The Genii Forum

Dave Le Fevre

the bit that I did notice is your disapproval of the "magician in trouble" idea. I imagine this disapproval is something to do with your personality and performance style. I have to agree. I know several conjurors who are slick, polished, professional, charming, but something going wrong ...

Dave Le Fevre

Edward Pungot wrote:Now if THAT version can be replicated in front of a LIVE audience

That's presumably written with tongue in cheek

See my comment of yesterday re the very suspect audio

Dave Le Fevre

In the Rebecca Herrera video, on the second time that the effect is performed, the number 8 is chosen by Valerie Spell

However, the audio doesn't sound like anything remotely resembling "eight"

And the video shows her saying several syllables

Or is that just my perception?

Dave Le Fevre

That's my perception too. Except that I'd have thought that that classified them as instant stooges. Stooging, instant or otherwise, requires some kind of active participation. A spectator merely behaving like a spectator is something else. They didn't do anything differently than what any other sp...

Dave Le Fevre

Tarotist wrote:It's not a prepared stooge. It is not an instant stooge. It is a really a case of stooges not realising they are stooges until it is too late to do anything about it!

That's my perception too. Except that I'd have thought that that classified them as instant stooges.

Dave Le Fevre

Dave wrote: "Additionally, having found that the modus operandi is merely an audio version of trick photography, " Dave, I know it's somewhat a matter of taste, but I disagree with that characterization of the method. It's trick photography if the tv audience experiences something differe...

Dave Le Fevre

On another note have any of you noticed your interest in the trick has diluted now that the basic secret has been more or less exposed? Indeed. For many spectators, be they laymen or conjurors, some magic tricks are a puzzle to be solved. And this effect and its performance fell in that category. H...

Dave Le Fevre

The supposed chosen number also seems weird to me. In most of ACAAN performances, spectators tend to choose a no so high number, as twenty something or just lower than the half of the deck. It's the first time I see a spectator choosing a number higher than 40. That's an excellent point. Spectators...

Dave Le Fevre

I don't disagree, Mark. I merely posted the link. Apropos your earlier observation "Perhaps it is my imagination but I have noticed the tricks that fool Penn and Teller tend to be the boring ones" , I agree. Or, more accurately, the performers are not rewarded for being entertaining nor pe...

Dave Le Fevre

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EJ59Te3WDcg

Dave Le Fevre

I'm still none the wiser regarding the two performances in the other link, the one that Joe Lyons posted

All that shuffling ...

Dave Le Fevre

Here's another link. Both this clip and the original clip are quite baffling. Mark you, many things baffle me nowadays, so that's not much of a criterion. The other thing that they have in common is that neither is entertaining. They're simply puzzles. Very impressive puzzles, but puzzles nonethele...

Dave Le Fevre

Well, I think that only obvious conclusion is that she's a witch. And therefore she should be burnt at the stake.

But seriously, a most impressive effect.

Dave Le Fevre

Ian Kendall wrote:Warp 9, while a fun thing to do, does not fall into the same world as the vanishing space puzzles

That was my thought too. But I didn't want to start that discussion.

Dave Le Fevre

katterfelt0 wrote:There was a similar effect published in Genii using a playing card. It's "Warp 9" by Masao Atsukawa. It's in the May 2000 issue

It's also in Richard Kaufman's Japan Ingenious. I painstakingly coloured it, printed it, manufactured it. I should perform it more often.

Dave Le Fevre

David Mitchell wrote:I'm at a loss as to figure out what search terms I should be using to find this information

I believe that they're often called vanishing-area puzzles

Dave Le Fevre

Richard Kaufman wrote:I don't like the term "muggles." We do not live in the fantasy world of Harry Potter.

Glad to learn that I'm not alone in that respect. I find the term a patronising description of a lay audience.

Dave Le Fevre

Generally speaking, if you're releasing films publicly, you're presenting yourself to the public as a "filmmaker", and viewers of that film have an absolute right to offer negative or positive critique the film, or the filmmaker. If someone likes it or dislikes it, then they're entitled t...

Dave Le Fevre

Thanks, I enjoyed watching that

Dave Le Fevre

Tom Moore wrote:Uk laws about “passing off” means that trading under a name that was a misspelling of the previous name wouldn’t pass because of how blatant and deliberate it was to not be (but imply) the previous trademark

In that case, he could call himself Alternator instead of Dynamo

Dave Le Fevre

A friend of mine, an excellent performer in all areas, has done many corporate walk-around gigs. However, some years one agency told him that could no longer use his services, because they'd learned that he was also a children's entertainer. His children's-entertainer persona has a different stage n...

Dave Le Fevre

Tarotist wrote:absent minded, incompetent and a bit dithery

My ears are burning

Dave Le Fevre

Tarotist wrote:Jonathon Ross was a bit too mouthy Brit for my taste

He's not my favourite presenter. And especially so after his spiteful treatment of Andrew Sachs.

Dave Le Fevre

Richard Kaufman wrote:In general, magician's do not know what the layman sees nor do they seem to care

That should be the "superpower" that we all want to have - to see our own performance from viewpoint of a lay audience. (Though of course different lay audiences have different opinions.)

Dave Le Fevre

He gave a talk at my magic club in May this year. The AGT accident wasn't the main subject, though he was willing to talk about it in some detail.

Scary. Very very scary. I think I'll stick to my close-up repertoire.

Dave Le Fevre

Yes, it's a Himber Vanish

I've been struggling to master it for far too many years

Dave Le Fevre

Philippe Billot wrote:Oil & Queens by Roy Walton

The method of the first half of my routine is basically A Switch in Time by Roy Walton

Dave Le Fevre

I could never see the point of Oil & Water as a plot. And I'm not much of a card person, anyway. Then about 25 years ago I put together an Oil & Water routine with a presentation that I liked. And lay audiences invariably tell me how much they enjoy it. Conjurors seem to enjoy it too, but th...

Dave Le Fevre

So punters were encouraged to come in by the price of 1/6, but when they came in they found that it was actually 2/6?

I remember the black-face soap too, of course

Dave Le Fevre

The sets that I have are the British white ones

Dave Le Fevre

I'm surprised to learn that. I have several sets, so no problem.

Dave Le Fevre

You would be astonished at the reaction to this tiny little item! Quite so. It's something that I often carry with me, though I rarely perform it. But whenever I do, it generates a surprisingly good reaction. Years ago, a spectator thought that it used liquid crystals. So I added an ending where I ...

Dave Le Fevre

"He is right for HIM! However, not necessarily for anyone else." I have to agree. I know some wonderful conjurors who are amazing but not necessarily amusing. Entertaining, yes, but not amusing. And I know other wonderful conjurors who are amusing but not necessarily amazing. Each to their...

Dave Le Fevre

I think that I'm not supporting Brad in not supporting Chris ...

Too many negatives - I've managed to confuse myself

Dave Le Fevre

I received an e-mail from him in 2002 apprising me of his latest e-address.

Tried PMing you, but cannot get it to work for some reason. Maybe you could PM me?

Dave Le Fevre

Tom, that's very kind of you. And it really wasn't necessary.

Dave Le Fevre

Done. I've sent it to the e-mail address on your website.

Dave Le Fevre

Sean Piper wrote:Read the title on the spine again, slowly

Is Taribell intended as a play on words, to be pronounced terrible? I honestly don't know.

Dave Le Fevre

Philippe Billot wrote:"désolé" in French

That's another of those faux amis. In French, it means sorry. In English, it means unbelievably sorry, to an almost unimaginable extent.

Dave Le Fevre

The usage sounds quite normal to an English-speaking ear

Perhaps it's one of those words that falls in the faux amis category?

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