talkmagic.co.uk

Several local stores have items from the Hanky Panky Professional range of tricks at £1.99 - usually a fiver or so elsewhere. OK, they're a bit plasticky and basic but they're an excellent way to try out and understand some of the classic magic effects such as Lotta Vase, Rice Bowls and so on. Worth browsing your local Works?



PS: Be careful if you Google Hanky Panky Magic as you'll get a lot of links to Ursula Martinez and 'that' video !!

those bowls are very pink !

Almost Dayglo pink! A few minute's work with a can of spray paint will fix things. The decal is annoying as it's obvioulsy on a piece of shiny sellotape and the same thing is true of the Lotta Vase decal - all easily removed....

What's wrong with dayglo pink??

That's a selling point IMHO!



Pete

I'll have to pop in there next time I near. And there's nothing wrong with the colour of those bowls at all!

I bought some of these in my local Works this past weekend.

For £1.99 they're a fantastic way to appreciate some of the classic effects that some of us may otherwise shy away from. They're also great excuses to get the kids involved in magic! My little girl has already mastered the Indian Rice bowls

Not a Review yet as I still need to read it though properly, but perhaps more of a tip off. The Works are selling a new magic book, called, ‘Practical Magic’, cover price £17.99 but on sale at £6.99.


Published by Hinckler Books Pty, Australia, it’s written by Nigel Anderson and covers a very wide range of magic. In similar vein to Nic Einhorn’s Encyclopaedia of Magic, there are over 60 tricks and effects, using cards, coins, ropes, pencils, paper, forks, spoons, as well as sleight of hand techniques and some of the classics such as Crazy Man’s Handcuffs, Cups and Balls – even the rabbit out of a hat.

Might make a nice Christmas prezzie for someone who’s been good this year.....

Our Works closed and is now a trendy clothes shop, which is itself having a closing down sale.

Our Works also closed recently... not good timing for me seeing all this now

Ooh! I'm heading into town this Tuesday for a physio appointment (seeing if anything can be done for my screwed-up shoulder). If I'm good and well-behaved at the doctor, I might just wander over to the Works for a little reward...

Strangely enough, the publishers list this under Children's books and it does have some very elementary items such as the Rubber Pencil and the hopping rubber band thingy which most Uncles do every Christmas! I wouldn't have put Crazy Man's Handcuffs or Cups and Balls down as Children's stuff though....

I was doing a charity show at a kids' hospital once and in the bookshelf on the ward, alongside the Tweenies annuals and the Tracy Beaker paperbacks, was a coolection of MR James' ghost stories. Adults are so silly sometimes. Magic books? File under children. Ghost stories? File under children.

Hope no kids actually sat down to read MR James. Their stay in hospital may have been a little creepier than they expected!

I did a swift survey of four public libraries in Birmingham earlier this year, just to see which Magic books they had. Two had none, one had Mark Wilson and the other had Derren Brown's Tricks of the Mind and TonyB's Teach Yourself Conjuring. All four had Nic Einhorn's book but in the Junior section. That books covers material for all ages so why class it as children's stuff? I asked the librarian but he couldn't offer any reason, that's just the way it got clasified up a HQ apprently. Seems to me they ouGht to ask people who know something of the subject to help such classifications!

I was well-behaved at the physio (even after some painful poking and manipulation), so took myself off to The Works. There was nothing magical in my branch, but I did get a good deal on some audiobooks, so the trip wasn't wasted.

Also had a splurge at HMV and my favourite shop, CEX, so the absence of magic goodies is probably just as well.

EDIT: The Works always seems to have a nice line in assorted cheap stationery, including envelopes and books of raffle tickets. Always a good place to remember.

I noticed that the Works are stocking up on Christmas stuff and one of the items in their 'Winter Works' range is Instant Snow - powder which epands 100 times etc - you know the idea. At 99p for a 'Test Tube' type container, it's a good price and, with the use of a TT and a little water, magical things can be done with it... if you're so inclined!