Finalizing two sets--can they be stronger?

[Brett H]

I had some time to sit down and give my hospital routines a good think. The good news is that I have all the tricks for the 'teenager' set in hand. The bad news: I have absolutely no tricks for the 'children' set.
After mulling over 4 other sets, I realized I had completely neglected to look at the Disney Tenyo tricks. I then decided to try and shoot for a 3-4 trick set using nothing but Disney.

My question is: are my sets strong enough and if not, what could I switch out?

For the younger kids, I was thinking
Disney Invisible Zone
Disney Miracle Ring/Pendant (for girl patients)
Disney Magic Cubes/Bare Bones

The routine is very loose, but the premise is around the magic of Disney brought to the room.


For the older kids and teenagers. It's more of a routine about wrapping a gift.
Clean Cut
Burglar Ball
MB Ghost Deck

I go I to how wrapping a gift with a ribbon gives me problems; I do the Clean Cut routine on youtube and the patter goes into how I have tried several ways to make the ribbon easier
I do Burglar Ball explaining how I actually wrapped up a present without the present, but I still need to put it inside the box.
I do ghost deck, saying how I received a deck of cards as a gift. And how every magician needs to memorize a complex algorithm in order to predict cards. Which I have the algorithm copied onto 8 flash cards (which is all 8 cards of Ghost Deck).


I know this May sound odd of me asking this. But I do not have the mot disposable income out there and I want to make sure that my first hospital strolling set is a solid set that I won't need to change for a while.

[JohnM]

Brett, you should check out this section on the Magic Cafe. It sounds perfect for your needs. Of course don't stop asking questions here as well.

The tricks are on me!
This forum is for discussing the history and practice of Volunteering to perform for various groups for free (e.g, hospitals, nursing homes, fundraisers, etc). This is especially useful for beginners or those wanting to try out new material.

http://www.themagiccafe.com/forums/view ... m=199&3381

Some of you are scratching your head and wondering why John is recommending the Magic Cafe after all that has happened with he and Simon there. I have no problem with the Magic Cafe or Steve Brooks. My only problem there is with one specific section and some specific posters. The rest of the Cafe is great in my opinion. I check it out all the time. Unfortunately I can't do it as John Mazza as I used to, but that is OK.

[Brett H]

I actually lurk about the cafe under that section, actually. I just haven't found a way to get an email account that they accept. Any idea on how to do that?

They do have a good amount of information in that section when it comes up.

[JohnM]

I actually lurk about the cafe under that section, actually. I just haven't found a way to get an email account that they accept. Any idea on how to do that?

They do have a good amount of information in that section when it comes up.

Who is your Internet provider? Don't they provide email accounts? Can you even join now? I don't see the link that is usually at the top of the page.

[JohnM]

I do a fair amount of performing for friends and family, probably about 10 times a year. I usually put my case in the car or sometimes a trick or two in my pocket. My wife carries BWT and TAD so we always have at least that. A lot of times I am not in the mood to perform and sometimes it is just not the right time to perform. With my family, I am asked "can you bring some magic" when it is a celebration party. When were are celebrating the holidays and I am at my sister's, they will ask "did you bring your magic."

In those gatherings there are young children. Sometimes a performance can go over their heads. For sure it should be simple tricks like Crash DIce, Rope to Silk and Color Changing Silks. What I noticed is that they are more interested in looking in the case and touching the tricks. What I do is, I perform those three tricks for them and then show them how they work. We then practice a little and then do a show for their parents. I think this would work in the hospital. Help them do a small show for their parents, nurses or other patients. The parents and nurses would get such a kick out of it. There may be a germs issues in which case you would not be able to do it but you can do it that way with your friends and family which is who you should be practicing with now.

Another thing to do is look for a helper. You can usually spot them easily. Simon, David and myself can attest to the fact that helper students can be life savers. In the hospital you can use them not only as an assistant but as child wranglers. This happened with me recently where there were a few young boys who were all over me. I put my case down on the couch and they had a lot of angles at it. That was my fault. I really should have set myself up better. There was an older girl and she really helped a lot to keep these kids in line. It is hard when you are in a house and you have parents who do not mind their children. Sometime I will wedge myself in a corner but then I am stuck there and if no one comes to me the show is over. I was impressed when I saw the picture of Mike's Birthday performance. The children all sitting there nicely. Of course the dog didn't get the memo. That is important, audience management, and I have to get better at that.

[Brett H]

One thing I have read that May help is to establish (a corporeal or invisible) 'magic line' in which the magic cannot happen if someone crosses the magic line, unless someone is asked to help the magician

[JohnM]

I knew I had another point. If you daughter is old enough, have her be a secret helper when you perform for your family and friends. There are going to be kids that yell out "I know how you do that" even when they don't, usually a couple of follow along as well. Maybe your daughter can tap them and just shake her head "no" and give them a "not cool stare." I ask my wife to do that be she always forgets.

[SimonC]

I have one kid in. Y form who is my benchmark for a trick, if I can get it past his beady eye then I could perform it to Colombo without fear.
I lithe ea of having a helper to keep the audience in line rather than leaving it to yourself. Otherwise you have to break character and get passive aggressive with the little buggers who try and pull your stuff apart. A bit like Tom cruise, he is constantly smiling and 'totally cool' with anything that happens but he has a team of people to come down like a ton of bricks on anything he's not happy about so he still looks (in his mind at least) like a good guy.
"So Tom tell me about your funny shoes with the heels"
"Ha ha! That's a great question, I have them made in Italy *#chrrr..release the hounds. Over.chrrr#*"

[Brett H]

Who is your Internet provider? Don't they provide email accounts? Can you even join now? I don't see the link that is usually at the top of the page.

I have Verizon and from what I can see, you have to pay separately for email. Honestly, I would find it a bit silly to pay for an email account, only to change it over to a free one. If I can find a free way to join the cafe, I would.

I knew I had another point. If you daughter is old enough, have her be a secret helper when you perform for your family and friends. There are going to be kids that yell out "I know how you do that" even when they don't, usually a couple of follow along as well. Maybe your daughter can tap them and just shake her head "no" and give them a "not cool stare." I ask my wife to do that be she always forgets.

I called the hospital. From what they told me, for safety reasons, the minimum age for volunteers is 14. so my 5 year old won't be able to help me out.

I'm not sure if I'm going to be performing in a room full of kids, but I know for sure that I will be strolling from room to room

[Brett H]

I have one kid in. Y form who is my benchmark for a trick, if I can get it past his beady eye then I could perform it to Colombo without fear.
I lithe ea of having a helper to keep the audience in line rather than leaving it to yourself. Otherwise you have to break character and get passive aggressive with the little buggers who try and pull your stuff apart. A bit like Tom cruise, he is constantly smiling and 'totally cool' with anything that happens but he has a team of people to come down like a ton of bricks on anything he's not happy about so he still looks (in his mind at least) like a good guy.
"So Tom tell me about your funny shoes with the heels"
"Ha ha! That's a great question, I have them made in Italy *#chrrr..release the hounds. Over.chrrr#*"

My wife is actually going to accompany me the first few times as a safety net to make sureI can get acclimated in doing the volunteer work and to make sure I don't get completely anxious and have my PTSD go haywire in the hospital.

That would be a bad thing.

[SimonC]

Just googled PTSD, is that from your time in the army? Glad you've got a good woman by your side

[Brett H]

Just googled PTSD, is that from your time in the army? Glad you've got a good woman by your side

Yes. Actually the Air Force. Deployed a bit much and came off of deployment #6 a nutter. And the missus is a helluva good woman. Very grateful she's been helping me through all this for the last 2 years.

Especially that she's supportive of me doing the volunteer work ( her words: 'if something happens, at least you're in a hospital!')

[SimonC]

don't know how you guys do it mate, hats off to you. if the magic shows go down well you should get on the hospital radio too, reckon that's a good laugh

[Brett H]

don't know how you guys do it mate, hats off to you. if the magic shows go down well you should get on the hospital radio too, reckon that's a good laugh

Thanks! You manage the best you can. I had to read up on what hospital radio is. I hope that they have hospital radio here. It just sounds awesome.

All right, due to me thinking my old unforms were going to get me a bunch of Tenyo spending money--and the reality is a stark contast of that; the Disney set is on massive hiatus.

Instead, I'm putting my focus on playing a game of 'tag' in the hospital room. So far, I'm thinking of leading off with Magical Sneakers, and then playing 'tag' with Ghost Lamp (the 4 deck piles are 4 bushes and I 'find' them with the light)

My issue right now is finding an effective way to determining who is going to be 'IT'--the guy running after everybody.

Initially, I was going to do This Clean Cut Routine.
The idea is to sever the rope into two pieces--whoever picks the short rope is 'it'. But I would constantly run into issues and I end the routine realizing that the rope idea won't work and I volunteer to be it.

I'm not sure if the Clean Cut idea is strong enough because I don't recall ever picking 'short straw' when I was younger, so I don't know if what I would be doing (aside from the routine) would be relatable enough.

I had a few other idea of using Dynamic Coins as a way to do a few 'coin tosses' and end the routine with the coins 'disappearing', getting frustrated and volunteering to be 'IT'.
I just got my daughter some Dynamic coins and I'm practicing with that, but I fear that because of the way it's presented, it would place too much emphasis on them attentively watching the 'props'. That and I think that this idea may be too complex for me to perform as I would need to improvise a lot the way I have it happening in my head.

I thought of the idea of doing Flash Dice. Having them roll a die and telling them that the 'magic dice box' knows what number is at the very bottom of the die, but if I guess and get it wrong (which I will purposely get wrong), then I'll be it. I line all the dice up and they match the number at the bottom and I guessed it wrong, making me 'IT'

The only other idea I have is somehow getting Alchemy of Magic, and doing a coin toss with it. Maybe toss the slug in the air, have them guess and then change the coin into what they said--if the trick can actually work like that.

I have a feeling that I am overthinking this.

[SimonC]

That's a great clean it routine, perhaps you could tweak it slightly and have a piece of different coloured electrical tape on each end so they're choosing a colour over a length. it does sound like its getting a bit complicated tho. A magician always gets his way, just write three spectators names and yours on scraps of paper, put them all in a switch bag containing four slips with your name on and get a speccy to pull one out and read out who's it.
I think you're onto something with a coin toss in AOM just as a good way to perform a switch between slug/coin coin and a full coin

[JohnM]

Clean cut will not work as there are never really two pieces of rope.

[Brett H]

Clean cut will not work as there are never really two pieces of rope.

The routine would be the video verbatim. Just the patter would be a lot of 'HEY! Here's our rope! Wait, they're the exact same piece. How about now? Wait, ones too long and the other is really tiny. Let's try this again.'

It's a whole routine of 'bad ideas'.

Speaking of which, the more I think about it, Clean Cut is starting to sound like one.

I think I'm warming up to Alchemy of Magic. Looks like I'm firing up Youtube and hopefully I can see someone flash a gimmick and see what I can work with.

[VictorS]

That clean cut routine is totally awesome. Thanks for sharing it Brett ! I don`t have clean cut yet....but sure I will get 1 after I see the demo.

By the way.... I`m thinking of modifying Zig Zag Cig to become a double clean cut....hmmmmmm....

[Brett H]

That clean cut routine is totally awesome. Thanks for sharing it Brett ! I don`t have clean cut yet....but sure I will get 1 after I see the demo.

By the way.... I`m thinking of modifying Zig Zag Cig to become a double clean cut....hmmmmmm....

I am curious to know how it'll get modified. What's your plan?

[JohnM]

That is an amazing Clean Cut video, I never saw the handling with the loop.

[VictorS]

That clean cut routine is totally awesome. Thanks for sharing it Brett ! I don`t have clean cut yet....but sure I will get 1 after I see the demo.

By the way.... I`m thinking of modifying Zig Zag Cig to become a double clean cut....hmmmmmm....

I am curious to know how it'll get modified. What's your plan?

Make another hole at the other closed side of the ZZC and you can put the rope through it. But I`m not sure it will run as smooth as CC (even they have similar principal)

[Brett H]

That clean cut routine is totally awesome. Thanks for sharing it Brett ! I don`t have clean cut yet....but sure I will get 1 after I see the demo.

By the way.... I`m thinking of modifying Zig Zag Cig to become a double clean cut....hmmmmmm....

I am curious to know how it'll get modified. What's your plan?

Make another hole at the other closed side of the ZZC and you can put the rope through it. But I`m not sure it will run as smooth as CC (even they have similar principal)

So you'd only have the middle piece of rope able to be taken out instead of 3 pieces of rope falling out?

I think I'm picturing it. Is it so that the rope outside of ZZC lines up with the gimmick?

[VictorS]

So you'd only have the middle piece of rope able to be taken out instead of 3 pieces of rope falling out?

I think I'm picturing it. Is it so that the rope outside of ZZC lines up with the gimmick?

Yep...but I think it was a bad idea, Clean Cut was already designed perfectly for the cut and restored rope.

[Brett H]

So you'd only have the middle piece of rope able to be taken out instead of 3 pieces of rope falling out?

I think I'm picturing it. Is it so that the rope outside of ZZC lines up with the gimmick?

Yep...but I think it was a bad idea, Clean Cut was already designed perfectly for the cut and restored rope.

That's true, but man is Clean Cut expensive for what it does. But it's strictly for rope, unfortunately. That and it's annoying to load the rope in. I want to look all smooth and cool doing Clean Cut. But I'll get the rope MOST of the way through and it won't go anymore. Aargh!

At least with ZZC. You drop your prop right in and you're ready to go!

I think that you get a lot more versatility with that you can use with Zig Zag Cig. You can do pencils, cigarettes, miniature skeletons, crayons, a pixie stick.
You can even turn a pencil into 3 pencils.

Even funnier if you forgot to reload he gimmick; so you turn your pencil into a segmented purple crayon.
'Presto', indeed.

[VictorS]

That's true, but man is Clean Cut expensive for what it does.

Yes because it is quite difficult to obtain nowadays I believe.

There are knock off versions for this....quite many....the china version are super cheap but we can forget them. Rubbish.

The better one I saw made by DiFatta Magic.
http://www.difattamagic.com/index.php?p ... h=cut&vai=

I believe it has similar dimension with the original CC. I`m not sure for that but it is definitely cheaper.