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magic_evmeister wrote:To call us amateurs for choosing these tricks is nothing short of blatant patronisation.

Agreed.

magic_evmeister wrote:To call us amateurs for choosing these tricks is nothing short of blatant patronisation.

Make that a double, agreed.

Heya. I'm after a good bill switch do you guys recommend any at all. There's so many on the market, but just don't know the one to do. Any advice.

I know this is an old post but

my number 1 one for effect has to be the razer blades trick, i eat 8 then a bit of thread, then cough up 8 razer blades knotted on the thread!

It made my audiance Gasp in horror and that is a buzz i can tell you!

Derek

Havent posted anything substantial here for a while, so thought I would do so here. Ladies and Gentlemen, my personal top 10 and my personal reasons why:

1) Ambitious Card. So universal of an effect. It can be adapted so easily depending on the situation, mood of the audience etc etc and to qoute Daryl, it transends the language barriers. A Perfect effect
2) Kaslowski Bill Switch. Such a beautiful and clean switch. It uses something everyone can relate to, and has an emotional hook- the ability of multiplying money, which everyone wishes they could do!
3) ID. In my opinion, this is a classic of magic. Can be played for laughs, played seriously, and fecthes amazing reactions everytime with a foolproof method, its never failed me.
4) Locked for life (ring on padlock) Once again, an emotional hook, borrow a couples wedding rings, lock them on a padlock and ask them to think of the year they got married. Always works a treat.
5) Pen Thru Note. Once again, like in most magic, it has an emotional hook- money! The thought of taking someones hard earned money and mutilating it right in front of them, then monets later to give it back unharmed, ive won more pints in the clubs and pubs with this than anything else!
6) Coin In Bottle. Ive only just added this to my repertoire, but it gets amazing reactions, passing solid through solid- metal through glass with no apparent means of this being able to happen, then to throw the coin out of the bootle and hand the coin and bottle out for examination, pure magic
7)Sponge rabbits. Another recent addition, now I never leave home without these! A whole new slant on the standard sponge balls routine which the females absolutely love. They have a cuteness factor and i honestly believe that the patter for a set of rabbits can be stronger than a set of balls.
Dai vernons dice routine. Similar to a sponge ball routine with transpositions, changes etc, but with something thats that little bit more "every day". Mind you, that depends entirely on how you define "everyday".
9) Elastic bands. 3 years ago, if you had tried to tell me you could entertain a crowd with 2 rubber bands and leave them gobsmaked, i would have laughed in your face! Now, i never leave home without them, CMH, linking band, broken and restored, with the added kicker of a stargazer band, brilliant stuff, and an every day item.
10) In a flash. So many different elements packed into 1 effect! Fire, money, cards and an element of danger. And with being able to have the coin and card signed, its a personal effect to the spectator. Leaves them speachless.


Well guys and gals, thats my top 10, i really should be posting more around these boards but ive been inundated with work and magic for the past year that its made life so busy, and now with the added element of glandular fever at the moment, not good!

Look forward to speaking to all my old friends on the board soon

Mark

Nice to see the ID there a few times

It was only a few years ago that my ID stayed at home in the cuboard because it was the trick that everyone does, and hence I associated that with amateur things. I am so glad I have rediscovered this gem (and only because I made a mistake and went to the cuboard to use it to cover up my mistake).

Presented the right way, this truely is a great trick.

I also agree with Mark on the Elastic Bands front. CMH is a classic and can be done on the spectator's fingers. These two effects are staggeringly simple (in concept, not workings), but that's why I think they get such good reactions.

ID, Card On Ceiling, 2 Card Monte, Crazy Man's Handcuffs, Card To Mouth (Mark Mason), Color Changing Deck, Signed Bill To Lemon, Skinkohs Twisting Arm Illusion, Ambitious Card.

russellmagic wrote:Heya. I'm after a good bill switch do you guys recommend any at all. There's so many on the market, but just don't know the one to do. Any advice.

Although I'm definately no expert on this, I noticed no one had answered your query so heres my opinion. My favourite bill switch is the one on David Acers Extreme Close Up. I think it's called 'Round The World' or some such and is a currency switch.

Basically, David has a pack of cards with holiday destinations written on them, two speccys choose a card each with a different location. He then takes a speccy's bill and changes it into the currency of the first location, not content he then changes it into the currency of the second destination, before returning it back to it's original form.

As I said though I'm no expert, so if anyone knows better please point this guy in the right direction...

Cards:

no particular order though, thats hard for me:

Ambitious card
Ghost / Biddle
Out of this World
Penguin Monte
Lie or tell the truth
Mental Stab
Color Monte
Queens Murder
Instant transpo
Almost Embarrasing


Ordinary Objesct:

Pen through dollar
floating dollar
Dollar transpo
many things from on the spot that i cant remember the names of/
there are many i cant think of right now, maybe later.

The wrong question is being asked here. It is NOT the trick which is important so much as the showmanship and presentation of the performer which gets the reaction.

A great showman can get a terrific reaction out of a piddly little trick whereas a poor showman (the majority of magicians) can make a miracle look like a mere puzzle and a boring one at that.

The lesson is that it is not the trick which makes the magician but rather the magician that makes the trick.

There are indeed some tricks which are inherently strong but it is a shame to see them murdered by the incompetent. I venture to say that when magicians stop thinking about which trick is the greatest and start to think how they will present those tricks in an entertaining manner then magic will make progress.

It ain't gonna happen though.

mark lewis wrote:The wrong question is being asked here. It is NOT the trick which is important so much as the showmanship and presentation of the performer which gets the reaction.

A great showman can get a terrific reaction out of a piddly little trick whereas a poor showman (the majority of magicians) can make a miracle look like a mere puzzle and a boring one at that.

The lesson is that it is not the trick which makes the magician but rather the magician that makes the trick.

There are indeed some tricks which are inherently strong but it is a shame to see them murdered by the incompetent. I venture to say that when magicians stop thinking about which trick is the greatest and start to think how they will present those tricks in an entertaining manner then magic will make progress.

It ain't gonna happen though.

agreed, one thing i have always tried to instill in the people. this can be applied to every forum of magic: stage, street, escapes, carny, mental.
Its all in the presentation. HOw good the performer can build it up, stronger and stonger till the end. And this is a very very good rule to remember in escapes, since they are usually boring to the people, without proper presentation.

Top 10 tricks for reactions? Let's see.

1. Jay Sankeys "Astral Projection"
2. Triumph
3. Pen Thru Note (complete with surpise Ecko ending )
4. Ambitious Card
5. Out Of This World
6. Coin in can
7. CMH

And that's about it for me really.

Normally I'll perform a trick a few times and scope the reactions frm my initial presentation.
Then I'll adapt my presentation and work on it until it becomes a rather more powerful piece of magic, in that most of what's going on happens in the spectators head.

I try not to perform trick after trick after trick as this quickly gets boring.
Instead I like to fine tune and refine until they get the best reactions possible

well then - the top few for me (along with my slightly...errrm...unique shall we say performance style) are:

sinful
blind luck and pure skill (my own invention)
jumping gemini
out of this world
good ole' classic force mind reading (with my hypnotic mind reading stare...well )

EckoZero wrote:3. Pen Thru Note (complete with surpise Ecko ending )

Surprise ending?! Tell all!

There really is a hole in the note