KostyaMagic

Orlando Magic is Back in Action!

2011-12-21T13:04:00.004-05:00

The wait is over and we have finally pulled off the greatest trick of the year: making the NBA season re-appear !

Our team of magical entertainers is proud to be back as the Official Magicians of the Orlando Magic basketball team delighting all the fans before and during each game throughout the Amway concourse!

Catch the best magicians in Orlando performing interactive close-up magic, right before your eyes!

OUTSIDE: During pre-game Fan-Fest, come catch the amazing magic off the court along with the rest of the Fan Fest Crew, outside the Amway Center!

INSIDE: During breaks and in-between quarters and halftime, witness the impossible while visiting the lounges, bars and restaurants inside the beautiful Amway Center concourse!

For full details: http://www.seelivemagic.com/venue/orlando-magic-nba-team/

See you at the games!

!WARNING wins 2011 American Package Design

2011-02-01T11:18:00.004-05:00

Working with talented artists is one of the joys of my profession. For the last five plus years I've worked with many great web designers and programmers, photographers and videographers. I've also worked with talented graphic designers, like Michael Eaton and Kris Sheppard.

Kris recently designed packaging for my new magic effect, !WARNING. And it just won the 2011 American Package Design Award. Congrats to Kris!

Check it out here: http://www.themethod.co/?p=135

And you can also purchase the effect here: http://www.coolestbartrickever.com

The $10,000 Magic Trick

2010-12-11T15:01:00.008-05:00

A few years ago I had an idea for a magic trick that would get someone's attention in a dark, loud bar in less than 5 seconds. This was it: Peel off the label of a lighter, light it on fire, and in a flash, it re-appears back on the lighter. After numerous attempts to produce it myself I realized I had to outsource the different components. This was my first journey into production. To get the quality of special flash-paper that was needed and to get the high quality printing that was required took:

2 years
3 factories
4 languages
5 Attempts &
$10,000 US

I'm incredibly happy with the final result. The trick is amazing and I carry it in my pocket wherever I go out to perform. I have enough of the trick for all of my shows and enough left over to share with all of my friends, fellow magicians, and people who enjoy doing a fun piece of magic at a bar or restaurant for their friends.

The trick was released last year to great reviews and sold out. I'm happy to say that now we've got a new batch of gimmicks. I've had my friends and talented web designer, Todd Adams, create a webpage for the trick. I had another talented graphic designer, Kris Sheppard, put together the new packaging. And finally we shot a complete 64 minute DVD with Jeff Pierce. The DVD has complete instructions, full routines and along with !WARNING, it has 4 bonus tricks on it:

Broken and Restored Match
Re-Lighting Match
Coin and Sugar Packet Prediction
Transforming Word Prediction

CHECK OUT THE PACKAGING DESIGN:

The RED package comes with a DVD & 50 Gimmicks + 5 Stickers.

The BLUE package comes with 100 Gimmicks + 10 Stickers.

One of the things that happened along the way during production was one of the factories produced flash-paper that was 5 times the size of the gimmick that we needed. You can see in the photo. Instead of producing a small sheet with 5 labels, they produced a GIANT one instead. How nice of them! :) And yes, I had to buy ALL of the misprints.

THE GOOD NEWS? We're now giving this flash-paper away to everyone who purchases WARNING through the new website: www.CoolestBarTrickEver.com

Just enter the keyword: GIANT at check-out and for every pack you buy, you will receive one FREE pack of flash-paper that you can use to practice !WARNING.

More Magic at the Orlando Magic Games!

2010-11-21T13:54:00.006-05:00

It's been an exciting past few weeks doing magic at every Orlando Magic home game.

A few nights ago I got to perform on the court, with the awesome mascot, STUFF, helping me amaze one of the fans!

Here are some pictures from the performance.

Pic #1. Producing cards from fire
Pic #2. Stuff stabbing the selected playing card in mid-air with his bare (dragon) hands!

Also, I just did an interview with Scott Jacobs at the Juiced Sports Blog.
Check out the Interview:
Part #1 and
Part #2.

Official Magicians for the Orlando Magic NBA Team

2010-10-22T15:21:00.004-04:00

I'm very proud to announce that our company has become the official magicians for the Orlando Magic NBA Team.

We will be providing magic entertainment to delight all of the fans at the brand new and beautiful Amway Center in the heart of Downtown Orlando.

Check Out Press Releases Here:

http://www.newsalbum.com/Article/33822-Live-Magic-Sparks-Orlando-Magic-Fans-This-Season
http://www.buzznewzz.com/news/live_magic_sparks_orlando_magic_fans_this_season
http://www.prlog.org/11002605-live-magic-sparks-orlando-magic-fans-this-season.html
http://www.prfocus.com
http://www.pr.com/press-release/269923

For more information on where you can catch LIVE MAGIC ENTERTAINMENT throughout Florida, check out: www.SeeLiveMagic.com

Catching Up

2010-06-22T21:08:00.004-04:00

Quick update of what's been going on:

-Traveled to 30 cities in 2 months, lecture tour comes to a successful conclusion!

-Got home and got incredibly busy with events and the new dinner-show theatre experience.

-Finished the production of Volume 2 of an Instructional DVD for magicians (see photo)

-Moved into a new office in downtown Orlando to pursue a new venture.

It's exciting times and much more to come!

Zen in the midst of chaos

2010-04-17T04:10:00.000-04:00

It's been said that you've got to be careful what you wish for.
Having had my passport stamped upon arriving in the UK I looked at a few last empty pages and wished to get another stamp or two before the upcoming expiration date. Later in the week I borrowed a book from a friend to take on the road, knowing I wouldn't have time to finish it, but wishing I did.
Well now thanks to all flights in Europe being grounded due to the volcanic ash, I've been frantically journeying from train station to train station, finding plenty of time to finish the book and even earning another stamp upon leaving the UK and going into France. Be careful what you wish for!

It was quite a hectic day and a total thirty hours of straight travel. Dozens of failed calls to the airlines, hundreds of people waiting in line to purchase the few remaining train tickets, running from station to station in London, staying up all night in Paris to be the first to purchase the next connection...it's been insane and adventurous and frustrating and comedic all at the same time. As with all adventures, it's much more entertaining looking back and sharing the story with friends. But when you're in the thick of it, it's tough not to throw your arms in the air and give up all hope. At times like this, you've got to find a little gem of happiness to hang onto.

Luckily, the book - "Magic Matters" by Robert Neale - has been wonderful company. In particular, there was a trick accompanied by a Zen Buddhist tale that I share with you now with pleasure:

Retold from Zen Buddhism, Mount Vernon, NY: Peter Pauper Press, 1959, page 61 and read in Magic Matters, Canada: The Theory and Art of Magic Press, 2009, page 112.

...
A traveler was fleeing a tiger. He ran until he came to the edge of a cliff. There he caught hold of a thick vine and swung himself over the edge.

Above him the tiger snarled. Below him he heard another snarl. He looked down and saw a second tiger peering up at him. The vine suspended him midway between two tigers!

Two mice began to gnaw at the vine. He could see that they would eat through it very quickly. Then in front of him on the cliff side he saw a luscious bunch of grapes. Holding on to the vine with one hand, he reached over and picked a grape with the other.

How delicious!
---

Back on the road...

2010-03-22T19:30:00.003-04:00

After an amazing trip to Buenos Aires to meet incredible magicians and perform at a great convention and then an exciting hiking trip to El Calafate, Argentina I've been busy at home with a number of shows. And now it's time to hit the road again. I've updated my tour page for magicians and posted my public appearances on my client website, as well.
Time to pack my bags once more...

What a time!

2010-02-26T04:25:00.003-05:00

The past two months have probably been the busiest two months of my life. Between a new weekly dinner show and lots of great corporate events I've got to perform my full evening show two dozen times, finishing up my time here at home with a standing ovation from an incredibly warm crowd of one-hundred-fifty people. I've also started work at several local venues, and although I will be traveling, my friends will continue to perform magic at places like Ceviche, Maggiano's and Melting Pot so anyone who is visiting Orlando or lives in Orlando and is looking for live entertainment...stay tuned, there will be a full schedule and lots of great nightly venues soon!

Check out the new website! ----> www.magicshoworlando.com

Hope to see you in Orlando or somewhere on the road.
Time to pack my bags...

"Evening of Mysteries" Continues in Orlando

2010-01-12T23:03:00.002-05:00

Thank you to all those who came to the opening week of the new show, "Evening of Mysteries" at Del Frisco's. Starting tomorrow I get to perform the show weekly here in Orlando in a beautiful dark, Victorian-style room, by candle light. There's only two "card tricks" in the show. The rest can best be labeled as "curious coincidences," and "uncanny oddities." What will happen depends on who shows up. The poster and details are on my website and there will be much more coming in the weeks to come. I'm excited to perform while I am home. In February, I get to perform in Argentina and then the travels begin again. But for now, I'll be glad to be in (oddly chilly) Florida and spend my time doing what I love!

WARNING Nominated for "2009 Trick of the Year"

2009-12-22T19:10:00.003-05:00

Thanks to all the magicians who have written to tell me about their experiences with the magic trick I released earlier this year, called "WARNING." There were several of you who told me they'd hesitated doing it at first, but have now made it one of the strongest pieces in their 'impromptu' material.

Thanks to the Illusionist Box Blog for the nice mention!
And thanks to all iTrick.com readers for making it a TRICK OF THE YEAR NOMINATION.

The competition is tough. I'm up against my buddy Paul Vigil and several other awesome magic friends. Paul and I went head to head two years ago, so I hope it's as exciting this year. If Paul wins, I will celebrate with him in Las Vegas. If Garcia wins, I promise to arm-wrestle him in Buenos Aires to see who's really tougher! But if I win, I promise to thank all of you for your support from the bottom of my heart! And maybe I'll send a bunch of WARNINGs out for free to a random number of people who buy it from me at my website. That would be a great new year's present!

To vote, head on over to iTricks Trick of the Year and VOTE for Kostya's "WARNING"

Thanks for the support!

An Evening of Magic - New Dinner Show in Orlando

2009-12-16T12:17:00.003-05:00

Hello Friends!

I'm excited to announce a brand new dinner-magic show in Orlando.

"An Evening of Magic - Elegant Dining and Sophisticated Sleight-of-Hand"
will be presented at Del Frisco's - one of the finest steakhouses in the country.

Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday
December 28, 29, 30th - 2009
Dinner and Showtime: 7:00 - 9:30 PM

Purchase Your Tickets Today at KMagic.com
Only 3 Shows & Only 24 Seats per show!

Special VIP Seating for your group of 4 is available.

For more details, check out my entertainment webpage or call: 407-719-9288.

Home, once again...trying to stay here

2009-11-09T20:51:00.002-05:00

After another two weeks on the road I have arrived home safely. I did leave a car on the Jersey turnpike. But all the wonderful friends and magicians I got to see along the way in DC, Baltimore, Philadelphia, Long Island, Goldsboro, Charlotte, and Asheville made it all worth the trip! Thanks to everyone who came out to the lectures, seminars, and workshops. The last three days were spent in Daytona Beach, where I performed and lectured at the Florida State Magic Convention.

If you are a magician, along with picking up the great "Jinx" copy of Genii magazine, pick up the October issue of MAGIC. Inside there you'll find a new "discovery" in card magic that I call "A Curious Case of Murder." It's really just a story...words conjured up from the art printed on playing cards many decades ago. But it's something that took me a decade of looking at playing cards before I noticed it. I'd like to call it an anthropological find, if anything. And it's also a fun effect to present, if you're into that sort of thing.

Thanks again to everyone who came out to the lectures. East, West, Home is best. I'll be in sunny Florida, doing card tricks during this winter season. There are a few one-day corporate events in Dallas and elsewhere, but truly, this is the best time of year to be here in sunny Florida...even if the hurricanes are just around the corner. If you're in the cold parts of the world, come and say hello.

Magic, Neuroscience and the Brain

2009-10-21T22:08:00.004-04:00

I just got home from Chicago, where I attended the annual Society for Neuroscience meeting, which opened up with a session on how the art of magic can help scientists make discoveries about the brain. I had the pleasure of watching my friends Eric Mead and Apollo Robbins intrigue and astonish an audience of ten thousand scientists.

Check out the USA Today Article.

I am incredibly excited about these studies and discoveries. I do hope that the researchers and neuro-scientists won't get tripped up by confusing methods for effects and lose sight by focusing too much on the technical "secrets" of magic. There's much more to be explored. Right now neuro-scientists are focusing on the optical. Would they be interested in the psychological or the emotional? I would love to see the effects on the brain of certain magic effects.

There's lots of room for discovery ahead and I am excited to see what comes next.

Magic Friday reviews WARNING

2009-09-21T12:56:00.004-04:00

Thanks to Jamie D. Grant for taking his time to play with WARNING and reviewing it on his website. If you haven't read Magic Friday, the idea is that Jamie picks one trick and performs it 50 times in in one day. Then he gives his review.

Read the review here:
http://magicfriday.blogspot.com

And check out Jamie's website and his impossible bottles when you get a chance, too!

WARNING is Shipped!

2009-09-18T17:17:00.002-04:00

After two long weeks on the road, I've come home to package up all the "!WARNING" orders and get them out the door. Thanks to everyone who pre-ordered. I hope you enjoy the trick!

And thanks to everyone who came out to the lectures in Canada and Northwest US - I had an absolute blast traveling through that beautiful part of the country. Everyone's comments after the lectures really made me feel great about the effort that was put into the lecture. Thanks for showing up and for taking the magic home with you!

I also had an absolutely awesome time in Ft.Collins during the Magic in the Rockies Convention. Those guys really do an incredible job putting everything together and taking care of all the performers - thank you to everyone there!

Wow, that's a lot of exclamation points in one post! :) I'm very happy to be home and glad that I have caught up on all the office stuff. Time to do a couple of shows this weekend and catch up on my relaxing... I'll be announcing new tour dates soon.

The magic never ends...

2009-08-28T10:10:00.003-04:00

I'm home for just a few days, recovering from an incredible weekend of magic in Toronto, and it's time to pack my bags again and head to the other side of Canada. I'll be performing on the X-elent Lecture Series that is orgnized by Lee Asher. As soon as the tour is over I'll be heading over to Denver for the Magic in the Rockies convention, which is always a blast.

The response is coming in from the WARNING Trailer and short clip shot at LIVE - I'm glad that people are excited to receive it. The release date is set for September 18th.

We shot some more short clips for the WARNING "instructional area" while I was in Vegas, and I just got permission from some other creators to include their ideas, as well. I'm excited to have contributions from: Vito Lupo, Derek Hughes, my friend form Austria - Philip Tawfik, Michael Weber and Chad Long. It's really the small touches that make this effect so powerful. Can't wait for everyone to see these new videos.

Live Performance in Vegas

2009-08-21T22:48:00.003-04:00

Live Performance of WARNING from Las Vegas.
Shot at the very end of MAGIC LIVE at 4:30 a.m.
You thought I was kidding about the no sleep part?!? :-)

Check it out:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NL58fdNFWnE

Thanks to the awesome guys at iTricks !

Sleep? Who needs it - I've got magic...

2009-08-20T11:18:00.004-04:00

Magic LIVE was an absolute blast. I've slept two hours in the last two days and have seen an unbelievable amount of incredible magic. Got to jam with old friends and make new ones. I also got to perform WARNING for a ton of the magicians at the conventions. The response was wonderful. We had a few minutes to film some extra explanation videos that will be up on the website shortly.

And now I've just uploaded the new trailer video on YouTube....
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GnvzZ6AqmGU

Enjoy!!!

Time to head back out to the airport...up next: Toronto!

Off to MAGIC LIVE!

2009-08-16T02:38:00.003-04:00

I'm packing my bags and heading off to Las Vegas for MAGIC LIVE!
Last year I got to do 12 close-up shows in Vegas. This time, I get to hang out and hopefully get fooled badly by some of the best magicians in the world.
I'll be hanging out and performing !WARNING, so if you're around, be sure to say hello.

Danny Garcia says...

2009-08-06T00:53:00.002-04:00

"Fun, fantastic, f@$&!#% unbelievable!"

- Daniel Garcia

WARNING - a dangerously amazing effect

2009-08-06T00:45:00.003-04:00

Check out the new art for "!WARNING"

Gregory Wilson and Joshua Jay say...

2009-08-06T00:15:00.006-04:00

Everything is almost done for the official release of "!WARNING"
The tentative release date is Septebmer 18th, though it might come sooner...
I'll be performing this trick at several magic conventions this fall, as well as the X-elent Lecture Series.

Two more friends have written about WARNING to say:

"This is one of those rare effects that will generate waves of excitement without needing to say a single word!" - Gregory Wilson

"!WARNING is visual, direct, easy to do, and looks like magic. It's going into my repertoire right now" - Joshua Jay

I'm so excited that all of this is coming together...more details and a video trailer will come soon!

Magic makes an impact

2009-08-04T18:30:00.000-04:00

For many years I've helped companies with their interactive marketing events, using magic to capture people's attention and interest.

Once in a while, these promotions are held at popular bars and nightclubs. I get to approach groups of strangers in dark, loud corners and entertain them with magic while music blares all around us. I invariably lose my voice every night, attempting to yell over the music.

On one of these nights, I realized something had to change. If I wanted to continue entertaining these crowds I had to make it easier on myself. I could no longer rely as much on verbal communication. I had to get more impact from what they were seeing.

After two months playing with an idea, on one of those exciting nights, in one of those very dark, loud corners I walked up to a group of strangers and smiled. I took something from the bar. I didn't say a word. Five seconds later there was an eruption of screams, laughter and applause.

I did only one trick that night. Again and again. It was the only one I had to do.
It's been said that necessity is the mother of invention.
Thus was "WARNING" created.

Jeff McBride and Chad Long say...

2009-08-03T19:07:00.001-04:00

A few more friends have responded:

"What a fun, direct piece of magic." - Jeff McBride

"So off the wall and visual - what a great idea!" -Chad Long

It's been non-stop work to get this all ready.

Coming soon...

"WARNING"

David Regal says...

2009-07-21T13:03:00.000-04:00

"Kostya has produced an opener for the real world that lets an audience know you do the impossible in a nanosecond." - David Regal

From the flame

2009-07-19T23:57:00.000-04:00

One of the most wonderful parts of being a magician are the pure moments of creation you get to embrace. When it's just you and the unlimited horizon of possibility.

Like the Phoenix, this magical idea arose from the flame. I'm excited to release it out into the wild world for magical performers everywhere.

Stay tuned for release date and more info...

David Williamson says...

2009-07-13T17:30:00.000-04:00

"Kostya has come up with the most visually stunning close-up trick I've seen in a long time." -David Williamson