Desert Island Tricks
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Desert Island Tricks
Stranded with a Stranger: Sean Rendell F. Quito
Welcome back to our mid-main episode, episode... "Stranded with a Stranger." Our guest, a medical laboratory scientist and aspiring semi-professional magician, takes us on a magical journey inspired by the universe of Harry Potter. Sean unveils his top eight magic tricks, a must-read book, and a non-magic item that holds a special place in his heart. From the innovative Flight by Steve Thompson to the ever-engaging Chroma Colour Changing Knives by TCC, his honourable mentions set the tone for an episode filled with creative flair and captivating techniques.
Sean delves into darker themes, expressing his admiration for horror-inspired tricks like Jamie Daws' "Scream" and Tobias Dostel's "Silhouette." These choices reflect his unique blend of psychological and visual magic, reminiscent of Stephen King’s thrillers and Disney’s shadow play. We also explore Sean's practical picks, such as Loops and Lolly Hero by Steve Rowe, and his thoughtful inclusion of "Parlor Tricks" by Morgan and West. His unconventional non-magic item—a suit—emphasizes the practical elegance essential for any magician. Discover how Sean's eclectic mix of tricks promises a potential "dark Disney" themed act that captivates and mystifies.
If you would like to have your list read out on an episode of "Stranded with a Stranger" then please send your list of 8 tricks, 1 book and 1 non-magic item to sales@alakazam.co.uk with the subject line: My Desert Island List!
Find out more about the creators of this Podcast at www.alakazam.co.uk
Thank you for watching. Hello and welcome to Stranded with a Stranger. This is our mid-week episode, in which you can send in your lists, and we will, of course, go through one of them Now. If you want to take part in this, then please send in your lists and we will, of course, go through one of them Now. If you want to take part in this, then please send your list of eight tricks, one book and one non-magic item that you use for magic to sales at alakazamcouk, that's, sales s-a-l-e-s at alakazamcouk. With that being said, we're going to jump into another submission that was sent in and we're going to start right at the beginning. It says Hello, jamie and Alakazam.
Speaker 1:My name is Sean Rendall F Kito I hope I've pronounced that right. I'm a medical laboratory scientist and a hobbyist magician who aspires to be a semi-pro doing magic. Since I was a kid, I've watched and enjoyed the Harry Potter movies and plan to read the books soon. Being inspired by famous fictional literature, I wanted to be a wizard who doesn't, and the closest thing to that is being a magician. Very true. That being said, here are my eight tricks, one book, one non-magic item and a few honorable mentions. So we're going to begin with Sean's honorable mentions, just to give us an idea of where his list is going to go. So his honorable mentions are Flight by Steve Thompson, which is a wonderful ring flight. It's very, very, very clever and it's unlike many other methods that are out there. There's not a lot that can go wrong, if you know what I mean. Chroma Color Changing Knives by TCC Excellent choice. Lolli Thru by Steve Rowe An excellent penetrating lolli through bill I guess is the easiest way to say it Much like a pen through but with a lolly. Very Steve Rowe, if you know his style. Pizza paddle by Rob Thompson yeah, this came out a few years ago now, I think, and it's a really fun paddle effect. And Candyman by Tobias Dustall Now, anything by Tobias is going to be pretty phenomenal. I know there is a trick that I literally saw yesterday and it looks phenomenal. I think it's just been launched at Magic Live. It looks really, really cool. So just in his honorable mentions there we've got a ring flight, we've got a color changing knives, we've got a lolly through bill, we've got a paddle trick and we've got candy man. So already very interesting, very different list of tricks. So let's see what we get with his actual list.
Speaker 1:So in his first position, sean's put sticks by eric stevens. He says I love the hot rod so much and the paddle move is my favorite sleight of hand move of all time. This is the best hot rod of all time already Absolutely. Now we do have an episode of Desert Island Tricks with Eric Stevens and you may see sticks appear on there where we talk about it again. But yeah, if you're into hot rod moves, I had the absolute pleasure of working on this project with the Alakazam team and Eric Stevens, and Eric did a phenomenal job with this. It really is the ultimate collection of hot rod effects. The props are superb with it and the thinking behind it. I have been performing one of Eric's routines which uses a mobile phone, because it very much fits my style. I enjoy my spectators having a visual memory of something going on that they can share on social media and hopefully tag me. So it's a great marketing tool as well. But yet superb trick in at number one.
Speaker 1:Number two Sean chooses loops, he says for floating and especially animation. Absolutely Anyone that knows me knows that I have loops in my wallet 24-7. I cannot leave my house without loops. They are probably my most used gimmick and I love them. Anyone that is worried about loops there are lots of resources out there nowadays. I would like to reference an illusionist project that happened many years ago now.
Speaker 1:They released three DVDs, which may be available as downloads, which were called the Loop Series, and I think it was Justin Miller, danny Garcia and and someone else which I can't remember. I particularly loved Danny Garcia's version. He has a wonderful trick on that DVD called Life, and he basically takes a bill. He asked someone to think of a flying insect. They name a butterfly. Suddenly, this bill starts to morph into this butterfly and then the butterfly starts to actually come to life. So you see its wings start to flutter. And then the butterfly starts to actually come to life. So you see its wings start to flutter and then eventually it just starts to float in midair before falling into the hands of the spectator, who can then keep that butterfly folded. Note, should you wish them to. It's a superb trick and of course there's loads that you can do with it. You've got making things move, straws and stuff, glasses flipping up and haunted deck, of course, is a favourite. So, yep, superb second choice.
Speaker 1:So that brings us on to number three, sean has put Lolly Hero by Steve Rowe. This is the best suite-related magic trick of all time. It's simple, practical and it kills every time. Again, a superb choice. Another one that I personally have gigged. Steve has a complete set of which I own, of all of the different heroes and in this effect, essentially you take a lolly and you have someone think or select a card of a different superhero. You take the lolly and you essentially carve it out using your teeth and it turns into the hero that they selected. It's a really quirky, offbeat, strange effect that audiences tend to remember over many others because of its uniqueness. It also creates a really good photo opportunity. If you are working weddings or events with professional photographers, you get this moment where everyone leans into the lolly and you can see the face of the character. It makes for a really interesting photo of everyone just leaning in pure shock on their face. A superb choice, really really good. And even in those first three we've got hot rod tricks, loops for animation and lolly hero three. We've got Hot Rod Tricks, loops for Animation and Lolly Hero Three superb choices.
Speaker 1:That brings us to number four Mini Cube to Chocolate by Henry Harrius. Sean says this is the best cube-related magic of all time because it refrains from the standard cube solve and leaves the spectators with candy and he's put and as a sweet tooth and as I have a sweet tooth, I love it absolutely. It's a wonderful trick and it's one that really has excelled on social media. It's one that seems to work just as well on social media as the real world and, you're right, it completely stays away from the whole cube solve thing. It creates a really memorable moment, much like Lolly Hero, I would argue. I should think that when people are explaining that trick, it sounds really unique and really different and, yep, it leaves some sweets behind, which always helps. That brings us to number five. Over the halfway point now and we are at the thumb tip.
Speaker 1:The TT is the best utility device ever and it's the only utility that is timeless. We can do productions, vanishes, switches, vanishes, vanishes. I don't know what I said there. We can do productions, vanishes, switches with just this one. Absolutely. I think it's probably one of the top two tricks that we've had now on the podcast. Overall, many, many people seem to still be using that, and when you think about how many years old it is, how many iterations there have been of it and we're still creating tricks with it and it's still fooling audiences the fact that it's kind of in the public domain. To an extent it's certainly a prop that people associate with magicians. Now we can still get away with it because it's just such a diverse, invisible prop it's never really in view of an audience at any point. So absolutely lots of people have mentioned it. Please go back on previous episodes and you'll hear lots of different ways. People are using them for mentalism, for appearances, vanishes, so there are lots of things that you can do with it. And that brings us to number six, the Bon Bon Box by George Iglesias and Twister Magic.
Speaker 1:Sean writes as I mentioned in number four, I have a sweet tooth, so producing candy and chocolates is a must for me, absolutely. The Bon Bon Box for those who haven't seen it is sort of a dove pan, but with chocolate. So you show this box of chocolates, which looks wonderful as well. I've not actually seen the product in person, but certainly from videos. It looks like a lovely prop. You put the lid on and when you do, the chocolates appear inside the box. It's a really nice startling moment and, like I said, the prop looks really nice, I can imagine in the right setting that would be a wonderful trick. We go on to number seven. That would be a wonderful trick. We go on to number seven.
Speaker 1:Scream by Jamie Dawes and Alec Zan. Sean writes I'm a huge fan of Stephen King and I love horror and thriller movies. I've read Stephen King's books and I've watched many thriller and horror movies since I was a kid and I continue to enjoy them now as an adult. In late 2022, I discovered Craig Petty's YouTube channel, with Craig interviewing Jamie, and I discovered that he's known for the bizarre magic field. So I brought the at the table lecture by Jamie and saw Scream was featured. I was shocked and thrilled and immediately I knew I had to have Scream. Thank you so much. I'm glad that you enjoyed that.
Speaker 1:It's a weird one for me to talk about my own effects. I'm obviously biased. I love it and a lot of thought actually went into Scream. Many people think that it's just for the jump scare aspect like a prank, but it wasn't. It was a considered piece of performance in which I broke down the structures of a horror film, tried to find the themes of how the psychology works of a horror film and put it into an effect. So I wanted it to be literally a live horror film. So thank you so much, sean. I'm really glad that you enjoy it. And that brings us to your last item, which is another superb trick, silhouette, by tobias dustle.
Speaker 1:Sean writes a trick using shadows thrilling, creepy and amazing. I'm in. You know what this is, one that I think every performer who has seen this the first time would have had the same WTF moment. They would have had the moment where they went oh my word, that is phenomenal, because the idea of using shadows in magic goes way back. You know, disney has had this idea of using shadows and it becoming detached from your body, and some horror films have touched on shadows coming alive. You know, even harry potter. Sean mentioned that he liked harry potter. In the very first film, within the first 10 minutes, one of the characters turns from a cat into a person, and that's represented through the transformation of the shadow. So using shadows is such a lovely idea, and I think archero brichetta I'm gonna really ruin this name, I'm so sorry. Archero brichetti, I think, has a great thing where in his show his shadow gets detached from him, which is interesting as well. So, yeah, silhouette, if you've not checked that one out, please do. It's wonderful.
Speaker 1:Sean continues to give us just a little synopsis of why he chose those tricks. So he says my selection of tricks are related to sweets and colors because I enjoy performing them and it fits my style. I love visual magic and I have a sweet tooth, but at the same time I enjoy bizarre magic, so I've put scream and silhouette in there too. I love the contrast of my choices. It's like a dark Disney theme, sweet and colorful, but with horror, horror elements of which I love both. It's like toto landed in an in the anime comic one piece. If you have the time, please watch the series. It's great.
Speaker 1:I have actually watched one piece. It's a new netflix series I think came out last year. It's a very, very good. It has a character called uh luffy and it his desire to be the king of the pirates. Essentially we've gone on a tangent now, but it is an excellent show. But absolutely the idea of this sort of light and this dark theme always goes through disney films and and disney themes. So, uh, maybe one day we will see an act by sean, a dark, dark Disney act, which would be really interesting.
Speaker 1:So that brings us on to Sean's book. So his one book would be Parlor Tricks by Morgan and West, because it's the most unique book in his collection due to it being a show in a book. But he has given us an honorable mention. He says Drawing Room De by guy hollingsworth, both of them superb, absolutely superb parlor tricks. Unfortunately, morgan and wes recently have parted ways as an act, which is heartbreaking because I have had the chance to see several of their shows and they're always phenomenal. Their thinking is wonderful and anyone that has that book understands the thought that has gone into their act. They really, really consider everything and think about everything and there's lots of great tricks in that book.
Speaker 1:But I particularly love their method for a deck of cards in a bottle. I think the practicality of that as a little object that you can give away to people after a gig, for example, is great. I've always enjoyed the idea of using a deck of cards at gig and then, after the gig, putting them in a glass bottle and sending that to the person who booked you and saying you know, this is the deck of cards that I used on the day and saying you know, this is the deck of cards that I used on the day. I thought it would be a lovely memory for you to see this deck of cards in this bottle for forever and the impossibility of it. So both great choices.
Speaker 1:And that does bring us on to his curveball item, which is his non-magic item. He says a suit for elegance, class and sleeving, which no one has said yet, and that's a very, very good point. A jacket and clothing can be used as a method. Of course we can have a topic in there as well if we wanted to. So, yeah, a really, really good choice of an item as well.
Speaker 1:So what a wonderful list. Thank you so much, sean, for sending that in. We've got sticks, loops, a lolly hero, mini cubed chocolate, thumbtip, bonbon box, scream and silhouettes A really, really interesting list of effects. And, like I say, I hope one day we get that dark Disney themed act and we can see Sean perform that. Now, if you enjoyed this and you want your list read out, please do, like I said at the start of the podcast, send it in to sales at alakazamcouk and please put in the subject line this is what I didn't say earlier my desert island list. That's the only way it's going to come through to me and I can pick them out and record one of these for you. So, with that being said, we'll see you later on this week for the normal edition of Desert Island Tricks, but for now, I have been stranded with stranger Sean Rendall, f Kito, and we will see you all again soon. Bye, bye soon.
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