In case you missed it, check out 2012's special Christmas and Happy Birthday issue on the Magic Castle's 50th birthday, among other topics. I know, I've mentioned this frequently, but I never tire of the Magic Castle story.

January 2014

Happy 2014 to one and all.

Woe to everyone who acted upon my recent advice, for your bank balances have been seriously diminished by three wonderful albeit expensive two-volume book sets, a Lego haunted house, and various other fine works on magic. To spare us from continuing this excess, this month will take a more frugal approach, considering nothing that will cost you as much as a twenty-dollar bill. (Enjoy this frugality while you can; I am already coveting the new David Williamson DVDs, the Steve Mayhew book, and more. So much magic, so little time and money.)

Last January I announced that alternative projects would divert me from magic and especially this sheet. Those projects are still in play, and accordingly I shall try to minimize internet-related efforts once again. As last year, I beg your indulgence and hope to see many of you in Columbus, the next polar vortex notwithstanding.

A FIFTIES IPHONE -- Two tin cans linked together via a length of string: that was our version of a portable personal telephone back in the fifties. That we could whisper secrets over this device was almost as silly as Max Smart's Cone of Silence. Ah, but you can communicate with a spectator, have him whisper his card over the line, and you shake out the physical card from your end. Equivoque: The Tin Can Phone is one of several excellent mysteries in Jim Steinmeyer's Ensuing Impuzzibilities. My favorite in the same booklet, perhaps my favorite of the entire series, is The Tuzot Sensu Mystery, originally published in Genii. This is Jim's updating of the Mutus Nomen trick with a great Corsican Brothers patter line. Great stuff, all self-working. 48 pages, $19, from jimsteinmeyer.com.

Jim Steinmeyer's tricks do the work for you.

UPS AND DOWNS -- The above booklet was Jim Steinmeyer's fourth in the series. I also received his third booklet, Subsequent Impuzzibilities, in my Christmas stocking. Of this volume my favorite was Enigmatic Poker, in which the cards are shuffled face up and face down at the spectator's request, yet you still deal three increasingly valuable hands. Other items of note include Fingertip Mindreading and The Password Fallacy (a nice variation on the Nine Card trick). 38 pages, $16, same source .

SUCH A (VERNON) DEAL -- Way back in 1989, before The Little Egypt Gazette, before the web itself, L&L Publishing had already published Volume 3 of The Vernon Chronicles. My favorite item in that book was Stacked to Order, a brilliant method for dealing oneself the four aces after the aces had been fairly distributed in random (but known) positions in the deck.

You too can be a poker expert.

The overall quality of the book was what had come to be expected of the series, masterfully written by Stephen Minch and expertly illustrated by Tom Gagnon. We mention it again because L&L, as is their habit, has released an electronic version of Volume 3 for the give-away price of $9.95 (for a short time). I now have all three of these first volumes on my iPad and delight in having all this info at my fingertips. 219 pages, an important chunk of the Vernon legacy.

HEADS AND TAILS MENTALISM -- I seldom get excited about tricks that show up in the magazines but was totally enchanted by the latest Mindtripping with Christian Painter offering in the new Chris Capehart issue of Kozmo's reel magic magazine. In effect, a handful of change is spread on the table. As the Man Who Knows All looks away, the spec flips coins over in a seemingly fair manner, really fair looking, and then slides one of the coins away. The mentalist then names both the coin and whether it is face up or down. A very cool method. Also of interest in this issue are the three-part interview with the fabulous Mr. Capehart (including his comic performance of Losander's floating table) and, as always, the David Regal and Doc Eason segments. And Simon Lovell: get well! (As usual, this and all new and old issues cost you only $5 a month. Become part of Kozmo's ongoing video experience.)

Two street magicians compare notes.

DODD DOES DAVID -- Although Scott Wells has done a remarkable job of filling the magic interview podcast void created when Dodd Vickers left the air, we all still missed Dodd. The good news is that Dodd is back, re-launching his Magic Newswire interviews with David Roth. David is currently the Master in Residence at the Conjuring Arts Research Center. I thought I knew all about David Roth, but I didn't know Jack. This is a most informative and fun conversation, and I can only envision the smile on Dodd's face as he became the first to hear these stories.

David Roth tells all.

PULLING STRINGS -- It had been a while since I had watched an Amazing Johnathan Burn Unit epsiode (at burnunit.tv, as usual), so I was thrilled to tune into AJ's Scott Land episode. Scott, a marionette artist, rocketed to fame (and a Genii cover) a few years ago with his marvelous puppet version of Carl Ballantine. Scott has an amazing range with his puppets: he can do a Dalai Lama puppet for the Dalai Lama, and he can do an X-rated clown puppet for an Amazing Johnathan Halloween show; he can make a President Obama puppet dance and he can make a movie tough guy puppet barf. I love his Ballantine act: it can make me cry. Spend a half hour with this master string puller. You'll be as amazed as Johnathan was.

Scott and AJ can't keep their eyes off the marionettes.