Get Your Video Camera Ready!

As we plan the direction we want to go with the Penguin site in the future, we keep getting back to the point that we want to showcase more videos from Penguin users on the site.

Since the very beginning, Penguin Magic has been a great place for magicians to come and watch demo videos online. The Penguin Media Servers serve up literally thousands of demos per day. The stars of our demo videos are some of the most recognized faces in magic today. But, after a few thousand demos with the same old crazy-haired Maxwell picking a card... it's time to SPICE THINGS UP.

That's where you come in. We're inviting our most motivated and creative customers to shoot and edit their own demo videos for the products sold at Penguin Magic (including Special Order Catalog items, the vast majority of which DO NOT currently have demos).

Simply send us your completed demo video. If the demo you've produced is better than our existing demo for the product (if there is one) and it meets our guidelines (which will be posted shortly), we'll publish your demo video on the Penguin Magic website so everyone can see you in action. We'll also give you a small gift certificate to say thanks.

We'll eventually have an electronic submission form, but for now just send your finished demo video to us on a miniDV tape, CD, or DVD.

Send videos to:

Penguin Magic
Attn: Crazy Video Guy
6255 McLeod Drive, Suite 7
Las Vegas, NV 89120

Morgan in the News!

There's a great article about Morgan in the Las Vegas Sun this week.

Here's my favorite part:

"And he looks the part, too. He has developed an edge. He's still a sweet kid but his hair is short and spiky and bleached banana-yellow. He wears chic clothes, a sterling silver necklace around his neck and round, silver rings in both ears. He's hot. He's been Vegasized. "

Here's a link to the full article:
http://www.lasvegassun.com/sunbin/stories/text/2006/mar/26/566660574.html

Here's an email we recently sent to our customer list (in case your spam filter snagged it):

Dear Penguin Customer,

Noblezada and I had dinner last night at TGI Fridays. We were surprised to find a performer working the restaurant making balloon sculptures. The guy was great. He was tall, good-looking, and he had a relaxed style about him. He was in total control of the situation (even though practically every kid in the place was trying to get him over to his/her table).

In the time we were there we saw this guy make 10-15 tables VERY happy. The kids were loving it, and the parents were all smiles. The tips were rolling in, and every kid in the place was going home with a great souvenir.Noblezada mentioned to me that when he was first doing restaurants his biggest competition was from balloon sculptors. I could see why.

I mention this experience because a few days ago we emailed you about Balloon School, Penguin Magic's new FOUR HOUR MONSTER course in balloon sculpture. The response to our email was overwhelming. We've gotten calls and emails from dozens of customers who have been looking for a resource like this. Before Balloon School there was no course that took you from beginner to pro; from blowing up your first balloon to getting gigs with your new skills and maximizing your income.

Congratulations to everyone who has already gotten in on our pre-order special. You're going to love the course. We're now only a couple of weeks away from the release of Balloon School, and we're getting very excited.

If you're someone who could really benefit from Balloon School, but you haven't gotten your pre-order in yet... There's still time! But, be sure to order soon.

That way you'll be taking advantage of our pre-order special. We'll send you everything you need to get started the day you receive your DVD.

Here's the deal:

Order now and you'll receive a free pump (the one Joe recommends), and a free pack of balloons (260 Qs). These free gifts are worth $20 on their own! Here's a link to balloon school:
http://www.penguinmagic.com/product.php?ID=940

There's more:

Today is a great day to place your order for balloon school (or anything else that's on your wish list) because we've just announced that the Sly Silks (one of our most popular products) is now part of the March Madness Bonus. Now through March 31st, 2006 (just three short days), you'll receive the Sly Silks absolutely free with any order over $30. We're also giving away two great DVDs, so check out the promotions page for details: http://www.penguinmagic.com/promotions.php

Thanks for choosing Penguin Magic. You were born to perform, now go out and entertain the world.

Sincerely,

Maxwell Murphy
Penguin Magic: born to perform.
http://www.penguinmagic.com
1-800-717-2799

P.S. Stay TUNED! Contact Starring Tyas Frantz goes on PRE-ORDER April 1st.

Balloon School + Free Balloons and Pump

Here's an email we sent out earlier today (If you're not on our mailing list, be sure to join for all the latest updates, special offers, and bonuses):

Hi Penguin,

The product we're about to tell you about is unlike anything we've ever produced. Here's the story:

A little over two years ago we asked Joe Montella to develop a course that would take a person from "beginner to pro" in balloon sculpture in one volume. Joe accepted the challenge, and we began shooting a few months later.

When we started shooting we had NO IDEA what we were getting ourselves into...

- Joe started teaching, and he didn't stop for FOUR DAYS STRAIGHT. He started at the very beginning (how to blow up a balloon) and took our team step-by-step through every aspect of making incredible balloon sculptures--and how to make money doing it.

- If you think you've seen "balloon animals" before, get a load of this... In addition to building the small stuff, Joe gets paid BIG BUCKS to build GIANT balloon sculptures for corporations. Joe built a GIANT Penguin for us that was bigger than Bobbi, our operations manager!

- In the middle of the DVD Joe grabs a Yellow Pages, picks up a phone, and starts making cold calls to show you how to get gigs!

- When we wanted a restaurant to shoot in, Joe walked in, got hired on the spot, and then mentioned we needed to do some shooting!

Joe went above and beyond (just like he does for all his clients) and produced a MONSTER FOUR HOUR course that barely, barely, barely fits on one DVD (our editors told us it would have to be a 3 DVD set, but we were able to find a compression expert who was able to make it fit on one very special DVD).

That means we can keep the price down to a rock bottom $49.95. The information on getting gigs, cold calling, and maximizing your income is priceless. This is a course that could easily sell for two hundred dollars. At $49.95, you'll make your money back in your first gig.

Balloon School is FINALLY ready, and it will be shipping in just three short weeks on April 10th.

Balloon School is available for pre-order starting today. As a special bonus for everyone who pre-orders, we're throwing in FREE Balloons (260 Qs) and a FREE Pump (the one Joe recommends). The free gifts alone are worth $20.

Click here to watch the demo video, and read all of the product specifications, and place your order:

Balloon School Starring Joe Montella (DVD) - Highly recommended! http://www.penguinmagic.com/product.php?ID=940

Sincerely,

Maxwell Murphy
Penguin Magic: born to perform.
http://www.penguinmagic.com
1-800-717-2799

P.S. If you place your pre-order now you'll also get in on the HUGE March Madness Giveaway. Now through March 31st, we're giving away up to three FREE items (one trick and two DVDs!).

Click here for details:
http://www.penguinmagic.com/promotions.php

Penguin Magic is saddened by the loss of magic legend Channing Pollock.

CHANNING POLLOCK, age 79, died of cancer at midnight in his home.

“Channing Pollock is a true legend of magic” -The Magic Circle 2000.

To understand the life of Channing Pollock is to understand the life of a man who changed the course of magic, and became the quintessential magician.

Norm Nielsen has said that Channing “was one of the most influential magicians of our time. When he walked out on stage, his charisma electrified the audience. Handsome and with his technical perfection, he began the trend of dove magic as we know it today.”

Born in 1926, it was on seeing a demonstration of a Svengali deck 21 years later that Channing thought to himself "there was something here" and decided to delve deeper into the world of magic. An advertisement in Genii advertised a "College of Manual Dexterity" (The Chavez School of Magic) and Channing applied.

After performing in such prestigious venues as the Sullivan Show, and the London Palladium, Channing took to mentoring other magicians. Some of the notable magicians Channing worked with and influenced include Shimada, James Dimmare, Johnny Thompson, and Lance Burton. According to most experts, Channing was one of the most influential magicians of the 20th Century.

When asked how he developed his stage image he said "fear made me look sophisticated!"

Channing dressed formally, smiled only at the very end of his act, and inspired magicians around the world. His dashing appearance, serious air, commanding presence and graceful moves left nightclub audiences spellbound. He seemed to have the power to shape doves from air with his bare hands. Magicians everywhere copied his moves.

Channing’s act was filmed in London for the movie European Nights which was shown all over the world. Later he went to Rome and starred in Les 3 Flibustiers, which lead to more movie appearances.

When asked at the Magic circle in 2000 “What does the future hold for magic?” Channing had a very positive outlook and stressed that it all comes down to the character and personality of the magician. When asked what were the true secrets of magic he replied, “they lay in the Heart, Mind, Body and Soul of the magician and his audience.”

He is survived by his wife, Joann and his son, Russell.

For more information on Channing Pollock visit MagicHistorian.

Tricks That Will Get You Paid Starring Gary Norsigian

We were in-studio yesterday with Gary Norsigian. Gary is one of the top underground guys in Las Vegas. Actually, he's a legend around here.

Anyway, we were shooting some last-minute inserts for a 2 DVD set starring Gary called "Tricks That Will Get You Paid". The concept of the DVD set is to give the professional performer routines that will scale to three venues: close-up, stand-up and parlor.

How will having a show that scales help you get paid?

Two ways:

1) A scalable act means you're the right choice for more customers.
2)The more people you're performing for, the more you can charge.

There's a TON of solid-gold, tested, tested, tested, tested, and tested material on this FOUR-HOUR MONSTER SET. It's all geard toward working professionals, and there's quite a bit of advice for newcomers to the business on getting gigs.

If you're listening carefully you'll get a lot more than just new routines out of this DVD set. Gary's way of thinking comes through bit-by-bit, chapter-by-chapter, and that's something you can't put a price tag on. Here's a guy who's one of the most respected underground experts in the world and he's made his living doing what he loves for years. He's got it figured out, and it comes through in these DVDs.

This set has been heavily anticipated. It's everything I had hoped for and more.

There's a placeholder on the Penguin Magic site for Tricks That Will Get You Paid Starring Gary Norsigian. The list of effects on each volume is coming soon.

Expect Tricks That Will Get You Paid Starring Gary Norsigian to be available in 6-8 weeks.

It's March Madness Time at Penguin!

Here's an email we sent out recently to let everybody know that our March Madness Giveaway is going on now! I'm really excited because we're giving away three GREAT products. The top level giveaway is a Sankey item that gets some pretty negative reviews, but I got a lot out of it. I think you'll be pleasantly surprised! We try to make the bonus items products that you might not have on your wishlist already, but that will prove valuable in the long run by helping you round out your magic toolkit. It's amazing how you can apply ideas from different areas of magic into your routines.

Here's the email:

Hi Penguin,

Now through Friday, March 31st, we're having a HUGE March Madness giveaway at Penguin!

Order $ 30 or more and you get "The Free Throw":
- The Obedient Die (a $ 13 value)

Order $ 90 or more and you get "The Field Goal":
- The Obedient Die (a $ 13 value)
- Showoff with CD's (DVD) (a $ 30 value)

*****You get both items, a $43 value!*****

Order $ 150 or more and you get "The Three Pointer":
- The Obedient Die (a $ 13 value)
- Showoff with CD's (DVD) (a $ 30 value)
- Jay Sankey's Create Your Own Magic (DVD) (a $ 30 value)

*****You get all three items, a 73 value!*****

The March Madness Giveaway is one of our biggest of the year. Now is a GREAT time to invest in some new material! But, be sure to order fast, this offer is only good while supplies last!

Click here for more details: http://www.penguinmagic.com/promotions.php

Thanks for choosing Penguin Magic.

Sincerely,
Maxwell Murphy
Penguin Magic
http://www.penguinmagic.com

P.S. Be sure to check out our new demo videos!
http://www.penguinmagic.com/demovideos.php

67, anyone? You... You?

67... sixty seven. 67!!! Can anyone guess what I'm talking about? Ok, I've been having way too much fun (insane. Just way too much fun), but when I got back to my desk, there was an email in my inbox that had a video attatched to it. It was a contest submissoin from a magician (I can't release his name yet). What video you ask? What contest?
Two words: "coin roll"
That's right. 67 coin rolls. One minute. (No really. That's what I said.) Tyas called us out, and the people have been stepping up!
I want to personally say that I am proud of every magician who has sent me videos, emails, DVDs and VHS tapes with their coin roll attempts. Thank you!
It's not over though! Not yet. Right now the number is 67 (sixy-seven), so if you can rock out 67 or more coin rolls in one minute, I can't wait to get your email!

Noblezada

Photos from Snowboarding Trip

We got blasted with snow all day on Saturday, so we couldn't break out the video cameras. BUT, we got some still shots:


Noblezada getting ready.


Noblezada going HUGE!

Danny in between jumps.

Acar celebrating after landing a jump.

Maxwell, totally stoked, shows off the Burton Bullet.

Danny and Katrina relaxing in the snow.

Daniel Garcia and Penguin Go EXTREME in the Utah Snow!

We've been shooting all week with Danny Garcia in Las Vegas.
We're working on two new DVDs that have the potential to be two of the hottest releases of 2006.

The first is Danny's INCREDIBLY VISUAL "Greed" routine in which a dollar bill visually changes into a five, a ten, a twenty, and finally (with a twist that's vintage Daniel Garcia) a 50!

The second is Danny's "Torn Too" routine. This is the BRILLIANT torn and restored card routine Danny uses when he's doing restaurant work/walk-around/strolling magic. It's one of the most beautiful pieces of card magic I've ever seen, and I can't imagine any magician not ABSOLUTELY LOVING the method. When Morgan saw the explanation he said instantly, "The guy's a genius". We agree. In addition to being an incredible magician (he's a full-time pro), Danny is also a worldclass designer and musician/song writer. He's also one of the nicest guys around. Danny is the real work, and we're proud to carry his products and thrilled to have him on the Penguin team.

We wrapped the shoot on Thursday (after some KILLER footage on the Las Vegas Strip) and headed to Brian Head for a couple days of snowboarding before Danny heads back to Houston.

Noblezada, Acar, and I are here with Danny and his girl. There's an INSANE amount of powder on the mountain.... 12 - 18 inches of FRESH POWDER... and the snow is still blasting us. We had to put chains on the tires just to get to the base of the mountain. It's almost TOO MUCH POWDER, but we're loving it.

We're staying at the Cedar Breaks Lodge which is A GREAT PLACE TO STAY if you're ever planning a ski trip to Brian Head.

If the snow lets up tomorrow we're going to get some footage of Danny and Noblezada going VERTICAL and getting the HUGE AIR off of a couple of six foot launchpads in the snowboard park.

Expect Greed to be on pre order by May 1st and in stock by June 1st. Expect Torn Too a month later.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, JAY!!

Today is Jay Noblezadas’ birthday! Jay, I just wanted to thank you for everything! You really are a great friend! Happy Birthday!!

Morgan Strebler

Contact with Tyas Frantz (DVD)

Word is out about Contact, our new DVD on Contact Juggling starring Tyas Frantz.

I just got a sneak peek at the DVD, and it's HOT!

Tyas takes you from absolute beginner to TOTAL SHOWOFF in one extremely well put-together DVD. You can't watch the DVD without picking up a contact ball and trying the moves.

Tyas is an excellent teacher, and there's no doubt that if you practice this stuff you're going to learn it.

The BONUS features a beautiful "Watch and Learn" section in which Tyas goes over everything again (and again) (and again) to MAKE SURE you learn it.

The BLOOPERS section is hilarious. During the BODY ROLL Tyas drops the ball so many times you start to think he's doing it on purpose. I was rolling around laughing.

We've had a TON of people ask us for a DVD on contact juggling, and this is THE "Born to Perform" of contact juggling. You're going to love learning contact juggling with Tyas and this DVD. Expect to see Contact on pre-order by April 1st, and in stock by May 1st.

Many of you are asking the question, "WHERE IS OZ?"
Did he leave? What happened to THE MAN?

Here is what he says:

I have received dozens of emails asking me what I'm up to these days. I figured an email to all the fellow Penguins would be a great idea to let them know what's been happening. In July 2003, I graduated from the University of Michigan with an Electrical Engineering degree and moved out to New York City, accepting a position to work full time for Merrill Lynch's Global Technology division in a department that hosted the firm's servers. The job was great, as well as all my co-workers, but magic was still my passion and I was constantly performing. As my clientele built up working as a semi-professional, it became very time consuming with shows on weekends and weekdays after work too. In April 2005, I made the decision to pursue my career as a full time magician and entertainer and have not looked back since.

The majority of my performances are corporate and private events, as well as steady gigs at local restaurants. I have performed at a number of celebrity events throughout the country, and also lectured throughout the United States and Israel. In October/November 2006, I will kick off a European lecture tour that will take me through the UK, Sweden, Norway, Denmark, and Germany; and it may extend into some additional countries. Also on the agenda is an Off-Broadway production that is steaming ahead which will be collaboration between me and another performer. There is not a firm date on when this will premiere in New York City, but spring 2006 is a very good guess.

Numerous people have asked why I have not appeared in many of the new demo videos at Penguin Magic. This is a combination of my very busy schedule of shows, personal life, and being on opposite ends of the country (Penguin in Las Vegas, and me in NYC) has made it very difficult to match schedules to shoot additional videos. I also had a few oral surgeries and clear braces put on to straighten my teeth. I'll be done with my treatment in several months, and have some dynamite material lined up for a late 2006 DVD release.

Aside from magic, I'm keeping quite busy. I recently placed 13^th at the Albany Marathon and 99^th at the Philadelphia Marathon, and am training for Ironman Wisconsin in September 2006.

Last but not least, I want to wish you and your families a very Happy New Year!

Regards,

Oz

There You have it! It's going to be a great year for all of us!

I’m on a plane right now! USA here I come! This week I attended the Blackpool Magic Convention. Blackpool is the largest magic convention in the world. So imagine this: 3000 magicians in one place, sharing their very own gems and secrets… needless to say, it was insane! Besides seeing some new faces and experiencing Europe for the first time, I had the opportunity to meet some of the coolest magicians in the world like James, Cool Magic, Kevin, Mark, Leon, Jaime and Ash, and Gary. I could go on and on because I met literally dozens of magicians from all over Europe, Korea, Japan… all cool as hell! I felt so welcome at this convention and I can’t say enough about all of my new friends, as they are soooooo talented and have top notch personalities. I had fun, gents (don’t forget to email me and keep in touch! Send me those pics!). RanD, my man! See you in Philly some time! Leon, big ups to the Ireland massive! Simon, thanks for the drink!

One of my favorite highlights was when I bumped into Martin Nash, the legendary card man. Martin Nash was the first lecture I had ever been to, so it was so inspirational to get to see him again, in the UK of all places! He was there with his beautiful fiancé …. Go Martin! Never stop inspiring us.

Among the stars that stood out ware Partrick Kuffs, Luke Jermay, Michael Ammar, Al Bongo, Guy Hollingworth, R. Paul Wilson, just to name a few… I could go on and on. I spent the 3 days on my feet in the dealers room meeting so many magicians and telling them about our new, killer projects, performing Color Changes, and keeping an eye out for new and exciting magic. Black Fox was there with us showing off his line of magnificent shells (link) and his kick-butt shot glass production, “Egg-sessory.” I also watched Morgan bend about 30 forks a day for different groups of people… I’m still amazed every time I see Liquid Metal! It was the talk of the convention. Everyone wanted to see it and I can’t wait until I master it!

At night after the convention fest ivies, and dealer room closes, everyone chills out at “The Ruskin,” a near by hotel lounge and bar. That’s where the most fun went down for me! I got to meet cool people, see insane close-up magic, and hang with my good friends: Maxwell, Acar, Sam, Morgan, and Black Fox. Many of the magicians would jam out, and session till about 6 in the morning. A couple of hours of sleep, a proper English breakfast, and a 3 block stroll to the convention booth… just to do it all over again. Like many of my fellow Magi, I was running off pure adrenaline.

The Penguin Magic team was greeted with warm welcomes and new friendships. A huge THANK YOU from all of us to the many who made the whole experience stellar! I can’t wait until next year!

Cheers,

Noblezada

PS: If I didn’t mention your name please email me and remind me of our time together. Send me those pics and we can share them here at www.PenguinMagic.com