New Penguin Magic commercial

Check out the newest 'born to perform' commercial featuring Jay and Verbal Ase. It's pretty cool!

click to watch: born to perform with Verbal Ase

Verbal Ase is a Las Vegas based musician and Penguin Magic team member with an unbelievable ability to create a complete musical track using his mouth. He performs regularly and is definitely born to perform!

Luke Jermay joins the Penguin creative team

We're proud to announce that internationally renowned magician Luke Jermay, whose credits include television shows such as Derren Brown and Criss Angel has joined the Penguin creative team.

Aside from several top-secret projects, Penguin Magic is in final edit of Luke's latest book, "3510", which Luke considers to be his best work to date.

Luke will be featured in November at the upcoming International Magic convention in London which Penguin Magic will be attending. Please stop by and say hello!

New Podcast

Hey guys! If you're in the mood for a great new podcast, check out the newest Performer's Podcast, where Tyas does an interview with "The Mentalist", Gerry McCambridge! Gerry performs nightly in an amazing theatre at the world famous Stardust hotel and casino here in Las Vegas, NV.

Click here for the Gerry McCambridge Interview

Teach a Bird to Fish!

Awesome new promo just went live today. Art of Card Splitting is one of our best-selling DVDs. The reviews are incredible. And, for a limited time... it's FREE with orders of $60 or more.

You gotta love the free market.

What crazy new gaffs and gimmicks will you invent with the techniques taught on this DVD?

Oz takes 3rd in age group, 42nd overall!

As Oz crossed the finish line yesterday, everyone in the crowd knew they were seeing something special. This was a man at the edge of physical breakdown, willing himself toward the finish in a total sprint despite an agony so extreme it would cripple most men. There was no one immediately behind him, and no one close enough in front to catch. There was just Oz, doing the best he could do.

A 2.4 mile swim that looked like a feeding frenzy as over two thousand competitors clawed their way through the choppy water: "I got kicked in the face during the swim and it knocked my goggles off, but it was no big deal." -- Oz Pearlman

112 miles on a bike through cold slippery streets: "I crashed coming around a circle. When I got back on my bike I was numb. I couldn't feel the right side of my body, but not in a good way... it was tight. I knew I had to slow down because if I fell again I'd hit the same spot." -- Oz Pearlman

And a 26.2 mile run in a cold and steady rain: "I could have run another 10 miles". -- Oz Pearlman

There was not one person in that race who left more of himself out on that course than Oz. Oz gave everything he had to that competition. Nobody hurt more, nobody dug deeper, nobody put on a better show. Oz was here because he had gotten it in his mind that he wanted to be here. When he started training a little over a year ago he had no reason to think he could do it. He just did. When he saw the progress he was making in his training he had no reason to think he could keep getting better. He just did. And when he looked at his training times and said to himself, "I bet I can qualify for Hawaii" he had no reason to believe it. But he did believe it.

And on Sunday he did qualify for the world championships in Hawaii.

The secret to Oz's success as a professional magician and the secret to his success as an athlete are one in the same. It's his ability to focus on a goal and put in the time, hard work and pain to make it happen.

As OZ charged down the final hundred yards toward the IRONMAN finish I saw one of the strongest doses of determination I've every seen, and it brought tears to my eyes.

I ran over to Oz. One person was putting a medal around his neck, another support member was making sure he was physically OK, and a third was putting a wrap around his shoulders to keep him warm.

When he saw me running over he said the words I'd been thinking all along, "Born to perform, baby. Born to perform."

Message from Oz

I just got this in an email from Oz. I'm headed to Madison on Sunday to support Oz in person. If you're in the area, please join me. Should be a fun day.

Oz writes:

"This upcoming Sunday (Sept 10^th) I will be competing in the Ironman Wisconsin. I want to thank everyone that is coming to the race to cheer me on, as well as those cheering from afar. Over the course of the last year, I have spent hundreds of hours preparing for this race, not to mention all the blood (2 bike crashes), sweat, and $$$. My life has literally revolved around training, sometimes 10 or 11 hours per day. Come Sunday, I’m going to race like I’ve never raced before and leave it all on the line.

My bib number for the race is 182. You can track my progress on race day at www.ironmanwisconsin.com The swim starts at 7 AM, and my projected finishing time is between 4:45 to 5:00 PM (hopefully). The race consists of a 2.4 mile swim, 112 mile bike, and a 26.2 mile run."

Retiring my old voicemail script

I just recorded a new greeting on my voicemail, so I thought I'd retire my old voicemail script by posting it here. I don't like checking my voicemail, so this script was designed to catch people slightly off guard and get them to leave an extra happy message for me. It was extremely effective, and even convinced my friend Wes to make his voicemail greeting more cheesy.

So, here is what you would have heard if you'd have called me and gotten my voicemail before noon today:

Hi, this is Maxwell Murphy, Lover of Life.

Thanks for calling.

I'm either on another line, away from my desk, engaged in recreation, or sleeping peacefully at the moment.

Please kindly leave me a message if you need me to spring into action.

And if for any reason I don't respond promptly, please send me an email -- maxwell@penguinmagic.com.

I want very much to communicate with you. Thanks for calling today, and don't hesitate to follow-up with me as often as is convenient for you.

I hope to speak with you soon.

Cheesy, but I liked it. Especially the Lover of Life part. When I was working customer service at Penguin I used to answer my direct line, "Maxwell Murphy, Lover of Life". Patrick in the warehouse got a kick out of it and started addressing (and introducing me) as though my full name were "Maxwell Murphy Lover of Life".

Happy Birthday Matt!

It's my brother Matt's birthday today. Matt is one of Penguin Magic's secret weapons. He's leading development on the new Penguin website, and he's always full of inspiration and good ideas for us.

Here's a photo of Acar, Matt and me in Turkey a couple of weeks ago. We were in Turkey for most of August working on the new Penguin site. Why Turkey? Because if you've got to program a computer 12 hours a day, you might as well do it in a beautiful spot. Plus, we got to hang out with Acar's family and go sailing in the Aegean on the weekends.


Above (left to right): Acar Altinsel, Matt Murphy, Maxwell Murphy

Ancient Proverb (poorly translated)

"Sometimes life leaves you untied with people staring at foot, this is not option. It is how you shake foot and tie up that brings step forward." -- Ancient Proverb

Hmmmm...

Back to School Shoelaces!

Getting a shiny new pair of shoes around back-to-school time is nothing new. But, this year magicians are going back to school with a little extra wiggle in their waggle thanks to a new pair of shoelaces.