Greetings from all of us at Hank Lee’s Magic Factory. Have I mentioned what a winter we are having here in Boston? Tuesday, the temperature hit 55 degrees. For just a minute, I thought I was in Florida. Then I looked around. No alligators. So, I knew I was here at home.
And, how about those New England Patriots? In the Super Bowl again. By the hair of their chinny-chin chins. The AFC Championship game was a nail biter right up to the end. As happy as we all were for our Patriots, I was really sad for the Ravens. A missed field goal from a short distance was a lousy way to lose the game. Anyway, on Super Bowl Sunday, you will find me up to my elbows in Buffalo Wings routing for the home team!
This week, we sent invitations to all of our Facebook friends to attend the upcoming Conclave. It used to be really easy to do so, but now Facebook has changed so that you have to click on each friend individually to send an invite. A Herculean task, but we did it! Speaking of the Conclave, and aren’t I always, we just added Spain's fabulous Enric Magoo to this year’s lineup. Very exciting. He’ll be doing his award-winning Frankenstein act, and taking a turn at close-up. Do I have to remind you to register? It’s just three months away!
Lucas the Singing Son is off to Houston this week to audition for the Rice University graduate opera program. Funny thing about Rice. It wasn’t at the top of his list, until Julia started there this September. Now, he is very excited to audition there? Hmmm.
And, that’s all the news from here, make sure and check out this week’s Excitement.
BUY MORE GET MORE: Starting right now and running through Tuesday, January 31st at midnight, we are having our famous Buy More Get More event.
Here is how it works:
For each order you place during the event, you will get a Promotional Gift Certificate which you can use towards a future purchase here at Hank Lee’s. The value of the coupon depends entirely on the size of your order. Here is the breakdown:
* Order between $25.00 and $100.00: Coupon is for 20% of the merchandise total. (Orders less than $25.00 get our sincere thanks, but sadly no coupon)
* Order between $100.00 and $300.00: Coupon is for 25% of the merchandise total.
* Order over $300.00: Coupon is for 30% of the merchandise total.
When you place your order online at www.magicfact.com, please put the secret phrase BUY MORE GET MORE in the Customer Notes Box of the online checkout. If you place your order by email or FAX, just include the secret phrase with your order. And, if you place your order by phone, toll free at 800 874 7400, please mention the secret phrase to get your coupon. The coupon will be sent along with your order and can be used whenever you wish, no expiration date. You will get a coupon for every order you place during the event. Just don’t lose the coupons, please. The Buy More Get More event includes every item we carry!
And now, this week’s Hotlist!
(1) Megarita – Jay Mattiola: Jay Mattiola’s Megarita is a jumbo-sized glass, filled with whatever liquid you wish, that vanishes in mid air! Limited only by your imagination, use this giant glass for any liquid magic routine and then vanish the entire glass and contents. Included is Jay's original routine:
Standing on a small table is a giant, 17 inch tall by 12 inch round, Margarita style glass, filled to the brim with Jimmy Buffett's favorite refreshment.
Begin to garnish the Margarita by shaking some salt out of a salt shaker around the brim of the glass, then pour the entire contents of the salt shaker straight into the drink.
Then in one big slurp, you drink more than 2/3 of the Margarita at once. With a mouth filled with the icy beverage, you reach between your lips and begin to pull out a long, lime green streamer, 25ft long!
Bunch up the streamer and from the bundle, you pour back all the salt that was previously mixed in the drink, completely dry!
For a killer finale, you cover the giant glass, still filled with some liquid, with a beautiful foulard, carry to the edge of the stage, throw the cloth in the air, and cause the giant glass and liquid vanish in a blink!
This routine can be changed to use fruit punch, milk, or whatever, pouring sugar into the glass and then reproducing the sugar from the streamer. Or, once you produce the streamer, the streamer can be used to produce any load that will fit within the folds of the streamer. This is all taught on the included instructional DVD.
Also explained is a white wine to red wine transposition effect which you can also perform as a lead-in to the vanish of the jumbo glass filled with wine!
The outfit comes complete with jumbo Margarita glass, table, foulard, mouth coils, (6 each red and lime green), straw, DVD and the extras.
$899.00 plus Freight. (60.1814)
Note: This is a non-discountable item.
(2) Maestro – 4 DVD Set -Rene Lavand & Luis deMatos: Rene Lavand is a true master of magic. An elegant and skilled magician who turns every performance into a theatrical experience. Now you can see Rene Lavand performing his professional show at the Ajuda National Palace in Lisbon, Portugal. Shot with multiple cameras and in high quality video this is an opportunity to see Rene Lavand at his best.
These DVDs include explanations for Rene Lavand's professional act:
The Credential, Ace, 2, 3, 4, The Sonnet, Ambitious Card, Three of Spades, Why do the Colors Alternate, The Copla, It Can't Be Done Any Slower, Calling the Cards, The Three Bread Crumbs, Card in Wallet.
Plus signature compositions:
The Greek, The Cumanes, Gitano Antonio, Duel in the West, The Tijuano, Old Man River, The Pygmalion, Spanish Deck Routine.
And techniques:
False shuffles, cuts, deals, palms, change and deck switch.
This stunning new DVD Box Set from the Essential Magic Collection.
The incredible magic of Rene Lavand, 4 DVDs, 8 hours of performance, explanations and interviews.
Subtitled in 5 Languages: English, French, Spanish, Portuguese and Japanese.
$150.00 (DVD01318)
Note: This is a non-discountable item.
(3) Reflections – Helder Guimaraes: Foray deeper into the mind of Helder Guimarães, a supreme conjuror and philosopher of the art. Discover the secrets to his most talked about effects. Be inspired from his profound thinking and psychological analysis. Immerse yourself with the finer elements of magic that transcend amateur to professional.
Reflections is a personal manifestation of Helder's passion for magic, featuring five remarkable effects with cards. Every nuance is explained. From conception, technique and audience management to creative solutions, the end result is enlightening.
However, this is not a guide for the magician wanting to learn a few quick tricks. These are audience tested performance pieces meant to be studied and applied. Beautifully bound in a soft linen, Reflections is 150 pages with 60 illustrations
$39.95 (BK01835)
Note: This is a non-discountable item.
(4) Ultimate McDonald Aces – Jean-Pierre Vallarino: If you enjoyed the Ultimate Wild Card, here comes Jean-Pierre Vallarino's take on the McDonald's Aces routine.
This DVD presents 2 different version of the trick: The basic routine, that comes complete with the special gimmicked card to perform, and the ultimate version designed for serious card workers.
* Both back and faces of the cards are shown during the routine.
* Each Ace vanishes in a different way, using a different method, therefore, making the performance more and more impossible.
*Easy to perform for any card magician
* Gimmicked card included in Bicycle 808 Rider Back.
* Comes complete with instructional DVD
$25.00 (30.1666)
(5) Dunes Day Prophecy – Meir Yedid: A topical and engaging routine that’s a real fooler!
Show three poker chips from the famous Dunes Casino in Las Vegas, which at one time was the most luxurious hotel in the world, where all of the greatest performers appeared.
There’s a $100.00 chip, a $25.00 chip and a $5.00 chip.
A spectator freely selects one of the poker chips. It turns out that you have predicted which chip they will select with 100% accuracy.
Comes complete with commemorative Dunes Casino poker chips, a collectible playing card used at the original Dunes, a custom designed lambskin wallet and photo-illustrated instructions.
$30.00 (40.815)
(6) If An Octopus Could Palm – Dan & Dave Buck: Dan and Dave's first book reveals over a dozen conceptual palming techniques designed to inspire new ways of thinking about the age-old practice of holding out.
Highlights include a method for replacing a bottom-palmed card to the top of the deck, a switch loading a palmed card beneath the top card in the action of turning it over, a variation of the Miller Cascade Control that allows for the card to be palmed and a streamlined approach for executing the Diagonal Palm Shift from a peek.
What is palming? Basically, it's the techniques magicians and gamblers use to secretly remove cards from the pack into hidden positions in the hands. Gamblers refer to it as holding out. In fact, a card can be palmed from any location in the deck into pretty much any palm position without your spectators ever suspecting. As a result, these cards can be surreptitiously placed either back on top, bottom, or anywhere you conceive (your pocket, a shoe, your spectator's purse, even another palm).
Palming also affords the ability to retain certain cards while the spectators shuffle, only to be replaced later, under your control.
Beautifully printed and bound with luxurious features such as a foil embossed title, a tip-in reproduction of the original cover art by Juan Luis Buñuel, a protective dust-jacket and color accents throughout, If an Octopus Could Palm is 90 pages with 109 hand drawn illustrations.
$65.00 (BK01836)
(7) Avatar Cards: Two Avatar Cards are printed on transparent plastic plates
The Avatars are placed into the face down deck at positions freely selected by the spectator.
Wherever they are placed, they will always find their mates!
You offer to share the secret with the audience. Show that you actually use a blank face deck! The pips painted on the transparent plastic cards cover blank cards and make them look like real cards.
One moment later it becomes obvious to the spectator that the cards are real and exactly match the Avatar cards!
Easy to perform. All the props are examinable. Everything is supplied including red backed blank Bicycle deck. $29.95 (30.1668)
(8) Logical Deck – Masuda & Touson: Without touching or looking at a selected card, you can divine the name of the selection even without asking question. This can be done with the Logical Deck.
The secret is the intelligent and subtle markings on the deck. The Logical Deck is a whole new marked deck.
As far as an ordinary marked deck is concerned, you cannot read a mark of a card in the middle of the deck. However, you can do that quickly with the Logical Deck. You can read the markings of two cards in a moment.
Even experienced magicians will be fooled unless they know the marking method.
The instruction manual includes two basic handlings and a routine with a trick deck.
Includes gimmicked Bicycle Deck.
$32.00 (30.1667)
Note: This is a non-discountable item.
"When I saw this effect for the first time, I could not help shouting "No way!" I was totally fooled although he had told me that the secret was a variation of my idea. The Logical Deck employs a mathematical principle. But the deck can be shuffled even by a spectator. Of course, you need to glimpse the deck. However, you can do that in a moment in a natural movement. I am amazed that he came up with this idea. He is truly talented." - Katsuya Masuda
"When I was a magic dealer, I came across a Masuda trick. The secret of the trick was new and exciting. I tried to invent more powerful effects with his idea and finally completed the Logical Deck. - Touson
(9) Blindsight II – Devin Knight: The performer shows an 8.5” x 11” inch chart that has the names of four different colors printed on it in different color inks. He says he will attempt to confuse a participant's mind. A participant is asked to quickly call out the color of the ink that each word is printed in. Despite his best efforts, he invariably miscalls some of the colors. For example, if the ink is blue, but the word is r-e-d, he may say it is red.
This is all very amusing to the audience as the spectator cannot seem to say all the colors correctly!
The performer says that if the participant is having trouble correctly naming colors that he can see, perhaps he can do better if with colors he cannot see.
Offer to try an experiment to see if the participant has the ability to detect colors, sight unseen. The performer shows some opaque envelopes and four different large colored cards. The four cards are placed inside the 6” x 9” envelopes and mixed so the participant has no idea which envelope contains which colored card.
Next the envelopes are held up one at a time in front of the participant. The performer asks the participant to attempt to use Blindsight (the ability to see colors, sight unseen in your mind) to determine which color is in each envelope.
The participant says which color he thinks is inside the first envelope. The performer then writes that color on the outside of the envelope. This is repeated until all the envelopes have a color written on the outside of them. After each envelope has a color written on it, the participant is asked to set aside one envelope for the grand finale.
The performer each envelope and shows that the participant has successfully used Blindsight to correctly determine which color was inside each envelope. The performer has the participant pick up the envelope he set aside and remove the colored card. Assume it is yellow. Obviously, it matches the color written on the envelope because the other three were correct.
This is pretty amazing in itself, but the real kicker is yet to come. The performer states that nobody could have known which envelope and color the participant would set aside. The performer shows the back of the chart (which has been in full view) containing the list of colors. The back of the chart has printed on it: YOU WILL SET ASIDE YELLOW. This makes for a stunning climax that can be seen from the largest stages.
$35.00 (40.816)
(10) Reel Magic – Episode 26 – Wayne Houchin: Feature Interview - Wayne Houchin:
Wayne Houchin tells Kozmo that hanging upside down in a straightjacket can really change your perception on life!
Columns:
Jon Armstrong - Sessions, Las Vegas Part Two
Watch Terry Ward "kill" Jon Armstrong and the rest of the sessions group with his version of an old trick.
Silly Billy - Reel Comedy segment premier!
RMZ, surprising magicians at Magic Live!
Simon Lovell - Ask Simey!
Simon answers your questions, this issue - Simon tells the worst/best Christmas story ever!
David Roth – Roth!
The pocket handkerchief vanish - perfect for a party!
Reviews:
David Regal - Tricks of the Trade
In this bi-polar segment, sometimes he exposes secrets and sometimes he just let's you suffer.
Wayne Kawamoto - Choice Cuts
Reviews David Solomon's Card Solutions as well as Handle with Care by John Carey.
Tricks:
Shawn Farquhar - "S.T.E.P. 2"
David Solomon - From The Card Solutions of David Solomon.
John Carey - "BTB" from "Handle with Carey"
Move Monkeys:
Derek Ostovani - "Cant Change"
Donald Carlson - "Facedown Top Shot"
Herb Scher - "Cris-cross-Double-Coin-Roll"
Including the .pdf file, Magicseen, a European publication.
$10.00 (DVD01317)
And that’s this week’s Nine Days Until The Super Bowl Hotlist. We are all getting just so excited. While you’re waiting for the puck to drop, take some time to check out all the brand new goodies in this week’s list. I know you will find some that you will like.
As always, I thank you from the bottom of my heart for finding the time to spend with us. Whether it’s online at www.magicfact.com or in person at 102 North Street in Medford, we love the company. So, come on by and set a spell.
Hank
