A few tricks from my new toy- Finally

Just got this video up for club magicians. See I'm wearing the shirt :D Anyway the routine is what I've learned from it, though I changed it a little. I hope you enjoy watching this

A Lazy day with cards and a little clean up

I've been too busy these past few days practicing with my new magic tool that I virtually took a rest from my cards. Before that I was working on a transposition routine with no extras but I wasn't at all successful at it.

Then just this morning it hit me. I was able to do a neat transposition effect that I wanted. Although it still needs practice and a little more fine tuning I think what I came up with would be a good one

Being a lazy day that was yesterday, I decided to do a little clean up of my internet stuff. So I decided to delete one of my magic blogs "For the Advance Magician" Sadly I don't have the time to update it anymore since I really don't have anything to write on it. Also i really wouldn't want to have duplicate content on my blogs that's why I deleted it.

I somewhat feel better after removing it since I really feel guilty that if ever there are readers of that blog I really don't put anymore good material for them to read. Anyway what should I be writing there usually just ends up here so I really can't put anything new there.

Anyway just sty tuned on this blog for more updates and magic.

Showing what you know and showing off

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Last Sunday my girlfriend and I went to the mall for a date. On our way home we passed by a kiosk selling magic tricks. The attendant, who I believe isn't a magician (just someone who know how to do the trick), offered to show me a 4 linking ring routine. I declined the offer with a smile and continued on walking.

My girlfriend then asked me what if I did magic in front of her rather than that person doing a magic trick for me. She said too that I might even pretend not to know how the trick works and then end up doing a full and better routine than that person. I just laughed at the ideas she was telling me and I just told her Magic is like martial arts, even though you know it it doesn't mena you should show it off.

With this thought in mind I remember the times when I was a beginner in magic. Sometimes when I know a trick I show it too soon that rather than having a good performance I end up exposing some secrets of it. Only then I realized that magic should be about humility too.

Whenever I see these kiosks sometimes I can't help myself but be frustrated especially at some attendants who would actually show you a trick or two that you know you could have done better. Example of this is the "bite-out" coin which is always performed for people. I remember when one attendant blew away the secret of it because she wasn't careful with her angles. Another is when an attendant is doing a svengali deck routine wherein after he has performed it he revealed outright the secret in front of his audience (even if there was just one person, I could actually hear every word he says) The sad thing about it is that is they are just showing off and not showing magic to people.

I understand that they are just doing their job but I hope they understand too that magic needs more than what they do and doing it in the manner wherein you are just showing off is nothing more than presenting a clever puzzle rather than presenting a miracle.

Well I hope some had read this and learned a lesson or two with it. I hope you remember that magic is used to entertain not just to show off.

The weekend was great and the magic was better

Last Friday, I went home immediately upon the news that the package that I have been waiting for has finally arrived. Upon arriving home I got the package, opened it and started tinkering with my new "toys"

I was really surprised that there were a lot of extras in the package and of course as part of sharing the magic I gave one extra: the wonder mouse to my younger brother. (He collects by the way prank stuff such as a sticky mouse, a fake cockroach etc.)

I had fun with the Party Magic which I won at Club Magicians during the anniversary week. I had fun producing a flower out of an empty pot, refrigerator, and even on a shoe. Also I had fun with the wand which doubles as a blowgun for hecklers LOL. NO just kidding the wand is really something useful in the kit.

Anyway with the other package I received (something I wouldn't want to reveal as of the moment) I was really surprised with it on how simple it is despite the effect it brings. Also what I loved about it is that it is also very versatile in terms that you could use it other than it's original purpose.

I really love these two new toys of mine and I'll be posting a video of me doing what I learned from these.

Getting Excited

Finally my "box of tricks" from Magicians.com has arrived and later I would be playing with it. Err actaully practicing with it. Anyway it was also like magic when I got the notice to claim a parcel. Apparently it was big and it has to pass through customs and anything that passes through that must go to a post office in another city not that far from us.

Yeah I've been waiting for this and hopefully I could master the tricks in shorter time. Although I'm so excited to try it out but of course I can't perform it yet because I need to practice it.

I'll get back to you with reviews of it as soon as I get my hands on it.

A piece of advice for beginners and even for experienced ones

While browsing through the pages of the internet, I chanced upon Theory 11 website and there I watched a video that contained very important advice not only for beginners but also for those who have experience in magic but is still lousy with it.

Honestly after watching it I learned a lot from it . Although it hits hard and it hits real I think their pieces of advice are very important since nowadays everyone wants to become the next David Blaine or Criss Angel. I mean sometimes magic is too overrated because of them.

To add to this some tricks that other people do have been exposed all over the the internet or TV and even worse on some "magic shops" that are so profit oriented. This is another reason why I think that magic is sometimes too overrated that I'd rather create my own effects or buy ones in the internet which are less known here.

Anyway just watch the video and you'll see what I'm talking about here. It has great pieces from which I know you would benefit a lot.

Magic as a Puzzle

I've written an entry a few days ago on why I like to do magic. Then I received a comment from a good friend of mine Ryan and he wanted me to elaborate on it. Well I actually took time myself to reflect on what are really the pieces of the magic puzzle and the answer occurred to me when I got my deck and started doing magic.

I took my red Bicycle Deck in my hand and started tinkering with it. This gave me the idea of what piece would be this deck be: Creativity . If you would look at the cards you would see how simple they are 13 numbers 4 suits 52 pasteboard cards. However with magic the number of tricks could be done with it is almost infinite. It just matters on how creative you get at it.

Then with this creativity comes the next piece and that would be Ability. Of course when one is doing magic creativity alone won't make the magic puzzle complete. It's like an idea that is simply in theory and can't be done. With Ability however one could make a theory (the creative aspect) into reality.

Another important piece we could say is Passion. Without it the magic would be really ineffective. Think of it as something like the music to a musical play. Without it, it would be just a play.

Of course the most important piece of the magic puzzle is the Secret. Think of it as the answer to the puzzle, because without an answer surely a puzzle wouldn't exist. Same goes with magic that without it's secrets it wouldn't be magic at all.

So far those are the four most important pieces for me if magic were to be a puzzle.

With Valentines just a few days ahead...

Well with valentines just around the corner I could really feel that love is in the air. Not to mention the commercialism too LOL. Anyway I was actually just thinking of a good gift this valentines but unfortunately it could be overrated, so I just wanted to make it unique and this video gave me an idea.



Well a little magic makes it more romantic right?

This is true Magic

Watch the video and see.



The ideas were from my orgmate and she won and it was used for this commercial aired first at the Grammy Awards.

Now imagine the world if it were like this.

Why do I like doing magic?

Well there had been questions to me why do I like to do magic? Well I can list a lot of reasons in this blog but I might exceed bandwidth limit LOL. Anyway I've been asking that question myself and of course I thought about maybe I like the mystery of it or the fact that whenever I do it people are amazed and baffled. Well there are a lot of reasons but the real reason why I liked magic is that it is a puzzle that I love to solve.

Puzzles has been part of my life ever since I was born. From the shape blocks from my childhood days up to sudoku I really love solving puzzles and for me magic is like a puzzle book wherein there are a hundred of different puzzles that I should solve. After solving them I like to show the same puzzle to my friends but not to show them how to do it.

But of course I wouldn't be a magician of I just present these clever puzzles that's why I present them in a way that they would enjoy it. After all it wouldn't be magic if you didn't enjoy it right?

Well just sharing my insights with you and hopefully next week I could write reviews as my package of tricks would be arriving soon.

Working with coins again

Just picked up a few coins and started practicing again with coin magic. I'm doing good with vanishes even though I haven't practiced them for a while. I just love how I make the coins disappear and appear from the most unexpected places and in doing this I'm conceiving my routine already.

Although I really don't have good coins to begin with I think I could do with whatever coin I could find in the house. I've been practicing with there regular coins and it has made a lot of impact for me.

I really remember how I got frustrated at the muscle pass at one time and I've been told that it is because of the coin is too small. Apparently what I'm doing is wrong and the coin could actually be used for such.

Anyway I hope my one coin routine would be up soon.

My trip to the bookstore

Yesterday I went to National Bookstore because there were books on sale. I tried finding myself a good book but unfortunately I didn't find any. Looking further I saw some books by Psicom publishing that teaches magic tricks. It was a cheap, thin paperback book that sold for about $1.50.

There are two books, one that teaches card and everyday object magic tricks while the other teaches coin magic. I browsed the books and honestly it is just a revelation not a lesson. Imagine this on a page it says on the top effect. Then there are drawings (colorful ones) that tell how it is done. That's it just a revelation no tips on presentation, no basic sleights first before you learn this trick etc. For an aspiring magician to learn from this book would be good but to perform using it I think he should go find another book.

I appreciate though the effort of drawing the illustration but still the way it was drawn might not give the reader a good view of the trick. The photos too on the other book wasn't that clear and the sequence for the methods isn't that good either.

I hope that to all magicians who are serious with magic I hope they just look at this book but make sure they invest at something better...

I'm preparing for something to astound them

I've recently took time to study again coin and money magic. Watching those videos by Jay Sankey made me realize that coins are very effective when it comes to magic even though the tricks are very simple. Now I've perfected 2 new coin vanishes and I had come up with a bill change that is quite good although not at par as those like Heiny 500 or Extreme Burn.

Hopefully I would find these tricks useful when time comes so that I would be a good magician who could actually fascinate people not just make them feel how clever I am.
Working with money is really very nice and testing the tricks is more satisfying especially if the audience would ask how was I able to do that.

Well I'm preparing and practicing some more so that I would be able to put into good use the magic I'm practicing.

Connecting with audiences

Cross Posted at Entertainers not just Tricksters.

Of course as entertainers the most important thing is that we connect with the audience. Without that connection we would be just doing tricks not entertaining. To achieve these here are some tips that could help you have a connection with them.

1. The proper attitude

Of course as entertainers we should make and leave a good impression with our audiences and to achieve this we should act and look good. A general rule when approaching audiences or asking for volunteers is to of course be polite. Greet them when they come to the stage and introduce them to the members of the audience, after the trick thank them for being good sports. During walkarounds be specially polite when people are at tables make sure you don't disturb their wonderful meal nor their conversation. If you must have the host introduce you to them as their entertainment for the event.
2. It's about their names

Nothing sounds better than being called by your own name right? As magicians we should always remember the names of our volunteers or spectators at least even just for the duration of the trick. Doing this makes them feel that you are not making a fool out of them. For those who have trouble remembering names try this simple tip: Repeat the name three times out loud and surely you'll remember it. Of course you should do it in a way like this (for example in a card trick): " Ok this gentleman over here would be my volunteer for this trick, what's your name sir?... Good Evening Jordan... Yes Jordan I would like you to pick any card and remember it... Put back the card in the deck Jordan...." That's just an example but of course you should make it suit your style. Doing this will surely help you remember their names at least for the duration of the performance.

3. Avoid too much challenges as much as possible

Audiences would like to be entertained, not to be fooled so we need to perform tricks that wouldn't offend them. Performing a gambling themed magic might not be a good idea if you keep on showing how you would always get the winning hand. Couple that with the Three Card Monte and surely the audience might feel that you're making them look like a fool. So avoid to much challenge or betcha tricks maybe you could try including only one or two of them throughout the entire act.

4. KISS (Keep it Simple Stupid)

The most important rule of them all: Keep it Simple! Of course it would be boring for the audiences if you show them complex tricks. A trick should be simple, not very flashy and straight to the point. In this way you get to connect with your audiences and they would remember the amazing trick you did for them. Remember too that it's about the effect and presentation are above the methods, since they are what the audience sees not the methods which is unknown to them.

SO there you have it simple tips on making magic connect with audiences, making it entertaining not just clever.