The Anamorphic World of Judge Gary Brown

 Judge Gary Brown is a friend of mine, I state that up front. But even with that, he is able to create some of the coolest effects. He has a rather large repertoire of original material, some very off beat and yet quite remarkable.

His latest creation was his website JudgeBrownMagic.com. And being the genius that he is, he created this brilliant way to drive traffic to his website. He created a playing card size 'activity card' filled with optical illusions galore.  It's printed front and back with some very unusual artwork. From his own write up, "This priceless marvel contains TWO MIND-BLOWING SCIENTIFIC OPTICAL ILLUSIONS guaranteed to BAFFLE and AMAZE! And, as if that weren't enough, the card also contains more than  a half dozen hidden magical messages using ARCHAIC SYMBOLS and MODERN CODES developed over some 3,000 years, encompassing  everything from ANCIENT WISDOM to SPACE AGE ALGORITHMS."

In other words, it's very cool AND here is the great news, you can get one for FREE. You'll need to send Judge Gary a Self-Addressed Stamped Envelope. For you younger readers, you may need to see if there is a Youtube tutorial for that. For everyone else, just go to JudgeBrownMagic.com and click the link for the Free Magic! Enjoy.

Batman the Escape Artist

 

I watched Batman with Adam West growing up. Now everyone refers to it as Batman66, because it came out in 1966. I saw every episode there ever was, but I saw them as a kid. Imagine my surprise to come upon THIS episode called, "Zelda the Great". It starred Anne Baxter as Zelda the Great. She was a criminal, but also an illusionist and escape artist. Hanging in her secret warehouse was this huge poster (see above) which reads at the bottom, "EVEN GREATER THAN HOUDINI". 

Houdini is mentioned in the episode as well. And this interesting line is said, "and you know Batman, he's the greatest escape artist alive!"  Pretty cool stuff. Below is the contraption that is built as Zelda's new show piece. Except there is one problem. Neither Zelda nor the builder know how to open the device. So they set a trap for Batman and Robin.  They trap Batman and Robin and then watch closely on how Batman escapes. That will then reveal to Zelda HOW to escape!!!! Holy Houdini Batman!

Three Icons of Mind Reading Seen In A New Way

 

This animation app is all the rage, and I've done the typical ones that everyone is doing. But I thought I'd try some lesser known performers so here are three icons of mentalism for your enjoyment. First up, Anna Eva Fay. She will have a podcast episode is Season 3 for sure. She has a shorter one, that I did previously. http://magicdetectivepodcast.com/e/houdini-anna-eva-fay/

Next we have Samri Baldwin, known as the White Mahatma. He was another pioneer in mind reading and mentalism. And his podcast episode is here http://magicdetectivepodcast.com/e/samuel-spenser-baldwin-pioneer-clairvoyant/

Finally, the ultra mysterious Washington Irving Bishop. His podcast is here http://magicdetectivepodcast.com/e/three-pioneers-of-mind-reading/