Odds and Ends

In the past, I’ve mentioned several magic-related podcasts: The Magic Word Podcast, The Penguin Magic Podcast, and The Magic Book Podcast. Two new podcasts have come to my attention: The Magician’s workshop podcast features Dr. Todd interviewing various magicians – our own Brielle is featured in episode 4. These are longer podcasts – going well over an hour. The Magicians Only! Steve Valentine hosts podcast and he talks about all kinds of things from tricks to magic history. These are shorter in length (about 30-40 minutes). He shares many personal stories as well -including meeting Dai Vernon and working at a summer camp in Croatia. So far, I’m enjoying both of these podcasts.

I recently finished reading Markobi’s book, Stairway, and was disappointed.  The first part of the book covers how he prepared for FISM. I felt (as did others) that this section felt like filler. While there may be some interesting items regarding how he constructed the act, I don’t care what he ate leading up to the competition. The second half describes his FISM act and while the ad copy states it covers everything, it was a bit light on the technical details and seems to focus more on why he’s doing something. For example, he mentions he controls several cards, but then says he won’t detail the control because he may release it later. So while one may find some worthwhile items in the book, I felt it was overpriced for the information provided.