The Genii Forum

Joe Mckay

I always felt magic was a celebration of ingenuity. With that in mind I am always on the lookout for other charming examples of ingenuity that reflect some of the warmth I feel towards magic. A good example of this kind of silly ingenuity is the Typerwriter song by Leroy Anderson. It is a piece of l...

Joe Mckay

Wow - that story about Francis Carlyle and his identical twin brother that David Roth shares in the book is brilliant.

So funny.

Joe Mckay

Thanks for the heads up! That is a great routine.

Joe Mckay

Here is an email update that Alexander sent out today: Dear friends! First of all, thank you so much for your patience. The NOTAS book you ordered is shortly before being ready. Due to my diabetes diagnosis, the life-style change, and other unexpected things, this turned out to be a nightmare for me...

Joe Mckay

This is something I have become interested in. Luckily Ian Kendall has a blog on this topic as well. It is a topic that a lot of magicians are interested in. As such it is nice to see this topic addressed by such an experienced stage magician. https://www.vanishingincmagic.com/blog/take-the-stage-pr...

Joe Mckay

Alexander de Cova's blog is regularly updated and full of interesting stuff.

https://solidmagic.org/

Joe Mckay

I just wanted to mention that Stage Shout by Roy Walton has a similar structure. It is the opening trick in The Complete Walton - Volume 1.

Whoops - that should be Volume 2. I am going from memory here. But I am pretty certain it is the opening trick of volume 2.

Joe Mckay

Can't wait!

Joe Mckay

Yeah - you took it to the next level.

Almost like the balls of Bro Hamman meets the sneakiness of Roy Walton.

Your books are some of the very best in magic. I want to dive into your latest book straightaway. But I also want to take my time because it will be such an enjoyable experience.

Joe Mckay

Hey Alex, Will the book include your Bean Counter trick? I know it is taught on your Engimatic DVD but I don't have a DVD player anymore. I remember studying this DVD years ago but I have forggten how you tackled this trick. I am asking because I am looking at a number of different tricks that invol...

Joe Mckay

I just started reading the new David Regal book. I am only a couple of tricks in but I can already tell that reading this book is going to be an incredible experience. The first trick in the book is a very unusual card trick. I just wanted to mention that Stage Shout by Roy Walton has a similar stru...

Joe Mckay

Thanks for the update! I have 'cut & pasted' the information to a thread about your new book on The Magic Cafe as well.

Joe Mckay

Any updates, Alex?

Joe Mckay

Captain Disillusion did a great video on this topic.

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

Joe Mckay

You can see the clip of him dying on stage here. The audience thought it was part of the act. RK EDIT: IT'S DISGRACEFUL THAT THE CLIP OF COOPER DYING FOUND ITS WAY OUT OF THE VAULT AND I HAVE REMOVED THE LINK. COOPER DESERVES SOME DIGNITY, WHICH DOESN'T INCLUDE PEOPLE GAWKING AND WATCHING HIM DIE ON...

Joe Mckay

Here is Max Maven writing about Richard Kaufman. This is from the Nov/Dec 2012 special double issue of Genii magazine to celebrate its 75th anniversary. So, he certainly had the knowledge and skills to take over the editorial reins of Genii. The question, as many openly wondered, was if he had the t...

Joe Mckay

Jonathan Pendragon is another magician who has spoken about having Asperger's syndrome.

Joe Mckay

I just finished reading a book about Asperger's syndrome. In there is a fascianting detail. Basically a simple typo back in the 90's when DSM III was published led to a massive increase in the number of people being diagnosed with autism. The gist of it is this. The word "and" was accident...

Joe Mckay

Penn Jillette just did a 2 hour interview on the Joe Rogan podcast. It is the biggest podcast in the world and these interviews always have a very different flavour to the more formal one you see on TV. I haven't had a chance to check it out yet but it should be good. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v...

Joe Mckay

Steve Cohen is a genius. I think a lot about his work. Mark Levy is one of the smartest people in magic and I am sure a lot of Steve's success is due to their fruitful collaboration. Genii magazine had a great profile on Steve Cohen about ten years ago (September 2008). The recent booklet from Vanis...

Joe Mckay

I just watched a bunch of talks given by people with Asperger's syndrome.

God they are annoying. I can see now why I irritate so many people.

Joe Mckay

Here is a cool version of The Open Principle. It makes sneaky use of the PM Principle and works great as a magician fooler.

http://www.mallofmagic.com/free%20stuff/BTROMF.pdf

Joe Mckay

Harry Riser has a really cool trick using this principle. It also uses a faro shuffle and the combination will definitely end up fooling you. It is just impossible to work out why it works. The trick is called The Forgotten Sunken Prediction and it is in the March 2006 issue of MUM. It is described ...

Joe Mckay

Great stuff Tom! Really cool seeing that routine come to life.

Joe Mckay

One hpothesis I have is that people with Aspergers syndrome are drug addicts. And the drug is intellectual stimulation. As such the reason they ignore social niceties is because they find them boring and tiring. And would rather engage in social interactions that are riskier but more stimulating. So...

Joe Mckay

This is a brilliant article about Aspergers syndrome. It is too good not to share. It takes a look at the rise of Aspergers syndrome from a fairly skeptical point of view. The article tries to drill into the idea of how many people have a disability and how many just hide behind the label to justify...

Joe Mckay

I went through the Tarbell books recently. Not a lot jumped out at me. But there is so much in there it really depends what you are looking for. That said - the basis of a lot of things can be traced back to there. So it depends from what perspective you view the material. I am probably too jaded to...

Joe Mckay

That Eddie Fetcher trick is very good. So is the Fred Braue (although I think I saw it credited to Vernon once?) bent card finish for the Ambitious Card. I remember Blaine doing that finish for the Ambitious Card on a talk show once. I had been studying magic for about 5 years and had never actually...

Joe Mckay

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rq74bZqbOqA

Joe Mckay

How come the most famous magicians in the world - the ones regularly on TV - are performing the visual one-trick download type material that I praise in the posts above?

I never see them dig out something by Jennings, Cervon or Vernon.

Joe Mckay

I don't like The Beatles either. I find it really hard comparing stuff from the past with the best of today.

Joe Mckay

I am prepared to be wrong in this argument. In fact I would be delighted to be wrong.

So line up and take your best shots.

Joe Mckay

haha - yes - well of the old dudes I do prefer those lot. I think Jerry Sadowitz is the best card magician America has ever produced. Elmsley is the best card magician Scotland has ever produced. And Walton is the best card magician England has ever produced. So - I do have one American in my list. ...

Joe Mckay

Final post: If you are only interested in ungaffed card magic - then books are the way to go. But looking at magic as a whole, I think a lot of book snobs (and I am one of them) are missing out on some real miracles that are being released into the magic marketplace. Sure there is a lot of rubbish. ...

Joe Mckay

Here are a couple of other posts I made to help make this argument: I do keep up to date with the latest tricks. I never really buy any of them. But since so few magic books are released these days (although things are starting to pick up), I like to keep an eye on what creators are bringing to the ...

Joe Mckay

Magicians go mad when I make this point. I made the same point on the Conjure Nation back in 2015. Here is what I wrote back then. I started a thread called 'Magic books = weaker magic?" Here are the main posts I made in that thread. Here was my opening post: Like all you guys, I love magic boo...

Joe Mckay

Anyway - the above is irrelvent in any case. The young kids of today are streets ahead of anything the old dudes came up with. The internet has bought an exponential increase in creativity over the past 20 years. As such it is hard to get excited about dusty old notebooks from 50 years ago. Although...

Joe Mckay

I think they were a disappointment because Vernon, Cervon and Jennings are kinda' overrated.

A book of unpublished ideas from the likes of Alex Elmsley, Jerry Sadowitz or Roy Walton would be far more exciting.

Joe Mckay

I think Jack makes a good point. Children are often smarter than they let on. And would rather screw around with an experiment by pretending to be dumber than they really are. Apparently this is quite common. I heard that from the age of 6 onwards - kids are smart enough to pretend they still believ...

Joe Mckay

Bob? Did you see this post???

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