Ye Olde Magick Blogge

I’ve decided to consolidate my media empire, and at the moment I’ll be running a feature from Ye Olde Magick Blogge over here, because frankly, sleightly.com needs more traffic. Every month, people come by the olde blogge through some interesting google searches. Some of them are worth looking at.

juan tamariz the magic way: It’s good, if you can find it. I’m not entirely certain that it’s the last word on the subject, but ultimately, the aim of the book is to study how one can be better able to manage the suspicions a spectator has as they evolve over the life of a trick. I tried doing a quick book review type thing here whilst talking about how Tamariz’s way of thinking can help us defeat exposure. Truth is, it can do a lot more than that. No word yet on a reprint, unfortunately. It is worth mentioning that Michael Close has talked about how he likes to have phases use methods that cancel each other out, and his stuff is a little more readily available.

“lee hathaway” “lorayne”: I think this is in reference to a scuffle between Lorayne and Hathaway. Now, I’ve learned my lesson when it comes to that sort of thing, so I’m not going to say anything at all… except that you can read about it he- oh wait, no you can’t, seems it’s been deleted from the Cafe. Aw, nevermind, I’m sure they’ll end up great chums.

l&l audience retard, audience retard performance magic l&l, l&l audience magic sankey retard, l&l audience that was asked if he was retard, sankey retard assistent, l&l ask retard: I’m sensing a theme. And if you thought that was bad, then keep in mind I didn’t include all 22 variations of that search query. What the heck? I know that it was brought about by my review on the Secrets of Finger Ring Magic DVD, at which point I thought one of the humourous things about it was the Sankey’s performance where he’s busting John’s chops, but man, I never thought it would become an item of trivia. My first guess was that this was a research question of some kind to get into a secret forum somewhere… Anyways, poor John. I never thought that would become his legacy. I’ll tell you what, though, he’s a performing magician’s wet dream — somebody who has a good time watching magic, isn’t afraid to express himself, and usually doesn’t interrupt a trick. It’d be a shame if he was remembered for anything other than that.

sam the bellhop patter: You can read it here.

john carney swing blade: I have a bone to pick with John Carney over this trick. On his DVD he said he got it from Sachs Sleight Of Hand, and because I remember reading elsewhere that Carney said this was a library requirement, I picked it up and started reading… and consequently couldn’t understand two out of every three words. Man, what a writing style. In any case, don’t get me wrong, I’m sure there’s good magic inside, but it makes Erdnase’s Expert at the Card Table read like a kid’s book in comparison.

torrent bruce cervon: You want to download a person?

approaching magic david regal review: Sorry to say that I didn’t win that Magic Cafe contest where the winner got a copy, so what with my thin funds I won’t be able to review it anytime soon. Funny thing there. Regal showed up and commented on how he was surprised to see so many submissions that we in questionable taste… only to turn around and award a submission entitled “I Ate Marlo, by Bill Malone.” Huh? Anyways, I’m sure it’s a good book. Hotel 52 is in there, and it’s a great idea and, in my opinion, represents good work both on the basic plot AND the basic technique at the core of the plot. And for the record, I’m so not bitter at all about losing.

depoprevera: Ok, I know I’ve not got the greatest memory in the world, but for the life of me I don’t remember EVER writing something even close to this on the olde blogge… Google’s search engine is whacked sometimes. I mean, I don’t even know what a depoprevera is. Sounds like one of Doug Stanhope’s gannipgannobs.

flips truly magical rope: Can’t remember if I commented on this one before or not. In any case, I liked it. I think there’s some really interesting stuff in there, and with the ropes in his hands he’s got a flair for the theatrical that not many other magicians have. Granted, some of the things in there are the sorts of things only Flip could perform, especially when he starts contorting the rope into shapes to make impressions of various things, but it was still a nice purchase. In fact, I think I’m going to pop it into the DVD drive tonight right after I finishing writing this instead of downloading porn.

how to do chelman’s aces: No idea. I asked an anagram maker, and he gave this particularly insightful response: “A concealed moth shows”. Whoa.

who won celabracadabra: C. Thomas Howell, who I think is featured on the cover of this month’s Genii. Howell was coached by David Regal, who, interestingly enough, didn’t select either of my two entries in his book competition.

“approaching magic” regal: Sorry, it’s not up on the intraweb yet. Perhaps Regal was too busy denying my entries into his book competition to type it up.

“four coin” + “four aces” “magic trick”: Might be matrix…?

“sam schwartz” backflip: Linked there before, but I shall link there again… Here is a Genii discussion on the trick.

“twisting the aces+flustration count”: Huh… I don’t know of any version that uses it. Perhaps somebody in the readership has an idea?

“will houstoun”: I know I’ve talked about this elsewhere, but I can’t be bothered to double-check… If you’re into finger manipulation of the Meir Yedid variety, Houstoun’s Freak DVD is worth looking into.

3 card monte psychology: The psychology… as in what makes the game work? Or what the spectator is thinking about while the game is going on? Get Whit Haydn’s and the School for Scoundrels DVD on the subject if you want to learn more about this. Not that Daryl’s DVD isn’t good, but he doesn’t approach this side of things as well as Whit and the boys do.

al schneider vanish: A workhorse. Learn it.

amazing johnathan zombie ball: Couldn’t remember it, so I went a-googling myself, and came across this… Funny.

anthony tuccillo: Read his Poolside Reflections Blog.

benjamin earl dvd review magic cafe: Overall the reaction at the Cafe has been really supportive of this DVD. Ramjollock in particular has gotten a lot of good press.

cannibal kings card trick: Apparently L&L has just produced a new video dedicated to the plot. I was surprised by that, as I didn’t know this was a trick known for having many different variations on it. Anyways, Juan Tamariz’s is nice. Look his up.

card transposition trick with case: Many different ways to go about this. Swain’s got a nice one coming out on his new DVD set.

criss angel eugene burger: Now there’s a boxing match I’d like to see.

daryl or ackerman: I’m going to take a guess that this might have to do about which DVD set on card sleights to buy…? I’ve not seen Ackerman’s all the way through, only the DVD dedicated to shuffles. Others can comment better, but if one can extrapolate from that DVD, Ackerman covers fewer topics but the ones he covers, he does more thoroughly than Daryl. On that particular DVD on shuffles, for instance, in addition to the usual suspects, you’ll learn the Zarrow and the Shank, with variations, and several tricks that use the techniques — these things are absent from Daryl’s. Can’t speak for the rest of the set, but if I had to take a guess, I’d say Daryl’s is probably more introductory overall than Ackerman’s.

david regal approaching magic torrent: I shall rebuke this on two levels — first, the book’s not even been out there long enough for people to be pirating it, and deux, you shouldn’t steal from Regal. He’s a nice guy. Even though he didn’t pick me for his recent contest…

deja reverse card trick tutorial: Not to be a jerk, but if you’re still thinking that web tutorials are a good way to learn card magic, you’re not ready for Deja Reverse. It’s too difficult, and you’ll need to build some necessary skills up before you’ll be ready for it.

devant “our magic”: Regarded very highly by several as a great work on magic theory. I’ll need to do another readthrough before I can give it my personal recommendation, but Whit Haydn (among others) consider it a classic. I do believe that parts of it are now in the public domain, as well.

eugene burger gypsy thread script: Magical Voyages. Good set. Get it.

expert card technique toc: Click here, and then bookmark the main page.

extrem burn richard sanders what’s the gimmick: Video editing. He’s scamming you.

forworkersonly.com magic forum review: Don’t know much about it except that he’s upped the price for new subscribers. Perhaps that’s an indication of supply and demand, dunno.

free torrent magician explanation: No need to download any torrents, here’s the explanation right here.

half pass card sleights: I had a chance to see Aaron’s Fischer’s Gravity Half Pass, and it looked pretty good. Granted, it was on camera and not in the context of a trick, so it’s hard to tell if it looks better or worse than that when done live. That said, I thought it looked really good. Apparently it’s on The Paper Engine.

harry blackstone vanishing birdcage secret: Smoke and mirrors, baby.

haw to do magic tricks: I suppose that’s better than “hee to do magic tricks”.

how to do the professor’s nightmare diagram: Huh?

how to do the professors nightmare rope routine: That’s better. For you and mr “haw” above, I recommend Mark Wilson’s complete course.

how to fold a thumb tip: Again… Huh?

how to make a ring jump from one finger to the others: Send a sexy lady into a room full of married men.

is lucifer in the mona lisa: Yup. Having a swim in the background.

magic best coin in bottle: I like David Roth’s, personally.

magic stuff: Hm… Imagining a turkey and a bowl of breadcrumbs, and making the breadcrumbs magically stu- Nope, not working for me.

mentalism card stacking: Heh. I think (hope?) you mean “mentalism card stack”, because the last thing a mentalist would want to do is tip the fact that he’s good at card stacking. Look into work by Osterlind, Aronson, Tamariz, etc. on full deck stacks as there’s plenty in there that can be used for mentalists.

minnesota magic clubs: For the life of me I can’t remember if they were SAM or IBM, but at the Twin Cities Magic and Costume shop in St. Paul, on the upper level, they’ve been holding monthly magic club meetings. If you go there, say hi to Tyler Erickson for me.

mismade bill worth it: Are you asking…? I suppose so. The question to me is whether or not it’s better than a routine that uses a straightforward bill switch. There’s lots of discussion on this in Lovick’s Switch book.

ob-ser-vo magic review: I’ll be honest. While I like the trick, I REALLY like the idea of it more. The way Burger talks about using it for a bunch of policemen, dealing with the themes of different people observing different things, I think that’s brilliant. Another example of somebody creating a magic routine specifically to take advantage of the audience’s schemata is this Ricky Jay piece called the Sword of Vengeance. I really like the idea of magic that is tailor-made to a specific audience.

organize a mnemonica deck: Aw man… I remember in Mnemonica he talks about how to set it up quickly several different way. Again, away from my magic library, so sorry I can’t help more.

random miscellaneous advice: Erm… Ok, I googled Fortune Cookie sayings, and I got this one. “Never wear your best pants before you go fight for freedom.” So, uh, yeah. Don’t do that. Wearing the best pants, before fighting for freedom. Wear the other pants.

revelations book dai vernon: Now, don’t get me wrong, I’m as thrilled about the new publication as I am about any book that I’m not going to get a chance to read anytime soon, but between “Revelations” and “Revelation”, there’s going to be a lot of confusion out there.

richard turner key card: Richard Turner does a trick with a key card? If that’s true, I find that highly amusing. I love it when the big guns get you with stuff you should already know.

shell game patter: Haydn and Co. have a new DVD on the shell game coming out, and apparently one of the things that’s going to be on there is an exploration of various ways to present it, including new approaches in patter. Apparently. I don’t have my copy yet, but when I do I’ll report back.

steve haynes casanova concept review: Again, over at the Cafe, there’s a lot of praise for this.

tabary elegant rope download ?: No. No tabary elegant rope download.

the other magic café: There’s one of those out there? Neat.

the perfect magic busking table: Sturdy and able to handle rough-treatment. The weight isn’t a big deal even if you have to carry the thing, in my opinion, and in fact I like the idea of a table that’s not going to blow over with a gust of strong wind. That said, if you’re going to carry it, make sure it’s not uncomfortable slinging it over the shoulder, or you’ll end up dreading it.

what do you call the 3 card monte of dai vernon?: Bob? Dunno what you mean, but if you want to learn it, it’s on Daryl’s DVD and there’s a youtube video floating around out there. It’s pretty good, but the stuff in there is pretty standard as well.

what is a fingerring: I read that as “what is a fingering” first, and I was getting ready to hand out a scolding…

woo hoo ye hoo: Aw man, now I’m going to have that Gwen Stefani song stuck in my head now. Well screw it, I’m not suffering that ear worm alone. Click here.

andi gladwin is a god: A+ for self esteem, Andi, but these google ego-searches are getting out of hand.

ye olde magick blogge < the phantom notebooks: Ouch. Well, my dad > your dad, so there.