if u get the wordplay in the post title then you probably are as lame as i am :P
for some strange reason, i could never come to accept the status quo amongnst coin magicians, which being ``david roth is the best there is". his presentation does not appeal to me and whatever little i have deconstructed of his methods do not impress me any further. may be its because i m a card man and have never understood coin magic. but i m trying to be honest here, not cocky. i have seen very few coin work but i like these
bertini, ponta the smith, eric jones.
anyways ... moving on to the real topic of this post ... don't u think that the false transfer in the following video looks suspicious to a magician ... don't know what a spectator will think of it but it just does not look or feel convincing to me ...
he performs the false transfer thrice and it never appeared convincing to me.. unless ofcourse i have completely missed the mark in deconstructing the method. if it is of any consolation to those who are cursing me right now i am completely fooled by the trick. i do not know how its done.
and now that i am at it let me also confess that i have never ever liked any version of ramsay's coins and cylinders ... every coin magician fancies his chance at greatness by performing a version of it and they always make a mess of it.
Thursday, May 06, 2010
Monday, March 22, 2010
daley's revenge or revenge on daley
i like a lot of the `organic' style of mr. daniel garcia's magic but the trick `daley's revenge' does not make sense at all to me.
`the last trick of dr. daley' is a wonderful effect with a lovely plot that is simple to comprehend and convey and the mechanics involved are not too difficult. over the years i have seen many different presentations and twists of the original but this one sucked. not something i expect from `dg'.
on the other hand look how a simple addition of a new presentation twist added a fun element to this great trick in this john bannon rendition
see the power and beauty of simplicity :)
`the last trick of dr. daley' is a wonderful effect with a lovely plot that is simple to comprehend and convey and the mechanics involved are not too difficult. over the years i have seen many different presentations and twists of the original but this one sucked. not something i expect from `dg'.
on the other hand look how a simple addition of a new presentation twist added a fun element to this great trick in this john bannon rendition
see the power and beauty of simplicity :)
Wednesday, January 13, 2010
Sin "full"
yeah i m pathetic at making puns i guess.. well the title of the post was supposed to be byplay on the the effect sinful by wayne houchin and a little video that he has on his youtube page on the effect.
i really have nothing against exposure ... and if an audience catches me then so be it its a trick and i certainly do not want to claim possession of super human abilities or magical power. i want my audience to know i m doing a trick and that they can do it if they r told the secret ... i m there to entertain and amaze ... that is all.
but i was amazed at wayne for exposing the retention coin vanish in order to explain what "sleight of hand" to his internet audience. not only does he expose it he explains how to do it ... now this is certainly a step forward than dai vernon explaining the fake transfer vanish in his cups and balls routine.
many would say that this is not exposure ...
but i don't care at all... i m not against exposure and i m not for it... so it hardly matters to me .... i could care less about it... but what bothers me is the double attitude of ppl who cry foul each time some body goes on the telly or youtube explaining some secrets... why crucify masked magician or 12 year old kids on youtube but leave the wayne houchins and dai vernons and penn tellers out of ur criticism ...
i really have nothing against exposure ... and if an audience catches me then so be it its a trick and i certainly do not want to claim possession of super human abilities or magical power. i want my audience to know i m doing a trick and that they can do it if they r told the secret ... i m there to entertain and amaze ... that is all.
but i was amazed at wayne for exposing the retention coin vanish in order to explain what "sleight of hand" to his internet audience. not only does he expose it he explains how to do it ... now this is certainly a step forward than dai vernon explaining the fake transfer vanish in his cups and balls routine.
many would say that this is not exposure ...
but i don't care at all... i m not against exposure and i m not for it... so it hardly matters to me .... i could care less about it... but what bothers me is the double attitude of ppl who cry foul each time some body goes on the telly or youtube explaining some secrets... why crucify masked magician or 12 year old kids on youtube but leave the wayne houchins and dai vernons and penn tellers out of ur criticism ...
Tuesday, January 05, 2010
Trumped Triumph by Joshua Jay
see the effect here
this is another example of how a well constructed presentation can take care of a weakness is method etc. at the start of the effect he turns cards face up and down and begins to mix them... while i was watching it i thought... it was a weak part as any astute audience will notice that by looking at the faces of face up cards the magician is improving his chances of knowing the identity of the selected card ...
but soon afterward he playfully looks at the selected card and tell informs the audience that it did not matter if he knew what the card was... so this takes care of the problem i saw in the first part of the set up.
on the issue of astute audience ... many will claim that 90% of the audience do not care about it... and they are right... most audiences do not care about a lot of illogical things we magicians do ... but that is besides the point here.
this is another example of how a well constructed presentation can take care of a weakness is method etc. at the start of the effect he turns cards face up and down and begins to mix them... while i was watching it i thought... it was a weak part as any astute audience will notice that by looking at the faces of face up cards the magician is improving his chances of knowing the identity of the selected card ...
but soon afterward he playfully looks at the selected card and tell informs the audience that it did not matter if he knew what the card was... so this takes care of the problem i saw in the first part of the set up.
on the issue of astute audience ... many will claim that 90% of the audience do not care about it... and they are right... most audiences do not care about a lot of illogical things we magicians do ... but that is besides the point here.
Wednesday, December 02, 2009
cringing in the limelight
there is something sinister in basking the the glory and accolades that result at the successful completion of a trick or effect. the audience is giving me credit for something that i do not deserve. its all hogwash. i may have been instrumental in bringing about the final climax but to be honest i did not do what the audience gave me credit for which is yet another strange in a world that is strangeness epitomized.
i think that actors share the same queer experience just as we magicians do. if you ask yourself honestly, will you ever be able to figure out if you loved an actor because of his screen persona or because of his exceedingly good acting ability. sometimes i think we can never know the real answer ever ... we just convince ourselves that we do know it but its all a sham anyways.
like wise do you think the audiences applaud and celebrate what it is we actually do or what it is that they THINK we do ? obviously its the latter with most audiences but there are also those who admire the actual behind the scene work. i feel very guilty in accepting a prize that is not mine to have. however this is what has to be done for the professional magician otherwise he will end up on street and die in hunger. working professionals donot care care the ethics and logic of performing magic they got into it because they were stung by the bug but now they can't get out so they might as well exist. its hobbyists like me who flirt with sensibilities and reasoning behind magic and its practice. so everytime i perform a masterpiece the resounding thunder of the claps always result in guilt when i rethink. i feel like i have cheated them and most importantly myself. i hate to pretend to be somebody that i m not, i hate to act the part of a magician. i feel they are as phony as silicon breasts. i am spending more and more time trying to perfect my moves and being my own audience. i have stopped calling myself a magician, in fact i m not one.
i think that actors share the same queer experience just as we magicians do. if you ask yourself honestly, will you ever be able to figure out if you loved an actor because of his screen persona or because of his exceedingly good acting ability. sometimes i think we can never know the real answer ever ... we just convince ourselves that we do know it but its all a sham anyways.
like wise do you think the audiences applaud and celebrate what it is we actually do or what it is that they THINK we do ? obviously its the latter with most audiences but there are also those who admire the actual behind the scene work. i feel very guilty in accepting a prize that is not mine to have. however this is what has to be done for the professional magician otherwise he will end up on street and die in hunger. working professionals donot care care the ethics and logic of performing magic they got into it because they were stung by the bug but now they can't get out so they might as well exist. its hobbyists like me who flirt with sensibilities and reasoning behind magic and its practice. so everytime i perform a masterpiece the resounding thunder of the claps always result in guilt when i rethink. i feel like i have cheated them and most importantly myself. i hate to pretend to be somebody that i m not, i hate to act the part of a magician. i feel they are as phony as silicon breasts. i am spending more and more time trying to perfect my moves and being my own audience. i have stopped calling myself a magician, in fact i m not one.
Wednesday, November 04, 2009
halo cut, unnatural ?
oh my god this is the second post where i am criticizing mr. harry lorayne again, what the heck is wrong with me. any ways here it goes ...
HaLo Aces is the effect I believe where the magician seems to genuinely loose the aces in the pack and then dead cuts to them even while shuffling the deck. when i was first shown the effect it boggled my mind to a great extent. its ingenious in its working from a magician's point of view and is a great magician fooler.
it was when i was playing with this effect that it occurred to me that there is a basic fallacy in the Halo Cut. if u kick cut the top half then the card at the bottom of the top talon or the top card of the bottom talon is technically the card you have dead cut to ... right ? but that is not the case with the HaLo cut. of course it will pass by all laymen but i wonder how it did not occur to me that i was completely oblivious to the fallacy. this just goes to show how blind we get when performing our magic we seldom think about what it is exactly that we are doing.
any ways the solution that i m currently using is to use the Halo cut and then complete the cut keeping a break and then cutting the deck once again this time there is no fallacy when executing the dead cut.
by the way the reason i think i discovered the unnaturalness of the halo cut is a post by tyler wilson on the unnaturalness of the double undercut. though i personally don't think the double undercut is unnatural but if mr. lorayne gets angry then he should know that it is mr. tyler wilson who should get the blame :P
HaLo Aces is the effect I believe where the magician seems to genuinely loose the aces in the pack and then dead cuts to them even while shuffling the deck. when i was first shown the effect it boggled my mind to a great extent. its ingenious in its working from a magician's point of view and is a great magician fooler.
it was when i was playing with this effect that it occurred to me that there is a basic fallacy in the Halo Cut. if u kick cut the top half then the card at the bottom of the top talon or the top card of the bottom talon is technically the card you have dead cut to ... right ? but that is not the case with the HaLo cut. of course it will pass by all laymen but i wonder how it did not occur to me that i was completely oblivious to the fallacy. this just goes to show how blind we get when performing our magic we seldom think about what it is exactly that we are doing.
any ways the solution that i m currently using is to use the Halo cut and then complete the cut keeping a break and then cutting the deck once again this time there is no fallacy when executing the dead cut.
by the way the reason i think i discovered the unnaturalness of the halo cut is a post by tyler wilson on the unnaturalness of the double undercut. though i personally don't think the double undercut is unnatural but if mr. lorayne gets angry then he should know that it is mr. tyler wilson who should get the blame :P
Saturday, October 31, 2009
ultra move , natural ?
i like the ultra move (harry lorayne) a lot ... haven't used it much but practice it every now and then. there is one un natural issue with it which bothers me at times. if using the left thumb you push the top card to the side to display its identity to the spectators you must also pull it back with the left thumb. this happens naturally and also because the thumb is still in contact with the card and the other fingers can't reach ``easily" the side of the pushed card. in order for the fingers to push back the card the thumb has to first pull the card back a little then the fingers can complete the job.
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