Podcasting.

I used to be BIG on podcasting. I listened to podcasts everyday, I made my own podcast, it was some good times. However, my time ran out and eventually I was forced to stop making my show, A. because I was busy doing school work and B. I was busy working on my acting and singing. 

Bit by bit, my interest in podcasting dwindled, but there were/ are a few shows/podiobooks (podcasted audio fiction) that I still listen to: 

Daily Source Code by Adam Curry (www.dailysourcecode.com)

Scott Sigler (www.scottsigler.net , and buy his book Infected from Amazon.com!)

7th Son by J.C. Hutchins (www.jchutchins.net)

Today I want to focus on the latter of these three audio productions: 7th Son is a trilogy of sci-fi novels that are unbelievable. And this is from the guy that really doesn’t like most sci-fi. The novels were released a few chapters a week, and they were the best. Recently, the books came to a conclusion…but then, a new project was begun: 7th Son Obsidion is an anthology of short stories written in the world of the 7th Son books, and so far, its been an amazing collaboration.

Part of the project involved “Voices from the Darkness”, a Cloverfield style audio work where listeners would call in and leave a voicemail as if they were trapped in a disastrous blackout that devastated the U.S. J.C. Hutchins kindly used my call as one of the first pieces for the anthology, and it was a really cool thing: it brought me back to the world of online audio.

Anyways, please check out his site, subscribe, and enjoy it. Let me know what you all think!

J. 

New Video!

Hey guys, Happy Holidays!

 Last night (morning?) I got really bored and so I threw together a quick video of a performance of a couple cuts and then the feature presentation, Paul Wilson’s sick effect “The Back Four.” If you wanna see a trick that makes you look skilled with a deck of cards…this is it. It’s sweet in person.

 Feel free to write some comments, and remember, in real life it would have a script!

J.

Jamie Lynn Spears Pregnant!?

So I have spent the last 5 days in bed. It’s been friggin awful. I have had a pretty nasty virus, which included losing my voice completely…and I’m a singer. Tonight is the Holiday Concert, in which I am supposed to have a solo. We’ll see.

My problems seem pretty bad, but nothing compared to that of the now infamous younger sister of the Britney, Jamie Lynn Spears.

She’s pregnant. Whoa, hold that, WHAT!? Yeah. She’s pregnant.

 No, this isn’t magic related, but it’s my blog, and I don’t give a crap.

 Premarital sex is fine. For some people. But what’s going on here is a mess. I remember back a few years ago when Jamie Lynn popped up on the then kid-cult following “All That.” She was the talk of everyone: Britney’s younger sister. People saw her as a redeemer: she came off as a pretty good kid…but we always knew there was something going on there.

Either way, a 16 year-old ROLE MODEL, for that is what she is wheather or not you believe it, is now pregnant. Am I calling for her to be thrown off the air? Not at all. But at the same time, this is insane. Sure, she knows what’s right for her. Whatever you say. But the fact is, she has now created and solidified the feelings that we’re had by many about the spears family: that they have problems.

So, good luck little Britn..I mean Jamie Lynn. Hopefully your family will work it all out in the end, but meanwhile, a girl who used to be on all that, a girl younger than many of my friends (We’re all just about 17), is pregnant.

I don’t think she understands how her life is about to change.

Anyways, I’m back to the blogging, and if you read let me know: email me, magicofjfr@gmail.com , or leave a comment.

J.

Stress.

I hope you all have been having a great fall so far, here in Washington the trees are just starting to change and stuff…its looking pretty nice, and to top it all off its still warm!

Anyways, just wanted to check in with everyone and post some excuses….haha ok no.

I’ll post more. It’s a resolution..though not really for the new year, obviously. Life has been crazy busy, both performing and school wise, and I thought I’d let you in on a couple projects I’ve been working on, magical, non-magical and whatever:

-As of Friday, I’ve been cast in the lead role of “The Sound Of Music”. This is a big performing oppurtunity, so good stuff.

-My choir (yes, I sing too!) has been preparing for some major concerts, and we might possibly start touring.

-Magic wise, I’m working on a new show…

and look at that, I’m about to lose power. I’ll let you all know about the exciting stuff going on when I can get back on….sooner rather than later.

J.

Criss/Britney fails/a hoax?

Well, hot off the presses from her “re-debut” performance from the VMAs, Britney Spears was a dissapointment. After a much hyped opener, all it turned out to be was her dancing to the new single “It’s Britney, Bitch”. That was the most blatant lip-synch since Avril Lavagne on SNL. The performance lacked energy, and more importantly to many of the readers here, it lacked Criss Angel. After a much speculated AMAZING performance, it was at best lackluster.

Now, it’s time for me to go on complete speculation: The Following is not based on anything, and is purely my crazy random thoughts. Do not come back at me when none of this turns out to be true.

GUESSES START:

-Criss and Britney have a larger project in the works…could the new Criss show involve Spears in some way?

-The rumors of a relationship could be true..?

-They are just friends brought together by “The Firm.”

GUESSES END

Alright guys, well on the other end of things, my packages from Theory11 arrived, and I should have some reviews for you on everything in the next couple weeks. Be sure to keep checking out the site, it’s some sick stuff.

Also, check out TheCuso.info . It’s an awesome magic blog, and make sure you tell em that Jon Rice from Magic.Stuff sent ya!

Cools, I’ll catch you on the forums, MSN, whereever!

J. JonRice (theory11), Jon R. (dananddave) Jon Rice (ellusionist) magicofJFR@gmail.com (email/msn)

Theory11 is….

Well, it’s all over.

The hype is done.

We can finally answer the question “What is Theory11?”

An LLC.  A magic store. Production Company. Online Community.

Wait, haven’t I heard of something like this before…it was called…ummmm…

Ellusionist.

However, Theory11 is like Ellusionist…fixed. Magicians have complained for years about different things that Ellusionist have done “wrong” such as major censorship in the forums, little or no crediting, producing products that are not “new”, among other things.

Theory11 is run by Jonathan Bayme, a name some of you may realize as the former president of ellusionist. Not a coincidence. Bayme seems to be smart enough to leave the company, use the same basis, and run with all the good things while fixing the problems. Another thing that gives the site credibility is the names involved. Lee Asher, Aaron Fisher, Chris Kenner, and to some extent Dan and Dave allow the site more support from older magicians who were or are against the idea of “online” magic.

I think over time the site will grow and become its own entity, among other things. Hopefully it is eventually not even compared to Ellusionist at all.

Well, at least we can all get some sleep without having our minds wander to the question, “What is Theory11?”

If you want to learn more, visit www.theory11.com anytime you would like. I’m on the forums there, and be sure to look for my reviews for the new Guardians Deck, as well as Wayne Houchin’s  new release Distortion in the coming weeks.

A revolution in magic? Maybe not yet, but it sure does look like a bunch of fun.

J.

Yo!

Hey guys, I’m BACCCKKKK with some really exciting news.

Well, first off, lets get on with the magic and stuff.

Rupert Murdoch now owns the Wall Street Journal. Somebody save us. This is a SAD day for journalism everywhere.

Anyways, I want to let you all know about a new organization started by a magician from Canada, Mitchell Stafiej. It’s called Magic for Darfur, and anyone that cares about the genocide occuring in Darfur as well as magic should visit the website and the forums. They can be found at www.magicfordarfur.org . Today was a huge step forward in the U.N authorizing troop movements, but more needs to be done. Again, check out the website and join the cause, please.

What is Theory 11? That is the question that has been rocking the online magical community over the last week, and with magicians being involved in the project including such names as Lee Asher, the Buck Twins, and Chris Kenner, it is sure to be something. Whatever it is. “A Revoultion is coming” says the twins. For more information (but will probably be another video preview), be sure to check out www.whatistheory11.com monday night, August 6th, at Midnight EST. The Evolution of Magic? Only time will tell. I wonder if it is the evolution of magic as an art, or just card/close-up magic. Again, time will tell.

Now, onto the exciting news. In the coming weeks, (with luck, I’m not giving you a timeframe because I know I wouldn’t stick with it), a podcast called Magic.Stuff Radio will debut. This show promises to be the first of its kind, not only focusing on magic, but also other “stuff”. However, I would highly like to reccommend listening to the iTricks Magic Week in Review and Go Magic Go as well. More information is coming.

It’s been a while, but the magic has been excellent.

Anyways, I hope to give you all another post soon.

Questions? Comments? Topic Ideas? Just wanna talk magic?

Use the contact information below:

email/msn: magicofJFR@gmail.com
myspace: www.myspace.com/magicofJFR
forums posted on: ellusionist (Jon Rice), magic for darfur (Jon Rice), dananddave.com (Jon R.)

Until next time,

J.

Happy Birthday to Me!

The title. It’s that simple.

Sixteen Years of J.Rice. You all know you love it.

Updates on gifts later.

J. Rice

Criss Angel in Vegas, NYC, Ace Cutting and All That Jazz!

So Criss has got a show. Hells Yes!

You can all see me down there in Summer ‘08, because I will.

In other news, the trip to NYC was great fun, we ate good food and saw some shows (Curtains and The Drowsy Chaperone) and all was fantastic. Before hopping on the acela express back to DC, I stopped by the fairly new Fantasma Magic shop and was pleasantly surprised. Though it is partially a toy store, Fantasma did a perfect job keeping the more pro magic stuff there as well, and the guy was nice, though he did make fun of my E bag.. (it happens…)

Anyways, I picked up a Blue Deck of Magic Castle Playing Cards, as well as a brand new Pocket Bible Edition of the “Expert at the Card Table” (Erdnase). I had seen these for a while, and had wanted to order one, so I was pleasantly surprised to see Fantasma carrying them. Turns out that Bill Kalush and the guys at the Conjuring Center for the Arts hand delivered them over there, and they are fantastic. Pick one up if you can, they retail for $15.00 dollars at your favorite dealer, or directly from the Center at www.erdnase.com (yeah they own the domain, it’s gonna turn out to be a sweet site).

Let’s see: in other news, the uber-talented Buck Twins have started pre-orders of there massive DVD set, The Trilogy, and it is very reasonably priced at $65.00. This really looks like its going to be levels above The System in style and teaching. www.dananddave.com

Anyways, I made a new little video, I really have no idea why, but it is a great little ace cutting routine that can play huge if you want it to, and uses a little known method that is just fantastic (the spectator can cut at any time instead of the magician)

So hopefully that gave you an idea on how clean I think magic should be.

So, thanks for reading this post guys, and always the contact information:

e-mail.msn: magicofJFR@gmail.com
myspace: www.myspace.com/magicofJFR
ellusionist forums: Jon Rice

Stay in touch, comment and be merry!

J.

NYC

So I’m off to NYC for the week, hope you all don’t die while I’m gone…

J.