Search results

I would be interested in reading your script, if you're open to sharing. Rest assured I have no interest in copying someone else's work. And thank you for the book recommendations! Larry Haas certainly sounds like someone I should read into. Thank you for sharing your own beginnings! After...

Thanks for all the great advice! The only set I've ever felt pretty good about used this approach. Maybe I will return to it! I think this is the approach I want to take, ultimately, but I'm still so greenhorn that it's difficult. I suspect it gets easier as you solidify your style...

Hello all! With kids and work and all sorts of life responsibilities, I've had a really tough time keeping up any serious practice with magic, even though I've been seriously interested in it for 15 years now. I find I always come up against the same mental block: I'm no longer interested in...

Ah! A very good point. I'll look into those effects and see what they look like. I may also have something I'm familiar with that could be used to similar avail. Thanks again for your insights!

First of all, thank all three of you so much for your input and thoughts on this. Especially you, @RealityOne, for putting in the time to write out the script like that. I'm amazed at how smooth your writing is, and I could see it all playing out very well in my mind. I really appreciate...

This has been a highly enlightening discussion. Thank you for all the resources and info!

Part of the magic is picking your audience. Not everybody will enjoy magic or react the way you want them to. That's ok.

Does this really differ from anyone else's approach to magic? Seems like the only way to achieve a magical effect with an audience is to act naturally, use justified covers, and make sure the story is simple and easy to follow. But maybe you can point me to other performers with different...

Hey all, I've been into magic for a long time, and dabbled seriously off and on for years now. I've caught some spare time the last few months and have started to get back into it. I have an idea for a routine that I want to flesh out, but something just isn't feeling quite right, and I wanted...

For learning card magic, I recommend picking up Royal Road to Card Magic, as it can be had very cheaply on Amazon, and it has a lot of great material. If you want to invest more, Card College is an easier resource to learn with, but it has 5 volumes and each one is about $40...

Vernon's vanish at the beginning of this documentary is one of my favorites: The whole film is captivating and a great watch.

Yeah it's all mentalism. If I remember right the most compelling work involved billets. Not sure if that suits your needs, but it seems like done properly the routines in that book would sell really well.

I don't have a lot of experience with mentalism, but I love Anneman's Practical Mental Magic. The presentations are a little dated, but for the price I think it can't be beat.

Thanks for your thoughts on Strong Magic gentlemen! I’ll have to look at Maximum Entertainment. I’m curious now if you guys have read any of Fitzkee’s work as well? I’ve heard good things, and I wonder what your feelings are.

I've been thinking about getting it for a while. Mind sharing some of your thoughts? You seem to be the only person I've encountered who didn't love it.

In honor of Ricky Jay, I made my wife watch the documentary about him that was released a few years back: Deceptive Practice. From a filmmaking perspective, it's an incredibly well-done documentary that succeeds better than most at making its subject (Ricky Jay and the world of conjuring)...

I just don't understand what Sankey is getting out of exposing the method for these effects. Can he get at Daniel Madison in a more discrete way?

I agree completely. I think to have any success with cards, you have to focus on simply giving people an experience and not trying to be to "meaningful" about it. Be intriguing, be charming, be funny, etc. There are still a lot of ways you can do this, but it has to really grow out of your...

I do want to note, though, that some magicians have the tendency to take things too far, trying to build an emotional experience for the audience that an effect simply can't sustain. You can only get so serious about two playing cards switching places, and adding some long story about the cards...

There's a lot going on here, and I wanted to chime in because I'm in the movie industry, and I like this kind of question. First, the audience goes into a movie KNOWING with absolute certainty that everything on the screen is a carefully crafted ruse, an artificial story designed for...