Vanishing Flagpole

EFFECT

The performer shows a flag, waving it by it's pole. They tell the audience that they have discovered a new way to pack the flag in their bag. They wrap the flag around the flagpole, then squash it into a ball to show that the flagpole vanishes!

YOU WILL NEED

• A quarter of a sheet of A4 paper or thereabouts, cut vertically
• Some sellotape
• A flag, preferably a cheap souvenir one (you can get them at sports games)

PREPARATION

1. First of all, remove the real flagpole from the flag. It is only attached by a small blob of glue, so you only need a little effort to prise the flag from the pole. This will leave a hole in the flag where the pole normally is
2. You will only need the flag. To replace the flagpole, roll the paper vertically so that the paper is of similar height to the pole, and of similar thickness
3. Secure the paper with a little tape, then ease the paper pole up the hole in the flag, taking care to ensure it keeps it's shape. You now have a flag with a paper pole that, from a distance, looks like a proper plastic one

PERFORMANCE

1. Wave the flag by the "flagpole", holding the "flagpole" by both hands. Explain that you take your flag wherever you go
2. Tell the audience you have discovered a new way of packing it up. Roll the flag around the pole until it is covered completely
3. Hold the covered "flagpole" at either end
4. Bring your hands together, squashing the flag, and "flagpole" inside into a ball. Tell them that the flag can  now be packed into smaller spaces.

Crystal Sub Tank of the cards

EFFECT

The Crystal Sub Tank (AKA Suspended Animation)  trick is one of the most popular among modern magicians. In it, the magician gets into an elevated box. It is covered with a curtain, but his hand is visible at all times. The assistants stands beside the box, and throws a cloth over himself, with one end held by the magician. The cloth comes down, and in a split second, the two have switched places. In this trick, the effect is replicated with a pair of cards

YOU WILL NEED

(FOR THE TANK)

• Some sellotape
• A rectangle of card. You should be able to fold it into an open cuboid, big enough to fit the whole deck with some extra space
• A Toilet Roll
• Clingfilm or a freezer bag
• A square of cardboard bigger than the roll, or cuboid
• Some kitchen foil
• A sheet of paper

(FOR THE MAGIC)

• A Deck of Cards
• A Helpful volunteer
• Knowledge of some card sleights- Namely the control and double lift

PREPARATION

(For The Cards)

There are two main sleights that are needed:

1. First of all, the CONTROL. While the card is being selected and looked at, take the top half or so of the rest of the deck and hold it in one hand. Hold the bottom half of the deck in the other hand. Have the volunteer put the card on the bottom half. Hold the ring finger over the chosen card-not by much, a few milimetres will do.This is called a "Finger break" and is key to both of the sleights in this trick. Put the top half over it. "Cut" the top half of the deck to the bottom. Due to the break, the chosen card will be left on top of the deck
2. Secondly, the DOUBLE LIFT. Hold another break under the card second from top. Using the ring finger holding the break as a lever, lift up the top two cards at once. They will look like one card, so it look like you are only handling the top card, which appears to be different to the chosen one (The top card is actually the chosen one

(FOR THE TANK)

1. Fold the cardboard into a cuboid, securing it with tape. Cut out two rectangles of the bag/clingfilm. Tape them each to either end of the cuboid. Cut a hole in one of the windows big enough to put a card through.
2. Stand the cuboid on top of the loo roll, and tape the two together. Attach the other end of the loo roll to the cardboard base. 
3. Cut a hole big enough to put a card through into the foil. arrange the foil so it covers the box, with the hole in the foil in line with the hole in the bag/film. The Tank is now ready

PERFORMANCE

1. Have the volunteer pick a card from the deck. Using the control sleight, move the chosen card to the top of the deck. Tell the volunteer that this will be the magician. Do some fake shuffles to keep the chosen card on top of the deck
2. Perform a double lift to show an indifferent card. Tell the volunteer that this will be the assistant. Remove some of the sellotape from the door with the hole in to open it
3. Place the top card (assumed to be the assistant) beside the tank. Put the rest of the deck in the tank, and replace the tape and door. Put the card on top of the incomplete deck (Assumed to be the magician) through the hole. Place the foil over it, passing the magician card through that hole as well
4. Cover both cards with the paper for a second, then turn over the card beside the tank to reveal it as the "Magician" card
5. Remove the foil, open the box by removing the tape, and reveal that the card that has been protruding from the holes the entire time to be the assistant!

magic in Americas got Talent Got Talent-The callbacks

For british readers, this article may contain spoilers

Over in America, Vegas week of Americas Got Talent has finished and we have our top 48 for the liveshows. But which magicians are there?

1. Judges Favourites

Fantastic Fig went first in the set, doing another cute but unspectacular card trick, again with his cat Newton on his shoulders. However, the main rivalry was between Michael Turco and Scott Alexander. Alexander did the Eclipse illusion, involving an assistant vanishing from one half of a circle and appearing in the other half. The trick was not spectacular, but was still hard to figure out. Lastly, Turco performed two tricks for the price of one. He did the slicer illusion, involving dividing an assistant into ninths, but had problems with a set of doors to the box that wouldn't close. He finally made 3 assistants appear in a cone-shaped box only big enough for one

2. Standbys

The set started with two disappointing performances. The Halls of Magic performed a version of the Cube Zag without the Zag, in which the male member handled a prop staff badly, and an unnamed Indian magician performed an unconvincing version of the sword basket.However, Landon Swank restored the judges faith in magicians when he made an assistant appear in a floating cardboard box. It's a fairly easy trick to figure out of you consider how Swank was standing, but it was well done. Last to go was acrobatic magician Seth Grabel,  who made 2 girls appear from a juggling cube (after initially dropping it) and did a transposition trick  that was well done, but easy to figure out.

3. Non magicians

Daredevil Frank Miles, although not a magician per se, did what was basically a large-scale version of the Spike in Cup trick, which was as exciting and well-presented as any of the best magic in the magicians category

4. Who went through?

The magicians who made it through to the live shows were:

1. Scott Alexander
2. Landon Swank
3. Seth Grabel
4. (Honorable mention, as he is not a magician) Frank Miles

I wish all of them the best of luck in the Live Shows!

BUZZIN ROULETTE

THE EFFECT: You are able to determine which of four paper cones has a buzzer underneath it

HOW TO DO IT

For this trick you need:

• Four sheets of A3 paper
• Four paper plates
• One Britains got Talent buzzer (available online or in gadget shops)
• Some sticky tape
• A needle or pin
• A volunteer

PREPARATION

1. Make a cylinders out of the four paper plates. Put sticky tape on one of the shorter edges, and attach to the other shorter edge without folding the paper. Use the tape to attach a paper plate to each cylinder
2. Before you begin the trick, make a pinprick in one of the plates (Get an adult to do this if necessary) as an identifying mark. You are now ready to perform

PERFORMANCE

1. Show the Britain's Got Talent buzzer and tell the audience that you want to avoid hitting it until the end of the performance. If you hit the buzzer, the performance is over. 
2. Put the buzzer underneath the cone that has the mark on top.
3. Get a volunteer to go up on stage and shuffle the cones until they are sure you do not know which one has the buzzer underneath. Hopefully, they won't notice the secret pinprick, and will keep the buzzer under the marked cone at all times.
4. When they have shuffled the cones accordingly, come up on stage. A quick glance at the cones will tell you which one is marked and has the buzzer underneath.
5. Hover your hand over the cones, then crush one of the unmarked cones with both hands
6. Repeat this for the other unmarked cones
7. When you have crushed all three unmarked cones,take the marked cone of the buzzer and show that you have made it to the end of the performance without hitting it

Penn And Teller: Fool Us- Episode 3

Yesterdays episode of Penn and Teller: Fool Us had plenty of good magic, but none of the four acts competing managed to fool Penn and Teller. That didn't matter though, as all four managed to impress not just the duo, but Johnathan Ross and the whole audience as well. These acts were...

Piff The Magic Dragon - Comedy Magician

Piff changed a spectators signed card into a predicted one, quarter by quarter. It was a cute and funny effect, but didn't quite fool Penn and Teller. I think it may have been done with a gimmicked card, but it was a nice effect all the same

Soma - Hungarian Close-Up Magician

Soma did a number of phone manipulations, which impressed everyone watching. Even Penn and Teller, who weren't fooled by this, said it was "delightful". It was entertaining and slickly presented too.

Alan Hudson- Comedy Mentalist

Alan did a cheerfully old fashioned routine involving guessing the song playing in each of four CD players. These songs were rather retro ones, not surprising given the nature of the trick. For the climax, he revealed Elvis Presley's "Viva Las Vegas" as the song on the final CD player, through a set of cards held up by the crowd to reveal his name, and a picture of Elvis on Alan's shirt. However, Penn and Teller weren't fooled, guessing that modern technology had been used to "Force" the song  choices

Damien O'Brian - Street Magician

Damien performed a trick involving Johnathan choosing a card at random from a pack, which not only matched the card chosen randomly from another pack by a second volunteer, but also matched a prediction made by Damien. The trick didn't fool Penn and Teller, who noted that the card had been forced and that Johnathan was the "Perfect Patsy"

The show ended, as usual, with Penn and Teller performing a trick of their own. Teller made coins appear out of nowhere in an empty fish tank. He put them in another, full, fish tank, and made a large number of fish appear, before turning some of them back into coins for the volunteer. That trick fooled us most of all.

P.S: I'm sorry I haven't yet posted any new magic tricks, but you can be promised several all at once when I get back to posting them next week, hopefully (But don't hold your breath, just in case I miss my deadline again!)

AMERICAS GOT TALENT EXCLUSIVE

British magic fans may be following the likes of Michael Grasso and Murray Sawchuck in AGT over here, but over in America, an all new series of Americas Got Talent has ended the auditions phase and the following magic acts have made the Vegas rounds (There may be more magicians shown in Vegas. A couple were shown in promos, but their auditions went unaired).  I will rank them based on how well I think they will do. I will tell you how they do on Wednesday and Thursday if you can't wait for next year to see them on ITV2 :

1. Landon Swank

Swank did a novel spin on the shadowbox trick, in which he folded up the assistants shadow and put it in his pocket. It was an innovative and original version of the trick. When Swank performs in Vegas, he needs to continue to show originality whilst simultaneously upping his game. However, I expect he will be able to do that.

2. Michael Turco

Turco performed several shadowbox tricks quickly. It wasn't as original as Swank's tricks, but it was slick and well-presented. Turco was only one of three magic acts shown in full out of these six, so America is familiar with him. Expect a lot of focus on him in the Vegas rounds. Whether he actually makes it through depends on him performing a larger-scale, more spectacular illusion than his rivals

3.Scott Alexander (Scott is the first act in the montage)

Three of the six magicians were only shown in montages, so go into Vegas as relativity unknown quantities. Of these three, Alexander has the best chance of making the live shows. Like Swank, he did a unique spin on a cliched trick, floating his assistant on water jets. Furthermore, if that is merely an audition trick, I wonder how much bigger his next performances will be...

4. Seth Grabel (Seth is the third act in the montage)

Seth did a exciting set of illusions, but it is easy to figure out how he did his trick when you consider how much the man in the rabbit suit looks like him. Therefore, technically, Grabel is inferior to his rivals. He needs to avoid such oversights and continue to have fun in order to compete in Vegas

5. The Halls of Magic (The Halls are the third act in the montage)

The Halls of Magic are probably the campest act in the category. Their trick is overpresented and easy to figure out. However, that said, it is still a decent trick, but the Halls will probably be interpreted as a novelty act for it. They need to avoid letting the camp overshadow the magic in Vegas

6. Fantastic Fig

Fantastic Fig did a set of card tricks, then randomly danced to the first few bars of "Hot Stuff", all with his pet cat Newton on his shoulder the whole time. he card tricks themselves were good, but I doubt whether Fig would be able to hold a candle to rivals who all do illusions. If he drops the dancing, ups his game, or gets sorted amongst the pet acts, he may have a chance of making the live shows. If not, he should go out.

A word on Americas got Talent

In Britain, coverage of last years Americas Got Talent has reached the live shows. Magic fans in Britain should be aware of the following magicians competing in the live shows

Antonio Restivio-live show 2 (Tuesday 5th July)
Murray Sawchuck- live show 4 (Tuesday 12th July)
Dan Sperry-Youtube Live show (Thursday 14th July)
Michael Grasso- Wildcard live show (Tuesday 9th July)

All 4 live shows air at 9PM on ITV2

However,over in America itself, an all-new series is progressing nicely. Over six magicians have been passed to the Vegas round, where they will compete for a spot in the live shows. I will upload videos of all six soon. They are...

Landon Swank
Scott Alexander
The Halls of Magic
Seth Grabel
Michael Turco
Fantastic Fig (with his pet cat Newton)

As well as these, Variety performer Leonid the Magnificent auditioned with an Ultra-Camp quick-change routine (He is not a magician per se though, as a veteran of the first two seasons of the show, Leonid has also done Balancing, Dancing, Hula-Hooping and Cube Juggling Routines.

Watch out for more news on these magicians in the near future.

P.S on Sunday I will try and film three illusions to have up on the site