The Genii Forum

Just wanted to mention how much I enjoyed the new Magicana section edited by David Acer.
All the material was great. The best selection of magic effects I've seen in any magazine in a while. (i.e. "Caught in a Brainstorm" is one of those ideas that someone with the right performing persona could make into a signature routine.) A great start to what I hope will be a long run.

Glad to hear it!

I haven't received May's Genii yet here in England, but I was excited to read about David Acer's taking over Magicana.

I had spoken with Richard Kaufman over the last several years about having someone else take over the onus of a monthly tricks column because the other Genii tasks of the Editor are so overwhelming. Richard resisted because he was determined to keep the quality of the material high.

David Acer is the perfect choice to do the job. He's a great magician, an excellent writer and is respected by everyone.

Other than the problem he has with flatulence, which won't affect Richard or the Genii readership, he's the perfect man!

Matt Field

If you only knew the half of it!

I'm loving this month's Magicana. Acer is definately the best man for the job!

I'm already starting to use Gordon Bean's "Splitting the Difference".

Great work. A+ material.

Glad you've started "Splitting," Josh. I've recently started playing around with it again, and have come up with some new ideas.

First of all, it's probably good to hand the cards simultaneously to the participating spectators to either reject or accept; this speeds the procedure up greatly. (If one of them makes the mistake of putting a discard into the other's pile, just point out that each of them is responsible for his or her own choices and place it onto the discard pile.)

I've also started experimenting with the idea of saying that the process will stop after fifty-two seconds. Apart from helping maintain interest, this dramatic device takes advantage of the fact that you can stop anywhere and still show that the remainder of the deck is mixed.

Finally, instead of handing the cards to the participants, it's possible to hold the choices up vertically in front of you for a "Yes"/"No" or thumbs-up/thumbs-down decision, after which you put the cards in the appropriate location. Aside from keeping attention on you, this obviously gets rid of the one-way-deck requirement.

P.S. Let me add my voice to those welcoming David to the helm of Magicana. He's an inspired choice--which is a good thing, because we'll never get rid of him now!

Originally posted by Josh Logan:
I'm already starting to use Gordon Bean's "Splitting the Difference".

Great work. A+ material.

I really have already grown to like this routine. I've tried it out twice on friends, and they simply don't know what to say when I've shown them how correct they were in sensing the Black/Red condition of the cards.

I'll keep using this effect. It's ingenious. :)

DonB!

Gordon may have come up with the trick, but it was ME who decided to put it on page 29!

Originally posted by David Acer:
it was ME who decided to put it on page 29!

I always said Acer was a genius.

David -- great work with Magicana! I am really enjoying it. Congratulations.

Matt Field

David, can you tell us a little more about Lee Sailor who contributed the routine "Dyslexic Coins Across"? Where is he from? Does he have anything else published?

First of all, many thanks to everyone for the kind words! (except Matt) Secondly, Lee Sailor's contribution was one of thirty seven thousand submissions Richard forwarded to me the day I accepted the job as editor of Magicana. Unfortunately, I know nothing else about him, although I got the sense from his original e-mail to Genii that he is not an "inventor" per se, but he had nonetheless come up with this interesting approach to Coins Across. I liked it, and it's not a card trick, so it got written up quickly.

By the way, I'm about four months ahead with the Magicanas (thus the contents are now written up to and including the September issue), and I can honestly say you ain't seen nothin' yet!

Can you double check and see if the person that submitted the coin routine was actually Lee "Sailer" vice "Sailor"? (Which is why I was asking for more info. I was wondering if they were the same person. I have not been able to track down Lee Sailer to ask him if that was his routine).

Originally posted by Joe Pecore:
Can you double check and see if the person that submitted the coin routine was actually Lee "Sailer" vice "Sailor"? (Which is why I was asking for more info. I was wondering if they were the same person. I have not been able to track down Lee Sailer to ask him if that was his routine).

I remember seeing an article by, I believe, Lee Sailer, on http://www.zyworld.com/coinpurse/ several years ago. But all those articles seem to have vanished.

You could try contacting that site.

Dave

Originally posted by Dave Le Fevre:
I remember seeing an article by, I believe, Lee Sailer, on http://www.zyworld.com/coinpurse/ several years ago. But all those articles seem to have vanished.

The articles (one in each of the first five volumes) are still available in the archives: http://www.zyworld.com/coinpurse/ArticlesArchive.htm

-Jim

Originally posted by Jim Maloney:
The articles (one in each of the first five volumes) are still available in the archives: http://www.zyworld.com/coinpurse/ArticlesArchive.htm

I'd looked there, but I'd failed to find any of the original articles, which included the one by Lee Sailer (if memory serves), and even one by me.

Dave

Here's a list of what I've found in the archives -- I'm not sure what articles specifically you're looking for ... maybe there were others that weren't archived?

Volume 1: "The Crying Kid's Magic Coin"
Volume 2: "Two Coin Opener"
Volume 3: "Holding a Coin: A Misdirection Tip"
Volume 4: "Copper/Silver Direct" and "Three More Coins Across"
Volume 5: "Purse and Pocket Management" and "Coins in Love" Also "Coin Monte Surprise, by Dave Le Fevre

Again, these might not be the ones you were looking for, but at least it's something for those wanted more info on Lee Sailer.

-Jim

Hi Joe,

I went back to look at the original e-mail Lee sent to Genii and it is in fact Lee Sailer, not Sailor.

DAMN YOU SPELLCHECK!!!

I'm obviously not accessing that site correctly.

Whether I click on Articles or on More Articles, I find nothing.

Great to see Magicana back. Quite frankly without it the Genii magazine was just becoming one big magazine of adverts for magic products. I am sure its inclusion keeps all subscibers coming back

Dave,

Here are links to the Lee Sailer articles on The Coin Purse Web site.

The Crying Kids Magic Coin
http://www.zyworld.com/coinpurse/Archivestore1.htm

Two Coin Opener
http://www.zyworld.com/coinpurse/Archivestore2.htm

Misdirection for Handling a Coin
http://www.zyworld.com/coinpurse/Articles27.htm

Three More Coins Across
http://www.zyworld.com/coinpurse/Articles36.htm

Copper/Silver Direct
http://www.zyworld.com/coinpurse/Articles41.htm

Coins in Love
http://www.zyworld.com/coinpurse/Articles44.htm

Purse and Pocket Management
http://www.zyworld.com/coinpurse/Articles47.htm

Thanks Cameron.

The Articles and More Articles links seem to work now. Must've been a temporary glitch at the time.

Dave

By the way, if you're into real-world coin routines like Lee Sailer's DYSLEXIC COINS ACROSS (May, 2005), be sure to read Richard Sanders's PILE OF CHANGE in the issue that followed it. It really generates a reaction in laymen that's way out of proportion to the minimal technical demands of the trick.

Lee Sailer is a good fella out of Virginia. Nice guy. Here is a link to his AOL page.

http://hometown.aol.com/lsailer0/myhome ... ofile.html

Steve V

Lee Sailer still lives in Warrenton VA, where he appears regularly in the local phone book.

He is in fact the same Lee Sailer that published some articles at Coin Purse when it first started out, and he is in fact the same Lee Sailer that Joe Pecore already knows, so if Joe wants to contact him, he can. 8-) 8-)

Lee.Sailer@direcway.com