Kostya Kimlat products!

With all the hoopla surrounding the return of Fart-Toon, I nearly forgot to mention the addition of products from Kostya Kimlat!

Kostya is a triple-threat: he's young, talented, and good-looking, which just makes me hate him more (j/k KK!).

The truth is, despite his young age, he's widely recognized as a true authority on card magic. His magnum opus (thus far) is his Roadrunner Cull DVD. I first saw Kostya perform back in '04 at the Motor City Close-Up convention. He demonstrated his culling technique, and not a single person was unimpressed. At the time, his cull notes were only written up in lecture notes, and while they were well written, video is the perfect medium for learning such a complicated and versatile sleight.

We also have 2 of Kostya's works available on CD-ROM in e-book formats. Card Work, Card Play includes PDF files along with video files, so you'll be able to see the sleights and tricks described, and keep the PDF files to print or add to your mobile device for on-the-go learning. We also have a double-dose of Kostya with the No Card Tricks/Post-It Prestidigitation CD-ROM, combining two e-books onto one disc in PDF format. I love that Kostya is a diverse magical talent and branches away from cards to become an all-around magic entertainer.

For the time being, Kostya's not giving any of these products to any other distributor. The only place you can find them right now is at FUN Incorporated! Act fast - supplies are limited!

Fart-Toon Returns!

We've had a lot of requests about this trick - but decided to re-release it anyway!

Quite possibly the world's most offensive card trick, Fart-Toon is back! The hilarious sequel comes from the creator of the original Card-Toon, Dan Harlan, along with Scott Alexander.

Instead of finding a selected card by shooting out of a cannon or pulling it from his hat, the world's most famous stick-figure magician devours a taco supreme (with extra hot sauce!), then emits a gaseous cloud from his rear end, with the card revealed among the toxic fumes!

Take a look at it here!

Rune Klan on Danish TV!

Rune Klan has been performing in his own television show broadcast on the Danish TV network Channel 5.

None of us here speak Danish, but it certainly was a surprise when we saw Rune using FUN Inc-made Super Signal on national television!

How do we know this? Because on the back, you can clearly see the logo from 2008's combined SAM/IBM Convention, and FUN was the exclusive manufacturer for the magic kits received by all the registrants, including...

FUN Incorporated: The Choice of Professionals!

NPR's Carl Kasell Does Magic

Roaming around the interwebs, I ran across a YouTube video of legendary NPR newsman Carl Kasell performing Scotch and Soda. Kasell has been the voice of NPR's morning newscasts for years, but most may know him as the announcer/scorekeeper for NPR's news quiz show, "Wait Wait, Don't Tell Me!" which is recorded weekly right here in Chicago.

I need to make it down to a taping one of these days...

Warning comes Sept 18th!

Kostya Kimlat's WARNING caused a sensation at the recent MAGIC Live convention. It will soon be available to dealers worldwide exclusively through FUN Inc!

WARNING will be available to dealers starting this Friday, September 18. Get your orders in fast, people - this one's going to go quick!

Here's the official scoop:

WARNING is an incredible new magic effect that is fast, visual, direct and amazing. Pick up a lighter, peel off the "warning" sticker, light it, and in a flash of fire the sticker has instantly returned to the lighter! WARNING is easy to learn, fun to practice, and addicting to perform. A completely organic magic trick that will get screams from your audience, WARNING "generates waves of excitement without you having to say a single word!"

It's the perfect ice breaker for any magician, a stunning close-up trick for the bar, street, banquet or corporate boardroom.

Reviews from Professionals

"Visually Stunning!" - David Williamson

"...The impossible in a nanosecond." - David Regal

"So off the wall and visual - what a great idea!" -Chad Long

"Fun, fantastic, f@$&!#% unbelievable!" - Daniel Garcia

"Generate waves of excitement without saying a single word!" - Gregory Wilson

"Organic and Logical. It's as perfect for a dark, loud bar as for an elegant dinner party." -Michael Ammar

"!WARNING is visual, direct, easy to do and looks like magic. It's going into my repertoire right now." - Joshua Jay

John & Tomas on iTricks Clinic TONIGHT!

Tomas and I are the special guests on iTricks clinic tonight, broadcasting live over the web at 8 pm Eastern/7 pm Central.

Tune in, ask us questions. After the introduction, we don't have any material prepared, so help us keep it going!

Click here to view!

Coming Soon: Steve Fearson Exclusives!

I had been holding back on some really good news, and I'm finally ready to announce it: FUN Inc will now be the exclusive distributor for items from Steve Fearson!

Steve is the man behind the Fearson Thread Hookup, Fearson's Fantastic Floatation, and the brains behind David Copperfield's Laser Illusion.

We're very excited to be working with Steve. We'll be bringing two of his products, the Master Levitation System and his Legend DVD to the FUN Inc website very soon. Stay with us for the latest developments!

The ORIGINAL Easy Money

In the last few years, there's been a deluge of releases of the same effect - Turning $1 bills into $100 bills. All of these recent releases all vary in method, but all are based on one original idea: Patrick Page's Easy Money.

Finally, we are able to release to the magic community a DVD featuring noted magician and author John Lovick. Lovick's book "Switch" reads like a complete treatise on magic with bills, so he was a natural choice to host this program.

John goes into great detail on how to perform the trick, how to construct the gimmick, and includes a bonus of his Slow Motion Bill Transposition. This broadcast quality DVD includes over-the-shoulder angles to make following along as simple as possible.

Now available at a dealer near you!

Sometimes Inspiration Strikes

...and you just have to write it down. A challenge to create a magic-related limerick was posted on a forum, so I came up with a little ditty:

I love to do magic for all.

"It was fun," I'll always recall,

but the fun quickly stops

when my chop cup gets dropped

and I have to go chasing the ball!

/fridaysilliness.

Sturk makes the rounds

My new side gig working on The Newest TOPS seems to have generated some interest out in the magic blogosophere. I just completed interviews with both iTricks.com and The Magic Newswire. Take a listen if you want to hear me pontificating on modern conjuring!

Our Twitter followers

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Musical odes to magic

People are inspired to write songs by all sorts of things. Love and relationships, automobiles, locations... but a magic trick?

After finishing our show "Short Guys With Glasses" this past Saturday, Tomas was approached by a man who had seen him before. About 10 years ago, in fact, where Tomas performed The Tic Tac Trick - wherein Tomas shoves 3 Tic Tacs into different facial orifaces and procedes to cough them up (you can find the method to this madness on Tomas' Geek Magic DVD).

Anyway, this incident 10 years ago inspired the man, who was part of a band at the time, to pen a ditty about Tomas' performance.

So here it is, ladies and gentlemen: Download The Tic Tac Trick mp3.

This tune opens the door for all sorts of songs about magic tricks. I can hear it now..."it's the egg bag trick...it's the egg bag trick"...

Spin Out!

Our friends at The Magic Apple have released a new DVD project: Spin Out.

Let's hit the basics: the material is solid, the video quality is top-notch, and the teaching is clear and concise. But I happen to think that this video is very funny. It a witty commentary on the state of some magic DVDs you see on the market these days.

Below is the official pitch:

A card is chosen then placed back in the deck. The deck is placed into the EMPTY card box. The box is tossed in to the air…then the magic happens! The deck is removed from the box and spread to reveal ONE card with a TWISTED, SPUN OUT image! The chosen card’s face and back have actually been twisted 720 degrees! There are NO DUPLICATE cards seen in the deck. The Spin Out card can be examined! Even given as a souvenir. This is just one of the FOUR DIFFERENT VERSIONS of Spin Out! Not only will you lean these great effects, but the tools needed to perform them are described in great detail!

Card + Spin = Spin Out.

"Wow!..I wish I'd thought of it!" - Daryl, The Magician's Magician

"Could be the greatest card revolution ever" - Bob Postelnik, creator of Devil's Doorway

"...it is so Unique." Tony Clark

"This is one VERY creative and EXTREMELY visual card trick" - Shoot Ogawa

Michael Caine's "Is Anybody There?"

For those of you who saw the cover of this month's Genii, Michael Caine stars in a new movie about an aging magician. I was able to catch the film this past weekend, and recommend it highly. If you expect to go and geek out on magic, don't; there's precious little magic in it. Instead, you should go because it's a well-crafted story and beautifully acted by Caine and his 10-year-old co-star, Bill Millner.

Back on the wagon!

Well, that was a long 19 days between posts. And what a busy time it's been! I've been working hard cranking out a lot of custom magic and working on some new DVD projects. It's been so hectic, I forgot to blog!

Oh, I also managed to pull down two first place wins at Michigan Magic Day, for both stage and close-up. < /bragging >

Anyway, we've done a revamp of the Double Discount page that I wanted everyone to know about. The catch is, you can only view the page if you're logged in as a regular FunInc.com customer (dealers only)!

Happenings at FUN

Last week we introduced the world to Card Magic Essentials. In keeping with the spirit of magic for the beginners, we're going to being shooting today on a new project. The Amazing Tomas will star - but that's all the hints I'm giving!

Also around the company, we're going to be revamping our Double Discount program beginning on Friday. Those of you with login accounts for FunInc.com will be able to view the bargains. Sorry consumers - dealers only!

And third, yours truly has been put in charge of our Customization Division! So anybody who needs a logo imprinted on Three Card Montes, Tel-A-Vision Boxes, or the like, you can talk to me!

CME is here!

FUN Inc is proud to announce the release of our newest DVD project: Card Magic Essentials!

Tomas teaches 30+ of the most commonly used card sleights and moves. This DVD is designed for the beginner, teaching everything from how to grip the deck to a few routines using the sleights taught on the disc.

I wrote and directed the project, and I'm very pleased with the final product. Any card magic newbie is sure to get their money's worth from this DVD!

Check it out from your favorite dealer!

At The Table reviewed in April's Genii

Tomas' "At the Table" DVD got a positive review in this month's Genii Magazine. From reviewer Joe M. Turner:

"This latest disc from Fun Incorporated is an easy reccomendation - a collection of impromptu magic effects that can be performed at a bar or restaurant...There is some neat twisting to the oldies here."

"Don't write this off as just another collection of old chestnuts, though."

"...this one is a steal at $15."

Check this out from your favorite dealer...Joe said so!

The Invisible Hand is here!

I know I'm excited about this...

Who wouldn't want to make their magic a little more visual? The Invisible Hand is Michel's re-working of the classic Jack Miller Hold-Out. Michel's creation is a utility device that makes the impossible possible - and damn good to watch.

TIH opens the door to dozens of effects. Mentalism, magic with silks, coins, cards, and many other objects are given a fresh take with this device.

My personal favorite is Michel's original routine, The Silk Story. Check out this YouTube vid:

Our Favorite Magic Movies

With the impending release of The Great Buck Howard, Tomas suggested we blog about our favorite magic movies.

The one I like the most isn't The Illusionist, or The Prestige, but a little known independent film titled Magicians. It stars Til Schweiger as an entertaining but technically-challenged conjuror, who recruits a pickpocket, played by Fabrizio Bentivoglio. Together, with their coach/manager and lovely assistant (Alan Arkin and Claire Forlani), they set out to make it big in Las Vegas.

Of course, we get to follow them on their journey to making it big - playing tiny rooms with unfriendly crowds, developing the act along the way. It was realistic enough for me to recognize parallels in my own performing career!

Tomas writes...

My all time favorite magician movie is Herschell Gordon Lewis' THE WIZARD OF GORE. For those not familiar with H.Gordon Lewis, he's a low-budget filmmaker responsible for inventing the "gore movie". No, the Wizard of Gore isn't for everyone. In fact it's loaded with buckets of guts. Sometimes its fun trying to work out which is worse - the acting, the script or the production values.

Honestly, it's all AWFUL, but fun to watch with friends. Especially magic nerds. Montag the Magnificent (Ray Sager) is WORST magician ever, but he's an excellent hypnotist. Montag performs standard illusions, only his lovely volunteers drop dead shortly after each performance. He hypnotizes the entire audience and they see the typical "Lady Sawed in Half" trick, but in reality he chainsaws her. The assistants get swords crammed down their throats, spikes in their stomachs, and nails in their ears. Each time Montag makes a bunch of crazy faces and squishes their slimy guts between his fingers. Once he's done, he snaps the audience out of their haze and everyone goes along their merry way, none the wiser.

The movie is definitely not for everyone and Painfully good. Recently, Crispin Glover stars in a re-make of the Wizard of Gore. I have yet to see it, but I'm assuming it's not as fun with a bigger budget and slicker special effects.

Artist Spotlight: Paul Gertner

This coming weekend, I'm headed up to Colon, Michigan, and the Abbott's Magic Close-Up convention. Unlike the Abbott's Get-Together, which is a four-day event in August, the Close-Up convention is a much smaller affair. Because of the intimate nature of the event, it affords the attendees a chance at face time with the convention's special guests.

This year, Paul Gertner is the main guest. He'll be performing and lecturing - including, I hope, his famous Steel and Silver routine. Let's take a look at a few of Paul's recently released products.

Bite Me: A card is selected, signed and shuffled into the deck. You call attention to the Joker which reads: “These cards should not be thrown, inserted or ingested.” “Ingested?” Watch them freak out as...

YOU TAKE A BITE OUT OF THE ENTIRE DECK AND SWALLOW ALL THE PIECES!

Heartbreaker: A heart is drawn on the face of a card. The spectator’s initials from their childhood are written in the middle of the heart. A second heart, a broken heart is drawn on a different card...The initials of their childhood sweetheart are written in the middle of the broken heart.

NOW...Watch their reaction as you magically heal a broken heart from long ago!