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I find that standard, cliched masturbation meets my standards of fun... Anyway, I think it's important to accept that there are a lot of kids on this forum. Maybe sometimes they should just be allowed to be kids, and take their own time to grow up. I'm fairly sure when I was fourteen I found...

Am I the only one who thinks Dynamo is a lot of style with no substance...well, I'll edit there, not even a huge amount of style. Technical skill? I hadn't really noticed a huge amount to be honest. Didn't anyone see his Concrete Playgorund thing with the most atrocious card handling ever...

I haven't read that particular book, but I would suggest being careful about Dilts' evangelical worship at the altar of NLP...it's not all he cracks it up to be. And, on your point Steerpike, that is exactly what the age of information is all about, it's a doublespeak term. We are witnessing...

How about not trying to force yourself on people who don't want it, but instead learning how to appeal to everyone? Don't even bother telling me that's impossible. It's difficult, I accept.

That depends on how good you are as a salesman. And, coincindentally, it depends on how good you are as a performer. There are a lot of people who can tell jokes, but they aren't all professional comedians. There are a lot of people who can do a card trick, but they aren't professional...

What differentiates a successful performer from an unsuccessful one? I won't let you think too long about the answer because it's obvious: The number of people who enjoy your performance. The sentence "you can't force people to enjoy magic" is true. BUT...and that's a damn big but...you can...

Hang on there. You seem to be missing something. If we imagine that we're in a situation in which we're paid to perform, we earn our money by performing, not by moving on every time we hit a slight obstacle. One reason why Southern Baptist preachers do quite well for themselves is because they...

A good technique if they've had a good experience with magic previously is to anchor their reaction to the remembered effect and attach it to something you perform yourself. For example, if they enthusiastically describe how a magician made their watch disappear and reappear somewhere else, you...

Definitely have to second that. Pure Effect and Absolute Magic have been critical to my magic development. And they're not that difficult to find if you know where to look...... You also need to have some Vernon in your life. Read Erdnase so you know where he's coming from, and then study...

I may have misunderstood, but I took that to mean you didn't bother to read the entire post. If that's correct, then the only message that can be drawn from that is that you were more willing to spend thirty seconds writing a knee-jerk response to a post you didn't consider "appropriate" than...

I hope I wasn't being included in that "better than thou" group. I'll accept "extra-smart" if you're throwing that one in my direction, even with the quotation marks, but I consistently post recommendations in threads where people have phrased their questions in a manner that allows me to...

I think a distinction should be made between a routine and an effect. A routine can have a single plot, but contain several effects. A problem arises when the effect is complicated, but that doesn't mean the full routine can't have twists and turns. Dai Vernon had a maxim that a good effect can...

I think that the people who ask these questions and the people who answer them share equal blame for their futility. There's nothing wrong with asking for advice before making a purchase, however, it's important to be clear about what you want this product to do for you, and why. For example...

I hope I haven't just murdered the thread. There is definitely a valid counter-argument to belief in the innate selfishness of mankind in general and performers in particular. I'd be interested to see if anyone sincerely and reasonably holds that opposing view.

Yes, it's "Shufflebored" by Simon Aronson. Lennart Green has a version of it, and I think a couple of other guys do too.

My motives are three. First and foremost, I like to stand out and to demonstrate that I have abilities that other people don't. I like to look clever and be the centre of attention. Essentially, I like showing off, and for people to tell me how talented I am. Surely every performer must be...

I definitely agree with what Praetorievong has to say, as usual. If you don't have Erdnase or Royal Road, then you need to get them in your life. Plus Expert Card Technique. Out of the options you gave I'd also recommend The Paper Engine, but you say you're not looking for "technical moves"...

I think the root of both moves is the Kelly Bottom Placement, or the Ovette Master Move, which are essentially the same thing as far as I know. Other people have come up with similar concepts based on these moves too.

Do you think an explicit demonstration of pure dexterity and technique, as in a gambling demo or flourish routine, can create the same astonishment and moment of magic as when sleights are used covertly?

I don't know if you know, but he did used to spar with Chuck Norris. On the DVD itself, to be honest, I was a little bit disappointed. I love riffle shuffle work, and I love RIchard Turner's work, but this seemed to be minor variations of very similar techniques rather than any major...