The Genii Forum

Bill Duncan

What do the lay audience think when you do the Hindu Shuffle move where you keep showing the same (bottom) card? Speaking from personal experience, I assumed a Svengali Deck*. So it was pretty darn amazing when he cut the selection into the pack (palming it out) and handed me the cards so I could s...

Bill Duncan

This is how I'm always going to remember him: http://www.nbc.com/saturday-night-live/video/harry-anderson-monologue/n9337 I'm happy to report that NBCs website is unable to play the clip at the moment. Apparently, Harry had a lot of fans who want to remember him tonight. My thoughts go out to his w...

Bill Duncan

I believe it may be the trick Brad mentioned.

The "extra" die, is a sort of shell that works like a Boston Box.

Bill Duncan

Is the dice trick mentioned the one shown on Steve Darcri's L&L set?

http://www.llpub.com/index.php?main_pag ... ts_id=2330

It's also on the L&L Mix Tape on dice.
http://www.llpub.com/index.php?main_pag ... ts_id=2412

Bill Duncan

Performer, my good friend, I have no reason whatsoever to doubt what you have said. However, many modern routines I have seen involve turning a card (really a double) face up and then (apparently) placing said "card" in the spectator's hand. In such a situation I don't believe there is a ...

Bill Duncan

Why would it be "unnatural" to turn the card face down on the pack? Do laymen have protocols for looking at the face of a card? I don't think so. The point of turning a card face up is to see it's identity. Once that information is obtained the flipping of the card face down SHOULD be an i...

Bill Duncan

Submitted for your approval: Garrett Thomas's Stand Up Monte. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B2Ct3Dm8Boc I'm a big fan of it. I love Garrett's routine. It is so much better than the more popular gaffed monte that people associate with Mike Skinner. The gaff allows for a much cleaner show and you c...

Bill Duncan

I hadn't seen Michael's lecture in years, and went mostly for old times' sake. The lecture today was just as great as the first one I attended, the original Topit lecture tour, "ahem" years ago... Nobody comes away from an Ammar lecture unhappy, and I left with half a dozen new ideas swirl...

Bill Duncan

I agree with you completely but I hardly think this vulgar. Just a bit of playground humour which is a big difference. It’s the sort of thing you would a clown use Vulgar: "lacking sophistication or good taste; unrefined." or "making explicit and offensive reference to sex or bodily ...

Bill Duncan

Ignore the opinion of magicians. They really don't count. I can't be the only one who's rolling on the floor laughing that the irony of that... Good one Mark. performer's second bit of advise, about working for laymen is certainly worth listening to... but my psychic-reverend powers tell me you're ...

Bill Duncan

Yes, another purely subjective statement that can be made to mean anything one wants about any trick, any sleight, or any idea. Sure, it's subjective. But not without merit. Aesthetics aren't math after all, even if they do have a mathematical componant. I've always taken Darwin's suggestion to mea...

Bill Duncan

Yeah - Mike used to quote that rule a lot. I have such fond memories of his time at MAGIC magazine. He is my all-time favourite magic reviewer. No matter how skilled you are - something will always look a bit better if it is easier to do. It is nearly impossible to hide that element of tension that...

Bill Duncan

It seems like using a webcam or similar would be superior to a mirror. That would allow you to watch in a focuses manner, after the fact, instead of dividing your attention between what you are doing and the mirror in real time. Plus you could focus on an imaginary spectator or two when practicing i...

Bill Duncan

A few names you might not hear often: David Acer I saw him lecture at PCAM years ago, and he was a perfect mix of silly and funny punctuated by the insights of a real world performer who thinks deeply about his magic. I'm not sure if David still lectures, but if you get a chance SEE HIM. Francis Men...

Bill Duncan

Bill Mullins wrote:Vol 2 of the big Alex Elmsley books by Stephen Minch has a suggestion for preparing a deck so it will faro easier. It involves rubbing the ends of each card with sandpaper so that they are rounded in profile, instead of bluntly cut.

Emery board. Just sayin'

Bill Duncan

Nothing nefarious on the Celeste Evans like. The website doesn't like people to post links to content rather than the site itself.

http://celesteevansmagic.com

Bill Duncan

http://www.magicofkainoa.com/shop/

Bill Duncan

Does anyone else remember a sponge ball routine called "Clones"? It began with a clever production of the "clone" (orange sponge ball with eyes and red nose) from an eye dropper. It was goofy, but at least the theme of clones made sense with the big mutliball production at the e...

Bill Duncan

Holy cow Mark. That was amazing.

Thanks for posting that.

Bill Duncan

Seeing teen-aged Daryl is something to be very thankful for.

You made my week.

Bill Duncan

Christopher1979 wrote: ...not that easy to find.

Gus tells me you can purchase Down Under Deals from Michael Vincent's website (which probably has other worthwhile stuff as well).

http://www.michaelvincentmagic.com/prod ... -wimhurst/

Bill Duncan

+1 for Whimhurst's Down Under Deals.

I'm also partial to the Nash Trilogy.

Bill Duncan

Oddly I find myself mostly agreeing with Mark. Choose the right method for the moment, and do the work well.

That said Mark, how can you say laymen don't know about forcing? How many forcing decks have you pitched over the years?

Bill Duncan

Go see this performance folks.

John's full evening show is one of the best things I've seen in 30 years in magic, and one of the best* evenings in a theater too.

* - The Search for Signs of Intelligent Life in the Universe might edge him out of first place.

Bill Duncan

Richard Stokes wrote:I was surprised when Penn & Teller failed to spot the Tamariz displacement ruse when Siegfreid Tieber performed an updated version of Tamariz's Neither Blind nor Stupid.

+1

Damn fine variation of both the trick, and of Juan's persona. I'd like to see more of this guy...

Bill Duncan

Thanks for your efforts Max.

I found that I couldn't watch it. The endless string of cliche's and banalities is painful.

I did enjoy seeing the man on the street however. Is there any more of that sort of thing in the archives?

Bill Duncan

Richard Stokes wrote:I really like Antonio Cabral's column on card magic.

And the Product Reviews are strong

Thanks for the kind words.

I brought Tony on board when Mike asked me to edit the reviews column.

He exceeded both our expectations.

Bill Duncan

As a guy who will never do a kid show, and who is interested primarily in coin and card magic, let me say that David's last lecture in the Seattle area (which I attended mostly to see what all the fuss was about), is one of the best magic lectures I've seen in the 35 years I've been attending them. ...

Bill Duncan

Thanks for the head's up. Fuller's work on Pushing Daisies, and Dead Like Me made me very happy.

Looking forward to what American Gods has to offer.

Bill Duncan

If you've not seen Elementary, I would recommend watching the first season on NetFlix instead of this offering, as an introduction. In many ways Elementary is better than Sherlock, but this episode is more plot driven.

The strength of this show is the new take on Holmes' personal demons...

Bill Duncan

Sounds like Skinner used a Polaroid camera to take a photo of the card. The resulting instant photo is blank and takes about 5 to 10 minutes to fully develop. He managed to get the waitress to his table fairly quickly, asked her to examine the still blank photo and laid it on her hand face down wit...

Bill Duncan

The Pickle Jar riddle is a cheat. No one would exclaim "Incredible" in the circumstance described in the solution, and line exists only to prevent a solution.

Those who are still struggling with an answer should ignore that sentence, after which the solution is pretty simple.

Bill Duncan

I'm not so sure about that, Bill. Think of the amount of serious facilitation such a deck would give a magician. Again, I'm talking about (future imagining) a deck of 52 cards, each of which has the same thickness, feel and flexibility of an ordinary deck by today's standards - but whose faces and ...

Bill Duncan

...what would eventually prevent someone from releasing a deck of cards with the same form factor, thickness, flexibility and feel of great quality playing cards as we know them today, but whose faces and backs are actually electronic displays that can be controlled by the performer either personal...

Bill Duncan

Tom Gilbert wrote:Don Alan's selected card in paper bag wouldn't be the same without a switchblade.

Which is probably the best argument for using something else. Too many people try to be Don Alan, and none of them succeed.

And +1 to what Mark wrote, above.

Bill Duncan

I wasn't there on merit, I know the guy who wrote his books.
: )

I will say that he was as nice, and as cool, as you imagine he was.

Bill Duncan

I sat across the table from Martin Nash and watched him cycle a deck twice with his tabled faro. That's a better success rate than a lot of people have with their strike double lift.

I don't imagine anyone is 100% on any move, but clearly there are folks who get close enough for practical use.

Bill Duncan

performer wrote:Magic should be a wholesome art not something that one should view as pigsty entertainment.

Agree. Except the buzz saw illusion. That's some F'd Up S#!+ right there.

Also, we should all wear tuxedos so people will take us more seriously.

Bill Duncan

Jonathan Townsend wrote:How about a director insisting that an actor duplicate the performance of another actor?

Kevin Smith has a wonderful story about asking Bruce Willis to duplicate the delivery of a line like something he did in an episode of Moonlighting many, many years earlier in his career.

Bill Duncan

The solution, some have found, is to hire an editor. What Matt said. Also, as he can personally attest, the two strongest voices in our generation (Minch and Kaufman) bring to bear considerable editorial review. Look in the front of any of their books and you'll see, along with Matt's name, several...

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