Happy New Year from everyone here at Hank Lee's Magic Factory. A healthy and prosperous year, as they say. Now that I have reached the advanced age of 60, I find that staying up until midnight on New Year's Eve is a genuine chore. So, I thought about it a lot, and decided that TiVo is the answer. So, last year, I TiVoed (is that a word?) Dick Clark's Rockin' New Year's Eve 2009. The whole show. And I kept it all year. Now, on New Year's Eve, I can start Dick up at 6:00 PM and watch the ball drop in Times Square at about 9:30. Seriously, how much different is New Year's Eve 2009 than New Year's Eve 2010? Not very, sez me. And, this way I can have a sip of champagne, blow the noisemaker and be tucked in by 10:00. Sometimes, my smartness amazes me.
The day after Christmas, my beloved wife Bonnie threw me a little surprise party to celebrate my turning 60. It was so much fun! Lots of family and friends in attendance. Bonnie worked really hard cooking and freezing and freezing and cooking for the past two months. I wish I could say that it was a complete surprise, but being the Sherlock Holmes of surprises, I figured it out. Even without the element of surprise, it was a fine party! Thank you, dear.
In the magic world, the week between Christmas and New Year's is historically, how shall I say it, a lazy week. This year, a whole bunch of new stuff showed up, much to my surprise! Of course, we have it for you in this week's Hotlist.
The Conclave is roaring forward! We have added more talent to the already amazing lineup. David Garrity will be closing Friday night with his illusion show. And, two time Magic Castle Magician Of The Year Danny Cole will be opening the Saturday night show. I am thinking that this year is looking like one of the best Conclaves ever! Check it out by Clicking Here. Now is the perfect time to register.
I hope that you took advantage of our End Of Year Sales Event. It was supposed to end tonight, but I have decided to extend it for one more day. Which brings us to today's excitement!
End Of Year Sales Event EXTENDED: For the next 24 hours, from the very moment you receive this email until Saturday, January 1st at midnight, everything (well, almost everything) is on sale at 30% off the retail price. All you need to do is enter the special code ENDOFYEAR in the Discount Coupon Box of the online checkout at www.magicfact.com and we will automatically deduct 30% from your order total. If you are calling your order in to the Toll Free Order Line at 800 874 7400, FAXing your order to us at 781 395 2034 or emailing us your order to magicfact@aol.com make sure and mention the special code so you can save a huge 30%!
• The minimum order to use the 30% off discount is $30.00.
• The 30% is deducted from the retail price of the item. No intermediate discounts (such as HankoGram pricing) may be applied. In the case of sets, such as DVDs and Videos, the 30% is deducted from the retail price of each item and not from the set price.
• We cannot combine offers.
• Certain items, due to contractual restrictions, are not included in this sale. All Joe Porper items, Viking/CW items, Kennedy Enterprises items, Colin Rose items, Mike Caveney Books, Johnson Products items, theory11 items, MagicSmith items, Greater Magic Teach-In DVDs, One Of A Kind Collectors' Items and a few other items are not included in the sale.
• If you place an order for an item that is not on this list or not noted in our online catalog, but is excluded from the sale, we will let you know before processing your order.
• Coupons and Reward Points may not be used as part of this sales event.
• As the discount is automatically generated, you must put the special code ENDOFYEAR in the Discount Coupon Box. You may have to scroll to the bottom of the page to find the box, but it is there. If you are not sure how to do this, please phone your order in to our toll-free order line at 800 874 7400, and we will take care of you. We cannot offer discounts retroactively.
And that's it. It could not be easier. So, get your order together and save yourself some serious money! But, act quickly. The sale positively ends Saturday, January 1st at midnight, Eastern Time
Now, let's take a look at this week's Hotlist
(1) Switchblade – Dan Harlan: Color changes, vanishes, transpositions and more! This one gimmick does is all!
Switchblade is a precision-made mechanical device that looks like an ordinary card. But, this clever gimmick is extraordinary! This modern tool eliminates difficult sleight-of-hand allowing you to perform impossible card magic.
Change one card into another, make the back visually change color, perform an incredible 3 Card Monte, vanish a selected card from your hand and it reappears in the deck held by the spectator, and more! In the included video instructions, Dan Harlan personally performs and teaches you how to use your Switchblade gimmick to do all of this without the hard work.
And the best part is, Switchblade is so versatile and fun to use that you'll be coming up with your own routines in no time. Previously only available to a select few, Harlan has finally made his ingenious gimmick available to you so that you can experience the thrill of Switchblade!
$25.00 (30.1560)
(2) Mental Epic Compendium – Paul Romhany: Mental Epic is one the most powerful effects in the mentalist's repertoire. This book is packed with fifty-four routines and ideas for the classic effect. The Mental Epic Compendium is the definitive work on this classic of magic and mentalism, and is destined to become a classic in mentalism literature.
Hen Fetsch invented the effect in 1954, and over the past five decades it has undergone many different variations. However, most magicians and mentalists still own an original Hen Fetsch style board. This book covers routines for the standard Mental Epic prop and it's modern variations, as well as One-Ahead routines that can be performed close-up and impromptu using post-it notes, business cards and index cards - all without the board.
Contributors include:
Banachek, Kenton Knepper, Bob Cassidy, Larry Becker, Dan Garrett, Kostya Kimlat, Sean Taylor, Richard Webster, Bev Bergeron, Alan Shaxon, TC Tahoe, David Regal, Gerard, James Biss, Danny Archer, Bill Abbott, Paul Alberstat, Whit Haydn, Patrick Kuffs, Vanni Pule, E Raymond Carlyle, Tony Binarelli, Mick Ayres, David Seebach, Professor Spellbinder, Bob Tripp, Hal Spear, John T Sheets, Dr. Bill Cushman, Rob Domenech, Ken Dyne, Charles Gauci, Dave Lord, Nathan Grange, Wayne Rogers, David J O'Connor, Ken Ring, Adrian Saw, Jonathan Royle, Christopher Berry, Jheff. Bill Cushman, Chuck Hickok, Peter Arcane and several routines by Paul Romhany
360 pages. $49.95 (BK01751)
"You only have to look at the list of contributors to know this book is special. I'm thrilled to find that they all love this effect as much as I do." - Richard Webster
(3) Diary Of Decision – Doc Dixon: For centuries, magicians have said that playing cards - even a single playing card - could reveal a person's innermost thoughts. Now you can prove it!
Explain to your participant that playing cards can actually reveal how a person feels about life's biggest metaphysical questions.
The spectator removes a card from the deck and places it aside.
You ask her five questions of a metaphysical/afterlife nature, including, "Do you believe in destiny? Do you believe in ghosts?" etc. And, a fifth question entirely of her choosing and creation.
She picks up the Diary of Decision, an artistically crafted hardbound book with a gold foil embossed cover.
The book has a personal thought profile for each card of the deck, including answers to the five questions.
She turns to the profile for her card. The profile matches her first answer. The profile matches her second answer. The profile matches her third answer. The profile matches her fourth answer. And it even matches the answer to the question she created herself!
Includes several bonus routines
Plays big for close-up, strolling and platform.
The Diary of Decision easily fits in your pocket.
No memory work required.
Several routining options from virtually sleight free to entirely sleight free.
Routines are built into the book for such special situations such as anniversaries and birthdays.
Includes instructional DVD.
$39.95 (40.768)
(4) 21 – Magic By Sweden DVD:Ten inventors and performers of magic took siege of the magic bar in Stockholm to record project 21. The following takes place between 10 am and 11 pm:
Axel Adlercreutz
The Self Bending Straw - A drinking straw bends by itself as you hold it lightly.
Circle Vanish - A very visual coin vanish.
Two Ring & Rope Moves - Fast, clean and super visual linking and unlinking of a ring and rope.
Erik Nordvall
Memoradix - After three increasingly impossible card locations, the deck ends up in new deck order.
The Real Green Shuffle - Lennart Green's false riffle shuffle with Erik's addition.
Johan Ståhl
Sleeveless Sleeving - A pen appears, disappears, appears and transforms, a crash course in sleeving!
Sleeveless & Purseless - Bonus sleeving.
Jonas Ljung
Forced Will - An impromptu prediction of how the spectator will place random objects on the table.
Joachim Solberg
JS Card Control, Double Lift and Top Change, adapted into three short and powerful card tricks.
Anders Modén
Cherry Blossom - Not suitable at the dinner table. Regurgitation, sort of...
Suction - Impromptu, designed for dinner seatings.
Tim Star
Ace routine - Includes Ace Production, the Turnover Muck Switch, Vanishing Aces, the Breakaway Case.
Micke Askernäs
Display Bend - Cheeky and visual spoon bending.
Askernas Retention Pass - Utility coin vanish.
Tom Stone
Redneck Remedy - An innovative twist on the multiplying bottles.
Gap Drive - You will love to practice this magician fooler.
Clink Catch - An eye catching stunt. Start with coins, turn them into anything you like.
Tomas Blomberg
Time After Time - An amazing principle. Three spectators, a shuffled deck and a series of random events leading to three impossible card revelations that will probably even fool the performer.
$39.95 (DVD01226)
"I have rarely enjoyed watching a magic DVD as much as this one. The productions values are top-notch, the setting is elegant, the inventors are charming and well-rehearsed, and the material is of an extremely high quality." - Gordon Bean
"Ten of Scandinavia's most clever and talented magicians demonstrate and teach their magic on this new DVD. This is creative, energetic and visual magic in a beautifully produced DVD, highly recommended." - Matthew Field, Editor, The Magic Circular
(5) Ink-Portation – Devin Knight:I love tricks where the spectator's signature migrates from one place to another. Devin Knight's new Ink-Portation is a terrific version of that effect!
Show a blue deck of cards and have a card freely selected from the face up deck. There is no force.
The spectator signs his name on the face of the card.
Place the signed card into a window envelope. The audience can see the blue back of the card through the glassine window.
Prop the envelope up and leave it in full view.
Introduce a Blank Face card that has a red back; this is examined by the spectator and found to be ungimmicked.
Place the blank face card inside a second window envelope so the red back shows through the glassine window.
Prop this envelope up so the audience can see the red-backed card through the window.
The two envelopes can be placed far apart to enhance the effect.
Explain that you will attempt to teleport the ink and the participant's signature from the blue card and cause it to appear on the Blank Face red-backed card.
When the selected blue-back card is removed from the window envelope, the face is found to be blank. The participant can examine this card as much as he likes. His signature and the ink have vanished, leaving nothing but a Blank Face card with a blue back.
When the red-backed card is removed from the second envelope, it is no longer blank. It is the signed selected card, but now on the red-backed card.
The participant may keep this card as a souvenir.
Baffling beyond words, and a strange effect that will be long remembered.
Comes complete with envelopes and cards.
No double lifts or sleights of any kind.
No wax, sticky stuff, rough & smooth or stuck together cards.
No carbons, fake or duplicate signatures.
So easy to do that you will fool yourself. You will marvel at the ingenuity of this effect. Baffling beyond words!
$29.00 (30.1562)
(6) The Magic Of Melies - Fifteen fantastic works by the cinema's first special effects wizard including the documentary Georges Méliès: Cinema Magician.
Decades before the term "special effects" was coined, audiences of the newborn cinema were witnessing spectacular screen illusions, courtesy of the medium's first master magician: Georges Méliès.
Such films as The Eclipse (1907) and Long Distance Wireless Photography (1908) not only demonstrate Méliès's astounding employment of double exposure, makeup, editing and theatrical trickery but provide mesmerizing insight into the social context of his work, which blended Victorian approaches to astronomy, superstition and feminine beauty with the unnatural wonders of 20th-century technology and heavy doses of slapstick. The centerpiece of the collection is The Impossible Voyage (1904), presented with the authentic frame-by-frame hand-coloring and narration penned by Méliès himself.
Georges Méliès: Cinema Magician is a documentary on the filmmaker's life, integrating rare photographs, early drawings and numerous clips. It charts Méliès' rise from shoe factory worker to proprietor of Paris's mystical Théatre Robert-Houdin, where he learned the skills to become a cinematic illusionist and developed an interest in the supernatural,
$24.95 (DVD01225)
(7) Cutting Ten – Henry Evans: Demonstrate that you can cut off ten cards every time from a deck of card!
Three different spectators are invited to also cut to ten from the remaining deck.
Explain that if everyone cut exactly ten cards from a standard 52 card deck, then there should only be twelve cards remaining. Counting the remaining cards proves that some of the spectators may not have cut ten cards.
Further explain that cutting to ten doesn't mean ten cards, but the '10' card in the deck and proceeds to reveal the top card from each stack is a different 10 card (hearts, diamonds, etc.).
If that weren't enough, the next four cards under each 10 are turned over, revealing a Royal Flush for each cut stack.
Explain that being able to cut to 10 can win you lots of money; turn cards face up from the deck, one at a time. Each card has a different currency symbol, US Dollar, British Pound, Japanese Yen, etc. The entire remaining deck is fanned out and all the cards have currency symbols!
Comes complete with instructional DVD and specially gimmicked deck.
NOTE: DVD will only play in computers with DVD drives.
$30.00 (30.1561)
(8) Silk To Cube: Show the audience a colorful cube and a red silk. Poke the silk into your hand and place the cube into your pocket. Instantly, the examinable cube reappears in your hand. The silk is found in your pocket!
Or, a silk poked into your fist morphs into a solid, one-inch six-sided examinable cube.
Or, "cut" a sponge ball is cut in half with just your index finger producing two balls. One by one the sponges are placed into your hand and both change to a single solid, examinable one-inch cube. $29.95 (10.1617)
And that's this week's Happy New Year Hotlist! Great stuff at a great price. And, once last chance to save with our End Of Year Sales Event. Sounds like the perfect mix to me!
As always, I want to thank you for taking time out from your busy holiday schedules to spend a little time with us. Whether you visit online at www.magicfact.com, or in person at 102 North Street in Medford, we truly love the company!
Hank
