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Hi all,

This is going to bore you to death, but I don't care!

Over the past couple of weeks, I've been spending a lot of time going over and over just a small handful of effects I'd like to put into some kind of ordered routine, to last maybe 10-20 minutes. It's getting there, but not quite yet. As I've got zero confidence, it'll be for close family and perhaps friends only.

My incentive to string something together came from a recent family birthday bash I went to. Someone in the family approached me and said they'd heard that I'm really good at magic (talk about setting the bar low lol!). By this time, I'd consumed several pints of Guinness and couldn't have shuffled a deck of cards, never mind do any mentalism, so I just grinned stupidly and said something to confirm this, digging a nice big hole for myself. As you do!

When I sobered up the next day, it really made me think how great an opportunity to do a bit of table hopping or similar I'd missed that evening.

One of my favourite effects is Par-Optic Vision as performed by Richard Osterlind. It's stunning to watch him do it and it's one I've spent many weeks toying with and learning. Needless to say, I am desperate to try it out on some unsuspecting people now that I'm happy with the method. We're having more family staying over the weekend, so I'm going to have a go.

The only frustrating thing is that there's one bit of this particular effect where it could fall over and Osterlind mentions it in the explanation of his demo. I think I've come up with a way to prevent that happening, or at least reduce the chances anyway. But, I have nobody I can talk it over with. Aaarrgggghhhh! At least, if I do fluff it, I'll only be doing so in front of the inlaws, so no drama hehe.

How you guys prepare to perform something formally when you start out is beyond me. I'd be too scared to stand up and do anything!!

Wish me luck!

Cheers,
Wishmaster

I think in general it's a bad idea to perform magic and mentalism effects for family and friends, since the whole dynamic of a mentalism performance is built around the feasibility that the performer may really posess some kinds of powers. Your family and friends have known you decades - they know for a fact you don't. As for magic; same story in my (inflated) opinion. It's much harder to engage those who know you inside out than it is to engage a stranger.

For the avoidance of any doubt (bearing in mind Replicant's recent thread about armchair critics) I very rarely perform publically and have never been paid for any kind of magic routine, but I am a woman, and therefore probably right.

queen of clubs wrote:I am a woman, and therefore probably right.

She's right, you know. May as well close this thread now.

I know what you mean. I've had a few instances where family have taken great pains to mess up whatever effect I was trying to do, usually when I have a deck of cards in my hand. However, in the absence of any other audience, I have to use them.

The advantage I think I have with this one is that I'm a certified Hypnotherapist and have also trained in NLP. They already think these skills are used by mentalists and me all the time anyway and are sold on the idea before I even begin.

So, I can add a few strong hints into this one about muscle reading or something like this, particularly if I do go with the blindfold to strengthen the effect. I have used this bluff a couple of times with ESP card effects and because they know I use suggestion anyway, they just accept it at face value.

Then again, as a woman, you could be correct and I'll crash and burn. I think that's probably not a bad thing to start with as it'll just be a bonus when things do work. Plus, I'll have more idea of where and how it can fail.

I seemed to have learned more so far from things going wrong than when they work perfectly.

Family and friends make an awful audience. The best you can hope for is smiles and "oh yes, very clever" type remarks. Queen of Clubs is as usual correct. But go for it. Who knows. It might go amazingly. But as a full time magi, I never ever practice on family or friends (if i had any). They've known me for too long and they know that I am not at all a man of mystery. I am in fact that idiot that stuck a pea up his nose an embarassingly short period of time ago and as such am incapable of reading the newspaper on my own, let alone their minds.

Ok, I bow to you guys having forgotten far more than I know about this. Plus, I never argue with a woman

Who would you recommend I use as victims? I'm not a perfomer, don't have the confidence to approach strangers. How did you start?

I'm not a performer either. Lately the majority of people I've "shown something" to have been friends of friends and the odd work colleague since we have fairly regular staff nights out. I make sure never to perform anything I don't know inside out, though, so my public repertoire is much slimmer than my practice one.

I think the type of people you aim at depends on where you want to take your skills. If you want to start getting paid for it then you'd be headed down a different route than if you just want to remain a hobbyist.

The idea of being paid to do anything like this doesn't interest me so much really. It would be nice, but I don't aspire to that. All I want to do is make people smile or laugh and say "wow".

queen of clubs wrote:I am a woman, and therefore probably right.

Therefore Mark Lewis is a woman?

Tomo wrote:

queen of clubs wrote:I am a woman, and therefore probably right.

Therefore Mark Lewis is a woman?

Nah, it's just the way he walks.

Tomo wrote:Therefore Mark Lewis is a woman?

Who is Mark Lewis?

Wishmaster wrote:Who is Mark Lewis?

You'll find out soon enough...

Are there any TM meets, or other magic clubs, in your area? You might find them a good place to try out your magic and build your confidence.

Hello Robbie, fellow Lancastrian! Good to see someone else here from the right side of the Pennines. I'm in exile in this weird county where they've never heard of barmcakes and chippies don't sell butter pies. Very disappointing, but someone has to live here.

Robbie wrote:You'll find out soon enough...

Ok. I like surprises!

Robbie wrote:Are there any TM meets, or other magic clubs, in your area? You might find them a good place to try out your magic and build your confidence.

There is, yes. Funnily enough, I've been talking to Mark Waddington via pm today about my possibly applying to join Bradford Magic Circle at some point.

Mark Lewis is the greatest magician ever to walk the... er... Canada. He is always right. Even when he is wrong. Those who dismiss him are fools. Even when they are wise.

Come along to a meet
They're every month or so in manchester and leeds, you don't have to perform at all, just have a few drinks with some like minded people. They're great for doing the odd trick if you're feeling brave enough, and getting helpful advice and feedback