The Genii Forum

I interviewed Celeste Evans back in 2013 and posted two articles based on that interview on iTricks; you can read them on the following links: http://itricks.com/news/2013/07/she-toured-the-world-performed-for-royalty-starred-on-black-and-white-tv/ http://itricks.com/news/2013/07/the-50s-hero-female...

I have relocated from St. Louis to Kansas City... it took a year to sell our St. Louis home so I could join my wife and daughters on the other side of the state! Now I am settled (more or less), have adjusted to my new day job (which, for the first time in a decade is actually a day job) and am reco...

FOUND IT!

Thanks for the offer to try to dig one up, but I found mine. It had worked its way into my collection of Chinese martial arts training DVDs... Until this new house, my gungfu training DVDs and magic DVDs should have never been in the same room (or even building!).

Thank you! I am still holding out hope that Catalogue One will turn up. There are still many boxes sitting in front of me! They've been packed up for 9 or 10 months now so I have kind of lost track of what is in everything.... At this point, I plan on never, ever moving ever again. If I do (because,...

I am finally unpacking after a move; most of my stuff has been in boxes for almost 9 months! As I organize I find that some of my magic DVDs are missing... I hope they are just in another box somewhere. I know I am missing at least one of the Essential Magic Collection Catalogue DVDs that were inclu...

I am kind of interested to see how Cosentino goes over in the US. If the tour comes anywhere near me I will probably try to see it. I guess this means Brett Daniels' Revolussionists (or is it Revollusionists?) in Branson is not touring.

Thanks for posting this... It will replace this year's Nintendo desk calendar.

That is actually a great question. I was there working in the pro-audio electronics industry, and although assigned a translator at work, found that she did not know many of the engineering terms that I needed and had picked up myself (not just concepts, but names of parts such as IC, diode or vacuu...

[the state controls everything and it does little to nothing to stop piracy. And that the state is apparently running magic is the point of this thread. That is sadly true.... Hollywood movies that came out in the US on the day before I left were being sold on the street as DVDs in full color cases...

If you want to be technical it is probably most often called "guo yu" (with the appropriate tone marks), which means "the national language" as Mandarin is a western term... but we are speaking English! Standard is often, at least in my experience dealing with people in Taiwan, t...

In all seriousness, the Chinese people love magic. I did some work in China a few years ago and spent almost three weeks in Shanghai. Every single day I was able to find magic on television, despite having a limited amount of channels. Every day, even though I did not have a TV guide! I hope that gu...

Not trying to be funny or anything, but it is such a straight forward effect why do you need any patter at all?

Go silent.

He's kind of an interesting guy; I will admit that Houdini did not make me stop thinking of him as the guy behind some of the greatest of the Star Trek movies, though. I am intrigued by the alternate cut on the Blu Ray release. He indicates that he feels it is a better version.

I am looking seriously at returning to performing professionally again (I stopped years ago due to health issues which are now clearing up nicely now that I have the right diagnosis!) and maybe even starting a non-profit to provide character development/educational magic shows to schools. I have run...

Don't just sleep on it; embrace the benefits of visualization. Imagine yourself doing the sleights correctly over and over and it will help you. Here are some tips: http://www.sportpsychologytoday.com/sport-psychology-for-coaches/the-power-of-visualization/ They are sports related but still applicab...

If you haven't read Hiding The Elephant , you really should. Because it got a fairly wide release, there are cheap copies to be found on Amazon and most local libraries can get you a copy through inter-library loan if they do not already have one. It is funny because I have not seen Houdini yet (sto...

In all fairness, that guy had the dog and a puppy.

I am a friend of his, so feel free to take this with a grain of salt. I've seen his live show, he holds a crowd for about 75 minutes without a single prop larger than a wine glass (unless you count the DJ) and then goes around and performs table to table. He throws a party and everyone is invited. T...

What I learned at the last IBM/SAM was the MC has a difficult job. There may be quite a bit of time between acts as they set up, but the MC should not talk about the acts, for fear of influencing the results, or perform any magic while filling that time. The only thing left to do was to make fun of ...

Mr Goat, I have a tangential question for you: are you able to access the streaming media services Netflix or Hulu in the UK (I assume you are in the UK)? In case you are not familiar with them, each is a pay service that allows users to stream movies, television and original content to computers, m...

Has anyone actually contacted Be Amazed about any of this or is everyone making assumptions? When I spoke with Ariann, her prime interest seemed to be old film footage owned by performers. She wanted to preserve it before it degraded and pay royalties to the owners. All this talk about television sh...

And yet preservation has to start somewhere, even if it is running as much old film as possible through whatever the currently EPA approved equivalent of Renovex is... How many films have been lost to time? How many Super 8 and 16mm reels are already in landfills and how many others are getting too ...

I am not affiliated with Be Amazed, so I can not answer all of these questions. I do know though, that home movies (many of these works may fall under that category) have a different set of rules than other movies and that they are paying royalties for many of these films. I would suggest you listen...

If you haven't seen it yet, Be Amazed TV (the online all-magic channel) has launched a Kickstarter to raise the money necessary to buy the equipment necessary to preserve old magic films and convert them to digital formats. If you read the old magazines, you will often see references to clubs shooti...

You probably ain't going to like this version either!

I'm sure I'll end up watching it each week (thanks, DVR) but the pace seemed rushed. One less illusion and a little more introduction may have made for a better show.... There were some odd audience reaction shots as well.

I believe that the first episode in the original UK release also ran over an hour, too. CW is leaning on it rather heavily as they ran the same episode twice in three days!

I believe it is the same production company as the previous two incarnations. I am not sure whether that means the same directors are involved. It is a 30 minute show now instead of a 60 minute format which may affect the presentation as well.

Bad news, the "US version" is the "UK version" with a bit of editing to make the pilot fit into an hour time slot.

Did I skim this too quickly or has there not been a mention of the "3D Lecture?" It was a lecture on kids' shows that actually bussed in children for a mini-performance by each of the lecturers to highlight children's reactions to the material. It was a really good idea and I found it a va...

I am not sure if this has been posted yet, if it has please forgive me. I asked those collecting money at the IBM/SAM Convention if there was a website or way to make online donations that I could pass along. There really is not a website yet, but PayPal donations can be made through at least the en...