A Blog Based On The Life Of Your Not So Average Teenager.

Learn and perform a trick day 3

0 Comments Posted by Steven Blair Thursday, 27 February 2014 at 21:06

Hello people of the interwebs its Steven back again with yet another blog post. This post is going to be 100% aimed at magicians so apologies in advance to my non magician readers.

Today's trick is from a book that was published in 2004 and contains one of my favourite stage tricks and some great essays. 

Today's trick is from a book called "Random Acts Of Magic" by David Acer  and it the trick can be found on page 88. The name of the trick is "The Flipwiches of eastwick". 

The trick was rather difficult to learn but that was my own fault once I read it properly it was very easy to learn. This trick involves a move called "Flipwiche" and this is very cool I like it a lot but it is rather difficult to do. 

I performed this trick for a friend who hasn't seen me do much magic and she really liked it. I did this as a middle trick and I think this is where I think it works best. Overall great trick.

Will it stay in my act? Yes, I will keep this in my act but I won't do it all the time.

Well guys that's it from. I will be back tomorrow with day 4 of learning and performing a skipped over trick. Until then see you tomorrow. 

learning and performing a trick I have skipped over day 2

0 Comments Posted by Steven Blair Wednesday, 26 February 2014 at 20:23

Hello people of the interwebs its Steven back again with yet another blog post. This post is going to be 100% aimed at magicians so apologies in advance to my non magician readers.

As promised yesterday here is day one of learning and performing a trick I have skipped over.

Today's trick is freon a book that was published way back in 1979 by the man who owns my local magic shop, Mr Roy Walton. Today's trick is from a book called "that certain something" and it can be found on page 13. The name of the trick is "smiling mule". 



Let me start off by saying this trick uses a move that a lot of magicians panic about getting caught on not once but twice. With that being said the scond time you do it you have so much misdirection because of a joke that's incorporated in the routine.  

The trick is a good one and it was very easy to learn. I performed this trick for some people in my college class. When I did the first phase with the joke I got the response of " really? Come on do a real trick". This gave sme so much misdirection to do the stuff that needed done. The trick did get a "oh that's cool" response but I think this would get better reactions from a different audience.   

Will this remain in my act? Well yes and no, I would like to play around with it for a few weeks and see how it plays for different audiences and if it gets the reaction I expect then I will keep it in my act.

Well guys that's it from me for today tune in tomorrow for another post.

Thanks 
Steven.

Learn and perform a trick. Day one

0 Comments Posted by Steven Blair Tuesday, 25 February 2014 at 21:22

Hello people of the interwebs its Steven back again with yet another blog post. This post is going to be 100% aimed at magicians so apologies in advance to my non magician readers.

As promised yesterday here is day one of learning and performing a trick I have skipped over.

Today's trick is from a book I have had just over a year called "gold dust the very best of Paul Gordon." 

Let me start off by saying I am a huge fan of Paul's work and I think he has some great stuff some of which I even use while out working. That being said a lot of Paul's stuff is very procedural and I am not a fan of magic where you have to either deal or spell to stuff so as a lot of stuff Paul dose uses these concepts it was hard for me to find a trick I liked. I then found a trick called "strollers delight" which can be found on page 245. 

This is a nice trick and was easy to learn.i spent my morning reding, learning and practicing this trick. I was in town and stopped by a coffee shop that I am a regular in and they know I am a magician so I knew they would expect me to do a little something. When I arrived it was very quiet so Dean who was serving asked for a trick as I started Samantha who was also working stopped so I went into strollers delight as my opener. I changed the end phase a little to fit the situation. The trick was well received and Dean freaked out (like he always does) when he saw his card was in between the aces. 

Over all great trick and good reactions. Will I use this again probably sometime but it won't be a regular feature of my act as I do a trick by another magician that is very similar. 

Well guys that's it from me. I will be back tomorrow with another card trick. This time one from a book that every magician should read. 

Thanks 
Steven.  

Welcome back mr Steven Blair

0 Comments Posted by Steven Blair at 01:19

Hello people of the interwebs its Steven back again with yet another blog post. This post is going to be 100% aimed at magicians so apologies in advance to my non magician readers.

So let me first apologise for being away for a long time life has just be crazy of the past few months with college, magic and personal issues. To see what I have been up to since we last spoke check out my social medias. 

Now this blog post is me issuing a challenge to myself. Let me explain, as a magician I have loads and I mean loads of magic books and DVDs that I have briefly skimmed over and I feel that I have probably missed out on some great tricks. So my plan is to learn a new trick each day for a week and perform it for a stranger. After I have done this I will write a post about the trick, how the performance went and if I will keep doing the trick or not. 

          Just some or my magic collection.

I think this will be a great learning curve for me in magic and will hopefully help expand my arsenal of tricks and also encourage me to practice a lot more. 

Well guys that's it for me but I will see you all tomorrow for my first trick of the week.

Magic Product Review: Easy to Execute Card Trickery Four by J. JACK

0 Comments Posted by Steven Blair Tuesday, 30 July 2013 at 16:11


Hello people of the interwebs its Steven back again with yet another blog post. This post is going to be 100% aimed at magicians so apologies in advance to my non magician readers.

So what exactly is this blog going to be about?Well when I started this blog I wanted to share stuff with magicians with that being performance videos of magicians I look up to, advice on making magic better or reviews of products I have bought recently.
Well today I will be doing a magic product review of a product that I was sent via email by the creator to review. This view will be 100% honest.

Name of product:
Easy to Execute card trickery four by J. JACK



Price: 
$8 or £5.50

Available from:
http://shufflethedeck.weebly.com/etect4.html

Quick Description:
SIX PRACTICAL AND IMPROMPTU CARD TRICK

Tralier: No trailer

Quality of the PDF: The quality of the PDF is really good however there is one or two minor spelling mistakes but thats not to bad that it makes the PDF unreadable. there are also a few photos and diagrams. These photos & diagrams that are used in the PDF are really well shot but there could be one or two more photos to make the PDF not only look better but make the learning of the effects a little easier. 7/10


What effects are in the PDF?:

The following section will be split into 4 sections for each trick.

1. Name of effect.

2. Description of effect

3. My honest opinion on the effect

4. Rating out of 10


Name of effect:
Impromptu Observation Test with Aces

Description of effect:
Two red aces transform into two black aces. Stunningly, the red aces then appear out of nowhere.

My honest opinion on the effect:
At first I wasn’t really a fan of this trick but after trying it out for a friend who I was hanging out with she seemed to enjoy it. I then tried this out for a group at a wedding and they seemed to like it. I am still unsure of this trick but laymen seem to enjoy it. I have since looked up Nick Trost`s version and I would say I do prefer this version of the nick Trost one but as I have said I am not sure if I like this one.

Rating out of 10:
5/10 laymen seem to like it but I am undecided



Name of effect:
Random Thot Expanded

Description of effect:
The spectator cuts off about half of the deck. He deals as many cards as he wants from the cut-off portion into a pile. He looks at the last card dealt, places the card back on the pile face down, and places the rest of the cut-off portion on top of the pile. While this is being done, the card expert turns away. After the spectator is finished, the card expert gives the pile several shuffles. When the card expert picks up the pile, he has no idea of where the noted card is. The noted card is then discovered in short order.

My honest opinion on the effect:
This trick is very procedural and anyone who knows my thought on magic will know that I can’t stand tricks with dealing, counting and loads of instructions. With that being said I performed this in a semi-formal close up show (you know like what you get at magic clubs but I was being paid) and I did this in a very comical manner and added a very theatrical presentation to the trick and everyone liked it. I showed this to a magician friend of mine on Skype and he said it fooled him. I am not sure why as the trick isn’t a magician fooler.

Rating out of 10:
8/10 I like this trick a lot but I feel if you’re going to do this well it needs a big theatrical presentation



Name of effect:
B+D Revisited

Description of effect:
The back of two cards are signed (each card with a different word). One card is placed in the card box. The other card is shuffled into the deck. The faces of the cards changes places. The backs of the two cards attach to the transposed faces.

My honest opinion on the effect:
I like this trick I did this as part my card to box routine at a bar because this is when I felt it would play best, the reactions it got was amazing. I also did this for a friend and he wasn’t impressed but think that was just because of the kind of spectator he is. Also I do a Paul Green trick (cant remember the name of the trick but its explained in his lecture notes “take a stroll with me” ) that is similar to this effect and I do however like Paul`s version better because I feel that is more personal to the spectator.

Rating out of 10:
I do like this trick and it got great reactions but I already have a similar effect that I do. 7/10



Name of effect:
Prediction and Change City (with two alternate endings)

Description of effect:
The card pro takes out three cards. Two cards are selected. One selection is shown to be the mate of the three cards taken out of the deck. The other selection is found at a surprising place. Two alternate endings are included.

My honest opinion on the effect:
had one or two problems with learning this but after reading a few times I managed to get the hang of it. I performed PREDICTION AND COUNTDOWN CITY because I liked that one best and it got some great reactions

Rating out of 10:
This is a nice trick and has lots of different variations. Really recommend it 9/10



Name of effect:
No Turn Away Overtime

Description of effect:
A selection is placed on top of the deck. Attemting to push the card into the deck, the cardician pushes down on the deck. The top card is turned over. It's not the selection. The spectator is asked how many cards do they think were turned over. Inexplicably, the top half of the deck is shown to be face-up. The selection is soon seen to be the only card reversed in the middle of the deck.


My honest opinion on the effect:
I am a big fan of David Acer and I do own his great book “Random Acts of Magic” and I think it is a great book and everyone should read it. With that being said when I originally read overtime it didn’t really blow me away and this version doesn’t either. It’s a nice trick don’t get me wrong but it’s just not something I like.

Rating out of 10:
This is a nice wee trick it just doesn’t do much for me. If however you like David Acer`s version I am sure you will like this one.3/10




Name of effect:
From Nowhere to Here

Description of effect:
A quick location of four selections

My honest opinion on the effect:
Before I start I want to say this is based on a Peter Duffie trick called “From Nowhere which can be found in  Peter's amazing book Effortless Card Magic. Now I  just want to start off by saying I love Peter Duffie and his work not only cause hes Scottish and I think Scotland has the best underground magic scene in the world (Idon't say this because I stay in Scotland but because I have read some AMAZING magic from unknown Scottish magicians) but because I think he is one of the most creative card magicians out there. Now I really like this trick and I think that it’s a little procedural and has some dealing and as you know I don’t like dealing tricks that much but this is one trick that has dealing that I like. I performed this for a magician and he said he was fooled. I performed this routine for a group of friends and one of my friends said that this was one of the best tricks I had even shown her.

Rating out of 10:
Really great trick, people seemed to enjoy this and it is growing on me a lot. 9/10


Overall rating: This is a nice PDF and has a wide verity of tricks and I think although some of the tricks aren`t great the ones that are good make up for it. Over all for £5.50 this is worth the money. 8/10

CONTEST TIME:

I recently received an email from J.JACK the author of Easy to Execute Card Trickery Four and he says he would like to give away 3 copys of the PDF I have reviewed above. So if you want a copy then contact me and I will let you know how to go about getting a copy.




Well guys thats it from me I will be back soon with another post.


Thanks
Steven Blair :)

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