The Genii Forum

Tortuga

RIP, Mike. Met Mike at Devoe's Magic Den. Saw him perform with his wife twice, I believe. O'Dowd & Sondra, good stuff and good memories.

Tortuga

Remarkably sensitized? Are you kidding me? Do you mean he shouldn't be? Lord help us. BTW you do know he had in his possession films of children as young as 3 or 4 according to authorities. Sensitized! "Sensitized." Yes, it's a word. It's in the dictionary. [edited] I stand by my post. Mo...

Tortuga

The magicians selected for the film, and the versions of their lives shown in the film, are all choices made by the film maker. The film has that "lonely loser" tone because that's what the film makers chose to portray. They can claim otherwise, but I don't buy it. The fact that no tag li...

Tortuga

Daryl was an incredibly talented magician and he could teach magic in a way that made you believe you could really learn it. Not many have that knack. I will leave with this, something I learned many years ago, "suicide is a permanent solution to a temporary problem". Unless, as RK has sug...

Tortuga

This has gone on since there was more than one magician. What gets me is when I see a young youtuber mimicking another magician, patter, mannerisms, etc. I've even seen some well known magicians copying Daryl's laugh or sounds that he makes when he is performing. Kinda sad. If you are really upset d...

Tortuga

Curtis nailed it, I think. Set your props on the pad and play around with angles and distances until it feels right and then burn that arrangement into your memory. I would also add that moves of this type call for boldness, fearlessness really. You can't double clutch or it becomes obvious. Develop...

Tortuga

Chris Kenner studied a lot of Bertram routines and methods. I'm sure he can pull that routine off smoothly. He has a knack for making difficult moves like the Bertram switch look easier.

Tortuga

Magic Christian did jumbo card manipulation.

Tortuga

Dragonfly rings are likely much easier to find. Pretty cheap as I remember. Personally, I think the Ninja size are fine for close up and I wouldn't go smaller, but YMMV.

Tortuga

Thank you for the warm welcome. In case you're interested in my shuffle work aswell: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U9ql2zzjXBs this is a short riffle stacking demonstration for a seven handed Hold 'Em game. Welcome Joey. I assume you are aware of BASF? I work in the Construction Chemicals divisio...

Tortuga

Tom Pilling wrote:And I always thought BASF made cassettes...

Ah. Analogue.

Used to. Sold that off years ago!

Tortuga

Welcome Joey. I assume you are aware of BASF? I work in the Construction Chemicals division. Your deals look very smooth and I like the rhythm. Keep it up!

Tortuga

The audience reactions were priceless. Thanks for sharing.

Tortuga

Bob, on a slightly related note, Tim had experimented once upon a time with making flaming thimbles! I saw some prototypes and used to have 4 aluminum, knurled thimbles that he had developed along the way. I believe he stopped his efforts before he perfected them, but that would have been awesome. I...

Tortuga

John, thanks so much for posting these interviews. I knew Tim when he first came to St. Louis and I can tell you he was a very nice man. Very generous with his input. He helped me improve my technique on a silk routine I used to do. I was at the Midwest Jubilee that he referenced in the interviews. ...

Tortuga

I'm sure I'm in the minority in that I had never heard of that show and barely know of Sarah Silverman. Never heard of Chelsea Handler. What I will say is that some people have never been privy to a performance by a seasoned pro. So perhaps they view all magicians in a distorted way. I myself have s...

Tortuga

Another solution would be to say "An American coin here and two foreign coins over there." No mention of what the coins are made of.

Tortuga

Loved the clip. What year was that Jubilee? I enjoyed seeing a very young Danny Fleshman standing against the wall. Brings back good memories of growing up in St. louis with him, Chris Kenner and others.

Tortuga

Looks like I have a taker. Thanks to everyone for looking.

Tortuga

Tortuga

I have a group of cards that I'd like to sell. Prefer to sell as group but will consider selling separately. Here's the group: New, unopened Bicycle New Fan Back circa 1979 (3 red/3 Blue) New, unopened Angel Back Squeezers (1 blue) awesome cards New, unopened Blue Ribbons circa 1981 (1 blue) ditto a...

Tortuga

Don, I was at the Jubilee in St. Louis in 1981, I believe. I took second place in the teenage close up competition. I believe that was the year that Slydini performed his close up act as well as his stage act. He was as incredible as everyone says, if not more so. I also attended the one in 1979, I ...

Tortuga

Re: Matt Richman's comments above: I much prefer Tony Chang's rendition. The card rises to two positions in the deck before ending up on top. That, to me, is the best approach. The original video that started this thread shows one jump and then directly to the top. That's o.k., I just like it the wa...

Tortuga

Found some blank dice at U.S. Toy and Magic in Leawood, KS.

They have a website if you want to try them.

Tortuga

The card needs to rise more times. You need to set the stage and make sure that the conditions are understood. You are putting the card down very close to the bottom and if you watch closely you can see it slowly rise a little at a time until it makes its way to the top. If someone watched your perf...

Tortuga

It's. Principle.

Tortuga

Funny, I never get questioned on whether I'm using trick cards. I'm sure it happens to others, perhaps the spectator once owned TV Magic Cards at one time? Regarding old cards that I'd like to see come back, I agree that Aristocrat's were very nice. Especially if you prefer a smooth finish, which I ...

Tortuga

I saw the Phoenix design on the Cafe and I thought they looked pretty good. They have a built-in, one-way design that is visible on the edges so that it can be seen in a spread. There is another one-way mark in another area of the card. Very subtle though. The Phoenix box looks great, pretty much li...

Tortuga

Hey, if you are passing through the Kansas City, MO area, make sure to budget some time in to stop by U.S. Toy Co. The shop is in Leawood, KS which is just over the Mo/Kan state line. In fact, it is just off of Stateline Road and I-435. If you go in the late afternoon, there are several young magici...

Tortuga

I have several sets of original RNT cups, but my favorite would have to be the chrome-plated steel cups similar to what Dr. Danny described above. They are not stainless, so they actually have a little surface corrosion on the interior. The finish is awesome, however. The chrome plating is superb an...

Tortuga

Seuss, personally, I like the Jim Zachary boxes. Jim Zee as he is referred to, makes a beautiful coin box. He produces a "Roth-style set", including the Boston, slot box, a regular box and lid. I like the oversized lid for certain moves. I also like how the boxes are "rounded". G...

Tortuga

Methinks thou dost protest too much. Rather than take a weak shot at Mr. Kaufman, why not answer some of the questions that have been raised in previous posts. Like, why was Jordini displaying false information in his posts? Is the name really Rosenberg? Which is it? Are you dating Jord Rosenberg? W...

Tortuga

Curtis, regarding your idea of an "expanding" item to place on top of the coins, perhaps a sponge ball? That would possibly peek out the top of the cylinder and still easily compress into the stack. The idea of no cover over the cork is very bold. Reminds me a little of card under glass an...

Tortuga

Andrew, Chris appears to be using old Barber halves in that routine. The coins don't matter for that routine, as you probably know. Chris sometimes uses Walking Liberty halves, he just happened to use the Barbers for that trick. The coins for that routine are ungimmicked. It is all sleights. If you ...

Tortuga

Jager, there is probably material written up on this question, but I cannot cite any references. I would look at works on mentalism for starters. Probably Max Maven has explored this question. It used to be cliche that the ace of spades was frequently chosen. Don't know how accurate it is. Never has...

Tortuga

Koudai, that was very nice. Probably would be even better if you weren't forced to sit in front of a camera and keep your gestures confined to such a small space. Saw a slight flash of the stack in the initial loading sequence, but then again, I was prepared and was looking for it. Certainly no laym...

Tortuga

Matt, I think that the action is pretty smooth. Good job. What I think is missing and I'd like to see is, what do you do after the steal? In other words, your clip ends with the card in palm and the hand on the table in a position that frankly screams "it is over here now." Don't take this...

Tortuga

One final thing regarding memory. I once attended a large, company-wide sales meeting and the featured speaker put everyone on the spot by asking a question. He said, "I want all of you to write the answer to this question down on paper and don't cheat by looking at your neighbors." "...

Tortuga

Bill, I agree. That is why IF he was the "author", it was ghost-written. MFA seemed to be the opposite of suave and refined. Also, as for memories and their reliability, there is no question that time causes one to lose details or "misremember" something. As the police are fond o...

Tortuga

As a former "interviewer" on radio in the '80's I can empathise a little with Ammar. He probably had a a set "script" of questions that he wanted to cover and knew that Vernon was verbose, so he was prepared to interrupt and redirect in order to cover everything that he felt need...

Tortuga

Jeff, you probably already own the booklet put out by Magic, Inc. in 1970, but just in case: Dai Vernon's Expanded Lecture Notes Begins with Cups and Balls then covers The Changing Cards Name a Number Thought Card from Pocket Hints on the Side Steal The Migratory Cards Bluff Card to Pocket The G.W. ...

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