John Carney is no ordinary magician. John is a performer, creator, writer and philosopher when it comes to the art of magic and has received more awards from the Magic Castle than anyone else in their long history. Carney talks with us about his evolution as a performer and what it takes to be a truly good student of magic. His mentors included “The Professor” (Dai Vernon), Faucett Ross and many more legendary figures from the history of our craft. Carney’s “Book of Secrets” is being re-released as well as a new DVD series that he developed with Jim Steinmeyer.
Several days ago we posted a story on a video which seemed to be marketing a “new effect” from Paper Crane Productions called “INFANT.” It was obviously a joke, we thought, and this was confirmed in our recent interview with Shaun Dunn. Shaun told us, “Typically, our videos are produced in such a way that we appear to take ourselves, and our products, very seriously. We’d just finished shooting another product video and thought it would be fun to produce a spoof of our own work to let people know that we had a sense of humor as well.” Watch for the complete audio interview with Shaun to be posted to our podcast feed in the next day or so.
UPDATE: (11/25/08 - 16:36 EST) Our friends over at iTricks.com have also been reporting on this story and have an interesting update from Mandy Hartley of Paper Crane Productions
Teller appears on the cover of the Las Vegas weekly and is profiled in one of the best pieces covering a magician that we’ve come across in some time. Subtitled “How a small but beautiful trick illuminates the mind of a master magician,” the piece uses Teller’s “Red Ball” trick as the centerpiece. “After Penn walks offstage, Teller, hoop in hand, slowly coaxes the ball to life and makes it do his bidding. Over the course of the trick the ball goes from indifferent to awakening to willing playmate. Though the narrative has Teller getting the ball to jump through his hoop, the ball’s most singularly beautiful moment is when it attains a perfect balance on the edge of the hoop. Audience applause achieved, the ball turns mischievous and follows Teller across the stage as if in need of more play. Teller tries to treat the ball with affection as he sits on a bench, gently petting it. But the increasingly aggressive ball finally chases the magician off stage: A little red ball brought to life and then pursuing its creator, a Frankenstein’s monster. It is all very magical, or would be if Penn had not told you there was a thread involved.”
The New York Observer provides further info on a proposed sitcom to be Exec Produced by Criss Angel. “The Angel project is based on an original idea that the ‘Mindfreak’ magician conceived along with producers Dave Baram, Jason Verona and Adam Shulman. Moynihan has joined in to write the project, which was inspired by Angel’s experience as an up-and-coming magician. All four are aboard to exec produce the half-hour, which was pitched as a workplace comedy set in the world of magic.” Reed Thompson’s review of Believe from the LA Times was quoted in the article as well. “If Criss Angel were blindfolded, straitjacketed, run over by a steamroller, locked in a steel box and dumped from a helicopter into the Pacific Ocean, he still might be easier to salvage from disaster than ‘Criss Angel: Believe,’ the gloomy, gothic muddle of a show that officially lurched into being on Halloween night like some patched-together Frankenstein’s monster.”
According to several online news outlets including, Martha Stewart is being sued by a magician who also works as a hand model. According to one source, “The lawsuit was filed Monday in Polk County District Court in Iowa by Patrick Albanese, a magician and a hand model, who claims that the injury has affected his work. In the lawsuit, Albanese said he was moving the lounge chair on a deck when the front legs collapsed, crushing his right index finger between the chair legs and a bar that was located on the base of the chair.” Our favorite was the original from TMZ entitled “Martha Stewart Sued Over Lounge Act.”
We stumbled across this after a curious direct message on Twitter. Is it real or is it a joke? We assume that it is a joke in spite of the fact that it was posted by Paper Crane Productions, a legitimate developer and distributor of magic effects. Watch and judge for yourself. If you have more info on this, please email us with the details:
During the recent election, the McCain campaign invited supporters to submit videos explaining why they were “Joe the Plumber.” Our good friend Joe Turner submitted his own story which he called “Joe the Magician.” Shortly thereafter, his video appeared on Good Morning America, Nightline, the McCain Palin webste and was referenced in innumerable blogs and newspaper articles. In an email message from Joe, he said, “the video has now been added to the collection of the Museum of the Moving Image. In their “The Living Room Candidate” project, they have amassed a fascinating collection of political advertisements going back to the 1952 election. Errol Morris, an Oscar-winning documentary filmmaker, included my video in his retrospective playlist of “Real People in Political Advertisements.” My video was used as an example (actually “the” example) of the way modern technology has incorporated video-blogging and self-reporting into the political advertising process. I contacted the museum earlier this week and my name has been added to the credits. So I have become a part of USpolitical advertising history thanks to magic!”
Teller appears on the cover of the Las Vegas weekly and is profiled in 
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