"Magical" gifts for the holidays, in addition to the usual fun stuff from magic shops:
The Unemployed Philosopher's Guild offers mugs with "disappearing" logos. Pour in hot liquid and writing on the mug vanishes. Choose from a "civil liberties" mug (various amendments disappear), a Democratic Dream or GOP mug (guess what happens to the map of the U.S.), a Henry VIII mug (ditto for the wives), and a lot of other drinking vessels. The site has other buy-ables too, but I'm partial to mugs. I have the Disappearing Civil Liberties mug. It's great. Hand wash only to preserve the "disappearing" quality.
Restoration Hardware has some magic sets and other gifts in its "toys" section, including a magician's table and a magic wand. I haven't seen the items in person so can't comment on them otherwise.
The DVD sets of the first season of Pushing Daisies, a great series, which is going off the air this year, Arrested Development, another weird, quirky series that failed to find a big following. It features one character, Gob, who's a professional magician. The DVDs of the first season of Night Court, which starred Harry Anderson, a magician turned actor, are available; the second season will be available soon. Anderson, who played a night court judge, did magic tricks on the show occasionally.
Joshua Jay, Magic: The Complete Course in Becoming a Magician (Workman Publishing).
Rick Lax, Lawyer Boy: A Case Study on Growing Up (St. Martin's Press).
And something you may have missed, William Rauscher's biography of spook show specialist Bill Neff, Pleasant Nightmares.
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