Monib's Blog

What I did wrong!

monibahmed — Tue, 17 Jul 2007 18:15:41 +0000

Alright, so sorry, it’s been a while since I’ve posted something. I wish I would’ve posted sooner, but I must admit, I got lazy. There is only so much you can write about card tricks. I would recommend you go practice some more, if you have a lot of time to read about card tricks.

What did I do wrong? You gotta learn from your mistakes sometimes huh? Well, I tried my first public performance on thursday, and it sucked. I was nervous, people knew I was shaking, my patter was incoherent. I lost the card twice. But, I know what I did wrong. I pulled my “latest and greatest” out of my bag. What happened? I found I hadn’t practiced them enough so I was completely lost in the confusion of trying to entertain and not mess up.

So what should be learned from this lesson? First of all practice. Which I described from my previous posts. The second is not to overlook easy or simple tricks. These usually get the most reaction, since you are concentrating on the presentation.

Concentrating only on the hard tricks, leads to crappy routines. It shows people that you do not want to show them magic, but that you are good at controlling the cards and making a fool of them. So my advice for beginners is practice the easier trick and present those while you are filling up your goody bags with the higher end stuff. Practice the higher end stuff until you can do it in your sleep. Then practice some more. So you know you can’t mess up.

P R A C T I C E

monibahmed — Thu, 28 Jun 2007 18:47:05 +0000

In order to be perfect, an illusionist must practice. This is true for any activity you wish be good at. As for magicians, practicing takes up about 80% of the time, while performing might take up 20%. In order to be a good magician practice is the key.

Learning a New Trick:

Practice each in the moves in the trick one by one. Don’t get involved in the actual patter or the sequence of moves. If the trick requires a tenkai, followed by a color change, practice the tenkai and color change separately. This will help when you learn new trick since you have already practiced the moves out of context. This part can be done in front of the TV or waiting in a line.
After you have each move decently down, go in front of a mirror and work out the angles. You will need to figure out where to stand how to face the audience. Try to make it smooth and natural. If for some reason you can not make it smooth, substitute another move that will get the same results.
Next try to make the moves natural. If you are working on top palm. Drop your hand to your sides without a card and memorize how it looks. Now try to make your top palm look this natural. This is proabably the hardest part.
Once each move can be executed in a fairly decent manner, put it all together. Memorize the routine, and practice some of the moves some more. Get it smooth, got from one transistion to another. Add the patter in, talk out loud, take out the “umms” and “aahs”. Avoid irregular body movements. If you are still hesitant on a particular move in the trick. Go back to step 1, and make it as natural as possible.
Now, once you have gotten the patter down, and the moves and it seems natural, practice the trick and perfect it for another month or so. Makes sure you execute the whole trick, with the patter. This will take the longest amount of time. You are actually building confidence in yourself and the trick. Once you have confidence in the trick, your chances of mucking the trick decrease.

Well there it is. Now go and practice!

Good days are coming…

monibahmed — Wed, 27 Jun 2007 17:47:36 +0000

With the release of Dan and Dave Bucks “The Trilogy” and me getting a confirmation email that my copy has been shipped, I must say good days are coming. This collection of DVDs has a lot of potential, I might actually learn something, as long as I don’t get lazy. The presentation is not bland or monotonous. Nor is the material on another thousand DVDs. Insanely wicked, and outragouesly I must say once again that good days are coming. Needless to say that I am extremely excited about these DVDs, the reviews throughout the internet have been extremely gracious as well.

Bottom line, if you want to amaze, BUY this DVD, DO NOT PIRATE. The DVD will not just sit and waste bits on you haddrive. Just acquiring this DVD will seem like an accomplishment to you. Too much work was put into this DVD and it would be shameful if you learned the moves illegally. That would be disrespectful to the Buck Twins. To much sweat was put into this DVD, to much work was done, and not enough money was made. Could you seriously pirate something that poor college students produced? Pathetic…

Well back to the topic, good days are coming, and hours and hours of endless practice. Endless sleepless nights thinking of how to modify these rediculous moves in order to create something truly unique. Good days are coming…

Turn up the volume!!!

WordPress and Problems?

monibahmed — Tue, 26 Jun 2007 21:39:23 +0000

Something in my reality is messed up. By my reality I mean my blog. I have had two posts disappear on me. This is one disappearing act I do not wish to see. I do not call this magic, I call it an irritation. Kind of like that fly that wants to get close to you during your lunch, which someone else wanted to eat outside.

In order for me to restore my faith in WordPress, I must say something about my two post which are probably flying around in some “oblivion” in some part of our good sized galaxy. One post that is swirling was going to be the ”Rules of Engagement” during lunch. The other was about waiting for stuff to arrive in snail mail.

I must there for end my post today, as I do not wish to spend another two hours to find another post end up in “oblivion”.

Samsung Commercial Featuring Dan and Dave Buck

monibahmed — Tue, 26 Jun 2007 01:11:44 +0000

Cingular Samsung Blackjack commercial

This was originally done with cards.

Twisting Reality? Or using your imagination?

monibahmed — Mon, 25 Jun 2007 20:57:55 +0000

So, this is my first blog entry. I was wondering what I could write about. I’ve had to choose between outrageously political lunches with friends, to what we eat at these lunches (not extremely healthy, and a boring topic to read about). A lot of you may have heard of David Blaine, or Criss Angel and YES I am going to talk about magic. I have always wondered which of the two was the real deal. A lot of the performances on Criss Angel’s TV show MindFreak have been said to be fake. Well I’m not going to discuss which is better, or whether it is just camera work.

I am going to tell you I aspire to elude your mind, I aspire to shift your realities and defy your universe. I hope I will be succesful, in this and hopefully you will be astonished amazed and amused all at once. I will be documenting my successes and failure within this blog you see before you, and as I continue to improve you will be the first to experience a shifting reality.

I hope I have not bored you. Here are some videos from YouTube.com so you don’t think you have wasted your time by reading my blog.

Amusing or astonishing?

Do not blink.

Hopefully, within a few weeks or so, once I get good, I will be able to put up my videos for all to see.