FROM THE
EDITOR
Paul Romhany
editor@vanishmagazine.com
www.vanishmagazine.com
FSIM has come and gone and a
lot of controversy yet again about
the organisation and the use of
television to pay for sponsorship. It
was very interesting to watch it all
unfold via Facebook and prompted
the start of an article by Nick Lewin
on the use of social media and
magic. Nick has done an amazing
job interviewing a wide range of
top performers who vary in age and
opinion on using social media and
how it affects our business.
Personally I feel the Internet and
social media are so young that there
are no rules or boundaries put in
place yet. How can I teach my son
the etiquette on using social media
when there is none. It has certainly
changed the world and there are
positive and negative aspects of it,
which you can read about and come
to your own conclusions. Thank you
to everybody who took part in the
survey and the results were very
interesting indeed.
It is a great honor to get an
exclusive interview with Shin Lim
who is the current world champion
card magician. After watching Shin
perform live in Brazil last year and
then again on Fool Us with Penn &
6
Teller I feel card magic has finally
become something more than a
trick you see your Uncle do after
dinner. The positive comments
and millions of views on Shin’s
YouTube channel is proof that he
has taken card magic and turned it
in to an art. His act reminds me of
Cardini’s in the sense he has created
something using a deck of cards
that is more than just doing card
tricks or card manipulation. It is a
piece of theatre, a story and as Penn
said, a movie using a deck of cards.
I sit with excitement as I eagerly
await Shin’s new projects and
performances as he changes the
way the public view card magic and
magic in general.
It has always been a dream of mine
to have my own little magic theatre.
With so much going on in my life it’s
hard to even think about that dream
at times, however, I am pleased
others are starting to realise their
dreams and follow through. Over
the past year I’ve been collecting
stories and talking to people who
have done just that. They have
started a theatre and are putting
bums on seats nightly. This issue I
chat to FISM champion Matthew
Wright. I have long been a big fan
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of Matthew and