Queen Ace Transpo!

It feels like it’s taking me for ever to get through the Vallarino book!

JP Vallarino magic book

One of the tricks in the transposition section is an Queen / Ace Transposition. I think JP Vallarino made it a little too complex. Here’s my streamlined version of it:

@louiefoxx Fast Card Trick! #fourqueens #fouraces #cardtrick #magictrick @bicyclecardsofficial #louiefoxx #jpvallarino #vallarino #vanishinginc #magicbook #cardmagic #sleightofhand ♬ original sound – Louie Foxx

It’s a super quick swap of the two packets. It’d be a good transition bit, it’s not a full routine on it’s own.

-Louie

Vanishing Line

I really liked Ben Harris‘s book Bend it Like Geller! One little note is that my copy is missing a whole line!

bend it like geller by ben harris

There’s a spot for the line, however it looks like somehow it got deleted/removed during the printing process.

Vanishing Inc’s books recently have had some quality control issues like that. I think I’d care less if it was a self published book, and not something put out by one of the bigger magic companies. The JP Vallerino book also had some issues (http://www.magicshow.tips/magic-show-tips/hard-to-read/)

Aside from the missing line, Bend it Like Geller is still a fantastic book!

-Louie

Hard To Read…

I’m still going through the JP Vallarino book and I hit this description of a card move. The only part I’m talking about is the paragraph that mentions fig 1 and fig 2 along with those pics:

JP Vallarino card magic book

Figure one doesn’t show the set up that’s mentioned in fig 1. Those aces shouldn’t be visible, as they should be on the bottom of the deck and it doesn’t show the indifferent cards. Figure two should show a pinkie break, not a thumb break.

Things like this make learning from the book difficult. I’m really surprised that no one noticed that there were wrong. If this book was a self published thing I’d expect small errors, but from a big magic company like Vanishing Inc, I’m amazed that got by them.

ace assemblies

Now I’ll say something positive about the book. I just started the Ace Assemblies section of the book. The first one is called Ultimate MacDonald’s Aces and is pretty good! It’s very heavily gimmicked, but not really in the tradition sense for the MacDonald’s Aces.

I personally don’t really do ace assemblies, however if I did, I would probably do this one!

-Louie

NFW Card Trick + Hypnotic Rumba Count

Sometimes the universe hands you something fun. I was cleaning the office and found a set of Gary Freed’s NFW card trick. This is a great trick where four jokers turn into four aces. The provided routine is alright, and when I was younger and working at Market Magic Shop in Seattle I developed a better handling for it that was much better looking than what was in the instructions.

When I found the NFW set last night I immediately recognized that JP Vallarino’s Hypnotic Rumba Count would work really well with the NFW card set!

Using the rumba count makes this a very direct change of four jokers to four aces! I think this would make a great trick for a preshow video as it’s simple, direct and a good trick!

-Louie

Kings to Jokers to Kings

After playing with the Hypnotic Rumba Count yesterday from the book Vallarino yesterday, and coming up with simple Jokers to Kings effect, I found a natural extension of that trick. I took it a step further (backwards?) and the trick has four kings that turn to jokers, then back to kings.

Like jokers to kings from yesterday, I should say that this routine is super obvious with the move and I’d be shocked if it hasn’t been done before. The important thing about creating is that you play with every idea. For me it’s about flexing my brain’s creativity muscles, not necessarily creating something that’s never been done before.

-Louie

Hypnotic Rumba Count

I just stared reading the JP Vallarino book that was put out by Vanishing Inc. It’s all cards, which I’m not opposed to, as I enjoy playing with deck of cards.

The first thing in the book is the Rumba Count. This is a way to show four cards as the same card. The second thing in the book is the Hypnotic Rumba Count, which is a variation of the Rumba count and something that I don’t think I had ever learned in the past.

When I learn a new move, I try to figure out what I can do with that move before I explore what other people have done with it. It’s just a fun creative exercise. Sometimes it leads to new things, but usually I end up recreating the obvious thing with it.

The first thing I came up with is a change of 4 jokers to 4 kings

@louiefoxx Four Jokers Card Trick! From the new JP Vallarino book by Vanishing Inc #cardtrick #magic #sleightofhand #vanishinginc #louiefoxx #cardmagic #jpvallarino #playingcards ♬ original sound – Louie Foxx

This is definitely the obvious thing to do with this move and probably the first thing that JP Vallarino did with it.

-Louie

Newly Acquired Taste in Card Tricks

One of the books that I’m reading right now is Principia by Harapan Ong.  It’s a card magic book, and while I’m only about 50 pages into it, I think it’s a really good, modern card magic book.  One of the books selling points is that there is internet video of Harapan doing all of … Continue reading “Newly Acquired Taste in Card Tricks”

One of the books that I’m reading right now is Principia by Harapan Ong.  It’s a card magic book, and while I’m only about 50 pages into it, I think it’s a really good, modern card magic book.  One of the books selling points is that there is internet video of Harapan doing all of the material in the book.  Unfortunately I’m in a position where I don’t have internet access fast enough to stream video, so I haven’t watched them.


One thing that surprised me was there was an “elevator” card trick that I actually liked.  I think I was introduced to the elevator plot when I was a teenager reading the big Alex Elmsley books.  I never really liked the plot simply because there always seemed to be either too much process or too much proving.  The Michalevator routine in the book doesn’t have much process and doesn’t over prove…and I like it.


I don’t know if I’ll ever actually use Harapan’s elevator trick in an actual show or not, but it’s been fun to play with.  I’ve said it before, but it’s important to still play with magic.  That’s how we learn, through play.