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.