talkmagic.co.uk

I'm not a fan of coin work, but I found Bobo helpful. To be honest I'd learnt all the sleights (well, most of them) from Tarbell, way before I'd read Bobo so maybe that made it a bit easier for me.
RRTCM, however is a great book. The sleights are well taught and the effects are not just simple ones for friends, but strong enough to do in a professional booking. Classic stuff.

I can understand the reservations about Mind, Myth & Magick. There is some ludicrous, unpractical things in there which no one would bother making and is rather expensive for what it is, but there is also some good, solid principles in there too. The advice on psychometry and cold reading is excellent. One of my main reservations is that tarot cards are much more expensive than a deck of normal playing cards, so cutting them up and doing all sorts with them is something which many would be put off by.
The monkey effect is ludicrous, it's one that's described in the flap of the book and sounds like an amazing effect you want to learn. When you read what's entailed you just can't believe that T.A. Waters is being serious.
A spider monkey is hard to come by and what with all the animal rights stuff these days would attract some flak.
My pet chimp, however, is too large for the effect and pulls off any demon outfit I try to dress him in.

Heres one for all the mentalist! Building blocks I didnt like much after a few reads.

I found building blocks to be a great book admitaley some of the effects in there were a bit inpractical for me at least but overall i thourally enjoyed it and i also found rrtcm really difficult to understand but once you get to grips with the writing style the actual material within is excellent.

The day all you Bobo haters fall into a massive pit of spikes would be too far off if it was tomorrow in my opinion. Now I know that Michael Ammar is a fantastic magician and I got most of the card stuff that I still do from Easy To Master Card Miracles but I find him intensely annoying to watch. Apart from the voice in my head that shouts "CHEESE!" whenever he comes on screen he does some stuff that I can't understand, like saying "there's no question, the card goes right in the middle of the deck" when doing Tilt. Talk about creating suspicion out of nothing.

Also, any type of 'smash the cup that might have a spike in it' routine bores the heck out of me. It could be that I've never seen it performed properly to build the suspense etc. etc. but as a layman I always thought 'he somehow knows which cup it's under' and turned off straight away.

bronz wrote:...Michael Ammar is a fantastic magician...

"Michael Ammar's name can be rearranged into Mamma Charlie. 'Nuff said."

I think the suspense (be it a morbid one) with the stab and smashesque routines is the fact that it may go wrong...just because the magician should know where it is does not mean that he will get it right for sure 100% every single time he does it. It's all in the human nature of things. Truth is youtube has examples of when it does go wrong, and it isn't pretty...

Those kind of things are more daredevil stunts than magic I'd say. Entertaining in their own right, but more of a 'related art' than magic itself.

On that note, that was the first introduction to any type of magic on television I had ever seen.

"The World's Most dangerous Magic"

Dean Gunnarson and his escape over Hoover Dam. Even at age 7 I suspected that he used some sort of ardvark. That suspicion remains with me till this day!

Totally Mental wrote:My biggest disappointment, I am sad to say, was Pure Effect by Derren Brown. I actually got very little out of it.

So errmmmm..... your copy of Pure Effect you're not too happy with? As in you have no use for it? ...I think you know what I'm getting at


I too have not grown to fully appreciate 13 Steps. While I have found quite a few gems in there, to me it didn't quite live up to it's godly reputation.

I pretty much know I'm going to wind up in a bad place for this, but I really am not a fan of Dai Vernon. I've now seen way more then enough of his performances then I ever wanted to, but folks just keep going on about how wonderful he was so I kept watching to figure out what everyone else was seeing. Okay, his ideas were second to non and his methods were groundbreaking, but as a performer? I saw a tape of his from the Rainbow Room in New York, the harliquin act. I understand why he wasn't asked back. Not a fan of Rices encyclopedia of silk magic, but that may be because I know the guy who actually wrote the text and illustrated it and lets say I was not impressed so I may be jaded. And I cannot watch anything by Darwin Ortiz, and the Annotated Erdnase was a serious let down.

Vernon wasn't renouned for his performances...more his contribution to the world of magic. His biography was amazing, and I do like his Cups and Balls routine!

I am not the only Vernon hater then? I said it before and I say it again I am not a fan of Jermay either.

'Street Hypnosis Deck' expensive - and a stupid idea. Buy a book instead.
Also, John Cornelius's Thought Transmitter - I have never seen a wallet look less like a wallet.