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A little tangential to what I'm talking about. The point I'm getting is that magicians are in a never-ending quest to advance mechanical methodology. But they never perform like they should. That's why our community is filled with wannabes and the bleached bones of those who tried for the...

Now try an answer that took more than a single nanosecond of thought. I'd advise you to take some time and genuinely think about what's been spoken of in this thread.

First off, David's magic at the time was also looked down upon by some as being too simple. Magicians don't use what works nearly as often as they think they do. Second, there is a massive difference between David Blaine and a horde of teenagers who have never had an original thought in...

What do you think it is? I'm hesitant to say. In public anyway. If you must know, PM me. I can tell you what he used, but I'd rather not tip how he used them. Suffice to say that when I tell you what gimmick he used to fool Max Maven, you may be in for a shock.

A rather eloquent lie all to itself. Derren is a sneaky SOB. This is a big part of the point. Most magicians think that if it look good in a mirror, it's good enough. There's nothing else going on because they don't bother to think creatively about anything. There's no strategy. They...

Most of them aren't. I have. That's why I'm saying this.

I'm working on a venue in which this could actually be useful to me. The plot would actually be at home and appropriate in this particular venue and to the audience. That's all I'm going to say about that. My buying this isn't a done deal yet. But it is on the table.

So I'm sitting down at the patio outside of a Panera Bread. I'm sipping my tea and reading a book I just bought not more than a half-hour ago. It's a beautiful day out, and I'm enjoying it. Suddenly, this teenager comes up to me with an introduction like we're old buddies. But there's this...

I'm sorry, but that is extremely funny to me. Granted, it's difficult to make storytelling commercial. And most people suck at telling stories. They barely have enough charisma to just say hi, never mind give us a good narrative. That said, most magicians are actually terrible judges of...

At last night's lecture, an interesting topic was brought up. It began with Ben Seidman talking about the motivation behind every move. It had to make sense and it had to offer multiple layers of deception. He presented a coins across routine that was impromptu, virtually angle-proof, and...

I have a big old can of jellied controversy to open up on that subject in the near future.

I'm sorry, but stuff like that is just too hokey. I'm not even a Christian, and I still see it as corny that you take a belief system 2 millennia old... and turn it into an ad for Coca-Cola.

Just got back from the lecture. Very intriguing. Ben showed us some of his work he's been keeping close to the vest, including a new handling for an old coins across effect by Darryl. Ben's handling is easily the cleanest I've ever seen and one of the most effective. As soon as I can work...

Getting warmer, but not quite there. They are entertaining, which is more than can be said of some of the rabble here, but there's more to it than just that. Symptomatic in my mind of the fact that most magicians are so bloody terrible at the craft that they decide to just lower the...

It's kind of hard to avoid when you're effectively asking a company to release products before your bedtime. Before any of you jackals decide to tear my throat out, keep in mind I was being facetious. Maybe I'm not terribly sympathetic because I'm not buying much in the way of new magic...

Can you tell me what the really big difference is between most of the teenagers here and Penn & Teller?

Let me start with a couple comments on some of the recommendations made thus far. I personally recommend getting Anneman before Corinda. Anneman was the innovator and Corinda was the professor. Start with the foundations of mentalism and then put it into context. Essential reading, but...

Your carelessly exposing a method aside, is anybody here listening? The fact that you don't use a trick regularly makes it okay to teach it to any random schmuck? Are you all really that oblivious to anything outside of your tiny microcosm?

Sky Masterson was based on Titanic Thompson. I think you got the names a little crossed. The Yellow Kid Weil is another name to look into. Very clever and inventive con artist. See this post.

More proof of my theory that if you are an atheist and your name is not Michael Shermer, you probably shouldn't talk.