Fredrick Turner

Reflections

  • Cotton or China

    Today marks the two year anniversary of this blog. One hundred and twenty two posts in total. Not too bad; although it could be better. As I said in my first post, this is the resurrection of the blog, Magic and Conjuring, I ran for a few years on Blogger. I drifted away from Blogger Continue reading

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  • AI in Magic Advertising

    I don’t know if this story had much traction in social media as I’m not a participant. There’s been no discussion on the Genii or Magician’s Forums. Erik Tait and Nick Locapo discussed it briefly on the Penguin podcast and UK magician, Caven Booth, posted a YouTube video. It’s strange that there hasn’t been more Continue reading

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  • Book Notes: Oryx and Crake

    This probably qualifies as a reread as I read about 20 years ago. It popped up on a list of the top twenty most banned books – of which Margaret Atwood has two. The other being The Handmaid’s Tale. According to Wikipedia, it’s been banned for “objective sensitive material”. Oryx and Crake is book one Continue reading

  • Book Notes: Blazing Eye Sees All

    I can’t recall how I learned of this book. I had put it on the Recommended Purchase list, so I was one of the first to read it from our library. Leah Sottile is a Pacific Northwest author whose work has been published in Rolling Stone, the New York Times, the Washington Post and other Continue reading

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  • Question to Ponder

    I was rereading Issue Two of the Neat Review recently. It’s the issue that focuses on the New York City magic scene in 2019. The second essay, What Do We Want to Say, was written by magician and bar owner, Eric Hu. He poses this question: When we perform magic, what are we creating exactly? Continue reading

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  • Rick Johnsson: Linking Ring Parade June 1975

    For those who are unaware, the International Brotherhood of Magicians’ monthly publication has a trick section that features the work of one or more magicians. The Parade as it’s called has been a part of the magazine since close to its inception. A number of prominent magicians have contributed over the years and some multiple Continue reading

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  • Booklet Notes: Strike One

    I’m attempting to create a Rick Johnsson bibliography with limited success; however I believe that the booklet, Strike One, was one of his earliest works. It was written for Rick by Jerry Mentzer and published by his Magic Methods in 1973. Like many publications of its time, it was printed on a pinkish-purple paper that Continue reading

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