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It hasn't been released as a video, I'm afraid.

It seems as though the consensus is drifting towards more theoretical and historical works rather than "books of tricks". While I'm all in favour of going as deep as possible into the secrets behind the secrets, I'm a bit concerned that a focus on theory straight off the bat will alienate some...

Definitely. I absolutely love Steimeyer's books. The Great Deception is a particular highlight for me, so that's definitely got to be included.

Thanks Craig! My thinking on starting with the classics (at least for the first couple of months) was to ensure that those more experienced, such as yourself, would have a ready store of knowledge which could be tapped to give this project a boost in its nascent days. Works like Modern Magic may...

Given that, I'd love to get your thoughts on my Book of the Month proposal, Craig.

I see a lot of people bemoaning the fact that Theory 11 doesn't have much of a focus on books. Given this, I've got a simple idea for something we can do to remedy the situation. Every month, on a given day, I'll post up a thread about a classic book, including a brief history and summary of...

One of my recent obsessions has been efficient practice, which can be difficult to analyse with what I call "progressive" moves like fanning (and the anti-faro, for that matter). For most things we practise, we break them down into smaller elements (either consciously or unconsciously) and work...

They're pretty much equivalent from a technical point of view. I suppose, from a linguistic perspective, "shift" has more connotations of card table artifice and "pass" is a magic term, but go back far enough in the literature and even that doesn't apply. So, I'd say, to all intents and...

OK, I think I get the idea of what you're trying to achieve, but feel free to correct me if I'm wrong. You want to publish an effect you've created in order to prove ownership, so that you get your fair share of credit if something similar is released in the future. Am I right? There isn't a...

You're correct, I think I was! If I'm understanding you correctly now then I think we're pretty much in agreement.

We might have guessed from them being favoured cards of Vernon, Marlo, et al., but you're absolutely right, you don't know for definite and if you want to take up investment in collectibles as a hobby, the gamble is part of the game of it. Maybe you don't like gambling, but that doesn't mean...

Here's my perspective. I own several rare decks of cards that I'm never going to open. Why? For the same reason that I'm leaving my signed first editions of the Inner Card Trilogy in as pristine condition as I can and doing my day-to-day page-turning in cheaper, modern editions. Some things have...

They're all still available on the CARC website, it's just they're not free any more. I'd advise signing up for their mailing list to make sure you don't miss any future opportunities.

I covered this in an earlier post, but my opinion is that the answer to this can be found in the works of John Philip Quinn and David Ben's biography of Dai Vernon.

Instructions for what?

I think that Erdnase has a lot to teach us about executing a shift at the card table. You have to piece together bits from various places in the book to get the full picture, though. I believe that a thorough reading of the description of the "Bottom Palm, When Cards Are Riffled", the "Shifting...

SUBMISSION 1: 1: Jack of Clubs 2: Queen of Spades SUBMISSION 2: 1: Jack of Clubs 2: Seven of Hearts

It depends how accurate you want your demo to be in terms of conforming with real card table procedure. In a performance context you get the advantage of being able to talk to your audience and misdirect at the crucial moment, so any pass that you've practised enough would fit the bill. How are...

Seconded! The ability to express meaning is what separates the technically competent performer from the powerful artist. It seems that a lot of people learn a trick then try and impose meaning onto it, as opposed to thinking of something they actually want to express and then thinking how best...

Derren Brown's show Apocalypse was one of the most astonishing pieces of TV I've seen in a long time. I think Derren's pushed the concept of magic on TV to a point well beyond what's been done before. He's still using the deceptive techniques of magic, but rather than settling for standard...