The Genii Forum

erdnasephile

it’s my understanding that kickstarter is a bit of a buyer beware scenario. You are taking a known risk in supporting a new product which may not work as expected or be released at all. i’ve bought a few things through them. Some better than others. All have been delivered or are still in progress....

erdnasephile

Very strong positive review of these books in this month's Genii by John Lovick. I disagree a bit with Mr. Lovick in one respect--I actually think abbreviations make reading easier when reading technical literature. However, I am used to this convention from the scientific literature and I'm sure pr...

erdnasephile

Oddly enough I was reading an article about this the other day. It seems that this situation is not uncommon on Kickstarter. Backers often get sidelined and not receive what they expect. It was stated that this was a different situation than paying for merchandise and not receiving the goods. It sa...

erdnasephile

That was hard to watch. I would be curious what the lawyers out there think of the plaintiff's lawyer's examination of DC. He seemed overly hostile in tone and sarcastic ("when they ask you softballs", "Are you going to answer any of my questions?"). The lawyer keeps seemingly as...

erdnasephile

Good to see the market for magic books is looking better. I agree--we've had quite a few high profile releases in the last 12 to 24 months. I hoping the publishers are making enough $$$ to keep them coming. Question: currently in the board game industry, a lot of huge, expensive board games are goi...

erdnasephile

Still enjoying this Johnny Thompson's remarkable books. However, when I remembered this thread, I quickly flipped back to the dove section. It doesn't appear (at least on a first cursory reading) that this particular production is the book. (Absolutely no criticism implied--I can totally understand ...

erdnasephile

I'm not sure why the media is so breathless over the alleged reveal. The GMA correspondent I saw said something like: "They don't really disappear...they run to the back of the theater through passageways!" Well...duh. It's sort of frightening if there are really people out there who were ...

erdnasephile

As of the time of this posting, Penguin and The Magic Apple still have some sets. Vanishing, Inc. and H & R are sold out. If you are a Castle Member, John Thompson will be doing a book signing (with a limited amount of sets for sale) on April 23rd.

Good hunting!

erdnasephile

That is a great cover shot--even the chosen depth of focus tells a story.

erdnasephile

Jack Shalom wrote:
So, my question for the group is: what's the best way to present tricks involving cell phones without causing the audience to jump right to a tech method

Have them end up in the guts of a dead fish?

Ha! I had forgotten about that!

erdnasephile

I recently was present at a non-magic function. The night's entertainment was a magic act which consisted of almost 100% tricks with cellphones and other technological devices. The show was professional, high energy, and well performed, albeit a bit repetitive. The audience response was enthusiastic...

erdnasephile

And finally (really!), please allow me to address another issue. I'm sure some might be balking at the price tag, especially because no physical product is being traded for your 80 large. I get it: they ain't cheap in this economy, and I love slipcased beauties as much as the next fella'. However, c...

erdnasephile

I have been remiss in that I should have been one of those 5 star reviews, but, like Penn, I've just made my way through the first volume, and I wanted to wait until I had read the whole thing. However, what follows are some preliminary impressions. (I hope that if someone is on the fence on these, ...

erdnasephile

I also found Harry's thoughts about stage fright (in Part 2) really interesting.

erdnasephile

https://www.usatoday.com/story/life/tv/ ... 521649002/

erdnasephile

Really enjoyable interview, Dodd--vintage Harry. Loved his description of his relationship with the Professor and the Castle gang.

erdnasephile

This is how I'm always going to remember him:

http://www.nbc.com/saturday-night-live/ ... ogue/n9337

erdnasephile

Confirmed by a local news affiliate:

http://www.wspa.com/news/night-court-ac ... 1126241637

Too early. So sad. RIP, Mr. Anderson.

erdnasephile

A few years ago at IBM/SAM, I was completely fooled by the Steinmeyer version of Jarrett's "Sawing an Egg" (performed by Alex Ramon).

https://vimeo.com/85210408

erdnasephile

Is it true that each legit copy of the Harbin book has the purchaser's name and the book number hand written in the book?

If that's so: for those of you who have seen the phony Sander/Mann abominations, did they just omit that page or are those lines left blank?

erdnasephile

Caveney published an article in Magic years ago about that Zig Zag controversy. A magician here in the U.S. built a version sometime around the early 1970s? and began to perform it without Harbin's permission. Caveney also published an article in Magicol about that pirated copy of the Harbin book a...

erdnasephile

Just got a email that dues are increasing to $79/yr, but if you renew now, you can renew at the old rate ($65) and save some money. I think you can also renew for up to 3 years at the old rate and save even more. Paperless is going up from $45 to $55. I can certainly understand the rationale for the...

erdnasephile

Cool. Thanks, Bill!

erdnasephile

Thanks, guys! (Was Peter De Paula a magician who acted in the show or primarily an actor? What ever happened to him?)

erdnasephile

I wish I had seen the show with Henning in New York. I saw it when it came to LA, but the lead was being played by some other dude (Dino?)

erdnasephile

Eric Mead's twitter feed had this great tidbit:

https://twitter.com/meaderic/status/984134452661059584

Thanks, Mr. Mead!

erdnasephile

If I have time, or if anyone else has time, here's a project: there are so many tips about various sleights throughout the books, an index would be helpful. Marlo's Simple Shift: here's how Johnny does it. etc. Denis Behr's legion of indexers be advised. Great idea! (My favorite non-sleight tip in ...

erdnasephile

As funny (and perhaps satisfying) as Bob's reply is, answering the phone can cause your number to be flagged as "live" on spammer lists. I favor Google voice, as it can be set to automatically block a huge percentage of spam calls. In addition, Nomorobo is a phone spam blocking service (fr...

erdnasephile

Joe Naud wrote:What carrier did you use?

Mine came via USPS.

erdnasephile

The set is finally here! Years ago, I was made aware of one particular routine that Mr. Thompson had said was going to be included in the books. So, at that time, I gathered the necessary props and they have been waiting ever since in a cabinet---waiting for the publication of these books and the pe...

erdnasephile

Well played, Sir!

erdnasephile

Thank you, Richard!

erdnasephile

I got to meet Mike Pisciotta last fall so the cover article was a real treat and captured his personality well, IMHO. I was able to watch him work several times, and he is a GREAT performer, with a very pleasing, mellow--yet confident--style. He was a marked contrast to the brash, in your face, styl...

erdnasephile

I really like the new design. It reminded me of this guy and his cycling team from back in the day: http://velojerseys.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/08/21.jpg Nice work, Mrs. K! --------------------------------------------------- PS: What's the deal with the image tags--they don't seem to work anymore...

erdnasephile

Brad Jeffers wrote:I once saw someone conclude their performance of Ultimate Monte by using the Eric Decamps ruse; which he employs in his Wild Card routine; of changing the gaffed cards into money.

I liked it.

Agreed. I think Bill Malone mentions that on his DVD.

erdnasephile

I believe the idea was published by Michael Close in his Workers series.

erdnasephile

Just saw this thread. Amazing to me - all these knowledgeable card people and not one mention of Monte Plus, Monte Monte Plus - which I originally published in APOCALYPSE (1978) and in a couple of my books - SPECIAL EFFECTS, ONLY MY APOCALYPSE. A wonderful, different, great, impromptu 3-card monte,...

erdnasephile

The main difference is that the gaffed versions look nothing like the monte as played on the street (at all) . So, if you are presenting something as representative of the 'three card monte', and referencing that game, then it would be strange to use a mid-pipped card. Dr. Gene Mastuura gave a fasc...

erdnasephile

With respect, I am not sure if that's quite what Mr. Ortiz meant. You're right, and I concur that I didn't represent his position entirely accurately. You must have missed my follow-up post here (which is just ahead of yours ), in which I already corrected this point. Yes--sorry--our posts crossed ...

erdnasephile

With respect, I actually think the level of difficulty isn't considered particularly important in Mr. Ortiz' selection of methods. For example, here are some excerpts from the "Picking the Best Method" section of the book, under the heading of "Difficulty" ( Designing Miracles , ...

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