Mind Magic and Mentalism

jasa pembuatan toko online murah Wow, what a long ass week I had. Doing nothing but shows. So I got my personal taste of what it is like to be a high profile professional. Dude, I don't wanna go there. Too much work. I like my weekdays off. I'm happy enough being a weekend magician.

So what happened in the magic world: Well James L Clark got his Mentalism for Dummies book out. And what a controversy it started. As expected most of the routines described in the book are by others who did not give their permission to have their routines republished. Richard Osterlind's Change of Mind (58-60)and his Bank Night routine (60-63). Over at the Green Monster is a thread where Richard Osterlind makes it very clear that James L. Clark has not Osterlind's permission. The same goes for Andrew Gerard's Energy Bill pulau tidung (64-65) routine who also states that James L. Clark took his routine and published it without permission of any kind. Luke Jermay's routine where "seeing with the fingertips" is demonstrated is also republished (81-84).

Lior Manors' Invisible Touch (162-164), Eric Ross' Crush (166), Colin McLeod's Bookless Booktest (176-178), Ted Lesley's Teleport Envelope (178-182), Patrick Knuff's Bold Business (192-195), Kenton Knepper's Kolossal Killer (212-214) just to give you a snapshot!

ElliotB, author of SwitchCraft said pulau tidung:

Reading it, I got the impression that Mr. Clark sat by his computer with a thesaurus and a copy of Switchcraft in hand, and typed away; making sure to change and rearrange things sufficiently, so as to not violate any laws. Everything just seemed so familiar.
Mr. Clark starts with: "You can accomplish almost any trick in mentalism by using a switch."
While, in Switchcraft, I wrote "just about any effect in mentalism can be accomplished with a billet switch."
And on my website, I wrote "With a billet switch, you can present just about any mental effect imaginable."
Clark then teaches my EB Switch from Switchcraft. He does a very, very poor job of it too. He does not credit me pulau tidung or mention my name. He certainly did not have my permission.
Then, he teaches the "Switch and Read," just as I teach the "Simple Switch and Read" in Switchcraft.
He uses my EB Switch to switch billets and reads the participant's billet in his lap using a gypsy glimpse, just like in Switchcraft (although he does burn the dummy billet.)
I did not invent reading a billet or the "Gypsy Glimpse." But, Mr. Clarks section on switch work reminds me very much of a third grade child copying from an encyclopedia, but with a team of editors to back him up.

bisnis online All of that is freaky on so many levels. I feel bad for those who have their work being used without permission, but it proves what the magic world seems to think about James L Clark. The book goes into details about certain gimmicks without even exploring the possibilities by using it in a routine. It is there for spoiler's sake only. This is a mean spirited book. jasa desain website murah

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All you Open Travelers

Here is pro tip for you, if you do any Open Travelers (aka Invisible Palm).

DO NOT show your hand empty on the first card. Keep it palm down. Spread the fingers... leave the people wondering how exactly you palm the card. Even make a fist... then go down and conclude the first effect. On the second time you can show your hand empty. But only very, very briefly. On the third time you can be all "open" about it.

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Splice you Opinion

Shin Lim may be a bright new light on the magic horizon. Maybe too bright... One of his products: Splice. With a nifty demo video:



In case it is deleted: A signed Eight of Diamonds is shown, twirled on the right hand middle finger to prove it's a single card. Then it is placed on the deck, and then placed in the middle. Magic gesture, and it's back on top. Near the end of the video this is repeated from a different angle. The only difference: The card is not placed on top, and then placed in the middle. But placed on top and cut into the middle via Charlier Cut.

Here is the caviar: The video is faked. A duplicate is used.


This issue was brought up on the Magic Café. Shin Lim replied:

Hey guys, Shin Lim here. This has been a move I've been working on for a while now, and I felt that it was a sleight worth putting out into the magic community. It's a move that can be done perfectly if practice is put in to it. So the answer is NO I didn't use two duplicates. All it took for dendrake to do was to crop my playing card a couple of milimeters up to make the signature look different. If you notice the end result of the second 8 was that the 8 on top looked faded on the edges, because of the "cropping". Guys, I would never do such a thing as to use 2 duplicates when the move doesn't ask for it(and because I would rather take the time to do a couple of "takes" and get the move right on camera, than to painstakingly forge a signature and make them look identical). It's an extremely clean sleight, and if you ever see me at a convention, I'll be more than happy to show you a live demonstration, including you, Dendrake.

Shin Lim

What a liar.

This is not new. I remember the time when Craig Petty faked a sleeving demonstration during the Wizard Product review. But that's a different story.

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Being humble and great!

So there is this article over at the magic cafe. Someone asked for the most underrated card men and asked to list some. John Bannon was among the mentions and I would agree. But also statements like "I'm underrated". I humbly beg for your opinion... is it just me, or is humbleness not a positive character trait anymore? Is it considered weakness or what?

This of course extends to advertisement. I cannot believe how many #1 magicians are out there. And I truly believe that most of them doing it, actually believe their tooting of their own horn. To think of oneself as the best thing since sliced bread really is a bad character trait! At least in my humble opinion.

It worries me. From a psychological point of view. So I'm asking you: Do you know a magician, who is very self centered and doesn't take any criticism without fighting like a mad man? Who suffers from a lack of empathy or remorse, false emotions, selfishness, grandiosity or deceptiveness, which results in a pervasive pattern of disregard for, or violation of, the rights of others? If so I suggest you read all about this.

I understand that if you don't advertise yourself nobody else does... Well this is not true. You can pay someone to do this. I can tell when the text of a website is written by the magician himself. And most choose the "third person" to do that. And of course they do. It's much easier to write something good about yourself and not come across as a selfish prick. Try this: change your website's text from third person to first person. If it comes across like you are an egocentric dick, you should change your advertisement.

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Waving the Red Flag

I guess still being a reading member of the Magic Cafe has some merit. So there is this growing private message that Steve Brooks spammed to all the users, endorsing the "Real Secrets Team". Naturally the question about who the hell is behind Real Secrets came up.

The reason that we are not telling exactly who is involved with Real Secrets is that this is more about the many people involved as opposed to a person/persons/entity.

Rest assured that top names that you trust are involved and there is nothing underhanded. Real Secrets is about the material, the artists, and about secrets - it is not about one person, a few people, or a company - it is you and the best people in magic.

So if it doesn't matter, then who is behind Real Secrets? This should be a fucking big red flag. You are asked to pay before knowing what you will get exactly. You get offered two kinds of membership, platinum and gold. That is a nice psychological touch to make you think you are missing something big if you don't get the more expensive version. Also you won't be able to get older issues if you sign up later. We'll no pressure here! Also auto-recurring subscription... combined with the rumor that the contact box seems to be not working properly. On the TOS page they say "You agree not to describe, share, or post videos of any of the effects or methods shared in the Real Secrets community." In other words you would break their terms of service if you say anything about how it sucks and they kick you out. All of that just screams  STAY AWAY... THOSE ARE SCAMMERS! 

Unless of course they would reveal content and identity...

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Hey guys, I'm talking to you! You Tenyo Elite!

Jason Palter, Peter Loughran and Steve Brooks, yeah you. Aka JPS Magic Studios. What's up? Are you still around? I'm just asking because in August 2009 you wrote on your Tenyo Elite website:

We are proud to say that our first two Tenyo Elite releases (Fortune Sticks and Moonspinner) are officially in production and being manufactured as you read this!

And what a fun time that was. Both items I can still buy. Not that anybody needs metal version of cheap looking plastic tricks anyway. How did that work out for you? I really would like to know. The news post you made three years ago continues:

Our other two products (Blue Crystal and Soft Coins) will follow in a couple of months---to ensure that all our 2009 releases are out before the end of the year.

Too bad that both these items are still labelled as "coming soon". What's going on? Or was 99 bucks for each the Fortune Sticks and the Moonspinner too much?

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Totally Off Topic

I really don't like to go off topic on this magic blog, but I have seen the following video. I never saw such an asshole. He has no idea what he is talking about. He oversimplifies, draws wrong conclusions, if any and even dares to say that he is interested in science. What fucking idiot. And that is not based on science, but my own opinion.

This guy made me angry. He is not trying to say that creationism is right, but he is trying to willfully hurt those who use the scientific method to further understand the universe. And the way he does it is by misdirection. He starts with one liners and jokes, which could have been in the repertoire of any close up magician.  And then he brushes over the topics in a breathtaking speed which make it hard to argue against, because one is hit with the next wall of bullshit a second later.

I'm all for freedom of speech and all. But he is just an fucking idiot.




Make sure you watch this too... before watching the above video. Kind of stupid of me to set them up in the wrong order!

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Cryptic Headline!

When did Paul Harris start slapping his shitty name on every magic product?

Almost as bad as Harry Lorayne!

The sad thing... whenever I hear the name Paul Harris I think of the little man and what an over hyped piece of shit it was. And having that in mind I can't take any product seriously even if it actually is good.

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It's been bothering me!

I gotta give Jay Sankey a bit of credit. When he came up with the "Three Ring Circus" it was a smart move to use real key rings. They are instantly recognized as a normal object and people know about their properties...
They know that they can be linked. That brings any linking routine into a believable realm. Yet the links look magical, making that precious "suspension of disbelief" much easier for the audience.

Now if you are going to do a linking ring routine using tiny little rings, I'd say go for the "Three Ring Circus" by Jay Sankey.

Knowing that the Magic Makers' version sucks major ass.



Dear Magic Makers.... or better dear Rob Stiff. If you gonna steal at least steal correctly. You ripped of the design of the Mystery Box by John Kennedy and you managed to created a product that looks cheap even in your poor attempt at advertising. But I guess people will buy it anyway. They will probably look past the tell tale handling and give two shits about the actual designer of that particular box.

Same goes for your "Magic Cartoon Deck" Not only did you manage to not get the credits straight you even tell a flat out lie. You say: "Based on an original effect in the same playing card flip book format with an animated magic top hat and dove flying out from 1954 and 1959 by Educards of Canada"

That maybe true but is not the inspiration that you had for real. You just copied the Card Toon Deck. And you even did it wrong. It is supposed to look like you just doodled on the back of the cards. In your version the drawings are clearly printed on. The white color gives it away that it really isn't any normal deck, but a special magic deck, therefore making the effect worthless. Again.... if you gonna steal at least steal correctly.

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Felching that Cunt aka Fucking Coins!

How is that for an offensive title? There is a DVD out. Called Fucking Coins, by Philippe Bougard and Clement Kerstenne two young Belgian magicians who seem to be full of little ideas how to spice up old coin work. They are far from being good, but that's doesn't stop people from releasing stuff. (Weapons of Mass Destruction comes to mind. Yes I read the whole darn thing.) But naturally people get excited not because of the content, but because of the title. It's offensive and vile.



The cover art for the DVD is is a lady pressing her boobs together to support a coin for crying out loud. But first... watch the trailer:


Offended by the magic or just the title? He was flipping the bird near the end only to produce a coin. People who are offended: Grow the fuck up! Offensive words have a function in any language. They are meant to offend people. The masses get polarized. In those who take it with the grain of salt and laugh about it and those who are easily aggrieved. Like Michael Rubenstein. There is a lengthy tread over at the Green Monster about the DVD. Mr. Rubenstein had the following to say:

As a parent, I would not allow my child to purchase this, and as an adult, I wouldn't buy it on principle. I am guessing the producers are from another country, and perhaps (extending a long leash here) they don't understand the implication of the word. Perhaps they think its hip. This is why we get names like Ninja, Stealth, Jet. But that word? It's a slap in the face. Certain words, swear ,racist, or otherwise, have no place being used in our profession. I can only imagine the backlash if I used a French, Italian, or German swear word intentionally in a title. Freedom of speech gives them the freedom to call it whatever they want, but I for one hope our US distributors do not sell it. A lesson should be learned here.

Well I assume he's not the target audience for that.
If I wanna offend, words like "fuck" are a great asset. But I don't have to rely on those. I can use really nice words to tell others how bad they are. I got a whole blog devoted to that. But I can use really nasty words to mean very positive things. "Wow, the was the best fucking ride I ever had in my entire life."

There is no bad language. There is only you who can stand stuff. But words? Really? Words? Four letters, strung together is a "slap in the face"? No it's not. Some people love to swear, it makes them feel liberated from the straight jacket known as formal speech.

And maybe, just maybe that feeling of liberation is the sole motivation to call that coin DVD "Fucking Coins." Being free from those old dusty plot, from the same tried and true patter, from coin mold that Michael Rubinstein and folks feel so comfortable in. It's two young Belgian magicians, who freed themselves from the box. Now they are thinking outside the box. And they did that with a mission statement: "Fucking Coins"

Both Philippe Bougard and Clement Kerstenne obviously love coin magic. But they also very obviously don't like the old school approach. So they added fire, visual moves and some young rebellious attitude.

You can argue about that. Not about the title.

So did they succeed with the DVD? Not really I think. Watch this:


They have a lot to learn about coins.

But wanna know the real reason why the DVD is called "Fucking Coins"?
Suddenly people talk about it!

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Oy Vey! Dan Harlan.... What are you doing!

Dan Harlan's releases are hit and miss. Here is a big fat miss:
   

What's up with the missing personality, the half backed tricks, the badly executed tried and true tricks, the obvious palms, the unmotivated ditching and stealing of props, the constant fumbling...

Yeah... I would not put that anyone's repertoire.

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Colombini to the Rescue

Mass spam private message by Steve Brooks via MC...:

Ultimate Self Working Card Tricks - your magic will never be the same again!

Wow, just wow.

I just love how self workers are treated "ultimate". The sad thing, people interested in this are not the people that should be performing those. It takes an experienced worker who to truly milk a good self working card trick. It's just for the pros.

But those who won't go through the trouble of actually learning a double lift will be the ones that buy the DVD. Guess what else they not gonna learn? Showmanship.

Are you looking forwards to endless dealing and lines like "I got a lucky card"?

"Tutorials on Charlier Shuffle, Jay Ose Cut, Breather Crimp, Bobby Bernard False Cut & Riffle Shuffle (for those who want to take the tricks to the next level of deceptiveness)." (from the BBM website)

Wow, the Charlier Shuffle is the next level of deceptiveness. That means that a Zarrow Shuffle would be even more of a level. Then the Push Through Shuffle. What's then... Game Over man, Game Over!

Btw: A true selfworker has the magician not handling the cards at all. That's key!

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The Next Big Thing

If I could turn back time and had my heart ripped out.... I  assume I wouldn't want to be a magician. I would be a magic dealer. Seriously! Think about it! I could buy a product from the big supplier and resell it for about 1000% interest... and call it a discount, when it is 20% off. Of course all of that would make me money, but any business is out to make even more money in less time, so I would have to think of a way to generate money even faster. So I guess my next logical step would be "social networking" I would create some Facebook like trap "to give magicians all over the world the chance to communicate and share their ideas with one another."

Of course people all the magicians would come and do what they have done before, but now they do it at my site. Feeling familiarity and all of that. So whenever I want to sell a product I am right at the costumer base. Not only that. They would feel inclined to buy from me instead of some other dealer. You know... family and stuff.

Hmm, that still wouldn't generate me money fast enough, so I guess the next step is to appeal even more to the common magicians sense to get the latest thing. How about a marketplace where the community has to produce the content. They have to create the magic, make a video and then use your marketplace to sell it. Of course I would get part of the sell.

Not bad. What else? Since I don't care about magic at all (had my heart ripped out, remember) I could resell all the old secrets and "revalue" them. Giving the craving community a "course on the Double Lift." I would probably get a famous magician to do that 4 DVD set. And I do that for every move. Rehashing Tarbell perhaps? Or the whole of the Apocalypse. Yeah... that's it. The Apocalypse DVD set. You could get them monthly to recall the old times. You could probably even get the creators to demonstrate the effects. Yeah... I love it. Of course I would have to wait until Harry dies... but that's what... a couple of years.... who knows, meanwhile I make money with my next big project.

Yeah I will host a grand assembly with all the big names (even Shawn) to let them discuss magic. You know that thing they do for free on the forums, but I would get it on DVD and sell it. Yeah!

What else? Playing cards... those haven't seen a major update in like forever. Novelty playing cards. Including gimmicks. Those will sell like sliced bread. I would even make a fancy trailer with some guy doing flourishes. I will make it look like a movie trailer. (Note to self: Make sure there is at least one iPhone in the shot)

Oh, what about the forums. People share their thoughts there. Maybe I could hop in and hype a product that is about to be released. Offer an early bird discount.... get some big name (they too need money) to say something positive about it, and it will sell like crazy.

Hmm, about those who oppose me? Well I could round up my fans and have them work against me. Saying something like "Illusionistshop 12 has done more for magic than all the secrecy over the years."

I got it now. I would need a web show. I get some morons who love magic and have them review some of the stuff I sell. I put a cat in there too. People love the animal hook.

Yeah... too bad I'm a magician.

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Card Manipulators listen up!

Has it ever occurred to you that purposefully dropping a single card, stepping on it and producing a fan of cards from the sole of the shoe really doesn't make a lot of logical sense?

How about just one! The one you dropped!

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The Price of Magic

Should magic be made available to those with money only? Of course not. But magic needs a price. Magic secrets need to be earned in order to be appreciated.

It used to be hard to get magic knowledge. The public libraries were a good start, but those resources were limited. Where did you go then? There was no internet, you didn't even know about magic dealers. In fact you had to get a phone book and go through the lists. And then you planned your trip to the big city. You went there with anticipation. You went into a magic store for the first time in your life. And there it was. Magic secrets. Each so close but often enough not attainable because of the price tag. The price tag actually protected the secret. But that visit got you connected to the magic scene. Magicians usually were hanging out in the store. You talked to them, they showed you a card trick that went over your head, because they were not using the key card principle and you got all exited.

And in order to get this trick you had to pay a price. It was either buying him a drink, become friend, or to beg the hell out of the man. And finally he would let you take part in the secret. A short card. Who could have thought of that? And with that you went home and explored all the possibilities of that principle. You didn't rush it. There was no pressure. No next secret that you had to learn with a simple mouse click. But along with the great card trick, the sponge balls and the svengali deck you bought was a piece of paper. The catalog. You read for hours in there. And your choice was valuable because you paid a price of that. Time.

A few days later that magician from the magic shop would call you. Asking how you progress is. And if you have time tomorrow. As there will be a club meeting. You are invited. So this is it. The great magic club. Surely there would be no more secrets.

So you went back to the big city, you met the guy a few hours before the club meeting. You proudly would show him the tricks that you made up with the short card principle. He would smile. And then he would show you another card trick. And that would totally blow you away. You would beg, but this time he wouldn't tell you.

It was such a weird feeling to enter the magic club. It was a cool, new and indeed full of secrets. But nobody shared anything with you. They talked in a language you didn't understand. "Oh it's simple, you run to the injog, get a break, pass them and dl the top card to show and indifferent card." Little did you know that they were sharing secrets. You just didn't understand them. You didn't pay the price. Experience and time.

When you went home, that magician you met at the magic store would bring you to the bus. And there he would tell you the secret of the card trick he did earlier that evening. You paid for the secret. With patience. It was the key card principle that made the trick work.

You couldn't believe that. How could he have fooled you with a method you already knew? Because you didn't explore it enough. Because it was free to begin with.

You went home having learnt an important lesson. There is always a price you need to pay for magic. Time, patience, experience, humiliation, social interaction and over all even money.

Now we got the internet. Now it's fuck you to all of that. Here are the secrets. They are for free. Swallow them quickly, the next one is coming up right away. No time, no patience, no experience, no humiliation, no social interaction and no money. What a great world we live in.

Fuck the secret. It's not worth anything anymore. Not even money.

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On treating animals!

Just because you eat them doesn't mean you can treat them like shit.

A rabbit in a small tube with hardly any room to breathe, monkeys in small hold outs, cats and dog being janked. Weasels fiercely pulled by their skin after they get dropped on the stage. A cat being tossed in the air. Utter fear on the monkeys faces. Disoriented dogs, doves in obviously too tight dove holders. The claws of the cat obviously being trimmed so they cannot inflict any damage. Kittens dropped in a box. Ducklings being squeezed flat so they can be produced from the base of a transparent box. A small poodle in a drawer box that really isn't any bigger on the table in the background the whole time. The constant loud noise of the music, the idiot audience who clap like retards and the freaking pistol that is used. It's stress for the animals. Some are shaking, most are disorientated. And don't forget the hideous live stuffed animal in the second video near the end. The lady for the audience drops the monkey in a suit. This is fail... I hope Jack Takeda is no longer around.

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Get help!

Today I'm gonna give you some real good advice. Seriously! I have come across so many magicians and I noticed one thing: They all wanna do everything by themselves. The have no skill programming a website, yet they tinker around until they got a website that looks like shit. They have no photoshop skills and end up with something like this:

Take a look at how others do some stuff that they cannot do. They get someone to do it for them. They hire some expert or ask a friend. The result most often is professional. Get a director if you need a good stage show. A choreographer to help you move. A speech trainer to help you patter correctly. A writer to write you monologue/dialogue. A professional photographer to make nice pictures in proper resolution. A guy who can paint or recreate your props, so they don't look store bought. Whatever it is you can't do, there is somebody out there who can. Get help!

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Dear Magic Makers

Spell "Fred Kaps" correctly. If using that name is supposed to be a homage to the fanatastic Fred Kaps, at least make the effort of researching how to spell his name. Lame!

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Coin in Bottle

The great thing about the good old "coin in the bottle" effect is that there is no way to get the coin into the bottle, as the coin is bigger than the neck of the bottle. This is the actual effect, not so much the apparent penetration of the coin through the glass of the bottle.

So all these new versions seem to miss that fine point. It's about creating an impossible object.

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Decode

Hey, I got a better idea than this. How about this. A small card is introduced. On it is a QR code. The spectator is asked to think of any object/animal/thing in the world. The the spectator is to use the own phone to scan the QR code. The code will link to this website. There they have to answer just 20 simple questions about the thing they are thinking of.

And instead of charging 31,50 dollars for it, I'd sell it for 30. It's a bargain. And not overly complicated at all,

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