Desert Island Tricks
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Desert Island Tricks
Stranded with a Stranger: A.C. Nicholas
Ever wondered what mentalism tricks you'd bring if stranded on a deserted island? In this captivating episode of Stranded with a Stranger, we welcome A.C. Nicholas, an amateur mentalist and head of a publishing house, who generously shares his top picks for essential magic routines. A.C. delves into the mystique of mentalism classics like Kolossal Killer, the Stealth Assassin wallet routine, and Max Maven’s Positive/Negative close-up mentalism, providing personal insights and anecdotes that highlight the enduring appeal of these tricks. He also introduces listeners to the intriguing Chronologue diary effect and the remarkably versatile Sven pad, offering a treasure trove of potential routines for aspiring and seasoned magicians alike.
This episode is packed with essential tools and insights that will elevate any mentalism and magic performance to the next level.
Find out more about the creators of this Podcast at www.alakazam.co.uk
Thank you for watching. Hello and welcome to another episode of Stranded with a Stranger. This is our midweek episode, which goes out on a Monday, and then, of course, our main episode goes out on a Friday. Now if you would like your list read out on one of these, please send in your list of eight tricks, one book and one non-magic item that you use for magic to sales at alakazamcouk. In the subject line please put my desert island tricks, and that will come through to me, and then we can read through them. Now we've been absolutely overwhelmed with the amount of these which have come in, so thank you so much. The more of these we have, the more episodes we can put out for you guys, so please keep them coming in. It's really important that we get these. In that way, we can keep these episodes going. With that being said, we have been joined on the Alakazam Island with another stranger. This week's stranger is AC Nicholas. So, first off, thank you so much, ac, for sending this in. I've already had a read through it and it's my kind of list. I'm a big fan of it already.
Speaker 1:Ac has given us a little bio as well, so let's read through this. He says Hi, my name is AC Nicholas. I'm an amateur mentalist in addition to my day job as the head of a publishing house and a writer and voiceover artist as well. Wow, multi-talented AC. I'm just biding my time about a year until retirement when I can be more of a mentalist. You'll note that most of my Desert Island picks are mentalism classics. They're classics for a reason they always get a great response and I love performing all of them. So here goes Wow, great Head of a publishing house as well. Sounds really interesting. And the fact that you are a writer, I guess, goes hand in hand with that publishing house and the fact that you said mentalism. I'm going to use my predictive powers here and guess that all of this is mentalism and it is. But there are some killer, killer tricks and with that little segue we go into position number one. Ac has put colossal killer. This is what AC says. While this was performed by more folks years ago, it'll never be out of fashion for me.
Speaker 1:I use my Alakazam Infinity wallet, which has one feature that's perfect for the specific routine I do and it kills all the time, absolutely. I think we've spoken about Colossal Killer before. If you're not aware, this is probably one of the first card in wallets. So the idea would be that someone would name a card and that would be the only one in your wallet. Now Kenton Knepper, who we've had on the podcast, came up with this method and it is such a clever method. If you've never discovered this version of the card in wallet, please do go check it out. It's a great, great choice for your first pick, ac. And that brings us to a number two Short list.
Speaker 1:There's nothing like using my Stealth Assassin wallet for a brilliant Pizanardi routine. Let's not tell him that His head will get too big. I used to work in the US Virgin Islands, not Desert Islands, but the destination of St Thomas is on my short list of vacation destinations. Yep, another great choice. There's some really wonderful tricks that can be done with the Stealth Assassin, especially on that original download or DVD. It was a DVD that download now and, yeah, they're wonderful, wonderful routines and that is a great, great choice to use your wallet with.
Speaker 1:And that brings us to a number three positive, negative. Of all the close up mentalism I do, and I do a lot. Max Maven's routine gets some of the best responses and I can do it using different methods, from prepared to impromptu. Oh, that's really interesting. Yeah, max Maven, the late great Max Maven has some wonderful, wonderful effects which, have you know, started other performers creating different versions of his effects. They are really direct, really clever, sometimes a little bit bold, but they are always, always going to get a great reaction from your audience.
Speaker 1:And that brings us to number four. A brilliant choice Chronologue. Here's another oldie but goodie. I collect diary effects because there are so many good ones and I recently picked up one for the diary by Grumhan Crafted and I'm quite fond of it. Yep, chronologue is a wonderful trick and I don't think anyone produces it anymore that I know of, and obviously you can make your own from Bob Cassidy's book. But it is a wonderful version of the effect and I remember first seeing it, actually seeing Bob perform it, bob Cassidy perform it, and it absolutely blowing my mind. It's just so clean, so fair, and there are lots of versions of it that have come out ever since. So it just shows what an impactful effect it had on our community and it's such a compelling idea. And it does bring us to a number five.
Speaker 1:So AC has put the Sven pad in a number five, because when you absolutely positively must for something, for example, in a mental epic style routine. You never leave home without this utility device nowadays. It's I mean personally I have three or four of them to force different things. You know from stage shows, doing spooky shows and often forcing Elvis or another well-known celebrity to close up, doing different destinations. It's just such a versatile tool and there are lots of people that have come up with some really great, more complex handlings than I certainly use them for. So do go check out some of those as well. It's a great, great choice and I would really love to know, ac, if you want to get in touch again the routine that you would use with your Sven pad. You know I always love playing devil's advocate with these, so I'll play devil's advocate. If you were to do one routine with your pad, what would you do with? That being said, let's go on to number six.
Speaker 1:Ac has put Jay Senke's version of clip line called final cut. There's a reason Richard Osterlin used to end his shows with clip line. It's baffling. Jay Senke eliminated the one weakness of the classic effect to make it perfect. Now Jay Senke just comes up with some absolute gems. I know he has a huge body of work and it's quite difficult to digest all of it. But when you come across some of his methods and the way he he's very good at cleaning up methods's put it that way it's sometimes very easy to get lost in more complicated effects, but he has a really lovely way of stripping effects back to their bare bones and still getting the most out of them. So wonderful choice. And it leads us onto the tail end of ac's effects.
Speaker 1:So at number seven, what do you think he's going to go for? We know it's mentalism. What do you think it is? I wonder what you're all saying. So number seven is a book test. Here is what AC says. He says I love book tests and I have about 100, but which one of the many good ones should I take with me to the desert island, as I'm going to be there for a while? I'll go with Mother of All Book Tests Pocket Edition, as there's so many things built into it, I'll never get bored. And finally, so he's given us a ellipsis there. So on to the last one. So we won't go to number eight yet. Absolutely, book tests are an absolute wonderful effect and there are so many wonderful versions out there nowadays. But Mother of All Book Tests, arguably really started the big push for book tests and lots of versions use those methods now. Really started the big push for book tests and lots of versions use those methods now. So, yeah, it's a wonderful, wonderful trick, it's a great, great choice with the book test and we get to follow on from your ellipses there and we're going on to number eight. So in his final position, drumroll please.
Speaker 1:Ac has put a marked deck Now he says at my age my eyesight isn't so hot. Actually it's been bad since the third grade, so I'm going with the easiest deck to read the DMC Elites. Which routine would I use? I think it was originally described by Ed Marlow the spectator and I both take cards. As a mentalist, I obviously name his card, but he successfully selects the card I chose Simple. You say yes, but it fries minds. Another great choice and again a fundamental tool for mind readers. And there's so many wonderful mark decks out there now that are so clever. And you know the DMCs are used by so many professionals for good reason. They are clever from a magician's point of view, but they are just really clear and easy to read. So it's a great choice.
Speaker 1:So, looking back at your list, ac, we've got Colossal Killer Shortlist. Positive Negative Chronologue. Svenpad Jay Senke's version of Clip Line called Final Cut. Chronologue sven pad jay senki's version of clip line called final cuts. Um, the mother of all book test pockets and a dmc elite deck. Great mentalism choice there. And it's interesting when we get an all mentalism or an all stage on all kids list, because I think it gives someone who wants to maybe get into mentalism the opportunity to look at someone else's professional or amateur list, but certainly something that they are working and they are showing people.
Speaker 1:And this is the prime example of a wonderful mentalism list. There are some great, great choices in there, but it does bring us onto AC's book and item. So in his book position, do we think it's going to be a mentalism book? I think it might be. Picking a book to take with me to the island was maddening. Way too many excellent choices, but I think I'll go with Calculated Thoughts by Doug Diamond. I like Doug's thinking and the book has enough material to work on for the rest of my life Great choice. Now I'm going to be entirely honest. I have this in my collection but it is unread so far. So thanks to your choice there, ac. It means that I need to get it off my shelf and I need to read through it and find out what you like about it. So much, and it does bring us on to AC's final choice.
Speaker 1:And lastly, for that non-magic item, I'm bringing an empty plastic butter tub to do the Stanton Carlyle, aka Ed Fowler's Butter Tub Prediction. If you're not familiar with it, check it out. It's a doozy. I did check it out. That is the one that I did a little bit of research on. It looks really, really interesting and it's a really interesting choice of an item.
Speaker 1:This is obviously the hardest one that I think everyone thinks about. It's certainly the most difficult one for the guests that we've had on so far. So a plastic butter tub is a really interesting item and a great choice to use that with a trick. It gives you an extra trick in there as well which no one's really thought about. They can get an extra trick with their non-magic item if they want to.
Speaker 1:So absolutely wonderful, wonderful list, ac. Thank you so much for sending that in. And remember, if you guys want one of your lists read out, then please send in your list of eight tricks, one book and one non-magic item that you use for magic, as well as a bio, and why you chose those tricks obviously to sales at alakazamcouk. With that being said, ac Nicholas, you are no longer a stranger and we will see all of you this Friday with our main episode. We actually, at the time of recording this, I've just got off the phone with a very exciting guest, which will be our next video one, and, of course, go back, check out the back catalogue of episodes, get your lists in for this, and we will see you on Friday with another episode of Desert Island Tricks. Goodbye.
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