talkmagic.co.uk

What was that guy's name?

He was called Alex Elmsley and as I remember this move was created in tribute to him, he didnt actually make it. (I might be wrong!)

It's also known as the Ghost Count but Alex Elmsley virtually made it his own by making great use of it in his routines.

where can i learn his trick?

Many, many effects are sold that use this particular sleight. You can't really learn the sleight itself, which is to say, it is not a marketed thing. In other words, you don't just go out and buy a book on the sleight.

If you're interested, buy "Twisted Sisters," which gives the explanation as to how you do the sleight (and is an effect worth having and performing). However, the sleight itself is a "utility" move, which means that it has many, many, many uses and functions.

Mike.

I did a search before I saw your post and I found it.

http://web.superb.net/cardtric/sleights/elmsley.htm

where can i learn his trick?

P. It isn't a trick, it's a uttility move that is used for many many tricks. learning it by itself with no tricks in mind seems to me to be a little futile.

You would do well to listen Mike Jay and buy an effect and use this as a reason for practicing the elmsley count (and I agree Twisted Sisters is a great example). You wont regret it because you will soon find that the same move is used for many effects. Especially packet tricks (those uses a small number of cards).

be warned that not all card tricks give you an explanation of the elmsley even when its needed for the trick.
case in point steven tuckers "my first card trick", realy gets up my nose when they do that.

I'm with you on that! If you're going to market an effect that uses any given utility move, like Elmsley, or a sleight, then you should have the good sense to give a reasonable explanation of that method. Unfortunately, not all the sellers of magic have that opinion!

Mike.

I have to confess that I'm not of that opinion either.
If every book or DVD of effects had to assume that the reader might be coming from an absolute standing start then they'd pretty much have to reproduce what's taught (and taught very well) in many other places. Then you get wasted time and paper, increased costs, not to mention stepped-on toes and people complaining that everything they bought these days overlapped everything else (which - to some extent - they do already). It would be the equivalent of every book of recipes on the market having chapters devoted to washing and peeling your vegetables correctly, separating eggs, and how to work your oven.

if a trick is reliant on a particular slieght then a brief description should be included i meen you would not buy a video machine that didn't include instructions on how to unlock the child lock would you.

If you check through the old posts, you'll know that I have a bit of a thing about this as well! Having bought packet tricks in the past (I know, I know - but I like them so there!) and opened them only to find that they rashly assume prior knowledge of a vital yet unexplained move/sleight really gives me the hump. Big time! There is an embedded expectation that the customer will lay out more cash to buy an appropriate book or similar to learn such moves. And they aren't all in RRTCM - e.g. Elmsley!

I agree that they can't always devote time and energy to showing you how to invent the wheel every time but, if the outside of the packet and the advertising that goes with it mentioned that you will need other skills or props (as many now do), at least the customer would have more information to work on. I guess this is where a bricks and mortar real magic shop would score as a demo may be offered and and least an indication that you need to learn/buy something else would be made.

Well, put it this way:
I play guitar and I buy a lot of sheet music (tab, if anyone's interested, because I can't read standard notation but that's a different story). If every book of music I bought included the same big wodge of paper that told me how to hold my guitar and plectrum properly, how to tune it, how to play each chord, starting with E Major etc etc ad nauseum, I'd start to get a bit irritated because I've already learned how to do that. I bought books on it y'know. I don't need to keep paying to learn the same thing.
If you want to play the music then you should already have got to grips with the basic technique of playing a guitar. If you want to perform effects with cards then you need to learn the basics first. I don't think every effect or collection of effects should be written with the rank beginner in mind.
If I buy a new VCR then I can't reasonably be expected to know how it works because different VCRs work differently, and the only place I can find out how this one works is by reading it's instruction book. I wouldn't have had occasion to read those instructions until I'd bought the VCR. The VCR isn't a very good analogy.
A better analogy is driving a car. I've passed my test and I know how to drive a car on the road. My new car's manual doesn't need to include a copy of the highway code and I don't need more driving lessons just because I've bought a new car. I do need to know what the tyre pressures should be and how to work the radio because those things are particular to this car.

It's an interesting analogy but, as magic involves many different 'things' knowing how to play a guitar wouldn't help much in playing a piano - except in terms of the basics. Not sure what that proves but you get my drift. A deck of ordinary cards can be used to perform miracles if you know how. Otherwise, without that prior knowledge, they're just something to play cards with.
I reckon a packet trick is sold as just that - a packet which contains the items to be able to do the effect. If it needs anything else then a mention on the outside would be a good idea - if you find this out only after you've paid and received the item then you tend to feel a bit cheated - or at least I did anyway. If it's 'on the outside of the tin' then you have no such excuse and would probably willingly buy the additional items required. Perhaps?

(By the way - good thread, let's have more of 'em! )

ok, ok you buy a piece of music that needs you to play an Em7 cord, would you not expect atl east a tab for that cord as without it you can't play the pigging pice of music or would you be happy to fork out extra money to learn this cord.

an elsley is not a basic slight like a palm off or a classic palm you would be expected to know its more like a spell bound change or a coshmans pinch.

i don't expect a coin routine to tell me how to do a classic palm but i would expect it to cover a teller star variation or a topit transfer as thease arn't regular slieghts comon to most publications.