn’t sound like the coin went in the box. The Shufton Okito Box has an extra thick rim. You can put a coin on the rim knowing that it will stay there until you steal it, and you can do it with a loud clink that will convince your audience that the coin went into the box.
The box has a weighted bottom that makes turn over corrections a breeze and sure fire.
The box will accommodate a shell with no fear of sticking or jamming.
The Shufton Okito Box is the sturdiest, most versatile, most deceptive box you will find for doing all of your favorite moves. Carefully hand-crafted by one of the leading brass workers in the world. Each one is stamped to assure authenticity. If you are an Okito Box enthusiast, you will want one of these beauties in your collections. $39.95
(http://www.hanklee.org/xcart/customer/product.php?productid=8084&cat=&page=1)
Perfected Prediction - Kenton Knepper - You meet with bookers, steering committee or what have you. They bring their own letterhead. They may emboss something more on their own letterhead too or have a notary do so. The people (all legitimate - no one is in on it) sign the paper, draw doodles on it and so on to ensure the paper cannot be switched. They can add stickers, etc. to the paper - there is no photocopying.
With a marking pen, you write your predictions on top of these signatures for contrast. Flash what you have written, but obviously do not let the people see exactly what you have predicted yet.
This same paper is sealed in an envelope.
During the show some of the people who signed the prediction come forward with the envelope. They open the prediction themselves. No funny business opening up the prediction. The people agree that this is the original paper with their original signatures (it really is) and they read your predictions written in marker on this very page - just like they saw you do from the start.
Your predictions of headlines, what the people will wear to the show or whatever are 100% correct.
No sleight of hand. No switches required. No stooges. No forces.
The audience and committee are entirely fooled. The paper you and they write on originally is the same paper they read and open in the show.
There is a little secret something needed that you can buy locally for one or two dollars. This is easy to obtain and, combined with all the details in the manuscript make for the Perfected Prediction. Other effects and bonus work is included using this secret.
Kenton has held this secret prediction close to his vest for many, many years. Like Kolossal Killer, he is finally releasing it, for those willing to read. The power is in the material, not in the length of the manuscript. Like "Killer" it is only 25 pages long. It is the last word on predictions - as real as they come. If you could dream up the best scenario for yourself as a performer and for your audience, you'd end up at this same conclusion. The good news is that Kenton has done the work for you already. It may have taken decades, but now it is all here for you to use too. The Perfect Prediction is yours at last.
Do it on stage, one-on-one for a friend who visits with you, stand-up and more. $20.00
(http://www.hanklee.org/xcart/customer/product.php?productid=8082&cat=&page=1)
Deck That Shuffles Itself - Sit back and relax, this is The Deck That Shuffles Itself, brand new from Dominique Duvivier.
A deck that obeys your every command. The deck does exactly what you want it to do, and you don’t even need to touch it!
Take the deck out of its case. Spread the deck face down, then face up. Everything looks perfectly normal.
Put the deck aside and mime shuffling an “invisible deck.” Go further, still miming, and pretend to shuffle the deck half face up and half face down.
Take the real deck and spread it on the table. To everyone’s great surprise, the cards are shuffled face up and face down. The deck responds to your command, as if it was enchanted!
Put the deck aside once more and, using your “invisible deck” mime separating the face up cards from the face down cards. Take the real deck and show that all the cards are facing the same direction! Whoa!
And there is more. Your deck responds so well to your wishes, that you only need to make a magic move above the cards and all of them change instantly into the Queens of Hearts. The cards were all different just a second ago. You just had to snap your fingers to transform the deck completely!
One last surprise remains. And, it’s a good one! Without giving it away, just take a peek at the picture. Pretty crazy, eh?
The Deck That Shuffles Itselfis printed on Bicycle Playing Card stock by the US Playing Card Co. It’s very easy to do, and requires no sleight of hand at all. The deck does all the work for you. $35.95 (special this week at $32.95)
(http://www.hanklee.org/xcart/customer/product.php?productid=8085&cat=&page=1)
The Ultimate Marked Deck is the marked deck you have been dreaming about!
Printed in Bicycle Poker Size cards by the US Playing Card Company.
* Identify any card without seeing its face.
* Read the identifiers of the cards directly without having to mark the card yourself.
* No codes. No symbols to interpret. No marking system to learn.
* Hand out the deck without fear of detection.
* Instant location and direct reading of the marks.
* Reads the marks from across the room!
All the qualities of the ideal marked deck at long last brought together in the Ultimate Marked Deck.
In Red or Blue! $29.95
(http://www.hanklee.org/xcart/customer/product.php?productid=8086&cat=&page=1)
Cerebro Solo - Mentalism is about to enter a new age -- the age of Cerebro! The impossible suddenly becomes possible, beliefs will be redefined, and you will leave stunned and fried audiences of laymen and magicians in your wake. Cerebro is truly the next level in mentalism.
Cerebro is a devious and novel spectator cueing system that allows the realization of hitherto pipe dream routines. The spectator-as-mindreader plot takes on a new meaning and is made more direct and cleaner than ever thought possible.
Cerebro is an integrated electronic cueing system for the professional mentalist, the direct culmination of many years of research and testing. With it you can implant thoughts directly into the mind of a spectator. They will literally hear your voice inside their head! It is like having the gift of touch telepathy.
The original Cerebro sent shockwaves throughout the world of mentalism and for good reason. It heralded the advent of one of the first genuinely new principles to be used for cueing. Until now, the technology has been jealously guarded by a lucky few, but due to popular demand, James Cheung has created Cerebro Solo designed specifically for solo performers to covertly cue spectators.
Here are some of the routines possible with Cerebro:
* PK Sounds - Two volunteers are seated at opposite sides of a room. Both are blindfolded and one is asked to place their fingers into their ears so they cannot hear anything. A word is whispered to the other volunteer but both hear the word! A baffling and genuinely new interpretation of PK Touches.
Thought Jump - A performer fans a deck of cards to show they are all different. The cards are then fairly riffle shuffled and a member of the audience selects a card and remembers it without showing the audience. Another audience member comes on stage and is asked to read the mind of the other spectator. The performer then places a hand on the spectators, acting as a conduit for their thoughts. The second spectator correctly names the card the first spectator chose and is revealed to be 100% correct. This can be done with any information you like, not just cards. However pre-show work may be needed. This is the ultimate in direct and impromptu spectator-as-mindreader effects.
Hypnotic Realities - Any spectator brought on stage can appear to be hypnotized by you. No exceptions and will work every time. Hypnotic Realities is a direct and pure application of the dual reality principle that will leave audiences with the impression that you are a master hypnotist.
Cerebro can also be used to make any object you hold emit sound. The transducer effectively turns solid or hollow objects into a "speaker." It's very eerie and James Cheung has even used Cerebro to make an empty glass "sing" a prediction! $1000.00
(http://www.hanklee.org/xcart/customer/product.php?productid=8087&cat=&page=1)
Before I Forget DVD - Mark Elsdon - Mark explains the method and psychology behind his opener, Balance, which surely has to be one of the most incredible close-up suspensions ever released. No fake deck, no magnets, yet a deck of cards impossibly defies gravity. Twice!
No Moves is a delightfully clean ambitious card routine which climaxes with the selection eerily creeping out of the deck.
Chaos is Mark's final handling of his previously marketed Chaos and Order trick. It is that rarest of creatures - a self-working triumph effect.
The opening to a more formal show or stand-up performance, Memorisation looks exactly like the real thing: the performer remembers the order of a shuffled and cut deck.
Celebrities is a very commercial version of the 'Fred' trick which offers the ultimate synthesis of presentation and method and has the happy side-effect of being the ideal way to hand out your business card.
Swindl-esque offers an unusual visit to everyone's secret passion - that's right, binary mathematics!
Pre-prefiguration is Mark's work on a Jennings effect. It is so clean and direct that one of Larry's friends declared it to be the best trick that he saw during the whole of his lecture tour throughout the UK a few years ago.
Mark also shares the timing and blocking for his handling of card-in-mouth and his presentation for the one rubber band trick that works one-on-one or for an audience of 500.
Finally, in My Grandfather's Book Mark engrosses the spectators in some personal history that includes several very unusual coincidences involving an old book and some commemorative playing cards. $43.00
(http://www.hanklee.org/xcart/customer/product.php?productid=8088&cat=&page=1)
Gone DVD - Ryan Lowe - Enter stage left, Ryan Lowe, a newcomer to the magic world. He's here to show you he means business with his very first video release: Gone
Inside this video you'll discover why he is someone to look out for in the future. He has taken something in magic that is long considered to be old and stale and turned it on its head.
What effect has he turned on its head?
The assisted coin vanish, that's what.
He has taken what we think of effects like the Raven and Melt to a whole new level. He teaches how to perform one of the most visual and clean vanishes ever. Not only that but he teaches five more that are even better. Vanish on the side. Vanish in front. Vanish with your arms as far away from your body as possible. And that's just the basics...
It doesn't stop there, as you will learn a completely new way to perform "Lethal Tender," a favorite of many magicians. You'll learn how to turn a borrowed half dollar into a sponge ball and much more. $25.00
(http://www.hanklee.org/xcart/customer/product.php?productid=8089&cat=&page=1)
And, that's all the great stuff in this week before the holidays Hotlist! The great news is that we can get you anything you order in time for the big day. Just order by the 23rd of December.
I hope you will find some time in your busy schedule to spend with us either in person at our beautifully decorated for the holidays store at 112 South Street in Boston or online at www.magicfact.com. Either way, we love the company!
Hank Lee
