Episode 10

In this episode of Alekazam Live, Peter Nardi and Wayne Goodman catch up on the latest from the world of magic, share behind-the-scenes updates from Alekazam, and chat about what’s coming up over the next few weeks. They highlight the upcoming CCC Convention, discuss progress on the Alekazam Convention, and reveal exciting news about Print By Magic becoming an officially authorized source for Bicycle gaff cards and gaff decks. The conversation also touches on recent magic acts on Britain’s Got Talent, Derren Brown’s current tour, new and upcoming releases, and the continued growth of the Alekazam app and community. As always, it’s a relaxed mix of magic news, industry insight, product talk, and plenty of fun between two friends.

Find out more about the team behind this podcast at www.alakazam.co.uk

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:09

Welcome to the Alakazam Live Podcast with Peter Nardi. For the full video version of this episode, head over to YouTube and search Alakazam Magic Live. So grab a drink, sit back, and let's talk magic.

SPEAKER_07 0:28

Hi guys and welcome to our sort of uh podcasty live video podcast thing that we're doing now. So some of you may just be listening over on your favourite podcast channel, but for the rest of us, we're watching live on Facebook or YouTube. It's Tuesday, it's two o'clock uh BST. So, and as usual, I'm joined by my partner in crime, the amazing Mr. Wayne Goodman. Mr. G, how are we?

SPEAKER_04 1:03

Hello, hello. I've got blue curtains. I know, you've updated your camera. I have, I've got a much better camera. Uh the other one's looking, it's switched on, it's around looking at me a bit guiltily, but yeah, this one's brilliant. So um yeah. So hopefully now you can see me and see what I'm up to.

SPEAKER_07 1:21

We can see you. I've just got to try and do something because I'm hearing myself my headphones, and no one wants to hear me, especially me.

SPEAKER_04 1:28

You're not you're not you're not coming through echoey or repeated. No. Repeated. I'm hearing it here.

SPEAKER_07 1:34

So you you chat away for a minute.

SPEAKER_04 1:38

Well, shall I do some news while um while I'm here?

SPEAKER_07 1:41

Yeah. Oh, that's it. I've sorted mine. Can you hear me?

SPEAKER_04 1:45

Yeah.

SPEAKER_07 1:45

Cool. Brilliant. I sorted my little issue out, so that's all good. So, yeah, give us some news. What's been happening, Mr. G?

SPEAKER_04 1:54

Well, um a quick plug for one of our creators who um who hasn't had an Alakazam release for a little while, but I know that one of his releases is um one of Harry's favourite tricks, and uh and one of his other ones is one of my favourite tricks, uh, which is Mr. Chris Congreve, who has his CCC convention next weekend. Um they got a good lineup, they've got a good lineup of lecturers. Um they don't do a show, they uh they have quite a nice little session in the evening. Um but uh yeah, tickets are on sale and you can get them at Stellar Magic. That's uh yeah, for Chris.

SPEAKER_07 2:33

Um have you got a um you did did you you didn't mention a lineup then, did you?

SPEAKER_04 2:40

I could I can mention it if you want to.

SPEAKER_07 2:42

Yeah, and let them know where they could get tickets, because I I'm not sure, but if you're looking for something to do next weekend, uh you may still be able to grab some tickets.

SPEAKER_04 2:53

It's a two-day let it's a two-day convention, which is great. Uh, on the 18th and 19th of April. So is that this weekend? Yeah, it is, because I was supposed to be going, but I've got a show. Um so it's at Longford House, Whaling Street, Cannock, uh, which is in Birmingham, and uh the lineup is uh Lord Harry Harrington, uh Eddie McCall, Mark Bennett, Christine Grace, John Hatalka, and Steve Deller. Wow, all great lineup. Yep, really good lineups very, very good. So they can get the tickets at StellamagicShop.com. Um Stella S T E L L A R MagicShop.com. Uh and they are there are a few tickets available, they will go quickly. And it is it's a small venue, so it it is limited numbers. So if you want tickets, make sure you grab them because they will go.

SPEAKER_07 3:52

Yeah, brilliant. So that is the CCC convention. I will say as well, I've got to make a quick apology before you carry on with your news broadcasting. And that is um Andy was ill for a week, and then he had a week's holiday, which meant that I had to proofread the newsletter.

SPEAKER_04 4:15

Um The one thing that I missed Were there any mistakes on the newsletter page?

SPEAKER_07 4:25

Only on the very front page in a huge banner.

SPEAKER_04 4:29

It it probably got missed then.

SPEAKER_07 4:30

It probably That says the convention the 9th of March.

SPEAKER_04 4:37

Oh, yes, yeah, well that's but when is the convention page?

SPEAKER_07 4:42

It is the 9th of May.

SPEAKER_04 4:44

Thank you for asking, Wayne. Are there still tickets available?

SPEAKER_07 4:49

Uh I think there's a few we're not I haven't been pushing it. I I haven't been pushing it because um yeah, we've got I think there's about a hundred and forty, hundred and fifty tickets already sold, and there's another handful there, and I I always like to sort of have a a few spare in my back pocket just in case. Because I I don't want anyone sitting on anyone else's lap while we're there. I want you all to have your own comfy seat, you know. Um we've got another meeting, a final meeting before the convention, um, at the venue next week, I believe. So this is when we're basically testing out some new cameras and some lighting and bits and bobs like that. But also, we are doing fun stuff as well that's gonna be happening around the place. Um so we're having a meeting about all that sort of stuff, and then talking about where the dealers are going, how many tables we need to set out. So it's all that last minute stuff. Um, yeah, so looking forward to that. Um, someone said I am very low. It's because my microphone is over here. I can turn myself up a little bit. Hang on a moment. Let me turn myself up.

SPEAKER_04 6:19

Well, while you're gonna do that, I'm gonna read out another bit of news, um, which is quite exciting. Um which oh let me just do this, um, which is that Alakazan Magic's print by magic is now officially endorsed and authorized by the bicycle magic, uh, by bicycle magic. By bicycle, basically.

SPEAKER_07 6:41

Yes, it really is, yeah. So um let me just uh explain that. We are now by uh authorized bicycle gaff card and gaff deck for magic tricks.

SPEAKER_04 6:59

This is what it says. It kind of threw me. So now officially authorised bicycle, magic gaff, and trick deck printers for the United States Playing Card Company. Yeah, so that means that we go gone. Sorry, Pete.

SPEAKER_07 7:13

No, I was gonna say, so that means if you approach bicycle and you wanted, you know, 20 GAF cards done or whatever it may be, they would point you in our direction or 50 or 100 or whatever. So we are authorized anything up to 2,500 decks. Wow. Yeah. Um, that's for one order, that's not for you know the lifetime of the company. I mean, that's anything over that you would go to bicycle anyway, but you wouldn't we wouldn't print anywhere near that, it will be too expensive for you, too kind of time consuming for us. Um, so you know, 10 decks, it's fine, we can handle that. If you're looking at getting a hundred decks as giveaways, we have other options to get those printed for you. So, yeah, it's really good. Um, I'm gonna put it on to you. I've got a quickly run out for two seconds, you can give us a bit more news. I'll do that then. Okay.

SPEAKER_04 8:17

Um leave Devin Brown till I get back. I was just about to say the next piece of news I'm gonna leave till the end. Yeah, because uh Pete went to see Devin Brown the other day, and Derren Brown is toying at the moment, so we'll come back to that in a minute. Uh I just want to give a quick shout out to all the magicians um who have performed so far on BGT. Now, I I'm I'm quite a big fan of BGT, but I don't often get to watch it because I'm normally gigging or working. Um, but I have been me and Tracy, she records it on Sky, so uh we we do get to watch it um after the fact, which is good. Uh so this year I've been watching it quite quite great, and every magician on there has been amazing. Um I've really really enjoyed it. So congratulations to all those. I know we're coming to the end of the auditions, it'll be the live performances next, and all the decisions to be made about who's gonna be performing. So good luck to all the magicians who are in this year, and yeah, good luck, and hopefully see you uh see you on the live shows.

SPEAKER_07 9:18

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 9:19

Um let's have a look here. Uh du. Let's have a quick look. Uh yeah, some some quite sad news, but I I believe that they're they're working on it. Um, was there was a fire uh over the weekend, or just before the weekend, at the Magic Castle in Hollywood. Um now this this California is is a hot spot, no pun intended, for fires because of the the heat and the bush and and all the brush and trees that are out there. They often have wildfires that's fresh.

SPEAKER_07 9:57

Yeah, this wasn't that though. This no apparently this was people doing something like fixing the roof or something. And oh really, yeah, with a blowtorch. But um, from what I heard, they had made some huge renovations because the castle was taken over a few years ago, and they had made some uh big sort of renovations to the kitchen area. Because anyone that doesn't know the castle, it's a fine dining restaurant and uh you know different sort of magic rooms and everything else, and um where they had re sort of um refurbished the kitchen area, it had been sealed in so it stopped the fire spreading, and they were saying if that renovation hadn't have taken place a few years ago, then the fire could have spread a lot more rapidly. So I I don't think touch wood, from what I've heard, I don't think the fire did that much, and the sprinklers didn't go off, which is always a good thing because most of the damage that happens after a fire is the water damage and and stuff like that. Um so the sprinklers didn't go off. So I I think they as far as I've heard, someone could correct me on this, but I think they got away quite lightly with it. Obviously, some damage was there, but I I don't think it's as bad as it could have been, which is great news.

SPEAKER_04 11:35

Good, good, good. Um, and then finally, which was gonna be earlier on, uh Devin Brown is touring at the moment with his only human show. Um uh co-written by Devin and Cornett and Stephen Long. He's directed by Andrew Cronat, and uh it's supposed to be very, very good. And one person who's been to see it is me.

SPEAKER_07 12:01

About to come back on the screen. Yeah, yeah, I went to see it last week. Went to see it last week. Yeah, it's it's good. Yeah, it's good, it's good. Um I was trying to think about it the other day, like as as a magician, because we we look at things differently, um and I think and I might be wrong, but I think um the structure has changed in in in effect that I think in his previous shows you used to have effect, effect, effect, effect, effect, and then the the kicker at the end was tying all the effects up, whereas now I think a lot of the show is a build up to the finale. Do you know what I mean? So I I I build the build the building have a big finish, yeah. Um so I I think there's a lot more talking and stuff going on in his later shows, um, whereas the the previous shows were a lot of sort of smaller effects that play big, you know, but then they would all be tied up at the end. Whereas these ones I think there's a lot more um psychology going on throughout the show with the the odd effect thrown in and then you've got this big reveal at the end, but it was enjoyable. I picked up the program, which is um a fantastic trick to be fair. I am allowed to show this. Am I allowed to show this?

SPEAKER_04 14:08

I don't know. Well, watch it now because it might be taken down.

SPEAKER_07 14:16

So you got the program.

SPEAKER_08 14:20

Yeah.

SPEAKER_07 14:23

Let me open the book. And it says uh think of one of these five cards, commit it to memory, then close the cover and turn the page of the brochure.

SPEAKER_04 14:40

Okay, I've got one. So I'll commit that to my memory.

SPEAKER_07 14:45

Okay. Yeah. And then you've got this thing here, right? And it says what made you think of that card?

SPEAKER_04 14:58

Um it's a card I like.

SPEAKER_07 15:01

Was it a free choice? 100%. Were there really five cards to choose from? Yes. Then it says turn the wheel. There's a wheel at the bottom. So I am gonna turn that. I'm not doing anything sneaky here, I am just turning the wheel. If I can get it to turn. Okay, um, and then it changes to the next thing, and it says, maybe you only thought you saw it. Okay, I'll maybe I'll make the card you thought of disappear. Turn the wheel. So I will turn the wheel again. And it says gone. Take a look. So now if we go back, what was the card you were thinking of? It was the Jack of Clubs. Jack of Clubs. Now if we open this, very good, and there are only four cards. It's great. So good, so good. Um, so yeah, pick that up. Um, yeah, it was great. If you get a chance to see him, you know, Derren is without a doubt our best showman. You know, it it's the best we've got to offer. He's phenomenal. Phenomenal. Um I'll be interested to see what everyone else thought who went there as well. So let us know if you are watching and you have seen uh Darren Brown. Um any other any other news, Wayney Goodman?

SPEAKER_04 17:11

That's all about really that's all I've got here at the moment. Um if I find anything else, I'll let you know. But yeah.

SPEAKER_07 17:18

Okay doked. Well, I've got a bit of news because uh not next Monday, the Monday after, we are launching a brand new product. But before I tell you about that, let's take a look at a product we released last Thursday, which I believe is our fastest selling product ever. Really? Yeah. Shall we take a look? Let's have a look.

SPEAKER_02 17:56

And it is one car.

SPEAKER_03 18:07

Now, whenever I do colour drinking sure when you do a mobile performance, people say you're just doing some hand. And to prove there is one money that is my hand. I'm gonna do one hand in my pumpkin, it's impossible to do that.

SPEAKER_07 18:29

You can see the humble humble shum. I'm gonna do the shape with one hand. I'm gonna make you humble. I'm gonna make it humble. I'm late, come on, humble hummus, money, humble.

SPEAKER_03 19:19

I'm not doing anything. One thing should come. No, I'm gonna come. With some human one, and there is one.

SPEAKER_06 19:56

Your micro money comes, and that is one humble.

SPEAKER_07 20:19

So it was last year, Wayney, at your day, that you first saw that and I was showing everyone.

SPEAKER_04 20:28

Yep. And it flawed me completely.

SPEAKER_07 20:32

The thing is, it was one of those things because we didn't have it released then. I know a lot of times we got stuff, you know, pre-release copies when we do convention, but we didn't have it at yours, it weren't released. Um, but the amount of people that were going, oh, can I buy that now? Can I buy it now? It it's such a good trick. Honestly, we have sold out well, we sold out within 24 hours uh of the first batch. We had more delivered today that need to be made up, so they should be going out in the next couple of days. You just literally heard me on the phone ordering the third batch because the second batch has pretty much sold out now as well. Um, yeah. Far our fastest selling trick this year, without a doubt, but I think I do think ever. The only thing I think may match it, but I don't think it does on the speed, is swindle when we first bought that out. But I don't think we sold a lot of swindle, and it was our best selling product each month, but I still don't think it hit the numbers this has hit in such a short amount of time. That's amazing. And it is such a great trick, very easy to do, and it's only fifteen quid. It sits in your pocket, it sits in your wallet or in your or in your pack of cards.

unknown 22:04

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 22:07

Yeah, gone. I was gonna say, you know, it it's not like it's a big bulky prop, doesn't take up any space. You can if you don't want to use it in a trick, you can either remove or just leave it in your deck. Doesn't it doesn't hinder you in any other way? Um and it's just a it's just a perfect little add-on to a trick. As in a standalone trick, boom, the card's gone, it's in your pocket. And it's not you call that the hero routine, don't you? But there are other things you can do with it. So it is essentially a card to impossible location. So if you wanted to do, you know, if you wanted to have a card on the table um from the get-go, someone put a hand on it, you did a routine, boom, and you've been holding that card the whole time, you didn't know what it was, I didn't know what it was. Uh, you choose a card by what was it? Five of Hearts or whatever the card is, it's gone from the deck, you've got your hand, and that's really, really strong. Um, there's so much you could do with it, so much you can do with it.

SPEAKER_07 23:06

Yeah, it uh it is the cleanest card to to impossible location, you know. It it's so cool. Whether you want to do card through window, card to wallet, card under seat, it it's just yeah, it's great. It really is good. Um yeah, there's quite a few people that have already picked them up. Oh, um, I've just got my friend Brian here. Um Brian showed me something great the other day that he's designed and developed. Um and it's well, there's two things. One of them I don't think we can do anything with because it's for someone else's trick. Um, but Brian has designed an app for those of you that have got um the movie add-on deck for the grail. So basically, this app you someone can shuffle the deck. So let's say you've performed the grail movie add-on, done your prediction, whatever you want to do, or even if you're not performing the grail with the deck, you can get them to shuffle the deck. Um, they can either name any playing card before before this whole thing starts. You say, now I'm a big lover of movies, wait. Um, in fact, I it it's something I've got to do, it makes me happy, it's my me time. Twice a week I'll sit down and I'll watch a movie, and that that's my time to zone out, you know. I I sit there, I watch the movie, and um I think about what movie I'm gonna watch. And what I tend to do is if I'm in a shop or if I'm looking at the internet, looking at reviews, they usually have a picture of the DVD cover or something, so I'll screenshot that, and when it comes to watching a movie, I'll I'll go have a look at the latest screenshot, and I'll go, oh yeah, that's the movie I want to watch today. Um and then I'll delete the screenshot because I don't want hundreds on there. Um, but I I'll always have a picture of the movie I'm gonna watch next. In fact, um I love movies so much, I've even got a deck of cards with loads of movies on it. Um give them a shuffle for me, give me any number from one to fifty-two. So now you deal down the cards face up, and let's say you land on the two of diamonds. I'll say now that could have been a free choice. Now I'm gonna I'm gonna let you choose now. Do you want to keep the two of diamonds? Or do you just want to choose another card? Any card you want. So they choose a card, and you say, now that this this is perfect, you know, you got the two of diamonds. On the back of each one of these cards is a different movie, and on the back of the two of diamonds is a movie. Turn it over, what movie is it? And they say whatever it is, you go, now that's a bit of a coincidence. Because remember I said I had one picture in my camera roll of a movie. Open my camera roll, and when you open my camera roll, I've got a picture of that movie. And it's not the latest picture, it's from Tuesday or something. Nice. It it's great, it it's um a really genius idea. If you've got the ground movie add-on, this is something that you're absolutely gonna love. Um, and we're hopefully I'm speaking to Brian, and we're hopefully gonna make it available for people. It will be a purchased add-on, but it won't be very expensive. Um yeah, it's a great idea. Great idea.

SPEAKER_04 27:09

Yeah, great idea, brilliant idea.

SPEAKER_07 27:13

Um, yeah, so that's something else that's happening. Um, and yeah, go on.

SPEAKER_04 27:21

Oh go on, you go first because this is gonna be quite a large comp this is gonna be a large conversation. Go on, and hit it. So, okay. Um, one of the big things we've had on the emails this week is a lot of people discussing our new website.

unknown 27:36

Yes.

SPEAKER_04 27:37

Now, the website isn't new, but what we call the back end is when you go when you step into your account and go into your own zone inside the uh inside the website has changed. Now, effectively it's changed quite a lot, but really it looks like it's changed quite a lot, but in really it hasn't changed that much. The aesthetics have changed. What has changed is your account is now passwordless. You don't need a password to log into your account. Now, this was a decision. This is a very clever thing they've done here. It makes the site more secure, it means that your account is more secure now because people not that we've had a problem with it, never had a problem with it, but you know, there's millions of websites out there. Um, it makes it more secure from people trying to get into your accounts and find out your information, etc. etc. This means that every time you log in, whenever you get a login, it will send you a code, you type that code in, and you're in and you're secure. Now, inside your account, um even though it looks very different, it's not really that changed that much.

SPEAKER_07 28:48

Yeah, so we basically what happened the the platform that we use is uh is a platform called Shopify. Now, when we had the site originally built, which we were discussing this the other day, I think the work started on it five years ago, was it? Yeah, five years. So obviously, when we had it built, we had it built on the latest theme, the latest tech technology, the operating system that Shopify had. About a year ago, Shopify upgraded their OS, their their operating system. Now, the new operating system allows us and you to do a lot more. It will allow us to do a lot more with the site because it's using the latest coding, latest technology, but it also allows you to do more. So now you can go in and go into your profile, you can change your own email address. Whereas I don't think you could do that before. It gives you more and and your home address.

SPEAKER_04 29:54

Once you've got your if you wanted to change your home address on the previous system, you'd have to make an order and add new address. And I think it was like three weeks ago, I had one gentleman who had about 50 different um home addresses saved on his system, and he couldn't do anything about it. I had to go through and delete them. Uh now you can do all that yourself. So if you move house, you get a new address, you can now go in, type it in, make it default, and and that's where your order will go to.

SPEAKER_07 30:22

Yeah. Um, the other thing, now this isn't new because we did add it uh a couple of months ago, but I don't think a lot of people know it or have spotted it or anything else. And it is this is so small on my screen I can't see it. Uh I think it's this one. Is that password safe? Let me have a look, because I can't see any though. Let me have a look. It's very small. I think it I think that must be. I'm gonna click it anyway.

SPEAKER_04 30:56

Click it and have a look. That's the easiest way of doing it.

SPEAKER_07 31:00

Let's see what's going on. Hang on, it will be there though.

SPEAKER_04 31:04

Well, before you press that, Pete, before you press it, when you go into your account now, if you've not done it yet, this is what you'll see. You'll go straight into your orders and you've got the menu at the top. Now, Pete, if you click click downloads.

SPEAKER_07 31:18

Yep. Oh, I will say as well, I think now we always had a problem with Shopify that you couldn't download your invoices. I think with this new one, you can now.

SPEAKER_04 31:31

Yes, you can. I can talk you through that because I did that this morning with somebody.

SPEAKER_07 31:36

Uh what do you want me to go into? Downloads.

SPEAKER_04 31:40

Yeah. Now when you click on that and you step away from the orders, there we go. Now that menu has changed and it's along the top in a blue bar, um, which makes it a little bit easier to read. Um, but you can see it all there, and password safe, I think, is the second to last one. Uh next to Alex, I'm unlimited.

SPEAKER_07 32:06

Which one do you want? Sorry, mate.

SPEAKER_04 32:08

Uh password list which I believe you can see it better now. So if you're yeah, once you step out of the orders, you'll get that blue menu bar and everything's on one line, then it's much easier to find.

SPEAKER_07 32:20

Yeah. Um another thing, another thing I'll say as well, for those of you that are new to the site, um, because we still have this question where if you have a look here, I've got lots of downloads in my account, and let's say I want to watch Knock Em Dead, I'm pressing on it, but nothing's happening. Um, but something is happening, because up here at the top of the page is my player, and you can see that says knock 'em dead by Peter Nardi. Let me go down and we will go into uh decisions decisions. Nothing happens here, but if I scroll up, you see that's now decisions decisions, and another thing. If you see, you can see there's a little TV screen under the video. If there's multiple TV screens, each one of those is actually a different video. So if you click on the second one, that will change. Click on the third one, that will change. I I don't if I've got any here that have got more than one that I can show you. Uh let me have a look. Stealth Assassin probably has. So if I go up, yeah, there you go. Look, there's five videos. So I clicked on stealth assassin, it's up here in the player, and if I click on that, that will take me to another video, another video, another video, and another video. Okay, that's just a bit of an overview there. But let me show you this because this is before you do anything else.

SPEAKER_04 33:55

If you scroll up above the player in the viewing area, there above just below downloads, there is also now a redeem box. So this is for when you get your Alakazan products and there's a passcode. There is a redeem, there's its own redeem section in the account. But if you're in your downloads and you've got multiple tricks that you're you're putting in, you can type in the redeem code there, click redeem, and it will add it to the list. Now, after you've pressed enter, it's wise to just refresh the page and that will load the video in. Sometimes it takes a few seconds for the it's instant, it's instantly there, but sometimes it just takes a second to do it. So if you press refresh, when you come back, the video will be in the download section.

SPEAKER_07 34:35

Yeah. And the other thing which is really good because we're always having customers ringing up saying, Oh, I've lost my password for this, whether it's an Alexand product or a non-Alexan product, um, you know, lose your password, use your lose the link and whatever. So we've got something called a password safe, which I will show you now. Over here, if you click on it, password safe, you see now this takes you into a place where you can store your links and your passwords, and these don't have to be just Alexand products. So if you buy a product by uh Wayne Goodman, let's say, so we buy something from Wayne. Um, Wayne's got a Vimeo address and a password. You can literally go in here, you can put name of the trick, you put the link, and you put your password, press save, and that will now save that in there for you. You can have as many as you want, and it will give you a lovely place to store your tricks, and it's got a search box. So if you were looking for um whatever it was, the password for what happens in Vegas, and you've stored it here, type in what happens in Vegas, your password, your link, and everything will come up. The great thing is you can click the link directly from here and it will take you straight to the video. So that's a really great thing that you know you guys should utilize. The only thing we say, and it does say it at the bottom as well, is don't store any personal information because this part of the site, this section here, is not encrypted. Um, so yeah, don't store any bank passwords or anything else, okay? Because this bit here is not encrypted, um, or it is, but it's not as encrypted as it should like security-wise for sensitive data. Um now there's a couple of questions that have just come in about this. Uh Phil Wasten said, reference to password changes. I'm not on internet here, only phone data. How would that affect Android phone users? Scrit uh switching screens can be difficult. Uh it's exactly the same, to be fair. I mean, once you're it's supposed to keep you logged in for quite a long time, anyway. So it's only when you log out, or you know, if you've been away from the site for a long period of time, it will probably send you a code. Um, but yeah, I mean, this is the way that websites are going now. This isn't our decision to go this route. This is basically Shopify saying this is the way technology is going, and if you don't do it, you're not gonna be able to start rolling out the updates and everything else, so you know it's something that we had to do. Um in turn, it will benefit you because we're on this new i uh this new OS, you know. Um but how I mean I don't use Android, I mean, I I'm sure you can go from a web browser to uh email and then back to a web browser. I mean, surely every smartphone should be able to do that. I I would presume.

SPEAKER_04 38:36

I don't know if Android works like Apple does, but usually if I get have to put in a code onto a site, it will come through and it'll just automatically put it into the box space. I don't know if Android does that. Android are normally ahead of Apple and stuff like that, so it'd be it would surprise me if Android didn't do that already. Yeah. But if not, yeah. Yeah, if not, all you've got to do is just go to the other screen, get the code, copy, paste it, and you're done.

SPEAKER_07 39:04

Yeah. But it it means you know you're never gonna forget your passwords or anything else, and it is more secure, but in turn it does make everything sort of quicker, the whole process becomes quicker because of that sort of system. Um, what about the existing downloads, Pete? If we've already lost the passwords, um yeah, the you'll have to get the passwords from us. Um so this this thing here, the password safe is for you to input that information. It's not gonna be automatically for you. Um we are actually I'm wondering whether it does do it automatically if you buy the trick from us. I don't think it does because I've tried it. But I may oh no no, we can't do that because it won't know it won't know the the hyperlink or anything. Yeah, it won't know that. But maybe that's something we can look at for the future.

SPEAKER_04 40:24

Um I have got an ide I have got an idea I'll talk about two afterwards.

SPEAKER_07 40:29

Yeah, um I mean it certainly won't do historical stuff, I don't think. But if you have lost passwords, you know we'll always um give them to you if you can prove that you've got the item. Um Keith uh Keith R Union says it works fine on Android MFA is standard for sites these days and will automatically paste for an email which is the same as um the same as Apple. Uh yeah, Paul. So Paul's saying I've put my codes in the password safe, but when I click on the products, it's still asking me to add my passcode. Yeah, the password safe is like a notebook, it's just a place for you to store the stuff. But at the end of the day, let's say that you wanted to watch Knock'em Dead, and your password is in there in the link. All you do is you go into the password safe, find Knock'em Dead, copy the password, click the link, paste the password, you're done. So it's not gonna do it automatically for you, it's a place for you to store all your video like your passwords and your links. And the other thing is, like I said, that's not just for Alakazan products. So if you bought um something like uh well, anything if you if you bought anything, I haven't got any.

SPEAKER_04 42:43

Yeah, if you bought if you bought from another magic dealer, yeah, important effect, you can save the deep data in there and it will work.

SPEAKER_07 42:50

Yeah, bought Tech Deck from Penguin. You can put the link in there, the password in there. Umble virtues. I know a lot of you have picked that up, put the link in there and the password, and then they're they're just all in there for you. Make sure you title them, and then that way you you'll be able to search for the title.

SPEAKER_04 43:14

Can we just very quickly talk about noble virtues? Yes, we can, Wayney. If you have bought Noble Virtues, um the link to the instructional video is on the packaging. So when you take off the packaging, keep hold of it because the instruction link is on that packaging. You won't you'll lose it. Yeah. So yeah, don't throw it away until you've made note of it. Until you've added it to your safe, then you've got it there. But yeah, it is inside the um in on the outside of the packaging.

SPEAKER_07 43:49

Um and uh crispy peat 1902 says when he clicked on the stealth assassin video a few or when I clicked on it a few minutes ago. It didn't ask for a password. That's because it's not password protected. Some videos are not password protected, some are. So some will ask, some won't if it's not password protected. Tell Wayne Go Thundercats.

SPEAKER_04 44:20

I've got my new badge. Have you seen my new badge? Oh look at this. What is it? It says it says save the chubby unicorn. It's got a rhino on there. Nice. I I just very quickly I do a gag in my kids' show. I bring out this big I've got the hippity hot rabbits. I've got unicorns. Uh and they're great. One pink, one blue. And I bring them out and I do this gag and I go, Who can guess my daughter's favourite animal? And they'll go, unicorn, and they go, that's right, a rhino. And then they all start shouting at me. And I go, right, let's have a look at it. How many legs does that have? Four. How many legs does a rhino have? Four. How many heads has it got? One. One. How many horns has it got? One. Where's the horn on the head? It's a it's a rhino. Um, and then I was talking to somebody and they sent me a link. So I I have a I've a I love the rhino, I think it's great. So I saw this say chubby unicorn. I thought I've got to get that. Um, but someone sent me a link after a kid show, and it's hilarious. Did do you know, do you know where the unicorn comes from? No. This is not a joke at all. You can look it up. There was an animal that went extinct about 200,000 years ago, um, or maybe not even that long ago, um, called I think it was the Yugoslavian unicorn. It's a real animal, and it's part of the rhino family, and it's uh it's quite a big misshaped, it's halfway between a horse and a rhino. It's very odd-shaped, and the horn that it's got on its head is like a rhino's horn, not like a unicorn's horn. But it really exists. You can look it up, and it's called the Yugoslav, I think it's a Yugoslavian unicorn, it's a rhino. So I've been doing this gag for years about unicorns and rhinos. Little known I know, it's not a gag, it's actually true.

SPEAKER_07 46:17

I'm gonna look it up because I I don't believe you.

SPEAKER_04 46:21

Have a look, I'm gonna look it up now. I'll show it to you. You look it up. I do not believe you. It's uh it's a real animal. Um Yugoslavian unicorn. Well my battery's dying on my uh on my phone. Oh okay. This one this one is uh bit different from the picture that I saw. But there we go. Oh shit, it's a rhino. But it's not because rhinos rhinos are indigenous to Africa, and this is Yugoslavia. Well, it's uh Yugoslavian rhino. It was called the Yugoslavian unicorn, and the horn in it is huge.

SPEAKER_07 47:09

Well, on that mythical bombs bombshell, let's um let's talk about what's happening on the 27th of April.

SPEAKER_04 47:24

Now I believe because I've got this and I believe this is gonna be huge. I mean beyond huge because of what it is, and yeah.

SPEAKER_07 47:39

Well, shall we play the little launch teaser? Is that the one we're then talking about, huh? Yeah, it's a little bit of talking.

SPEAKER_05 47:49

Yeah. Can I press the button? Yeah. Hi, I'm Simon Lipkin, and this is the castle one. How the f is it's over? How have you done that?

SPEAKER_06 48:11

Alright. We've done it again. You bamboozled us.

SPEAKER_05 48:19

There have been some incredible magic wallets released over the years, and let's be honest, we've all got a problem. We're obsessed with them. Let's feed the obsession, because this is the castle.

SPEAKER_07 48:48

So the live launch. Now we had that at Blackpool, sold out at Blackpool. Um it's the first 1914 product powered by Alakazam. So it's our first official 1914 release, and it is great. It's Harry's sort of go-to dem in the shop. You can if you visit Alakazam, you can pick one up. Um and I love seeing him dem it because there's a moment at the end that makes them go uh what? The the moment at the end it just their jaws just drop. So in essence, it's a peak, but there is another part to it that takes it to a whole new level, and that's what fried everyone at Blackpool.

SPEAKER_04 50:03

The peak is great, the peak is superb, but the other so easy and so natural, it's it's yeah, it it it's fast becoming my favourite peak wallet. Yeah, and I've used the stealth how long has the stealth how long has the stealth been out for 20 years, 22 years? Yeah, so I've had that, I've had my stealth pretty much that long till I got the crazy horse one, and I love it. The stealth for me won't be replaced by anything, and it has its place, but I carried the castle on me all the time, and it's just so beautiful.

SPEAKER_07 50:44

Yeah, it's a it's a different thing, it's a different style of wallet, it's solid, you know, it can be shown all the way around. Um and what you peak is sandwiched between credit cards in your wallet. It it's so nice, but it's more than a peak. So join us on the 27th to learn more about it.

SPEAKER_04 51:12

Um boxing.

SPEAKER_07 51:17

I think we will. We'll show what it is. Um, I may even get Harry to uh perform it live to someone that's watching. Um I mean the the maybe not the peak bit, but the other bit. Honestly, it's uh it's phenomenal. It it really is it's good. It's a beautiful bit of kit. Um and this isn't sales talk. What I'm gonna say now is we do not have a huge amount because when this was Simon Litkin first showed me and Harry this, me, Harry, and Jamie, uh Blackpool two years ago, and I instantly said, I'd I'd love to to release this for you, and he said, uh I've already done a deal with the 1914. Um and when we purchased the 1914 as a company, this was all already at the final stages of manufacture. There was one thing that we stepped in and changed. Um we didn't change anything, we upgraded something. Um and but apart from that, this was already in the process, and also a deal had already been done with Murphy's through the 1914, so we had to honor that sort of deal with this product because it was all already too far down the line. Um so that means we're not left with a lot of units. I think we've only got 250 units, um, and I think they're gonna sell very, very fast. I honestly think they're gonna sell really fast, and it's gonna take two months to manufacture more. Because the the other thing about this, and we will talk about it more on the 27th. I don't want to go over it too much now, but this whole thing has been built from the ground up. This isn't an adapted off-the-shelf thing, this is bigger than a standard wallet because it it will hold a credit card. The standard ones won't, the credit card's too wide, it will hold a 1914 billet at a standard one. Um, so it is a custom designed and built utility item for the for the mentalist. Very, very good, and especially for the modern mentalist as well, because it's a very modern looking wallet. Um but we will tell you more on the 27th, so make sure you join us for that. Um so let's have a look what else is happening on the chat. Um Darren Bain, is suspects being released this month? No, it's not. I think suspects is next month, I believe. Um, there you go. I was at the Alexand two or three years ago when Simon showed Pete this. It's great. Yeah. So that's how long it's actually been in the works to to get it manufactured. Um and I smoke that's quite interesting.

SPEAKER_04 55:00

Oh, sorry, gone. No, no, gone. I was gonna say that that's kind of interesting in the for people to know that that when when a trick is being produced, uh whether it's like even just me here doing my own thing or anakazam or any of the big managers, when when you take a trick to be produced, it's not just gone, okay, that's great, let's make this, and then a month later it comes out, or five months later, it can take two, three, or four or more years for it to go from from the concept to the you know release. It's a long process. You have to go through prototypes and make refinements, then do prototypes again, and then finally you get the finished products, and then you have to do all the filming and get the instructions done and the routining and the presentation, and it's a really really long process. So, I mean, two to three years, especially something like what they've got there, that that's quite quick for something like that.

SPEAKER_07 55:53

That's that's really quite fast to create a wallet that standard, uh, especially with this, because it's not you know, if if it's a deck of cards, you know, it's a specially printed deck. I've got the artwork, it's gonna take me a month to get it printed, two months max, you know. Something like this. First of all, you've got to find a manufacturer that's gonna be willing to take it on. That's that's the thing. You've got to find a manufacturer that's not only willing but capable of taking it on, um and and making it, and I think that was the issue with this as well. First of all, it took Dee and Jack from the 1914 a long time to find someone that could actually make this, um, and then even though they can make it, doesn't mean they'll be willing to. It's like the um uh iStretch, Craig Petty. Yeah it took us a year to find someone that could make it properly. They made the first thousand and then they said we we're not making anymore. It's too it's too hard. Um that's why iStretch is no longer available. If there's a copy in the shop, there's like one or two copies and that's it. But that won't be rerun again because it it they just refused to make it because there's a lot of work for a relatively small number, you know. Magic when it comes to manufacturing, magic is a small number, you know. We think oh we'll get a thousand, that's huge. That's nothing in in manufacturing terms. They want to do, you know, ten thousand, twenty thousand. Once the machines are running and everything else, they they want to do all these things, otherwise the the cost of everything is up there, and there's also a lot of manual work in uh magic products. One of the hardest things we've ever dealt with is pissed. Another one of Simon Lippkins, he comes out with his stuff, and it's great. We buy the rights, and it's like, oh, how are we gonna get it made? The idea's great, but how are you gonna do it? Well, another another one like that was hard stretch, yeah. Yeah, something so simple, you you would presume something so simple, yet it it was so hard to to actually get done.

SPEAKER_04 58:49

Yeah, yeah. When we when we finally got happened, it happened quite quickly, but it was getting to that point of finding things to do it.

SPEAKER_07 58:58

Yeah, well, this um the manufacturer of the castle wallet, I spoke to him three weeks ago and said, Look, you know, we're not gonna have many units for launch. It looks like we're gonna have to rerun and rerun pretty quickly. Um and he said, Well, he said, your your numbers have to be there, and it's gonna take two months because there's a lot of manual labour in these, like screwing the things together, it's all done by hand, you know, and and stuff like that. So, yeah, join us on the 27th. You'll be able to see what it is. We'll give you an unboxing, we'll show you what it is, um, and it comes with as always with the 1914, comes with a fantastic video where uh Simon shares uh a lot of routine ideas, and there's also a bonus video with Louis Laval as well, and he teaches you his handling. Um curious tease. Don't know what that means.

SPEAKER_04 1:00:15

Uh we are coming up on three o'clock, Peter.

SPEAKER_07 1:00:22

Uh we are, yes, so we're gonna have to start wrapping up. So um yeah, let's do it. Let's wrap up. So, guys and girls, uh wherever you're watching from in the world, thank you so much for joining us. Um it really means the world that you join us on our little podcast. Um if you're listening to this. Is there anything else coming up this week? Uh this week, no. Apart from the fact I'm going to see Paddington. Oh. Is it not is it not a review show this week?

SPEAKER_04 1:01:02

Um, I don't know why it keeps going forward.

SPEAKER_07 1:01:05

No, oh, yeah, there'll be a review show Sunday. There's all the standard, you know, YouTube things, there's an act going up. Um, probably a making a magician. Um, in fact, I don't know if it was last week or whether it's gonna be this week or next week, but there's sort of a bit of a compilation of making a magician. Uh, so you're gonna see Emilio, making a magician if you don't know it, Emilio, my great nephew and godson, who now heads up Print by Magic. Um he's not a magician, but we've been teaching him magic, he's becoming a magician, and making a magician is following his progress. So Jamie thought it would be a great idea to do a sort of um sort of collage of some of his routines from the beginning to where he is now, so you can see how he's improved as well. And the other thing was while he was in India recently, he did put on a 10-minute show for lay people, like a little close-up show, and we've got some footage of that. So um, you know, that's him out there performing to lay people, um, yeah. So it's great. So that will be on there, the actors on there, the review show should be going on there. Um, yeah. It's gonna be it's gonna be good. If you haven't already subscribed to our YouTube channel, please go over and do so. We put up videos every single day.

unknown 1:02:41

Nice.

SPEAKER_07 1:02:42

Anything happening with you, Mr. G?

SPEAKER_04 1:02:44

Uh well, just that tickets are on sale for the Shindig. I know it's a little way away, but they are gonna sell. So if you want to book your hotel, etc., go over to wgmagicshop.com and all the details are on the product page, which is on the home page for the Shindig. And yesterday I launched a new trick. Yes, you did. I did wholehearted. So you can go over there and check that out. There isn't a trader for it. Um, hopefully, there will be either today or tomorrow. So we're gonna get a trader filmed, it'll just be me to camera, I'm gonna perform it here. Um, hopefully that will go up either today or tomorrow. Um, and you can see it in action. It's a really nice little routine. Um, it's been my go-to for weddings. I love doing it at weddings for the bride and the groom, it's got a bit of a love theme to it. Um, and yeah, really cool. So, yeah, check that out. And they're handmade, so there is again not a sales pitch, but there isn't a lot of stock. I will be regularly adding more, but when they go, it will be away until the next ones are made. They each each one takes about half an hour to make, so I have to and I have to do it one at a time. I can't do it in like a production line, so yeah. Brilliant.

SPEAKER_07 1:03:54

Okay, so make sure you go check them out. And if you haven't picked up what's up, thank you for the shame. Thank you for the shameless plug. Oh, you are welcome. And uh, if you haven't picked up one already, go grab yourself one card in my pocket because it is awesome. Right, so that's it for this week's live podcast. We will see you again next Tuesday. Uh, but we will see you, the Alexam team will see you on YouTube. Um, and if you haven't already downloaded the Alexam app off the App Store or Google Play, go and do that as well. Because we do have little lives happening on the app as well, where we usually have some exclusive pre-releases and stuff like that going on. Um, I tell you what, um, we've got our friend joining us, the amazing David from Magic Orthodoxy. Make sure you check out his review channel. Uh, David, if you are on Facebook, shoot me a message. I want to have a quick chat with you on Messenger. So uh shoot me a message. But anyway, that's it for us on this live podcast. We will see you next Tuesday, where I will probably be back in the studio. I'm at home today, so I'm a bit sniffly. Sniffly.

unknown 1:05:18

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 1:05:18

Like the cat thundercat. There's one there that's a bit sniffly. I can't remember the thing is, but right.

SPEAKER_07 1:05:26

Okay, we're off. See you soon. See you next week, guys. Bye for now. See you later.

SPEAKER_01 1:05:32

The news is out. The 1914 has found a new home. We are proud to announce that Alakazam Magic are now the proud custodians of the 1914. What does this mean for you? Simply put, everything you love stays exactly where it belongs. The aesthetic, the quality, the philosophy. The website remains unchanged. Your instructions More content is safe. The classics that defined the 1914 will be restocked and made available once again. And with our industry leading infrastructure and customer service behind the scenes, the future is stronger than ever. But this isn't just about preservation. Work has already begun on a series of new 1914 releases. Projects that have been quietly evolving for years and are finally ready to see the light of day. This is the next chapter. Built on respect for the past, driven by belief in the future. Thank you for your continued support. Thank you for coming along with us on this journey. We are the new 1914.