It's Monday and you know what that means... Monday Mail Call!
Each Monday (give or take), I use this feature to highlight a few of the things that have made their way in over the past week or so. Packages, purchases, and emails -- oh my!
Kicking off the first week of the month, the standard subscription deliveries of both The Hermit and Genii, fresh off the presses!
The Hermit is a giant issue this month as it teamed up with The Disclaimer, another monthly magic e-magazine. I am not a current subscriber of The Disclaimer, and I haven't made it all the way through the bundle issue yet (I'm still in The Hermit section =P), but I did check out their site and subscription levels. I... don't have an opinion yet other than I don't really know what it's about. It screams magic, but that's all I've gotten so far. If I find out more, or if the issue I have right now is neat, I'll post an update for sure!
But yeah, The Hermit's issue -- Issue #6! -- is packed with routines. There's coin magic by Giacomo Bertini and Dr. Michael Rubinstein, card magic by Scott Baird, Jack Holcombe, and John Carey, and a thoughtful "believe in yourself" article from Jay Sankey! But the routine that sticks out the most to me is The Turing Test by Ryan Pilling. It's based on Bi-Kolor Kut by Stewart Judah and Leslie Guest and is just a fun gag routine with a sheet of paper. It's perfect for a remote performance, maybe something to have prepped in case you're called out in a meeting. Here's his performance of it, also linked in the article:
This month's issue of Genii arrived on time finally (first time in a couple of months). The cover is an in memoriam of Haruo Shimada, a worldwide magician from Tokyo. There was a very nice mini biography of him in the issue which covered his life's journey through magic. I'm quite certain there was a lot more to it than was discussed, and it sounds like it may have been a hard time here and there too. I sadly didn't know about Shimada until receiving this magazine. Since then, which has only been a day or two, I've gone on a tangent of watching full routines of his on YouTube. I can only summarize it as beautiful magic. Just beautiful. If you haven't seen any of his work, I encourage you to check it out, you'll be amazed!
Up next is a fancy deck I pre-ordered a while back and recently received. The Spider-Man: No Way Home by Cardmafia. The cards themselves are fully custom, back and front. But that's not the cool part of this deck. No, the coolness is in the tuck itself. It's not a standard box where you just lift the lid and take out the cards. Instead, you extend it horizontally. And then extend it some more... and then, a Spider-Man logo lights up!
I know, I know -- it sounds silly when I type it out so I can only imagine how you're reading it right now. But tell me this doesn't look cool:
Last up for deliveries this week is the Kickstarter funded deck Psychonauts by Joker and The Thief. When they released the 597 and Happy Sad decks, I thought they were going in a different design-style direction -- and I really liked it. I like their original decks too, and the Dystopia deck of course, but I'm also a fan of minimalist decks. Well, Psychonauts is just in another level altogether. Multiple colors. Trippy designs. Just totally psychedelic! It's a collaboration with Art of Play, but this definitely has the JT vibe to it =]
Oh yeah, I also received an email from Vanishing Inc. earlier this month about getting any VI+ Masterclass video for only $1! They were doing a promotion for Andi Gladwin's Masterclass lectures this month, any new member could get it for only $1 signing up for VI+ so to make it fair for existing subscribers we were able to pick any historical one. I read through the description of all of the card magic ones that I didn't already have (only a few) and Harapan Ong taught one a while back that covered the Zarrow Shuffle and some work with a double-faced card... exactly what I'm trying to do more with right now so it was just meant to be.
I've been a member for a while and absolutely love it. The free shipping alone has been worth it, but the monthly Masterclasses and the other videos from the VI Studio / Streaming magic area are just amazing. I didn't think I would end up keeping it for so long, now I don't want to drop it.
You can still sign up for Andi's Masterclass or subscribe to VI+ here!
Monthly magazines, decks of cards, and a whole Masterclass for only $1?! June is starting off really nicely!
Stay tuned for the next iteration of Monday Mail Call, there's a lot more to come!
Oh also, if you'd like to offer suggestions for books, tricks, decks or if you have questions about magic (performing, routines, sleights, etc.), just reach out here.