Search results

Step 1: Commit yourself to behaving ethically regardless of what others do. Step 2: When you see people behaving unethically, encourage them to do the right thing without shaming, blaming or flaming them. Will it solve all the problems? No. Will it make an incremental difference? Yes.

Were the cards picked up and dealt into piles again? Did the middle value increase each time due to the addition of the ace (e.g. 5, 6, 7, 8, 9)? Because it is impossible to have the 11 cards (including the ace) add up to 25 because 25+1 is 26. Also, could there be more or less than two cards...

Sorry, I've been brainwashed. The confusion of whether you can do something and whether you should do something. That is the textbook definition of ethics. I think we are at the first part and the second one is what we need to work on. See my comments at the bottom of the first page. I...

A travel book, a dictionary and a cookbook -- Predict the city and country, the name of the restaurant and the dish ordered using the books - the prediction is revealed using a menu that was sitting beside the spectators the whole time.

I would suggest that explaining the ethical reasons people should not steal other people's effects / methods / presentations and encouraging people to act ethically can reduce theft. Also, magicians ostracizing other magicians who steal effects / methods / presentations would go a long way...

The correct spelling is Herrmann after Alexander Herrmann who the move is attributed to by August Roterberg in New Era Card Tricks in 1897. There are some suggestions in an 1896 German magic periodical that Herrmann used the move but didn't invent it. He may have been taught the turnover pass...

In my view, there are three components to a magic presentation piece: the effect, the method and the presentation. The effect is what the audience sees; the way the plot progresses. The method is how it is done. The presentation is what is said and what is acted out. The following relates to...

Shouldn't you have put the word "friend" in quotes? I agree. If someone publishes an effect with a presentation, you are free to use it any way you want (except to expose it). If it's not published, don't perform it without permission. The worst thing I ever saw was a magician performing...

Recognize that the Magic Makers Invisible Thread cannot be used to make invisible elastic bands that are similar to Loops.

To start with you need to understand the difference between Invisible Thread and Invisible Elastic Thread. Loops are Yegal Mesika's trademarked name for his bands of IET. They are sold in packs of 8 as Loops New Generation for around $10 and they come with a video that teaches floating bill...

"I haven't heard anyone buzzing about this Penn 'exposure'..." Uh yeah, because it isn't really isn't exposure. Can anyone who watches it explain how a Topit actually works? No. And, how many magicians do you know that use a Topit? As for the instant stooge, the concept is exposed in the...

Mais bien sûr.

The original effect is by Bill Simon from 1952. There is a version in Drawing Room Deceptions. I'm traveling but will check the Guy Hollingworth's method when I return next week. Again, a very good start.

The original routine can be found in Bill Simon's 1952 book "Effective Card Magic" which was reprinted under the title "Card Magic for Amateurs and Professionals": https://www.amazon.com/Magic-Amateurs-Professionals-Dover-Books/dp/048640188X

It sounds like he is off to a good start. Learning from YouTube is not the best. He may pick up wrong techniques that he has to relearn. I'd love to see a good filmed performance of the cups and balls -- that would really give a good sense of where he is. Again, off to a good start. I'd be...

There are many different talents in magic - creativity, technical understanding, dexterity, knowledge, stage presence, scripting, acting, etc. A good magician balances all of those talents. As I tell a lot of younger magicians, it is far easier to learn from good sources (mostly books) than to...

Agreed. A lot of magicians talk about taking a trick one step to far where they try to make it more impossible but ultimately end up ruining the illusion of magic.

Good thinking. I like the "make the gimmick on the go" part. This is very similar in Jim Steinmeyer's Half a Cup of Coffee - April 2012 Genii (which uses a very recognizable brand reusable cup) and his Vicarious Cocktail which is in his Conjuring Anthology book and was originally published in...

This really is an attempt to add meaning or significance where there is none. Most normal people (i.e. non magicians) don't have a playing card that is special to them. Writing something special on a playing card will not make a card trick more meaningful -- it still will be just a card trick...

There are a couple of different takes on this effect: Banachek's Pychokinetic ("PK") Touches, Lior Mannor's Invisible Touches, Luke Jermay's Touching on Hoy, Daniel Garcia's Hair, Peter Turner's Midas Touch and more. My favorite is Walt Alexander's Lettie's Feather.