Soma’s Social Isolation Suggestions
Under the current pandemic circumstances many of us find ourselves in various levels of isolation. We’ve put together a list of some resources that you can easily access online without leaving home.
Feel free to suggest addition items by emailing us at: scienceofmagicassoc@gmail.com
See R. Paul Wilson’s Our Magic Doc
The documentary Our Magic (2014) features an array of top performers, thinkers, and creators discussing the art of magic. The film is available on Amazon Prime AND for those who aren’t prime members, creator R. Paul Wilson has announced that it is now available to stream for free for a limited time on Vimeo- just enter the discount code BEKIND (HT to Tom Stone sharing the Vimeo promotion)
Explore magicana’s
Sharing wonder Exhibitions
Magicana has been building online exhibitions since 2005 as part of their ‘Sharing Wonder’ initiative. They’ve amassed an incredible collection of material- all just a click away- original films, rare archival performance footage, and interactive exhibits on magic and magicians. (HT to Daniel Zuckerbrot sharing)
See Harry Houdini’s Digitized Scrapbooks
via Harry Ransom Center (UT Austin)
The University of Texas at Austin’s Harry Ransom Center holds a collection of ten scrapbooks from the legendary magician Harry Houdini. These contain a wide range of material on magic and spiritualism including playbills, theater programs, clippings, photographs, prints, correspondence, etc., dating ca. 1850 to the 1920s.
And they’re available to view online.
Watch lucy darling’s
Full comedy magic show online
Carisa Hendrix aka Lucy Darling recently uploaded a full recording of her comedy magic show ‘Indulgence.’ The performance was filmed in the Chicago Magic Lounge (the venue for our most recent conference) in December 2019.
Marvel at Emerging Corvid 19 Scams
This isn’t strictly ‘magic’ related, but I know many of us are fascinated by scams and deceptions. As with any major event, malicious actors are acting quickly to exploit people’s fear and uncertainty.
The BBC has compiled a list of some corona virus related email scams.
Check-out Dr matt Pritchard’s
Words on Wonder Interview series
SoMA’s Dr. Matt Prittchard has conducted more than 100 interviews from an eclectic array of creatives, magicians, and scientists themed around the concept of ‘wonder.’ All the interviews are available on his website.
Catch-up on some new (or old)
Science of magic publications
Magic on the Menu: SoMA President Dr. Gustav Kuhn has co-authored a paper, with Prof. Charles Spence and Jozef Youssef on ‘magical food and beverage experiences’
Tripping on Nothing: SoMA’s Jay Olson has co-authored a new paper on placebo-induced psychedelic experiences
A Review of Magic-Based Education Interventions: Prof. Richard Wiseman (a keynote speaker at our 2017 conference) & Prof. Carolin Watt have compiled an extensive review of studies that have used magic as an educational tool.
Special Issue on the The Psychology of Magic and Magic of Psychology: If you haven’t already seen it, many SoMA members contributed to this open access special issue of Frontiers in Psychology. All 17 articles are available online.