Tag: magic

Penn & Teller Live @ QPAC

Penn & Teller Live @ QPAC

30 June 2022

Promotional posters: Penn & Teller Australian Tour, 2022

Magicians Penn & Teller entranced Brisbane tonight, the duo exhibiting through their unique blend of palaver and silence, performance and meta commentary, both mastery and a love of craft, entertaining throughout and sneaking in genuine magic under the artful misdirection of comedy.

The Official C.I.A. Manual of Trickery and Deception

The Official C.I.A. Manual of Trickery and Deception

by John Mulholland (Unpublished, 1953)

ed. H. Keith Melton and Robert Wallace (Hardie Grant, 2010)

Mulholland_CIA Manual

Although the editors try to spruik the significance of two instructional manuals commissioned from magician John Mulholland by the CIA during the Cold War, closer inspection reveals the most interesting facet of these works to be that they were written at all.

 

Hiding the Elephant

Hiding the Elephant: How Magicians Invented the Impossible

by Jim Steinmeyer (Heinemann, 2004)

Steinmeyer_Hiding the Elephant

Even for the reader with no prior interest in magicians and their world, Steinmeyer’s history of the golden age of magic makes for an engrossing read. A book rich in passion, written by an expert who keeps his subject matter refreshingly accessible.