The Genii Forum

Joe Mckay

Jerry Sadowitz is the best card performer AND card creator I know of. I just wish you Americans got to see what an amazing job he did on the BBC series called Stuff The White Rabbit. It really was incredible. And his magazine The Crimp is the best card journal in magic. His books are pretty great as...

Joe Mckay

Me too!

You keep hitting new peaks Richard!

Joe Mckay

Great to see Derren Brown on the latest Joe Rogan podcast!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n_tpWrv76Q8

Joe Mckay

My favourite (non-magic) magazine had a feature on Davenport's magic shop last week. https://www.spectator.co.uk/2018/10/notes-on-davenports-magic-shop-an-emporium-for-serious-conjurors/ Personally I always preferred International Magic. We have always been lucky in the UK. You can walk into Interna...

Joe Mckay

Jerry has been behind the counter at International Magic for years.

It has been a few years since I went there - so not sure if that is still the case.

Joe Mckay

5) A nice idea (not mine) to set up for Gilbreath effects is the following: 1) Have a deck shuffled - or use a borrowed shuffled deck. 2) Run through the cards and say that you need to remove some cards at random. 3) As you go through the cards, you throw out all the red and black cards which inter...

Joe Mckay

The ultimate act of self-destruction in art was when the pop act the KLF set fire to a million pounds.

I wrote about it on my blog awhile ago.

https://dannysmindblog.wordpress.com/2017/09/11/conceptual-art-or-performance-art/

Joe Mckay

The strangest example of this principle is a weird optical illusion by Jerry Andrus. It is called Ghost Grates: http://youtu.be/0tdHllPQr8o?t=4m50s Here is the explanation: http://youtu.be/0tdHllPQr8o?t=33m29s And here is a video of Jerry showing the optical illusion to Richard Dawkins. https://vime...

Joe Mckay

One of the ways I try to understand magic history is to learn more about the tricks that caused a "buzz" in the world of magic. Sometimes this would be a stunning trick that won a prize in a magic competition. Or a trick that was kept quiet by the inside guys before leaking out into the wi...

Joe Mckay

I was discussing magic versus mentalism with a friend. And I want to share it here since the work of Andy plays an important part in my analysis. Mentalism is one of my main passions in magic. However - I feel magic is more powerful when performing close up (which are the situations I find myself in...

Joe Mckay

I do enjoy seeing psychology used as part of the method for a trick. This is a great example. Tamariz cajoles the spectators with his repetitive (and slightly confusing) questions. This causes them to switch off allowing him to get away with a sneaky bluff. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MnOy4vWbsXA

Joe Mckay

It is a fascinating show. I always seem to find myself catching it on TV whenever I am in Europe. I am not really a fan of Variety (I don't even like watching magic) - but the idea of a regular pan-European show always intrigued me. There was always something very soothing about that show.

Joe Mckay

A friend sent me this.

It might take awhile to grasp (at least it did for me) but the following mathematical tidbit is actually an offshoot of the Miraskill principle.

https://www.futilitycloset.com/2018/09/16/turn-turn-turn-6/

Joe Mckay

A friend asked me for my handling. So I have spent some time reconstructing it since I had forgotten the details. Here are the details: 1) REVERSE 3RD CARD FROM BOTTOM OF THE DECK. 2) SPREAD DECK AND HAVE A CARD TOUCHED. APPARENTLY FLIP OVER THIS CARD. IN FACT YOU DO THE GOODWIN TWO TON TURNOVER MOV...

Joe Mckay

One gaffed deck that comes to mind is the Invisible Deck. I remember the Triumph effect that makes sneaky use of this gaffed deck by Bob Farmer/Michael Close/David Ben/Michael Weber. They snuck it into print in Apocalypse magazine hidden behind a pseudonym. So the concept here would be a triumph rou...

Joe Mckay

I have played around some more with this handling and it feels/looks very nice. Cheers again, Bob! A handling I like is Simply Shuffled by Steve Beam. In that handling you start with a card already reversed at the bottom of the deck. I like that approach since I would rather preset a reversed card t...

Joe Mckay

Order in the universe is restored.

Joe Mckay

Wow - that is very kind of you, Bob! Thanks so much.

I am in a rush now - so I will get back to you on your handling when I have a chance to play with it. But I cannot wait to check it out properly.

Thanks once again!

Joe Mckay

Richard Kaufman made a good point once. He felt card magic is easier than coin magic because there are 52 objects to keep track of with card tricks. And that confusion allows you to use a lot of subtle (and easy to do) moves that you cannot use in coin magic.

Joe Mckay

I've got a really simple way to get into the set-up for the Jennings-Goodwin display. I'll post it here shortly. Bob???? I have a nice way of getting into this using Bill Goodwin's Two-Ton Transpo move. I have ordered a DVD by Michael "Six" Muldoon with his use for this move. He seems to ...

Joe Mckay

I am currently listening to Penn Jillette on the Penn's Sunday School podcast. The one that went out on August 19, 2018. In passing - Penn mentions that he doesn't understand Satire. I am with him on that one. If you have something funny to say about some one - just say it. Parodying somebody instea...

Joe Mckay

As a huge Norm fan myself, I find this fascinating. It took me YEARS to "get" him - precisely because I didn't have a feel for his delivery. Great comedians, like great magicians, can breathe life into material ill-suited for mere mortals. Macdonald is a genius in this regard... as was St...

Joe Mckay

I am familiar with Steve Martin's work. You make an interesting point about the "anti-comedy" style. In the modern era that is a bit of a crutch at times for unfunny people to try and be funny. So I guess it loses its impact when you are watching a clip from 35 years ago. A bit like with A...

Joe Mckay

I don't get this this. I see it so much on US talk shows. Smart people being silly. And that is supposed to be comedy? It seems to be an America tradition. Over here in the UK - it is different. Maybe because we don't have thousands of hours of talk shows each year, leading to a desperate search for...

Joe Mckay

I have an artist friend who is also interested in magic. But since he is not actually magician, he often asks for my take on things in the world of magic. He asked me for my thoughts on the Nate Staniforth book called This is Real Magic . You can see a nice trailer for the book here which makes use ...

Joe Mckay

I agree. Tom Stone has the best analysis of the "Too Perfect" theorem. I remember when GENII devoted an issue to this topic (August 2001). And then a couple of months later - an essay by Tom Stone was published on the same topic which was the best of the lot. It was a great essay. Check ou...

Joe Mckay

Captain Disillusion (my favourite YouTuber) did a brilliant take down on Will Tsai's performance:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_dSp_f0f9gE

Joe Mckay

Extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence.

Joe Mckay

You make a couple of statements and ask them to confirm them - for example, "You shuffled the cards. Correct? You had a free choice. Correct?", and so on...

Joe Mckay

This thread might be of interest. It is a discussion on the role of Assumptions in magic.

https://forums.geniimagazine.com/viewtopic.php?t=29325

Joe Mckay

Over at lybrary.com - you can see an index for each volume of GENII magazine. For example - here is the first volume: https://www.lybrary.com/genii-volume-01-p-461190.html One of the great things about Chris Washuber's site is that he provides comprehensive indexes for every book and magazine he sel...

Joe Mckay

This site is very useful:

http://genii.somee.com/

Joe Mckay

Summing up the conditions of a trick definitely increases the impact of the climax. That is one of the first lessons you learn in magic. But it cannot be empathized enough. You are using the spectator's own words to trap them. It is also a great way of implanting false memories. This is something Ju...

Joe Mckay

What's funny is that the aces being there "by accident" is the effect. You have somehow bucked the 1 in 270,725 odds of this happening. A once in a lifetime occurrence. A minor miracle! The mathematics of the situation being lost on the woman, I wonder what kind of response Jennings would...

Joe Mckay

The new Justin Willman show is interesting but also a bit weird. I am a big fan of Justin Willman. But editing together TV magic means that, methodologically, you can pretty much do anything. To then combine that with Jerx style thinking. Well - it is hard to wrap my head around. There are a million...

Joe Mckay

Joe Mckay

Just to be clear - I don't believe in psychic phenomena.

That said - the following story is very intriguing. I am curious as to what others think about it?

https://www.futilitycloset.com/2018/08/29/self-care/

Joe Mckay

Al? I just checked out your Cups and Balls routine. You have excellent chops! I don't know much about this trick but since I am a big fan of Peter Kane, I was recently studying his excellent three cup load. It appears in the Books of Wonder (Vol. 2). It is an excellent idea that is worth playing wit...

Joe Mckay

Hey Al, Mark Lewis really is a fan of your work. https://youtu.be/0vYiairhhoI?t=23m9s I am gonna' check out your theory book as well. I should pick up your QM book as well. Speaking of QM - I am convinced there is a really simple way to explain Bell's Theorem to laypeople. A lot of people have given...

Joe Mckay

I almost don't want to watch it. But not for the reasons you give. Often these kind of informal interviews become quite awkward when you introduce magic tricks to the equation. It changes the dynamic from relaxed to a challenge situation (if that is the way the host decides to play it). It feels dem...

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