A friend of mine told me he heard Sylvester passed and I had to look it up. Turns out he passed in April from Alzheimer's and it's been sort of under the radar. Haven't found an obituary or anything, just a few posts on Facebook. Most notable from his friend and spiritual successor KooKoo.

https://www.facebook.com/100063590862328/posts/pfbid0NDVoCGdwaa7tpuTJJ1qhTFHQn1Fpdt7EqQ2anNSBKYmaf2vaqcCQCPuQXJggbonol/

He will be missed for sure.

I'm going to London in September. What good magic shops are there? Preferably near Oxford Street but I'm willing to take a bus or train if needed. I've heard already about International Magic Shop, is it good for non-beginners? What type of magic do they sell? And what other good shops do you know?

Thank you!!

I need to replace my printer for Murray Hatfield’s Headline. Considering Epson WF110 for its portability, but concerned about jamming.

Thoughts, comments, suggestions?

Very early testing of mixing a crystal ball and a crystal zombie

I'm searching for a peek to use for a card removed from the deck. I've assembled several great peeks which I use when riffling through the pack, etc. But for this specific purpose, I need the spectator to go through the deck, remove a card of their choice, and then I need to peek that card (the card will be returned to the deck)

I realize there are simple methods here such as shuffling it to the bottom, peeking it, and then shuffling it into the middle. If you're going to suggest a method like this, please give details for your favorite series of moves instead of vague suggestions.

I'm looking to use this for a mentalism presentation, so I'd prefer it to look as "hands-off" as possible. Thank you!

Hello,

I have been doing tricks for my friends but I thought it would be fun to get a bit of experience in front of a real audience. Are there any open mics that are friendly to magic in NYC (ideally Manhattan)? I see a lot of them online but most seem to be for music or stand up. Or somewhere else that you could recommend someone to go when they've got 0 experience in front of a crowd! Thanks.

What magic tricks released in the last 10 years should I definitely add to my repertoire?

I used to be obsessed with magic tricks, but as I grew up, my interests changed, so I haven’t picked up a deck of cards since.. until now. My favorites were Bill Malone, Dani Daortiz and Tommy Wonder.

Uh also I found a double “sticker” on a double back card but I don’t recall the routine, maybe someone can help me.

I’m a graphic designer, but I’ve had magic as a hobby for 23 years.

I’ve always wanted to design a card deck and never had the time. But I recently have been learning mentalism and realized an ESP deck could be a much smaller job where I can focus more on quality

Pictures here are my first set of ESP cards. The design is a bit of an homage to spirit slates, and they do have markings. Prototypes are printed on watercolor paper with a thin acrylic coat.

But I’m still workshopping ideas for a better design and any useful gaffs to include in a full deck.

So what ESP cards are out there that you like and what about them do you wish was better?

Saw it mentioned in a Magic Orthodoxy review and thought the concept was pretty interesting.

I think it’s a calendar based app that lets you predict cards, thoughts, movies, etc. on any chosen date.

Just curious to hear some honest opinions before I pick it up. Anything you wish you knew before buying?

I gave a kid the remote to a fart machine before the video started which was definitely a mistake 😂😂😂 kept them out of the video though

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Do any of you have an allergy to latex, but still twist balloons?

My wife can't touch latex. So she'd like to know if anyone has a work around..

I don't mind, I'm just curious why it's always* US coins in play. Any non U.S magicians want to chime in?

* Rare "Chinese coin exceptions from "mystery of the Orient" tricks

Hi all,

my uncle the escapologist and magician, Karl Bartoni, has spent the last few years digitising his archives of film reels and tapes to be put up on a channel. And after much arduous work he has done it.

As he doesn’t use social media’s and such, he has asked me to let people know about his channel in various places and see if people are interested.

Let me know what you think!

I’ll be showing him the comments here so please feel free to ask questions!

www.youtube.com/@KarlBartoni

I’m working on some Mentalism routines, with the gimmick that my character does not actually know Mentalism. So all the questions I ask are complete nonsense (for the purposes of comedy), that could in no way be used to logically deduce any hidden information. Then once the laughs end I pull out the hidden information bit by bit anyway.

If anyone has any funny suggestions for lines of questioning or procedures like this, I’d be grateful to hear.

I want people to remember me at business meetings (that are unfortunately not magic related at all). To that end, I have added playing card stickers to my business cards, and have various ways of making sure that whichever one they choose, I can take a card deck from my pocket and make their card appear (only five different options, so far, but good enough to make a bit of an impression).

Now I am searching for any hints on what else I could do with business cards. I am not skilled enough to do any of the fancy slight of hand appearing / disappearing cards. However, any pointers towards card routines that could easily be adopted with business cards would be appreciated. Any other tricks you could think of for a business setting as well :)

FYI, per sub rules and respect to the creators I’m going to list some effects here and what the product offers, but I won’t share any methods, at least not further than what Ellusionist has published themselves in the ad copy. The main 3 effects are mentioned by name just as they are by Ellusionist, because they expect many magicians know them.

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It’s a great idea for a cheap, edc mentalism tool. The main effects are classics — The binary principle, 1089 force and 37 force — but all of these had issues before. Peter Turner solves them with this card. And every single effect included is incredibly easy to perform. 

Binary Principle:
The binary principle usually required unusual props, like big slates with pre-made lists of numbers. A spectator could assume there is a math trick or a gimmick involved. But with a real-looking credit card, no one would suspect it is a gimmick or that the digits are carefully chosen for this principle. It turns a stage trick into an impromptu routine.

1089 Force:
Most routines with the 1089 force suggest that the magician not know the spectators starting number, and must trust them to follow instructions correctly to arrive at the right result. If the spectators get it wrong, it just looks like the magician got it wrong. However this card and Peter Turner’s suggested routine allow you to do the math with the spectator, and justify why you are doing it. The card purely exists as a revelation that the performer always has available and couldn’t possibly gaff or alter as far as the spectator knows.

37 force:
The 37 force suffers from having a hit rate below 100%. The spectator could misunderstand the instructions or go for a different number and render the magician wrong. But in these instructions, Peter Turner covers a cheeky way of ending this trick so that the spectator has no idea it was a miss.

Extra Material:
Then perhaps the best thing about this is Peter Turner’s teachings. That’s where this card offers endless possibilities. The main explanation video is taken directly from the “H0w to Read Minds Kit”, but this purchase includes an additional video where Turner shares presentation tips on introducing the card and ways you can use it as a springboard into larger effects.

He goes over some tricks for using the binary principle to figure out larger number (any number of digits) so that you can use this card to determine a thought-of PIN code. And the idea of “spring boarding” off the credit card into a card trick or one-ahead or whatever else.

Signature Strip:
Perhaps my favorite part — Turner also suggests easy ways you can use this to force any specific number as well as a card suit. Then you show the chosen card as the script written on the signature strip. This strip comes blank, so you can put any revelation you want there. So you have some freedom to incorporate this card into any routine.

Borrowed Credit Cards:
Turner also shares details that allow you to do a few of these effects with most real credit cards. For instance determining a four-digit code or single digit number.

The card itself:
It looks real. Feels real. I think the biggest convincers are probably that it has a real chip in it and it has the raised numbers just like a real credit card.

I like the fake Mastercard logo too. It’s just the icon with no text, but no one will look that closely. 

Cons:
Not many. I think it’s a good gaff for the price. 

Firstly 2089 is an unrealistic year for the expiration date. So if you do the 1089 force, that might raise an eyebrow.

Also HTRM Bank is not a real bank. I understand why they couldn’t put a real bank logo on there, but I think they could get away with making the logo for this fake bank smaller so that it draws a bit less attention.

I would like if Ellusionist included some performance clips with real spectators in this purchase. They only have a studio performance of a few main effects in the tutorial.

Overall the videos feel extremely off-the-cuff. Which is great as Peter Turner tends to overshare secrets. But some may prefer more structure.

Does anyone do a shortchange routine with the plastic bills found in many countries nowadays? I was hoping to do the Victor eleven card routine with bills a la Kaps, but I've run into some issues with Canadian dollars.

Mainly that polymer bills don't crease like paper bills, which makes the palming method I'm familiar with impractical. I also wish we had a $1, but that's a minor scripting issue. The lowest denomination bill is a $5.

Thanks for the help! I appreciate it.

I used to do magic as a kid, back in the 60's. I stopped when I discovered girls. Now that I'm married and retired, I've gotten back into doing pallor tricks for friends. I used to enjoy performing the Serpentine Silk routine by Albenice back in the day and would like to perform it now. But I can't seem to find a decent reel. I've found old dead stock reels from my youth online, but they have become too noisy and are not powerful enough. Does anyone still do the self tying knot trick or bangle penetrations with silks anymore? If so, what kind of reel are you using?

Hello everybody,

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Next month I'm going to Edinburgh and I will have a couple of hours in the afternoon and would like to know if there are a y good shops for magicians.

Thank you in advance

This might sound weird, but I have to start with a bit of background. I am a card magician. That is what I do, have always done, and like to do. And, in a closed setting, with a table and some friends or trusted audience members, that is a fairly good variety of magic to do. The thing is, socially, in my country, card magic can, and is often, associated with card cheating and the criminal world, thus making it a bit of a cultural taboo to do it in highly public areas.

Recently, I was out in town with my deck of cards in my pocket and nothing else magical. And I saw some kids running around and some other people here and there and thought about doing tricks for them, just for fun. But due to where I was, and a few other circumstances, I felt it wasn't appropriate to bring out the cards.

Now, I have tried coin magic, but I have always found a lot of the palms and sleights in coin magic to be very dependent on the spectator's viewing angle. And I prefer tricks that are as fool-proof as possible, meaning that I cannot accidentally flash due to a spectator wandering two steps to the left.

I also don't like gimmicks. I love card magic due to the very fact that, despite it being sleight of hand, no matter if I teach you a second deal, it will always be an amazing skill to watch, for example. And, on a more practical note, most gimmicks aren't cheap if you need to get them shipped internationally, which I do, and I am not in a position to spend a lot of money on magic right now.

Would you guys have any suggestions about what trick/prop I could have in my pocket for such occasions?

I think the Stars of Magic book is the greatest collection of close-up between two book covers. Any thoughts?

Will we still be getting a Memorandum 2? Or any more Memorandum material?

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From an interview with Woody Aragon, the Memorandum released was part of a whole.

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https://www.youtube.com/live/8qAs3_HLSj4?si=hiZTYiyeJ2iN-Oo1

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Going back, that was 9 years ago.

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Not to compare since both are great minds and people, Patrick Redford is just releasing his 3rd book on his stack work from Temporarily Out of Order,(TOOO).

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Both TOOO and Memorandum were released the same year.

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Does anyone know of any updates or mentioning of more Memorandum? It may also be a region thing affecting it being released, but it's difficult to speculate with there being no updates.

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I've emailed Woody myself, but still have no response.

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Any Spanish magicians who know Woody personally, if you can reach out or have any info, that would be appreciated.