Betwixt Jest and Earnest
Michael Mangan in Performing Dark Arts: A cultural history of conjuring (2007) talks of the paraxial and the notion that…
‘Most of it is crap.’
Max Maven in his introduction to the collected New Invocation (Volume 2) states ‘In this compilation of the first thirty-six…
Mr Punch’s Cabinet of Curiosities
After an awesome weekend at Horror Con 2015, we are proud to officially launch our (well Mr Punch’s) Cabinet of…
Research Ramble
I’ve had a bit of a holiday, a few weeks away from most things. Just to regroup really and start…
Doomsday VI
Each year a motley band of dark initiates gather in Whitby for Doomsday. Just in case you don’t know, Doomsday…
How to Make Magic – one of my favourite books
How to Make Magic – Sharon Finmark and David Wickers Listening The Mystic Menagerie Podcast with Dan Baines and Freddie…
Almost May…
The usual three month break from this blog and I’m back again writing something meandering… So, I’m currently in the…
Edge of the Unknown (and more)
It’s been a busy October here as I’ve been setting up the Magic Research Group and the Journal of Performance…
Where am I?
For the rest of this year my research time is going to be spent preparing for my upcoming sabbatical. A…
Getting There
Dear Blog, It’s been 2 months since my last confession and time has flown. Magical things are developing nicely (if…
Working in the Studio
For the last couple of weeks I’ve been working in a studio. Working in a very different way to how…
Still here?
So, I’m back on my webpages after so cruelly ignoring them for so long… I’ll be slowly revamping the pages to…
Derren Brown – Svengali
How do you talk about a show when you’ve promised not to tell? I went to see it in Bradford…
Paranormality
It’s been a week in which, between lurking various forums watching several pitched battles between mystery entertainers and men with…
Putting the tricks back into magic – Sleights of Mind: Magic and Neuroscience
I’ve been spending the last few days trying to like the Sleights of Mind. I simply can’t. I’m not convinced…
Gift Magic (2)
A book all about generosity we can find in magic; how we can be generous in our performance and also how we…
Gift Magic (1)
>I’ll probably blog about Gift Magic soon, in the meantime I wanted to share this from one of the chapters; I…
Extraordinary Popular Delusions and the Madness of Crowds
>Being a meandering ramble about not going to Blackpool Convention and my ongoing attempts at not being drawn into the passive consumerism…
The Magicians – BBC One
>Let’s start the year with a hastily written bit of rantage … The Magician is a maker of miracles, the…
The Mystic Menagerie Issue 2
> The communication orb seemed to throb gently in front of the Magician, its diffuse blue glow straying into the…
Doomsday
>It’s great to have a note in my diary that says May 8th is “Doomsday”. No I haven’t been privy…
An Evening of Metaphysical Magic
> It’s going to be an exciting year with the first Magic event of 2010 scheduled February. We are very…
Horror
>It’s been a hectic term at University and as usual my thinking about magic took a back seat (I really…
Lavater – The Shadow of History
>For one night only – 13th November 2009 – 7.30pm. The noted physiognomist Johann Caspar Lavater (1741-1801) returns for one…
Invocation
> I’ve had a fascinating time indulging in a close reading of Invocation/New Invocation magazine the seminal publication for Bizarre…