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The Magic Cafe Forum Index » » Ever so sleightly » » Ammar's Cups + Balls (0 Likes) Printer Friendly Version

Burrich
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WOW!!! I just got these DVD's along with the Mercury Wand and ETMCM 1. Ammar is a brilliant teacher... well no actually he's a pretty good teacher (he goes too fast) it's just I'm so excited about the amount of stuff on these DVD's. To be honest I think he's undercharging but you'll hear no complaints from me. The sessions are really really helpful and make up for the speed of his teaching. The mercury wand is fantastic. The weight make the spins (which I was performing with pens) a lot easier.

Well just my two cents,

Steven.
elgranmago
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Steven,

You sound as excited as I was when I first got these gems. The Mercury Wand is also awesome.

Try to learn the Vernon/Mora wand spin. Takes some practice. Do it in front of a mirror, over a padded or carpeted floor because you will drop the wand many times at first. Once you master it, you will love it.

José
"It´s kind of fun to do the impossible". Walt Disney
Bill Palmer
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I really like the Ammar DVD's. If you have the Encore wand, do yourself a favor. Take a piece of emery cloth, press each end of the wand into it, and rotate it back and forth a few times. This will get rid of the sharp edge and any burrs that might be on the wand.
"The Swatter"

Founder of CODBAMMC

My Chickasaw name is "Throws Money at Cups."

www.cupsandballsmuseum.com
Burrich
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Erm it took me 20 minutes to learn the spin. I can't do it as fast as Ammar can yet but I have the actual spin down pretty well at a pretty good speed. Did other people find it hard? If you're taking about the spin vanish then I haven't even started on that. I find it hard to do more than two things at once (I'd say most other people do too). Also Mr. Palmer what is the Encore wand?

Thanks,

Steven.
drwilson
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Steven,

I really liked these too. It took me forever to learn the wand spin. I would whack away at it whenever I was feeling good about myself. After maybe thirty minutes of this I would put it away and heal. After many sessions like this, one day I just got up and said, "Today's the day." I kept at it for over thirty minutes, then finally, my hand did the world's worst wand spin, and I stared at my hand like it was possessed (as in Evil Dead 2). After that, it got better and better, and now I use it in performance (not yet for a vanish).

When I am trying to build the crowd for the Cups and Balls, I do the wand spin perhaps three times in a row - bang bang bang - and I see people staring. I look them in the eye and say, "This? It's just a vulgar display of power..."

I must be the world record holder as the slowest learner of the wand spin. I didn't spend a lot of time tossing baseballs, footballs, or frisbees as a kid, so I just have no kinesthetic smarts.

Too bad I didn't videotape all the fumbles, any beginner would find it funny and possibly motivating.

Yours,

Paul
Burrich
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With the vernon spin I added the drummer spin to it. I tried it out and it works very very well. Has anyone else done this? I'm getting to really like my wand so where can I find more spins with a wand? I know of pentrix but find it hard to learn from their videos.

Thanks,

Steven.
Werner G. Seitz
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Quote:
On 2004-09-14 14:30, magical_steve wrote:
With the vernon spin I added the drummer spin to it. I tried it out and it works very very well. Has anyone else done this?
Sure.. Smile..it's a logical combination..
Learn a few things well.....this life is not long enough to do everything.....

( Words of wisdom from Albert Goshman ...it paid off for him - it might
as well for YOU!!!- My own magic is styled after that motto... Smile )
Burrich
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Ok lol. I thought it might be. They fit together perfectly. But where can I find more spins?

Thanks,

Steven.
Kent Wong
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I always found that the hardest part of the Dai Vernon Wand Spin was the timing for the vanish. If you don't get the timing down just right, you risk "flashing" the object. In comparison, the spin is easy.
"Believing is Seeing"
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rikbrooks
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I have a hint for the vanish. At the appropriate moment slide the palm of the wand holding hand VERY close to the ball hand. Also, try to keep your wand holding hand as close as possible to the ball holding hand the whole time.
doug brewer
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While I like the structure of Ammar's routine (start with 3, move to 2, then end with 1 cup), I think the loads are performed completely at the wrong time with no misdirection at all. It just "feels" wrong when I see it. The ball productions at the beginning are great. On the vanishes, the push-through and Vernon spin vanishes are stellar, but the striking vanish is not right for the last vanish (you just plain see it happen). There's a lot to learn from the routine, though.
TheAmbitiousCard
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The appearance of the 3rd ball on top of the cup is fantastic.
It's something that was also done by Carl Andrews in his 2 cup routine.
I loved that surprise appearance so much I put it into my routine, which is basically Cellini's first routine from his book "The Royal Touch".

I'm not sold on the striking vanish in a cups and balls routine.
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JamesinLA
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I do the wand vanish on the street surrounded. It took quite a while to get it to the point where I could do it surrounded. Kirk G. at the castle gave me the tips I needed to get it there. (BTW, if you look close, Ammar does flash during one of his wand spins on the cups and balls dvd. I think it's one of the ones he does with the billiard ball.)
I agree the Ammar dvds are great. I do a lot of his card tricks too from his dvds.

Jim
Oh, my friend we're older but no wiser, for in our hearts the dreams are still the same...
TheAmbitiousCard
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I should have been more clear (even if nobody cares).

The appearance of the 3rd ball is very very surprising. I put it toward the end of my routine
when the balls start to reppear.

I think it is so good that it is wasted in Ammar's version because it's done so early. But that's just me.

Wasted is a bit harsh but you know what I mean.
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chrisrkline
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I too added an impromptu ball appearance to my Gazzo routine. During the 2-0-2 phase, I decided one time to move the un-chosen cup as far away from me as I could on my busking table and I moved to the other side. Making the ball jump from the middle cup to the first chosen cup, got a decent reaction, but when I caused it to jump to the one on the other side of the table, it got a better reaction. I revealed the ball by mimicking a three point shot. I emphasized the arrival by smacking the cup hard. The second time I tried this, I made a joke about needing to shoot the ball straighter than the Dream Team did during the Olympics. On a lark as I went to reveal the two balls under the last cup (on the left side of the table), I made one appear on top of the far right. Since I was moving about six to eight total feet from the right of the table to the left of it, no one seemed to notice the ball I left on top of the right cup. I through in some patter about oops, I seem to have missed the shot. I pointed to the right cup, and got lots of oooos. I am still working on exactly how I want to work this.

Oh yea, Ammar’s Cups and Balls is great. Even after studying the video, and working a little on his routine, he still fooled me at his lecture with the appearance of the final ball.
Chris
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