June 30, 2006, Newsletter Issue #74: Magic Specialities

Tip of the Week

Close-up - Cards, coins, cups & balls, thimbles and any other, generally hand-sized tricks. Generally, people will specialize in either one or the other of these different subfields; card people rarely socialize with coins people.

Mentalism - "Magic of the mind." That is, precognition, telekinesis, ESP and pyrokinesis among other

Itīs one thing to pull four aces from a deck but itīs something all together to divine how much money a stranger has in his pocket or what the headlines for the New York Times will be the following day.

Stage Illusions - The difference between an illusion and a trick is that an illusion generally is large- scale and involves a human assistant and/or a large animal. David Copperfield was once asked what the difference was between a magician and an illusionist. He flatly replied, "about $40,000."

Platform/Parlor/Cabaret - As few of us are going to be hired to do large-scale shows most of our bread-and-butter will come from cabaret-style performances. Tricks included in this category include the Square Circle, Portable Sawing-in-Half.,

Escapology - Ropes and chains and trunks! Oh my! Escapologists manage to extricate themselves form unusual and seemingly impossible conditions including, but not limited to: jail cells, trunks at he bottom of a river, sea monsters (Harry Houdini actually escaped from one after being sown up into the creatureīs belly). My personal repertoire includes the Milk Can Escape, the Mail-bag escape and the Escape from 50 feet of Chains.

About LifeTips

Now one of the top on-line publishers in the world, LifeTips offers tips to millions of monthly visitors. Our mission mission is to make your life smarter, better, faster and wiser. Expert writers earn dough for what they know. And exclusive sponsors in each niche topic help us make-it-all happen.

Not finding the advice and tips you need on this Magic Tip Site? Request a Tip Now!


Guru Spotlight
Carma Spence-Pothitt