Search results

Luis: I haven't dealt with them, but I suspect they are selling knock-offs of the products and bootlegs of video tapes. Based on what I've seen on other forums, this seems to be the case with a variety of China based internet magic retailers that have prices that are below the U.S. wholesale...

I think the best source is Darwin Ortiz's Strong Magic. It is $45 but well worth the investment. I don't recommend this book for the beginner, but if you are thinking about these issues, you are ready for this book. You will find some similarities between what I posted and Darwin's theories...

Figure out what Justin could do to most help you with your magic. Then focus your session on those things. They could be technical (moves and sleights), effect driven (questions about effects he performs), presentation based (how to present certain effects) or professional in nature...

Interesting question and interesting responses. You have a character whether you consciously create one or just perform. Think about how you perform and what people see, feel (on an emotional level) and think about you when you perform. How would your audience describe you? That is your...

I'm assuming that you've decided not to do the show for children because most of those routines are not appropriate for children. The effects don't seem to fit together (other than many of them being from Andrew Mayne) or be in any particular order. One part of your show are macabre...

There are a number of things that go into a good performance -- character, plot (of the effect which would include routining), presentation (which would include patter, expressions, etc.) and strong magic. If you go out and perform without any thought about your character, the plot of your...

10D Check out Banacheck's PS 1 for the results of studies like this on laypeople.

Fair enough. I didn't mean to focus this on patter and presentation. As a general matter, I don't like the idea of just going into a performance and improvising the whole thing because the performance would rarely be as good as a practiced and rehearsed performance both in terms of plot and...

I am obsessed with pushing people to present magic in the strongest possible way. But I'm not shooting for flawless patter. I'm just shooting for something interesting. I'll take any attempt at being interesting over say-do-see patter or what Eugene Burger calls "telling the story of what is...

So here is my question, when you improvise is your patter more than "when I do this" then "look what happens"? Improvising just for the sake of improvising seems to be presenting a self indulgent version of "look what I can do with my props." I suspect that most improvisation with card magic is...

I get a lot of books and I read all of them cover to cover. Even if you don't like a particular effect, there is something to learn there -- a method, a sleight or an idea each of which you can use later. The effects in Light, Lighter and Lightest are all strong effects each of which has...

This is going in my notebook. I love it.

The effect is appropriately named "Silk to Egg." The silk is also vanished at the end of the effect before the egg is cracked.

Part of the issue is learning a method for the sleight that allows you to look natural. That is, different magicians teach sleights differently. I've found that for me, Roberto Giobbi's methods in Card College are way better than anything I've seen in a video. part of that is that most videos...

There are some effects that deserve to be forgotten. When we start out as magicians, we learn a lot of effects. Some of them are simple in both plot and method. Some of them we "create" ourselves. As we learn more, those effects are discarded and forgotten, often for good reason - we've...

Magical Sleight: The key with performing for mixed age groups is to aim the patter at the middle of the group (in this case 3rd or 4th graders) and aim the magic at the older kids. My question for Instant Radio is what are you going to do with it other than turn it on and off? I'll be honest...

Michael: Let me start by saying that I wouldn't be doing this if I didn't think that you and others can learn from it. I could have easily just have typed "good job man!" I have three questions: 1) Did you take the time to write down the patter? and 2) How many times have you rehearsed...

I couldn't imagine a more difficult audience -- 100 kids age 6 through 14. The first trick will be to do effects that can be performed on stage. The second trick will be to make the effects appeal to all of the audience. Like Rick and JI said, list the effects. Also, write how you will...

It was good, but you could have done a lot better. I think your personality was lacking from most of the effec and the patter was say-do-see patter. Patter first. You TWICE say you are not performing magic but an experiment. First off, why bother characterizing what you are saying? Second...

Get the invisible deck. No question on that one. How about Card College Light, Lighter or Lightest? They have great routines without a lot of sleights. The effects are strung together so that you have a ready made routine. You can use those to get over the shakes (which are more related to...