Parallax

59 essays originally contributed to MAGIC magazine from September 1991 to August 1996 and a final one in 2016.
(Missing the columns from December 1993 and May 1994.)
2023
Written by Max Maven
Work of Max Maven
194 pages (Hardcover), published by Squash Publishing
No illustrations
Language: English
62 entries
This publication has been reviewed by
Cover photograph
Creators Title Comments & References Page Categories
Stephen Minch Sweet Bitterness
Max Maven As I was Saying...
  • Banal Retentive (on banality of evil and magicians following instruction sheets)
  • Peering Out (on magicians buying books and not reading them)
  • Off the record (on Aldo Richiardi buying records so he’d make sure the music in his show was different from everything else)
Also published here 1
Max Maven Strangers on a Train of Thought
  • Ear of the beholder (The comedy magician who was not original)
  • Dim some (on Michael Jeffreys using parts of reviews out of context)
  • Proof positive that I have too much free time
  • Revisionist theory of the month
Also published here 3
Max Maven Ennui Are The World
  • Heresy for the nineties
  • No silver platters (on things not being handed to you)
  • Son of consumer guide
  • Original sin (the magician who plagiarized not the method, but the presentation from one of Max Maven’s routines)
  • Proof that at least some aspects of the sociology of magic are not unique
Also published here 6
Max Maven ‘Tis the Season
Also published here 9
Max Maven New Year's Grating
  • A rose (on spelling magicians’ names properly)
  • Lecture lecture (on lecturing about other magicians’ material)
Also published here 13
Max Maven Vintage Whine
  • Culinary Conjecture
  • Twenty Questions
  • Define Tuning ("which show did you see - the early show or the late show?")
  • Dictionary update of the month (Creativity: stealing from more than one source)
Also published here 16
Max Maven Forward, March
  • Down for Grabs (Theft in Magic and Bob Brown)
  • Schrodinger’s Magician
Also published here 20
Max Maven Taxing Times
  • Hospitality
  • Art or Tourette’s (on Jerry Sadowitz)
  • Meow Mix
Also published here 23
Max Maven Mayday! Mayday!
  • Divisive and Illusion (differences between how Magic and Circus professionals mingle or not with amateurs)
  • Solución
  • Meow Mix
Also published here 27
Max Maven Jejune Is Busting Out All Over
  • Ichi, Ni… (on the balance between Natural, Aesthetic, and Spiritual)
  • Meow Mix
Also published here 30
Max Maven July Detector
  • Scotchtape (again on Jerry Sadowitz)
  • Eros by any other name
  • Gaffed to the hilt
  • Dressing room etiquette: How to practice proper behavior when attending another magician’s performance
Also published here 34
Max Maven Time and Tied
  • Once upon a time
  • Terms used in my writings for this magazine during its first twelve months which were replaced at the request of the editor
Also published here 37
Max Maven Out of the Panning Fray
  • Provocateur of duty (on the topic of professional and amateur magicians, referencing the previous essay “Mayday! Mayday!”)
  • Meow Mix
  • Poetry Corner (on someone selling knockoff Origami Boxes)
  • Cinematopoeia (on Shakes the Clown and Killer Klowns from Outer Space)
Also published here 40
Max Maven Trick or Treatise
  • Dulphin (method vs. effect vs. purpose)
  • Watts in a name (on misspellings of Marvyn Roy)
Also published here 45
Max Maven High Tension Whyer
  • Cover charge (on diversity and sexism in magic and the absence of women in the previous fifteen covers of the magazine)
Also published here 48
Max Maven Scrooge et Noir
  • Here and Meow (Dubious achievements awards)
Also published here 51
Max Maven Thereby Angst a Tale
  • Theory of Relativity
  • Camera Obscura
  • What becomes a legend most? (on how Al Smith wrote “No More Heroes” for the November 21 issue of Abra)
  • Copywrong
  • Sign of the times
Also published here 54
Max Maven Febriferous
  • Auguste in winter
  • Extinguished fulfillment (Why are magicians afraid of mystery? Why do magicians get into magic?)
  • Meow mix
Also published here 57
Max Maven The Shadow of Your Simile
  • Catharthesis
Also published here 60
Max Maven April Moi, Le Déluge
  • French toast (One of the theories around April’s first being fools day; some errors in magic literature)
  • Little effete (Etymological background on the word patter)
  • Drinks are on me
Also published here 63
Max Maven Hope Springs External
  • Rotterdammerung (Bob Driebeeck watching Okito with binoculars)
  • Working for scale (Magicians neglecting the Why)
  • The silence of the shepherd
Also published here 66
Max Maven The Scrying Game
  • The origin of the specious (On originality)
  • Carper’s index (On David Copperfield’s XV special)
  • A different conundrummer
  • Word down (Doublets, a word game created by Lewis Carroll)
  • Dis solution
Also published here 68
Max Maven Neurotica
  • Paint-counterpaint (On Walter Keane and commerciality in magic; artist vs. entertainer)
Also published here 71
Max Maven A Midsummer Night’s Drone
  • Thermavolence
  • In a Trans
  • There’ll be Shoes There
  • Tapeworms (On people assuming they have the right to record performers or lecturers)
  • The evolution will not be televised
  • M.C. Grammar
  • Skeptrics
  • Poetry Corner (Krenzel Mechanical Reverse)
Also published here 74
Max Maven The Silver Scream
  • Verbalchemy (On the etymology of certain power words: abracadabra, hocus pocus, gabbatha, selah, alakazam, shazam, presto, sim-sala-bim, sarmoti)
Also published here 77
Max Maven Angst for the Memories
  • Obscuriosity (Linking Ring, Fred Keating)
  • Meow Mix
  • Hospitality
Also published here 80
Max Maven The And-Illusion Dogma
  • Order in the Sort (Subtleties, sleights, and gimmicks; Four types of methods: natural laws disguised, secret activity, secretly prepared materials, psychology)
Also published here 83
Max Maven Cold Lang Syne
  • Snow Koan (Max Maven meeting Francis Carlyle)
Also published here 86
Max Maven What Part of "Know" Don't You Understand?
  • Suspension of Disbelief, Indeed (George LaLondr getting stabbed by a farmer as he was about to saw a lady in half)
  • Past Pluperfect (Goldburg)
  • Let There be Lightbulbs
  • Meow Mix
  • Academic Validation
Also published here 89
Max Maven Monocular Regency
  • On Thin Eyes (On how magicians convince themselves that the flaws they see will not be seen by a lay person)
  • Heads or Tales (Relative lack of women in magic)
Also published here 92
Max Maven Vitriollie-Ollie-Infree
  • Root Bier (On what is not the etymology of the word “magic”)
Also published here 95
Max Maven Neuroses by Any Other Name
  • Loquacity Slicker
  • By the gram (On Chris Dugdale’s Magicgram column on the classic force)
  • Picture Perfect
  • Hard Copy (On originality)
  • In Decks (On why to not use jumbo index cards in performance)
  • Balleptomaine
Also published here 98
Max Maven Mystery Loves Company
  • How I Spent My Beltane Vacation (Jeff McBride’s Mystery School)
Also published here 101
Max Maven To Sense, Plain
  • Meow Mix
  • Give & Tech (On the recurring comment that advanced technology has replaced magic)
Also published here 104
Max Maven And a Partridge in a Despair Tree (Intro on identifying problems and offering solutions)
  • Contestosterone (On the issues with magic competitions and the fact that these evaluate performers as if in an athletic sport - solution to be proposed in the following month’s column)
Also published here 107
Max Maven The Camel's Chiropractor
  • Just Say Nomenclature
  • Just Say Noteworthy (Raising the standard of contestants)
  • Just say Nomography (On paying contest judges, the composition of judge panels, and judging methodology)
Also published here 110
Max Maven Picks & Trepans
  • Conundrub (A puzzle for the reader to match reviews with magicians)
  • Hi, Finance
  • The More Things Change (Answers to the previous puzzle)
Also published here 116
Max Maven Tales of Misery and Imagination
  • The Grift of the Magi (A tale of the devil visiting a magic dealer)
  • No Sexism, We’re British (On sexism and magicians’ assistants)
Also published here 119
Max Maven The Morbid the Merrier
  • Meta-Meow (On exposure)
Also published here 122
Max Maven Tempus Fuckit
  • Good for the Soul
  • Tempus Fugit (On spending time and Max’s year living in Rome)
  • Touch Tone (On physically touching spectators and how touching in perceived in different cultures; references Eugene Burger and Bob Reiss)
Also published here 125
Max Maven Ferally We Roll Along
  • Customized
  • Tyranny of the Minority (On whether magic is art or a minor art; Bob Parrish, Sam Sharpe)
  • In the Nick (On the number of women in magic)
Also published here 128
Max Maven Play It as It Malaise
  • Angstarap (On becoming a professional magician and what that means; “Prepare to starve. Prepare to live in an unstable existence. Prepare to be in a state of constant frustration.”, and “Gone are the days of formal apprenticeship.”; The Rising Rate of Expectations, racism and riots in America)
Also published here 131
Max Maven Ceci N'est Pas Une Pipedream
  • Firsthand Experience (On art and the meaning of a hand)
Also published here 135
Max Maven Depresstidigitation
  • Fao Pas (On Barbie coming out as a magician sawing Ken in half and the press reaction to that)
  • Push & Chauv (On nationalism in magic and elsewhere)
Also published here 138
Max Maven Better Desolate Than Never
  • The Play’s The Sting (On being successful vs. understanding success)
  • Wratings
  • Poll Bearer’s Renew
  • Metaphysical Meow
Also published here 142
Max Maven Gloominous Plaint
  • Youthless (On age and a news piece on David Blaine - then 22 years of age)
Also published here 145
Max Maven Tormentalism
  • Plus Ça Changebag (On magic vs. puzzles, the interaction with spectators who want to know the method, and how simplicity does not equate weakness)
  • Oy, Survey (on Marlo inventing Tilt)
Also published here 147
Max Maven I'll Build a Stairway to Paradox
  • Pimpromptu (On spontaneous requests for performance in informal situations; impromptu performances vs. formal performances)
  • Of Mice and Mentalism (On The Amazing Kreskin)
Also published here 150
Max Maven Shouting "Fire" in a Crowded Theory
  • Lesson is More (On Max’s first magic convention and Jack Chanin selling a trick for $5)
  • Poster Mortem (On stealing)
Also published here 153
Max Maven Iconoclast Call
  • Hello, Scaler (On whether art is autobiographical or a product of a community - or both)
  • Ipogram
Also published here 156
Max Maven Happy New Jeer
  • Going Bust
  • Screen Dour
  • Ashes to Ashes (On finding “a place to be bad” in order to grow, perspective, and Max Maven giving up smoking)
Also published here 159
Max Maven Brother, Can You Spare a Paradigm?
  • Jocular Ocular (On the meaning of “parallax” and the naming of this column)
  • Why there are more close-up workers than mentalists
Also published here 162
Max Maven Less Is Morose
  • Numb-er (On Fitzkee’s taxonomy of 19 basic conjuring effects)
  • And A Hardy Place (Etimology)
Also published here 165
Max Maven Nonsense and Nonsensibility
  • Wind in the Sales
  • Feverity
  • Oral Robbers (Helping a prisoner escape by slipping him a handcuff key)
Also published here 168
Max Maven Hippity-Hop Rabid
  • For Their Britches (On the set of the movie Big)
  • Outfitness
Also published here 171
Max Maven Hope Stings Eternal
  • Critical Mash (On criticism and The Books of Wonder)
  • Birth Right (On the birthday paradox)
  • Roomers
Also published here 174
Max Maven How I Spent My Summer Vexation
  • I of the needle (On the Destruction & Restoration plot; on the Gipsy Thread / Hindu Thread and versions by Peter Samelson, Eugene Burger, and Gaetan Bloom)
Also published here 177
Max Maven An Apartment in Samarra on Anne Gwynne at eighty-two years old and on the five years of this column
Also published here 178
Max Maven Cynicalculator written in 2016 and delivered as a live talk at MAGIC Live! - August 2016
Also published here
  • issue #301 of MAGIC
 184
Max Maven Selected Works by Max Maven
191
Max Maven About the Author
193
Data entered by José Castro, May 2024.