Desert Island Tricks
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Desert Island Tricks
Collin Claus
This week we welcome Collin Claus, a virtuoso in the realm of Rubik's Cube illusions and a key collaborator with the legendary Marc Spelmann. Collin shares some remarkable magical stories, such as a memorable drawing duplication trick in Bristol and a hilariously unforgettable ring-in-sock incident. His adoration for the Rubik's Cube is infectious, evidenced by his wardrobe and even his furry companion's name, Rubik’s. Collin reveals his "Desert Island Tricks," sharing the eight illusions he simply can't live without, complete with a book and a non-magic item essential to his craft.
Magic is more than tricks; it's about creating unforgettable moments. This episode unpacks the art of magical openers, focusing on the ambitious card trick and how to leave an audience awestruck from the get-go. We touch on a spectacular deck disappearance that defies expectations. From there, we wander through the world of impromptu magic, revisiting the humble rubber band and its enduring charm. As we reminisce about our favourite illusions, we also look forward to more innovative methods and the thrilling evolution of coin magic.
Finally, we step into the future of magic with a spotlight on Rubik's Cube illusions. We explore pioneering routines like Decepticon and Refraktor, showcasing how cube-solving skills can elevate magical performances. Collin's collaboration with Simon Jones introduces us to Oracle, a brilliant fusion of speed cubing and card revelation. If you're eager to expand your magical knowledge, we also discuss must-read books and the importance of performance attire that can blend in while standing out. Collin's journey, filled with personal stories and cutting-edge tricks, promises to ignite your curiosity and passion for the art of magic.
Collin’s Desert Island Tricks:
- Ambitious Card
- 3 Fly
- Crazy Man’s Handcuff’s
- Phoenix
- A Gambling Routine
- Decepticon
- Parallel Minds
- Oracle
Book. Drawing Room Deceptions
Item. Trousers
Find out more about the creators of this Podcast at www.alakazam.co.uk
He wrote it when he lived in Bristol and he mentioned my mate, magic, in it. He also mentioned me. In it he talks about a drawing duplication, about someone that played, you know that drew a guitar, and that was me. So he did that on me and at the time I didn't really know that much about Magic. It blew me away. He was just the scary, that guy that could read my mind and there's also an incident in in there that he ends up with the, a borrowed ring, inside his sock and he sort of said, oh, it's in my sock. And the guy went I don't really want to take it out of your sock, you know, and he's he. He describes that as a lesson he learned from that and that person he did that trick on was my friend JP. That book alone has got lots of sort of bits of history with me, so that's why I had to mention that.
Speaker 2:Hello and welcome to another episode of Desert Island Tricks. Today's guest I've known a little while now, and those who know Mark Spellman will know that Mark will probably agree that Colin is very much one half of Mark Spellman now, other than Mark Spellman's wife. Obviously it's a throuple, if you will. So Colin works very, very, very closely with Mark and what those who see Mark may not know, that Colin really does an awful lot behind the scenes and he's also an incredibly, incredibly knowledgeable magician. He is a fantastic, fantastic cube magician and although we've not even got into this list, if there's not a cube trick in there, then we will cancel the the whole podcast going forward, because there just has to be at least one in there. Um, he is one of the best cube thinkers and cube workers. So if you've not heard of him and you've not heard of what he does, he has a company with kev g, who we've also done an episode with I'm not sure whose has gone out first, so that might be a spoiler, but with Kev G he's got a company called Refractor Project and they've actually given a course to Alakazam Unlimited as well. So if you're an Unlimited member, you're going to see a lot more of Colin. So do check that out. Do check them out as well, but without further ado.
Speaker 2:Today's guest is the wonderful, honestly one of the nicest people you'll ever meet. In magic, the wonderful Colin Klaus. Hello, colin, how are you?
Speaker 1:Hello G, that's quite an intro. Bless you. Thank you very much. I'm going red as we speak. I'm blushing.
Speaker 2:But it's very true, you are honestly. You help Mark so much. You really are his, his man in the chair, if we're quoting a superhero franchise.
Speaker 1:Well, he's, he's also helped me, I mean, over the years. He is that, that person that's kind of, just because he's been doing magic a lot longer than I have. He kind of taught me all the basics of tricks and even the magic business, so I've kind of skipped years of having to find out all this uh stuff myself. So he's, that's, that's where he's just been invaluable and, um, yeah, love him dearly, absolutely couldn't do without him. And uh, we, we talk to each other at least like four or five times a week. So and when mark store uh talks us, you probably know it goes on for a few hours. So that's that's but uh, but it's always really, and he's got so much knowledge and so much um, just so many ideas.
Speaker 2:It just just blows me away I don't want to give too many guesses, but I mean, even looking at you, you have a Rubik's Cube T-shirt on as we're talking. Do you want to tell everyone what the name of your dog is?
Speaker 1:Rubik's. Yes, that was my wife's idea. As soon as she said it, she regretted it, but I just jumped on it. Yes, it's Rubik's, it's Rubik's, so yeah.
Speaker 2:So I think that's pointing us. All signs lead to Rubik's Cube there, but we won't say anything more. So if this is your first time listening today, we've invited Colin to our little desert island. When he's there, he's allowed to take eight tricks one book and one non-magic item that he uses for magic Particulars. Who's there there? How big the island is? Are there audiences? All that sort of stuff we really don't mind. This is basically the ultimate tricks that colin could not live without. That being said, colin, let's go to your desert island and discover what you put in position number one.
Speaker 1:So number one before I say so, some of these choices might seem a bit egotistical because they're mine, but it's probably more of an insecurity, and the reason for that is that, um, I I'm not very good at doing other people's tricks, or, whenever I do them, I just don't think I do justice. So I spent often years taking somebody else's idea and trying to make it my own. Uh, so that's, uh, this is why, so, some of them will be my versions of a particular plot, but it's always somebody else's plot. So, uh, number one and this is going to be the most obvious one, um, is the ambitious card, and the reason I've picked this, uh, such an obvious choice is because it's my perfect opener. I've been doing it for almost 22 years, I've done it in every type of situation and I just know every single tiny moment of that trick. So if you don't know the ambitious card, the idea is that you put a card into the middle and it magically turned up on top, and there are about a million different versions. And if you, I think Daryl's DVD was the one first thing that inspired me to sort of look into that. But if you watch his routine, it goes on for about 15 minutes with that single plot and how he makes it, you know, and it's really riveting when you watch him do it. Every single moment is just amazing. Um, which is the danger, oddly enough, of when I see other magicians do it. Some magicians are brilliant at it, but some magicians kind of, it can get a bit boring. You kind of go yeah, okay, I've seen it now. But so it's really, really important to make that routine build as soon as you know you start.
Speaker 1:So my justification for choosing that particular trick is the fact that I it helps me to establish myself as a magician. I get someone to pick a card and I always let them pick the card face up, which is kind of disarming from the start. Normally people pick from a face-down deck and you don't know what the card is, so immediately they're going. This is a bit weird. I can choose any card and then I get them to sign it and then, once the card's lost in the middle, I do a bit of a shuffle demonstration and do some fancy false cuts. And the reason I do that is again to establish myself as a magician, because they haven't seen me do anything, they've just seen me put a card in the middle. So by doing those flashy shuffles, people immediately know oh, he's quite good at what he does, so he's worth watching.
Speaker 1:And I'm not one of these people that tries to hide his skills, I think. For me, I'm happy to show people that I'm skilled, because I feel that helps the magic rather than hinders it, which I know. There's two schools of thoughts there, you know. Some people say hide the skill, other people say sort of emphasize it. Um, so, yeah, card goes the middle, uh, and then, um, so once I've, uh, once I've done those shuffles, I've shown that it's not on top, not near the top, and then boom, it's then on top and not near the top. And then boom, it's then on top.
Speaker 1:And then I do just a few more phases and then my final phase is what I really love about it, and so my main reason for doing it is most people do an Omni deck at the end of theirs. I just make the deck vanish. I make the whole deck vanish apart from their card. And for me that's what makes that strong moment. And when I perform, I perform in a T-shirt, in a T-shirt, smart T-shirt, smart jeans, sort of thing. So it makes that moment really impossible, because it's like everyone's going where the hell's that deck on? You've got no sleeves, no jacket and it's gone. So that's my first choice. So I feel like a bubble, bubble my way through that no, no, that's perfect, and I think it's.
Speaker 2:It's probably the most popular card plot. It's certainly one that most people have a version of it, yeah.
Speaker 1:I think it's because there's so many different options and ways you can go with that, and people have come up with some amazing ways to or amazing variations on that particular theme, so, yeah, Do you do it in their hands when the deck disappears?
Speaker 1:I well, I get them to put, because at the end I'm holding the deck in between my hands I get them to put their hand on top and underneath and then squeeze down and all that's left is that one card. And so they kind of feel the moment that it's happening, because your hands kind of just seem to glide down into each other. People often go, god, that feels weird, and so, yeah, it's a really, really strong moment. But sometimes I don't even bother, I just go, boom, it's gone, and it's just their face because they've they've sort of seen the same thing again, again and in fact, um, uh, another phase is often, often, uh, that I used to do was the card in the mouth.
Speaker 1:I don't since covid I don't do the card in the mouth anymore because it's just not, it just doesn't look hygienic. So I end up in my top pocket of my waistcoat rather than that. But yeah, when that deck vanishes, it's a moment that just gets people and also allows me to move on to something else other than cards. It kind of says that's the end of the card trick. Now let me show you something else yeah, very true.
Speaker 2:Great first choice, very, very strong, and that leads us to your second position. So what did you put in your second spot?
Speaker 1:so my second uh position I'm a massive coin magic fan. I absolutely love coin magic fan. I absolutely love coin magic. I studied card magic for years and then went on to coin magic. I tend to sort of jump around in genres and so my next effect is a three fly.
Speaker 1:It was David Davies who showed me this effect back in 2012. And I was blown away. He's really good and skilled at doing it, and so I was blown away. And then when he showed me, I went oh, there were so many sort of areas in that effect that I thought, oh, I don't like that. And I think it's one of those plots that a lot of people have studied and a lot of people have tried to improve. But if you see somebody that's really skilled doing it, you kind of do those moments kind of fly over. But it's really important to make those moments not stand out like Dave did.
Speaker 1:So I spent I think I spent about two or three years just looking to every single method that I could find before I even tried it out to anyone. I think I just kind of just I go down that sort of rabbit hole because it's never good enough for me to show anyone something. So, and within 3Fly there's two sort of schools of thoughts, gimmicked and ungimmicked. So, without giving away any method, um, but um, my favorite version. So you're going to ask me for my favorite version of you, so I know where this is going. So, um, my favorite version, unfortunately, is uh, egotistically, is my own, because it's Schmetterling, which is butterfly in German, and it's on my project, ghost, which I released through Alakazam, with a company that I had with a friend of mine, simon Alexander, called the Alchemy Tree, and Pete's been really good in allowing us to release all our stuff through him. It was exclusively through him as well, but yeah, so that version. Again, it took me years because I came up with this method.
Speaker 1:Ghost is all about a method of making a coin vanish. There's loads of uses. A method of making the coin vanish. There's loads of uses, but using that technique I came up with my perfect version that looks as clean as I think it should look, and that was my choice there. Now I do also. The only problem with that version is that it's slightly, maybe angle sensitive, without giving any method away or anything like that. So it's not appropriate for any situation. I can't do it surrounded or anything like that. So if I was in any other situation I would use a gimmick, because I find the gimmick versions are often more suitable for surrounded walk around although you can I've seen people do really good versions un-gimmicked as well but yeah, so I've got another version which is also released through Alakazam.
Speaker 1:I released this thing called a download, called a study in three fly, and that uses a gimmick and that, that gimmick uh, I won't give it too much away but it's a TUC gimmick. It's my kind of study into that gimmick because I think it was designed for to make the perfect three fly. But I've also got to quickly give an honourable mention, because I've since found a better gimmick and I can't tell you what it is. But all I'll say is Ronald Davies. So if you don't know who Ronald Davies is, he's one of the best coin gaff makers in the world. In fact for me he's the best and he's an absolute legend and gentleman. And he came up with, he showed me, this idea. I went oh my God, and I've given him a couple of tips on how I wanted, how I think it could be improved slightly. So he's sort of gone with that but that gimmick. So if anyone's interested, get a hold of ronald and um, that's, that's just the perfect gimmick for three fly I was going to say your version of three fly.
Speaker 2:Is it made up of influences of other people's routines?
Speaker 1:very good question, actually, yes, and I had a list ready. So, yeah, absolutely so for um. So yeah, you're absolutely right, honorable mention. So obviously, the original version I studied was chris kenneth's, which was out of his book out of control, um, and that was a kind of the version that started all the crazes off. And um. Also dowl has an amazing download on Penguin, which just again it's a study of Ungimmick 3Fly Pons of the Smith has a brilliant version, janny Goldsmith has a version called Dragonfly, which is amazing, and Craig Petty has a version on the Alakazam.
Speaker 1:I think it's the second Coin Academy, which is a really nice. It's the second Coin Academy, which is a really nice. It kind of goes on. It's got so many phases to it, as Craig Soften does, but there's so many good things to study in that as well. But if you're doing the gimmicked, one of the first versions I saw that blew me away was have you ever heard of Moritz Müller? He's this German coin guy and he released it. I think he first did it. He was about eight years old Really sweet little kid, and he just does the most amazing three-fly and anyone who watched him just opened mouths because it was just flawless. But yeah. So aside from that also, craig petty nightshade has loads of three flies on there. Uh, on the nightshade project, uh, gary jones and chris congrease flying tonight, and finally, kainoa hard bottle has an effect called 3y which is also really good to study. So if anyone wants to study three fly, those are my recommendations amazing.
Speaker 2:What a huge list of um material that you've gone through.
Speaker 1:That's incredible well, this is it. I, as I say, I study a project, a plot, in so much depth uh, depth, it's not in, funny anymore, it's uh. My wife will tell you that she's just so sick of every plot that I've studied and hearing about my enthusiasm with it.
Speaker 2:So that brings us on to your third item. What's in your third position?
Speaker 1:So, third, this one is more of a kind of I have to say this because it's part of my history of magic and it's Crazy man Tancas. I think it's one of the most perfect impromptu effects kind of thing that if you just have two rubber bands, you can do. It's not even rubber bands. You don't do this with several other things, like, um, hair bands, something like that. So, um, and the plot is, you hold two rubber bands between, uh, your fingers and thumbs and they're locked together and they just kind of melt apart and the illusion is absolutely amazing. It just it, uh, it's, you know, if done properly, it's brilliant. And again, lots of people have come up with different variations on this, but I think the original is still one of the best uh you can do.
Speaker 1:And, um, the reason I mentioned it is because it was the first trick that I was taught. I was taught it back in 1998 by my friend Mike from Urban Magic. Now, urban Magic might not mean much to some people, but Urban Magic were actually mentioned in Darren's book Absolute Magic. Were they're actually mentioned in deron's book absolute magic? And, um, they're two guys. Uh, they're originally three, but it's mainly two guys that uh go out, perform as a double act and the things they used to do they soon ambitious card and the card used to go between the the two and they did this spoon bending routine and did the most amazing things. But they and myself were originally influenced by seeing Dera in the first place. So the idea is that this.
Speaker 1:So he taught me this rubber band trick back in Christmas of 1998. I then practiced it and on New Year's Eve I showed it to this random girl in this pub and once I'd done it, you know, I thought I think I got away with that. I looked up and her face was just utter amazement. She couldn't believe it. I went, I was with two rubber bands and that was the moment I thought to myself well, magic is for me band. And that was the moment I thought to myself what magic is for me? And that kind of led on to my magic journey and that's my first ever trick and the I still think, rubber bands.
Speaker 1:There's again so many things you can do with just two rubber bands. Um, and I've got to do and on my honorable mention, because my routine starts off with crazy mans and then goes off into a load of uh, different uh, things you can do with just rubber bands. So I've got to give an honorable mention to joe reinfleisch, because he's really the the grandfather of rubber bands. There isn't a plot that he he hasn't tackled and done amazingly well, you know, like penetrations, vanishes, appearances, um, you name it. He's done it, so he's uh. Most of my routines based around his methods yeah, joe ryan flash.
Speaker 2:I remember watching his penguin lecture and it's such a jam-packed lecture. There's so much information in there.
Speaker 2:But I remember there was an effect where he almost had like one band around the outside of a crossed band and they were both different colors and when he would turn his back, suddenly they switch places and his whole thing was oh, if you look at it from the back it looks like they're completely different, but if you look at the front they're the same. It's just a wonderful trick. But yeah, absolutely it's. Also, we always talk about tricks that you have in your knowledge bank.
Speaker 2:So this idea that if you were, let's say, we really did put you on a desert island, if you were, let's say, we really did put you on a desert island, but on your desert island there was nothing but a rymans or a staples, if you're in america and you could go into that and just using the knowledge of different tricks and different methods, you could go in there and build an entire show from stuff that you just have in your, your brain, and the fact that you can get elastic bands anywhere in the world, like you said, it fact that you can get elastic bands anywhere in the world like you said, it doesn't have to be elastic bands means that this really is a trick that you can do anywhere, anytime. It can get you out of trouble if you need it to and, like you said, if you've got knowledge of all these other methods, then you've got a solid five minute piece of magic which is truly incredible and memorable but doesn't really take up much space or much effort, really no absolutely.
Speaker 1:As I say, with just two rubber bands you can just blow people away. There's so many things you can do and I think that genre has actually grown and grown, especially in the last 10 years. People have come up with some really interesting ways of doing these even more penetrations and vanishes and appearances, and yeah, yep, very good choice.
Speaker 2:Uh. So, looking at your list, so far, we've got a card trick, a coin trick and an elastic band trick, so it's's going to be interesting to see.
Speaker 1:No room of excuse yet. No room of excuse yet.
Speaker 2:I like that. The word yet was there. That was a prerequisite of what's coming. So that's all good, but that does bring us to your fourth position. So what's in your fourth spot?
Speaker 1:So fourth position is it's my effect called Phoenix, but it's got a bit of a history to it, as most of my treats have. So the original version was inspired by Mark Spellman and Mark Spellman's got an effect called Voodoo, which I know has been mentioned on this podcast before. So Voodoo is Mark's version of chicanco opener and what sets it apart is the fact that it's a burn that appears on the card rather than the card changing color. So the idea is a person picks a card, it gets lost back in the deck. The deck is then spread again and one card has changed color and that card then. Yeah, sorry, one card's changed color. The magician then takes that card, puts it down and the spectator chooses another card, takes that card, puts it down and the spectator chooses another card and says the card's going to change, spreads the deck again. None of the cards have changed, but all of a sudden the card that's been out in the open all along is the next chosen colour, chosen card, rather. So Mark's touch was the fact that it was a burn that appeared on the card and it really elevates it from a card trick into something different. And he's been doing it for sort of I think probably 30 years, and it's just, he knows every 30 years. And it's just, he knows every beat, every moment, and it's just. He can get so much mileage out of that effect. And I love the effect, the idea of the burn.
Speaker 1:But I didn't want to do Mark's trick because I thought I just can't do it as well as Mark can. So I want to come up with my own version. So I came up with my own version, phoenix, and in that one it starts the same Bird appears on the back of the card, but then the card goes in between the spectator's hand. I say I'm going to make the card vanish. And then they then lift their hand up. The card is still there, but when they turn the card over the card is blank. I then make the burn vanish off that blank card and then finally I have a folded bit of paper which has been sort of on the table all along. Take it, burn it and it turns into a folded the spectator's side card. So it's slightly different, but the reason I've chosen this one because this is the effect I do on every single table. I can do it in walk around as well, but I normally save it. If I'm doing a drinks reception. I'll do certain tricks at the drinks reception. I'll save this one for to do around the table because I found that, especially in loud environments when there's lots of people talking the moment.
Speaker 1:Uh, there's one point in it which is part of the ritual. I burn my hand at the beginning, which is the sort of voodoo type of effect of the imaginary card, then burning the actual card. As soon as I start to burn my hand with a lighter, even people that are talking turn around and go what the hell is this guy doing? He's burning his hand and all of a sudden people realize that it's not just a card trick, it's something different, and everyone starts to watch. And that's how I could kind of bring people in. That's my opening effect to a lot of people that haven't seen me in the drinks reception as well. The people that have already know that hopefully I'm worth watching. But for those that haven't seen me, that kind of brings them in and then after that I can go back to the table and they'll go. Yay, hopefully they'll go. Yes, we want to see more of your magic.
Speaker 2:Great. What's interesting is, like you said, it's been mentioned a few times Mark's version of this trick, and now we have your version of this trick, and it's strange that a trick that not many people have seen has ended up on people's ultimate list.
Speaker 1:Exactly. It's never been put in print. I know Mark did a version of it at one of the Magic Circle competitions where he put an extra touch on it and where the burn had actually gone right through the card. So there was a hole through the card which really kind of elevated the effect, if you know the method. But yeah, I think it's just. It's such a good plot in card magic. I like card tricks that are a bit different rather than just pick a card, find a card, sort of thing.
Speaker 2:Yeah, well, hopefully we can bully him into filming it for us at some point and maybe we'll get it on Unlimited or something.
Speaker 1:Yeah, for years he was going yeah, that's a trick I'll never give away. I do that everywhere. But I think he's now starting to think well, maybe I can just I've done it, I've done it. Now he's not so precious about it as he used to be.
Speaker 2:Okay. Well then, I will definitely bully Alvin, that's good. So that brings us over your halfway point into your fifth position. What's in your fifth spot?
Speaker 1:So it's still not Rubik's excuse, but I'm getting on to that. Uh, this is another card effect, but this is a card effect that, um, I just love the plot. So this is is actually somebody else's routine. This is guy hollingworth's gambling routine and it's in his book drawing room deceptions and the plot is that, uh, it's basically a gambling demo where he shows um bottom deals, second deals, stacking the deck, um, and. But the kicker at the end is, once he's shown you all these things, he turns over the deck and the whole deck is in new deck order, despite being shuffled and dealt out. You know dozens and dozens of times throughout the effect. So I just love the construction. So, without going into method, you're kind of as you're, you know it's kind of got to be obvious for the fact that you're kind of as you're, you know, which is kind of got to be obvious for the fact that you're reconstructing the deck into new deck order, as you're doing all the you know, as you're demonstrating all these slides, and I just thought that was just genius and I came up with my own version, which I actually entered, entered into the magic circle close-up competition, I think back in 2019, and I didn't win. But, um, I did. What made me slightly happy is that that was the most technical um car trick that night. It was.
Speaker 1:You know there's so many, as I say, second deals, bottom deals. It's really technical. I've never released it either, so that's why I'm highlighting Guy Hollingworth's there rather than mine. But yeah, I think that's. It's a genius. But I've also got to mention David Davies has a version of that called A Visit from Mandelbrot, and it's a variation on Guy Hollingworth, but it's brilliant. It's definitely worth the study if you can get hold of it. It's not available in many places, but if it ever comes back up on on secondhand, magic grab it yeah, great, it's one of those routines as well.
Speaker 2:I'm not sure if guys was the instigator, but there's lots of those routines that have popped up in recent years. It's always a great ending as well. Now I've never performed one for an audience. What is their reaction like? Do they go mad when they see it back in New Decoder?
Speaker 1:Well, I think you can't help but be impressed. But that's yeah, actually that's a good point. The trouble with gambling routines and this is I don't do this I have to confess I don't do it out because I very rarely have a table, so it's not an effect I do a lot, but it's an effect that I would practice, especially on a desert island. I would try and make it my own because, you're absolutely right, I think you've got to be someone like Guy Hollingworth's sort of English gentleman or someone like Richard Turner to kind of be able to pull that routine off really well and make it really exciting.
Speaker 2:But I would spend that time on the desert island trying to work out a way of making it me and making it entertaining it seems to be a common thread with this podcast now that each person would have one trick that they would just do so that they could practice it and get it really, really refined. Even I think it was Chris Harding's. He talks about the floating cane and he says you know, I've never, ever done it anywhere, but it's the most practiced trick that I have ever practiced. He says that he practices it constantly, but he's never been out and done it in public, but he just loves the plot that much that he wants to practice it. So yeah, it seems to be like this weird thread that we're learning that each magician has this one thing that maybe they haven't refined, that they really want to refine if they had that opportunity in that time.
Speaker 1:And it's also that Zen meditation of just being having something that you it's so complex that you have to sort of keep practicing it to kind of try and perfect it, yeah, absolutely when I perform at gigs, I look at effects that tick these three boxes.
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Speaker 2:Well, that's another brilliant choice, and it does bring us on to your sixth position. So what's in your sixth spot?
Speaker 1:So now we're getting into the Rubik's Cube stuff. So from now on it's just Rubik's Cube. So because I know from experience of this podcast is the fact that I can't just bring a Rubik's Cube, it's got to be the routine rather than the item itself. And so this is I've called it Decepticon, and the version we've got on our projects is by Kev G, but it's really the idea, is the plot kind of thing. So when I started off with Rubik's Cube Magic, most routines with a Rubik's Cube are you know, you use a paper bag and you use a cube, you can use gimmicks and I won't expand on that anymore. But you know it's combined with a bag. I've personally you know, I think it's combined with a bag. I've personally, you know, I I think it's amazing the things you could do with a bag and it really helps you out. But I've always thought it doesn't really make sense with a ruby, with the item itself, the ruby cube. So I've always tried to get away from the bag and so because of that I wanted a perfect Rubik's Cube effect that you can do with just one cube out in the open and that's the only cube you're using. So the plot I originally saw Takamiz do it. Now, takamiz is a Japanese magician. He's considered the grandfather of Rubik's Cube magic and the plot was the fact that a spectator could name a colour and from a mixed cube you could solve that colour Another very quickly. So not just you know, sort of sitting there for ages getting to the one colour, you just do it within seconds. Another spectator could name another colour, you would solve to that and then somehow you would solve the cube super fast as well. So I think that is just such a perfect Rubik's Cube routine. So that's for such a perfect route. You know ruby's cube routine, so that's that. That's for me the perfect plot and that's the first plot I came up with. Um, I came up with my version. Some bit was inspired by a? Um, another magician called uh evgeny, um carolyn, but uh. But he came up with the idea of doing part of the solving bits behind your back, so you didn't have to use a bag, you could do everything out here, you know, just without one cube. So that's the plot and the version we put on.
Speaker 1:Our very first project was called Decepticon and Kev took the plot and ran with it and just made it far more elaborate. Mine's a lot more simple. So he's got extra salt. You know quick solves within that room, sort of routine, so actually. So the let me just explain where this routine came about. I sent, I came up with the method not that long after I'd sort of got into Kube, started learning how to solve the Kube, and I sent it to Kev because I'd just sort of got to know him. He looked at it and went, yeah, it's alright, and sort of ignored it. And so I carried on sort of perfecting the trick of doing it. And then two years later I was chatting with Kev and I showed him the effect again and he went hang on, that's good. And then suddenly, almost two years later, he saw the value of that effect and that's when he came up with his version and that is yeah, that's Decepticon.
Speaker 2:Yeah, it's great there are. I remember again referencing another Penguin lecture, the Takumi's Penguin lecture, and that was a game.
Speaker 1:That's what I was expecting, actually.
Speaker 2:Yeah, it's such a superb lecture, but then when I see what you and Kev G have done with Rubik's Cube Magic as well, it's such a superb lecture, but then when I see what you and Kev G have done with Rubik's Cube Magic as well, you do tend to squeeze everything you can without making it overly complicated. That's what I love about what you and Kev do with your Cube Magic, because sometimes you watch some Cube Magic and it's impressive, but it's involved, if that's the the nicest way of putting it. But then I can watch what you and kfg do, especially with a move that you have. It might be this move I'm not sure, but you sent it to me in terms of being able to get to a certain color at any point in in yes, so.
Speaker 1:So that's what the 4-4-6 mix is. So the 4-4-6 mix allows you to get to any name colour, then get to another name colour and then back to your solved cue in super fast time, because, rather than it doesn't involve you having to solve the point to the color or solve the cube at any point, it's just learning. The other advantage is it's just one set of moves that you have to learn. Sometimes other people have come up with similar versions, but they usually require two algorithms. This one just requires the one and it just simplifies everything yeah, absolutely that's.
Speaker 2:That's what I mean, like you're just squeezing so much out of so little. The fact that you can achieve that just with one move, or one set of moves, rather it's phenomenal, it's great, it's so clever thank you, yeah, thank you, yeah.
Speaker 1:I mean that's that's what we did, because that was our starting point. From there, we kept coming up with more and more ideas just based on that first idea, and we're now eight volumes in, with four more on the cards. So, yeah, it just keeps going.
Speaker 2:Superb. Well, you've already given us a spoiler alert now, so we know that your next one's going to be a Rubik's Cube trick, but where are you going to go with it? What's in your seventh position?
Speaker 1:So the first thing, that the first, my first reason for getting into the Rubik's Cube was an effect by Gregory Wilson called Rubicon, and I saw this, I think, back in 2016, 2017 or something like that. He had this effect where he came on stage with two Rubik's Cubes. He let the spectator mix the Rubik's mix a cube, and the other one, I think, was just behind him or something like that. The other one, I think, was just behind him or something like that, and without any moves, he sort of takes the cube that the spectators mixed and then you realise that they've matched the exact configuration of the Rubik's Cube to the one that he's got just behind him or that he's been mixing behind his back, or something like that. So, so it was essentially it's a matching effect, so every side matches, and then, finally, he then does a really quick wave and he sold his own cube, and that just blew me away.
Speaker 1:I just I thought that was such an interesting plot and a lot of people would come up with their own versions. There are a lot of versions and again it's one of these things that are gimmicked versus non-gimmicked, I think. In my opinion and I know that there are differing opinions with this. I think the gimmicked versions work perfectly for parlour and stage. I don't think they're necessarily always practical in a close-up situation, but I know people that do them. Do it really well. But I think you need the bag, maybe, um. So this is why I keep trying to eliminate the. Eliminate the bag, um. So and the ones that, um, the non-gimmick ones often used lots of cubes, so you'd have at least three cubes, which then kind of muddies the effect up.
Speaker 1:So I came up with my own version of this and Refractor, our project Refractor, which is all. Again, it's all about ideally just using one cube to get a lot of magic out of it. So I wanted a version that I could do with one cube and one mini cube or something like that, so I didn't have to carry loads of cubes around with me, mini cube or something like that. So I didn't have to carry loads of cubes around with me. And I came up with a method of being able to mix the cube and the spectator having a say on how the cube is mixed and again doing that matching effect.
Speaker 1:And the volume three is entirely dedicated to my solutions to do an impromptu matching effect and the effect that I chose, for I think it's my seventh place, isn't? It is Parallel Minds, so that's one of the versions on there and it's the version that Kev and I use all the time, and it's just so practical for the way we perform, and so that's. Yeah, I'm obsessed, still obsessed with the matching effects, still trying to improve it, but to date, that's the version that I use all the time when I'm out performing.
Speaker 2:Great choice and I've seen you do this. This is something that you do at um conventions. So I'm I think it was magic circle convention, maybe last year or the year before. That's when I first saw you you do this particular version and you sent me the tutorial the the way to achieve it, and it was interesting. It was the first time I'd seen that approach to that routine, if that makes sense, because normally it's it's.
Speaker 2:If it's a gimmicked version, there tends to be something either shifting or moving um or covering in some respects, yeah, without giving too much away. It's really difficult to talk about things without giving method away, um. And then we've non nonimmicked versions. Certainly again, I think in the penguin lecture, the um, the one that was on about earlier. There's a really clever solution for a non-gimmicked version in there. But, like you said, it involves it normally involves several rubix, cubes, um, and if not that, then a lot of remembering things in order to achieve situations. So I love the idea that it felt completely free, like I was making those decisions and those choices, but somehow you still made it work.
Speaker 1:It was, it was incredible and the, the ruby excuse, never go out of sight. They don't. They're not, don't have to go into a bag or anything like that. They're always on display. So that's what I like about it. I like the fact that everything's kept out in the open.
Speaker 2:Yep, it's a superb choice, and it does bring us onto the last item. So what did you put in your eighth position?
Speaker 1:So an eighth position is something else. So an eighth position is something else. It's actually by our latest member of our team is called Simon Jones and he's kind of helped us actually take a lot of our ideas further. So he's kind of taken most of the ideas we've got on all the other volumes and, just as I say, just take it to that next level. And it's using something that I always wanted to and have started to use, which is cube solving algorithms. Now I use them a little bit throughout, but I think there's so much more that can be done and people haven't really explored it because, oddly enough, magicians are too lazy to learn how to solve the cube. You know, they'd rather have a method that doesn't involve them actually having to solve the cube. Um, and speed cubers that are really good at solving the cube aren't interested in doing magic with the cube, they just want to solve it. So I think there is a point that you can use the cube solving algorithms because you can get to positions quite quickly.
Speaker 1:And in volume five, kev and I came up with a method of getting card revelations on a Rubik's cube. Card revelations on a Rubik's Cube, so you'd have, say, a four of H, so four hearts or something like that, or a jack of hearts, jack of clubs. It does have certain limitations, of course, especially on a three by three, because things like you have to choose letters and a D is very hard to get it tends to look like an O for D and stuff like that. But you got to these revelations all by using cube solving algorithms, because that's for us, rather than have to remember or learn lots of new algorithms, which is good but it's quite tedious. So if you could achieve that with algorithms that you're using anyway, you could get them quite quickly. So we came up with that method.
Speaker 1:Simon has since taken this further and we've got a new volume coming out, and so the next effect that I've chosen is an effect by him called Oracle, and it's basically a double revelation. So a spectator picks, two spectators pick a card each, and the magician is then able to reveal the first person card and then also the second person's card's, also the second person's card, but the second person's card is revealed super quick. It's just like, in a way, boom, the second card was revealed, and then Simon's worked out a way of getting back to solved super quick, or getting back to 2-1-1-2, which you might know about. For people that know about cube solving, 2.1.1.2 enables you to do a super quick solve at the end of the routine, which gives it that instant solve which everyone loves to see at the end of any routine. It's like you know you shake the cube, you shake a mixed cube and it's solved, and so that it's Oracle by Simon Jones.
Speaker 2:Great, that sounds really cool. That sounds really really clever. Almost sounds like Chicago Opener, but with a cube.
Speaker 1:Yes, that's it. I mean he's come up with loads of really interesting effects on that. Our original had five odd effects. Most of them are by Kev. He came up with sort of card under cube and things like that, just really sort of card plots but with a cube, and just there is. People haven't sort of caught on to that and it's probably because you do have to put in a bit of work to kind of work out, uh, the algorithms to get to the cards. So but if, uh, for people that know how to solve the cube in special, especially people that use um oll, tulip, pll and um things like that, they'll know these algorithms anyway. So it's actually quite easy to learn how to get to all the revelations. But Simon's expanded on the revelations, he's expanded on the routines and he's expanded on different concepts of being able to get back to SolveCube all from one position.
Speaker 2:Great. Well, that's something that we can all look forward to, that's something that I'll certainly be looking out for, and it does bring us on to your two curveball items, because you've had eight chances at tricks, but you're only allowed one each of these. So what did you go for? Your book.
Speaker 1:Just because obviously I've chosen loads of cute effects.
Speaker 1:The other effects I would have said if I'd been given just a couple of vulnerable mentions. One was Pat Page's Travelling Cash. Now I don't do Extreme Burn because I learned Travelling Cash about 22 years ago and I've been doing that ever since. But I don't hardly do it anymore. I used to do it all the time because it's the perfect trick that if somebody, if you've just got a couple of seconds with anyone, you change lottery tickets into money, it instantly got their attention. I think I heard Dean Levy say the other day that sees an opening effect and it kind of. I think it's too strong for an opening effect. I think you're right, it does get people's attention straight away, but I kind of. That's why I use the ambitious card rather than this. But I hardly do it at all anymore because these bloody polymer notes it just when the money appears it's kind of still folded and so you're having to sort of get it out, spread it. It's not as nice looking as it used to be with the old notes. So I just had to mention that.
Speaker 1:And the other effect was Paul Wilson's Unholy Gathering. Unholy gathering, which is the this is this um, where he takes a card and um punches four holes in it and then moves the holes to into one corner. I've got my own version of that one again. We released it through alakazam uh called unholy, and you're on my version. It's a bit more practical, I I think, and you're not. There's some dodgy moves that I didn't like in the original, so much um that I just moved the holes and move them back to where they start. So it's almost a bit like people go did I just see that? Did he? Did he really move the holes, um, rather than you ending up with an impossible object? But yeah, so that was it. I just had to give those as my honourable mentions.
Speaker 2:Excellent, very, very good choices. And what did you put in your book position?
Speaker 1:So my book position I had to put Guy Hollingworth's Drawing Room Deceptions. I love that book. It's one that I don't do that many effects from it, but I think there's so many effects that I want to study and there's so many movies that sort of put his versions of the bottom deal and different ways of shuffling and different shifts on there that I think that book alone is a lifetime of study. But again, I just wanted to give a couple of honourable mentions for books that I kind of considered Basically. Absolute Magic by Darren Brown. I love that book but he wrote it when he lived in Bristol and he mentioned my mate's magic in it. He also mentioned me. In it there's a. He talks about a drawing duplication, about someone that played, you know, that drew a guitar, and that was me. So he did that on me and at the time I didn't really know that much about magic. It blew me away. He was just the scariest guy that could read my mind. And there's also an incident in there that where he somebody had lost uh, this is it. He ends up with the, a borrowed ring inside his sock and the guy said, and he sort of said, oh, it's in my sock. And the guy went I don't really want to take it out of your sock, you know, and he's. He. He describes it as a lesson. He learned from that and that person he did that trick on was my friend, JP. So that book alone has got lots of bits of history with me, so that's why I had to mention that as well.
Speaker 1:Also quickly, another book is Parameters by Kev G, which is also. I really wanted to take that out there because that's got some lovely card tricks and some lovely thoughts on Rubik's Cube magic and everything else. So that would be my oh, actually sorry. One more Sorry. Going on. Mark Spellman is writing his book and I know he's been writing it for years, but when that comes out that will probably be the book that I take because that will have so much knowledge and so many great effects in it. He shows me effects that he's going to put in there all the time and I go, oh, that's genius. So that is a book that, even though he hasn't written it, when he has written it, I think it would be a really, really amazing book for any magician or mentalist.
Speaker 2:Great, superb choices. And, yeah, I can't wait for Mark's. I've no doubt it's going to be phenomenal, everything that mark does. And but, guy hollingsworth, I think we've had drawing room deceptions either once or twice, um and I've I'm sure we'll have it again more in the future it's just.
Speaker 1:I mean, it's like a. For me it's like a better version of um expert at the card table, and I know it's a blast for me to say that, but I love the drawings that he does in there and for me the tricks in there are so, so strong. The moves the way he describes the moves are so, so strong as well.
Speaker 2:Excellent. So that brings us on to your item. What did you put in your item position?
Speaker 1:So I wanted to say phone, I wanted to say music, but they've all been taken and my choice. It was funny. I was listening to Dean Levy's yesterday and he mentioned kind of the thing that I wanted to put in there and I think it's probably been mentioned before, but he mentioned his suit, didn't he? So mine is actually my trousers, because I work in jeans and T-shirts, everything has to fit on me and everything has to fit in my jeans, because I've got no jacket to put stuff in. So my jeans have been tailor-made to accommodate cards, spoons, pens, coins, other bits, ways of ditching stuff, savants all in a pair of jeans that look totally normal. And I've spent, I think, almost 20 years designing slowly, you know, version by version that perfect, those perfect pair of hands that actually accommodates everything. So that would be, that's my choice.
Speaker 2:Yeah, great, I think it's. I think we've had harry nardi mentioned it, dean levy mentioned it, I think phil hillsden, on uh, stranded with the stranger, mentioned it as well. He mentioned it in respect to sleeving, though, which I thought was quite clever, um, which I'd never considered before. But yeah, it's great and it's uh, it's great that you've almost created your own set of apparatus to achieve so much from it.
Speaker 1:Well, it's what most people comment on when I perform Everyone, you know one of the first things they say, and it's because when the deck vanishes, they're going. You're just in a pair of jeans and a T-shirt. Where is that day going? You know, it just doesn't make any sense and for me, it really elevates what I do because of the way I perform and I try and look, because Dean Levy was talking about the differences in some.
Speaker 1:You need to look smart for an occasion. You don't always want to wear a suit, and I think that's very true. But I think also is that I dress this way. It establishes me as a magician rather than one of the guests sort of thing. So it's kind of sets me apart without because my attire is quite casual. Apart without because my attire is quite casual, it's not like wearing a suit when everyone else is in that sort of casual attire but um, but yeah, there's, uh, but so so I, I like the idea, the fact that I look different enough from other people but people instantly know that I'm there as a performer rather than as a guest yep, great choice.
Speaker 2:A really nice list of tricks as well. Um some cards in there. We've got some coins in there. We've got some cubes in there, who? Else needs anything other than that, um, but if people want to find out more about you, colin, and where can they go?
Speaker 1:uh, my website is uh, street hyphen magiccouk. Um, I've got a youtube channel as well, which I don't know. I never know my address is, which is really terrible. Uh, I've got my instagram's, got lots of um sort of little tricks on it as well, and my youtube's got, um, there's a. There's a YouTube video that I've got which is me doing the P in the shell. Somehow it's got 16,000 views. It's the only video on my channel that's got that many views, but it just keeps getting more. It just keeps getting more and more and more. I just did it a few years ago, but for some reason, that's the video that's captured everyone's attention.
Speaker 2:And if people want to find out more about the Refractor project, where can they go for that?
Speaker 1:That is refractorcouk, and I'm sure Kev's mentioned that as well, and that's where I've got. Yeah, we've got lots of things and as well, and that's where I've got. Yeah, we've got lots of things and if you want to, we're not going anymore. But the Alchemy Tree. There's several of my projects or mine and Simon and mine's projects on Alakazam's website.
Speaker 2:Amazing. Well, thank you so much, colin, for sharing your list with us.
Speaker 1:Thank you so much it's sharing your list with us. Thank you so much. It's a um. It's been absolute pleasure. I've just yeah, it was a real pleasure sort of collating that list as well. Absolutely loved it amazing.
Speaker 2:Thank you so much. Now remember, if you are listening to this and you want to be a part of this, we do have a mid-week special now. It's called stranded with a stranger and it's your chance to send in your list. So if you want to be a part of that, then send your list of eight tricks, one book and one non-magic item. Please give us a little synopsis about you and who you are. Send that to sales at alakazamcouk, but put the subject title my desert island list. That way it comes through to me and we can record one. Those will be going out every Monday and the normal show, which is this one, will be going out every Friday. So please send those in. The more of those we get, the more episodes that we can create. But that being said, please do go check out Colin. Please do go check out the Refractor. Go check out the refractor project, because there is some phenomenal material there. And if you've ever wanted to solve the cube but you haven't, naughty, then go to alakazam unlimited.
Speaker 2:We do have a course that was very kindly donated to us by colin and kev g. Colin is on the beginning parts of each of those lessons, so check it out. But they've gone at it from a magician's perspective. So they thought about magicians, how magicians think and process, and then they've created this course based on that. So people like me who maybe years ago learned it in a more complicated way, this is a much simpler, much more approachable way, and the fact that they've done it in bite-sized chunks means that you can learn the first bit, process that for two weeks, then the next lesson will come along. You'll process that for two weeks and then the next one comes along. So it's more than approachable for anyone to solve a Rubik's Cube. But, with that being said, thank you all very much and we'll speak to you again soon on another episode of Desert Island Tricks. Bye-bye.
Speaker 4:Hi, peter Nardi here and I really hope you enjoyed that podcast. I just wanted to make you know that Alakazam have their own app. You can download it from the App Store or the Google Play Store. It from the app store or the google play store. By downloading the app, it will make your shopping experience even slicker. At alakazam, you'll also get exclusive in-app offers and in-app live streams. So go download it now and we'll see you on the next podcast.