Hey guys,

A couple of weeks ago I passed the 4500 subscribers mark at youtube and today youtube wants me to tell my followers to subscribe again!

Why?

The subscription system delivers videos from content creators to eager viewers and has become such an essential part of YouTube that that “subscribe” button is clicked over 1 million times every day. That’s a lot — which is why we’re especially focused on improving the reliability, usefulness and transparency of subscriptions.

If you subscribed to .thecuso on youtube before September and want to receive my bulletins, simply visit my channel, click the “Edit subscription” link, and choose “Subscribe to all videos uploaded, rated, favorited, and commented on.”

If you trust my taste and like the selection of videos I blog here you might want to activate this on youtube as well.

If you want to upgrade your subscription go now to http://youtube.com/thecuso and follow the easy steps on the photo, it will only take you 7 seconds.

I promise to bring you more awesome stuff on my youtube channel this year, includding some cardistry tutorials and exclusive videos that you will love and learn from. To all my subscribers…

Thank you,

-Alejandro Portela

.thecuso

Source | Youtube Blog

We’ve just hit the deadline so the contest is over. It’s a shame that so many of you couldn’t make it to the “list” even though the rules weren’t that hard…

My goal with this little competition was to encourage you to be more active in the blog comments by giving you a visual “identity” that you can use not only here but in many other blogs all over the internet.

If you’ve been subscribed for a while then you know how much I like videos where people show their faces or incorporate their personality somehow into their performances. I’m one of those that think card flourishing is more than cards and hands, and that’s what i want to see here in my blog.

Here is the list of participants, in order of posting, that qualified for the great prize (yet to be chosen by the winner) sponsored by Jason Brumbalow and his crew.

Ben
John
-Mike-
Ehsawn
Håvard
Vannagh
dimitri
Joe Bennett
Justin
C3rb3rus (Abe)
SGP17
Dris (Vincent Chu)
Sean
Frezzingaces
Jamal
Niall
hansheng
Milligan618
shad312
Lawrence093
Litodus
dasuprememep
DrfHono
DrfHono
Cam L
Matt H
Tarvi
Chotu90
Nebelfuchs
Nebelfuchs
RC
Slpk360
htvargas
Chin-may29
Chin-may29
cHriSTiAN
TuTanKaMeeN
TuTanKaMeeN
danilotitato
jasonffx
jasonffx
Chriz0r
Jowee
Enigmagico
sohfresh
Jaems
wongster88
Mathematician2
shimon
Billy
R12
Mike D
Lucifuge
guikatinskas
Laha
Flavio Amurrio-Moya
Flavio Amurrio-Moya
Leonel
ramonfrolik
Tristan Buckley
Daniel
vietispimp
Pakuni
Jeff
Luke
heavenbinder
heavenbinder
wZEngima
Gytis Siskauskas
Gytis Siskauskas
Zejams
Garry
Omiga
illuzyonist
JaguarJameson
JaguarJameson
Styler
ant
Thijs
Thijs
Gene
Cardsharkrefah
Cardsharkrefah
ian
Skruch
Luka Malensek
Johnohue
shadowlion63
KoSpades
Oskiper
Tony V
Andre
jjbuczynski
williamcote
McCookSax
kong
kennyworks
Gruenebach
Cole Stanford

As you can see only the people with a gravatar are on the list, and only those that submited a link to a video have two entries.
I’m now proceeding to input this list into http://random.org/lists/ to see who comes on top.

Good luck.

…
…
…

And the winner is…

There were 99 items in your list. Here they are in random order:

1. Luka Malensek
2. DrfHono
3. Vannagh
4. Frezzingaces
5. Daniel
6. Luke
7. Flavio Amurrio-Moya
8. Chin-may29
9. Lucifuge
10. Gruenebach
11. kennyworks
12. hansheng
13. htvargas
14. Gytis Siskauskas
15. williamcote
16. Tony V
17. C3rb3rus (Abe)
18. sohfresh
19. TuTanKaMeeN
20. Andre
21. KoSpades
22. shimon
23. Cole Stanford
24. dasuprememep
25. Skruch
26. Thijs
27. jjbuczynski
28. Nebelfuchs
29. Oskiper
30. Ben
31. shad312
32. ramonfrolik
33. heavenbinder
34. ant
35. R12
36. heavenbinder
37. Flavio Amurrio-Moya
38. Thijs
39. Nebelfuchs
40. -Mike-
41. Sean
42. Matt H
43. Dris (Vincent Chu)
44. Litodus
45. Gytis Siskauskas
46. Tristan Buckley
47. Slpk360
48. ian
49. Jowee
50. Håvard
51. Chin-may29
52. Chotu90
53. wZEngima
54. Enigmagico
55. Cam L
56. wongster88
57. Jamal
58. Cardsharkrefah
59. dimitri
60. Jaems
61. Zejams
62. illuzyonist
63. Pakuni
64. Leonel
65. Tarvi
66. Omiga
67. Milligan618
68. Justin
69. jasonffx
70. JaguarJameson
71. Johnohue
72. Jeff
73. vietispimp
74. Garry
75. JaguarJameson
76. Mathematician2
77. guikatinskas
78. Lawrence093
79. kong
80. Mike D
81. Styler
82. Joe Bennett
83. John
84. Niall
85. SGP17
86. Laha
87. McCookSax
88. Cardsharkrefah
89. RC
90. shadowlion63
91. Gene
92. TuTanKaMeeN
93. cHriSTiAN
94. danilotitato
95. Billy
96. jasonffx
97. Ehsawn
98. DrfHono
99. Chriz0r

Timestamp: 2009-08-10 11:32:41 UTC

Congratulations Luka Malensek and thanks to everyone that participated. I wish you best luck in the upcoming competitions (will be soon so don’t run away boys!).

Six Bicycle Ghost decks flying to Luka’s today!

1. Luka Malensek Says:
   July 31st, 2009 at 11:16 pm editBicycle Ghost deck….the best one ever…

Thanks again,

-Alejandro

AnacondaDribble

Hey guys,

Something really BIG is coming really, and I mean REALLY, soon.

Tell your friends, if you care about them, to subscribe to .thecuso via rss feed, email, twitter or even facebook.

You guys don’t want to miss this thing, trust me.

I can’t say much for now so in the meantime you can check the lastest CCC videos, the cardist interviews or enter my Summer Giveaway contest where you can win a bunch of your favourite decks of cards.

Stay tuned.

Oh, by the way, this message is hidden in the main blog, if you are reading this is because you are subscribed via one or more of the above mentioned methods.

Thanks for keeping the art alive,

-Alejandro Portela

It’s been a while since i got a twitter account, you read a couple of posts about twitter in the past but now i thought i should write about it once again. The first months i found it to be a bit boring so i mainly used it to send free sms text messages to my friends. Then twitter restricted the sms service to the US only so i stopped using it for a while. But now Twitter has become the Next Big Thing among the card guys. Almost everyone has already got an account and is having fun with it. Are you going to miss it? I’ve heard that sometimes people post tweets with links to exclusive videos you won’t be able to find elsewhere. You can use Twitter to tell your followers what are you doing , where have you been, how many drinks you had last night, when will your Vegas finish rendering your next video, what tv series are you watching, what flourish are you practicing, post interesting links to weird stuff, cheap card auctions …I’m going to make a list of the card guys i’m following that you might be interested in.

Want to join us? Get started at www.Twitter.com and start following us! If i’m missing someone please leave a comment and i’ll add you to the table

Dan and Dave Buck have been added to the Blackpool Magic Convention 2009 line up.

Dan and Dave have been at the forefront of their craft since they were only fourteen years old. They have helped mold a new genre of card magic, a style visually rich and direct.

When they were only 17 years old they performed alongside Guy Hollingworh, Paul Gertner, Chad Long and Bill Malone at the first MAGIC Live convention in Las Vegas, and were the only performers to receive a standing ovation.

Now they will head to Blackpool in February for the Blackpool Magic Convention which takes place 20th 21st and 22nd February 2009.

Want to know who else is going? Check out MagicConventionGuide.com

Thanks to Andrew Webb

As you can see I’ve been messing around with the design of the site, it’s almost 6am and i should go to get some sleep now.

I’m not sure if this is going to be the one I will keep but i would like to hear your opinions anyway.

Making a thumbnail for every post is a bloody tough job considering there are like 700 published so it would take me a while.

The design looks clear and easy to navigate, i have to do a lot of tweaks to it but I think it can be decent.

Please tell me what to include and if you prefer the old one better but please don’t refer to the logo or minor bugs, they will be fixed as soon as I can.

I’ll keep working tomorrow.

Thanks for reading guys,

Alejandro

Short video of Dan and Dave’s lecture at the Double Fond in Paris. 16 17 18 March 2008.

The reason why Pierre Tran didn’t post any videos lately. If you don’t know who this guy is check out his interview here: TheCuso interviews Pierre Tran

Some of the old-timers of cardistry would have remembered the above-posted commercial when it appeared towards the end of 2006 and that it caused some rave reactions.

For the benefits of the new guys, Cingular BlackJack was the first ever (If my memory served me right) TV commercial that incorporated card-flourishing maneuvers.

It really amazed the flourishers (yes, that’s us) that the commercial creators got inspired by past flourishing videos like Jam Time and Trenchcoat Flourishes. It is said that the animator used the 2 videos as reference for the actual modeling of the animation.

Looks like the art of cardistry is exerting some influence on the media slowly, but surely.

PS. How funny that I categorize this under “News” but this information is already 2 years old.

Very nice flourish Bao, i put this on my things-to-learn list.
Congrats.

I’ve just installed a new WordPress plugin that allows users to rate the posts, displays the total number of votes and the average rating for each one.

WP-PostRatings will hopefuly help me to select the topics or videos you like more and will be a great tool for upcoming competitions and contests.

Now it’s time to dive in the archives and start rating the good old posts, i will blog the top rated ones every once in a while so now it’s your chance to exhume the best videos, articles and interviews.

Do you want to be featured again in the front page? Tell your friends to rate your videos.

What do you think about this? Leave a comment and click any number of stars.

-Alejandro

As stated in www.PlayingCardCollectors.com.

Some people thought they would never be reprinted again but Michael claims that he somehow managed to get a small lot of them in black color from the USPCC. Isn’t this against any copyright law?

I’m not sure if the stock and finish is the same as the original but i doubt it, though they seem to fan pretty much like the original ones…

As he said they’ll be sold at eBay in plastic boxes.

Thanks to Michael Herp for this video and for making the reprint possible.

1st Place

Variety by Hyo

2nd Place

NaffStyle by Brendan Conner

3rd Place

Volatile by Damien Lee

Here are the prizes again:

Winner:

* 12 of David Blaine’s Split Spades ‘Lions‘ of your colour choice (Or mixed)
* 1 DVD Copy of ‘Control‘ by Wayne Houchin
* 6 Brown Wynn Decks
* 1 Wayne Houchin & Daniel Garcia Ultragaff Deck

2nd Prize:

* CoinTwo by Homer Liwag (DVD)

3rd Prize:

* Believe by Joel Paschall (DVD)

Congratulations to all participants from Matt, Tom and Alejandro.

“Today we’re rolling out a big new feature: Vimeo Groups.

So, what’s a group? It’s a way for mini-communities to share videos within Vimeo. Groups makes it easy to get a bunch of contributors together and upload directly into a group, then have conversations entirely contained within that group. You can add forums, share calendars, photos, and even music with members of the group. And, most importantly, we’ve added six really killer themes so you can take customization to a whole new level.

Some of you might have noticed Groups shares a lot of functionality with Channels. The best way to differentiate the two is that Groups is for lots of people to collaborate and contribute and Channels is for individuals to showcase a bunch of videos the way they want. If you think your Channel is better suited as a Group you can convert it to a Group by going to your Channels settings page, but be warned, there is no going back! In the coming months we’ll be building Channels 2.0, which is going to remove some features better suited for Groups (like forums and calendar) and add some Channels-only features, like tools to change the order and display style of videos.”

by Andrew Pile June 17th, 2008

The Cardistry Group

I have created the official CARDISTRY GROUP at Vimeo and i want you guys in. As you have seen, videos at Vimeo look much better in the blog since they are big and “HD ready”. Come join us and share your good quality videos in the group.

-Alejandro Portela

Ladies and gentlemen, im proud to present you my friends Mattgic and Maxim’s long awaited project, a Cardistry dvd and 45 minutes film that will change the way you feel towards flourishing.

-Alejandro Portela

Coming soon at www.TheCuso.info/theCode

Youtube has just released a new feature that could change the way we make tutorials. Here is the info:

Video Annotations are a new way for you to add interactive commentary to your videos! Use them to:

• Add background information about the video.
• Create stories with multiple possibilities (viewers click to choose the next scene)
• Link to related YouTube videos, channels, or search results from within a video
• All of the above!

You control what the annotations say, where they appear on the video, and when they appear and disappear.

How do I get started?

Please visit our Help Center for more information on Video Annotations.

Are there examples?

The Worlds Best Card Magic Teleport Trick by TheCuso with explanation!

What else should I know?

Annotations, once published, are shown by default. You can turn them off while watching a video through the player menu—just click the button on the bottom right of the video player.

Video annotations are available now as a “beta” feature. We’re working hard to get this out of beta and, once we do, annotations will support more languages (not just English) and appear on videos embedded in other websites.

Here are some comparative pictures of the real Jerry’s Nugget cards versus the fake ones.

More info at: www.PlayingCardCollectors.com

The real ones are to the left and the fake ones are always to the right.
You can see some glue sticking out of the cellowrapping and some minor differences in the seal but they are very well replicated so watch out.

I’d like to thank verticaltrig at decknique for his pictures and his comparative video.

Some people reported the case to ebay and paypal and managed to get their money back so if you have bought from jerrysnuggetsfan contact him first or open a dispute at ebay and paypal.

Good luck

The eBay seller jerrynuggetsfan has listed dozens of FAKE jerry’s nugget decks of playing cards. This video is the proof.There are several evidences but you won’t find them in the seller’s feedback page.

This has been originally reported at decknique forums.

If you bougth anything from him please leave your email in the comments section.

The Round Mound of Rebound is on the verge of getting tossed into the slammer according to a ESPN news item… Barkley faces felony if he doesn’t pay back $400K.

Former NBA all-star and current TNT announcer Charles Barkley received four $100K markers from the Wynn during a gambling binge last October. Barkley has refused to pay back his loan.

“We’re in the process of sending Mr. Barkley notice that we’re considering filing a criminal complaint,” Clark County District Attorney David Roger said. “He’ll have an opportunity like anybody else to make restitution to the hotel.”

Barkley has been extremely honest and open about his wild gambling habits although admits that he has never gambled on basketball.

“Do I have a gambling problem? Yeah, I do have a gambling problem,” Barkley said in a 2006 interview with ESPN. “But I don’t consider it a problem because I can afford to gamble.”

Source: LasVegasVegas

Hey guys it’s being a very busy week for me so that’s why you won’t see many updates, probably until weekend. I won’t even be around msn or mebeam so if you want to reach me please send me an email to thecuso@gmail.com.

All of you have seen the numerous spam comments that the blog has been receiving but don’t worry, i think i have found a way to fix the problem, or at least cut them down a bit.

Once again, sorry for the lack of updates and i would really appreciate if you could send me the lastest news to my email so that i could post them under your name, whether they are videos, articles or whatever you think would fit in the blog.

My french friend Mattgic might be posting some news every now and then as well as John Aragi (Aceking) but i would really want you to help us don’t let the blog die.

Thanks for your understanding and support in advance.

 Yours,

Alejandro Portela, aka TheCuso