talkmagic.co.uk

Hi guys, decided to unlurk and say hello and let you know what a top forum you've got going here.

I'm a software engineer and get to travel a fair amount with my job - but getting Bertha thru airport security is impossible - so the only trickery I travel with is just what I can keep in my head (yes, I travel light).

I have no sleights (but I'm working on that) so have to rely on other deceptions, messing with the viewers perception of what is going on being a favourite.

Any form of magic appeals to me as long as I can perform it at the bar and it has the ability to really freak people out.. My long term favourite has to be synchronised-drinking gags (Derren B. stylie) - I've had people in tears and getting all spiritual on me with this type stuff!

I find my own amusement along the fringe between magic and mathematics - this stuff comes in handy for keeping my four kids entertained too.

Shazam!

stepSeven wrote:
I have no sleights (but I'm working on that) so have to rely on other deceptions, messing with the viewers perception of what is going on being a favourite.

That in it self is a sleight - sleight of mind

Welcome!

Welcome, hope that you enjoy your stay here at TM

Welcome! People often do not realise how much magic is mind maniputation combined with clever "ideas". In my view some of the strongest effects are based on maths (hidden and usyally not involving numbers) combined with slight of hand, human perception and presentation.

OOTW is based on a mahematical idea. Arensons "Shuffle board", that is extreely powerful when perform correctly, is based on maths. Lennarts Greens "Dragons Pearl", and his 26000$ bet are based on a very beutiful mathematical principle that also is extremely useful in mentalism (this principle is one of the few real powerful ideas that does NOT appaer in 13 steps to mentalism since the principle was first published in 1958!!)
And what some consider the strongest af all selfworking effects "Stonehenge" is based on pure maths. And "further than that" is also very strong and selfworking. With some modifications Stonehenge can also be cast as a mentalist feat.

When I present Stonehenge I use the improvement Lennart Green attributes to a Sweedish Magic Colleguage of his, where the cards initially are displayed in the shape of a pyramid. The effect is VERY slow so I always perform it with lit candles in a very mystical athmosphere for a few specially interested spectators who already seem to be deeply touched by the magic. In such a setting and with the right presentation, the spectators get very close to a genuine mystical experience and what they experience completely defey reason.... For most situations the effect is to slow.

The same mathematical principle is used in a number of other very powerful effects.

Many of the effecs above are inhanced greatly by slight of hand.

Once more welcome to TM....

PS. To all who reads this: please do not mension the beutiful G****** principle by name as this principle should better stay as a highly guarded secret as long as possible.

welcome

Hi there. Hope you have fun here, I do

What's a synchronised drinking gag?

Cheers for the welcome chaps.

Soren, I love OOTW - particularly the impromptu vers. Stonehenge is a new one on me - any recommended reading to pick this one up? I will be buying "Scarne on Card Tricks" very soon (£3.50ish amazon!!), do I need to add more books to my order?

I'm aware of the G-principle but (shamed to say it) haven't explored it. Will put that right over the Xmas holiday.

Effect for Marvell: Sync. Drinking
I've never met you before. We're sitting in the pub, pint each in our respective right hands, after a little psychic "tune-up" between us - under the full scrutiny of the "audience" at our table - you can have your back to me and have no way of seeing me but you now raise your glass to your lips and drink every time I do. When I ask you to start doing so, you can do the same with some bloke sitting 3 tables away and the girl at the bar 30ft away - you have no view of them and have not met them before either!! Needless to say this sort of thing gets a "What the hell??" from the rest of the crowd at our table. Not sure how this sort of thing works - maybe Derren will elighten you Marvell in "Tricks of the Mind" (You lucky s*d, I get Jamie Oliver books bought for me)

stepSeven wrote:Cheers for the welcome chaps.

Soren, I love OOTW - particularly the impromptu vers. Stonehenge is a new one on me - any recommended reading to pick this one up? I will be buying "Scarne on Card Tricks" very soon (£3.50ish amazon!!), do I need to add more books to my order?

I'm aware of the G-principle but (shamed to say it) haven't explored it. Will put that right over the Xmas holiday.

I know what you mean by the impromty versions of OOTW, however all version are in fact impromty!! The setup takes with some practice roughly 30 sec using separation 1-2 separation (Lennart Green DVDs) or "angle separation" (Lennart Green or Harry Lorraine) 20 sec or flip-flop method (Willard) 15 sec. All setup methods can be done under disguise of another effect and no-one ever called me on this.

The most impressive I ever watched was by Aladin (yes, with one l) who is an outstanding worldclass Indian magician living in Hampstead London (where I also used to live). He could separate all 4 suits under guise of another effect in I would say less than 20 sec. (I think he used a version of angle separation combined with multiple bottom "steals" (bit of smoke added here)). He told me that even Lennart Green had been impressed by his handeling and that Lennart did not personally dare to do this! I have tried to replicate his feat but for me its not practical and I would never do it in a performance situation.

Hello stepSeven and welcome to TM.
I see you are enjoying yourself allready.
Best greetings from Iceland!

Welcome to TM

Marvell wrote:Hi there. Hope you have fun here, I do

What's a synchronised drinking gag?

Its a Derren Brown trick, getting people to take a drink at the same time... my record is three people, me included, but any more gets a bit difficult...

You've got me thinking there Gurks.

I've always worked one to one with this - to demonstrate the possibility of a mental 'link' between two people. I see why you would say anymore than three is difficult, but I bet with some modification to the 'training' patter you could get a daisy chain going - if you follow my drift.

The ensuing 'mexican wave' of glasses being raised might give the game away though

holy moly! i finally meet someone who has also seen this guy aladin.

soren riis you mention seeing him do this angle separation nobody else in the world can do. well earlier this year i was in docklands excel centre for the truly horrible (don't go next time) dave's weekend. but was just my incredible luck to be lurking near the poker games when i saw this guy being hustled away as he was firing cards from his bare hands from about 70 yards away and into the area where the tables were. i mean my friends and i were like 'what are you hustling HIM away for?!' as he was clearly having a laugh but also in possession of some just unbelievable skill with cards.

but i don't think he was invited to the party. anyway he has this tall minder guy who rescues him and we trail the two of them until they get to the book of cool stand (you know www.bookofcool.com) and there we got talking. seems he was just dropping in on the book of cool who were doing a promo and we realised he was of course one of the cool people on the product.

anyway aladin gets talking and i ask him how he managed to throw cards so unbelievable far and fast/hard (you have to be there like soren says otherwise you really can't believe it) so he borrows our decks and starts spraying them around the arena. now you need to know the ceiling must be about 40 yards from the ground and he is hitting it with my cards (plastic coated poker size bigger than in england but what gamblers use ;o) ). and when he throws them it is so fast you can't see them until they suddenly stop i guess wind resistance and all then they just fall. so it is only when they fall you notice where they have gone to. and i mean they are out far far away like more than 60 70 yards.

but what completely blew me like with soren was that he took my cards after i shuffled them and just like looked at them except when i bother to look at them after i walk away i thought there was something funny but hell he had put them in suits right across the deck with all the suits separate. we were screaming and ran back.

by the way book of cool is AWESOME too and so is aladin in it but please note he does not do or explain any separations so don't buy it for that. he does though have several neat ways to flick and throw cards i have not seen before. by the way do not buy this either to learn the exact same way he uses TO THROW CARDS AT 100MPH as he did tell us that as it was a little dangerous and so he only showed the less dangerous ways to get cards to fly about 40-50 (as compared to the 70+ we saw) yards in book of cool. but trust me not knowing how to throw the extra 20 yards won't matter.

like soren says aladin separates cards unbelievable but deceptively quickly except he seems quite slow and not really looking or interested. was about 15 seconds it seemed to me i know this sounds stupid as lennart takes longer and does TWO PASSES to separate to 4 suits and aladin just does one pass. wouldn't you say soren that having seen lennart do this aladin's method just leaves the master a little bit in the shade incredible as it is to say? what fools me being in the know is that he only uses one pass! soren i can understand after your explanation that he must have been doing bottom stealing at the same time but man this guy deserves a section of his own in card magic he has just got a freaky skill. this guy's technical ability is just out of this world pardon the phrase. you are just never going to meet somebody with this level of skill .

soren you say he is world class and you seem to know him - he blew our minds and for poker players this is not easy with a deck of cards by the way. we both saw one of the world's greatest magicians.

what do you think about the material he puts out on book of cool? neat presentation of really versatile bottom/top forces if not groundbreakers (this is a general DVD with skateboarding after all) but really superb and beautiful card boomerangs. really elegant. but i still haven't mastered the card spins he does so effortlessly on the tip of a finger - soren can you do this or did you seem him do this? he was doing it all the time but i have to say i couldn't concentrate by this point

maybe as amazing as the magic is that aladin does not seem to bother to do much magic apart from book of cool. he would be huge HUGE draw for an audience. also a really really nice guy generous and very humble surprisingly. great guy wouldn't you say soren? we can consider ourselves to be in a exclusive club.

that has made my night. and by the way until i found this post my buddy and i had seriously been thinking ridiculous and funny explanations for how aladin did all the stuff using my deck.

by the way soren - this guy gave you a lesson in the technique? are you able to tell us some detail or is this unfair on him? there is a great book out called phantoms of the card table by the way about gambling cheat who used an amazing method one day soren and i can write a chapter about the indian phantom.

just a great posting.

mark: the mind warrior

OK, I know the one you mean. Lot's to play with there.

mindwarrior wrote:holy moly! i finally meet someone who has also seen this guy aladin.

soren riis you mention seeing him do this angle separation nobody else in the world can do. well earlier this year i was in docklands excel centre for the truly horrible (don't go next time) dave's weekend. but was just my incredible luck to be lurking near the poker games when i saw this guy being hustled away as he was firing cards from his bare hands from about 70 yards away and into the area where the tables were. i mean my friends and i were like 'what are you hustling HIM away for?!' as he was clearly having a laugh but also in possession of some just unbelievable skill with cards.

but i don't think he was invited to the party. anyway he has this tall minder guy who rescues him and we trail the two of them until they get to the book of cool stand (you know www.bookofcool.com) and there we got talking. seems he was just dropping in on the book of cool who were doing a promo and we realised he was of course one of the cool people on the product.

anyway aladin gets talking and i ask him how he managed to throw cards so unbelievable far and fast/hard (you have to be there like soren says otherwise you really can't believe it) so he borrows our decks and starts spraying them around the arena. now you need to know the ceiling must be about 40 yards from the ground and he is hitting it with my cards (plastic coated poker size bigger than in england but what gamblers use ;o) ). and when he throws them it is so fast you can't see them until they suddenly stop i guess wind resistance and all then they just fall. so it is only when they fall you notice where they have gone to. and i mean they are out far far away like more than 60 70 yards.

but what completely blew me like with soren was that he took my cards after i shuffled them and just like looked at them except when i bother to look at them after i walk away i thought there was something funny but hell he had put them in suits right across the deck with all the suits separate. we were screaming and ran back.

by the way book of cool is AWESOME too and so is aladin in it but please note he does not do or explain any separations so don't buy it for that. he does though have several neat ways to flick and throw cards i have not seen before. by the way do not buy this either to learn the exact same way he uses TO THROW CARDS AT 100MPH as he did tell us that as it was a little dangerous and so he only showed the less dangerous ways to get cards to fly about 40-50 (as compared to the 70+ we saw) yards in book of cool. but trust me not knowing how to throw the extra 20 yards won't matter.

like soren says aladin separates cards unbelievable but deceptively quickly except he seems quite slow and not really looking or interested. was about 15 seconds it seemed to me i know this sounds stupid as lennart takes longer and does TWO PASSES to separate to 4 suits and aladin just does one pass. wouldn't you say soren that having seen lennart do this aladin's method just leaves the master a little bit in the shade incredible as it is to say? what fools me being in the know is that he only uses one pass! soren i can understand after your explanation that he must have been doing bottom stealing at the same time but man this guy deserves a section of his own in card magic he has just got a freaky skill. this guy's technical ability is just out of this world pardon the phrase. you are just never going to meet somebody with this level of skill .

soren you say he is world class and you seem to know him - he blew our minds and for poker players this is not easy with a deck of cards by the way. we both saw one of the world's greatest magicians.

what do you think about the material he puts out on book of cool? neat presentation of really versatile bottom/top forces if not groundbreakers (this is a general DVD with skateboarding after all) but really superb and beautiful card boomerangs. really elegant. but i still haven't mastered the card spins he does so effortlessly on the tip of a finger - soren can you do this or did you seem him do this? he was doing it all the time but i have to say i couldn't concentrate by this point

maybe as amazing as the magic is that aladin does not seem to bother to do much magic apart from book of cool. he would be huge HUGE draw for an audience. also a really really nice guy generous and very humble surprisingly. great guy wouldn't you say soren? we can consider ourselves to be in a exclusive club.

that has made my night. and by the way until i found this post my buddy and i had seriously been thinking ridiculous and funny explanations for how aladin did all the stuff using my deck.

by the way soren - this guy gave you a lesson in the technique? are you able to tell us some detail or is this unfair on him? there is a great book out called phantoms of the card table by the way about gambling cheat who used an amazing method one day soren and i can write a chapter about the indian phantom.

just a great posting.

mark: the mind warrior

Hi Mind warrior!,
You seem to be new here so welcome to TM. Yes I am very pleased I met Aladin around 2002. Unfortunately I moved from Hampstad shortly after and today I regret very much that I October 2003, were away at a conference when I was invited to a debate, “Is London’s diversity too much of a good thing?” that was chaired by aladin. Besides being an acclaimed magician, Aladin has also worked as a strategist as Ken Livingstone-appointed co-architect of London’s first ever integrated strategy for culture, media, sports, arts, heritage and tourism [www.magicaladin.com].

With Aladin’s method one should under guise of another effect for example be able to perform “J.C.’s Super Closer” (on easy to master card miracles by Micheal Ammar Vol4) impromptu using a borrowed deck! I can also do this but I need essentially to prepare using two effects (rather than just one) that serve as cover for the preparation. Using Aladin’s method one should be able to perform “Daleys’s Last Trick” is less than 30 sec after the spectator has handed you his shuffled deck of cards. For me the preparation takes around 15+25 sec, but it is still quite effective since the spectator is watching some strong magic while this hapens and the procedure is done in two parts on the offbeat. In all circumstances the spectators have no idea what is going on! And believe me to do "J.C.’s Super Closer" with a borrowed deck is absolutely killing!!

PS. As you might know there are a few different handelings of J.C.’s Super Closer, that requires a slightly different setup. There is a slight tradeoff between using the most convinient setup or a slightly more ackward setup that is more practical using a borrowed deck, but requires a bit of extra work during the performance of J.C.’s Super Closer.


I will copy and quote some of the posts above and start a new tread about Aladin on "About that magician"

Remark: The correct reference is J.C.’s Super Closer not Dayleys last trick as I first though.