Already November?

Man oh man. I had not planned on missing my weekly posts for a month. But life distracted me. That's what happens when you try to do to many things at once. So it started off by cleaning up the practice area (my kitchen table). We needed some more space to put my girlfriends sisters and mothers stuff while they visited. Then I washed my practice pad. Moved the cards and books to the Computer room. Sometimes that's the worst thing I can do, put it "out of site, out of mind". After that we had D&D and I had both Brutal Legend and Uncharted 2: Among thieves to play. We cleaned up the last couple rooms of the top level in Shadowfell Keep. Then I played uncharted 2 every night till I absolutely had to go to sleep. After that The D&D group headed back to town to get armor re sized, restock, and get ambushed by a Elf archer with undead minions in a graveyard. Still I managed to not loose sight and finish Uncharted 2 on normal difficulty. Then My Zune player died and our Xbox. So both of those are in Texas getting repairs. The big important distraction was work itself though. Its fine and all, just time consuming. Seriously 40 hours a week. That's a lot of time. OK on to a better description of games my girlfriend and I have been playing.

Lets start with Brutal Legend. It has been best described as a love song to heavy metal and gamers. I had a blast with it and I plan to replay it after I get through some other games. I have yet to play the multi player online though. The games environments look like old heavy metal covers and the characters are caricatures of heavy metal fans. The story is pretty minimal but I did not mind it at all. I just had a lot of fun finding new songs for the Druid Plow (also called the Deuce) and seeing every viewpoint. I tend to wander in video games so I can see the scenery and find side quests. It had great scenery and lots of side quests so I was happy. You fight what basically amounts to three different factions. Each themed after fans of a particular style of music, with the exception of the demons who just look like crazy bondage monsters. The other two would be best described as "Glam Rock" fans and "Goth" fans. In the end you save the girl you like and help unite the people before stepping into the shadows to disappear like the Rodie you are. That's kinda good too. Because I had Uncharted 2 waiting.

Uncharted 2 is one of the best games I have ever played. The story is great. The characters are interesting and the voice actors make them seem real. It plays, sounds, looks and feels like a great movie. It constantly kept me playing till 1 am and I get up at 5am. My eyes burned, my fingers were sore, and I did not want to stop playing. I even played the multi player online a lot. Normally I like playing online but I don't do it often without friends to play with. But I found myself playing for hours in random groups. My only frustration came when I was grouped up with batch of more experienced players. All of them were level 20 or better and I was level 5.
I died a lot in that game. But I did get to level 6 and that was my goal for the day. Even then after that round I played a couple more just to see a few more maps and game types. I am still a bit confused by the Territories Captured game. But even that was fun. After I finished the game I restarted it on hard so I can open up the crushing difficulty. I know I will finish this game at least once more if not twice more. I still jump during the opening scene with the train even after I have played through that scene 4 times now. This game will get played a lot. Even with Assassin's Creed 2 coming out next week and that's why I have been putting in time on the first Assassin's creed.

I will write about both Assassin's Creed and Modern Warfare 2 next week after I finish them both. Real quick opinions on both first. Assassin's Creed is so amazing looking and the game play is pretty damn good. It makes me exited to see how they improve on it for the sequel. I never played Call of Duty: Modern Warfare so I cant say they improved it. But I will say the story is exciting. Every Scene is a different military operation and they play out individually like fast paced TV shows. If it wasn't for the guy in between scenes narrating the story you would never know they are connected. I was a little frustrated by not having a cover system. But that's easy to get over and its no different than Socom. Since I can play Socom all day I don't see why I couldn't spend a day playing the MW2 multi player. I spent a couple hours on the single player campaign and I think I am about half way through it. It makes me wonder why they didn't just use that as a tutorial for the multi player since that seems to be the games real focus. On that note I am done for the night. Before I loose focus and stay up to late trying to get my girlfriend to stop playing Harvest Moon. So I can get some time in killing Templar's during the crusades. Hopefully I will remember to talk about the games she has been playing also and the D&D group.

Chapter 5, Brutal Legend’s force techniques

Ok, so Brutal Legend doesn't have “Force Techniques”. But it is a awesome game. What does have “Force Techniques” is Chapter 5 of the Card College book. This chapter, Like chapter 3, was a lot of fun. It appeals to me on the same levels as the “False Cut”. Smooth, clean, and all personality. Now that I think about it, both of these chapters rely heavily on misdirection and your personality. And those are both things I need to work on. There's a timing to misdirection that takes practice. Whole chapters are devoted to it in magic books. Please read everything you can on it. But in the end you need your timing to match your personality and that's best achieved by performing the effects you practice. I could perform a Slydini Rubber band routine exactly as he did but it would look and be weird. I would have perfect misdirection cues if I did it his way but it would be lifeless. Like a band doing a cover song. Unless they put themselves in the song and make it their own its never as good as the original. I am going to try something new and try to put up videos and pictures of some of the things I talk about. Like the “Ribbon Spread” I talk about in the next paragraph. I couldn't find a picture but I found a Video of that plus some great shuffling on the Theory 11 web site. This is by a member called NeJ from Buenos Aires.

So for this chapter I start by putting a joker on top of the deck. This will be my “Force Card”. Then I do half the moves for a “Crisscross Force” and pause. Get a drink of water or pet the dog. Then I force the joker card on myself. After I do that a couple times I might force the card on my girlfriend or move onto “The Balducci Force”. I love this force. Its so pretty. Anytime you can work a “Ribbon Spread” into a effect I say do it. This is also something I need to work on. Its done entirely in the spectators hands and each time I've tried it my instructions confused the spectator (my girlfriend). So I practice this a little more than the others mentally telling myself exactly how to do it each time I practice. Next comes the “Goldin Force”. I practice this a few times and I have used it a couple times. I like this almost as much as the “Balducci Force”. Then I go over the “Ten-to-twenty Force”. I only do this once or twice. It needs setup. Until I learn how to Organize the deck without a spectator knowing it I don't plan on using it much. This chapter finishes off with a routine called the “Lie Detector”. Its a sweet effect where the spectator selects a card in the deck. Then they take out any other seven cards and calls out the correct names of six of the cards and lies about one card by saying it is the selected card. The magician finds the name of the selected card by detecting the lie the spectator tells. Its not as confusing as it sounds. Or as confusing as Chapter 6: Transfer Cuts.

Brutal Legend does have a forceful power though. Its a great game that begs to be played. I finished it this last weekend. Now I think I will go get anything I missed and try the multiplayer before I get completely sucked into the amazing Uncharted 2 game.

Chapter 4 Card Controls

This chapter starts out with a great Qoute from Henk Vermeyden "Not everyone can be a star, but all can strive to do their best and constantly improve." Striving to improve is why I started this blog. It lets me sit down when I am not practicing and look at what I need to work on. I looked but I could not find out anything about Henk Vermeyden that was more than a mention on a dvd about classic magicians. So if anyone has any more information I would love to know more. This chapter starts out easy with a "Overhand Shuffle Control" and the "Whoops Control". Then I was stumped by the dreaded "Diagonal Insertion". That just sounds wrong, very wrong. I had to take a extra week to practice the chapter. In the end it paid off and I can consistantly pull a pinky break over or under the chosen card useing the "Diagonal Insertion". I feel dirty whenever I type that. After that you learn a "Peek Control" and a few variations on it. Finaly it caps off with "The One-card Middle Pass". This one is tricky, and its the move from this chapter I spend the most time on. My issue is all in the setup. Thats not to say my execution of the move is good. Thats to say I am working on seting it up in a similar way to the "Slip Cut" from chapter 3. Slowly I am teaching my fingers to start in the right position. As if I was "Dribbling" and not like a "Pass" move. To sum it up let me run through my practice pattern. First I run a "Overhand Shuffle Control" using a joker as a placeholder card. Then I set up "Whoops! Control" and move onto the "Diagonal Insertion" a few times also useing the joker as a placeholder card. For the "Peek Control" I should set up a mirror. But for right now I use my Girlfriend. First I have her pick a couple cards and move them sequential to the top. Then I have her pick another card. This card gets moved to the top and I use a "Color Change" move I am learning from the Theory 11 website to change the top card to her card. Then I usually get sidetracked playing with the "Color Change" for a little bit before I move on. The "One-card Middle Pass" I work on slowly. So I spend a pretty decent amount of time on this. Right now I concentrate on the setup. As soon as I get that comfortable I can start on the "Pass Dribble" part. As usual the chapter ends with two routines. I dont practice "The Shamus Card". Its a awsome effect. I just really hate the "Overhand Shuffle". Instead I usually practice "The Question is ...". Almost evertime I practice a "Card Control" that ends with the card on top I finish with this effect. Next post I talk about forcing cards.

You may have noticed that I havent talked about Chapter 7 this week. Normaly that would be the chapter I would be working on. But see this is a busy week. For video games. With Brutal Legend and Uncharted 2 out, how could I be expected to do anything else? And I have Demon's Souls and the Last half of Dead Space. So I figured I could use a break to step back and look at my practice habbits while melting the faces off of dudes with the power of rock.

Chapter 3: False cut nirvana

Chapter 3 covers "False Cuts". This chapter made up for the last chapter. Honestly, I love using false cuts. Even when I don't need to I find myself using them. They are everything I love about magic. Smooth, clean, open, and done right in front of your audience. Starting with a "Optical False Cut" and moving through to the "Slip Cut from Dealing Position" you practice each move and wonder how you could pull these off. They are all so open and the moves are completely exposed. Audacious is the best word I can use to describe these moves. Every one looks so normal. Even the ones that look fancy don't look as weird as the "Overhand Shuffle". Each night I go over these a few times. Moving from a "Optical Cut" to a "Simple False Cut". Then a "False Swing Cut" to the "Triple False Cut". After doing that order a few times I practice the "Slip Cut" a couple times. The one thing in this chapter that I do have trouble with is the noise of the "Slip Cut". So that gets special attention. My issue is where I put my thumb. Set correctly the cut is silent, set incorrectly there is a audible snap as you perform the move. So I slow down and watch my fingers closely. After I get my fingers to land perfectly I can start practicing it without watching my hands. At the end of each chapter is two routines. I love "Hat Trick". So that's the one I have been practicing. It always amazes. Even when I am not at my best the "Hat Trick" never fails. It has worked so good I haven't even tried the second routine. Looking over the book as I write this I can see that may have been a mistake. Next post "Card Controls"!

Practice review 2 electric boogaloo

OK. Back to my review.

Chapter two was more annoying than hard. My basic overhand shuffle is not as clean as it could be. But that stems from my dislike of this shuffle. As I said before, It does Not look like a normal shuffle. My goal is to master a deck of cards for both Magic and Cardistry so I press on. I usually start this by running the whole deck card by card a couple times. I tend to watch my hands so my goal has been to get better at running the cards. I watch tv and count out the cards as I run them. Then I move onto Control of the top cards. Droping the jokers on the top of the deck I over hand shuffle them right back to the top. Then I overhand shuffle them to the bottom and procede to shuffle them back to the bottom of the deck. In each case My goal is to clean up the shuffle and shrink the injog that marks the controlled cards. I do have to admit I love the way Roberto Giobbi handles control of a single bottom card. It is smoth and easy. I run the top card to the bottom then keep it there through another shuffle. This chapter has two routines with the overhand shuffle. I dont like the shuffle though, so I practice the second routine. It is called "the spectator cuts to the aces" and its done fine enough without useing the overhand shuffle to set it up. Thats another thing I dislike. Having to set up or arrange the cards into a certain order to pull off something magical. The effect is smooth though so its worth practicing. The effect is just like you imagine. You hand a spectator the deck of cards. Have them cut it in half. Then have them cut each half in half. Then you turn over each top card and show them they have cut to each ace. Then I move onto chapter three. I will cover that in my next post.

Off the topic of magic and on the topic of games. The holiday seasons picking up steam this year. Even with a lot of games being pushed back to early 2010. This week we purchased Demon's Souls after my brother told me about it. So far its pretty sweet. Next week is pretty solid also. My girlfriend preordered Brutal Legend and I will be picking up Uncharted 2.

Practice review.

Chapter 6 is "Transfer Cuts". It has been a pretty smooth week for practice. Even though I skipped two nights of practice, I still feel like I have got the basics of the cuts down.

Maybe skipped is a bad choice of words. I left work pretty late Tuesday and went to dinner with my brother and his girlfriend Wednesday. After I worked on the transfer cuts Monday I felt pretty confident about them. So I gave extra time to work and family. Now onto the practice sessions.

I don't always feel like I have enough time for each chapter so I run everything once and come back to the moves that give me trouble. Here is a breakdown of my practice by chapter.

Chapter 1 of "Roberto Giobbi's Card College Volume 1". Almost everything starts in the dealing position. So I check my hand position once or twice as I run through the straddle position, back to dealing, then to elevated dealing position a few times. Then as I cut the deck and move the deck around in end grip I note where my fingers hit as I hold the deck in dealing position during the cut and after tabling the cards then picking them up. When I first restarted this book I was pushing the deck into my palm and my thumb was to far forward on the deck. I mentioned this back on August 27th. And each week it gets better. Still though I keep my eye on it. And I wish every chapter had the flow of this chapter. Each basic move leads into other basic moves pretty smooth in this chapter. Square ups, deck cuts, then we move onto spreading the cards. This is one I put a little extra effort into. The way its described you can see the smooth escalator like movement of the cards from left to right. Getting that look takes time though. Over the last few weeks I've been concentrating on making the movements even. So the cards are not messy as they slide from left to right. This really helps when you'r out jogging or in jogging the cards. So I've been working on a nice smooth flow, in the near future I will be working on increasing the distance between my hands. I can get about six inches between my hands and it looks sweet. Like the cards magically float from one hand to the other. But they get really messy by the time the hit my right hand. So working on clean and smooth comes first. Then I can work on distance. I run through and out jog the aces as I spread the cards and then I dribble the cards a few times. Once again this is a move I spend extra time on. It just looks so cool when well done and people love watching it almost as much as they like the magic routines. So I put extra effort into it. Then I deal cards onto a large piece of fabric. My goal is to consistently get each card to land exactly where I want it. So I deal a three high and five to seven card wide grid. After I get the grid I start over trying to deal cards on the cards I have already dealt. Then I do it again dealing the cards face up this time. I run through a couple swing cuts and start forming breaks. After I go through the breaks I practice the step a few times. My goal here is to have a nice small angle to the cards so you would need to be looking for the break to even know it's there. I quickly riffle the end of the deck a few times and move onto the ribbon spread. I spread the cards left to right and right to left over and over again. Here my goal is to have a nice consistent spread. The suit and number of each card should be visible whether I spread them left to right or in reverse. I do this until I start to think I am taking to much time on it. Then I move onto chapter two. I will talk about chapter two in my next post. I have overtime to do so its off to bed for me.

Before I go, I have got to point this out. Theory 11 has a great free video on the color change check it out.


Terry

The Balducci force, Batman: Arkham Asylum, and Halo: ODST

OK, Chapter 4 was a pain in the ass. It was me and not the book though. I should have moved on through the chapter instead of letting myself get stuck on the "Diagonal Insertion control. The rest of the chapter went pretty well. The "Whoops!" control and "One-card Middle Pass" Look sweet But I still need to work on them. My tendency is to flash the bottom card as I start the "Whoops!" control. The pass has a completely different problem for me. As I prepare to pull the selected card to the bottom I should be moving my right hand to start the Dribble. But I keep starting it like a regular pass. That works itself out with a awkward pause then a deck lift and finally a nervous card Dribble. Each night they do get better. Sometimes I just want to perform perfectly the first time and not have to practice ever again. But hey I live in the real world. Back to the "Diagonal Insertion". It took a bit for me to catch on. I re-read the move and went over it step by step. Finally I got the finger positions right and that helped me catch the "Pinkie Break".
When I first glanced over the chapter I thought the "Peek Control" looked lame. After I started playing with it I thought it was awesome. What I love about it is how "honest" it is. Its another one of those moves that just feels ballsy. The whole things super simple and almost nothing but acting. It lets you bring out your personality. And that's the real star of a magic trick. You, the performer.

I moved on to Chapter 5 after I felt comfortable with the moves from chapter 4 and felt that I knew what I needed to polish with them. Force Techniques. I love these. My secret desire is to be able to force a card no matter what magic routine I do. No matter what it is I plan to do. I want to start off knowing the card I will find, have them find, or have them think of. Its a comfort thing. If I know the card then I feel like I performed correctly when the reveal is done. I don't trust myself. It's something I need to work on. So Learning the "Force" moves was fun. In particular I love the way the "Balducci Force" looks. The flip cuts make it look confusing and the "Ribbon Spread" makes it look beautiful. Its tight and clean. Out of the three techniques that's my favorite. Followed by the "Goldin Force" and then the "Crisscross Force". The "Goldin Force" looks clean and smooth when I've got the rhythm down. And when I get it locked in I will use that like it is going out of style. It is a perfect stand up walk around move.

If you get the chance play Batman: Arkham Asylum. The game is so fun and you feel like batman. I beat it this last weekend. So this will be a sort of review. You start off feeling like a Superhero and throughout the game you never loose that. Even when you get swamped in the boss fights. In allot of games you level up. In Batman you get and modify your equipment. In most games as you level up you can take on bigger and badder guys. As Batman you can take everyone from the beginning of the game. The equipment you get or upgrade just lets you start the fights in better ways. Or they let you take out thugs without ever getting in a fight. By the end of the game you feel like you could do anything as batman and you would do it upside down. You feel like the comic from PVPonline. The only time I had any problems was when I let myself get overrun by thugs while I was trying to get higher combo scores. I would have had a easier time with that if I had done more "Challenge rooms" by then. All in All I would say this game will be one of my favorite games for a long long time.

The other game I beat was Halo: ODST. It wasn't long. Took me about a week. Lets get a few things out of the way. I have never played a Halo game before. And the only other Xbox360 shooters I have is Gears of War (the first one) and I MAED A GAM3 W1TH Z0MB1ES!!!1.
While this was more polished than the zombies game. It was not what I expected from this life changing series I had heard about. I had been told Gears of War was great but Halo was significantly better. While I do not agree with that I will say it was a pretty damn good game. If it had not been for the awesome voice work and the way they told the story, I would have never finished the game. This was supposed to be some event that was significant in our war with the Covenant. Still after playing the game I am not sure what exactly was so significant. I kept playing to see how everyone got back together. I was interested in the side characters. Not in the main character or the overall Halo story they didn't talk about. I wanted to play these guys more than I wanted to play my own guy. The Stuff each guys says while fighting gave them personality. Especially Buck (voiced by Nathan Fillion). I wanted to see how he held his squad together in a messed up situation like that. And when it ended I was OK with it. It was a good story. If they make second game in this ODST line I will probably get it. I might even get Halo 3 Later on. I did not get to play the Multi player games. I don't know anyone else with the game so I can play the firefight mode. The Halo 3 multi player disk is cool but when I went to put it in all I could do was think how the controls were clunkier than both Gears and SOCOM. So I figured I could just play those.

So there we go, a good week of practice and two damn good games.

Terry

A quick note

I sent away for some of the Theory 11 Propaganda 909 cards. They arrived today and are really incredible to feel and use.

I am still working on chapter 4 while I try to kick a cold. I am drinking tea. Tea is one of those things I dislike, like broccoli. It pays to never get sick so you never have to drink tea.

Set backs, false cuts and card control

This week practice didnt go so well. Maybe I skipped this chapter when I first went through the book. Chapter 4: Card Controls has been an amazing pain in my butt. It starts off with a overhand shuffle control thats pretty easy considering I have been practicing some overhand shuffle techniques. Then it moves on to a "Whoops!" control thats pretty smooth and stalled me with a diagonal insertion right after it. Everything in this chapter is designed to bring a chosen card to the top of the deck or to give you a way to mark where it is. So it should be easy right? I spent 3 days on the Diagonal insertion controll before I finnaly got it right. For some reason my pinky kept forming a break under the card, not over the selected card. Thats if I did not end up pushing it flush with the deck and loosing it. I think my best bet is to keep practicing this chapter for another week after I reread it. After all, it's not like I am on a schedual. Last night I moved ahead and checked out the peek control. If I can get that down it will be a seriously great tool to have for close up card magic.

The other thing I ran into was the amount of time I have to practice. Normaly I sit down and run through everything in the book and I spend extra time on the ribbon spread. I noticed that I enjoy the false cuts so I spend extra time there also. Then I run through the "Spectator cuts to the Aces" and "Hat trick" tricks a few times. Of course I spend less time on the overhand shuffle since I think it looks out of place and the tricks for that chapter dont actually need it. Additionaly I spend time practicing fans, a riffle shuffle, and trying to make my dribble and card waterfall smooth. Since On Sunday and Monday I found myself running out of time. So all week I have been adjusting and tweaking how I practice. Running quickly over the moves that are clean while concentrating on those that need more practice has allowed me to spend extra time on the new chapter.

Two things bug me. The Overhand shuffle and calling card tricks "tricks". As for the overhand shuffle it just seems clunky and odd compaired to the normality of a riffle shuffle. For example in the "Spectator cuts to the Aces" you prearrange the deck then use the overhand shuffle to rearrange the order of the top four cards. If you have to start off with a prearranged deck then why do you need to rearrange it? Couldnt you just Set it up right and run a riffle shuffle that both looks normal and doesnt change the top and bottom stock of the deck? And do you need to shuffle the deck at all? Both the performer and the audience know there is a "trick" to what we do. Does it matter if we dont start off a routine with a card shuffle? That brings me to the second thing that bugs me. Calling card tricks "tricks". It has a bad ring to it. Like it is something dirty and mean. lets get the deffenition.

Pronunciation: \ˈtrik\
Function: noun
Etymology: Middle English trikke, from Anglo-French *trik, from trikier to deceive, cheat, from Vulgar Latin *triccare, alteration of Latin tricari to behave evasively, shuffle, from tricae complications, trifles
Date: 15th century
1 a : a crafty procedure or practice meant to deceive or defraud b : a mischievous act : c : an indiscreet or childish action d : a deceptive, dexterous, or ingenious feat; especially : one designed to puzzle or amuse 2 a : a habitual peculiarity of behavior or manner b : a characteristic and identifying feature c : a delusive appearance especially when caused by art or legerdemain : an optical illusion 3 a (1) : a quick or artful way of getting a result :(2) : an instance of getting a desired result b : a technical device (as of an art or craft) 4 : the cards played in one round of a card game often used as a scoring unit5 a : a turn of duty at the helm usually lasting for two hours b : 4b(1) c : a trip taken as part of one's employment d : a sexual act performed by a prostitute; also : 26 : an attractive child or woman

So some parts of this defenition work:

a mischievous act
a deceptive, dexterous, or ingenious feat; especially : one designed to puzzle or amuse
a delusive appearance especially when caused by art or legerdemain : an optical illusion
a quick or artful way of getting a result

Some parts sort of work:

a crafty procedure or practice meant to deceive or defraud
a habitual peculiarity of behavior or manner
an instance of getting a desired result
a technical device (as of an art or craft)

And some parts do not work for what we do:

an indiscreet or childish action
a characteristic and identifying feature
the cards played in one round of a card game often used as a scoring unit
a turn of duty at the helm usually lasting for two hours
a trip taken as part of one's employment
a sexual act performed by a prostitute
an attractive child or woman

It just seems like there has to be a better word or description for what we do as magicians. Does anyone know a better word or phrase that does not make it sound like a challenge to the audience? Really thats probly my issue. I dont want to compeat with a audience. I want to entertain a audience.

On to games. I am at the last part of Batman: Arkham Asylum. Hopefully this weekend I can finish it up. Normally thats the end of a games usefullness. But the challenges in this game could make it last much much longer. Next week Halo:odst comes out. I need to finish batman before then. And has anyone played Skribblenaughts? It looks really interesting.

Week 3 - chapter 3, false cuts.

Its been a week since I last posted. Once a week is not bad, I was hoping for once a day though.

So chapter 2 was on the "overhand shiffle". I hate the overhand shuffle. Seriously. Let me say that again. I HATE the overhand shuffle. Does anyone even use it? Besides magicians? Has anyone ever sat in on a poker game where they shuffled that way? Maybe they use it for bridge, cribage, 52 pickup or maybe dice. I don't know. I have never once in my life seen it used by someone other than a magician. The one time it was not used in a magic effect I was playing a game of Magic the Gathering. The guy shuffling the deck was a magician. I had such high hopes after spending a week holding and spreading cards. The more I practiced it the more I realised I would never ever use this for anything. What draws me to magic is this : you can take a ordinary item and do something extrodinary with it. I like dice, cards, coins, rope, and anything you find in every day life. Sitting at a dinner table with friends? Make the salt shaker dissapear. Then pull a fork from a roll and make it levitate behind your hand. At the office? Shove a pencil in one ear and then pull it out your nose. Grab two rubberbands and link them. Use the little rubber page turner as a thumb tip. Link paperclips without useing your hands. Or better yet straiten one out and push it in your head like the old nail in the head illusion. The overhand shuffle is not normal. I am going to have to figure out a way to do the "spectator cuts to the aces" routine without a overhand shuffle. I like that effect. Just not the strange shuffle.

This week we work on false cuts. When I first started learning magic I was supprised at the obviousness of some of the moves. False cuts take the cake in obvious ballsy magic moves. They are incredibly open. So much so that they are initialy scary. Still to this day I get nervous using them. Here is what I mean. When you do a Swing cut you hold the deck in dealing position. Then you use your other hand to lift up the top half of your deck and swing it towards the palm holding the deck. This leaves the bottom half sticking out just a little. As your hand returns towards your side and passes over the deck. You take the bottom half in a end grip and swing it out and then bring it over the other half of the deck and drop it on top. It looks clean, nice and pretty. For a false cut version you do exactly the same thing up untill you grasp the bottom half in end grip. Instead of pulling it out and droping it on top you pull it out and tap its edge on the top of the top half to "square" it up. Then you drop it on the table. Reach back and take the top half in end grip turn and drop that on top of the rest of the deck. You want to watch your hands as you do it. But you can't. The more you look at the deck, the more your spectators will look at the deck. You have to talk to them as you do it. And you must look them in the eye as you "square up" the bottom part on the top part. You want them focused on you and distracted from the deck. Not entirely distracted. Just enough to cast doubt in the minds of everyone watching you. That pause while you "square up" the cards is enough to pull it off. You drop the bottom half on the table and and then the top half right back on top of the deck. Exactly where it had been at the start of the cut. Sounds easy? It is terrifying. As you do this blood rushed to your head. All you can hear is your heartbeat. Did you hold your breath? Did that give it away? What were you doing again? What comes next? Did you practice enough? What are my hands doing? Am I pausing? Should I be doing something? Is this a anxiety attack? I should say something. What should I say? Oh my god. I am loosing them. Say something. Do something. Move. Breath. Do something please. And you exhale. Glance at the cards. Realise that whole pannic attack took only one second. And move on. No one calls you on it. No one noticed it or the sweat that had started to bead on your forhead. It totally worked. Like lieing to your parents about getting another cookie while its still in your mouth. Or better yet. Like telling the guy standing next to you at the urinal that you are a woman. All while you smile and pee.

On the less boring side of things we have the Batman: Arkham Asylum game. I love this game. You feel like Batman. Killer croc is up next. I need to go to his section of the asylum and get a plant that grows there. Pretty much where he sleeps. And the guards dont go there. He is to dangerous. They just drop down food into the sewer section they keep him in and ignore him. He bit the hand off one of the guards. I am extited about it. It should be fun.

Other than that my girlfriend and I mannaged to get 3/4 of the way done with the live event in Warhammer: Age of reconing.

Has anyone played Champions Online with a Xbox 360 controller? It seems like that would be a better way to controll it.

Week 2 and Chapter 2

Last Thursday I talked about how boring the absolute basics are. But I persisted and made it through the weekend.

Friday night my girlfriend and I were settling in for the evening. She was reading a Star Wars book, while I logged into the MAG beta on PS3. When we got a phone call saying it was a friend of ours birthday. We had known this but had spaced it. So we got dressed and headed out for sushi. I took my deck of cards and my PSP with me. We had some raspberry wine and a plate of California rolls. While waiting for everyone to show up and then for the food, I took the opportunity to run through my practice routine. That's one of the reasons I love card magic, like coin or "close up" magic it can go anywhere.

Saturday we went to my fathers house for a group birthday party. With seven family members birthdays spread from mid July to early September its often easier to get together for one big day. I ate a Burger, salad, chips, and brownies while drinking some diet Dr.Pepper and a Mikes hard pink lemonade. figuring it might get "sticky" I took the Prestige deck. It is plastic so you can wash it. It spreads like cards made of sandpaper though. So its almost impossible to do a fan or a decent ribbon spread with them, they clump up like used kitty litter. But still I managed to get some time in.

Sunday we played D&D. We slow cooked some beef and made some bar-b-q sauce. After the Game my brother and I played Some Batman: Arkham Asylum and Capcom Vs. Marvel 2.
He kicked my butt and we had a blast. Then we had blueberry and apple creeps. It was not a bad Sunday, even if I didn't squeeze in some practice time.

Monday we watched Max Payne and afterwards I worked through the routine. I added a "overhand" shuffle to my list of practice moves. The shuffle runs smooth, its going from the "dealing position" to the "overhand shuffle position" that needs work. I am not quite getting the instructions, its like I need to see it done.

That brings me to today. I bring a deck of cards to work in case we have some down time. It was busy. After work my girlfriend and I picked up Champions: Online and headed home to put it to good use. I am not done with the Batman game yet. Its just that I have been waiting for this game for awhile now. It would have been nice to play it on the 360 but there seems to be a holdup with it. I love superhero games and movies. When DC Universe Online comes out I will get that too. The only thing I did not do was Magic. Instead I updated this blog. Looks like I will need to put in a good long practice session to make up for it tomorrow.

Who thought magic could be boring?

The basics of anything start out boring. Its just a fact of life. Want to learn math? You gotta start out with addition and subtraction. Over and over and over again, till it becomes second nature. Become a Quarterback? Learn to hold the ball right and throw all the time till it becomes second nature. The pattern here is that the basics need to be second nature for you to grow and become great at whatever you choose to do. In my case that means going over chapter 1 in Card college volume 1 for at least a hour each night over the last four days. With the exception of Tuesday, that happened.

I could tell what I brushed over in the chapter. Starting with the dealing position I noticed my thumb was really far forward. Even though I held the deck "correct" when I put it in my hands, I tensed up and shifted the deck back towards my body. I held it in position as I walked around, checking every few seconds. Then I use a end grip to lower the deck to my practice pad. Pick the deck back up in end grip and return it to dealing position. You can only take so much of that before you catch your mind wandering. Trying to spice it up you look ahead. Elevated dealing position. You visualise the sequence in your mind. End grip to pick up the deck placing it in dealing position. Then end grip again to lift the deck to a elevated dealing position. The deck is starting to look a bit uneven. You grin as you realise that leads right into squaring the deck. Smiling you maneuver the deck from end grip to dealing position. Back to end grip into a elevated dealing position and finish with a good deck squaring.

After you run through the routine a couple of times you do a slow version, checking the "check points" and realise you missed the straddle dealing position. Now the routine becomes end grip to dealing position to end grip to elevated dealing position. A quick Square up and into a straddle dealing position followed by a end grip. Then you drop the cards back on the close up pad and start all over again. You have effectively done nothing.

Three more days left in this week to practice the stuff I ignored my first time through. Like outjogging cards,the swing cut and most importantly the dribble and the step. Three more days of dealing positions, cutting cards, squaring cards, spreading cards, outjogging cards, dribbling cards, dealing cards, forming breaks, steps, spreads, and the riffle (not the shuffle, just a plain old card in bicycle spokes sounding riffle). I keep holding myself back from moving on, knowing that every day I practice I relax more and each movement becomes more and more like second nature to me.

Slow and steady

I am working through chapter 1 and catching little mistakes I had made. Even though I want to rush forward and start relearning my riffle shuffle, its nice to see improvement in my basics. Somewhere, somehow, I had put myself under the impression I needed to learn how to rifle shuffle without a table to start learning card manipulation. Now I can't remember why or even where this came from.

Yesterday I had meant to post and describe all the practice I had put in. But I didn't practice anything beyond the riffle shuffle and spreading the cards while I was in the waiting room at a doctors office. Instead, I played Batman: Arkham Asylum till I had to go to sleep. If you have the chance, play it. Go check the reviews its earned, this is a great game. The Story feels like a comic book and the setting is open enough to feel like you have control even though you have to follow each plot point in order. The detective parts of the game are fun and add to making you feel like batman. I am just starting the game so there will be more talk about it as I go through it. Between that and the MAG beta, I could be a busy man. You know, if my time wasn't taken up by silly things like work and sleep.

New focus.

Ok, so my plan is to use this blog to track my progress learning card manipulation and magic tricks. I really haven't done much with it besides show odd pictures from my camera phone, so I thought I would put it to better use. I will be starting with Card College Volume 1 and I will try to take it a chapter at a time, each week. Also, I will post any other book or web site I use to help me learn magic and card manipulation: starting with ...... Theory 11. If you haven't seen this web site, head there now and watch a couple of the videos. Back? Good. Sweet huh? Sometimes you have to stumble on a place like that to re-energise and remember why you took up magic in the first place.

Also, I love to "game." You'll see both my Playstation ID and XboX 360 Gamertag on the sidebar as well as hear about the games I am playing (currently Dead Space). Not just console and PC games though, I enjoy Warhammer 40K and D&D.

Let's see how this goes, a chapter a week till I finish Card College 1, then on to volume 2.

Terry

Arsene

Arsene

Taconachos from jack in the box

Taconachos from jack in the box