Peter Loughran Week: Anything Floats

"ANYTHING FLOATS is a new concept created from the inventive mind of Peter Loughran who has created over 50 original effects and illusions for magicians all over the world. ANYTHING FLOATS allows you to end completely clean! It allows you to use random borrowed objects that need no preparation whatsoever, and uses no traditional methods such as threads, strings or magnets, so you never worry about a thread breaking again!"

Interesting a NEW concept. No threads, strings or magnets? What about wires, sticks, tape and a controlled erection?

Does the last one weird you out? It should, because that's what it looks like.

Seriously! (The actual trick starts as usual about 40 seconds in) 

And I love what it says on the website:

"Imagine being able to borrow random objects from a spectator and float it right then and there, on the spot, close up or on stage at any time during your act."

Close up! CLOSE UP! Has Peter Loughran any idea what close up magic means? This item, has a serious angle issue. You can only see it float from the front. From the side it doesn't "float". Performing close up means you have people right and left of you. Sometimes even people watching from behind. There is no way to do that trick in a close up setting.

Now it might be a misunderstanding of what close up means. Maybe the Master of Illusions meant that the viewer can be really close to the front of the performer. In that case the statement would be true, but it is misleading, making this a marketing lie.

This is the sort of thing that Michael Ammar does as a joke (Rising Card), but it is not, I repeat not a thing that should be sold separately.

So could it at least be a stage item? Sure, but there you can work on a much grander scope. Okito's floating ball comes to mind. For less than 50 dollars, which is the price of "Anything Floats". But who am I to rip this apart. Just a close up guy! I know nothing about illusions.

Tommorow: The Mad Scientist