The Magic Memories (221)

Hello everyone!

Today’s topics are: Solution to Computer Problem; On Critical Reporting; Magialdia 2025; French National Convention in Troyes; Paris, Paris (Pierre Gagnaire); Unexpected Agenda… On This Day: “November 2 – Old Wine… Matures Well”

These are The Magic Memories 221, gone online Sunday, November 2nd, 2025, at 0:07h sharp.

All The Magic Memories from 2021, 2022, 2023, and 2024 including the Magic Advent Calendar from 2020, can be found HERE.

As you are reading this I am attending the Card Conference in San Lorenzo de El Escorial. The topics are:

• the life and card magic of Jimmy Grippo
• memorization of color and number sequences
• gags in card magic
• flat palm and Tenkai palm

I will report about it in The Magic Memories 222 (a magical number, indeed!) – stay tuned.

Solution to Computer Problem

You might remember that last month’s The Magic Memories 220 suffered from a severe computer problem due to an update of Dropbox.

I am mentioning this otherwise trivial occurrence (who hasn’t experienced that!) because of a remarkable fact. To solve the problem I had contacted an otherwise very knowledgeable friend who works as IT-supporter nearby: We spent almost one hour over the phone without result. Then I called my webmaster, also a professional IT-supporter who up to now solved every problem: after another near-hour no result. Finally I contacted the “professional” support from Dropbox, with which I corresponded over two days, until at Friday evening, 5pm sharp, the supporter bowed himself off into the week-end without offering a solution.

Out of desperation I placed the problem in The Magic Memories 220.

Lo and behold, two readers answered, both by the name of Claudio, one from Italy, the other from Switzerland, both having asked ChatGPT, and both with almost the same answer: ChatGPT precisely diagnosed the problem and explained it so that even I could understand it in TWO sentences. Then gave instructions in FIVE steps how to solve the problem, which I did in less than 15 minutes!

Lesson: When three experts cannot solve a problem, ask ChatGPT… and to save time, why not start asking in the first place (BUT remember that AI is not infallible, so always “use your head”).

PS: To prompt concisely formulate the problem after telling ChatGPT to place itself into the role of an expert, to wit. “You are an expert for Mac and Dropbox: solve the following problem…” This idea was told to me by my friend Claudio Viotto, and I forward it to you as you will now be able to use it in your own fights with the unforeseen events of life 🙂

On Critical Reporting

Since today I will be reporting about two events, I thought I should precede this by a brief prologue: Although everyone is just looking to be praised – I know because I do, too – there is nothing to be learned from empty praise as it is often found in magazines. On the other hand some reporters love to just criticize everything and everyone. Neither of the two approaches is helpful, I opine.

In my own reporting I have always tried to be honest and sincere, at the same time encouraging whenever I can, and if I “criticize” something or someone, I invariably do so in a constructive sense, meaning that I say what I did not like, and then I offer at least one solution.

Constructive criticism is not about bashing, i.e., lifting oneself by belittling others, but it is about excellence.

I agree that “excellence” is an over-used term, so let me try to define it as I understand it: Excellence is doing something well for the mere sake of enjoying doing well-done things.

Magialdia 2025

Here are a few remarks and opinions about this year’s Magialdia convention.

If you are new to this blog: I have repeatedly reported about Magialdia (e.g., see The Magic Memories 198), which I have attended for twenty-one years now, so am a declared fan of this meeting, so ably organized by José Ángel Suarez and his team.

One of the great things is that this convention, managed by always the same team, runs like clockwork, there is a familiar atmosphere unlike anywhere else, and you can just sit back and enjoy.

Needless to say that the program is always top-notch, invariably with big names, but also and above all with little-known rising stars – this year was no exception as you will see.

HERE you can get an overview of the program and enjoy lots of photos.

Generalities

The city of Vitoria-Gasteiz, the capital of Alava and the Basque country, with its ca. 200’000 inhabitants,  is worth visiting in its own right.

Modern and historic at the same time, it offers museums (the Fournier Playing Card Museum!), picturesque streets and squares, lots of still privately owned shops as opposed to those of large chains you can find in any other city of the world, and of course a superlative gastronomy for all budgets, AND great wines at small prices (nowhere else in Europe can you get such excellent wines at such small prices as in Spain).

This year there were 439 people attending the convention, a very nice size.

The theatre with tired seatings and optimal viewing conditions from all places allows all to enjoy the TED-type presentations, which all last about one hour and usually start on time. This means that if you wish you can attend all functions without having to chase from room to room and missing an event because it takes place at the same time than another, a drawback of most larger conventions.

The Dealers

Magialdia does not boast a huge amount of magic dealers – there were about twenty split up in two rooms – but almost all of them feature wares of their own creation and which you will not find in any other international magic convention as the costs for them to travel are too high.

This means that there is a lot of interesting and original stuff to be discovered. Since I am not a reviewer of magic products, I leave it at that.

The Lectures

Meeting friends and friends-to-be as well as attending lectures are my two favorite activities during a magic convention.

The best meetings are those around a good table, of course. However, as the photo below shows, there is a price to pay if the lecture is after a good meal…

Lecture & Book Presentation Pedro Bryce

Pedro Bryce’s presentation was a combined book presentation and a lecture.

These “book presentations” are something you only find at Magialdia, where new and old authors get a chance to present their most recent publication. This is mostly a book, sometimes a video and in rare cases a product, provided it is really innovative. What a good idea this is! I think that other conventions should adopt this.

In my opinion a good idea would be to group three authors in a one-hour format, and give each one a time slot of ca. twenty minutes to show their product and comment on it, maybe performing one item from it.

Such a format would force the presenters to prepare a concise talk, something which is not easy but necessary.

As a matter of fact Pedro’s presentation suffered from them same problem than most other lectures: They have a lot to say, but need to do this in one hour.

Well, take it from one of the world’s foremost experts in magic lectures (immodestly: me!): This is virtually impossible. It is especially difficult for lecturers from Spain, who want to serve lots of theory along with a trick, sometimes only the theory without a trick, which is even more lethal.

How do you solve the problem? A formula that has worked well for me is to first make my peace with this time restriction of one hour. Then take three good tricks that each contain one or two – maximum three – polyvalent concepts, i.e., ideas that can be used even though you do not do the trick itself, and perform and explain them as well as you can.

Above all avoid running, by talking fast, which is what many do in such situations, and do not keep telling the audience that there is much more to say but you do not have the time to do it; both running and excusing yourself makes the audience feel uneasy.

And one more thing: If you only have one hour, do not – I repeat DO NOT – take questions! This is what many presenters did at this convention, and it just does not work if you only have one hour and lots to say.  Q&A is fine in a workshop/masterclass/club lecture situation, but not at a big convention, unless the “lecture” is declared as being a Q&A lecture, but that is another story.

At the risk of repeating myself: You need to give the enquirer a microphone OR repeat the question. This is actually the responsibility of the artistic director or of the person who takes care of the lecturer: Tell them that if they take questions to repeat them, but not to take questions if time is tight. And if you really need to take questions, educate your interlocutors by telling them to ask a question in one sentence, and do not tell their life.

Anyway, Pedro is a very nice person who everyone loved, and he is an excellent performer. Soon he will also be an excellent lecturer 🙂

You can find Pedro’s book Reminiscencias HERE (in Spanish, claro).

Luis Olmedo Lecture

Luis Olmedo is one of our finest coin workers. I had seen him lecture on his outstanding magic before at other conventions.

At Magialdia he chose to talk about a very specific subject: How to perform close-up via camera in large theatres.

The topic is of great interest even if you will never be in such a situation as a performer, because such things just broaden one’s mind. And again I will say that other conventions should adopt the idea of including such “niche lectures” as they show how complex and interesting magic is.

Clearly, Luis knows what he is talking about. Still, on this particular occasion, the situation he was in and the camera he used, sometimes showed exactly the contrary of what he wanted to explain. So, at times this became a bit confusing.

How get around such situations, where you are not sure how the camera and monitor/screen will be? Although quite a bit more time-consuming it might be a good idea to show video clips of the situations you want to discuss and gather them in a short Power Point presentation.

Marcelo Insuna Lecture And Book Presentation

I had just reencountered Marcelo in July at FISM in Torino, Italy, where he kindly gave me his latest publication titled Curly’s Secrets (you can get it HERE), which is about an under-used principle relating to the red-black separation concept in card magic.

Marcelo did an excellent and creative study of it and presented it along with many applications, techniques and tricks.

I immediately made a note of his deck switch, which uses a pen attached to a chain, which in turn is attached to his left inside coat pocket, thus allowing him to inperceptibly switch the deck held in his other hand by using what I call the “Finger-tongs Switch” in The Art of Switching Decks (p. 12).

Marcelo, who hails from Buenos Aires, Argentina, is the man behind Tango Magic, one of the world’s finest makers of gimmicked coins and other magic wares.

Years ago, when I was first booked to lecture and perform at a magic convention in Buenos Aires, I visited his place, which is a bar, a theater and a shop, all in one, in a truly beautiful location – if you ever have a chance to visit that part of the world, make it a point to go and see Marcelo.

BTW: Buenos Aires is one of the most impressive places I have ever been to –  I returned there twice after that – and it breaks my heart to see that what is going on there now creates such a hardship for all the many honest and hard-working people, especially the many over-talented magic friends I have there. I do not mention any names for fear of forgetting some, as Buenos Aires is a hot spot of over-talented magicians, and I have the luck and privilege of calling most of them my friends.

Ricardo Rodriguez Lecture And Book Presentation

I have known Ricardo when he still was a teenager, and it is so gratifying to see how he and the other Spanish magicians of his generation have grown personally and artistically.

Ricardo also presented his latest publication, Iniciación y reiniciación a la magia, a 720-pages big book illustrated by no less than Gustavo Otero, with lots of tricks, techniques, and even more essays… quite impressive.

Ricardo performed a few pieces, which were all solid and professional, and in his explanations one could see that he has put a lot of thought and experience into what he describes – these certainly are no pipe-dreams.

Like most Spanish magicians of his generation, Ricardo is a declared student and admirer of Ascanio’s magic and philosophy, and he does not fail to repeatedly mention this.

Paul Wilson Lecture

Scotland’s Paul Wilson is always interesting to listen to, as this man combines knowledge, skill and the ability to fascinate any audience.

His relaxed demeanor and the focus on tricks and how they work, rather than on lots of theory, made a nice change in pacing.

Paul is also the director and producer of a documentary about Juan Tamariz, the man and his magic; we are all waiting for him to release it, better sooner than later…

 

Luke Jermay Lecture

I have now seen various lectures by Luke Jermay, on mentalism, close-up and general magic. Each time I see him I think one of my favorite expressions found in the magic literature: A consummate professional.

Luke did exactly what I would have done, if I had his talent and skill: He took three tricks, namely a MacDonald-type of Ace Routine, four coins through table using a flipper coin, and a rising cards routine in two phases. After an impeccable performance came an equally magnificent discussion.

All of this done in the limitation of one hour, without running nor giving the feeling that something is missing: a true master of the art of magic, and a brilliant lecturer.

Bernardo Sedlacek Lecture

Bernardo is another one of those over-talented young magicians (well, young compared to me…), and he comes from Brasil.

In Europe he is relatively little-known, which is a shame, as this man has lots to share.

In his lecture he did an Out of This World routine with an original switch of the packets, and without using a second set of indicator cards; this deservedly found the appreciation of the audience. 

He then asked the audience if they preferred to see another trick or listen to his philosophical thoughts in magic, philosophy being one of Bernardo’s interests.

Unfortunately nobody seemed to have the heart to say “tricks”, possibly for fear of appearing superficial, so he got lost in some higher-sphere thinking…

Anyway, if you get a chance to see Bernardo perform you will be enchanted by his charming personality and the innocence of his card handling (he is a superb technician), and he will fool you badly, too.

Next Magialdia 2026

I have to jump over the other events, such as the close-up and stage gala, both of which where really good, although some argued that last year’s editions were even better… oh, well.

In 2026 the Magialdia magic convention will take place September 18 to 20, Friday to Sunday, but remember that this is a FESTIVAL of several weeks.

So, if you can,  arrive on Monday 14th to enjoy a full week of it.

And one more thing: Vitoria is just about one hour car drive away from the Rioja, one of the world’s most important wine regions, and less than an hour from Bilbao, the biggest city of the Basque country!

French National Convention of the Fédération Française de Magie (FFM) in Troyes

This year’s national gathering of the French magicians – the Fédération Française de Magie (FFM) – took place in the little-known but beautiful city of Troyes.

If you like, you can take a little tour HERE.

This city has many merits, but certainly the most compelling to me is that you drink Champagne instead of “normal” wine with your meals (it is in the Champagne country).

What follows is by no means a full report of the happenings; similar to Magialdia I will just discuss a few events and detail some hopefully useful ideas.

Jury Work

After having been asked for the third consecutive year by president Frédéric Denis if I would be a member of the jury at a French national convention, I ran out of excuses, so this year accepted the task of judging ten stage and eleven close-up acts.

Although I am a so-called “official FISM judge” I have only been asked once to be in a FISM jury, namely in 2006 in Stockholm. After that I have occasionally accepted to be a judge at smaller conventions.

Invariably, this is a double-edged sword.

On one side you get to see all competition acts, and get privileged seating for the rest of the convention, which is certainly nice. On the other hand you have to see all acts...

Also, there is a lot more time and work involved than what is visible to the crowd. There are hours of deliberation within the group of judges and officials, you also have to listen and judge several competitors who enter the category of “inventions”; this is done behind closed doors.

In order to be “fresh” in the morning you cannot spend the night sessioning with others, and you miss at least 50% of the convention’s activities. As a matter of fact my schedule as a judge did not allow me to see any of the lectures.

As I am writing these few thoughts I realize that the subject of judging and being a judge is a most complex and interesting one. Although some fundamental changes have occurred in the past years as far as judging is concerned, especially at FISM level, there is still quite a bit of thinking and work to do.

I am not sure I want to get involved into this…

Finn Jon Talk

Gaetan Bloom was one of the “silent stars” of the convention, in the sense that he neither lectured nor performed, but together with Céline Noulin (the former director of the Robert-Houdin museum in Blois) and Frédéric Denis (the president of the FFM), he conceived and curated a remarkable exposition about Jean Merlin, who sadly has left us recently.

In the photo below you can see him interviewing another legend of magic, the Norwegian Finn Jon, together with Alexandra Duvivier.

Next to the opening gala, the close-up gala, and the stage gala, this was the only event I was able to attend.

Finn Jon is without doubt one of our rare geniuses, and as such was the perfect choice for “guest of honor” at this convention. Generally speaking I think it is a nice idea to have one special guest at a convention who will then be honored with a special event such as was this talk. Wonder why not more conventions do that.

Finally

As this is getting longer than I expected, and tomorrow I have to get up early to get my flight to Madrid  (Escorial, see above), I will postpone a few more thoughts for the next The Magic Memories 222, and just mention the performance of a Grandseigneur of magic and ventriloquism, Marc Metral, who closed the gala on Sunday, the final day of the convention.

Rather than using a lot of words to tell you about his performance, which I liked a lot, I encourage you to watch him perform on Britain’s Got Talent (CLICK HERE).

Paris, Paris

When I wanted to book the train ride back home, the site of the French railway announced a two-day interruption on the direct connection I had taken on the way to Troyes, and they offered to take the route via Paris.

Like Oscar Wilde, who maintained that he could resist everything except temptation, just the image of Paris made me book my travel back via Paris, with a short stay of four (!) days in my favorite city.

I have reported so many times about Paris in the past, that this time I will just mention the lunch I had at Pierre Gagnaire’s with my friends José Ángel from Spain and Yves Carbonnier (a real Parisian).

All I can say is that this is the most cost-effective three star Michelin restaurant I know, provided you take the lunch menu called “Balzac”… if you go for dinner, well, then all Michelin restaurants are another story…

Even if you usually do not go to this type of restaurant, I recommend you do so once in your life, and I promise you and your companion(s) will come out as happier persons – happier than going to a psychiatrist, and cheaper!

Unexpected Agenda… On This Day: “November 2 – Old Wine… Matures Well”

The entry of November 2nd is one of the longest, and therefore quite explicit. Nonetheless, like always, there is much to be found between the lines; good for me – and hopefully you – as I will now deliberate on three things. For your convenience, to read the entry CLICK HERE.

As I suggested in previous issues of The Magic Memories I recommend numbering the lines; in this entry there are 29 lines, not including title and blank lines:

1. Line 1: “In a set of lecture notes…” I maintain that “Lecture Notes” are a literary sub-genre of the magic literature. Although I do not consider myself a collector, as I have remarked several times in my writings, after having been now for over fifty years in magic, I have accumulated quite a collection of lecture notes: A recent count of physical lecture notes revealed 380 sets in seven languages, plus 84 as PDFs.

   The history of lectures – who gave the first lecture, when, where and about what subjects – is in itself a topic that has been researched very little as far as I know. If anyone reading this has some expert information about the topic and would like to share it through this medium, please let me know. You can also send it to me and state that it should remain “top secret”, and I will of course honor your wish (it goes into my private archive and stays there until the originator dies or says the word).

   Anyway, lecture notes reflect the magic world, its protagonists, as well as their work in a very special way. In my sets I find everything from just a few hand-written and photocopied pages to those that can be classed as a book (according to the definition of the UNESCO “a book is every non-periodical bound publication with more then 50 pages, not including the title pages”). The quality of the content and the level of detail of the explanations also varies from poor to brilliant.

   Although a good number of ideas exposed in these lecture notes have later found their way into the books and videos of their authors, there are still lots of effects, techniques, presentations, gimmicks, subtleties, and other ideas that have been published only there. For the n-th time in these The Magic Memories I insist that these findings are only useful if you copy, scan or write them out in a separate notebook, appropriately tagged, so you can later access them when necessary.
   

   

    

   The photo above shows the first set of lecture notes I produced in ca. 1976 for a “lecture” I gave in front of the ca. twelve members of the Zauberring Basel, and which was on basic card sleights. The notes had been typed and layouted from my handwritten notes by Rudolf Künzli, at the time a close friend in magic and in a way also a mentor, not so much of magic, but of life. It was distributed for free to all attending members. What a start!

    

2. Line 7: “I ran across these lines as I was sorting out…” When sorting out and ordering the lecture notes in alphabetical order of the author’s last name, I could not help but stop on some sets that looked particularly interesting, or who had been authored by big names in magic. Not surprisingly, I found some items, which spoke to me. In thinking about and recreating them with instruments in hands, I spent a very enjoyable and, yes, even profitable day.

   Therefore, this might inspire you to look differently at lecture notes, maybe even make it a habit to buy the lecture notes from the lecturers that come to your club or that you witness at magic conventions.

   I also immediately made a note in my list of “Ideas for a Lecture” to do a lecture for my club titled “The Very Best From My Lecture Notes Library”… why not? You are welcome to “steal” this idea (which I am convinced several have already had in the past).

3. Line 23: “The Conjuror’s Choice!” Obviously a big topic everyone knows. But how well do you know and do you do it yourself?

   Maybe this will motivate you to look again at the subject. A good way to get into it, regardless of your degree of knowledge and competence, is to take Zmeck’s trick described in the entry of November 2nd, and then really think through every option possible, with the exact wording and actions.

4. (Bonus Idea) – Line 25: “Alternatively, use the Conjuror’s Choice on the object, and a Shuttle Switch…” I must congratulate myself on this idea, for on reading it again as I am writing this text, I realize that it contains a concept I failed to identify and name in Sharing Secrets. The concept is that one action cancels out the solution to another action, i.e., if someone suspects sleight-of-hand as a method, there is none in the selection process of the objects, and if someone suspects some psychological ploy where you try to “talk a spectator into a choice” (layman’s parlance for “force”, maybe…), then the straightforward selection process with the three papers will dispel such thoughts.

   Thinking again, I believe we could class this as an “Action of Implicit Conviction”, agree?

Now how is that for a yield for a single day?

If you still do not own Unexpected Agenda, you can order it from your favorite dealer, or get a signed copy HERE (please ask for a personalized dedication in the “comment field” of the online order form).

All the best!

Roberto Giobbi