So this Australian vlogger Dyl (of Britt and Dyl) is walking around Venice Beach while his significant other is at some kind of business event. He walks around talking about how much he loves California and how he wants a drone to take footage and then he runs into Dynamo.
Huh?
Yup, he runs into Dynamo who does some magic for him. It is kind of a cool random thing… but be warned: Dyl is a bit of a potty mouth.
This new video from the British Red Cross show Dynamo performing a surprise magic show for refugees in Liverpool. You can read more on the British Red Cross website.
Dynamo (seen above in some video from a month or two ago on ITV’s This Morning) was among the celebs to turn up at Hampstead’s Christmas Festival which featured Fool Me’s Jonathan Ross and Barbara Windsor turning on the holiday lights. Read more on the Ham & High news website.
Illusionists-mania continues, this time with the AP talking to Adam Trent and Andrew Basso. You can read it here.
Meanwhile in Las Vegas, Jan Rouven’s New Illusions show opens at the Tropicana’s Laugh Factory this Friday.
Many of you are no doubt aware of the recent shooting at Florida State University. Farhan “Ronny” Ahmed, who was paralyzed after being shot multiple times, is an enthusiastic magician who was a part of Project Magic in high school. You can read more about Ronny Ahmed in this recent Orlando Sentinel story.
The lead off video today is a little something from Seattle area magician Nash Fung. The YouTube description says it is something that hit him at 2:37AM… more of Nash over at his website NashFung.com.
Dynamo has ended his TV show, but there is a new magician in his time slot: Katherine Mills starring in Mind Games. Digital Spy recently caught up with her to find out how she is different from Dynamo (other than the obvious).
Speaking of Dynamo, rumors are being reported (such as in The Mirror) that he may be in the new season of I’m A Celebrity, Get Me Out Of Here! which apparently is still a show in the UK.
One more bit from British TV magic: The Birmingham Mail spoke with Ben Hanlin about some of the reactions he has gotten from celebs in the past.
Finally, David Casserta never actually appeared on America’s Got Talent last season, but he was in the commercials. Was that enough to boost his career? Find in his interview with The Lehigh Express Times.
First up, CW 33 KDAF coverage of the Texas Association of Magicians convention down in Fort Worth this weekend.
Another summer weekend means a new book in the Conjuring Arts Free Summer Reading Club, and we think it may be the last (we do not know when the club will end this year, but summer is basically over for most of America). If it is this is the last free high quality PDF download, they are going out on a high note. Professor Hoffman’s Modern Magic, the book that arguably ushered in the modern era of magic, is yours to download free until next Sunday. Get it here!
We know iTricksters like free stuff so we have two more goodies to tell you about, both over on iTunes. The first episode of Penn and Teller: Fool Us (American version) is free to download as is the first episode of Wizard Wars. If you do not have SyFy (or, for that matter, a local CW affiliate), this is a great way to at least see what you are missing. Plus, it is always nice to have a little something downloaded for the next time you are stuck somewhere with nothing to do… We do not know how long these episodes will be free or if they are available outside of the United States.
The Daily Mirror reported late last week that Dynamo has responded to some of the criticism of his Shard levitation. He basically just Tweeted he was loving the speculation… and hash tagged the premiere date of his next series and WIRES. The next day the Mirror reported that he claimed on Sky News to only have uses the wire, a safety line, during windy rehearsals.
Houdini premieres on History in the United States tonight and the Wild About Harry blog is reporting that it will be seen on September 7 on Channel 4 in England.
iTricks hopes for the best for Joan Rivers, who at time of writing is on life support in a medically induced coma. She is one of the truly great ladies of comedy but one of her first paying jobs in show business was as an assistant to Kuda Bux.
Blake Vogt (subject of the cover story in the new issue of MAGIC) joined Justin Flom in Minnesota recently for a little magic before his upcoming appearance on Wizard Wars. Still can’t believe they made the contestants use a puppy in the last show…
Dynamo is getting lots of attention for his newest levitation (that’s a picture from his point of view to the right, from his Twitter). He appeared about 1000 in the air, floating between the spires of The Shard in London. For pictures (and a bit of gossip saying that wires may be visible in some photographs), check out coverage in The Mirror and The Daily Mail.
Have you seen Michael Grandinetti on the new season of Master of Illusion. UWire caught up with recently and ran a nice Q&A.
Even if you do not watch, you should know by now that David and Leeman have advanced to the next round of America’s Got Talent. The Los Angeles Loyolan sat down with one of half of the duo, LMU alum David Blatter, to discuss his background and how the pair have honed their craft.
Above is Neil Patrick Harris and family doing the ice bucket challenge after being challenged by Batman; we have more (and international) magician ice bucket challenges from Takuya, Kenneth Chan and Cody Clark. These videos are all to benefit ALS research, of course, but I’d like to know if iTricksters are losing interest in them.
As many iTricksters will know, Steve Martin started out as a magician many years ago. He is now reportedly returning to his roots in the new film Magic Camp, where he will portray a man returning to work at the magic camp that he loved as a boy. You can read more about it at Slash Film, and check out a vintage picture of Martin working at a Disneyland magic shop.
This week’s free PDF download in the Conjuring Arts Research Center Summer Reading Club is something kind of special. It is an English translation of the 1853 German language book Ein Spiel Karten (A Deck Of Cards). Written by H.R. (perhaps a student of Hofzinser), this version was translated into English 2005 for a presentation at Juan Tamariz’s Jornadas conference. Get your piece of history this week only here. Remember, it is only available until next Sunday!
Ariann Black’s Facebook has a message saying that she and Johnny Thompson are no longer associated with Be Amazed or its Kickstarter. It reads: “As of August 2014, Johnny Thompson and I, Ariann Black, are no longer involved with Be Amazed Magic Television aka Be Amazed TV, including its KickStarter funding campaign.” We will keep you informed.
A cool article from the Business Insider was recently posted by Yahoo’s Small Business Adviser on magician and designer Adrian Westaway of Special Projects.
Stage News is reporting that Dynamo thinks that stage magic needs to be shaken up and is planning to try his hand at revitalizing live magic after his latest series of Magician Impossible ends.
The Latin Post is reporting that another Mexican state has banned the use of animals by entertainers including magicians.
Finally, if you have the Cooking Channel look for a re-run of a 2007 episode of Robert Irvine’s Dinner Impossible where the chef cooks for The Magic Castle.