I’m working on getting you some cool freebies and deals with my BestMagicDeals website. This one I think it’s pretty good…

I’ve been talking to Alex from ExoMagic to give you guys some Massa decks for free since it’s one of the coolest decks they carry on their store.

He told me he’d throw in 6 free decks for everyone who orders at least two of these cardistry dvds, until supplies last.

I got my deck of Massas on Magic Weekend 08 and filmed Valiente with it at David Pedersen’s. These cards are cool for collecting and fans look really awesome.

If you don’t have them or wasn’t sure about where to get them from then now you don’t have any excuses. Go get them, they are free… for a limited time :P

Here is the list of products…

The Trilogy (3 DVD Set) by Dan And Dave Buck
The Trilogy: Andthensome by Dan And Dave Buck
The System by Dan and Dave Buck
Generation Extreme By Brian Tudor
Card Sharp By Brian Tudor
Generation X By Brian Tudor
Cradle to Grave by De’vo
Xtreme Beginnerz by De’vo
Secret Books of De’vo
Xtreme Beginnerz II by De’vo
Cobra Cut Collection by De’vo
Surfaced by Chad Nelson (Clipshift)

Here is what you have to do next

Make sure you add the 6 massa decks and 2 of the above dvds to your cart and use the coupon code “bestmagicdeals” during checkout to get them for free.

I didn’t really plan on making a video this year, as I’ve been extremely busy as a film student and freelance DP the last year. However, as I couldn’t resist grabbing a few shots on my Canon 7D (a stills camera that also has a decent video feature if you’re a talented DP) while I was there. When I decided I would do a video, I also decided to keep it short and sweet, so there’s none of that 10-minute-documentary-thingy I did the previous years. To see exactly what I made, you’ll just have to watch it.

As I didn’t have a lot of footage, I used every last bit of good footage that was to be found on my CF cards when I got home. The video was edited this weekend, and the music selection derived from the flight to the UK. I was listening to MA’s newest album, Heligoland, and I figured “I want to make a video to this song some day”, and I was sold.

Ah well. Thoughts, thoughts, thoughts. Please, do enjoy yourself.

Comments are appreciated as always. Full credits in the video.

-Allan Hagen

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Want to learn how to get more views on YouTube videos?

“It was about time to see a new video make it to the front page of .thecuso”

This video was filmed in January 2010 and marks my 2 years in card flourishing. My flourishing journey is like an epic drama. There are hates, politics, rivalry, sadness, and a lot of joyfulness.

Crank up your speakers!..

-Kaminari

—

Do you want to be the first owner of a Gold Arcane Deck? Check out this post at Best Magic Deals: Win an exclusive deck of gold arcane playing cards

“Last year we were approached by fashion giant Christopher Wicks’ clothing company English Laundry to incorporate our unique style of magic and card flourishes into a fresh new video that would showcase their brand. The end result is spectacular and to our knowledge, something that has never been done both in the fashion and magic industries. The video, directed by Silas Howard and Ben Peyser of Standard Quality, was shot with a Red camera on location at the Global Rebels warehouse. It incorporates a clever special effect that required us to wear green body suites and be filmed performing flourishes against a green screen.”

-Dan and Dave

Here is another promo video shot in downtown Los Angeles by Dan and Dave Buck for English Laundry to display during the 2009 MAGIC show in Las Vegas.

The goal of this project was to create eye-candy that would visually attract attention and create buzz for English Laundry’s new product line without the aid of a mannequin.

Check out the English Laundry playing cards at Dan and Dave

It’s been a while since the last time I blog something about coins instead of cards but there’s a good reason…

First of all, this DVD is only on sale in Japan at the moment but it’s coming to our market later this month.

Ponta the Smith is a magician from Osaka Japan, and in this DVD, he takes you through his handlings of some of the best coin routines around includding: Spellbound, One Coin Routine, Tenkai Pennies, 3 Coins Across, Vanish, 3 Fly, Winged Silver, Matrix, Backfire Matrix, Quick Matrix, Backfire Assembly.

Ponta the Smith has been a highly-sought, underground sensation and his improvements in the coin genre have taken the world by suprise. With Sick, he’s ready to blow up your conceptions of coin magic. Sick is his first DVD, and it is ready to take coin magic to a higher level of performance. Shot in a visual style, Ponta the Smith doesn’t say a word — he walks you through each one of his moves in an easy-to-learn, up-close style.

The reason I’m blogging this is because, man, I want some Morgan Dollars and I want them RAITNAO!

This damn trailer, and the other performance videos from Ponta the Smith at youtube, have made me want to pick up coin magic again.

I’ve read somewhere on a forum, maybe at the magic café, that this guy has done to coin magic what Dan and Dave did to card magic…

I’m not sure it’s the same thing but trust me, David Roth or Troy Hooser among others didn’t get me so motivated. Even though everyone KNOWS (and i’m no exception) that they are the “pros”.

I can’t wait to pick this up as soon as it’s out (this month) but first I need some good ol’ dollars.

Question is, Schoolcraft or Lassen?

-Alejandro Portela

Check it out: Sick by Ponta the Smith

Happy Holidays guys,

Christmas is here and it comes with a nice red sack filled with shiny gifts for you, my loyal and adorable readers.

I’ve been talking to a few friends and companies about sponsoring a unique giveaway with magic products, playing cards and collectors’ items… because I know everyone loves free stuff, am I right? ;)

What first started as a small contest for Black Friday has turned into one of the richest giveaways with contributions from the main companies in the business and big names from card flourishing, magic, hypnosis and mentalism.

You are the ones that make .thecuso and I want to thank you for being there everyday, sharing your videos and ideas and helping others with your tutorials and constructive comments.

Christmas is a good time to give back and reward you for being part of this growing family.

“There are 52 Christmas packets for 52 different winners with an estimate total value of over $1200 in magic gifts.”

Before I explain the rules of the game let’s take a look at the good stuff.

THE PRIZES

1 Pack of Signed 1st Edition Smoke and Mirrors by Dan and Dave’s (one of each).
2x Downloads of your choice from Vanishinginc Magic Store.
2x Decks of Bicycle 125th Aniversary from Aceking
3x Packs of 1 Black and 1 White Arcane Playing Cards.
3x Karnival Assassin decks from trickshopmagic
2x “One-Hand Popover” DVDs from Aaron Fisher
1x “GENESIS” Download from Andrei Jikh
1x “Surfaced” DVD from Chad Nelson
2x Signed Copies of 1st ed. “Inside” from Daniel Madison.
6x Uncut sheets of Bicycle Raiders From MagicNetwork
2x “My night with a stripper” DVDS by Chris “Orbit” Brown
1x “Stain/Shiv” DVD by Andrew Mayne
1x Copy of Hong Wong’s hypnosis DVD “ZAP” from Jay Noblezada
1x Full “Reality is Plastic” Hypnosis Book and DVD set from Anthony Jacquin
1x “Manchurian Approach” Hypnosis DVD set from Anthony Jacquin and Alakazam
1x $200 worth annual subscription to MagicMez
2x Packs of 3 Red/Blue Bicycle Vintage Racer Backs from Eyellusionist
2x Packs of 3 Red/Blue Tally Ho Fan Backs from Eyellusionist
2x Packs of 3 1st edition Bicycle Raiders From MagicNetwork
6x PDF downloads of your choice from Dee Christopher
1x $25 gift certificate to spend on Dan and Dave’s On Demands
1x “Thunderbird” PDF from Lee Asher
3x 1-on-1 Training Videos (of your choosing) from Theory 11
5 “Devious” PDF from Geraint Clarke

How to win

To enter the giveaway, all you have to do is leave a comment below before everyone else.

Yes, that’s all.

The first 20 people that leave a comment will receive a prize from the above list. 100% sure.

The rest of the gifts will be assigned at random from all the comments received before the 25th of December, just make sure you use your personal email when you post the comment so we can contact you if you win.

RULES

In order to participate, you must write a Christmas related comment. It could be a quote, a funny line, something cheerful or simply your best wishes for the holidays. Be creative and original, but please try not to be repetitive.

Want a suggestion? Start writing it down right now and store it somewhere in your computer so when the time comes you can copy-paste it right away. It will save you some precious time.

How will you know when the comments are open?

I highly encourage you to subscribe to the rss feed or email newsletter, friend me on facebook and follow me on twitter.

Especially the last ones… because there, I’m going to announce the official launch in real time and give you some clues and hints prior to the event.

Hey, that’s optional, you can always try the oldschool “refresh page” method muahaha!

How to double your chances of winning

Here is a little trick you can do to double your chances of winning one of the gifts.

With your twitter account follow @BestMagicDeals and retweet the following message:

“@BestMagicDeals RT to Win over $1200 worth of magic, cardistry, poker and hypnosis products. More info at http://bit.ly/santacuso”

Sounds good, right?

Stay tuned and alert, Santa Cuso is watching you…

Good luck,

-Alejandro Portela

—

Looking for good magic coupon codes to save on your orders? Take a look at Best Magic Deals…

My appearance on a talent show in Spain called “Tú Sí Que Vales”. This is just an excerpt but you get the point.

It was my first time on stage and also doing an uncut routine for such a big audience. My stuff is more close up but I did it and they liked it so that’s what matters.

I encourage you guys to step outside of your bedrooms and start doing magic and card flourishes for laymen.

-Alejandro Portela

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Need ideas for christmas? Check out these magic coupon codes and promotions and buy more magic for less.

THIS IS ART

Here is my first solo video, filmed in July 2009.

Perfomed by Dimitri Arleri
Filmed and edited By Aristote Simonini

FunWithAces 2009
—
Christmas is around the corner… You should check out the massive Holiday Giveaway where you can win tons of decks, an ipod touch and $1500 in credit to spend in magic stuff.

I’m just saying…

Here is a nice promotion from the E guys. Could be the best campaign this year… I wonder how T11 is going to respond to this… Anyway thanks BestMagicDeals for the post ;)

Here we go…

The guys at Ellusionist have gone crazy. For these Christmas Holidays they bring us a contest where you can win from a $1500 credit card to spend at their store and a 32gb Ipod Touch loaded with Magic DVDS to hundreds of Arcane decks and even some ultra rare 1st edition Black Ghost Decks, yeah, those you saw at eBay for $500 a couple of months ago.

Here are some of the goodies up for grabs…

-1500 USD to spend at Ellusionist
-32gb 3rd gen Ipod Touch loaded with How to do Street Magic, Revolution, Shapeshifter, Crash Course 1, Crash 2, Ninja 1, Ninja 2, Kard Klub, Inside Magic, King Rising, Hover Card, and a backup DVD of each.
-45 minutes private training session with Brad Christian
-Hundreds of Arcane Playing Cards and Arcane Clips
-Uncut 1st Edition Black Ghost Deck Sheets
-Gaff uncut sheets
-Ultra rare 1st edition Black Ghosts
-Arcane Deck Uncut Sheets
-Ellusionist Street Bag loaded with DVDS
-Thousands of tattoos.

They have put out a special page where they explain how to get all those amazing prizes.

Go check it out now: Ellusionist Holiday Giveaway

Holly shiznit! Check out Brad’s S Fans!!! They are the best I’ve ever seen!!! ¬¬

Let’s start a new section here. I’m going to call it Up and Coming and I’m going to be posting videos of beginners and amateurs that I think might hit hard in the future if they keep up the good work.

I mainly do this to encourage everyone to start being creative from their early days on card flourishing and move away from topics and overused patterns.

I’ll try to post at least once a week to leave you guys enough time to discuss positively the ups and downs of the videos in order to help them, from our experience, to become better flourishers and eventually kick our asses.

I might also consider doing a few unexpected contests every X months to see who is helping the most and even reward your favourite beginners.

The top contributors will get to chose their favourite “Up and Comings” to share the sweet prizes i’ve been stocking up for you all this time in my basement.

How can you help?

Post comments, give some advice, teach them something, retweet the posts, share them on facebook, introduce them to your friends, meet up, do collabs, form a group, get involved.

When I say there will be prizes I’m talking in terms of bricks of cards, maybe DVDs too, you name it. Trust me, you will love to take part in this iniciative.

You know this is not a forum, this is a family!

Start now.

-Alejandro Portela
.thecuso

Photography by Eugene Soh

A new brand of cards illustrated by renowned artist Si Scott in association with Dan & Dave. Engineered with the highest quality stock and finish available and manufactured with the US Playing Card Companies latest printing technology.

From the intricacy of the design to the feel, finish, and quality, Smoke & Mirrors is a case study in attention to detail. The feel and finish is flawless – printed on premium Aristocrat quality stock. The result is an artistic expression of royalty: a true luxury deck.

Official preview video for GENESIS v1 by Andrei Jikh, available October 31st at 11:00pm EST exclusively at theory11.

Over 3.5 hours of cardistry training jam packed into one disc – this is only the beginning. Welcome to GENESIS Volume 1.

I’m teaching a variaton of my Blanco Cut that uses some Andrei’s mojo, the BLANCO ONE.

Enjoy,

Alejandro Portela
.thecuso

It was a lot of fun here in Vigo, I took them to the best beach in the world at Cíes Islands and we filmed some spicy card flourishing.

Almost every move here is original so have fun with the frame-by-frame game.

Enjoy!

Alejandro Portela, Dimitri Arleri and Sebastian Skowron.

—

Interested in cheap magic?

He’s back! I hope you like it!

This was a little something we filmed a couple of days ago. Due to me being busy with studies and other film work, and Chris being busy with work and other business in general, I had not seen him since February at the Blackpool Convention, despite the fact that we still live very close to each other. It was great meeting up again, and we took my P2 + Letus rig for a spin and came up with the following little video. I hope you appreciate it!

For some photos from the production which were originally posted from my Twitter account, check this link:
http://allanhagen.com/chris_new/

best,
Allan Hagen

Need new decks? Magic arsenal? What do you think about this super deals?

Ryoma is here to show us the entrance to the portal that will take us from the two-dimensional cardistry world to the new 3D universe.

Don’t worry, you won’t need some weird glasses to enjoy this.

I’m glad to say the sliders video is finally done !

Now you can enjoy a smooth transitionning from recasting to shapeshifting or vice versa.
The concept can also be used on a single move to provide an eye-pleasing 2 handed structure formation.
As its basic applications are fairly simple, I really hope a lot of you will give it a try.

-Ryoma

—

A new epic deck is coming… Are you ready for all the hype?

“No fancy editing, no special effects.. just me and my own card flourishes.”

-Sebastian Skowron.

Check out that “tree snake” to the back of the hand! It looks like a damn huge old-school Anaconda!

If you were up last night or checking twitter from your phone then you already know about Bone Ho’s evil plans for taking over the world.

I sent a message to my subscribers a few hours ago with an invitation to the Anaconda Dribble event which is taking place for two weeks before the official release of the long awaited DVD.

In this time they, Bone Ho and The Virts, are going to release some nice appetizers like pdfs, videos and contests to hype you up a little bit.

I’m not sure how this will turn out but since it sounds so optimistic I’ve put my email in their mailing list and got the first pdf called “Death to the noobs” written by Huron Low.

After these two weeks the window for buying the DVD will be open for 7 days and then it’s over so grab a seat while you have time and enjoy the ride.

Oh, did you know the production cost of this DVD was over $72000? I’ve seen some shots and it looks amazing.

Head over to www.AnacondaDribble.com and discover it for yourself.

-Alejandro Portela

This is probably one of the most awaited videos for the Cardistry Collaboration Contest 2009 because of the underground nature of the team members.

Brendan Conner, Luka Kastelic (de_lux) and Spencer Clark are probably (if you are able to tell them apart) some of the most creative minds there are right now in the cardistry world.

Although the video editing could have been much better in my opinion, the quality and variety of the flourishes were incredible.

Look at the creativity put into those fans and spins!

Too bad they couldn’t make it to the contest because this could have been a clear winner.

“Due to technical difficulties we couldn’t submit it on time.”

Five stars, favourited and saved to my hard drive ;)

Good job guys.

-Alejandro

All right guys! Finally, it’s here.

First, a little credits correction. The artist “Mogwai” is mistakenly credited where “Explosions in the Sky” should have been. Don’t get me wrong, they’re both fantastic bands – but somehwere during the editing process the actual track used must have been confused with something else…

It’s been one hell of a ride – and by that, I mean it’s been both hell editing this, but it’s also been great times!
I didn’t actually watch it in all of its entirety until I had completely finished it and prepared it for upload, so I was probably just as excited to watch it as you guys!

Well. With that being said, I apologise for the amount of time spent editing such a ’simple’ video as some of you may think – but any of you out there who have tried editing something from what you consider to be ‘insufficient and bad’ footage knows what I’m talking about. I do however think I made the very best of it, and I’m honestly really pleased with the outcome.

Well.. enjoy guys.
I’ll be starting to work on something really interesting really soon.. Until then, thanks for watching, and good-bye!

You can always reach me, somehow – for information on how to get in touch with me etc, check out my website,
allanhagen.com.

Allan Hagen
—
This cards will make your flourishes look delicious, Click Here!

“What Gambit should have been.”

“We’ve all watched X-Men Origins: Wolverine… where Gambit makes a cameo of sorts. Whilst Taylor Kitsch was awesome as gambit, his role wasn’t quite the kickass card dude in the cartoons and comics. I mean he barely used his signature playing cards!

With that…here’s our little take on Gambit after watching the movie… well… if he did card flourishes.

Credits:

X-Men Origins: Wolverine

Footage from www.xmenorigins.com

Directed by Gavin Hood

Taylor Kitsch as Gambit

Virtuoso: Gambit

Directed by Huron Low

Edited by Daren Yeow and Huron Low

Filming and Cinematography by Huron Low and Daren Yeow

Card Flourishes created by Huron Low, Daren Yeow, Bone Ho, Dan and Dave Buck, S W Erdnase

Card Flourishes performed by Huron Low and Daren Yeow

Title Track “Gambit”

Composed, recorded, scored and mixed by Roland Lim

Special Thanks to Zarinah Bahtiar, Kevin Ho, and Bone Ho

Check out Bone Ho’s AnacondaDribble DVD

Ahola all card netizens!

On the 26th April 2009, Jaspas Deck organised an informal card flourish battle-styled competition at the Esplanade Underground, of which me (Jaspas smooth-talked me in. =\), Leon, Kenneth Aidan (or more commonly known as Kafoosh) and Dave participated. The turnout for the event was amazingly well, amassing to over a dozen card handlers. It was certainly one of the largest card gathering I personally have witnessed in, arguably, years! Without a doubt, this generated a warm and fuzzy feeling within me. The competition itself was a fun one, and it was a humbling and enriching experience for me to flourish live once again.

You can read more about the compeition from this blog which Jaspas spearheaded.

Let’s jog back in time for a bit, shall we?

Earlier this year, Bone Ho returned back to Singapore for a short trip, and being us – Singaporeans who must have a mandatory card session every week, exploited this chance and met up with the man who spawned the whole flourish legacy in Singapore. Unexpectedly, Bone who usually dons a serious performer appearance is a complete different persona in real life, as you can see from his amazing rendition of the Snap Change from this video.

I should shut up.

Enjoy the video!

-Ling

—

Save on Ghost and Viper playing cards buying them here!