talkmagic.co.uk

Here's an idea we've been chucking around...

Every month, a challenge would be set - involving the members of this board creating a magic effect or illusion using random objects found around any house.

Open to all who register, the ideas submitted would be judged by the hosts themselves (the revered Laurence and Caz).

The effect/trick/illusion would need to meet certain criteria:

>>> PERFORMABLE - easily performed by ANYONE
>>> ORIGINALITY - not something you've read in a book
>>> COMPREHENDIBLE - you'll be judged on how well it's explained

There will be incentives, too:

>>> PRIZES - a top prize of a *sponsored* gift voucher at eMagictricks
>>> CREDIT - the top three effects will be published both here, and at a 'Competition Winner' link on the eMagictricks page
>>> PROFESSIONAL DESIGN - your effect will be copywritten and presented with a professional full-colour design, with illustrations/photos and presented for all to see as an electronic document

So, what's the verdict?

Mandrake has already offered sponsorship. I would be happy to do the design and professional layout. And I'm sure that it will benefit all!

Count me in.

J

I can't imagine anyone not wanting to participate, hooray!

and just to clarify this would be a TEXT competition.... no VIDS!!!!!

Yes - sorry - bit ambiguous and poorly described...

Clarification:

The competition is not for you're PERFORMANCE, it's for the IDEA... you need to be able to submit a kind of 'performance' notes plan, as if this were a real effect.

I'm afraid that, as we've seen before - Video presentations can be very misleading. (Think Blaine...)

The entries will preferably be WRITTEN, for which we'll probably provide a template.

sounds like fun...

Sounds proper Bo! (good in wrinkly terms)

boywonder

p.s. im back on the net after the computer broke(oops!)
so hello everyone!

Who you calling wrinkly???

Another push is needed to implement this - in fact, I think I'll need to speak to Big 'L' (unless another Mod's beaten me to it... let me know - no point in doubling up...)

I haven't contacted Laurence about this and I have the feeling he's a rather busy budgie at the moment. Having said that, a swift prompt wouldn't do any harm.

PS: Posting at 4.12AM - are you on night shift or something?

havent contacted him either.... sorry

mandrake wrote:I haven't contacted Laurence about this and I have the feeling he's a rather busy budgie at the moment. Having said that, a swift prompt wouldn't do any harm.

PS: Posting at 4.12AM - are you on night shift or something?

Believe it or not - I'd just finished a 22 hour stint at work. I hate magazine advertising deadlines!

Having a quieter day today (I hope) - our MD lost two mates in NYC - so the mood's pretty sombre anyway on this anniversary.

OK... being fair, it was my brainchild (of sorts), so it was up to me.

I've been awarded scatterbrain of the year at work as well, so there's nothing new here...

I'll get in touch with 'BIG L' imminently...

Come on, admit it, you were watching DB on Sky all night!

(PS: Real action this morning, two guys in a hydraulic lift arrived and cleaned the box. Wowee!)

i must admit i am a fan of DB as it would be him who pretty much kick started my obsession with "street magic" HOWEVER... i REALLY cant be bothered watching a guy in a box for a couple of months, i have never seen any of this stunt and no doubt i will never see any of it cos to be honest I'm bored of it already and thats without seeing any of it. i mean whats the point???




ok sorry to get sidetracked..... cmon seige... get to it!!!.... heh heh

Yep... I too was inspired by DB in the early days - but ever since he went off-course, I've kind of adopted a bit of a loathing for the bloke...


THEORY ON THE BLAINE STUNT

I too have not taken any interest whatsoever. Sure, I watched the repeat of the 'incarceration' on Channel 4 - just out of curiosity - to see if I could work out how it's being done... and I think I have a solution...

Notice that DB has put on a lot of weight - both in muscle and fat. Also notice his radical new haircut - which changes the appearance of his face.

Now, consider, that an actor - who looks STARTLINGLY like DB, but was a bit chubbier and muscly, was to be used as a double?

Blaine adds weight and hair to look a bit more like the actor, actor loses weight to look a bit more like Blaine (oh, and starts drooling and speaking monotonously).

So, there's two reasonable similar looking guys. Bear in mind: the public see him through distorted walls from a distance, cameras inside the box are lower quality than a fourth generation copy of your second cousin's wedding 'home video', and that he rarely grunts more than a syllable at a time.

Now, the stage has been set and the box really does contain one of the two (or more?) Blaines. Under cover of his sleeping bag, he's noshing on Astro-food, so he's probably not going to cause much harm to himself for what - 10 days like this? Now, we've been conditioned by the media that 'projectiles have been launched' at the box...

So, let's put a few facts in place:
1> 1 or more 'clones' of DB (heaven forbid...)
Evidence: Blaine has dramatically changed his appearence - makes likelihood of spotting a 'switch' harder, especially if he's put weight on and grown his hair to look more like his double???

2> Engineers install 'windows' to assist ventilation at the last minute
Suspicion: surely ventilation, heating and air circulation issues would have been rudimentary considerations - and something that would have been implemented in the early design stages.

3> Conditioning: Making a 'routine' out of tasks like cleaning the box with a crane and cordoning the area off
Theory: Like we magicians condition our spectators to our actions, such as riffling a deck, holding our hands in certain way etc. which covers the subtle actions of sleights. Once you've conditioned people to something, they accept it as normal. Could, therefore, a routine cleaning exercise involve a body switch?

4> 'Black Art'
Suspicion: most of Blaine's attire in the box is standard black fabric gear. And us magicians know a song about that, don't we...

5> Regular cloth + body moisture = cold
Statement: I'm know boyscout, but I've been on a fair few camping trips. Fundamental rule No.1 > sleeping in absorbent fabric clothes is possibly one of the worst things you can do to keep warm. Sweat is absorbed into the fabric, and through the process of evaporative heat transfer, the sweat vapourising has a cooling effect.

6> Hidey-holes and dark corners
Question: is it just me, or was there a lot of stuff taken in with him which seemed like ideal smuggling cover?

Right. Here's my theory... during a 'routine' cleaning, and once there have been sufficient 'routine cleanings', Blaine could be switched. All eyes could be averted - and being honest - even if Kylie Minogue was dancing in swimwear on TV for 10 days solid, I'd probably get bored after a while (NB... I did say probably )

So, could the possibility of a switch be a reality?

Perhaps somebody would 'lob' a golfball at the box, cracking the panel... for safety reasons, an inspection needs to take place - in which a curtain or somesuch could surround the box to prevent DB from talking to the engineers - and, well, you know the rest...

Think of the 10 days 'on the job', 10 days off... four switches, leaving a rather refreshed and bubbly Blaine at the end. Heck - I'd do it for 10 days, if I were using some form of spacefood and knew that the only thing to worry about was vertigo and boredom!

Either that, or the previous theory of him being removed from the box somehow (during a routine clean?) and then the cables snapping, the box plummets to the ground - but wait! Who's that bloke feeding the pigeons? Ever heard of a Triumph effect, or seen a Houdini water torture?

Who knows... (or cares?)

We do. Because the clever little bu**er has set us a lateral thinking puzzle. Buried alive? Yeah, OK - so that's pretty easy. Vertigo - hmm- bit more challenging - but not beyond reach. Iceman - amazing what's unearthed if you look in the right places...

But this - this is a clever one...

(and yes, I've got a quiet day today... some call it skivving, marketing agencies call it 'brainstorming'... )

Good posting - exactly what kind of swimwear were you imagining?