Sunday 30 December 2012

Tony Chang Vists Browser's

Hi There,

Tony ChangJeff Pinsky here.

Well with only a couple of days before 2013 enters the calendar we had a wonderful visit by New York sensational card magician TONY CHANG at Browser's Den yesterday afternoon!

A big thank you to Ben Train for making this all happen. About 25 people showed up to the shop which was nice to see with such short notice.

Tony Chang did some superlative card magic. And he is one very amusing fellow; a great sense of comedy.  His moves/sleights are all done in a slow unhurried manner. As a result his material looks like magic!

Tony Chang at the Den
Tony performs his magic for guests at the Den
What was nice to see about an hour before Tony arrived with Ben were some of our past Len Cooper Memorial Award winners hanging out at the shop card table including: Nik Vucichivich, Shane Cobalt, Mark Chan, Mahdi Gilbert.   I should point out that Ben Train is a past recipient too.

Tony did a lot of magic and then many of those who attended left the shop at around 5:30pm to meet up with Lee Asher at a restaurant in downtown Toronto.

A fun afternoon for all.

Wishing you all a very Happy and Healthy 2013!!!

Yours, Jeff

Sunday 23 December 2012

Goshman & Carson & Cooper

December 23, 2012

Jeff Pinsky here.
Some of you may wonder what in the world is the connection between Albert Goshman, Johnny Carson and the founder of the Browser's Den, Len Cooper.

Len and Bernice Cooper started a family once they got married. And as many find out, the irregular income of a professional entertainer often does not mesh very well with having three growing children to take care of.

So Len gave up his comedy magic act. And for 20 years he owned and operated a record shop in New York.
At the end the record shop was no longer a going concern and he shut it down.
For a short while Len really did not know what to do next. He was selling records wholesale but it was not generating enough steady income.

One evening Len was watching the Tonight Show with Johnny Carson.
At the opening of the show it was announced that one of the performers on the show that night would be Albert Goshman.

As young kids Len and Albert had belonged to the same magic club operated by Shari Lewis father. At that time Albert was no better than any of the other kids.

During Len's time away from magic his old childhood friend Albert had become one of the premier close-up magicians in the world.

Goshman gave a sterling performance that night on the Carson show.
For the first time in over twenty years Len got thinking about magic again. All because of Goshman's wonderful performance on the Tonight Show.

And within a short period of time back in 1975 opened up Browser's Den of Magic in Toronto.

Until Next Time.
And Merry Christmas,
Jeff.

Sunday 16 December 2012

Adam Smith's Invisible Hand

December 16, 2012

It may be a cliche of some sort but as we closely approach the holiday season it is time for all of us to try and pause from the hectic pace of life and be thankful for what we have rather than what we have not.

Sure we humans are always striving for better times. But we too often are fixated on noticing and perhaps being envious of what others have. So many of us have so much relative to so many others and most assuredly relative to much of the rest of the world.

And as it has been said millions of times before, if we do not have our health then we truly have nothing.

As for me I am very fortunate and blessed to have so many wonderful people in my life.
And though the brick and mortar magic shops are facing a tough road ahead it is important that all magic shopkeepers step back and realize that other retail and non-retail industries are facing a tough/challenging road ahead too as the Internet will continue to change the landscape of interaction between all humans and private and non-private industry.

Adam Smith's Invisible Hand has never been so omnipotent.

In fact Smith's Invisible Hand may be best sleight of hand concept of all time; you don't really see it but it is there working most of the time very well.

Until Next Time,
Jeff Pinsky




Wednesday 12 December 2012

Lunch with Bernice Cooper

December 12, 2012

Hi There,

Jeff Pinsky here.
I hope that everyone realizes that writing about my life in shop or out but especially outside of the shop is not, has never been and never really will be a comfortable/natural thing for me.
However, this is a new world I am in and so I write the Blog.

I took Bernice Cooper out for lunch this past Monday. We were together for about 2 and a half hours. Getting together with her for lunch was well overdue. But with only one day off each week it is a bit tough for me.

Bernice for those of you who are new to Browser's Den of Magic is the wife of the late Len Cooper and co-founder of our shop.
I bought the shop from Len and Bernice back in November 1995.

Bernice ordered a nice omellete and I had a grilled vegetable sandwich. We each had a bowl of soup and coffee.

The restaurant was near Yonge & Steeles.  I had not been at that restaurant in about seven years. The last time I was there I had lunch with my father and my uncle from Montreal.

During lunch Bernice and I talked about the good and sometimes not so good old times.
At 79 years of age her mobility is not great but it was certainly great to have lunch with such a classy woman.

Bernice told me that she really enjoyed coming to the shop during last November's Shop Anniversary Party.  At the party she was glad to see old customers and meet plenty of new ones. Bernice was especially pleased to see and talk with Lisa at the party.

And on that note...Lisa has been a FANTASTIC addition to the shop. We miss Jeff Hinchliffe for certain. But Lisa has helped out so much in so many ways. She has made a big impact on the shop in a very short period of time.

I should also publicly thank Mark Lewis for suggesting Lisa as an addition to our small team. So...thank you Mark.


Bye for now,
Jeff

Sunday 9 December 2012

Hat & Rabbit Club Visit

Hi There,
Jeff demonstrates to Ring 17 members.

Browser's Den is very blessed to have the support of the Sid Lorraine Hat & Rabbit Club, Ring 17.

Last Thursday, December 6th the club and many of its active members visited our shop. The meeting began at about 7:00pm and ended at about 9:00pm. But many members stayed at the shop until 10:30pm.

The club holds one of their meetings at our shop every two years. For many though this was their first time at our new 3220 Dufferin location.  We had many nice comments about the new shop.

Great to see members in no particular order: Andrew Goss, John McLachlan, Gordon Precious, John Talbot, Dr. Paul O'Connell, Gary Wiseman, Jeff Snape, Gerry Frenette, Nicole Lee, Ted Harding, Johan Duker, Eric Simattis, Rylan Cordoso, Paul Pacific, Mark Lewis and many others.

Club President James Alan was not free to attend but he had Lisa present a pre-recorded laptop video to play to all at the beginning of the evening. James is a clever and creative guy.

I demonstrated magic tricks for about an hour and a half. Most of the tricks I demonstrated were effects one would perform for family audiences during the holiday season.  Most of them we have video demos that you can watch on our Youtube Channel.

After the demos people socialized and enjoyed coffee and snacks provided for by the club.

All in all it was a FUN evening.

A big thank you to Shawna & Lisa for working a very late shift. And in particular a VERY BIG  thank you to Mr. John Michalson. John is not technically an employee of the shop but he helps out if he is free at most of our events.

And, oh yes... I did wear a sweater-vest.

Bye for now,

Jeff






Monday 3 December 2012

REVIEW OF JASON PALTER LECTURE

Hi There Friends of Browser's Den...Thought I would let a very good friend of the shop review the lecture given at the shop last night.

JASON PALTER AT THE BROWSER'S DEN (DECEMBER 2nd)
by Boychick Pan

I look forward to my visits to "The Den". Jeff, Shawna, Lisa and Dennis usually have some new trick or DVD or book to demonstrate and discuss. They always make me feel very welcome and at home.

I also enjoy attending their special lectures and workshops as I did on this past Sunday to see Jason Palter. I must admit I was not familiar with Jason's work but I knew from past experience that it should be fun to attend. And it was.

Jason is a professional's professional. On a grey, dull overcast afternoon in early December he presented two solid hours of his latest innovative tricks and ideas with much energy, enthusiasm and humour. You can't help liking the guy. And that's perhaps the greatest secret of magic that he shared with us - performance is everything. Anybody can do tricks but not everyone can do magic.

Jason also shared witty and wise words on performing in restaurants (a frequent question from the audience), on finding your own style (you must perform at every opportunity you can), on inventing tricks (the best ideas often come to you when you are doing something else), on the importance of scripting versus improv, and on adjusting performance between younger and older crowds.

It's hard to pick my favourite trick out of his unique brand of originals which he has so successfully marketed for sale. They tend to be of the mental magic category - and as performed by Jason we are talking about a very engaging style of mentalism. As such his effects are largely performance-oriented which perhaps not every hobbyist or amateur will immediately appreciate. Several have diabolically clever gimmicks as well. His latest, "Third Degree Burn, 2.0" is one such intriguing effect as is his "Psionic". I liked them both. I also liked how he referenced the Tarbell books as his original inspiration. (Jeff P. apparently provided some too.) It reminded us all that there's solid gold in the classics of magic just waiting to be updated and revised by the next Copperfield, Blaine or...
Palter.

Jason is also a partner in "Tenyo Elite" - an impressive line of licensed products re-imagined in elegant metals and wood rather than the usual plastic. His version of the Tenyo classic "Chinese Fortune Sticks" were probably my favourite "toys" (Jason's own wry description) on display all afternoon.

All in all I enjoyed myself and want to thank Jeff for graciously presenting another "special event" and Jason for his hard work and dedication to the art of magic.

The End.

Sunday 25 November 2012

More on 37th Anniversary Party

Hi There,

I know that most of you are watching the Grey Cup right now. Well, truth be told I have never really been interested in football whether it be Canadian or U.S.

I do not follow sports as much as when I was young.

During the 1970's and 1980's I did love to watch (and play) hockey, tennis. Watched a bit of golf too during that time.

Great memories of Jimmy Connors vs. Bjorn Borg; Gerry Cheevers vs. Ken Dryden; Jack Nicklaus vs. well...he was better than all of the rest week in and week out...though I did like Raymond Floyd.

So since I am not watching the Grey Cup I thought I would write a bit more about last week's shop anniversary party.

We have had many young magicians over the years. Many have become quite accomplished in 'magic' as the years have gone by.

However, I must say that I cannot remember anyone of the past quite as impressive as our current customer Mohammed. He is eleven years old; new to the country from Iran.

Mohammed is just wonderful with coins and cards. He has been impressing so many on the weekends with his ability and skill. I have noticed too that over the past month that his presentational skills have really started to grow; perhaps with his  greater confidence of the English language and experience performing tricks for customers his growth will continue to impress in this area.

Near the end of last week's anniversary party I noticed about ten customers most of whom over 25 years old surrounding Mohammed as he, Mohammed, performed trick after trick with regular cards and coins.

For more than an hour Mohammed did tricks, moves, etc. At the end I saw those watching him walking away shaking their head in disbelief at how wonderful is Mohammed.

We never know when he will drop in to the shop with his father or mother (Also, both lovely people.). But I hope that should you visit 'Browser's Den' on the weekend you will have a chance to experience this amazing 11 year old's skill.

Until next time,
Jeff Pinsky

P.S. In case you are curious I was not wearing a sweater-vest when I wrote this blog. Rest assure though that I will be wearing one when I am at the magic shop.


Tuesday 20 November 2012

Anniversary Party

Hi There,

Thanks to all of you who attended the Browser's Den 37th Anniversary Party. And for those of you who could not make it this year, I look forward to seeing you at our 38th...Of course, we hope to see you before next November.

The turnout to the party was excellent. Even more so considering that on the same day was the Santa Clause parade and an important football game for fans of the Toronto Argonauts.

We even had a couple come in from Ottawa just for the party; difficult for me to understand that. But I am truly touched by their sincere efforts to join in on the day.

In fact I am honestly touched by all of you who attended and who have become the heart and soul of our shop; sort of an inner family of customers.

It was my pleasure on behalf of Browser's Den and the Cooper family to award Mahdi Gilbert as the 10th recipient of the Len Cooper Memorial Award.

Quite fitting somehow that Mahdi receive this award at the 10th year. Quite wonderful too that Bernice Cooper was in attendance for the presentation of the award.

Great too that in attendance was Jeff Hinchliffe. Jeff was the first recipient of the award back in 2003.

For those of you who are not familiar with Mahdi Gilbert...check him out on YouTube.

See you in this Blog World next week.

Yours Very Truly,
Jeff

Wednesday 14 November 2012

November 14, 2012

Dear Magic Friends,

Often customers show me a move/sleight that they are working on for my opinion.

There are MANY details needed to perform and perfect a sleight undetected. I will not go into that today.

However, one point I do remind them sometimes is that one should rotate between performing the sleight and actually doing the intended action.

For example if you are practicing a certain coin vanish...Practice doing the sleight with the coin four or five times. And then stop and actually do the same act except do not do the move/sleight. That is, actually place the coin in the hand for real.

See how your hands move together. Feel how your whole body acts and especially take note of what you are thinking.

Go back and forth between executing the sleight and then doing the exact same movements but without the sleight.

Hopefully that makes sense to you with the goal of keeping your magic looking natural.


Bye for today, Jeff

Browser's Den of Magic
Toronto, Canada
Serving Magicians Since 1975

Monday 12 November 2012

Hey, Here is a little quiz.


Below are the first names of those who have received the Len Cooper Memorial Award for most promising young (For those 25 years of age or under) magician.

Email me (jeff@browsersden.com) if you can figure out all of their last names:

Jeff
Nik
Shane
Lucas
Neil
Ben
Chris
James
Mark

Yours, Jeff
Browser's Den of Magic
November 12, 2012

Hi there Friends of Browser's Den of Magic


Jeff Pinsky here.

Okay, years ago when we first launched our website, the wonderful Gerry Malisani constructed a  'Jeff's Journal Page' for me to post upon. Many of you wrote lots of stuff and the journal was quite active.

Now all these years later Lisa has set-up for me this new Blog. I will try to keep it somewhat fresh and not write too much about my sweater vests. Of course I do like sweater vests and have been wearing them since I was a kid.

I just never realized until two years ago that some of the regular customers talked about Jeff and his sweater vests.

The Blog will cover all types of stuff and thoughts as well as new product that comes to the shop. Though I will try not to make this too much of a sales pitch.

And for today I will sign-off by writing that I and Shawna, Lisa and Dennis truly hope to see you at this Sunday's 37th (November 18th) Anniversary Party; okay that was in a sense a sales pitch.

And oh if this magic shop thing does not work out...then I will launch a new retail shop 'Jeff's Sweater Vests'.

Magical Hugs, Jeff
November 12, 2012

Welcome to The Den's Blog


TORONTO’S OLDEST MAGIC SHOP – The Browsers Den has been selling magic in Toronto Canada since 1975, serving amateurs, professionals, semi-pros, and hobbyists both young and old.

There is something for everyone here. As well as magic tricks, books and videos we also carry a full line of juggling equipment, clown supplies, ventriloquist dolls, and jokes.

Hope to see you at our shop!

Browser's Den of Magic
3220 Dufferin Street, Unit #19
Toronto, Ont. M6A 2T3
1-888-469-3616
416-783-7022