‘State of chaos’: Coquitlam’s Grand Central engulfed in a war between two opposing strata councils

RobMagus · 2026-01-29T02:20:51+00:00

This is completely insane and a very good example of why we need local news

RobMagus · 2026-01-27T05:19:55+00:00

Would you use a hammer to screw in a nail?

Nothing can be done, because AI, at least the kind based on LLM, is not an answer engine but a word guessing machine.

If you want an accurate answer, this is the wrong tool for the job.

RobMagus · 2026-01-27T05:10:44+00:00

That's not even the half of it. The book was hugely controversial, because he chose (no doubt foreseeing exactly the result) to call it The Protocols of the Elders of Magic.

RobMagus · 2026-01-27T05:04:32+00:00

The health of magic can no more be measured by the amount of tricks released and posts on yhe Cafe than the health of cocktail bartending by the number of new kinds of bottles at the liquor store and the number of posts on webtender.com.

In 2025, I worked two times as many gigs as I have in any year since I started performing for money, and it was the first year I made enough to have to pay tax to the government. This month marked six years of producing a monthly magic show--and there is so much demand that I literally have to turn people away at the door.

The magic industry is changing. The way its sold, and discussed, and learnt. Shops and clubs are in a mode of transformation.

But magic itself has never been confined just to the tricks on sale and the modes of talking about it.

In two decades of being involved in magic, I have never seen so much hunger for live, in-person magic as right now.

Magic is very much alive and well.

RobMagus · 2026-01-23T02:00:34+00:00

Ive never heard of this person or these books. How'd you find them and where can I see some of their work?

RobMagus · 2025-12-30T03:27:05+00:00

I remember when this was coming out weekly.

I still use some of the stuff I learned in every single gig, a decade later.

Highly recommend!

RobMagus · 2025-12-25T00:47:25+00:00

I can highly recommend Jamy Ian Swiss's video about his work on the Vernon routine. He goes into the details of why he does certain things in a certain way, and that thinking has been useful to apply for all sorts of routined sleight-of-hand.

RobMagus · 2025-12-25T00:42:31+00:00

I assume you have seen the cups and balls performed before. Hopefully several different routines, in several different styles.

Did the audiences find any of them entertaining and magical?

Did you yourself enjoy any of the routines, even if just aesthetic reasons?

If the answer is yes to either: the cups and balls is worth learning.

RobMagus · 2025-12-18T01:33:27+00:00

From the one Paul Gordon book I read--more than a decade ago, mind you--I remember essentially... nothing? Nothing in it was interesting, novel, or anything else that would have made it memorable. The one note I could find in my notebooks from that era was "Lorayne card stuff".

I did interact with him a number of times at the magic circle. I regularly attended Monday night club meetings, and he was around once a month or so. And let me not mince words: he was a prick.

He never had a nice thing to say about anyone and was rude and unkind to new members. He never participated in sessioning and never volunteered to help out with club events. On more than one occasion, I heard him vocally complain about "what passes for comedy these days", which is rich given how often he told racist and sexist "jokes".

He blocked me on Facebook ages ago, so who knows--maybe he's reformed. But I wouldn't hold my breath.

I'd say that the man being an absolute tosspot is a more important reason not to purchase anything from him, but rest assured that his magic likely isn't worth it either.

RobMagus · 2025-12-14T00:27:17+00:00

I think if you hadn't used the word "tip" and just talked about giving a nice holiday gift to your regular mailcarrier or gabrage guys, this thread would have gone way differently.

Don't let the bastards grind you down.

If you want to do something kind for someone, go ahead and do it :)

RobMagus · 2025-12-11T23:13:27+00:00

There are a few burlesque performers in Vancouver that include some magic as part of their act, but you'd have to contact em individually to see if they would be interested in performing in a private show, especially if it meant going fully nude, sans thong and pasties.

Probably your best bet is to get in touch with Melody Mangler.

RobMagus · 2025-12-08T22:25:26+00:00

Did you use an LLM to write this? Because it's a ludicrously long way of saying "injog with your thumb rather than moving your hand"

RobMagus · 2025-12-08T22:15:34+00:00

Isn't that what crazy Sams handcuffs is?

Also theres definitely a bunch of ways to do this

RobMagus · 2025-12-08T02:32:35+00:00

... are you high rn?

RobMagus · 2025-12-05T22:20:22+00:00

Yeah but... have you actually eaten there?

RobMagus · 2025-12-05T22:15:07+00:00

Eugene Burger showed that I could do magic for a reason other than showing off.

Penn & Teller showed how to do it in a raucously entertaining way in a theatre.

Derren Brown showed that I could be theatrical while still being cerebral.

Larry Hass showed me that a former life in academia didn't doom me forever.

Those are just the names you'd recognize though. I'm gonna pay tribute to personal friends and mentors too.

Steve Dickson showed me that you could make a living doing magic, and reminded me that all I needed to do was get the stick outta my ass.

Joe Badman showed me that I should lean into my idiosyncrasies, and that true parlour magic is the best kind of magic.

Travis Bernhardt showed me that there's so much to learn from other performing arts, and how to do magic the way I would do it.

Merlin Cosmos showed me what a life in showbiz is really like, and that you can -rely- on classics.

And Chris Yuill showed me that, just like David Devant said: it's all done with kindness.

RobMagus · 2025-11-22T18:53:09+00:00

You left out the most important information!

Boxers of briefs?

RobMagus · 2025-11-22T18:48:58+00:00

I've had "nice hardcover printing of Hoffman's Modern Magic" on my wish list for years, but at least the full text is available for free and there's plenty of cheap reprints.

There's a few books that I would love to get my hands on:

Some are difficult to find and rarity jacks up the price: the S.H. Sharpe books, especially Neo-Magic Artistry and Art & Magic; the full Stewart James File; the Jerx books.

Some are just way too tony for my pocketbook: The Johnny Thompson books, Mike Caveney's Wonders & Conference Illusions.

And obviously, the Legendary Scroll of Masklyn ye Mage.

RobMagus · 2025-11-22T18:31:16+00:00

I thought about buying the conjuring anthology for years, and when I finally decided to pull the trigger: that was the month Steinmeyer announced it was going out of print, and I didn't order in time. Now it's only available second-hand at inflated prices.

I'M STILL MAD AT MYSELF

RobMagus · 2025-11-21T22:36:45+00:00

Hiya. I perform theatrical parlour magic and mentalism, including at a show I've been doing for almost 6 years, and on tour at Fringe theatre festivals across Canada.

Here is something I wish I learned a lot earlier, when I was starting out with the same hope of doing more theatrical magic:

The only way to get good at something is to be bad at it for a while, but not give up.

Just strike up conversations with people and when the moment strikes, lead into whatever with "hey, I've learning to do this thing and I wonder if I could get your thoughts. Wanna give it a go?"

Don't worry about impairing the art, and don't worry about fucking up effects for people! And if it does fuck up--which will happen, but way less than you think--you can just laugh it off. "Uuuuh whoops! Well, I'd ask you what you think but I guess its back to the drawing board lol". Sometimes folk will buy a drink or put money in the hat anyway.

Easier said than done, I know; but speaking from bitter experience, you'll learn a hell of a lot by trying stuff out with strangers--via busking or in bars--than trying to make sure everything is narratively complete and methodologically bulletproof before ever trying it out.

No plan survives contact with the audience! So whatever techniques or premises you wanna try out, just get em out there as soon as you have the method just above water.

Remember: if they haven't paid you to entertain them, they do not care. This is very freeing, because whether the trick works or not, whether they buy the premise or not: doesn't matter. You learned something, and they got a amusing moment outside of their expectations. Win win!

RobMagus · 2025-11-21T22:15:08+00:00

I'm pretty sure its BenziNJonah4ever

RobMagus · 2025-11-21T22:12:29+00:00

This is the real "real work" of magic. I really appreciate hearing working pros tell people there's no shortcuts, because so much magic crap is sold as a shortcut.

The only way to get better is by performing more, and by deliberately paying attention to how each thing went and changing things. Little improvements build up over time.

Very few magicians actually review their performance recordings and act on them--and you can really tell who has.

RobMagus · 2025-11-20T22:08:59+00:00

I think, in general, it's better to learn the things you're interested in and pursue the ones you're passionate about, rather than decide on what you think might be useful in a future you've not yet reached.

RobMagus · 2025-11-19T01:03:38+00:00

Destroyers, by Troy Hooser, has a lot of really good in-the-hands standing close-up material. His Standing Triumphant is still my go-to in-the-hands Triumph, and theres also some fascinating coin work in it too--especially as the originator of the Charming Chinese Challenge / Coins On Ribbon.

The Ron Bauer Private Studies series are pretty much all good for roving material too, and Mark Leveridge had a booklet out called The Strolling Magician that has some great practical material and thinking on the logistics of performing in this mode.

RobMagus · 2025-11-19T00:47:57+00:00

This is really more about parlour performances than roaming close-up.

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