Friday, February 26, 2010

Two Primo Italian Magicians

This week at our store in New York City we had a visit by two famous Italians magicians Andrew Basso and Alessandro Politi. Both stopped by and did some serious shopping before heading out to the World Magic Seminar starting this Sunday in Las Vegas.

The WMS is the premier convention for both professional and amateur magicians sponsored by world famous magicians Siegfried and Roy. The WMS began 32 years ago as the Desert Magic Seminar and is held annually in Las Vegas, Nevada. In addition to the seminar, Lance Burton hosts a special week-end event is held for teen magicians.

Andrew Basso, 24, is from Trento, Italy is considered "One of the younger and most successful escape artist in the world". 

Engaged in over 120 live shows every year, Andrew is currently leading the Italian television programme "Street Magic" where he puts his abilities to the test, in real settings, "on the road", improvising with the public his incredible magic and illusion experiments and his breathtaking escapes.

Andrew has already accomplished dozens of stunts, including:
THE COFFIN OF DEATH: Andrew has only seconds to free himself from a coffin with explosives before a car drives into it at 80 mile per hour.
THE UNDERWATER CELL: Andrew is chained and locked in a cell that is lowered underwater and has to hold his breath and escape before drowning.
ESCAPE AT 40 METERS HEIGHT: hanging head-down from a crane, 130 feet away from the ground, bound in a real straight-jacket, Andrew performed this air escape in record time!

Alessandro Politi, 33, from Savignano sul Rubicon, Italy is a comedian, cabaret artist and actor. He was named Italian Magician and Comic of the Year in 2006.

He is most famous for his portrayal of a weird Scottish magician Martin Scozzese, that calls himself the "Grande Mago" (Big Magician).  Alessandro holds the Guinness Book of World Record for the greatest number of  magic tricks presented underwater for an audience. Check out this hysterical video.

Thursday, February 18, 2010

Instead of Abracadabra







Instead of Abracadabra (Istället for Abrakadabra) was nominated for a 2010 Oscar at the Academy Awards for best Short Film (Live Action). This short film written and directed by Patrik Eklund is about a young man who dreams of becoming a magician, while his exasperated father wishes he would find himself a job.

The film premiered at the Gothenburg Film Festival in 2008, where it won the short film prize Startsladden, worth about $140,000 and the honorary prize as audience choice. The film was shot in Piteå, Sweden in the autumn of 2007. 

Cast:
Simon J Berger – Thomas
Jacob Nordenson - Bengt
Anki Larsson - Gunilla
Saga Gärde – Monika


Saturday, February 6, 2010

Four New Tannen's Magic Lectures!











Tannen's Magic Lecture Series announces four new lectures at our New York City store.

Joe Monti
“Monti's Back in Town”
Monday, February 22nd, 2010 at 7:00 PM

Doc Dixon 
“Practical Close-Up and Platform Conjuring”
Thursday, April 1st, 2010 at 7:00 PM

Dan & Dave 
“Visceral amazement. Bliss. Abstract wonder. Extreme optical abstractions.”
Monday, April 5th, 2010 at 7:00 PM

Luis Otero 
“Enlightened Card Magic”
Tuesday, April 27th, 2010 at 7:00 PM

Click here for more information.