Here are a few more vids of me performing some original routines. Let me know what you think.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kfatx2szHEs

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q_0cMsHF6OY

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V9oRZaE-FKM

I know it Bizzare Foto I could have showed all 3 Jokers at the beginning and I usually do. I don't know why I didn't in this vid.

Hey Buddy,

I perform mainly on stage and my act is billed as a "mindreading" but since I just recently got broadband I thought I'd take a look in here Enjoyed your pieces,beautiful sleight of hand though I'd like to see you interact with people, though your script and actions seemed pretty much spot on.I enjoyed it,your obviously talented.Good stuff buddy!

Best,

Pete

Thanks. I'm glad you liked them.

Well magic is done for people usually. I have never understood magic done in your living room for a camera but that aside.

Why do magicians continue to fool themselvs into thinking that you can show the same queen as many times as you feel the need, and nobody will notice.

I have to tell you if they are not paying attention enough to see 2 qs and 2 qh and the qd flashed as the qh, well they may not even react when you are done.

MAGICIANS let that nonsense go. They say stuff like "OH a layman will never see that". It is silly, people NOTICE, heck we want them paying attention don't we?

Although I agree with most of your post, Danny, I think I'll have to somewhat disagree on this one.

Your post seems to be about the discrepancies that magicians hope the spectators don't notice. Although these discrepancies weaken the effect significantly, and should be avoided at all cost most of the times, I think we should weigh the benefits the discrepancy bring into a routine.

In a larger context, if you were performing a card manipulation routine on stage, it'd be best not to be stealing out of pockets. However, if the effect that can be achievable by stealing something out of pocket is worth the risk, IMO there is no reason why it shouldn't be included.

What should be done to cover, is having perfect control of the attention and accenting other points of the routine. Just as the manipulator would use blocking and misdirection to get the audiences' attention to the optimal area, close-up magicians can use words to highlight different points - i.e. two red and two black kings instead of calling out suits at all.

I'm not trying to promote discrepancies at all, but IMO, benefits and risks should be weighed and analyzed before putting it into a routine or banning it from routines.

Here is the risk. And when you perform for other than magicians and cameras it is huge.

Once they find the discrepency, the rest of the trick is DONE. It is over and everything you do from that point and till that point is weakened.

Magicians look past these and still fake amazement, and people do not do that.

In the last phase showing the QH twice and the QS twice will NOT fly as 4 cards every time, heck not most of the time. Those are the 2 most recognisable suits anyhow according to magicians.

So the risk VS reward arguement, really loses a LOT of steam dosn´t it?

Thank you for the comments and I understand your concern about showing the queens twice. In actual performance there is some timed misdirection before the flash of the last two queens and they are only flashed for a second. Believe me I perform this routine all the time and have never been called on it. As a matter of fact Harry Lorayne liked the routine enough to put it in his newest book. I will be posting some newer vids soon.

Very interestingI

Kris: Your routine, which I changed a bit in order to simplify, is not in my "newest" book - that's BEST OF FRIENDS 3. Your routine (titled Assembly Backfire) is in LORAYNE: THE CLASSIC COLLECTION.

Danny: I've performed this routine many, many times, for laymen. NO ONE has ever noticed the discrepancy. And believe me, the people I work for would surely say something if they did. Also, if you check the routine in the above-mentioned book, you'll see that I use the QD and QS, not the ones you mention. Anyway, let me quote from my Afterthoughts of that item:

"...I've performed the routine exsactly as taught many times; not one loayman has ever noticed those discrepancies. I don't ALLOW them tyo be noticed. Never mention suits or color, and the queens are FLASHED, not displayed long enough for details to register. And, your spectators shouldn't be thining about suits at all, not if you present this properly." HARRY LORAYNE.

Harry I have read your books, many times, and while it may slip by some people, I am telling you I have watched guys get called on this time and again.

IT HAPPENS, maybe not to you, but I have watched it happen. It does not slip by as readily as everyone seems to think. To me it is an aquired skill. One which you obviously posess. But like any skill it must be honed.

Danny: Simple solution: the guys that are getting "called" on this SHOULD NOT BE DOING THAT ROUTINE. Simple, right? All they have to do is read all my other books and select the myriad of effects and routines where there's no problem re: getting "called" on anything. God, I wish all problems were so easily solved. HARRY LORAYNE.

Harry your making my point for me. You are RIGHT. Nobody getting called on this should be doing these tricks.

Also I think audience pay FAR more attention than magicians give them credit for. I WANT them looking enough to catch that. They are fooled that much more when they are.

I will say that your books have a HUGE amount of fantastic tricks in them to choose from. Not a bad book in the lot. It is said if you get one trick from a book it was worth the price. With that theory in mind, your books are worth well over 5 or 6 times their price. Always has very strong material offered and I hope I did not imply otherwise.

ANYONE who has not read Harry's books no matter how long you are "in magic" needs to get at least one of them.

Why only one?

And what about the DVD's?

The consumate salesman Harry LOL. Notice I said "At least one" now didn't I?

The brushing of the cards together was insane!!! There is no need to do that. ALso, I wouldn't hand them out after the third Queen vanishes...why? Because I know if I could do that, I would want to check the others, just to be sure. The only other thing I wasn't too keen on was the bringing together the cards near the end, I know it was necessary to load the extra Queen back on, but it spoiled it for me...and...stand still!

Magicians snap and brush cards and it goes through my head like a knife!

It screams that every time you don't do it, something is up.

PEOPLE NEVER DO THAT! Why do magicians?

As the OP wrote "Let me know what you think" in the initial post, I would like to point one thing.

I think the performances will be improved by shortening patters. Especially "How many cards in the pack?" in 'Backfire' can annoy spectators.

Hideo Kato

P.S.
I can hear a layperson's voice : "I think the Aces did not disappear, but he hid them. So the Aces reappeared in the same packets".