talkmagic.co.uk

I agree with Sky321. it is misleading to say:

Quote:
The spectator thinks of anything. A name. A number. A memory. With the thought in mind, the spectator squeezes your wrist. Tightly.
Unquote.

it fails to mention some important steps. it almosts suggests some kind of deeper mentalism when in fact it is more so sleight of hand.

in other words, a spectator can think of anything, any time, anywhere... then the performer must go through a small routine to establish what has been thought of, THEN... the stigmata effect can be performed.

How can I say this without parroting the previous posts on this subject... This effect rocks! I own the Banachek version, but from what I understand the Houchin DVD is worth every penny. As Banachek's version is pretty basic, I have formulated my own presentations of this effect from experimentation, but Houchin's DVD does alot of this for you, hence the price. That's why you're paying for it, it's someone else's work, and if they hadn't bothered to do that work and spent dollar you probably would never have heard of it, hence you wouldn't have a great impromptu piece to add to your set.
Sure it's not's not selling you a super psychic sixth sense, but it is selling you some tools to achieve some real magic. If you don't believe me just try it on someone, do it well and the expressions on their faces will be all the magic you need...

Flash wrote:How can I say this without parroting the previous posts on this subject... This effect rocks! I own the Banachek version, but from what I understand the Houchin DVD is worth every penny. As Banachek's version is pretty basic, I have formulated my own presentations of this effect from experimentation, but Houchin's DVD does alot of this for you, hence the price. That's why you're paying for it, it's someone else's work, and if they hadn't bothered to do that work and spent dollar you probably would never have heard of it, hence you wouldn't have a great impromptu piece to add to your set.
Sure it's not's not selling you a super psychic sixth sense, but it is selling you some tools to achieve some real magic. If you don't believe me just try it on someone, do it well and the expressions on their faces will be all the magic you need...

Just in case it sounded like I didn't like this trick... then let me correct you... I LOVE this trick, it's really cool, and I bet I'll get alot of cool reactions with it... I don't think it's worth $30 tho, it's like a $10 trick tops...

I haven't figured out how to get the persons anitials yet... although I think I know how they might have done it (and it has to do with ripping a key item ) but I just did it for my mom with a smiley face in my arm and she was so confused She kept asking me "how did you do that?! It isn't going to cause permanent damage to your body is it?!"

I disagree Rabbit. The very fact that you love this effect should tell you something...

I'd rather pay £50 for an ingenious yet simple piece of thinking that gets good reactions than for a highly technical piece of crud that doesn't (believe me I've brought lots of them as well).

The effect is great. How much is Mr Houchin's time worth to develop it and bring it to us? More than $10 that's for sure. This is a gem and deserves more credit than you're giving it.

Flash wrote:I disagree Rabbit. The very fact that you love this effect should tell you something...

I'd rather pay £50 for an ingenious yet simple piece of thinking that gets good reactions than for a highly technical piece of crud that doesn't (believe me I've brought lots of them as well).

The effect is great. How much is Mr Houchin's time worth to develop it and bring it to us? More than $10 that's for sure. This is a gem and deserves more credit than you're giving it.

Well, maybe it IS worth more than I say it is... I prefer my method of learning tricks by figuring them out myself- I find it rather gratifying- plus I do not have enough money to be buying magic tricks at this point in my life... I don't even have a job, so to spend $30 on a single trick is way out of the question for me

quoting rabbit
Posted: Thu Jun 15, 2006 5:50 pm
you guys are definately right! It isn't worth what they are selling it for... you know how I know?
unquote

Dear Rabbit,
unfortunately you dont know. in fact reading yr other posts i am not even sure you have the secret of how Wayne Houchin teaches getting the image (whatever you choose) to appear.

i fully endorse your eagerness to want to develop your own methods. and i hope one day that leads you to even develop your own original tricks. good luck with that. but please dont suggest something is bad value when you really have no idea what we got for our $30.00.

B0bbY_CaT wrote:quoting rabbit
Posted: Thu Jun 15, 2006 5:50 pm
you guys are definately right! It isn't worth what they are selling it for... you know how I know?
unquote

Dear Rabbit,
unfortunately you dont know. in fact reading yr other posts i am not even sure you have the secret of how Wayne Houchin teaches getting the image (whatever you choose) to appear.

i fully endorse your eagerness to want to develop your own methods. and i hope one day that leads you to even develop your own original tricks. good luck with that. but please dont suggest something is bad value when you really have no idea what we got for our $30.00.

Well, from what I've read in this thread, on the Stigmata DVD you get an hour of explanation on a very simple trick... now as to whether I am lying about my knowing how to do the trick, I could PM you with the solution, but that would be breaking this forums rules... so I guess you'll just have to go about believing your biased opinion about the kind of person that I am... but I'd just like you to know, that I am a sincere and dedicated person- when I become interested in something I stick with it and I practice obsessively until I'm better at it than my peers (fortunately for me, none of my peers are magicians)... I may be a n00b to magic, but when I'm serious about something, I don't mess around... for the past week I've done nothing but eat, and sleep magic, my friends and family are getting angry with me because every time they see me I have a deck of cards, or I'm performing a new trick for them. Without trying to brag, I have a very good grasp and understanding of many things, and I can easily figure out how many of the magic tricks that are being sold such as Stigmata, and the quarter through the soda can are done... and even though I doubt very highly this will change what you think of me, I am very insulted when you say:

BObbY_CaT wrote:in fact reading yr other posts i am not even sure you have the secret of how Wayne Houchin teaches getting the image (whatever you choose) to appear."

And as for my making my own tricks, I may have used techniques that I'd learned about online and in books within the past week, but the first magic trick that I did was something I came up with by myself (even if it HAS been done before), and so was the second, as well as the third.

Rabbit,
you jump to conclusions and get way too defensive. if you are unable to have a discussion about something, and if you dont want to be questioned, DONT POST.

now, please RE -READ my post.

(1) YOU, not me but YOU made an accusation:
i quote you directly:
quoting you Rabbit:
"It isn't worth what they are selling it for... you know how I know? Because I went *undisclosed location* and watched some dumb teens preform it crappy, and I figured out EXACTLY how they do it"
unquote.

so... you saw some kids do what you are assuming was Wayne Houchin's version of a DVD you have NEVER seen and you thought the way they did it was "crappy" and as a result you have decided that the Stigmata DVD is not worth $30.00.

with the greatest respect, how would you know that? you have no right to be insulted... Wayne Houchin should feel insulted by you.

(2) I am NOT questioning your honesty. in fact when you say you feel you have worked out how the "crappy kids" you saw were doing the trick i believe you because i have no reason to disbelieve you.

however, i question whether or not you have uncovered Wayne Houchin's handling of this effect. perhaps you have uncovered the "crappy kids" handling... but how do you know this is Wayne Houchin's handling and how do you know the "crappy kids" did it correctly, from how Wayne decides on what "images" are to appear on his skin to exactly how he makes them appear.

(3) i also note you say you worked out how to do Sinful the same way... just by looking at the preview. well since most of us figure that a coin cant "really" pass through the base of a can of soda then we must assume some sleight of hand is involved. and if we watch the preview of Wayne Houchin performing Sinful repeatedly we may even work out the basics of his handling. however, as an owner of both Sinful AND Stigmata, i can reveal to you that all of Wayne's handling in these 2 routines is so very well thought out, so precise, so clever and so perfect, it is very unlikely you or in fact anyone would get the whole thing perfect "down pat" without the DVD.

therefore, accepting as you must (unless you feel you are a more capable magcian than Lance Burton and Banacheck... 2 well know performers who have made very positive public comment about these 2 routines) you must accept you will not do the routine as well without the DVD as you would with the DVD.

(4) so now you face a moral issue. do you go ahead and spoil the effect for those of us who purchased it by perfoming a less than perfect handling and so giving the effect away OR just as bad... making it seem "lame"??? is that OK for you to do that?

basically Rabbit, i am not judging your honesty so please read more carefully before you jump to conclusions. i am however definately 100% judging your decision to say an effect was bad value when clearly it is not possible for you to know because you dont own what you are critisizing.

OK chill out folks! Rabbit, it's not really appreciated here if you figure out how something's done and then say the trick isn't worth the money - the only basis for saying that is if you've shelled out cash for it and been disappointed. It could be that you've missed a vital part of Stigmata so it would be best to say no more. In any event, this is supposed to be a Review of the item rather than a thread where people are personally taken to task so can we all get back to the topic and keep things sweet please ?

In fact, to give a bit of time we'll lock this thread and open it again later on.

Hmmm interesting as far as the actual method to getting the information goes. I haven't bought it, but I already figured out how to make the marks appear.

This DVD is definatly worth the $25, and anyone who disagrees is a fool. Blunt but true.
The dvd last an hour and a half, it contains endless examples of the performance of this effect. going into extreme detail for each of the different variations. Card to arm, intials to arm, and thought of number to arm.

Ok, if your smart enough to figure out how the marks on the arm get there in the first place, then well done!!! your not a complete moron! however, if you think that your smart enought to figure out all the sublties of the performance of this effect which make it so powerful then you definatly are a moron. Banachek created this over 20 years ago, on this dvd he shares his thoughts on the effect with wayne, in an interview which easily justifys the purchase of the dvd. They go into detail about the endless variation which are possible, including psychological forces, and various handling points.

Wayne also narrates over porfances, so that you can understand the thought process of his performance. So if you think the effects good enough to sit around trying to figure it out by yourself, then why not do the decent thing, and hand the creators their $25 for all the work they have put into the routine, and learn how to perform it properly, so that you wont end up like those awful teenagers posting lame performaces on video sites.

Banachek and Houchin have created a masterpeice. Respect it.

I really enjoyed to watch the Stigmata DVD, especially the guy with the minidrink at the belt and I just went ROFL.

the stand-alone houchin dvd is well worth it i feel..

and you get acidus novus thrown in...

and in my opinion, a very invaluable bit of information from Mr. Shaw..which if followed through will give you lots of other ideas and useful information if researched properly...

use your brain..and THINK ABOUT IT!

(Edited by Mods as requested!)