David Blaine - Strange Travelers

I haven't read anything about David Blaine for a while so I did a quick search last night. What I found? A few things, nothing new, but I came across the card trick that helped him close the deal on his first network tv special : Street Magic.
It must have been good, right?

Effect: You show someone a batch of twenty cards... all different. You give her ten of the cards to hold.

You now have her just think of one of the remaining ten cards. She never says a word. No one except her knows what card she's thinking of.

These ten cards are counted again. Strangely... there are now only nine. The one card she'd been thinking of has vanished! She's still only thinking of her card it's never been named out loud!

She counts the other ten cards she's been holding ten cards you haven't touched since the beginning. But now she has eleven cards! The strange traveler has arrived... her thought-of card is now staring her in the face!

Strange Travelers by David Blaine - Trick seems very appealing to me. What do you think? If anyone owns this, I would appreciate some input

Jeff McBride - Zoom, Bounce, And Fly

Here's a DVD that I talked about earlier when I first wrote about Zoom, Bounce and Fly.


Some people were asking if it is worth getting it. Well, it teaches you very good techniques on card spinning, card juggling, card throwing and card flourishes. So if you are interested in that kind of stuff, you want to add some incredible moves to your act or just want to learn great flourishes from one of the world's greatest teachers of magic, then it is worth getting Zoom, Bounce, And Fly.

Boris Pocus - Extremely Mental

Ingenious mentalism presented in a uniquely entertaining style! Featuring 16 effects guaranteed to hit them right BETWEEN THE EYES! Mind-blowers with clock faces, photographs, playing cards, billets, business cards, coins, pay envelopes, locks and keys.

This DVD also features revealing interview segments during which Boris Jay! shares his unique views on predicting the future, reading minds, ESP, fortune tellers, nurturing a mental state and the importance of the performer's voice.

Extremely Mental by Jay Sankey - DVD is incredible. I recommend this dvd for all levels of magicians, beginners to pro.

Here's a preview of the content:

Card magic - Rasputin's secret

The effect: A deck of cards is shown and is shuffled. Three spectators are required to help you demonstrate your mastery of the past, present and future.
The first spectator selects a card, looks at it and returns it in the deck.
"A card was chosen, but now it is back from where it came from. It all took place in the past", you tell your audience.
You write a message on a paper, fold it and write PAST on its back.

The second spectator takes a card and puts in in his pocket without seeing the card. "You chose a card and hidden it in your pocket. It remains in the present." You write something on another paper, fold it and label it PRESENT.

"Before we continue, I will look into the future to ascertain an event yet to take place." You write on the third piece of paper, fold it and label it as FUTURE. The final spectator chooses a card and sets it aside on the table.

The first participant is asked what card he chose. He tells everyone it was, for example, the 5 of clubs. The paper marked PAST is opened and it is written "Jim chose 5 of clubs". The second person removes the card from his pocket and it was, for example, 9 of diamonds. The PRESENT paper is opened and it is written 9 od diamonds on it. The remaining paper (FUTURE) is opened and it says "Tom will choose 4 of hearts). The third person turn the card over and it is the 4 of hearts.

Not a bad trick, right? Wonder how it's done?

Card magic - 2 of a Kind (for beginners)

Effect: The magician picks out two cards. He has a spectator cut the deck. He flips over the cards that he picked, then he flips over two cards of the deck that was cut. The cards match.

Secret: Before you begin the trick it would be good to shuffle the deck so the specator doesn't think you have rigged the pack in any way.
Tell them you will pick two cards. Go through the deck making sure you look at the bottom and the top cards of the deck.
Pick out a card that matches the bottom card. (If the bottom card is a Four of Hearts, you would pick out the Four of Diamonds to match it.) Then pick out a card that is the same as the top card.
Ask the spectator to cut the deck once(a simple cut).
Take the first card, the one on top of the original top of the deck, and flip it over. Flip the bottom half of the deck over completely. Flip over the cards you picked.
They all match!

Card manipulation - Card flourishes

If you want to draw a crowd of spectators or just impress your friends, then you should learn how to do a card flourish.
Here you can download a video that teaches you a very cool card flourish. With a little practice you can master it by next day. It is a very well done video with a very good step-by-step explanation.

http://rapidshare.com/files/37106145/learn_tb.rar

Card Inside Eggshell

For all of you who know the card to ashes to arm technique, this is a nice alternative.
Get some ALUM (Amonia Aluminum Sulphate) and mix it with a pint of vinegar. You paint a 5 of Hearts (or anything else) on an eggshell and leave it to dry for an hour. After, you boil the egg so it hardens and let it go cold (don't put it in the fridge). After you crack the egg, the 5 of Hearts can be seen now on the inside of the eggshell.
I'm sure you can all use your imagination and integrate this into a charming effect.

Apperantly you can buy ALUM from the drugstore, but I found it at the grocery store in the spice section. Check your local Safeway, Save-On, Wall-Mart, etc...

Luke Jermay's 10 Card Poker Deal

This card trick is simply incredible.
Trick: You shuffle the deck, then deal down the first 10 cards on the table. Your "victim" can shuffle them all he/she wants. You pick up the first card and the he/she picks up his/her card. Anything that you pick will be the winning hand.
You can really convince your audience that you are influencing them in what to chose.

Watch this video here at you tube:



I really recommend it for beginner to pro, for magician, mentalist or amateur. It is a shocker!

Card trick behind the back

Effect: Tris is a very easy card trick. A spectator shuffles a deck of cards and hands it to the magician while his back is turned. The magician holds the deck in front of him, showing the bottom card of the deck to the audience only, and the audience to name that card. The magician does this a few times, shuffling the cards behind his back and showing the bottom. After the about the third time, the performer begins announcing the names of the cards himself. This is repeated several times, the magician is always right!

Secret: While the deck of cards is behind your back, pretend to shuffle the deck and take the top five cards off. Flip these cards over, face-up, and lay them back on top of the deck. Hold the deck up for the audience to see, without looking at the bottom card. Looking at the back side of the deck, remember the card that is flipped over. Put the deck of cards behind you again, turn the top card you just looked at over and place it on the bottom of the deck. Now show the bottom of the deck again, this time announce the card you just remembered. Note the card on the back as before, and repeat the process until all five cards have been turned over.

Twenty Card Magic Trick

The Effect: The magician sets twenty randomly selected cards
on the table, face up. While the magician is out of the
room, each of the spectators mentally select a different pair
of cards. The performer randomly places the cards in rows
of five. Each of the spectators point to the two rows that
their cards are in, and the magician immediately picks up
their pair of cards.

Secret: The cards are not actually placed at random and
instead a formula is used to place them in a special self working
pattern. Imagine that you see these four rows of
words spelled with big letters across the table: start, bells,
brooz, and dazed. Start by placing the first pairs of cards
on each imaginary S, then on each T, and on each A and R.
Continue going down the rows, placing the each of the
pairs of cards on the next pair of letters in the formula.
Now as the spectators point to the rows their two cards are
in, you pick up the only pair of cards in these rows.

Method: Practice placing the cards in this formula, until
you can do it fast enough to look natural. Place the twenty
cards in pairs on the table first, leave the room, and ask the
spectators to select their pair of cards. Do not put them in
their special order until you have re-entered the room. This
will also give the spectators less time to over think the
entire process. When you enter the room, pick up the cards
and quickly lay them in the special order. Now if they say
their item is in the first and last row you know it is the
object in the place of the letter A. If their item is in the
second and third rows, then the letter B will be your key.
You will notice that you do not necessarily need to use the
letters to find the pairs, simply use the formula to place the
cards in their self-working location.