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GetJet New user 23 Posts |
Dear Curtis
I agree with most you have written about how audiences expect miracles and not just mere tricks. I completely agree with you on the strength of mindreading effects. It's not pure chance that this kind of effects require the most in presentational skills. However I was wondering why you don't think Hopping Half to be something special. I believe that for audiences who are not familiar with shells and gaffed coins, it is a miracle if performed and presented correctly. Thanks for your time and I hope one day to be able to achieve anywhere near your skill with coins. |
Curtis Kam V.I.P. same as you, plus 3 and enough to make 3498 Posts |
Well, thank you GetJet, and I probably should elaborate, given how popular this effect seems to be. However, at the outset, I realize we're talking about something that really is a matter of personal taste.
Also, keep in mind that a good presentation can make a poor trick a miracle, but as Tommy Wonder points out, that's all the more reason to make sure you start with a good trick before you make a miracle out of it. My main problem with the "Hopping Half" is that it's basically the reproduction of a single coin in your closed hand. To make matters worse, the hand isn't even empty. Each time, there's a coin already there. While an effect this simple really requires nothing more than rudimentary sleight-of-hand, the popular method utilizes a plethora of gaffed items, all of which threaten to talk or split, and none of which reset. So now, not only are you toting an expensive pocketful of fragile gaffs in order to perform an effect that's mediocre at best, but you can't even do it more than once without running off to reset. (to the extent that this limits the number of times the effect might be performed, this is a good thing. If only they would make it lock, so the reset is even longer) On a different level, the gaffs provided are the modus for some of the most impressive coin magic available. Used properly, these gaffs provide just enough advantage at just the right moment to allow entire routines of impossible magic to occur. The "hopping half" routine reduces all that potential to an inane guessing game. I think the very first thing that comes to mind when anyone first discovers a shell is "well, I could show one coin, apparently put it in my pocket, and then show that I didn't" instead of moving beyond this childish application, the HH instructions direct you to repeat it. Sorry for the rant, but really, is there any objective reason to believe that HH is really just what it appears to be, i.e. a way to sell a whole lot of gaffs all at once?
Is THAT a PALMS OF STEEL 5 Banner I see? YARRRRGH! Please visit The Magic Bakery
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MagicalGryphon New user Yes 7 Posts |
Look in Jamy Ian Swiss notes, "Another interesting application of that principle." There's a great non gaffed handling there.
Gryphon |
The Magic Cafe Forum Index » » The February 2003 entrée: Curtis Kam » » Hopping Half » » TOPIC IS LOCKED (0 Likes) |
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