The Genii Forum

Bob Coyne

It would be terrible if Aladdin goes out of business. When I lived in LA I went there often and bought dozens of books. It is such a great place with a huge selection of new, used and rare magic books and more. How definite is the rumor? Is there a chance that if business picks up, he'll keep it goi...

Bob Coyne

One that I liked very much is "The Prestige" by Christopher Priest. From the jacket blurb..."In 1878 two young stage magicians clash in a darkened salon during the course of a fraudulent seance. From this moment, their lives spin webs of deceit and exposure as they feud to outwit each...

Bob Coyne

I think the analogy between flourishes and acrobatics (or juggling) is misleading. With acrobatics or juggling you hold your breath, hoping they won't fall. If they succeed, you admire the skill, but don't feel a sense of magic or mystery. With flourishes, the method isn't so apparent. The coin some...

Bob Coyne

I actually think flourshishes can appear to be magical, but to do so, they shouldn't be presented as exhibitions of skilll. Instead they should appear to be effortless, like they are just happening by the magic...that the objects involved are infused with magic. Coins roll across fingers, cards cut ...

Bob Coyne

This reminds me of the work of Paul Ekman who scientifically studies involuntary facial expressions. These micro-expressions, he claims, give away a person's hidden intentions, including whether he or she is lying. There was a fascinating article in the New Yorker a couple of months ago on the subje...

Bob Coyne

I'd appreciate a better explanation for why people are getting kicked off the forum and threads are being deleted. Just recently Andrew Wimhurst posted a very interesting set of messages related to Vernon's Revelations videos and whether he (Vernon) was holding back his best stuff. Richard Kaufman r...

Bob Coyne

Shared methodogies really doesn't seem pertinent. Otherwise cheating at cards would be considered magic. Instead, if mentalism is to be considered magic, it must be based on similarity of presentation, effect, audience experience, etc.

Bob Coyne

Ford Cross: "It's often stated that extra ordinary claims requires extraordinary proof. But what is extraordinary to one person is not to another." I see...extreme relativism. Imagine someone saying they can fly to the moon and back by flapping their arms like wings. Would you believe it?...

Bob Coyne

John Riggs (sorry for the misspelling last time) said: "True skeptics neither believe nor disbelieve. Pseudo-skeptics disbelieve wholeheartedly. Most of what I've seen on this forum is Pseudo-skepticism. Also a lot of statistics (99.99999%) comes to mind) that obviously have no relationship to ...

Bob Coyne

I disagree with John Rigg's definition of a true skeptic as one who neither believes nor disbelieves. It seems to me that a true skeptic rightly requires strong evidence to accept strong claims. Without that evidence, the appropriate response is to provisionally disbelieve. If I said I could float i...

Bob Coyne

Back to Matt's question about who is writing this and if he's making it up. I doubt the guy is what he claims to be...but it makes good reading nonetheless. If I had to guess, I'd say he is a magician pretending to be a spy pretending to be a magician. :)

Bob Coyne

I think you have to ask "good for what?" I can think of a few different criteria: a) Identifying which new tricks or sleights are of interest. Videos win hands down. You get to see it performed. It's so much more work to wade through text just to get an idea of what the thing might look li...

Bob Coyne

Interesting about micro-magic. I think of micro-magic (just from the terms) as being one-on-one or one-to-a-very-small-number magic...super close up. Things like spellbound. Close-up magic seems to be a little more distant. For example, at the magic castle, the close up room holds 20 or more people....

Bob Coyne

It certainly seems like this is an example of shades of gray and having to draw the line somewhere. To Tommy Wonder, the reason I picked the example with the Beatles interpreting and popularizing the song Twist and Shout was your criteria that: Flip never worked out the routine, Flip never performed...

Bob Coyne

Or to take another example. The Beatles take the Isley brother's song "Twist and Shout" and make a huge hit out of it. Bands around the world, for decades after, make it a staple in their repertoire, usually doing it in the Beatles' style. But the Beatles didn't write that song, so they do...

Bob Coyne

Assume the author is WE Sanders and he wants to encode his name. He finds an anagram SW Erdnase that has meaning (the mining engineer, ground sniffing stuff) that is also another name (ES Andrews) spelled backwards. A very plausible and clever solution. If you were a mining engineer named WE Sanders...

Bob Coyne

MaxNY, I'm interested in any Scarne material you might have. Please email
me (bobcoyne@att.net). Thanks.

Bob Coyne

I second the thank you to David Alexander for his great research on Erdnase. It's the theory that I find the most plausible (and appealing). I only wish there were more evidence and would love to hear anything new which has come to light since the original article.

Bob Coyne

What cards would people use (for close-up work, not manipulation) if having a extremely standard/familiar pattern (i.e. Bikes) weren't an issue with audiences? I've sort of given up trying to get better quality cards. But maybe by accepting something non-standard there's a solution. So I guess my qu...

Bob Coyne

Are you sure it's a manuscript on SECOND dealing? I bought his manuscript on BOTTOM dealing and was unaware of another on seconds. Funny that I can't remember him doing seconds. I could be wrong, but I don't think that's his stong point. He's good, though, at palming and bottom dealing and has a gre...

Bob Coyne

Scott, it's very common in any forum or newsgroup I've seen for topics to go off on tangents. The same is true of conversations with large groups of people in real life. I think it's unrealistic to expect otherwise. If the discussion goes off topic, you can bring it back if you want. What's wrong wi...

Bob Coyne

In the show I attended (june 30), I also noticed a person or two reacting just as he did the switch. So at least a few seemed to have caught it, though it seemed to have fooled most in the audience. In that performance, the previous hand that Ricky dealt didn't pan out (the spectator won). The spect...

Bob Coyne

I was at the same performance! I wonder what percentage of his audiences are magicians. Yes, it was truly excellent magic and theater...a feast for the imagination, with a whole bygone era coming alive. And I agree that the orange tree effect was performed beautifully and the highlight of the show. ...

Bob Coyne

Joe, I've read his autobiography "the Odds against me". I think it's just an updated version of "The Amazing World of John Scarne". Great stories in there! You're lucky to have met him.

Frank, thanks for the lead on the face-up rub-a-dub-dub.

Bob Coyne

Joe, I have a very short video of Scarne doing some gambling stuff...probably the same one Sandy mentions. It's transfered from old b&w film and low picture quality, but great to see nonetheless. I think there might be a short cups and balls sequence on it too. What I really wish I had were his ...

Bob Coyne

Thanks, Joe, for elaborating... I think a distinction should be made between different methods and different presentation/shade/context/misdirection. You mention magicians *using* a second deal to count down to a chosen card etc. That's certainly a different use than a gambler would use it, but the ...

Bob Coyne

And the methods, re seconds, bottoms, etc. are very different. I'm very curious about this statement. I guess you're saying that magicians like Richard Turner, Simon Lovell, Martin Nash, Alan Ackerman, Tony Giorgio, etc are using magician methods. What then are the gambler methods? Are they written...

Bob Coyne

I was really interested in David Alexander's theory (January 2000 Genii article) that Erdnase was Wilbur Edgerton Sanders, a mining engineer. Part of what made the theory so intriguing was that Alexander had Sanders' diary that he was in the process of going over. So there was a chance of finding mo...

Bob Coyne

I don't think all people who know to watch the non-dominant hand are jerks. Often they're just more clued in, and know where to look. Kind of like magicians....hmm, maybe they are jerks :) (just kidding)

Bob Coyne

Hey, what's wrong with a little verbosity as long as it's entertaining or enlightening? Better than backhanded little putdowns from some other posters. Anyway, I like JR's rambles and musings...and am glad no one's policing him on this forum. :)

Bob Coyne

I can't believe people are seriously arguing for crediting during performances. Sure, if it somehow fits into an act, there's nothing wrong with it. But otherwise, what's the point? You might as well credit your mother, spouse, favorite teacher in school, etc. They probably have more to do with your...

Bob Coyne

It would be great if the "today's active topic" feature showed the most recent topics rather than the most recent topics in the current day. As it is now, a post made at 11:30pm won't be displayed an hour later (at 12:30 am) because it happens to be the next day. I love using the active to...

Bob Coyne

Yes, there was a nice transposition as Richard describes. But that wasn't all Scarne did in the commercial. I remember very clearly that he did the color change and rub-a-dub-dub. Plus I think there were some flourishes. BTW, the transposition with the beer glass is written up in "The Close-Up ...

Bob Coyne

I think of flourishes as a magical appetizer. They are the harbinger of stronger magic to come, but are themselves magical nonetheless. But they have to just happen without any visible effort to achieve that effect. This reminds me of something related. I like to practice in a way so that I fool mys...

Bob Coyne

I think it is a mistake to think of flourishes as a way to display skill. Rather, a flourish should *look* like magic, even if the method is seemingly out in the open. You're fooling the eye, not necessarily the mind. For example, in a coin roll, the coin should seem to dance across the fingers, as ...

Bob Coyne

I'm pretty certain it wasn't the first method in Erdnase (or the Vernon variation). The right hand covered the cards and only rubbed back and forth a fraction of an inch, and mostly left and right. The face card remained fully covered during the rubbing motion. There was no room or movement sufficie...

Bob Coyne

Does anyone remember John Scarne on a Schaefer Beer commercial in the early 70's (in the new york area)? I saw it as a kid a couple times and it inspired me to study sleight of hand (I was doing simple apparatus tricks at the time). He did rub-a-dub-dub, a two cards with beer glass transposition, an...

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