Andrew Mayne
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Andrew Mayne is a magician, illusion designer and filmmaker. He has written and produced over thirty books, DVDs and manuscripts on magic.
Contents |
[edit] Performer
Andrew Mayne started his professional performing career as a teenager working a summer in a circus. By the time he was nineteen he was performing in resorts and cruise ships including Norwegian Cruise Lines, Majesty Cruise Lines and Carnival Cruise Lines. At the time he was the youngest magician performing internationally with an illusion show.
[edit] Consulting
As a magic consultant he has worked for Penn & Teller and David Blaine. Among his more popular creations is a modernized version of the arm through body illusion first performed by Horace Goldin. Mayne's version, Gut Buster (originally developed for David Blaine along with Paul Harris), shows the hand penetrating the skin and can be performed in an impromptu manner.
[edit] Books
Mayne's first books Solo-X and Illusion FX featured novel stage illusions. Solo-X included Mayne's method for walking through a mirror which has since seen numerous variations by other performers on stage and television. Illusion FX featured Mayne's reworking of the Indian Sword Basket illusion using balloon swords.
After publishing several works on illusions, Mayne began releasing several "shock magic" effects to the magic fraternity. Some of Mayne's "shock magic" style effects include the production of a bowling ball from a paper bag, an impromptu pencil through face penetration and a psychic prediction using a cockroach.
[edit] Other work
In addition to writing, he has directed two independent features, several instructional videos and the underground magic video Shock FX. Mayne has lectured in classrooms on Teaching Critical Thinking and skepticism toward paranormal claims. For five years he was the principal investigator for James Randi's Million-Dollar Paranormal Challenge. Andrew Mayne also invented a very paranormal effect called ghost vision in which the image of a ghost's shadow appears on a picture or video of a borrowed cell phone.
He's the publisher of iTricks.com, a daily magic news site that focuses on the entertainment side of magic. iTricks came second in The Magic Woods Awards 2007, for best website. Through iTricks Andrew produces five magic themed podcasts covering magic and magic celebrity news. He's currently the producer of the Official Criss Angel Podcast on www.crissangel.com hosted by Justin Robert Young.
