talkmagic.co.uk

Loved the voice over at the end of the Haunted Hanky;

"No ones knows that gawdy fabric is hiding a tiny little rod"

Never a truer word spoken.

Russ

According to the credits and a bit of Googling, Val Valentino is a producer of this series and wikki shows the principle contents of the first 8 shows as:

Show One
Death Saw
De Kolta Chair
Turning a Bentley into a Lamborghini
Making a String Quartet Disappear
Passing Through a Steel Wall


Show Two
Making a Girl Vanish from a Table
Levitating a Girl on a Floating Table
Dismemberment
Making a Girl Appear from a Set of Clothing
Making an Elephant Appear in an Empty Parking Lot


Show Three
Head Being Cut off by a Guillotine
Making a Girl Disappear from a Cabinet
Houdini Milk Can Escape
Making Dancers Disappear from a Stage
Chain Through Neck
Levitating from Building to Building


Show Four
Making a Bomb Squad Car Disappear
Assistant's Revenge
Sawing a Girl in Half in a Torture Device
Sticking a Rose Through a Girl
Passing Through a Turbofan


Show Five
Making a Woman Disappear From a Cabinet and Reappear Somewhere Else
Passing Through a Steel Plate
The Twister
Impaling a Woman With a Sword
Surviving Being Cut Up in a Wood Chipper


Show Six
Teleporting From One Oil Drum to Another
Topsy-Turvy (Flipping a Box But Not the Girl Inside It)
Magically Writing On a Slate Board
Cutting a Girl In Three
Teleportation


Show Seven
Levitating a Girl on a Table
Making Girls Appear in a Crystal Cylinder
"Twilight Zone" Door
Disembodied Princess (Removing the Magician's Torso)
Impaling a Girl on a Spike


Show Eight
Houdini's Magic Trunk
Making a Girl's Middle Disappear
Evil Spirit Pyramid - Conjuring Spirits
Catching a Selected Card in the Air with a Sword
Escaping the Blades of Death

As ITV4 are showing two shows a week, I've just realised I missed show 3 which must be the kinky boots one Dale mentioned!

Damn, missed show 3 too, saw the one last night. Even the missus (no interest in magic) laughed at 'the twister' and 'voodoo ball'! never seen something so ridiculous passed off as Magic Secrets!!!

of the stuff given away, the twister, and the Zombie ball is most likely to impact working magicians.

But, since nobody is watching it...

Whilst watching that show we also watched a David Copperfield version of Twister from a few years ago on YouTube. The cabinet was much smaller and didn't look so obviously extra deep, the presentation was flawless and despite MM's revelations, the Copperfield vid was still entertaining.

Mandrake wrote: The cabinet was much smaller and didn't look so obviously extra deep

MM's cabinet was so obviously wider (assistant was slim and she has trouble fitting in width ways!) and the silver hinges gave the width away too. I'm sure I've seen the head spinning routine in a comedy parody somewhere too....... mmm, it'll come eventually. Ditto the voodoo ball, didn't the great Tommy Cooper do a routine where the silk drops showing system used?

yddraig wrote:

Mandrake wrote: The cabinet was much smaller and didn't look so obviously extra deep

MM's cabinet was so obviously wider (assistant was slim and she has trouble fitting in width ways!) and the silver hinges gave the width away too. I'm sure I've seen the head spinning routine in a comedy parody somewhere too....... mmm, it'll come eventually. Ditto the voodoo ball, didn't the great Tommy Cooper do a routine where the silk drops showing system used?

nope. I dont recall seeing Cooper ever expose the Zombie.
but Karson only came up with it in the 50s, so it was pretty much hot property during Coopers heyday, and he would of been lynched if he did tip it.
Indeed, the only effect that cooper exposed on national television, the sliding clock box, was an accident.
Tommy got things wrong in his act, but he very rarly exposed anything.

however people doing cooper, (Russ Abbot in particular caused a huge fuss with his exposure of the head chopper) Fail miserably to get this, and will expose stuff left right and centre.

The performances are terrible, especially the close-up tricks. Let's put it this way: Colin had never seen or even heard of the Haunted Hanky before this programme, and he instantly said, "Look at his ***** moving!"

(Probably not worth bothering to blank out something that's just been exposed on TV, but I'll play safe.)

He also spotted the elephant's hiding place, and instantly recognised when the magician was positioned to block a crucial view in that circle thing.

Worst of all is the leering voiceover. I'm amazed the sexual harassment police haven't raided the studio.

The secrets of piling on the pounds... finally revealed... - that comment had me in hysterics!

I had the mental image of the masked magician producing the world's largest doughnut, then spending the next hour chomping away on it while the annoying voiceover man says stupid comments like 'I bet he likes his McDonalds super size'.

I can't see anyone being inspired to take up magic by this show, or anyone being impressed by how tricks are done most are pretty obvious!

I was surprised by come of the ‘secrets finally revealed’, was the average viewer not a victim of an uncle trying to amaze a nephew/niece with a tea towel and a ladle at Christmas?!

On the subject of Tommy Cooper, I love his ‘Jar-Spoon’ sketch and the sketch where he has a long jacket and starts pulling out ladders and other large objects, classic!

Monday's MM show was outstanding for the even lower level of leering comments about the girls. I'm not being prudish but it's like hearing the same joke over and over again - amusing the first couple of times you hear it but after that becoming very annoying.

The "Twilight Zone" Door thing was pointless, although in one continuous shot, it could only be done without an audience and is therefore not exactly magic. The Impaling effect showed, as if we needed reminding, that the assistants do all the hard work and the performer just poses, postures and waves his hands around a lot. Having said that, the girls' poses are becoming very comical, I swear one of them almost fell base over apex trying to quickly adopt the stereotype sexy, come hither look!

i missed this weeks.

Im not that fussed.

You didn't miss much but it's on several times again before the next lump on Saturday!

Mandrake wrote:According to the credits and a bit of Googling, Val Valentino is a producer of this series and wikki shows the principle contents of the first 8 shows as:

Show One
Death Saw
De Kolta Chair
Turning a Bentley into a Lamborghini
Making a String Quartet Disappear
Passing Through a Steel Wall

Did anyone else start reading that and think "what is this 'show one' trick?"
No? just me?

The most important thing to the position of your body in the water. You need to be as horizontal as possible, if you're swimming with your legs low, that's going to cause drag which will slow you down.

When you swim try leaning on your chest, it should almost feel as if you're swimming downhill. That'll have the effect of lifting your legs higher.

Your breathing is also very important, don't lift your head to breath as this will make your legs sink too. Your head should stay pretty much still, instead you should roll your body to breath.

for now though just try concentrating on the feeling of swimming downhill and maintain a steady 4 beat kick. You'll probabaly find breathing abit different as you're head will be lower in the water than you're used to but if you stick with it, you'll find things so much easier.

Er, thanks Becky.....

Sorry about the Show One thing, perhaps we should invent one by that name, pass it on to Fox and let them expose it?