Magician and leukemia survivor Jim Munroe has teamed with Be The Match to launch the Make Cancer Disappear Challenge. The video above explains it all; for more information please visit the Make Cancer Disappear Challenge homepage.
If any of y’all iTricksters make a magic Make Cancer Disappear video be sure to let us know!
A little later this month (September 27) will be the 133rd anniversary of the birth of Harry Bouton, better known to the world as the senior Harry Blackstone. But we can’t wait another ten days… here’s a little taste of the classic Blackstone magic now!
iTricks stumbled across this clip on YouTube featuring Princess Tenko from a 1994 Japanese program called Tango. We do not know anything about this show, but we do know that we do not get to see enough Princess Tenko in the United States. If the 1994 air date is correct, this performance was right before her most successful foray into American television, her Saban (the folks that brought the US the Power Rangers) cartoon Princess Tenko and the Guardians of Magic (and accompanying toy line).
Troy Von Schneiber doing a little magic with a football themed deck for the retailer Pro Direct Soccer from 2017. More news on Troy in a moment!
The Sun is reporting the rape accusations against David Blaine have been investigated by Scotland Yard, which included an interview of Blaine by Metropolitan Police detectives, but the police have “decided to take no further action.”
Live For Film has some info on Abrakadabra, a new horror film about a magician (himself the son of a famous magician who died on stage), who is trying to figure out who is implicating him in a series of brutal murders. It looks like the film has a retro Italian shock cinema feel to it; if you are interested you can see the NSFW “red band” trailer on YouTube.
Deadline Hollywood reports Facebook Watch, the social media platform’s web TV arm, is ordering a series from Zig Zag Productions (the company behind the reality show I Want To Marry Harry) starring Troy Von Schneiber. The short form program will be titled Troy The Magician. Zig Zag was involved with Von Schneiber’s television series Troy. There is additional coverage over on Real Screen as well.
Want a peak inside Justin WIllman’s house? Well, at least the house he just sold? Check it out in the Seattle Times.
Don’t forget, the America’s Got Talent finals are tonight! Can Shin Lim become the second magician to win AGT?
Finally, the Tribune India chats with magician OP Sharma Jr, who maintains the Internet is killing interest in live magic.
Following The Sacred Riana’s example, Aaron Crow did not break character in his America’s Got Talent Elimination Interview. However, his character allowed him to be a little more friendly as he said goodbye to the AGT audiences!
Remember America’s Got Talent comes to an end this week as the final ten acts (including Shin Lim) perform tomorrow night and the newest AGT champion is crowned Wednesday night, all on NBC.
“Me At The Zoo” the first YouTube video ever posted!
One of the biggest questions I get about iTricks is “How do you find the stories and videos you post?” The answer is surprisingly simple: I search the Internet! The follow up I usually get is “How can my video get on iTricks?” That gets a little more complicated. I have a few guidelines that I follow you might want to keep in mind. First, things have to be shot pretty well with decent sound. Cell phone video is okay, but remember to hold the phone sideways (so you get a video wider than it is tall, like your TV). Bad sound and portrait style (taller than it is wide) are the top two reasons iTricks skips over videos! Remember, I also try to keep everything under 15 minutes. iTricks also tries to keep everything PG and on a positive note. Finally, I usually pass over videos made purely as commercials. This means iTricks will post your TV appearance promoting a show on the local news, but generally will not run your sizzle or highlight reel with your booking information at the end.
Of course, before I throw your video up against our guidelines, I have to find it. The vast majority of videos iTricks runs I have found… which takes us back to that “searching the Internet” thing. You are welcome to send me links that you think are iTricks worthy (brownbagmagic AT swbell DOT net). This seems like a good time to remind all y’all out there trying to be noticed that Facebook is a great place to post videos, but Vimeo is better and YouTube is still best. I hear you out there asking why and the reason is pretty straightforward. YouTube is basically a search engine for video. In fact, many search engine optimization professionals (a field yours truly has worked in recently) would tell you YouTube is the world’s second largest search engine, right after Google (who, by the way, owns YouTube). Facebook is still primarily a social platform. That means someone looking to find local magicians or cool magic videos can find them much more easily on YouTube, because the site is actively organizing its videos for searches. Vimeo works like YouTube, but it isn’t nearly as big and it isn’t owned by Google (which some people consider a plus). Although you might be found on Facebook, getting your video found primarily relies on people seeing your video and deciding to share it! If you have hundreds or thousands of friends, this might not be a problem but if you are just starting out the chances your clip will “go viral” are practically nil! If in doubt which is right for you, there is nothing keeping you from posting your videos in multiple places.
A clip from Franz Harary’s YouTube page previewing his documentary about his Guangzhou magic show.
Murray SawChuck is moving his show from the Sin City Theater at the Planet Hollywood hotel and Casino back to the Tropicana, starting a new residency with the Laugh Factory at the Trop this October. Read all the details on the Vegas News and Las Vegas Review Journal sites. Read carefully and you’ll catch a quick mention Murray might be getting his own TV show! You can also stream a recent radio interview with Murray over on Alex Belfield’s YouTube page.
Keeping it in Vegas, Las Vegas Magazine gets some advice for would be conjurors from none other than Mac King.
DIgital Spy spoke with Derren Brown about his jump from Channel 4 over to Netflix.
The New Indian Express has an article on The House With Clocks In Its Walls and how star Jack Black studied magic with David Kwong.
Finally I gave up on my second generation Apple TV and replaced it with a cheap Roku. I knew there were scores (if not hundreds) of channels available, but I was pleasantly surprised to find a Haines House of Cards channel and a Franz Harary channel. If there any other channels a magic fan should know about, please tell me in the comments! Do any of you performers out there have “private channels” you want to share with iTricks? Let us know!