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Vernon wasn't suggesting that you turn over your card like a flower. Why would anyone turn a flower over? I suppose you might want to use the stem as a toothpick, but that would be pretty unusual. The point he was making was that the double should be held delicately, with a minimum of force...

I have a tip on learning the classic pass which, when I discovered it, made a huge difference. First, learn the basic mechanics from someone competent. Richard Kaufman's On The Pass is a great resource for this. Next, read Erdnase's description of the move and consider what the three key points...

What information do you think is a bit dated? I'm doing some Erdnase-related stuff at the moment and I'm interested in the perspectives of magicians on the material, so it would be great to get your view.

I generally agree with you William, but just for the sake of debate, maybe I can put a slightly different perspective. There are two approaches to, and mentalities behind, offering negative criticism. Sometimes it's done to bring someone down, and by implication, pump up the ego of the critic...

While I accept the point that to learn D&D's version of "The Queens", you're probably best learning it from The Trilogy DVDs, and if you want to learn the Clipshift you're best learning it from Surfaced, this is for quality of learning purposes rather than ethical reasons. Is it unethical to...

The only way you can guarantee it's original is to know every colour change, switch, or other move that might possibly be similar. Given that this is probably impossible, your best bet is to write up your method, or make a video showing the method, and send it privately to some reputable and...

"Insane" is essentially a version of the Open Prediction plot. An early prototype for these kind of effects was "51 Faces North" by Stewart James, there's a book called The Open Prediction Project by Thomas Baxter which compiles many methods and handlings, and Derren Brown's The Devil's...

No, I meant that it would have been a waste of a post for me just to write "Yes", hence my elaboration. Your post was absolutely fine!

Yes. It seems like a bit of a waste of a post just to write that, so I'll add that it's under the title "A Flourish and a Pass", because Le Paul describes the move from what we call these days a "Le Paul Spread". The mechanics for the pass don't require a Le Paul Spread though, so a simple...

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Not necessarily all brilliant advice. Audiences have a preconception about magicians, so by distancing yourself from those prejudices with "kind of", you add some interest and make them feel that they should assess you on your own terms. (See the career of Derren Brown for more details.) The...

It's going to sound trite, but if you want new material, read old books. If you revisit the magic of the nineteenth-century and read the works of Hoffman, Hofzinser, Robert-Houdin, Roterberg and Sachs, you'll find a goldmine of tricks and moves that you won't have seen anyone else do. If you...

Pretty good overall. You've got a good manner on stage and you're confident in dealing with people, which are hard things to learn, so that's half the journey. A couple of things that you might want to think about are your patter and your routining. Virtually everything you said was a stock...

To answer your question specifically, you could have caught her eye, top-changed again and said something like, "Ah, you shouldn't believe everything you see", casually displaying the card and showing that nothing's happened. At this point, there's obviously nothing to see, and your back in the...

In an ideal world, I'd suggest trying stand-up comedy as a route to learning performance skills, audience interaction, and general character development, but that's not always practical for everyone. So, in lieu of that, I think that performance can be practiced in isolation by using...

Just from a presentational point of view, wouldn't it make more sense to have the information appear rather than vanish? The card would then have more significance as a souvenir than just a blank card with the spectator's own signature on. I understand that the idea is to suggest the eradication...

Craig, if that was a response to me, then I think you might have slightly misunderstood what I said. I didn't say that self-working effects should become mainstays of his act, just that they're a useful way to get used to performing and building up confidence in front of an audience, without...

I'd like to suggest a different tack, if I may. Namely, try not caring about whether you get caught or not. Allow me to amplify. In my opinion, the skill of magic performance should, initially, be developed separately from the skill of magic execution. So, first, find some self-working tricks...

With regard to learning mucking, the most comprehensive sources are Tony Giorgio's The Ultimate Work DVD set and George Joseph's Hand Mucking book. You'll also find some ideas in Dan Macmillan's The Gambler's Palm Revisited, which is where the "Macmillan Switch" comes from, and on Dai Vernon's...

Happy to help!