Ripper Street 3 Is ON, and More Good News

As you may know, I love this show called Ripper Street. It's very Victorian as it takes place in the late 1800s, just past the time of the Jack the Ripper murders, thus the name. It's extremely well done and after two fabulous seasons the BBC cancelled the show. But thanks to a huge campaign by the public, it was brought back for a third season.

The third season started airing just a few weeks ago. I believe they are three episodes in to the new season and wow is it amazing. The storyline picks up 4 years after the events of season 2. Most of the main characters have been split apart and are off doing their own things. A tragic event brings them all back together. This is the opening episode and it's quite amazing. But it's the second episode that will fry your brain, if you're familiar with the characters. I won't reveal what it is, but you must check it out. It's on BBC America and it's also available on iTunes and Amazon Prime I think.

And there is even better news. Ripper Street has already gotten the green light for a Season 4 and 5. That is spectacular news!!!!

There is much to like about the show, but I'm really taken with the costuming and the language. The way they speak and the various slang words they use are all authentic. I find it to be educational as well as entertaining. It's worth checking out if you've never seen it and trust me, you'll be hooked the same way I am!

The Steampunk Illusionists Are At It Again!

The Steampunk Illusionists were back on the stage this weekend with a little magic. After quite a long absence their Traveling Bottle and Glass routine returned to the show. This routine was removed from the show almost 10 years ago. Through a combination of misunderstanding, miscommunication, and just a bad decision, the routine was pulled and probably would never have seen the light of day again had it not been for a recently discovered video of the routine.

At the time of it's removal from the show, The Traveling Bottle and Glass was in an experimental state. That means we were changing the routine fairly often, trying different things to see what would work and what might take the routine to another level. In the midst of all the changes, the original routine got lost. But thanks to the forgotten video recording the old routine has been brought back.

The classic trick is known as The Multiplying Bottles. But we prefer to call it the Traveling Bottle and Glass. We do not do the classic Ken Brooke presentation of the trick. Ours is done to music and at first appears to be a one person routine, but then a mischievous assistant shows up to wreak havoc on things. The result is a very funny comedy routine with the magic taking a secondary place.

We also presented The Disectolator in the show. In fact, this was our opening illusion. This is the device where I slice my arm into several sections and actually remove one of the sections. It's a quick routine, barely a minute, but a nice opening.

Our Ring in Bread made it into the show as a last minute decision. I'm glad we put it in the show but not for the usual reasons. We need to really update this trick and punch up both the magic and the comedy, so having it in the show was a reminder to start working on this to take this trick to the next level. I know there is more to work with here, and this routine has not reached it's full potential yet. It's possibly that the show on Saturday will be the last time the routine will be in the show. There will still be a borrowed ring routine, but whether it is discovered inside a loaf of bread or some other place is yet to be seen. Time will tell.

New Promo Video for Steampunk Illusionist

I am always tinkering. I guess that's one of the reasons I like steampunk so much, you can take something old and make it into something new and cool again, usually by tinkering with it. Well, I've got yet another new promo video. I really like it, though I know in a couple weeks it will be altered again. I'll be slowly removing the non-Steampunk clips in favor of new Steampunk clips. But all the material in the video is or has been used in the Steampunk show.

Enjoy the video!