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"An amateur does many different tricks for the same people, a professional does the same tricks for many different people." ~Hugard and Braue, Royal Road to Card Magic My advice is to be a little bit of an amateur and a little bit of a professional. Try out a lot of new tricks on your...

I've come to the conclusion that it is very difficult to use presentation as the glue to build routines. When you have two or three effects that you want to stick together it always seems forced and the presentation actually detracts from the routines because of how strained the links between...

Pasteboards Under Glass - My adaption of Steinmeyer's card to bottle effect. Fan Mail - My adaptation of Steinmeyer's torn bill prediction effect. Margarite's Wishes - My version of the classic egg bag. The presentation, plot and technique in those effects make them the most fun to perform. If...

What effects are you using the double lift for? What contols are you using? What double lift are you using? As others have said, if you technique isn't perfect that could be the problem. If you are just having them select a card, controlling it to the top and then turning the top card over...

Eric performed this for a group of us at a lecture -- just wonderful. It reminds me of Tamariz's Paradise Lost (in Verbal Magic and reprinted in Genii). I haven't seen Eric's Penguin lecture, but having seen Eric lecture and perform, it has to have good stuff. Woody's A Book in English is a...

For performances, I use this: http://www.target.com/p/20-x-48-folding-table-black-plastic-dev-group/-/A-13896 covered with a black tablecloth. Works perfectly for cards cups & balls and everything else.

If that justification works for you, go with it. If after 30 years you don't have a respect for other magicians, there is nothing we can say or do to change your mind. Just because you can do something, doesn't mean you should do it. The difference between can and should is the definition of...

But just don't point when you are handling coins, sponge balls or billiard balls!

I think the effect @4Mymagic is looking for just uses an ungimmicked (except for the pencil dots) blank deck -- the card never appears. I've come up with a simple working of the Mindreader's Dream using a three key cards where the spectator is required only to deal the number of cards, set...

The effect is a variation of Bob Hummer's The Mind Reader's Dream that was published in 1952. Some related effects are here: http://archive.denisbehr.de/show.php?cat=2206 My best guess is the effect that was taught to you was the Conrad Bush Think of Card - Blank Deck Method from 1983. I'm...

If you haven't already purchased it, I'd avoid the Mindfreak kit. For the same price you can pick up a bunch of props that you would actually be able to use. Once you get the Mark Wilson book, you will see that there are some props you may want to get like sponge balls or magician's rope...

It is interesting that I would say the same thing except our "realities" are much more different. Yours is a more realistic reality with a blend of bizare and mysticism. Mine is more like the Mad Hatter's Tea Party in Alice in Wonderland.

Actually, the quote was Nelms not Fitzke. I tend to agree with Burger on Fitzkee and blame Fitzkee for making woman wearing sequined outfits and music seem to be necessities for stage magic because of his belief that magic isn't entertaining enough on its own. The quote is in Magic and...

I agree with Christopher. I've seen few magicians with good acting skills. I'd have better luck teaching an actor magic than teaching a magician to act.

So, Mark Wilson's Complete Course in Magic was the first magic book I got. The effects in there are real magic and the beauty of it is the simplicity of many of the effects. It is easy to think "is that all there is to it?" As you read through the book, you will get an understanding of how...

Don't get me started... I'll watch Penn and Teller's Fool Us despite not liking the premise which reinforces that magic is a game where the magician tries to fool the audience and the audience tries to figure it out. I'm pretty sure that 90% of the acts either narrate the adventures of the...

So we are talking 1970s? Was the entire deck blank faced with a regular back? Was the card thought of or selected? Was the revelation the card being named or being shown? Did the magician watch as the spectator cut the deck and dealt cards? Were any of the instructions like deal 1 card...

What you are saying is in line with Tamariz's The Magic Way but my sense is that the disguise of or distraction for the method should be a result of design and not presentation. That is, it should be unnoticeable as opposed to the "you think I did it this way, didn't you?" like the Hippity...

To truly begin learning magic, get the book, Mark Wilson's Complete Course in Magic. It will give you a great introduction to magic. I you see effects in there, pick up the necessary props.

I think the point Christopher was making is that an effective character needs to have a basis in who you are. I agree. Otherwise it comes across as being inauthentic. If you aren't funny in real life, your character won't be funny. If you can't make people feel that you are caring and...