Magic News Network

Just Say No to Knock-Offs!

Last night, we read the story of two men with a group called Pirates With Attitude ("PWA").

The Feds (as opposed to the "Well-Fed," which describes us) claimed that the PWA folks were hacking software to take of the copy protection and thus allowed anyone on the Internet to download the software for free.

This was premium software. PWA thought that because they did not charge for the downloads, they shouldn't be prosecuted of theft.

The Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals disagreed.

They stole, they got caught and now they go to jail.

It got us thinking -- it could happen -- of a novel method to protect magic inventors intellectual property.

We don't know why this idea hasn't been suggested before – perhaps because it is either too obvious or unworkable.

We Respond to Letters to the Editor

When required by court order or threat of litigation, Quinlan's Inside Magic publishes letters to the editor and issues corrections, retractions, or admissions of total fabrication. 

If you have a beef with something written, said, not said, or not pictured, on Quinlan's Inside Magic, please feel free to send an email to editor@insidemagic.comThis email address is being protected from spam bots, you need Javascript enabled to view it .  We always answer the letters either in this type of feature or directly by email. 

Non-Magic / Non-Poker Things to Do in Vegas

The poker-friendly magazine, All-In suggests there is another reason to go to Vegas other than poker; and that is to see Master Magician Lance Burton at the Monte Carlo.

Viz.

Hands-down, the biggest draw at this property is Lance Burton's magic show. The dapper illusionist-more approachable than David Copperfield, less spooky than David Blaine-thrills crowds with sleight of hand and multi-million-dollar special effects: his latest featured illusion is rumored to include a $10 million prop made of real gold. Burton's signature trick, the flying Corvette, is cheaper but just as impressive. The show runs Tuesday through Saturday in the custom-designed Lance Burton Theater, and is celebrating its 10th anniversary in 2006. 

Thoughts of Criss Angel on a Perfect Day with a Perfect Idiot

We   were enjoying a warm, blissful morning at our favorite bistro on the main   boulevard in Mystic Hollow.   

We’re sure you’ve had similar mornings.      
Not a care in the world, just enjoying all that nature chose   this very morn to give us. Loving what we had set   before us.   

We saw a very good, nay, intimate pal of ours walking our way   and we beckoned him to come hither.    

Thomas indulged us and joined us at the simple but oh so   wonderful table to partake in a discussion.      

So there we were having a delightful tête-à-tête if you will,   and frankly why wouldn’t you? 

Building Jumper

                 

This isn't Magic per se but it sure is neat to watch.  We thought it might be a hoax but after watching it over and over for the last three hours, we think it's real.  Real scary but no one gets hurt. Enjoy!

Criss Angel v. David Blaine: Who Is Known Beyond the Shores?

We were enjoying a warm, blissful morning at our favorite bistro on the main boulevard in Mystic Hollow. 

We’re sure you’ve had similar mornings. 

Not a care in the world, just enjoying all that nature chose this very morn to give us.  Loving what we had set before us. 

We saw a very good, nay, intimate pal of ours walking our way and we beckoned him to come hither.

Thomas indulged us and joined us at the simple but oh so wonderful table to partake in a discussion. 

So there we were having a delightful tête-à-tête if you will, and frankly why wouldn’t you? 

“Thomas, my good man, how goes thee on this the most glorious of all the days?”

How Our Pea-Brain Works

  Young journalism and psychology students often ask how we come up with the stories we write.  They never ask out of envy or even interest, mostly just out of fear. 

We always joke and say, "Gosh, don't worry.  We won't hurt you.  Here, come in our house and we can go downstairs to our Magic Room to talk about it." 

But it's not us, it's them.  People are more stand-offish these days.  We don't know our neighbors -- and in our neighborhood, that's a blessing and the reason we haven't had a parole violation in two-years. 

But we received an article from the man who is magic in Detroit, John Luka.  He wanted to a pass along the great news of an upcoming magic lecture from one of our favorites -- we've only read him, never seen him -- Docc Hilford. 

We did the journalism thing and got it ready for press.  But decided to record our thoughts as we worked so you, the reader or "authority figure" could get a feel for the magic both within and without us.

As we say at our new gig, "Drive Around for Your Order!"

Radio Magic Show - Li'l Tom Hardy Snippet

 

The Original "Pooch Belly Voice" - Monica Talm

My father, Li’l Tom Hardy, had a radio show with his vent figure, Pooch Belly. The show was on the air for six months in 1946 on the Mutual Radio Network. It was called the Red Network after many of its stations went into bankruptcy only to be revived by NBC.

 

This is the only portion I have of the shows he did:

 

  

Lt: And we certainly thank the kind people over at Ivory Soap for their kind consideration and sponsorship of the Li’l Tom and Pooch Belly show.

 

Pb: (Silence)

 

Lt: I said we thank the kind people over at Ivory Soap for their kind . . .

 

Pb: I heard you.

 

Lt: Don’t you think the people at Ivory should be thanked?

 

Pb: No.

 

Lt: You don’t? After all they’ve done?

 

Pb: Exactly.

 

Lt: You don’t think they should be . . .

 

Pb: No, I don’t. How could you spank the very folks who are paying for us to be on the Mutual Radio Network?

 

Lt: (Laughing) No, Pooch Belliness! Not, “spanked,” but “thanked”!

Magic & Mad Science - Dr. Derek Livingston

   "Our focus is sharp, but our light faded," so wrote the famous, or perhaps infamous scientist and magician Derek Livingston in 1965. The man commonly associated with the dangers of quack-science or a magician's claims of super-natural powers, was born on this day in 1936.

Dr. Livingston's phrase had many possible meanings but all were tied to his confusion of magic and science.

Dr. Livingston's fame and infamy arise from the same experiments in the late 1950s and 1960s with laser technology (Light Amplification by Stimulated Emission of Radiation) as well as his life-long love for magic.

Dr. Livingston worked his way through the distinguished and ivy-draped halls of the country's finest schools. He was not from a wealthy family or noble ancestry but relied upon the kindness of others for his housing, food and supplies. In 1955, the then Mr. Livingston, took up work at the prestigious Bell Labs whilst he considered the question of light's structure. Was light made up of waves or particles?

He supplemented his income by performing magic shows for co-workers and their families in Murray Hill, New Jersey. He was known for his deft sleight-of-hand and charisma. His show was billed as "lasts 20 minutes, more than an hour's worth of magic, you'll remember for a lifetime."

It was an old question. Prior to Sir Isaac Newton's corpuscular theory, light was thought to be made up of particles. Newton demonstrated his wave theory by showing light could be reflected and refracted with mirrors and prisms.

Letters to the Editor

Dear Inside Magic:

How can I help get the message of Inside Magic out to the entire world? I am so impressed by the quality reporting, columns, guest essays and gratuitous images of Britney Spears, Melinda, and Sabrina the Teenaged Witch that I have found myself reading it without stop. 

But much like Beatles’ song, ‘I can’t get any satisfaction’ until I know that the entire magic world knows about the website. 

My friends say I spend too much time reading your site and that my hair smells like that cheese you shake onto spaghetti because I don’t even want to wash my hair when I shower. 

I am afraid that Inside Magic will have a new article that I might miss or that circus clowns will creep into my bathroom when my eyes are closed (during the application, rinse, repeat process), try on my clothes, and eat me.

So my question put bluntly is this: I figure I have about 28 days on this Visa card I got through an internet cite I found when I was surfing for herbal remedies to remove the stench from my head – without pain or requiring me to close my eyes – and I’ve got quite a credit limit on it.

I wanted to make a donation to Inside Magic to help contribute to the only website that I really care about.

   Also, why don’t you have something where I can send your site out to other people that I have met on the internet? 

Some internet cites have those and they are really neat. You type in peoples’ names and it sends them the link to the cite and you can include a message like, “Hey, look at this cite!” or “Hey, this is a neat cite!” or “Hey, this cite has pictures of Britney Spears taking herbal supplements and doing magic tricks!” 

Please let me know. I have many friends on the internet that would love (but not in a gross way) to visit the cite but no one has told them about it. 

It doesn’t seem fair that they would have to search for the cite themselves when the internet is all about having things done for you not things you do for yourself.