Will it blend?

We didn't cover animal cruelty in quite a while. So here ya go:

And you see the French people applauding this. Damn frog eaters!

Craig Petty... again!

Why can't a month go by without a fucking screw up by Craig Petty.
RED was a dangerous move. But this is stepping right into the hypocrisy.

As you may know Craig Petty is part of a group called "Slightly Unusual - The Comedy Illusionists".
I fail to understand the unusual aspect of the groups work, but it's a name that creates interest. I'm not judging.

The group has found a way to make money. By exposing magic to laypeople. Craig Petty is an outspoken opponent of exposure of magic secrets so this seems like an odd move.

Of course they don't expose it for the sake of exposing it. They hide the fact a bit and call it "team building". Basically they sell the members of a company magic secrets and disguise it as a team building exercise.

You can't polish a turd, it's still a pig... or however the saying goes.

Fanboys are stange!

Within the last two days my little post, about Peter Turner tuned viral or something. Looking into the statistics, this post exploded. Basically Peter Turner fans coming out defending their precious artist. That is good. But the arguments couldn't be lamer. Basically ad hominem attacks towards me instead of the argument.

I love it when they claim that I don't perform while a little research would certainly prove them otherwise. But that would indeed cancel their lame argument.

And did I make any attacks on Peter Turner to begin with? I was asking a question. "What's up with him?" Was my basic question, as I felt this stench of a con artist about him. And the samples I found about Peter Turners work were not really strong.

But since then I have looked into some of Peter Turners work. I looked into that Jinxed DVD, which is way overpriced....

Here a little example from the DVD: his take on the Match Divination by Annemann is weird. His argument why he doesn't use matches, is because matchboxes are so hard to find nowadays. So what does he use instead? Cigarettes! That basically cancels his argument. A box of mints, toothpicks or chewing gum would have worked the same way and would be far more common.

I'm not saying he is a bad mentalist... I'm saying there are way better mentalists out there. Luke Jermay, Keith Barry, Richard Osterlind, Gary Kurtz, Max Maven, David Berglas and Derren Brown just from the top of my head.

Peter Turner is standing in their shadows.

I have seen his Penguin lecture; the effects were lame... I'm sorry to say so. It would pass off as an "okay" performance but not stick out as something wonderful as Derren Brown does.

You could argue in his defense that it is not the tricks that make Peter Turner. It's the meaning he puts into them. His endless talking to make the trick meaningful and personal. In my humble opinion the tricks should do that themselves.

One of the better arguments of fan boys is that I am not able to judge good mentalism, as I'm not a mentalist myself. I have a magic background. And that is true. The same way a person who is not a painter cannot judge good art. And a person who cannot play music cannot judge good music. Well I can say what I like. And I don't like Peter Turner's work so far.

So let me extend my initial question. What's up with Peter Turner and his fan base?

Teaser

What does kids magic and the holocaust have in common?

Stay Tuned!

Layman Mode Activated

I suggest you try it regularly, when seeing magic. Turn on your layman mode! What is that you ask? Well simply forget all you know about actual methods and magic. All you know about it comes from movies and what others tell you.

Then look at this:



and perhaps this:



Did you get it? If you are smart it means you got it. If you are a dumb retard let me spell it out for you.

IT'S IN THE SLEEVES!

Let's switch into magician mode. Of course it is not in the sleeves. The method is different in each case, but switching back to layman mode: Of course it is in the sleeves. Why else are they down. If he wouldn't put it in the sleeves, the sleeves would be all the way up to show that the sleeves are not used.

Episode 11 "Razor's Edge"

Click here for a more detailed review

As usual if you have something you want reviewed, then let me know. Are you a creator of a cool magic trick and you want and honest review? Do you have some weird prop lying around and you want people to know about it? Shoot me an email! I will review everything I get.

Who the hell is Peter Turner?

This is about mentalist Peter Turner, not about magician Pete Turner. Please keep that in mind when reading.


I somehow missed that guy. According to the Green Monster is the Messiahs of mentalism. So I checked him out via Youtube. What I found was a guy who is talking, and talking, and talking, and talking and doing fairly weak effects. What did I miss? Did I he do anything that is the new thing on the mental horizon?

There is this Question and Answer video out there, that has Peter Turner basically bullshitting for 90 minutes. I listened to all of it. It was long.... way too long. Peter Turner was repeating the same darn point over and over again and added nothing of value. He demonstrated an effect that I am like 95% sure was stooged all the way.

Also he has an ebook out for 500 bucks.... (AN EBOOK, no physical copy!)

So what is up with him?

Wanna see a sad, sad video?

Charlotte Pendragon doing the Metamorphosis in the Forever Alone version. Going through all the moves as if there was a second person. Sad! But somehow deservedly satisfying to watch!