talkmagic.co.uk

Toodle-oo!

Here are two videos I made today because I had nothing else to do.

The first is a selection of my better color changes, along with some playing with Windows Movie Maker.

The second is misc flourishes. As with my other video, the deck is still in new deck order at the end, though I forgot to spread it - you can sort of see it in the fan sequence though. I made it up mostly as I went along, so that should explain the disorganization.

Enjoy!

Kati

On "misc flourishes" the deck stripping near the beginning is a bit obvious because of the camera angle but a spectator would be looking from above so I guess they'd be hard pushed to notice!

As far as my skills go with flourishes those vids were amazing! Keep up the good work!

Nice music for the first clip too! Is it from Sim City or The Sims!? I'm a sucker for those games!

By the way... Your signature cracks me up everytime I read it. It's great!

Nice vids, for the color changes, there is one that you do without the rest of the deck..I think that move is more impressing when you have the entire deck in your hand. And then as spiney sad about the flourishes, the angle isn't the best but othervise it was really nice

Uh...no to the music question . It's called "Highway Blues" and AFAIK it comes free with XP.

Can't be right all the time!

I still haven't perfected the riffle by a long shot but the interesting thing is that it still works. My best guess is that once the spectators see the bridge, they lose interest: "What else could he do?". Therefore, they don't pay attention to the 'swivel cut' . Incidentally, the false swivel cut is extremely obvious but does work .

Kati

Hmm, have been thinking a little about that riffle, I think you should try to hold it abit more planar (as you should hold the deck for a normal swivel..but maybe it's just me that have my normal swivel planar..)

I recommend you using some better cards with fanning to get rid of those cards. Unless it's your technique, otherwise, I'd recommend ordering a copy of Xtreme Beginnerz.

Some nice stuff but it still has a while to perfection. If you're going for flourishes, I think you should take a look at this video and decide what level you are on. (This video is by Harwin who is www.magicbunny.co.uk or on www.dananddave.com/forum)

Becoming a flourishman requires much, much practice.

StEvEbO!

Yes...I've been meaning to get a good manipulation deck for a while. I came very close to ordering the Dragon Fanning deck too, but I didn't. I should get a tub of fanning powder too.

These cards are better than you'd think though: they're linen finish, like Waddington's - and they were 50 cents each!

I don't want to be a 'flourishman' as such but IMHO it's a good thing to know a few decent flourishes, just to intersperse in a routine. Also, it's almost an essential to have some nice false cuts, and on they're own they can even be a trick!

The riffle should have been left out - I haven't been working it on it much but I tried it a few times on my family and it went down OK (I think...).

Kati

Just on the side... Can I ask where you learn your flourishes from!? When you said you think it's good to know a few decent flourishes it got me thinking.

As for the music... Oh Well. No idea where I got that from then! At least it reminded me about my sims... had been neglecting my duties until recently... and now they'll all die in house fires!!! MWAHAHAHA....

heh heh heh.

It's hard to say where I learn my flourishes from...there are many many sources.

The false riffle I learned from Emerge Triumphant, and the effect is worth it for that alone (and it contains many other sleights too).

I learnt to fan originally from Born To Perform, then refined that with AOCM vol. 1 (I think) and I fiddle with fanning myself too.

The illogical cut and variations, and the three-packet false cut, is from Showoff with Cards.

I think one of them was also a variation I made up on the Pendulum cut in Born To Perform...

Kati

The flourishes were good. Sure, they need some refinement, but what you have so far is looking great, practice will only make them look amazing. I don't have any experience with flourishing, so I can't comment on the technical aspects.

Two things I wanted to comment on:

The False Riffle - The fact that the cards are shuffled but never squared is incredibly suspicious, and I strongly disagree that your spectators would "lose interest" and not find that unusual. Practically every spectator you will perform for knows how to shuffle a deck in some way - and NONE of them have ever seen it done like this. A false shuffle isn't supposed to LOOK like a false shuffle. It's a great start, but the final move needs to be worked on. Take a closer look at Oz's handling of the shuffle - and notice how his hands move in to help cover the move.

I think the angle of the video plays a large factor in this, but I thought I would mention it. It's possible your move could be invisible from a top down look, but from what I see here, it's noticeable.

I understand your viewpoint, but like with your ECC - I think you might underestimate the spectators you perform for. You mentioned that since they didn't question things, they didn't see it. I think this is largely untrue. More often than not, a spectator will forgive the flash and never mention that they saw your double or something like that. Always remember that. They're not dullards - they're just nice and forgiving.

The second comment - on your shapeshifter change the move is too obvious. Don't bend the card so dramatically beforehand, it gives the move away. It should be a quick "flick" like you're just snapping the card.

Nice work - keep it up!

Demitri wrote:More often than not, a spectator will forgive the flash and never mention that they saw your double or something like that. Always remember that. They're not dullards - they're just nice and forgiving.

So true.. it hurts!

Hehe..

~Sym~

Indeed...

That's why I always show my missus, or my flatmates, tricks first. They're not afraid to tell me what they saw, and how I could improve things once done.

Cheers,

Thanks for the comments Demitri, and I see your point on the false riffle. This is where I get into a fix - my brother will say he's seen it even if he hasn't, just by guessing, and my parents are like spectators: they say it was good even if it wasn't.

I was looking at the forums on PM for the false riffle, and I noticed that there's another strip-out on the Thought Forseen explanation, which is totally covered by the hands (it's from the other side of the pack). I wonder if anyone has any experience with this as it looks too good to be true...

Kati

if i would now be onest.. i didnt like at all those color changes.. in window-, and wink change, spectator (like me) will see that card what will change in to.. and that's not good. btw, i think that slow-mo video is good on coour changes.. those are visual "tricks" so they must hapen fast. not slowly..

And then that "flourishes" video.. , actually that video's name should be like "shuffles" or something like that... normally flourishes looks good and them should happen pretty fast... then those one handed fans... u should buy bicycle deck to get better fans.. i am not saying that you cant do flourishes and fans etc etc. but i just say, practice, practice, practice...