Magicseen No. 18 (Jan 2008)
by Mark Leveridge & Graham Hey & Phil Shaw

To subscribe to Magicseen click here.

Vol. 3, No. 6, January 2008; 72 pages.

Cover: Matthew J. Dowden

1. Cover: Photo of Matthew Dowden, who the cover tells us is our new favorite magician. The cover also tells us that Magicseen has been voted "The World's Best Magazine" by the Magicseen staff.
7. "Welcome to Magicseen." Mark talks a bit about Zakary Belamy, a photographer of magic stuff who did NOT play Dick Tracy in the 1940s. Besides telling us what's in the issue, Mark tells us that Magicseen has hit its third year (This was in 2008.) and that they've reduced the subscription so that each issue will cost only two pounds. Of course, with the way the dollar has been dropping, this means each issue will cost $475.93 in America.
7. Copyright information. I don't know about England, but the USA used to have a rule that you had to include the date of the copyright. Uh-oh! Here again is the staff list. Tiny reproduction of the cover. Didn't we see this on the cover?
8. Letterbox. Letters from readers. Batting back and forth between the editor(s) and various readers, there's an interesting summation of some Real Bad Luck that hit Graham Jolley during a performance.
8. Table of Contents. Small in print, we can enlarge the page on our computer screen and actually read it.
9. One page of news, which isn't new anymore.
10. "Mellers, the New Kid on the Block" is all about Mel Mellers, a really funny guy whose name is misspelled on internet forums. Four pages of a question/answer interview.
15. Another page of news. Interesting to read two years later and see what did and didn't come to pass.
16. Juan Ordeix, they tell us, is the next big thing in mentalism. Big TV shows in his home of Argentina, and some of them run in other lands also. Question/answer interview which lasts through page 18.
22. My favorite part of any magazine: REVIEWS! Four pages!
    • "The Master Deck" reviewed by - well, there are no credits for the reviews!
    • "Signed Card to Hip Wallet" reviews a signed card to hip wallet. Surprised, aren't you? This is credited to "ML," who just might be Mark Leveridge. Of course, it could be Mark Lenard since Mr Lenard hasn't been playing Sarek for awhile.
    • "The Birthday Detector" is a diary effect in which the performer seems to guess the person's birthday. It's reviewed by "PS." I assume that's Paul Simon, since he hasn't been playing Sarek either.
    • "1 Deck..14 Tricks..24 Hours" is reviewed by "PS" again, and I'll assume it's the same PS. It could be "Post Script." Anyway, a chap named Matthew Dowden (Where have I heard that name before?) learns - well, fourteen tricks on these DVDs, and then takes to the streets to force himself on strangers who are trying to get on with their lives evidently. PS highly recommends these two DVDs.
    • "Reflections" is a book by Tony Griffith that is reviewed by ML. It is said to be the first of a proposed trilogy, and now we can look back and see if the other two volumes materialized.
    • "Here I Go Again" is three more DVDs of Bill Malone madness. "PP" (Peter Parker?) reviews these with the assurance that every magician knows who the inimitable Bill Malone is.
22. Some random facts appear on this page, such as telling us that John Gardner (possibly the best James Bond author) is an amateur magician. I'll add one fact which Magicseen didn't know: Gardner dedicated one of his Bond novels to Richard Osterlind. Now YOU search to find out which novel, and guess how the novel's story was changed at Richard's "suggestion."
25. A short column on winners from the 36th International Magic Convention. Move along.
28. A page about Ipswich's 20th One-Day Convention in 2007. You'll have to read it; I shan't spoil the surprises.
32. Robert Fox suggests and recalls different presentations for mentalism with "It's Not What You've Done That's Important; It's What They Think You've Done." One page.
36. Six and two-thirds pages of an interview with Matthew Dowden (I just KNOW I've seen that name before!) which isn't a question/answer interview.
41. "Quickies" is sort of a part of the Dowden interview which lists some of his favorite things. Not quite 1/3 of a page.
44. Mark Leveridge gives us 3 2/3 pages about magicians entertaining soccer players in restaurants and hospitality suites. It's called "Football Crazy" because British folk call soccer football, while we Americans call football soccer. This has been known to cause arguments and fisticuffs, and nobody has a solution to the nomenclature problem.
47. One-third of a page of "News Quickies." It's just that way.
50. A page and a half of "A Start-Up Guide to Magic Magazines." It's not exhaustive (It is, after all, a start-up guide.) and it's a bit out of date now, but it is fun and reminds me that there are things I haven't yet read.
51. "Non-Stop Paul" is a half page about Paul Kieve, who wrote "Hocus Pocus" the book, which came out in 2007, it appears. This is wild, because "Hocus Pocus Jr" came out in 1634, making it one of the few times a sequel was published before the original book. My head hurts.
54. Jay Sankey gives us 3 1/3 pages of "Master Class" and two effects for which you'd normally pay a lot more money than this.
57. A little-bitty factoid and photo about the great Adelaide Herrmann.
60. Sevan and a half pages about "Zakary Belamy," including some of his photos. Hey, Mark told us we'd hear more about him! (see "Welcome to Magicseen.")
70. "LastButNotLeast" (That's the way they spell it; without spaces.) tells us what's going to be in the next issue, and lists the various advertisers. Why, it even goes to the trouble of telling us on what pages those advertisers appear! Bonus: There are advertisements on this page too!