Desert Island Tricks

Chris Webb

• Alakazam Magic • Season 2 • Episode 51

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A brass cap on a table. A ring hovering between hands. A deck that turns to glass. From a childhood trip to Hamleys to late‑night jams at Blackpool, we sit down with Chris Webb to map the eight routines he’d keep for life and the trend he’d bury in the sand.

Chris is a working magician who splits time between gigs and releases, so every choice has to earn its pocket space. We start with coin powerhouses, Garrett Thomas’s Imagination Coins for clean, spectator‑in‑hand moments and the engineering elegance of Dynamic Coins that sparked Chris’s journey. Then we pivot to card thinking that invites conversation rather than eye‑rolls: Omni Deck as a closer framed as solidity, not vanishing, and Director’s Cut, a stack of film cards that turns tables into instant movie clubs while the method hums beneath the chatter.

The visuals get bolder without getting fragile. Distortion by Wayne Houchin delivers a pip migration that feels like analog CGI, and Chris’s own Flash bill change turns receipts and doodles into spendable currency with a reliable, no‑fuss gimmick you can keep in your wallet or phone case. Thread work widens the texture: Venom’s dual system powers a ring sequence where time literally pauses mid‑drop. For stand‑up or family crowds, Fibre Optics by Richard Sanders adds rope momentum, snapping from unequal to equal lengths with the kind of rhythm that photographs well and resets even better.

We talk taste and boundaries too. Chris banishes Rubik’s Cube magic presented as speed‑solving skill, arguing for plots that feel impossible rather than merely practiced. His book pick, Jay Sankey’s Unleashed, explains the eclecticism: practical, quirky, audience‑tested ideas across coins, cards, keys, and everyday objects. Even his “non‑magic” item, a screen-less, disposable‑style camera, echoes a core value: be present, capture honest moments, and let artefacts tell the story later, exactly what strong routines do after you leave the table.

If you want a set that plays at weddings, restaurants, and corporate walk‑around, clear, commercial, and photogenic, this conversation is a blueprint.

Chris’ Desert Island Tricks: 

1. Imagination Coins

2. Omni Deck

3. Directors Cut

4. Venom Reel 

5. Distortion 

6. Dynamic Coins 

7. FLASH

8. Fibre Optics 

Banishment. Rubik’s Cube Magic as a Skill 

Book. Unleashed 

Item. Disposable Camera 

Find out more about the creators of this Podcast at www.alakazam.co.uk

Childhood Spark At Hamleys

SPEAKER_03

I I just wanted to put this on the list because I think it's so important to remember your roots and where you started. And for me, when I was something like 12 or 13. Yeah, I'm a Welshier. You wouldn't know. You can't really hear it. My parents are Londoners. But we live down in Wales, and every Christmas we go up to London because my parents were from Chiswick and around that way in London. And my uncle Dan, my mum's brother, he would say, Right, I need to go and buy some fancy shirts in London because he works in finance and stuff. But if you're good for the day, we'll go to a certain place afterwards. And I was like, all right, okay. This is like day after Boxing Day or something. And we go to a magical place called Hamley's. And we went in and we were just looking at toys. We weren't looking at magic. I don't think I was really into it. I might have had a Paul Daniels set, but I wasn't into it. And then uh we see uh this uh chap deming one trick, which we bought straight away, along with a wizard deck, which is a taper deck. Now look, I know this is so in a sense out there because you think, oh, what will you do? It is a phenomenal bit of engineering and it's beautiful, it's great, and that is truly what got me into all of this.

Meeting Chris Webb And Career Arc

SPEAKER_02

He had his own stand there, and I realized he was literally around releasing his own things when I started in this game. And it was only after I got back from Blackpool that I started researching and I looked at his products and I went, oh my god, yes, gumslinger. Oh my god, yes, oh my god, yes. And I literally went through his back catalogue, and then I remember I watched his um at the table lecture, and I remember absolutely loving it because it was a departure from the kind of things that I'd looked at uh at that time as well. And it was only at that time that I realized he must have kind of diverted away from the magic community and then come back. And when we were at Blackpool, he showed me two incredible tricks. So he showed me uh Flash, which is a brilliant build change. Uh, I would say it's a receipt to build change. I've actually got it in my wallet right now, uh, and I absolutely love it. And we've got Hero Reveals as well, which was a brilliant, brilliant card effect, or series of effects, actually. There's lots that you can do with them. Um, it was absolutely brilliant, and it's so nice to see him on his own stand, still going, uh, still putting out incredible, incredible magic. And I know that this is gonna be a really rich list of tricks because we just worked out that he's been in the industry for over 25 years, and in that time, there is no way that you cannot consume an awful lot of magic. So I know this is gonna be a great list. He's super lovely as well. So it is the wonderful Chris Webb. Hello, Chris. Hi there, hi there, Jim. How are you, buddy? All right, I'm very well. It's great to have you on here, and of course, like I just said, you've been doing this for such a long time.

SPEAKER_03

Yeah, too long, I think. Yeah, we were just trying to work out the maths then. Yeah, no, I I've always done that, and I always uh performed since quite young and whatever, and I do a mix of goodness me, kids, adults, kind of stand-up, not illusions. I don't know, give them the leotard. Um, but yeah, I've I've I've done it all, and then obviously the creating side of things, I've always done it. But no, you're right. I took a bit of a step back a few years uh and and had like a I was doing little bits every now and then, but nothing like I was before. But I just think the whole releasing uh industry changed, not so much the community, but the way it all happened, and I just stepped back to focus on performing, which I think is a good healthy thing. So and I've just been more focused on that, but then now you get the little bugs and you want to come back and and and uh play with little things, and and yeah, it was so good to see you at Blackpool. And uh yeah.

SPEAKER_02

So when you said that you sort of went into the performing side of it, is that where you're at now? Or are you now focusing back on the creation side of things?

SPEAKER_03

Both, both actually, yeah. I mean, I've always done the gigs in the background, and that's the main kind of thing that you know supports the family as such and whatever. But then with the releasing side of things, because it changed so much, I just didn't do it, but now I'm more back into that. There's a few more bits coming out over the next few months, which you'll start to see around a lot of magic shops, and yeah, and hopefully you'll start to see more bits along the way. But I'm just really cautious now of what I'm putting out and I want to make sure that it's fun, that it's commercial, it's usable, and or if it like uh warrants a revisit, like the build change thing, for example, like Flash. But yeah, I'm just uh doing that, and like, yeah, I mean, I'm not being boasty, but I gotta, yeah, I was telling you, I got a gig later on, I've got a wedding tomorrow, and I got a kid show Sunday. So that's the level of different types of magic. I'm not this busy every weekend, but it's just yeah, so but I I love performing. Um, and I think because I do it kind of because I have multiple kind of incomes of uh of you know, of for work-wise and stuff like that. I generally get to pick and choose which gigs I do, which is a bit of a pleasure. And I generally every time I do it, I love doing the shows. Kids' shows are nuts, you never know what they're gonna say, what they're gonna do. Weddings are always a good laugh because they're normally a little bit half-cut in some cases. So no, I I I love doing it. And uh yeah, tonight's uh another really good one with uh a regular client that I do stuff for. So yeah, love it, love it all.

SPEAKER_02

Amazing. Well, it's good to see you back out releasing, and when it comes to your list, then I know that a lot of what you do is quite visual, it's normally quite fun, it's normally quite quirky as well. There tends to be a quirky aspect to to your magic. So uh and organic as well. You you tend to use organic props as well. Uh certainly in some of your past releases, we've seen you experimenting with everyday objects. So when it comes to your list, what kind of without giving too much away, what kind of avenue did you go down in order to put the list together?

Performing Vs Releasing: Finding Balance

SPEAKER_03

Yeah, for sure. It was so to pick eight is so much harder. And I I I sadly have honorable mentions of a couple things because it was such a struggle. But no, um, so what I've put on this list are things that I generally do and gig, and things that I think uh I know that I would just love to keep doing if you are in a situation of these are the only things you can do for the rest of your life. Look, there's loads of things that, as you said, quirky things I come up with, like that solo sandwich thing, for example. And and yes, there's spins and other methods and quirky stuff and so on. Uh, I like having a joke, I like having a gig, loving a laugh and whatever. But um, but yeah, no, these are all things that I generally perform, uh, or stuff I feel like I could not do without in some sense. Uh yeah. And again, I I I perform for adults, kids, so I want to kind of cover a lot of it. There's no um, you know, uh hippity hoppity rabbit stuff, but uh yeah, it's uh no, it's fun tableau of things that I generally do and use, and a lot of them I will be doing later on. So yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_02

Well, I'm really looking forward to hearing this list. If it's your first time listening, the idea is we're about to maroon Chris on his very own magical island. When he's there, he's allowed to take eight tricks, banish one item, take one book and one non-magic item that he uses for magic. I think that one's gonna be an interesting one, actually, the the non-magic item. Because when you think about some of his releases in the past, I think it should be really good. Um, so let's find out. What's in your position number one, Chris?

SPEAKER_03

So number one, and these are in no order. This is just everything I kind of uh yeah put together. So number one, and I don't do a lot of coins, but is Imagination Coins by Garrett Thomas. Now, this is a bit of a cheat as well, because if you know it, you get a special tool you can use for many other coin routines. Um think Turtle, and you're there. And it's it's just such a great different bit of coin magic. And if people aren't aware, um you have uh four coins, um, and they can be anything half dollars, you know, UK currency, euros, whatever you want. And uh you literally talk about what's imagination and what's reality, and you can show four coins uh in your uh in your hand, um, and then uh you continue to you take your hand out and you put on the spectator's tan and they hold all the four coins. You then say, make a fist, you put you say, I'm gonna take one out and put it in my hand. And of course, you say, Did I do it, or did you imagine I did it? And of course, you didn't actually do it. Then when you open your hand, the coin is in your hand, and they open their hand and they only have three in theirs. And then again, uh, you do the same thing again for the kind of the the next time. Uh, and but this time they're holding all four. You take that one coin, you physically, visually put it in your hand, and then of course that vanishes and reappears back in their hand, and it you're left super clean, and it's such a powerful moment. And then you can do whatever coin stuff you want to do. But I love that, and along with that, you can do other great things like Daniel Garcia's coins across, um, which I had to jot down the name because I couldn't remember it. Uh personal safe, so uh which is a great, great coins across if you've never in spectators' hands if you've never seen it. So that's a good one. But yeah, but imagination coins out Thomas, I think it's brilliant. I remember seeing that at Blackpool years ago, uh, and when he came over, and it absolutely stumped me. And I was like, that's just so good, and instantly thought it. Yeah, and still do it now.

SPEAKER_02

I remember having this conversation with Harry actually. I don't do a lot of coin magic, but I think if I did do one routine, it would be this one because I think it's the clarity of what's happening as well. It's kind of like a two-phase thing. Um, it's super clear, it's all in the hands of the spectator.

Organic, Visual, Quirky Magic Philosophy

SPEAKER_03

And I also I'm gonna do more coin magic, I'm gonna do coin more coin magic, but I only just do this. Like, I'm not a free-fly kind of guy or that kind of stuff, but I just think because this is so in their hands, and it's so clear, as you said, in what you're saying, what you're doing, it just absolutely slays. Um, and and again, across like you can do this in any age group, and and it's still because it's more visual than it is, you know, discussion-wise. So it's it's I honestly I think it's an abstract gem, I think it's perfect. I think you did an incredible job of making that trick what it is, and yeah, yeah. I don't know if a lot of people use it in terms of gigging-wise, but I think it's something beautiful, yeah.

SPEAKER_02

And it had a great trailer. I remember the trailer being really cool as well.

SPEAKER_03

Yeah, as I said, we were saying before as well, I'm a massive nerd on like magic history, tricks, releases, names, and I I'm one of these nerds that like somebody says, Oh, what's this thing with a card? And uh no, but I I know what it is, you know. I'm one of those ones. But I remember when he shot that was was it with like Cosmo or something? They and they did the real magic DVDs, the same, yeah.

SPEAKER_02

Amazing. Well, that's a great one in at number one. Let's move on to a number two. What's in your second spot?

SPEAKER_03

Well, I'm gonna flip to number three, but I will come back to number two because I just want to give a bit of diversion. So on. Uh, and actually, and this is not like an affiliated link thing, but Peter will love this. Uh, director's cut now. Director's cut to me. I again I use this all the time. I'm a huge film nerd. Um, if if it all flipped around here, there's movie posters all around this side. But um, I'm a huge film nerd, and I generally have a pretty decent knowledge of of film because I consume too much. Uh I have a three-phase routine, two phases of it use director's cut, and it is such a good and like nobody catches it, and it's just again, it's a stack of um uh movie posters, film cards, yeah, and they can go through, you they can, you know, you can cut to one, say stop, they look at the film, and instantly you know what the film they're thinking of is, and you never see their card and so on. Um, but you can do so much with this, and uh and it's it again, it's just it's a great conversation piece as well. And I do an extra phase when you get like a you know, you can use like a peak wallet or bring you could do this in multiple ways, where um they write down the name of their film, that's the their favorite film, that's the first thing, you know. Uh, and then you go into director's cut and I do a couple of phases of that, and then you come back to their film at the end, kind of thing. But it's such a great conversation piece, and sometimes they will pick the film that is within the cards, uh, you know, which is quite rare, but it does happen. So, um, but yeah, a director's cut, and I'm sure you'll obviously you're fully aware of director's cut. And uh I don't know uh if Pete has ever re-released this, have they? I don't know if there's new cards or excited. I'm I'm a bit off the I need a new set, is what I'm trying to say, Jamie.

Rule Of The Island: Eight Tricks Framework

SPEAKER_02

So I I believe if we don't have it, we're in the process of getting it reproduced. But what what I think was interesting with what you said there is it is a conversation starter, yeah, because last year we had a trick out called Flicks by Nicholas Mavresis, which is again movie themed, and I took it to my restaurant uh that I work at regularly. And the amount of times a group of people will burst into conversation when you bring the cart out, as you're showing the different films, someone will go, Oh, I haven't seen E.T. And everyone, what you've not seen E.T. What yeah, what's going on? So it really does create conversation, it's brilliant.

Pick #1: Imagination Coins

SPEAKER_03

It's great, and I and I remember when Chris Nolan's um uh Dunkirk came out. This is one of these generational films because it was a film that dads were seeing, they were taking their sons to see it, but the granddad was also seeing it too because of the obviously the war topic and stuff like that. Kind of like you say from private rise. But because this came out, you would get three generations of a family going to see one film. I saw it in the cinema with my brother-in-law and my father-in-law, you know, we all went to see it together because it war films kind of do that thing. I remember distinctly it was like a summer garden party kind of thing and some stately place. And then I got the dad and the son to think of a film, and they both thought of the same one, which is so even better. There was a nice link, and it was all you know, and it flows. But again, like as I said, it I'm quite more nerdy, and then it so if I know the film, which is a very high chance, I I make a joke about um, I say, uh, you pick any film you want to, and I say, uh, it's not a French noir, is it? You know, because if they're doing that, I'm not gonna know what it is, and it gets a little giggle. And I go, but people would know it. They go, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, whatever. But then you do get some really abstract, out there films that people write down themselves. And some of them are absolutely, you know, crazy. But again, having a half-decent knowledge of films, like, you know, they can pick the film, and even with this with the director's cuts cards, I know all of those films more than well enough to name the actors in them, uh, directors, scores, and and things like uh uh famous lines from the films, and and you can really play with it. So every time you do it, it feels different as well because you don't know what avenue you're gonna go down to, and depending on which one they pick, and yeah, again, like you make a joke about die hard being the best Christmas film ever. You know, I don't even say die hard, I go the best Christmas film ever, and then you show that one. There's a Bambi joke, which is a bit, you know, 15, so we won't say that. So yeah, I mean look, Director's Cut is brilliant, as I said, super conversation piece. It is yeah, I think for me, films do that. I can talk about films to the the cows come home and and yeah. On the way down to Blackpool, we I kid you not, we had a three and a half discussion about James Bond, you know, and all the films. This is this is the level that yeah, honestly, director's cut is so good, and I really hope you know you guys do put another version. I'd love to, I think even with the same films or different films, I wouldn't count you'd learn it quite fast. Yeah, I just think it's so good, and I'd love to get a nice set, you know. But they're they're printed on like a laminated card, and that's why it's lasted me so long. Like, and because they're blank on the back, that's even a better thing. There's no way that they're you know they're marked or something like that. So um, yeah, I'd love to see what what yeah, what what you guys do and if yeah, we get a new version of it. But honestly, Drexel's card, I love doing it.

SPEAKER_02

Well, it's a great one in number three, because you said that you're gonna skip number two.

SPEAKER_03

So I'm gonna I'll do number two now. I just cause I don't want it to be so now this because this might be a little bit uh too on the nose, too obvious, and I can't say a deck of cards because it feels like a cop-out. But for me, and I know there's many discussions which we'll go into now, uh Omnideck. Now when you do uh close-up gigs, wedding corporate, all these kind of things, I can't tell you how great Omni deck is as a closer. I've tried to have so many different uh kind of closes at an end of a trick of a card routine because of course you're doing ambitious sandwich multiple locations with the deck of cards. You have to, like it's one of the easiest things, and you can do a million things with a pack of cards. So, but I always end with Omni, and I know I know the argument is a lot of people do it, and I think there was a phase, I can't remember someone did a DVD with it on, and it just became this huge thing of gigging magicians and close-up to you know to to do this, and I don't and then and I don't think that too many people doing it. I think that too many people were doing it wrong in a sense. I think that was one part of it. And I think if you make it a joke and you say, Oh, the deck's gonna vanish and it's gonna go clear and all this kind of stuff like this. The problem is it doesn't vanish, and it doesn't it it just doesn't vanish, it's still there. You've got a tangible you're holding something. So if you go more down a kind of route of you're gonna make something solid and you're gonna turn it into glass, even though it's purse works, I don't ever question it. If you're on a big table, just drop it on a china plate, it sounds glass, you know. But um, but yeah, but it's and that's the thing, and I think that was the big thing of it, is you if you make it into a solid impossible object opposed to uh it's vanished, it's gone, because it hasn't, it's still there. I think that was a big thing. And I was always feared that uh there were certain tricks we talk exposure, like um Mask Magician, right? And I remember when they revealed the first fave uh phase of Coin and Can, uh, Wayne Howard and Sinful, right? A brilliant piece of close-up magic. And it's great. And I was so scared I did not perform that for years because I believed that it was out there, you know, the method was out there. And I didn't do it for years, and then I realized hang on a second, hardly nobody watched this show, especially in the UK, and they saw that one specific clip of an episode. I was completely wrong. And I think that goes back to the omni thing of Well, is of the, you know, have people seen it too much? Has it been too much? I don't think anybody has hardly actually ever seen it. And let's say the average layman sees what I don't know, two magicians in a year, maybe at a Christmas party and at a wedding, right? And uh is it the high chance they're both gonna do the exact same set? I doubt it very much. There might be a couple of things like your double crosses that cross over and so on, but um, but no, I I I think Omni deck is absolutely brilliant, and it's just it's the way you do it, and I think that's that's the big thing on that. It's such a good finisher, and as I said, you get a deck of cards with it because you need it, so you you're kind of cheaping with a deck of cards, and now you're an item of a deck of cards, which can't be a bad thing. But if I had to pick one card trick, I'd say put by R. Paul Wilson. Like, I yeah, well, I'm kind of making it a two, but I I can't just search it, it's brilliant. It's such a good impromptu card trick, and it's it's beautiful. Just yeah, I love doing it. Great for magicians too. But put by R. Paul Wilson, just find it, watch the video, treat yourself. I won't count that as number two. I said omnideck is well, number three, rather, but um, but yeah, put by R. Paul Wilson's a great honorable mention of a card trick.

Why Clarity And Spectator Hands Matter

SPEAKER_02

Okay, we we like an honorable mention here. Yeah, yeah, they're all good. But I think there's a couple of interesting points with the omni deck. Is the omni deck is you know, it's the punchline to a joke, it is uh the twister in a film. It's it's the surprise ending that they're not gonna see coming. It doesn't matter how many times they've seen a trick before, because the omni deck is in its own capacity and effect separate to what's happened before it, yeah, they are never gonna be aware of it coming. So even if they've seen the omni deck before, they're still gonna be surprised by it. They're still gonna have that shock moment, they're still gonna have the twist. It does it doesn't matter, and there are different versions of it, you know. You've got the the Paul Daniels version, uh Paul Daniels, the Paul Harris version, sorry, where it just goes solid. And there is Joshua J's version where it turns into prison phantom deck. Yeah, I think it's it's just a great um thing to have. And and like you said, I think it it it doesn't really matter, it's such a powerful, amazing moment, dude. It's surprising.

SPEAKER_03

And I think as you said, because I I think because there was this scaremongering of oh, too many people are doing it, a lot of people stopped doing it. I was like, great, thanks, you know, say even better. But yeah, but it's it's yeah, no, you you don't hear it. I I mean, look, if I'm at gigs, the one I hear a lot of someone else did it, it's normally double cross, but double cross is pretty great. So yeah, gentlemen. But yeah, but no, omnideck for me, I think it's I again it's the it's the way it's done. I think that was a big part of the issue, in my opinion, my humble opinion.

SPEAKER_02

Well, I think it's a great one in it. Number two slash three. Uh let's go to number four then. What's in your fourth spot?

SPEAKER_03

Okay, number four. So we're stuck in an island and you want to do other things. And I thought this is a great multiple tool to have because isn't it cool to float things? Venom ITR, real. So um, so Venom uh look. Look, it's brilliant, and I'm lucky enough to know uh Arthur uh Chavre a little bit, and it was great to see him again at Blackpool. And whatever that guy does is phenomenal. And I know this is from the uh uh Magi factory that they also produced this, and there's the new version out now. Um, I I believe it. I have the original one uh down here as well. But um, but it's so good because you've got this dual system. I'll be very careful what I say. But with this now, you can levitate, you can do haunted decks, you can do PK touches. I mean, the ring stuff from the original on this, where you can make a ring jump from hand to hand. I mean, looks beautiful, slow motion when you drop a ring and it pauses and floats in time in mid-air, and then it can go back up or down. Um, as I said, you can do like haunted decks with it and you can float anything. And if you're on an island, you want to pick up a leaf and float it, you can do it, you know? It's cool. I think it's great. And I and I think the new way they have it, and again, I I won't tip it. The new way they have it, um, where you you you're weightlessly throwing this coin and it bounces from hand to hand. Yeah, there's things to help you on a desert island do that, so you can do that as well. And I and I I see you're trying to be so cryptic, but um but the the venoms are brilliant, and I loved how they pushed it again and they took what was brilliant and made it even better, allowing you to still do all that stuff before, but so much more, and our from the team have just uh like nailed it, but again, it's a great thing to have that's different, and you can do so much with it.

SPEAKER_02

Well, we love Devil's Advocate on this podcast, and the devil has just popped up because you've just selected a utility item. Well, you're not allowed a utility. You are allowed a utility, that's fine, and I think it's a great choice. Uh, all of the stuff that I've seen on the the Venom Pro is just phenomenal, but you're only allowed to do one trick with your Venom.

Pick #2: Omni Deck As Closer

SPEAKER_03

Okay, so if I do one trick with it, it's probably the ring thing, the ring across when you make the ring jump from hand to hand, and then you can do it in slow motion. So it's there's that whole routine sequence he has. So you you you borrow a finger ring, which can be borrowed, which is amazing itself. You can hold it in one hand, and instantly it just floats across to the other hand. You can then pick the ring up and you drop it, it'll pause in mid-air like time has frozen, and then it will either shoot back up to your fingers or it goes back down to your hands. You can give the ring straight back to the spectator and clean as a whistle.

SPEAKER_02

Well, again, I think it's really uh a great choice. And just looking at the first four, when we said at the head of the podcast that I thought that maybe you'd have quite a quirky list, 100%. You know, we've gone from a coin trick to an omni-deck to director's cut, which are movie cards, and now to a ring floating. So in terms of in terms of you know, when they talk about um if you've got a photographer at your event and each time you're doing a trick, they take a photo, how diverse those photos will be. I mean, we've got this incredible coin trick where you're gonna have the the solid block, you're gonna have these movie cards, and uh a cut uh a ring floating in midair. I think that's great so far.

SPEAKER_03

Well, thank you. I think because look, I I could have easily gone down the route of picking tons of gimmicks because uh gimmicks are what I love. But I I think, yeah, I tried to what would you in my eyes, it's what could you not live without doing? That was my kind of thing. And and again, you don't want to be doing the same thing over and over and over. So I mean, yeah, you could probably pick loads of card routines, for example.

SPEAKER_02

But um well, we've still got a few more to go, so let's go to number five.

SPEAKER_03

What's in your fifth spot? I did have something else, but I changed it this morning. I was gonna go turbo stick by Richard Standards because I think it's great, but instead, I clocked it earlier in my office and I went, Oh my god, I remember the first time I saw that, I fell in love with it, I thought it was so different, and this is out there. Distortion by Wayne Houching. Now, look, I know this is a one-trick pony thing, but I remember the first time I saw this, and it was like CGI is real and and it's so good. And again, if we're not aware what this is, um I believe Theory 11 first put this out, and uh uh and it's you uh have a card picked, um you I think it's like the six of diamonds, you lose it back in the deck, and you say we're gonna try and find it, and of course, you bring out the four of diamonds, which is not the card. You then hold it, and visually the pips on the four start to split and kind of float up the card to create six diamonds, and you give it a little wave and you can see the six in the corner, and then of course you hand it out and you're good to go. And I just think it's such a visual thing, and something I would love to put back in. And I know this has been done so many different ways now, moving forwards with various things. But when you go back to that original and and uh and uh and look at it, and I've got my original hung down it in a DVD case with a disc, which is unheard of, and the gimmicks in there, and I used it so much. If you know what it is, the back of it is so worn down that you would not believe. But then, yeah, it it's it's a thing of beauty, uh, distortion by Wayne Houch. And then Wayne Houch is a phenomenal creator, and I know he's done loads of uh uh stuff since that, but um, yeah, I've got tons of his stuff here, and I loved him when I think because when he was kind of coming out, that's when I'm really sponging all this stuff in, and I loved the stuff he was coming out with and like stigma auto and stuff, and there's he's got so many great things.

SPEAKER_02

And I believe, if I remember rightly, he would have to do something at the end, of course, but then he would hand that card back to them, yeah.

SPEAKER_03

Um sneaky little TC. There you go. But yeah, but I mean, but the because the visual of it was is and you see the four in the diamonds, then the six diamonds appear, but um within the same card, you see the six in the top corner as well, and then you do the work to think, but it's a genius gimmick, and I think a star of all those types of gimmicks, and uh, I think there's loads of people that use a lot of that kind of clever stuff and uh and that kind of method for so many other things now, which is great. Um, yeah, lots lots of uh Spanish and Italian magicians love that kind of work and stuff. So you see loads of great gimmicks with them on it. But um, but yeah, I I think it's the original, I think it's brilliant, and yeah, it it's it's yeah, I know it's like a one-trick pony, but it's it's so good, so good.

SPEAKER_02

Uh, we did just have a phone call from Richard Sardis, though. He's not talking to you again. Well, he might be later on. Oh, okay. See? Give nothing away, give nothing away.

SPEAKER_01

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SPEAKER_02

Then what's in your sixth spot?

Trailers, Exposure, And Laypeople Memory

SPEAKER_03

Okay, now this is so out there, this is so random. And I was like, I I just wanted to put this on the list because I think it's so important to remember your roots and where you started. And for me, when I was goodness me, what something like 12 or 13. My um Yeah, I'm a Welshier, you wouldn't know. You can't really hear it. My parents are Londoners, but we live down in Wales, and every Christmas we'd go up to London because my parents were from Chiswick and all around that way in London. And uh my uncle Dan, my mum's brother, uh he would say, Right, I need to go and buy some fancy shirts in London because he works in finance and stuff. He says, But if you're good for the day, we'll go to a certain place afterwards. I was like, all right, okay. This is like day after Boxing Day or something. And we go to a magical place called Hamley's, and I waited all thing for this, and we went in, and he would we were just looking at toys, we weren't looking at magic. I don't think I was really into it. I might have had a Paul Daniels set, but I wasn't into it. And then uh we see uh this uh chap deming one trip, which we bought straight away, along with a wizard deck, which is a taper deck, but the main thing we bought was uh dynamic coins, and now look, I know this is so in a sense out there because you think, oh whoa, you do every time I see this. We were in an antique cellar not long ago. My daughter, where we live, uh just down here, and she's uh 11. And uh we were in this antique shop and they had it in Dynamics Coins in there, not a Marbin's version, but another version for two British pounds. Brand new and sealed. I was like, we're getting it, and then she was doing it on the way back. We conveniently went via a pub and she was doing it within seconds. And yeah, the dynamic coins, I'm sure everyone knows what this is, but uh it's the uh these two little brass caps, and you have a brass ring. And as soon as you put the brass uh kind of cap down on the table and you lift it up, a stack of tempeh coins appear or quarters appear. And then you put the other one down and they vanish from under this cap and they go to that cap. They can then penetrate through the back of each other through the solid brass, and at the end they can all vanish. And it is a phenomenal bit of engineering, and it's beautiful, it's great, and that is truly what got me into all of this. I really believe so. And and even the little thing of like having the stack of pennies, uh it it like there's loads of cool things, but again, this is all Marvin Burglass, you know. Um I bumped into it Blackpool Christ about five, six years back, uh, and it was outside the Ruskin crossing uh crossing the road in the middle of the day, and I was an absolute fangirl, and I was like, you know, oh I need a picture, you know, and it is because he was the guy that kind of staffed it in a funny sense. He was super nice, and yeah, as a as a very grown man, it was slightly awkward, but he was lovely. So um, but yeah, dynamic coins. I I think it's so good. And if you get the box from Hamley, you get the Vashan thing as well with it.

Pick #3: Director’s Cut And Film Chat

SPEAKER_02

Well, it's one that we've actually had a surprising amount on us, yeah. So it's maybe not as much of a curveball as you thought. But as as you were talking about that, I was trying to think. There seems to be certain tricks in our industry which are almost like cultural phenomena, you know, yeah, within our industry. Certainly in the UK, we we've said before if you went to London and you went to um Davenport's magical place in the world. It felt like you're walking on the set of Harry Potter or something, it was amazing. But you'd always walk out with, you know, Rainbow Cascade or uh card warp, you know. Yes, yeah, Roy Maltons. Yeah, yeah, yeah, for sure. It was always the same tricks, but dynamic coin seems to be one of those tricks that has either come across people's lives in some way, or you know, they've discovered early on, and it really seems to have created a massive cultural thing, like historically. I wonder what it is about certain tricks that make them such a uh phenomenon in in the the world, really.

SPEAKER_03

Well, I'd love to know when I'm a number one bestseller then that way. But um, but no, I but I think it's these things that stay around, and I and I when I use like little brass things, it seems like quite an old archaic and looking like an older thing. Uh, but I just don't know why, but it has stayed. And I think honestly, the mass of that is due to probably um Marvin's magic. I think that's a big part of it. The fact that they've kept these things for years and like like energized coin. Like, I mean, the first time I saw that, I had no idea. And now they have roller coaster, which is like it, and yeah, and and it's still brilliant, and I and I've got all of those as well. They're great. But but yeah, I I think I think Marvin has so much to do, Marvin, like I know him. Like, I think Marvin has like so many, he started so many careers and with his dad's legacy and into his legacy and becoming Hamley's and all this. And again, I used to live in Wales, so it's really rural and stuff. And there was one tiny little toy shop uh in this town, like half an hour, 40 minutes away, and they had some of the Marvin's range, you know. And I remember writing to him as a kid asking if I could do dealer dems in the shop and stuff, like genuinely. And I had a very polite reply saying no, but it was still very nice, you know. But um, and yeah, I remember having an A4 Marvin's catalogue, like a like a booklet pamphlet thing. I've still got it, it's here somewhere, you know. But yeah, I know I do think he he has a lot for keeping these things alive, and and then yeah, and of course, similar to that, things like coin squeeze, which I need to buy a new one of because that's another great bit of kit. And whenever I um if I do a show or I know this kid wants to get into magic, I will buy them a dynamic coins because I think it's just such a great foundation, a kind of thing of vanish, reappearance, transition, kind of like cups and balls, you know? You can learn all of this stuff with dynamic coins, it's kind of that, but a lot more easier to do.

SPEAKER_02

Well, it's a great one in at number six, and it takes us to the tail end of your eight with two more to go. So, what's in at number seven?

SPEAKER_03

Number seven, okay. I said I wouldn't do this, but I'm gonna shamelessly pick one of my own things, and only because, and I know, and I know, and I know you shouldn't, and and I and I and I it's one of these things, but and this is not like this is just generally something that I came up with years ago, and then it kind of came out and it was kind of gone. And then I didn't have the rights to it, so I couldn't really do much with it. So I was always coming up with ideas. I was like, oh, well, put it on the shelf kind of thing. And then I got the rights back to it recently, uh, because it was with Magic Tow at the time, and it came back to me, which is really nice and cost us to know to do that and allow that. It you know, huge respect there. And um uh so now I was like, right, okay. So I kind of re-soft released it for Blackpool. And even since Blackpool, I've now come up with other hands, make it even fairer. So, like, there's it's forever evolving and changing, and I'm so happy with that. And that is my build change, which you spoke about being cool flash. Um, I generally believe not to be too ego, it's the best thing I've ever come up with. I'm not saying it's the best trick in the world, but it's the best thing that I've ever come up with. And um, I think it's super visual, there's so many different changes to it. Uh, it is uh coming out in the next few months uh with a massive kind of rebuff, refurb, and the access to something you can add to it, which is a big library of ways, what you can change into notes and stuff, which I'm forever compiling, and the list keeps getting bigger. Um so so yeah, so it yeah, and it's it's just the bill change. It's uh uh it's all in your hand, it's easy to do. You can show a receipt, a blank piece of paper, um, a voucher, kids drawn money, monopoly money, anything you want to. Um, and then literally by opening it, it instantly changes into a bill, a real bill, you know, polymore uh bills or dollars or UK, anything, any any currency in the world, uh, and it turns into it and it's super visual. Um, and you're not relying on, you know, can I say magnets, elastic, that kind of stuff. You're not relying, not relying, not tip of a method, but you're not relying on that uh stuff to do it. It's literally well, I would say science, but it's literally it just works and it's great. And I'm really, really proud where it is. And again, it keeps evolving every time.

SPEAKER_02

Well, I can talk it up for you because this is one of the very few items that I purchased at Blackpool. And I actually sent friends of mine over, and they came back immediately with one as well. Um, thank you. So it just goes to show it's to me, it was a bit of a no-brainer because this is something that can sit in my wallet and not having to worry about having stacks of bills, which I know sometimes is uh a bit of a thing. It's not normally the kind of trick that I would do either, but it's just nice if we've got a young person at the restaurant and I can just do this quick, snappy thing. Um, the only really annoying thing was the day uh that night that we purchased it, we went back to the hotel and uh I showed the team. They were impressed by the trick, very unimpressed by my handling of it. So Jenny, Jenny then took hold of it and did it substantially better than I did. She she did it to your level.

Conversation Starters And Themed Routines

SPEAKER_03

Well, I I saw yeah, so I saw somebody do a video of it online quite recently, actually, selling like some masterclass course thing. It was like a visual grab, and they did it better than me. So that really annoyed me. But uh, but it was really good. It's a little lacke thing, but with the teachings of it, that's that's what covers it, and it's the way you handle it, really. But yeah, I but I I know from not doing this video, but I have it in the back of my phone because it's like a clear, you know, phone case thing. So mine's stuck in the back there. And uh, and again, as I said to you earlier on, I've got some here. So these are the other versions of it as well, and so on. So, which I'll show you later on. Um, but yeah, it's I it's just forever evolving, forever changing. It's in your wallet, it's in the back of your phone, it's always there. If you're getting a bill at a restaurant, it's an easy go-to to whatever. And I love that kind of stuff. Um, that kind of bill stuff. But again, I came up with this. This is one of the first things I ever brought to like maybe second thing I brought to like the magic community years and years and years and years ago. I think it was God, I think it was like 2011 or something like that. And uh I discovered the method by mistake, which is even more fun. And I went, oh, we could apply that to this, this, this, and that and it works. So, but yeah, as I said, it's really easy to do, and I'm forever adding different routines and ways to present it and stuff. So uh, but ultimately it's it's the easiest build change I personally think you can do. I always say if you can open a bit of paper, you can you can do it. That that's literally the that's the science in it. Yes, you need to practice finesse it, but that's with anything. But I I I I love it and it keeps growing on me. And we're sorry to do shameless plug.

SPEAKER_02

It's it's the method for me that that got me because it's the prop itself which is uh doing the work for you. Essentially, yeah, literally. Nothing can break on it unless you tear it. It it's just a really clever, solid method for this kind of effect. Well, thank you, man. Thank you. I appreciate that. Well, we already know because of a little uh hint earlier on that your last effect may be created by a certain creator. So let's find out which one of those effects uh is in your final spot.

SPEAKER_03

For sure. Well, Richard Sanders, as we said, I would love you to guess what you think it is. I'm gonna say any card. No. I think it's the ultimate compendium of magic, but there is one specific thing. So I noticed about utility stuff. Um, fibre optics. Now, I know people go rope magic. I like I I get it, I get it. I've done this for obviously you do this for kids, you do this for I do this for adults when I do like a like a stand-up cabaret piece because again, it's the way you present it and so on, and it's essentially the unequal ropes, is what you're doing, but then it goes from that to one steroids, you know. So you've done you have a short one, a medium one, a long one, of course, for adults for jokes, for kids, there isn't, and then uh you show the ropes, they all become the same length, but then you take one of them out of the way and you're left with two, and it's this rapid bombardment. And I always based it on like uh Paul Daniels' chop cut, right? I saw this him do that on the stage when I was 16. I was wearing a double denim, and I kissed Debbie McGee on the cheek, and there's a picture of it somewhere. The double denim picture's a treat, uh, yeah. And um and I remember I was on a balcony in Camarthan uh watching this show, and it was like my focus just zoomed in at him, and then I was in front of him like it was closer. That's how engaging it was. But his chock cup, it's the rapid part of the top is on the bottom, it's on the bottom, the top of the cup, it's inside the cubs on top of the beaner, that kind of thing. And that's what I do with the fiber optics. And because uh Richard Sanders gives you so because Richard Sanders I've got to stop doing it, but because Richard Sanders gives you so many options on this uh this uh DVD set of uh so many moves and ways to piece it together, and he does give you full routines as well, like and it's literally I've just taken that that main unequal ropes routine, but instead of doing it slowly and all the links and stuff, I just do it rapid fire for that one phase, and then you stick a little, I think stick a little Wayne Dobson joke at the end of it as well, you know, and then so you do that, and then you go back and you can do moving not and whatever, but ultimately that that if you get that, it's probably a download now, shame my age. Um, but if you get that DVD, that download fiber optics, and you need to learn rope magic, I think, and it's no, and I'm not being rude to like Tarbell and things like that. I think it's just the ultimate modern compendium for rope magic. I really believe that. And I use it in kids, I use it in adults. So yeah, who would have thought rope magic fiber optics by Richard Sanders?

SPEAKER_02

Well, I think. It's a great one. I really we should have well, I should have guessed that that was the one because uh, in terms of closing out your list, you started off with imagination coins, coin trick on the deck, which is sort of a weird moment, director's cut was film cards, Venom Real. You mentioned the floating ring. Um, distortion is kind of like a morphing card, dynamic coins, which is another coin trick, but uh a strange thing with these brass gaps, flash, which is a build change. So, of course, it makes perfect sense that it wouldn't be a card trick in there, it would be ropes at this point. Yeah, it makes absolute sense.

Pick #4: Venom ITR And The Ring Sequence

SPEAKER_03

Yeah, it's all over the shop. I do apologize, but in a sense, I don't I think but I think because if you if you were stuck on an island, like you don't want to do the same card tricks over and over again, you know, 59 elms be counts later, and you're doing different routines. I think it's fun to have that variety. You're gonna have you look, I I'm seeing it says you're stuck on this island for the rest of your life, right? And uh yeah, those cars are gonna be so worn. We're gonna be like pub cars in a minute, sand in them and everything. But like I think you've got to have that variety of life and all these different things. And there's so many stuff I'd love to put on there, but I generally wanted to go with stuff that I use. I'm always trying to adapt and change these things and keep these things, but a lot of this list, this is the stuff that I fall back to and I go safe. That's like we just mean like your home, your you know, the stuff that you know well. And and I think it's important. Yeah, it's great to splice in new tricks into your set all the time. But for me, I want to be able to, especially if you're being paid, you want to be able to go somewhere and know you can deliver. And if I can do these things inside out, then I can focus on entertaining and patter and whatever else and so on.

SPEAKER_02

Well, I think it's a great diverse list. But Chris, we did give you eight tricks. Now, you got three more items, but you're only allowed one each of these. So I want you to imagine that you're about to dig a big sandy hole and you're gonna throw something inside never to be seen again. We're gonna bury it on your island. It's gonna be banished forever. What are you going to banish?

SPEAKER_03

Oh, I'm gonna get so much hate for this, I'll tell you now. Right. I need to say it, then I need to preface it, okay? And really clear this. Are you ready? So the first line is Rubik's Cube Magic. Now wait, no wait, no wait. The second line is when it's done as a skill. Now, if you get a Rubik's Cube magic and you bang it and it turns into MMs, brilliant. I think that's so cool, it's different. If you get a Rubik's Cube and it's and it's kind of it's not solved, but then you throw it in the air and instantly the whole cube solved in the air, that's great, that's magic. That's great. But when you see okay if what I say is, but when the the problem is what is the world record of solving Rubik's Cube? It's something stupid seconds, right? And that's the problem. I think it comes across as a skill in some cases, and again, each of their own performers. I know Tom Crosby, I love him dearly, and we had a good chat at Blackpool, and um and and I just think it's that it's that mix of it being well, if it can be done as a skill, you know, and now there's competitions of these one-hand solvers, right? So if my hands, and I'm probably overthinking this, if my hands go in a bag, shh, you know, and it and it's done, kind of thing, and that that's my only thing. And when it's seen as a skill or it could be done as a skill, that's when I'm a bit like, ah, I don't know. Because we had that big phase a couple years back when it was just Rubik's Cubes magic. I think one Blackpool, it was just all Rubik's Cubes, I'm sure. I'm sure it wasn't, but I'm sure. And uh and and yeah, I just think when it comes across as something that could be done as a skill, that's when it pulls me away from the magic. And this could be applied to a lot of magic stuff, but that was the first thing that came to my head when we first discussed, you know, when you said about doing this, and I was like, yeah, I think that's it. But to pull away from it, one thing I'm not a fan of as well, which is like a caveat, uh, is uh misleading magic trailers. I think it's cool to hike tricks, I agree, have all the cool shots in the video, I agree, but at least put a solid clip of that trick on the trailer too, you know? Or as a second trailer or whatever. But I think when you get some tricks are chopped and edited in a certain way in a trailer, when in actual fact you're seeing like the last phase of the first phase, and the second phase there's the last phase, and all this kind of stuff like that. It's a little bit like I I don't know, but just a clean have all your cool bits when you're talking about it and bam, bam, bang, and it all changes. Oh, yeah, amazing, great, but then have one relatively solid clip in its entirety. I know the problem with that though is it might tease a lot of methods, more if you're selling a method opposed to a visual trick or whatever. But I think sometimes magic traders can be uh yeah, just just one smooth clip is all we need, and then a bit of and but still build the hype trade. So yeah, that's just a take light off me talking about Rubik's Cube magic.

Building A Diverse, Photogenic Set

SPEAKER_02

So well, we're gonna curve back there now. Uh so let's talk about the the Rubik's Cube magic. I think to an extent you you have a point because I do think that some people may find Rubik's Cube just as as a notion and as an idea a bit boring, and to watch somebody solving a cube for three minutes may be seen uh as as a bit boring. I would caveat that, or uh I I would uh play devil's advocate, so to speak, not that devil's advocate, a new devil's advocate, um, and say that maybe solving a cube would show that um the cube is normal and it's uh a a normal cube. Yes. And if you're a solid performer, then you can make that interesting, and that a Rubik's Cube is seen as such a difficult thing in the public's eye. I mean, yeah, anyone who solved one knows it's not that difficult, really. It's just memorizing uh some steps. That when you do solve it, even if it is for two minutes, it's still seen as impressive. What do we think about it? Well, I'm I'm a two-minute mark man with a Rubik's Q.

SPEAKER_03

And uh and I I I'd learned to solve it like the um the step way, the kind of layer by layer sex mode, all the corners and all that stuff like that. And I and I and I love doing it. I got a little speed cube, and I every now and then it's a it's a great thing for anxiety and things like that. Takes your brain out of it, it's a great little thing to have. I love solving a Rubik's Cube, and it used to be I I was a cool uncle for a bit because I could solve a Rubik's Cube in under two minutes, you know. But um, but yeah, and then and and again I I love Rubik's Cubes, I think they're great, but I I I just I just think when it's yeah, it's that when it could be done because it's a skill, opposed to it being a magic trick. Yeah, prediction's slightly different, like you know, but um, but yeah, it's just an opinion, Jamie. That's all it is. Well, it's not right, and it's not wrong.

SPEAKER_02

It's a brilliant opinion, it's great, and that's the whole point of this segment. Um, I know that there are also like mentalists, for example, that don't like looking too skilled with a deck of cards for the same reason, yeah, for sure.

SPEAKER_03

Massively, for sure. Yeah, because again, it's that attitude of, yeah, well, I I could just you know get it and whatever. And you get some that bumble a bit. I mean, and I mean, like the ignorance of in a sense of like Tommy Cooper, for example, he was genuinely a very good magician, but the whole bumble point was to take you off the fact that he, you know, he wasn't all that kind of stuff, but um, yeah, I think it's you know, it's a mixture of that. So uh, but yeah, and I don't hate Roots Key Magic, it's just when it's sin as a skill. Uh uh, you know what I'm saying? I'm just trying to be easy, you know.

SPEAKER_02

Well, Richard Sanders phoned up and was upset earlier. Uh Tom Crosby's just phoned up. Uh also also Tom's alright.

Pick #5: Distortion And Visual Gimmicks

SPEAKER_03

I love Tom. Yeah, every time I see him we have a good old chat, and Tom's great. But like, but and I think like when when they appear as pictures and stuff like that, I think that stuff's really cool. Because I think, yeah, to solve within within anything to make it a pitch, that's blooming hard. But like, I don't know, yeah. I might be going back on myself here, but yeah, no. I think it's a valid point. Uh it's a hard thing to do because I mean, I I mean, I think you could you don't really want to banish anything in magic because if it's not working, you want to see more of it to convince you that it's good and it should stay. That's the kind of point you know I see on it. So you don't really want to get rid of anything. Uh a lot of the times if it's not good, it's because it's not done good, and that's why you don't. I mean, look, for example, let's push back to BGT years and years ago when Simon Cow traditionally hated magicians, and it wasn't that he hated magicians, he just seen uh, in a sense, ones that he didn't like or not as good or than before, and then a couple go on that he likes and it changed his whole scope, and now he's in love with it, you know, for goodness. And I just want to say, um, Rafi on BGT, phenomenal, absolutely brilliant. I know this is completely off segment, but I I remember meeting him once at a convention a few years, a couple years back, and I loved his energy then and with like coins and cards, he's brilliant. And to see him on that, and it was such a good connecting routine, and it felt great. So I yeah, I can't wait to see what he does next. And I'm not a big fan of follow-up, the BHD stuff, but that I will be for sure because yeah, I loved what he did. I loved it, very good, solid set.

SPEAKER_02

He was brilliant, and uh, for once he didn't drink that egg. Um, those that have seen him perform will understand why that's oh does it?

SPEAKER_03

Oh god, yeah. But it threw me, I didn't spot it, it threw me. I that caught me off guard, and I was like, nice. And that was such a cool update of other ways that can be done. So that was yeah, honestly, I can't wait to see what he does. He's he's diverting again from the Rubik's Cube stuff.

SPEAKER_02

So um we we've thrown all of the Rubik's Cubes uh uh that are being demonstrated as skill into the hole, they're gone, right? No one's gonna do that again. Now it leads us on to your book, Chris. What did you put in your book position?

SPEAKER_03

This is this is I I have a few books. I don't have a lot of books, I'll be honest. Um, I'm more of a uh a biography, autobiography man opposed to reading like novels and stuff like that. So reading books for me is is always the best of times. I've got a mini stack down here. Um, but of course, we have standards like uh uh Jay Boo Boo's Modern Coin Magic, Warboat Car Magic, we know all that. But this is the Bible, and I can show you physically, but maybe not for the audio listeners. This is Jay Sankey's Unleashed. This was uh written by John uh Rausha Bimer Boomer, I want to say, but he basically took tons and tons of Jay's routines. Uh it's beautifully illustrated as well, and there's so much gold in there, and I and I got that again when I was oh god, that book's I don't know when it was printed, but it's got for years old. I've had this book for years, and um, and yeah, or it doesn't say on it. Well, I've had it for years, and it had so many of the things he was actually releasing at the time as well. So, like holy molys in there and his Bill Switch routines and stuff. There's so much good stuff in there. Um his tournament is there when uh tourness store is when the the book test where the page comes out and it ends up in an envelope and the ghost something gets called, uh leaving homes in there with the key on the string and so on. And so you get a load of stuff that's been released within the book, and there's so many little hidden, weird, kooky gems and odd things. There's a great trick and card trick in there called Divine, um, which I kind of slightly adapted, and it's something that I do now all the time. It's like my pipe and slippers moment, and I love showing uh magicians it as well because it's really fun. You do the worst switch of a card in the world, but nobody ever sees it because the trick's going on so you know fluently.

SPEAKER_02

Jay Senke comes up an awful lot on the podcast. So one effect in particular, um, with a paper clip comes up an awful lot.

SPEAKER_03

So good, so good, great. I did that for years, years and years and years. I'd even tempted to bring it back, but I I mean I got other folded kind of card plot things and and so on. But um, but yeah, I mean, it he was super important when I was getting into magic that age, watching short and sweet on Wait for It, VHS, you know, and Sanglang 99 on VHS, still got my nil off. Do you want to explain what VHS is just for so a VHS uh is uh yeah, it's the big cassette tech. Yeah, yeah, yeah. But no, but I mean, but like, yeah, and having to manually rewind it in a JVC video record. Yeah, this is it. But no, and like watching him do an Elmsley count with four pieces of bread with one with a hole in it. Like, I mean, I mean, this is sanky too. And I think that's where if I do anything that's a little bit weird, a bit kooky, a bit offset, I'm pretty sure that's where it's come from, is sanky because he was willing to take these things and just do the most bizarre and odd tricks. And he did that DVD when he was Boris and he had wore like a big black fuzzy wig and he had glasses on. He was pretending to be a mentalist called Boris. It was absolutely nuts. But and he even did the explanations in that voice and stuff, it was crazy. But yeah, Sankey's Unleashed, it's an absolute Bible of a book. If you can get it, just honestly, you will not be disappointed. It's the one book I recommend all the time. You get to see it's I would say it's like a greatest hits of Sankey uh from his early years, um, and beautifully illustrated as well. And yeah, honestly, it's it's it's a it's a great book. I mean anything in there from cards to coins to rope to mentalism, like it's all over the shot. But um, yeah, a Sankey's unleashed.

Pick #6: Dynamic Coins And Early Influences

SPEAKER_02

And it in fairness, looking at your list in terms of the diversity of it, that's the kind of book that I can imagine that you would have really enjoyed going through and just seeing all of those different ideas with different props and different ways that you could go with stuff. So, and you know, I I think it it perfectly reflects your list uh as a book choice. Oh, good.

SPEAKER_03

I I yeah, I think I owe a lot to to to Sanke. I think he's again he was at Blackbush. Yeah, I didn't get a chance to see him. I say gutted, but um, but yeah, it was it was yeah, some some great stuff there. And again, I have a load of his stuff, obviously. Like holy moly was is is uh brilliant. Yeah, let's do a trick with some washers, like it's so random, but it it it's it looks so great, and yeah. And I know so many things have been based on that as well since, so it's yeah, like a building block of that kind of stuff.

SPEAKER_02

Well, that leads us perfectly onto your item. So this is a non-magic item that you use for magic. I know so many things in your repertoire use non-magic items for magic, so it's gonna be interesting to see what you put in here.

SPEAKER_03

Okay, I'll tell you one thing I would take, and this is so weird and and and silly, but I recently invested in in a in a in a camera, right? Bear with me. There's a slight problem to this, you need something to upload it to to look at the pictures, but it's what they call a a camp snap camera, right? It has no screen on it. So when you take a picture, you have to look through the lens for you, like on an old wind-up uh uh camera, but then the benefit is you you can't sit there and go for the pictures. And the best thing is about a week later, when you look back look back at it, or two weeks when you finally upload it, you then get to see all these raw, uncut pictures that look like they were shot in a Kodak film. I've got some from Blackpool, and look, you look terrible in most of them because you don't have these anti-filter blur, wrinkle smooth, all this stuff, but they're so raw and things look beautiful in them. And it's for me, when we go away, and with like the my my kids and obviously the wife and stuff, we I I go, there's the camera, just take pictures, you know. And the kids are snapping away with these things. And even if you were stranded on the island, I think it'd be really cool to have stranded all these memories, these weird things, and look back at it and go, no, that was probably a good time in a funny sense. And it's so good because once you take the picture, you can't see it, you don't know how it's come out. And the best is when you say, Oh, excuse me, could you take a picture of us? And you give it to a random person because you don't know what their photography skills are like. If they use their mobile phone, they can see the pictures straight away. But with these, like almost they're digital, but they're disposable cameras where you can't see the picture on the screen. Honestly, it's a beautiful thing to look back at and cherish memories. I don't know how I'd look back at it. It might be the phone or a laptop. That's not the point, Jamie. The point is in the message. I think it's like be present, be in the moment. And I think that with this camera, you genuinely can be. You know, it's that they're a cool thing, they're they're really fun uh to use.

SPEAKER_02

Well, no, I think that's a great choice. I think that there's many really cool tricks with photos now as well. You know, there's something that's timeless about photos, yeah. And when you see a black and white photo, it tells you it was from a certain period. When you see a kind of blurred one with you know mullets, you know that that's from a certain short period uh in time. There's so much that can be done with photos, you know.

SPEAKER_03

Even when you watch a film and you can see the grain on this, because it was shot with film, it takes you back to that that time, that period. I think it was like when and even one thing says a lot, this is way off off key now, but when like The Walking Dead, for example, that spanned for over 12, 13 years, but they still used a lot of the same cameras they used from the beginning. So the the the film quality, the you know, of the video, it never changed and it kept it in a time period, even though it was like so many years later. But no, I think, yeah, and you'll know with a lot of your stuff because you do a lot of gonna sense also like um horror-based macabre, you know, that kind with those images, they're so important to tell a story. I got some great decks of cards from uh Blackpool from this this stat, I think they were called Room One or something, and they're like these um Sherlock Holmes and Jack the Ripper cards, and they're absolutely beautiful. But what even when you look at them and you put them all together, they make a map of London, which is another sad geeky thing. But they they feel, they look, and and that's is so important with photos. And when you see that picture, um, and really quickly, whilst you're here, um talking about some of your bits as well. I was looking through my drawers and I and I found this the other day. Oh wow, which is your amazing trick, Phantasm. Uh, I love this so much, by the way. So I'm gonna give you an honorable mention. And uh it was a really cool spin on like a card warp almost. And I and I loved it, and I think it was so different, and you get this really cool handout at the end. So hats off to you, because it's very different to a lot of the stuff that you've done as well. Um, so so yeah, I love Phantasm. And again, I have it as a DVD, I'll work that out. So, so again, another archaic thing. Pushing back to the other stuff. There's loads of tricks you can mention. I love all the teny stuff, things like blue crystal, uh, all that kind of weird things, but it it in sensible tricks that you would do or would want to do. I I hope my eight list is there. I hope the Rubik's Cube doesn't offend too many people.

SPEAKER_02

Well, I think a disposable camera is a best way to uh send out your list. So let's go back over it. We had imagination coins on the deck, director's cut, venom, uh, but we are using it for the ring flight. Uh we've got distortion, dynamic coins, flash, fiber optics. Your banishment is Rubik's Cube magic, but presented as a skill. Your book is unleashed and your item is a disposable camera. I think that's a great quirky uh list with lots of different things that people can look up as well.

SPEAKER_03

Well, thank you, man. This has been so much fun and thanks uh for when we chatted in Blackpool and you mentioned this. I was like, yeah, I was on board with that and thinking. It's always good to chat. And uh yeah, it means it means a lot that you we asked you know for myself to do this. So yeah.

SPEAKER_02

And if people want to find out more about you, about your tricks, uh, if you lecture all of that good stuff, where can they go to?

Pick #7: Flash Bill Change Evolution

SPEAKER_03

Oh, brilliant. Oh, thank you. Yeah, um, I mean I I would say Instagram, it's Chris WebMagic and stuff. I I rarely post, I'm terrible for social stuff, but um magitricks and all that kind of stuff, uh Chris Web Vault.com. Uh so yeah, Chris Webb V-A-U-L-T.com. And that'll have everything on there. If it's ain't from Blackpool, they will be on there too. I literally updated that the other day. They are quite limited because some of them are gonna go out to um uh to wholesale in in the short in the short term. But um, but yeah, whatever's on there's on there. And if you want to have a look, great. Uh sign up to main list, you'll get free stuff, and that's pretty much it, really. But no, thank you very much. And um, yeah, thanks for allowing me to be past as well.

SPEAKER_02

Well, thank you for coming along. Uh, and like Chris said, please do go to his website. I do believe Flash is on there as well. So if you do want to check it out, check it out. Watch watched Chris do it. Uh, it was actually in one of our vlogs. I think it was um it would have been Horseshoe Day. So if you look at Horseshoe Day, you'll actually see Chris doing Flash on there.

SPEAKER_03

I actually took the link of your YouTube video and put it on my webpage so you can watch Flash. So there you go. So I've linked your video to underneath the trick because I want people to see it kind of what it looks like live and what you kind of saw. So um, yeah, that was the best way. There are trailers and bits coming for it at some point, but I've just not had a chance to get around to it yet.

SPEAKER_02

Well, go there, check it out, and check everything else that he has to offer because he's got some great tricks. And don't forget, if you want to be a part of one of these, we do have Stranded with a Stranger. So you can send in your list of eight tricks. Tricks, one banishment, one book, and one non-magical item two sales at alakazan.co.uk. Please include a little bio so that we get to know a bit about you. Um, and of course, the reasons for those tricks, like Chris has done so wonderfully in his list. And of course, we'll be back next week with another episode. But for now, have a great week. Goodbye.

SPEAKER_00

The news is out. The 1914 has found a new home. We are proud to announce that Alakazam Magic are now the proud custodians of the 1914. What does this mean for you? Simply put, everything you love stays exactly where it belongs. The aesthetic, the quality, the philosophy. The website remains unchanged. Your instructional content is safe. The classics that defined the 1914 will be restocked and made available once again. And with our industry-leading infrastructure and customer service behind the scenes, the future is stronger than ever. But this isn't just about preservation. Work has already begun on a series of new 1914 releases. Projects that have been quietly evolving for years and are finally ready to see the light of day. This is the next chapter. Built on respect for the past, driven by belief in the future. Thank you for your continued support. Thank you for coming along with us on this journey. We are the new 1914.

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