The Swiss Movement

This is an excerpt from the PBS documentary, The Art of Magic, for which I also served as a consultant. I also co-wrote the companion coffee-table style history book by the same title; the book is now out of print, but a few copies are available from the “Buy Stuff” link on my site.

The documentary unfortunately was never released on DVD, so it has not been available since the VHS version left the marketplace. This piece is a routine I call “The Four Basic Principles of Card Conjuring”:

I will be posting videos regularly on my youtube channel, and here’s the latest clip, from the British TV special “Hoaxbusters,” in which I demonstrate the Three Card Monte in Times Square.

We had two newspaper stories in Pittsburgh about our CFI program, “Magic, Science, and Skepticsm,” and about my show at the Carnegie Science Center. Here’s a nice piece in the Post-Gazette, and there was another in the Tribune-Review.

Saturday evening, November 1st, I will be performing “Heavy Mental” at the Carnegie Science Center in Pittsburgh. The show is open to the public.

The show caps a full-day program, sponsored by the Center for Inquiry, entitled “Magic, Science, & Skepticism: A Natural Relationship.” During the day I will present my critical thinking lecture/demonstration, “The Illusion of Psychic Powers”; DJ Grothe, host of the CFI “Point of Inquiry” podcast, will present a talk; and Grothe will moderate a Q&A session. Click HERE for further details!

On Sunday I will be giving a lecture for local magicians, followed by a sleight-of-hand workshop. Email magic@deceptionsunlimited.com for further information.

In August I was a speaker at the Flash Forward Conference in San Francisco, the conference of the Flash Technology industry. I also hosted their awards show - “The Oscars of Flash” - and performed a number of interstitial magic pieces that incorporated themes and ideas about Flash technology.

On stage for the Flash Forward Awards Show

You can read a nice write-up of the conference in general, and my talk in particular, at this

On October 28th I be spoke at Adobe headquarters in San Jose, as part  of their Distinguished Lecturer series.  I had a capacity crowd at the San Jose location, and the talk was simulcast to Adobe’s Seattle and San Francisco locations where there were also substantial turnouts, and all took place in the lively Q&A that followed. I spent the rest of the day meeting, answering questions, and brainstorming with a variety of Adobe personnel, including technologists, visionaries, business development folks, user experience specialists, user interface people, programmers, and designers — an extremely stimulating and rewarding day.

I helped Adam Gopnik, who wrote the New Yorker piece on magic, put together a panel as part of the New Yorker Festival.  Video of the panel discussion is now online.

Some of the magic, by John Thompson and myself, was performed during the Q&A, which was excluded from the video.

GEL SALON DINNER: Later this week I‘ll be attending a salon dinner hosted by Mark Hurst of the Good Experience newsletter (http://www.goodexperience.com)  I’ll be a speaker at the 2009 GEL (Good Experience Live) conference, April 30 - May 1, 2009 in New York City http://www.gelconference.com/, and this is a dinner gathering of some of my fellow speakers.

NEW YORKER FESTIVAL: On Sunday, October 5th , I’ll be taking part in a panel on magic as part of the New Yorker Festival ( http://www.festival.newyorker.com/), moderated by Adam Gopnik, who wrote the in-depth profile about magic (and yours truly) that appeared in The New Yorker in March. (http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2008/03/17/080317fa_fact_gopnik)

MONDAY NIGHT MAGIC: I’ll be headlining with “Heavy Mental,” my stage show of mind-reading and mentalism, on October 13th. (http://www.mondaynightmagic.com) Please email me if you would like to attend.

ADOBE DISTINGUISHED LECTURER: I’ll be speaking at Adobe’s headquarters in San Jose on October 28th as part of their 2008 Distinguished Lecture Series.

THE MAGIC CASTLE: My next dates at the Magic Castle ( www.magiccastle.com) in Hollywood are Friday and Saturday, November 21st & 22nd, in the W.C. Fields Bar. This is my first time working this bar venue in the Castle, and it’s a lot looser than the other performance rooms - I’m sure it will be a blast! Put it on your calendar and let me know if you’d like to attend.

THE INSIDE OUT CONFERENCE: I’ll be speaking at this conference of designers, sponsored by Intuit, in San Francisco, November 12th and 13th.

“HEAVY MENTAL” IN PITTSBURGH: I’ll be performing the full-length version of “Heavy Mental” in Pittsburgh on Saturday, November 1st.  More details to follow - stay tuned at www.jamyianswiss.com.  I’ll be doing a number of other events in Pittsburgh that weekend, including a Saturday afternoon talk on “The Illusion of Psychic Powers,” as well as a lecture and workshop for local magicians on Sunday.

EG 2008 - THE ENTERTAINMENT GATHERING: I’ve been invited to return to this terrific conference, founded by Richard Saul Wurman, the creator of the TED conference.  I spoke at last year’s conference at the Getty Museum in Los Angeles; this year the conference will be in Monterey.  Registration is $4000 - for more information see http://www.the-eg.com/.