Only impossible effects

orange_1 · **Joined:** 19 Sep 2005 **Posts:** 98

outrageous42ne wrote:

Phant,
.. Hopefully this will help you in your search for ideal effects. But please keep in mind two other things. First, magic, in its purest sense, doesn't happen in the tricks, it happens in the spectator's mind. You seem to grasp the idea that technical skill does not equal astonishment (but it sure doesn't hurt), but the tricks themselves are really only a tool to get at something much deeper. The magic comes from the spectator's mind, and you get this through presentation and rapport.

Second, if your ultimate goal is astonishment, you need to routine for it. Going up to a table and doing three complete mind-blowers in a row is going to be an overload to your audience. A magical act, no matter how short, has rising and falling action leading up to a climax, just like any well written play, book, song or movie. I'll be the first to admit that sponge balls are pretty silly when you think about them, and you're not going to make anyone cry over their magical beauty, but they're fun, and they get good reactions from laypeople. You need to get them warmed up to magic (and to you as a performer) before you hit them with something like Paperclipped.......

~Michael

yeah.. just like take note of what he said.. besides.. you have a perfect card routine right there...[if you think about it] but i think you're looking for 'impossible effects' like angel and blaine tricks kinda thing.. just my opinion

anyway.. mentalism is as 'impossible' as it gets.. [tho im a cardician really] but if that isn't your type of magic.. then i suggest maybe doing vanishes or penetration type of thing with real objects that you can find in a restaurant..

rusirius · **Joined:** 10 Nov 2005 **Posts:** 63

orange_1 wrote:

outrageous42ne wrote:

Phant,
.. Hopefully this will help you in your search for ideal effects. But please keep in mind two other things. First, magic, in its purest sense, doesn't happen in the tricks, it happens in the spectator's mind. You seem to grasp the idea that technical skill does not equal astonishment (but it sure doesn't hurt), but the tricks themselves are really only a tool to get at something much deeper. The magic comes from the spectator's mind, and you get this through presentation and rapport.

Second, if your ultimate goal is astonishment, you need to routine for it. Going up to a table and doing three complete mind-blowers in a row is going to be an overload to your audience. A magical act, no matter how short, has rising and falling action leading up to a climax, just like any well written play, book, song or movie. I'll be the first to admit that sponge balls are pretty silly when you think about them, and you're not going to make anyone cry over their magical beauty, but they're fun, and they get good reactions from laypeople. You need to get them warmed up to magic (and to you as a performer) before you hit them with something like Paperclipped.......

~Michael

yeah.. just like take note of what he said.. besides.. you have a perfect card routine right there...[if you think about it] but I think you're looking for 'impossible effects' like angel and blaine tricks kinda thing.. just my opinion

anyway.. mentalism is as 'impossible' as it gets.. [tho im a cardician really] but if that isn't your type of magic.. then I suggest maybe doing vanishes or penetration type of thing with real objects that you can find in a restaurant..

Yeah, mentalism is a great area. People are much more apt to think you might have some sort of ESP then they are that you can do "magic". Lots of mentalism stuff out there. For restaurant stuff, check out some of Sankey's stuff, lots of those things can be done with little to no setup, instant resets, a lot of stuff with shuffled cards, and most of it just FRIES the specs. They're usually simple self-contained routines, so you can do a couple of quick effects at a table and move on. Take for instance his "Lottery", the look on the specs faces when you do that one is one of pure shock and amazement.

Hyperion · **Joined:** 11 Dec 2004 **Posts:** 139

Most of the time, people at a restaurant don't want to have their minds blown and their reality questioned, they just want to be entertained. The effects in your routine don't all have to be in the miracle class, but you yourself have to be funny and entertaining.

When someone's waiting for their enchiladas or cheeseburger, they don't want a David Blaine impersonator coming up to the table and trying to "mindfreak" them. They just want to laugh and have a good time.

Go to a restaurant, and perform your act the way you were going to, and see how it goes. Look at magicians like Gregory Wilson as a perfect example. He's very funny and entertaining. He could probably make you laugh without a single magic trick all night.

tKd_ · **Joined:** 14 Mar 2005 **Posts:** 2384

I thought close up magic was supposed to be more impossible and thought out than restaurant magic.

tKd_ · **Joined:** 14 Mar 2005 **Posts:** 2384

mmiller20910 wrote:

This is just my two cents, as a magic hobbyist (not an aspiring professional like many of you). I sometimes find that the "impossible" tricks are the least impressive -- when people assume there was a gimmick or set-up.

For example, when I'm doing a monte, I don't want someone to hold their chest and yell, "That's impossible!" Instead, I want them to think, "Wow, his hands must be so fast that I can't keep up no matter how hard I try." Whether I'm using gimmicked cards or sleight of hand, that's a satisfying response. And when they ask for more, I know they're being entertained, which is what it's all about.

Actually I hardly want people to think that fast hands is distracting the believeability of the effect. I woul dhave to say the opposite. I would take card through window over sleight of hand solely card tricks anyday if it were for impossible circumstances. But to entertain an audience, you don't have to have absolute mindblowers although it is nice to have have an arsenal.

Manic_B · **Posted:** Sun Feb 26, 2006 5:23 pm

Do you have art of astonishment?

The trick that came to mind immediately was solid deception, from AOA1

hankstervil · **Joined:** 09 Jul 2005 **Posts:** 58

I am not professional, but just a quicky tip that i have noticed when performing is to start out with a trick that you know they won't figure out. I use Sly Silks, it is, in my opinion, the best opener. It has audience participation, some humor, and it plays to all venues ex. street stage parlour. Also there is no real sneaky stuf going on for someone to catch, it makes potential hecklers just shut up and watch so you can do more risky stuff later.
also, i think every magician who does close-up should have a raven on them at all times.
Then you could do ACR or in a flash and you have three completely different tricks, of course you should probably do a slightly longer coin trick right after the raven, but all in all you have a trick with silks, a trick with coins, and a trick with cards.

CasualSoul · **Posted:** Tue Mar 28, 2006 11:33 am

mmiller20910 wrote:

This is just my two cents, as a magic hobbyist (not an aspiring professional like many of you). I sometimes find that the "impossible" tricks are the least impressive -- when people assume there was a gimmick or set-up.

For example, when I'm doing a monte, I don't want someone to hold their chest and yell, "That's impossible!" Instead, I want them to think, "Wow, his hands must be so fast that I can't keep up no matter how hard I try." Whether I'm using gimmicked cards or sleight of hand, that's a satisfying response. And when they ask for more, I know they're being entertained, which is what it's all about.

Although many, many world class magicians would disagree, I have to say that I more or less feel the same way. I think Spun is a good example of something that's just too impossible; it's just so "over the top" IMHO. In my experience using IT, I find the smaller the levitation the bigger the impact. Making the crumpled bill in my hand move a little bit and then only floating it half and inch off my hand for a couple seconds gets way more screams than hovering a bill 4 feet away from me for half a minute.

Guardian452 · **Posted:** Mon Jul 24, 2006 12:54 pm

so..this question has not been sayed but its been beaten around...what tricks are the absolute best for restraunt magic??? i didnt know that proffeceser's nightmare was good for resraunt magic..i guess ill have to add that into my routine..right now..... since im just starting out with strret magic as well....but... my routine is:
2 card monte
biddle trick
ambitious card routine
prediction card (force)

if there are kids at the table:

rabbit paddle
color changing scarves (not what you think)
__________________________________________
so now what tricks should i put into it???? should i add a b-2 bomber trick into it???? i also have a card toon....should i put that in as well??? and last one...should i add nickle squeeze???

Guardian452 · **Posted:** Mon Jul 24, 2006 12:54 pm

so..this question has not been sayed but its been beaten around...what tricks are the absolute best for restraunt magic??? i didnt know that proffeceser's nightmare was good for resraunt magic..i guess ill have to add that into my routine..right now..... since im just starting out with strret magic as well....but... my routine is:
2 card monte
biddle trick
ambitious card routine
prediction card (force)

if there are kids at the table:

rabbit paddle
color changing scarves (not what you think)
__________________________________________
so now what tricks should i put into it???? should i add a b-2 bomber trick into it???? i also have a card toon....should i put that in as well??? and last one...should i add nickle squeeze???

Guardian452 · **Posted:** Mon Jul 24, 2006 12:54 pm

so..this question has not been sayed but its been beaten around...what tricks are the absolute best for restraunt magic??? i didnt know that proffeceser's nightmare was good for resraunt magic..i guess ill have to add that into my routine..right now..... since im just starting out with strret magic as well....but... my routine is:
2 card monte
biddle trick
ambitious card routine
prediction card (force)

if there are kids at the table:

rabbit paddle
color changing scarves (not what you think)
__________________________________________
so now what tricks should i put into it???? should i add a b-2 bomber trick into it???? i also have a card toon....should i put that in as well??? and last one...should i add nickle squeeze???

Guardian452 · **Posted:** Mon Jul 24, 2006 12:55 pm

sorry for the triple post...mods..please delete two of them

i didnt mean to do that

oasis604 · **Joined:** 18 Jun 2006 **Posts:** 394

do a silk vanish, its good and people dont know how it happend...also i suggest to do some coin routines, at E they have a new routine coming out called silver dream.....it looks awsome i recommend getting it..
i understand you dont want to do an ACR and i completely agree, im not a big fan of it either but i usually do it if a little kid wants to see something, i also think people should stop telling Phant to do a ACR because he's made it clear it's not something he wants to really do, not to mention he already knows it and he's looking for new tricks..if you do decide to do an ACR like here and there to a random table once a week do it to some ppl that look drunk

they usually have much better reactions

bucky310 · **Posted:** Wed Aug 02, 2006 10:07 pm

when I think about it all magic is technically impossible, that is what makes it magic. If you want a good way to string some sort of a routine together then do this (just a suggestion):
Do 4 of the 5 classic forces to force the aces,
after this is done do the daley show,
then switch into the invisible palm aces and if wanted you could do tcm after that with two of the aces and maybe two queens or jacks or something.

fspigeon · **Posted:** Sat Aug 05, 2006 6:37 am

Phant wrote:

Soon, around a half year, I will start my job as a professional magician at a resturant. Problem is I only do close-up magic. I need to know resturant suitable tricks, as least set-up as possible, and skill-level is not an issue. I need these to be impossible: I mean like Spun or Paperclipped, an Ambitiuos card routine is about as low as I'd stoop.

Can anyone help me out?

How long ya been doing close up magic? I wouldn't set a time until you do restaurant work, I would practice for restaurant routines, and go when you are ready...

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