tips
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Bits and Bobs #1: On Realism and Reality
Category: tipsRead more: Bits and Bobs #1: On Realism and RealityEditor’s note: This is a new feature where we’ll do something kind of like Odds and Ends, only instead of being the equivalent of People magazine for magic, it’ll be actually useful and relevant to your performances. Hopefully. Let’s say that the dreaded situation has occurred where someone authentically believes in your magic and you…
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Read more: How To Spend Your Time At A Magic Convention
Franklin was supposed to write this post. Unfortunately, Franklin died at a recent convention. (Editor’s note: This is not true.) He did get his notes to me before perishing, though, and I’m going to see what I can do with them. 1. Come a day early and make sure you’re caught up on sleep. It’s…
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Constructing Your Own Matrix Force
Category: tipsRead more: Constructing Your Own Matrix ForceThis is a follow-up to Decoding the Matrix Multi-Force because I noticed that, while one can find many examples of different types of matrix force in a variety of books, the general method of constructing them seems to be hard to come by. It doesn’t help that not all effects using the matrix force actually…
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The Poor Man’s WikiTest Approach
Category: tipsRead more: The Poor Man’s WikiTest Approach“That’s great – I love that.” – Marc Kerstein If you don’t have the WikiTest app by Marc Kerstein, this post won’t be of any use for you. Actually, for those kitted out with PeekSmith devices, Apple Watches, or $400 Sharpies with screens in them, this will be useless for you too. After seeing the…
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To Put Too Fine a Point on It
Category: tipsRead more: To Put Too Fine a Point on ItThis is a simple idea that you can use in your Bicycle “end-for-end” or “misindexed” gimmicked decks. These are the gimmicked decks which show a different spread of cards when the short edge is turned 180 degrees. Common examples would be the Kennedy Mind Power Deck or the Mastermind deck. Now that you know what…
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Read more: Taking a Peek to the Cinemas
I want to tell you a handy ruse that will get you a key card under intense heat. It’s motivated, and seems to serve the purpose of making the demonstration even more fair. I came up with it on the spot when I was under pressure. Before we get into the ruse itself, here’s the…
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“Sorry, I Have To Ditch This”
Category: tipsRead more: “Sorry, I Have To Ditch This”I viciously burnt the side of my right hand one summer, and it blistered up spectacularly. I had been working in a kitchen, and my hand slid onto the flat grill as I was cleaning it one day. It fucking sucked. I had been quite sleight-of-hand dependent on my magic for years, and this was…
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Read more: Magic Mirror on the Wall, Who Has the Fairest Dribble of All?
This is a short tip about handling dribble selections. It might not be as easy to do when using a dribble force, but with a slight rehandling it is certainly possible.
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Stop Using the Same Damn Decks
Category: tipsRead more: Stop Using the Same Damn DecksThe last time I talked about card magic on here, I wasn’t very kind. But I actually love the stuff, so let’s talk about a problem that too many card magicians have. This applies less to professionals, but even pros have repeat customers. A popular topic between magicians with nothing better to do is to…
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An Ultra-Mental Memory
Category: tipsRead more: An Ultra-Mental MemoryDisclaimer: This is not original, just an independent discovery. This is for those of you who use a full memorized stack and an Ultra-Mental/Invisible Deck. (This is the last time I’ll be calling it the “invisible deck”.) It’s a way to organize the Ultra-Mental Deck so you don’t have to do that awful add-to-13 thing,…
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- To Put Too Fine a Point on It
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- An Ultra-Mental Memory
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- Reader Mail #2
- New Year, New Site
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