Jumping off a cliff...

I have a pretty bad habbit. Jumping off a cliff with a box of spare parts hopping to make an areoplane on the way down.  Last Thusday I attended Wivenhoe Funny Farm with my good freind Darren Gooding. We were hopping to pimp his Leopold Thorn Event.He devised a rather awesome trick.  A spectator picks a card. It's shuffled into the deck and a lazer  hits the deck. The cards are looked through the cards and all were unscathed bar the seleted card which is burnt. Much theatrre and pantoomine surounded the effect such as steam punk goggles and heavy safty gear. When darren explained the effect we both agreed a simple card force will surfice and the burnt card would be pre burned and hidden in the deck. However when we arived  at the venue Darren mentioned about the speator looking through the deck for the chosen card. Initally we thought of shuffling the orginal card to the back of the deck so the specator would come to the burnt card first. However this seamed risky. we'd have to remove the seleted card before the lazer hit the deck.  As it happened I was thinking earlier this week about how I need to include more palming in my slights. Unfortunatly I deided to work on palming AFTER the Leopold Thorn Lectures next week. I had READ of the tent palm and understood the theory but had not tried to perfom it. So on stage I performed my first ever tent palm. Fortunatly my generally increase in knowledge of off beats and misdiretion coupled with the fact my hands big enouygh to hide a small buss behind meant the effect worked flawlessly. The mechanics of the effect were siple enough buut Darren's performance sakills meant we reieved a sutibly enthusiastic resoponce. ANd the klady who chose trhe card did ask to keep the deck, so thank heavens we did ditch the hosen card :) I think the night shows that my lose up skills can translate onto  platform/stage magic quite well, ubt also how good acting and story  telling ois as much a a part of magic as slight of hand, if not more.

  Fortune favours the bold it  seems. On the subject of misdierection I'm in Holland. It's relevant stay witrh mre. Right after the Funny Farm I had to go home sleep for an hour and walk to a bus stop at 2 am to catch a bus to the airport. Now I was tired, so easily onfused. Much like a muggle I suppose. IT was dark outside and th bus took a different route to the airport trhat I normally took. My tired mind would opasionally be confused and then jump out when i THOUGHT I reconised a part of the journy. I felt a moment of comfort, and then back to the bewildewremnt of the new juorny in a semi trance state. It made me thoick of the syrthem of a magic effect. We show something familier, then do soimething strange and then familier befdore doing soemthing really starnge. Those momanets of normality in an effect right before doing somrthing strange throws the mind out, Just as Mine was thrown out of kilter on the journy to the airport. Someything to think about I feel.

 Right basck to my Holliday. Anyone know of good magic shops in Rotterdamn?