The Genii Forum

Joe Mckay

Good to see the market for magic books is looking better. I am hoping the average magic consumer is starting to get bored of downloads.

Much better to invest in something that will provide education and pleasure for years to come.

Joe Mckay

Robert Harbin has a lovely presentation for the Torn & Restored Newspaper over here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8rWcCuNYcrc

Joe Mckay

One other thing. In the June 2011 issue of GENII - Jim Steinmeyer has an article in which he gives his thoughts on some of Guy Jarrett's advice to magicians. Jim builds on what Jarrett wrote 75 years earlier. And updates those opinions so they will strike home with magicians in the 21st century. It ...

Joe Mckay

Barry & Stuart have an entertaining illusion here called The Red Carpet. In the style of P&T - they explain how it is done before repeating it with a twist ending. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BWgEmNDeJNQ I am interested in learning more about illusions. And am just wondering if the metho...

Joe Mckay

Max Maven said an interesting thing once. About doing magic with technology. He felt it weakened the magic to perform a trick with a piece of technology that is inherently more impressive than the trick itself. How many tricks with a phone are ultimately more impressive than the fact you can instant...

Joe Mckay

This book was set to be published back in 1996. And was going to complete the Bob Parrish trilogy. I think David Meyer was supposed to be the publisher.

Does anyone know what happened to the book?

Joe Mckay

I loved Paul's Banknote in Walnut in Lemon in Egg routine. I can see why it was his closer.

It is incredibly strong.

I love his subtlety of being "extra careful" in picking up the razor to justify the fumbling needed in order to load the banknote into the walnut.

Lovely thinking.

Joe Mckay

Ian Keable has an interesting series of blog posts about Paul Daniels over here:

http://www.iankeable.co.uk/blog/category/8-paul-daniels [start from the post at the bottom of the page]

Joe Mckay

Great review again, EndersGame.

Excellent work!

I really liked this book as well. I am gonna' be re-reading it again soon.

Joe Mckay

Great interview! Interesting fact from the interview - apparently Harry Anderson appeared on the Tonight Show with Johnny Carson more than any other magician. Always in his role as an actor. It is a sad passing for the world of magic. Harry gave a great Penguin Live lecture a few years ago. Very spe...

Joe Mckay

I like the boldness of the method behind the 21 Person Cabinet. You tell the audience what the secret is. But it seems too impossible to be true. That has a different flavour to pointing out a standard secret that is believable and then, as a double bluff, using it anyway. But what do I know? I am n...

Joe Mckay

It was great seeing that. Thanks!

I really hope to see Bangkok Bungalow one day as well. It would make a nice trick for the Los Angeles Conference on Magic History.

Joe Mckay

This post from Will Randell (back in 2004) on The Magic Cafe does a great job of expressing why I find the 21 Person Cabinet such a charming illusion. This has been one of my favorite illusions ever since I read about it in Jim Steinmeyer’s THE COMPLETE JARRETT. Still, I had to take it on faith that...

Joe Mckay

[sorry for digging up an old thread]

There is an interesting talk here by Mike Caveney discussing the controversy surrounding the origins of the Zig-Zag girl by Robert Harbin.

http://essentialmagicconference.com/videos/111

Joe Mckay

This is great news!

Also - the trick above is very good. It is definitely worth checking out.

Joe Mckay

I was reading about Hooker's Rising Cards the other day. It is a legendary trick. Many who have witnessed it claim is the greatest trick in magic. Well - when Jim Steinmeyer and John Gaughan reconstructed the routine for the first revival of the trick back in the early 90's, it turns out that Fulves...

Joe Mckay

Here is a video of U.F. Grant's Sacred Altar Lights illusion:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UXOiFwt-WJA

It is for sale here:

https://www.lybrary.com/sacred-altar-lights-p-893256.html

Joe Mckay

Quick question.

Was the effect or method ever published?

Joe Mckay

The Faro shuffle is a dodgy move. It seems to be affected a lot by the heat and humidity of a room. Whenever I see a magician use it - he always seems to miss, and then complain that this doesn't usually happen. Recently I have been exploring faro shuffle effects which take place entirely in the han...

Joe Mckay

Earlier today, I decided I should prepare a list of all of Jim Steinmeyer's contributions to GENII magazine. All of his Conjuring columns in MAGIC magazine (plus some bonus ones) are already compiled in his excellent Conjuring Anthology. But since then - he has published a ton of stuff in GENII maga...

Joe Mckay

I wonder if we could do a version of the Piano card trick - using a stage full of people?

Joe Mckay

Over at Ask Alexander, I checked out Steinmeyer's original version of this book. The one he released 30 years ago. His introduction for that book contain a couple of delightful quotes I will share below. Magical secrets is a rather tragic science. When the truth is known, there is more technology in...

Joe Mckay

Yeah - that is the one! I was thinking of it in terms of cleaning up any effect where you are left with reversed cards. But the only trick where this is a major issue is Alex Elmsley's Brainweave effect. It is one of the strongest tricks you can do with an unprepared deck of cards. So that clean-up ...

Joe Mckay

I haven't seen the new Johnny Thompson book yet. But I always remembered that he had a great way to get a spectator to clean up a deck of cards - when you are left with one or more reversed cards after a trick. It is perfect for those who want a simple (and sneaky) way to clean up the deck before go...

Joe Mckay

Yeah - I thought the girl went round the back to take off the panel and then sneak back in. A couple of seconds before the other panels were taken off. All of this leaves me wondering if this mistaken idea is actually a good idea? In terms of apparently producing 23 people. Instead of 22 people. But...

Joe Mckay

Complete guesswork. And I was corrected by Jim above. Which I am grateful for! The trick is called the Twenty One Person Cabinet. And 22 people were produced. So I thought one of the cheerleaders snuck back in at the end. If you watch the video closely - you will see why that occurred to me. Apologi...

Joe Mckay

Thanks for the response, Jim. And the correction. I was convinced you snuck another cheerleader into the back for the final display! I know zilch about illusions. But I was just wondering if that would be a valid method? Or would it be considered a bad method? From what you said - it means you could...

Joe Mckay

Damian Jennings has a great presentation for this trick here:

https://youtu.be/zhhRWo4Poc0?t=6m9s

Joe Mckay

I should add that U.F. Grant had a book devoted to standalone magic as well. You can find it here: https://www.lybrary.com/window-stoppers-p-2917.html Below is something I have written elsewhere on the forum. It discusses the most unusual trick in the U.F. Grant book linked to above. ------------- M...

Joe Mckay

I have been re-reading the annotated edition of Jarrett Magic that Jim Steinmeyer put out a few years ago. This time round my brain has been much better at grasping a lot of the details that passed me by before. Illusions are not my area of expertise. As such - it has been an interesting challenge s...

Joe Mckay

Andy asked me to do a blog covering "interesting stuff". So that the occasional fake post could be posted in there - in order to set up a magic trick. http://www.thejerx.com/blog/2017/9/14/the-mind-of-danny Well - a friend asked me for some recommendations from that blog. So I thought I wo...

Joe Mckay

I am interested in the business side. It just seems quite a magical business to be in. I am still astonished at how expensive these rides can be. Like 150-300 million dollars on the theme park rides based on Hollywood movies. I am pretty good at using Amazon - so I am sure I will find something of i...

Joe Mckay

Richard - do you have any book recommendations when it comes to Disneyland? Or anyone else for that matter.

Sorry for the non-magic question, but I know Richard is a big fan of Disneyland so just wanted to tap into his knowledge!

Joe Mckay

Hey EndersGame,

What a great review! I really appreciate the time and effort you put into it.

And thanks for your flurry of contributions to the forum lately. It is great to see somebody so engaged and passionate about magic.

Joe Mckay

I am a big fan of Gregg's work. By now most of you know what to expect. Fun and easy to do magic with clever subtleties that will often catch out your magic buddies. In other words K.I.S.S. - plus his gorgeous art work! https://www.lybrary.com/the-soho-trilogy-p-922419.html You can learn more about ...

Joe Mckay

So many card guys spend years studying magic and learning difficult sleight of hand. Yet there is a very good chance they will never perform a trick as astonishing as the Svengali deck. I always found that a fascinating proposition. And it was Mark's book on the subject that first opened my eyes to ...

Joe Mckay

Mark - do you have an article about the Svengali deck coming up in GENII soon?

I am really interested in your experiences in this area.

Joe Mckay

I was quite dumb as a kid. As such - I had no idea that the Svengali deck I had consisted of long and short cards. It made the deck much more magical to me since I honestly had no idea how it worked. I knew every other card was the same. But I couldn't figure out why the deck worked the way it did j...

Joe Mckay

Yes - yes... I am sure I have heard this accusation before I just happen to be Andy's No. 1 Fan. I can see why people mix that up with regular people. As it is - I would happily admit to being Andy - if I happened to be Andy. Ironically - Mark sold my Mum a Svengali deck when I was 7 years old. And ...

Joe Mckay

I always said that my favourite example of Dual Reality in magic was 'Freak Out' by Joshua Logan. But I think Andy's latest offering pips it. I assume the "Pray the gay away" plot is a new one in magic? And it makes a for wonderful (and funny) use of Dual Reality. http://www.thejerx.com/bl...

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