One of the most delightful things we’ve discovered during the lockdown is Twitter Magic. We have found magicians from around the world performing one trick at a time and performing it with exceptional talent. You can see our collection of fantastic card and coin magic on our Twitter channel at @insidemagic.
We are always looking for new performers to feature and always delighted to learn new methods and new styles to old tricks. It is so fascinating to see young people taking effects that we learned thousands of years ago and turn them into miracles.
We follow the time zones around the world so we may see great card magic starting in New York, coin magic in Chicago, fantastic effects in Las Vegas, then California and after a few hours Hawaii, Japan, Korea, China, India, Europe and then back to New York.
Be sure to check out our Twitter feed (@InsideMagic) and if you know of Twitter handles we should be following please pass them along.
This is a great time for magicians to stretch their stuff and The magicians who are strutting are right to strut. They’ve got the stuff and are practiced
Inside Magic Favorite and Master Magician Lance Burton retweeted and favorited a tweet about our article this morning.
We wrote about his new film and expressed our unmitigated and real excitement about the movie. Our joy was even less mitigated and excitement more real when we learned he so honored us and this humble, virtual rag.
We have taken screen prints of the Twitter notifications and are still doing our Snoopy “Happy Dance.”
It is distracting to the other passengers on bus but it was the only place we could find wifi in a pinch since they kicked us out of Starbucks for “borrowing” their wooden stirrers to practice a trick we saw on YouTube.
It is not our fault that we like to practice our tricks until we feel they are perfect and that each time we perform the “Broken and Restored Stirrer of Wood” we need two stirrers.
It is also not our fault that we don’t like coffee that much and have never bought a thing from our local Starbucks location as we sit in the air-conditioned comfort of their old leather chairs, stare out onto Santa Monica Boulevard and absently practice the illusion that will no doubt put us over the top.
Maybe they should think about stocking things that everyone likes — Diet Coke, Tang, Funyun and pork rinds. We did find some beef jerky there this morning but it wasn’t for sale and we’re not sure it was beef jerky proper. It may have been something other than beef jerky and because anything that looks like beef jerky but is not beef jerky is something you should not put into your own mouth, we passed up the opportunity.
Our stop is coming up now so we need to sign off.
Hey, what are the odds? We just saw more of something that looks like beef jerky on the seat next to us.
Thank you, Mr. Burton. You have made our month, year and decade.
Inept magician Tony Spain’s attempt to “cash in” on the Anthony Weiner scandal backfired.
Tony Spain is by all accounts one of the worst people in magic. He proved deserving of the title last week attempting to make commercial hay out of the Anthony Wiener scandal by “sending a Twitter of his wand.”
Mr. Spain sent a grainy image of a beat-up magic wand as an attachment to his unsolicited direct messages to hundreds important debutantes in 23 different locations in the United States, Canada and Mexico.
Many of the young ladies — having been chastened by the news surrounding Anthony Weiner’s scandal — refused to open the image attachment. As a result, Twitter determined Tony Spain’s messages were “uninvited, obscene material” and violated the Twitter terms of service. The folks at Twitter closed Tony Spain’s account without opening the attached image. Tony yelped and pleaded but Twitter refused to entertain the insolent magi’s petitions.
Tony Spain, being Tony Spain, started an impotent public attack on Twitter. He claimed the nascent Internet social media company was infringing on his “Fifth Amendment rights.”
Disregard for a second that the Fifth Amendment to the United States Constitution has nothing to do with free speech or speech conducted via social media, by making this allegation Mr. Spain’s shared ample proof of his ignorance worldwide.
We assume Mr. Spain wanted to argue that he had certain First Amendment rights guaranteeing him the “Right to Free Speech.” As noted above, this right only protects against actions by the government. (With the passage of the 14th Amendment, the Bill of Rights apply to protect against the actions of state and local governments). As readers of Inside Magic know, the Fifth Amendment protects against being forced to incriminate oneself.
We have received perhaps hundreds of copies of Mr. Spain’s Twitter messages from the original recipients and others. The text of the message accompanying the image attachment reads, “Here is a picture of my wand. Look at it. Isn’t it magnificent? It is so magical.”
One of the most delightful things we’ve discovered during the lockdown is Twitter Magic. We have found magicians from around the world performing one trick at a time and performing it with exceptional talent. You can see our collection of fantastic card and coin magic on our Twitter channel at @insidemagic. 
