This a nice doodle from google.

Trendy magicians

Recently there are some ubiquitous magicians.

Here is the list :

Alex Pandrea

Calen Morelli

Patrick Kun

Tony Chang

The first one has just launched thebluecrown with his buddy Dan Hauss.

Calen Morelli is very active with his 365 project on youtube through Penguin Magic and releasing also on T11.

Patrick Kun and Tony Chang are a bit everywhere ellusionist/vanishinginc for the first one and D&D/vanishinginc/thebluecrown.

I don't know how much they make but I hope they will be enough clever to not disclose all their works in 1 or 2 years and like lot of T11's "star" be thrown away like a junk.

I'm not fan of Morelli's work but I have to admit this is tremendous how he is always able to publish never-bad idea on his channel and for that I'm respecting him.

By the way particularly to Patrick Kun, can you sometimes publish your own work?! It's not cool to sell old materials or even modern one.

I hope for you and for those who want be like them to cherish more your work and keep it for you and your close friend.

Jack Parker's 21 card trick

52 memories is a great book. It's not very expensive and it explains very solid tricks.

I borrow this book from a friend and this week I've just read the 21 card trick chapter.

One thing there is killer trick in here.

As a magician I have to admit I hadn't been in the mood of studying this plot but laymen will love it for sure. There is so many times when you meet people they will show the only they know : the 21 cards trick.

Here it's so easy to go on, you'll just need to perform sunken 21. This one require no sleight of hand just a bit of mental investment and you put the crowd on fire because usually you need to make 3 rows but this time with only one row you reveal the card. It kills even magicians you have interested.

Of course there is lot of great modern trick in this one.

Jack Parker you will be always in my heart.

trapdoor

First of all I want to share my solidarity with the Japan earthquake/tsunami's victims.

Here is few points I like in Trapdoor in the first 192 pages.

P69 : Very interesting essay on how to create magic.

P114 : Siamese stab, easy and powerful trick by exposing a double faced card

P120 : leftovers section, telephone trick with a deck of card

P126 : Middle - guage spread, very Beam's style, direct, easy to do and stunning

P132 : Double prophecy, a bit like the last one but more practical

P156 : Thumb print, deceiving impossible location (even if impossible location should be always deceiving and I'm quite a laymen to understand these types of things)

P161 : Charged cards, recently it's a bit the trend but Beam had thought about it 25 years ago and it's pretty convincing.

P178 : Silicard, a nice gaff you may have fun with it.

P187 : Clubbed, nice triumph with twist by Aldo Colombini but a bit old way.

Respect Roland who is running 2-3? impressive blogs at the same time.

Post scriptum about marked deck

I completely forgot to give credit to Luke Jermay with his memory routine. Awesome. Well build, sure fire. What else. He showed it at blackpool and even if I knew the solution I was deceived.
Loved 2 things.
When he did the marked deck check by dribbling the deck in front of the spectator and saying not marked deck.
The second is when he says never forget the spectator's name during a memory routine...

Marked deck

I have to admit generally I'm against any sort of gimmick or gaff. More precisely I don't perform props which include it.

Even if it's not fair I decide to not count the marked deck as a gimmicked deck.

Don't ask me why.

Maybe because it's invisible.

So I decide to do some research on the subject and besides the daub/juice which is more a gambler thing and works much more efficiently on Bee cards, every marking system use Bicycle, Bicycle, Bicycle...

The consequence is if I use any other playing cards' brand no one will ever doubt that it can be marked.

This was my 1st point.

Other thing I disagree with is all the Ted Lesley/Boris Wild. I don't think because the mark is physically written on the card you catch it faster than a symbol or any different marking system.

It's just easier to start with.

However for selling your deck this is the best way.

I quite like the STUD like I said before and take this brand as a support for my marking system.

Well I spend a bit of time on it and my idea to use a balance symbol on the back design and to unbalance it by erasing one line or two.

First I was writing on it with some pen but I didn't find it enough contrasting. I remembered when I was a kid I used to paint some warhammer (heroic fantasy figurine) and when you had finished painting one you add some black ink on it to give more contrast to it. How does it work? Ink doesn't color the surface but only the corner. I use the same principle for my marked deck.

I scratched a line and with a fountain pen I just touch it with the tip and the ink goes all along the scratch. Magic...

Of course you can use this for you but it's always better to create your own system (as a memorized deck?!)

My magic

Recently I'm quite interested by mentalism that you can practice on the go.
Well I'm currently thinking that this is the thing after card magic. I imagine a show where you start with some visual magic, slowly go for coincidence with cards and finish by some killing mentalism effect. You start classic in order to end personal. I want the spectator to get the feeling having been part of an unique experiment (again if you read me) where he is an actor. I don't want to astonish but do people think there is bunch stuffs in this world you can't understand and you should accept it. The worst thing here is that you likely prefer it.