March 2007 Newsletter

Editorial

Hi Everybody,

This month we have cool articles from Drey and Jerry. Also, An0n has returned to the community and we're happy to have him back.

We're still looking for a newsletter editor so if anyone is interested please do not hesitate to let us know.

I'm still in snowboarding mode, yesterday there was fresh powder everywhere and I had a nice time.

Enjoy the newsletter and don't forget to stay active in the forums!

Eric

Extreme Card Manipulation

Cards can be used to play Poker. Cards can also be used to do card tricks. There is a third activity that utilizes cards, and it is called Extreme Card Manipulation. De'vo, one of the foremost exponents and advocates of the art, coined the term. Extreme Card Manipulation (XCM) is the non-magical handling of cards to do eye-pleasing stunts. The goal is to perform routines of feats of pure dexterity like one-hand cuts and shuffles and fans and juggling. The components of XCM are called flourishes. While card flourishes have been around as long as cards, it is only relatively recently that there have been enough flourishes devised and perfected and enough practitioners of those moves to put it all together into what we now call XCM. The same thing has happened with many other sports and pursuits. It used to be that freestyle skiing involved a lot of balancing on poles and relatively small moves. Now skiers and snowboarders push the limits with a multitude of superhuman tricks that just keep getting more difficult and spectacular every year. When I skateboarded as a kid in the sixties, 360 degree spins on a board were considered hard tricks. Now skate tricks have evolved far far beyond that. Back then, if someone would have said a skateboarder like Tony Hawk would make more money in a year than any professional football player, baseball player or Olympic Athlete, nobody would have believed it.

We are seeing a similar phenomenon with XCM. The number of stunts and practitioners of those stunts has been growing exponentially over the last five years. There are now at least twenty DVDs devoted to the subject, and more on the way. This by no means indicates a saturation of the market for this type of product. Quite the contrary; demand far exceeds supply, unlike with magic DVDs, of which there are thousands! There are only a handful of books devoted to non-magical card manipulation, and only one gigantic comprehensive, fabulously well-written masterpiece (The Encyclopedia of Playing Card Flourishes). So, while there is more information available than ever before in history, this in turn has created demand for yet more information. This bodes very well for the art, as the cycle seems to be mimicking that of other successful creative sports and endeavors.
Martial Arts tournaments also now include a large number of freestyle and extreme skills. This is the age of competitive creativity. Inventing and perfecting new skills and tricks can be just as arduous as running fast or jumping high or catching a ball. It is one thing to be rewarded for your athleticism and dexterity. It is a step up to be rewarded for both physical prowess and ingenuity. Card manipulation offers a unique opportunity for those who wish to exercise their brains and their hands, and develop a skill that provides untold rewards for a lifetime. I have been doing it for almost three decades now, and it never gets old, never gets boring. And now, in the year 2007, you can turn on your computer any time of day or night, go to one of the many websites exclusively devoted to XCM (Handlordz.com is by far the best) and learn new moves and stunts for as long as you can stay awake.

Twenty years ago, there weren't ten guys in the world who could do a full minute of non-stop, non-magical card manipulation. All that is changing, We are seeing a gradual shift in internet vids from montages of single moves edited together to continuous choreographed eye pleasing and mind boggling sequences.

It is now time to think of XCM as freestyle with cards, like the Hand X Games. We need sponsors like playing card manufactures and Poker tournaments. We need an annual Olympics of Card Manipulation where qualified judges host competitions for real prize money and acclaim. That is how the skaters and snowboarders did it. In 2006 a grueling nine month worldwide online tournament was hosted my Handlordz.com. the winner was brilliant artist form Taiwan who goes by the name Fatfingerz. The prize was an enormous silver trophy Fatfingerz has already parlayed his victory into numerous articles and TV appearances. This tournament is the precursor to live contests and live conventions.
In the past year, XCM and flourishes have been featured in movies and commercials, and some of the predictions I made here last year are beginning to come true. There is already a host of new decks, specialized training aids and more and more DVDs. Even more are on the way, including brand new releases by De'vo and I. My radio show about card manipulation, Flashcards, is still going strong after almost two years. A new magazine, Street Magic, is starting up that will regularly feature XCM. Interest is on an ever-upward trend, with no signs of abatement.

Manipulating cards is something non-technological to do with your hands. Video games are fun, but learning to handle a deck of ordinary playing cards like a musical instrument is satisfying on a whole 'nother level. At once both an act of rebellion against technology and a beneficiary of that same technology, XCM is big on the Internet, big at magic conventions, and getting bigger all the time. XCM looks cool, but it is the "feel" of XCM that is addicting. If you want to find out what all the fuss is about, come to my website flourishman.com, visit Handlordz.com, or just Google a little. Feel free to email me at flourishman@aol.com with your questions. Thanks to Alex and 21Ace.com for this opportunity to update y'all!

Jerry the Flourishman

The Spectator Certainly Triumphs

In Marlo’s Magazine Volume 6, he had a triumph routine called “The Spectator Really Triumphs”.  The concept was to allow the spectator to shuffle the cards together themselves.  It was based on an earlier Allan Ackerman routine where a false display was used to show the corrected state of the cards.  This meant the cards were still genuinely mixed and couldn’t be displayed fairly.  In the Allan Ackerman routine, rather than cleaning up, he gives a magical gesture to apparently cause all the cards to mix once again.  While this might be a good idea if you can offer a convincing display initially, it seems a little contrived (especially without presentational justification).

Marlo’s solution allowed you to perform a fair display of the cards in most cases.  If the method didn’t work itself out feasibly, he would resort to Allan Ackerman’s display.

When I read over the method I immediately thought there was a method one could employ to give the deck a fair display in all cases.  I’ll describe the basic technique, along with a couple variations and ideas.  It helps to try this with a relatively new deck or to bridge the deck slightly before you start.  In the original Ackerman routine and Marlo routine no card is selected, a face up half is merely shuffled into a face down half and then the situations is magically corrected.  I’ll begin with this assumption, then address a method by which you can have a card selected.

Effect
A performer shuffles a deck; cards face up into face down.  The spectator then likewise gives the deck a shuffle.  By when the deck is spread all the cards are aligned correctly.

Method
Begin with a deck (spectator shuffled works) on the table in front of you; give suitable patter.  Cut the top of the deck off (for the sake of example we’ll assume you’re cutting it right) and turn it face up.  Spread both of the packets on the table opposite one another to display that the one is indeed completely face up and the other is completely face down.

Gather the packets together and give the deck a spade shuffle, releasing the face down portion first.  (For a description of the spade shuffle, see, “Inquisition of Shuffling and Dealing – Part 1”, or Marlo’s “Cardician” and “Legend” DVDs.)  This leaves you with the deck as follows.  From the top down, a quarter of the deck is face down, then a quarter is face up, then a quarter is face down, then the final quarter is face up.

We’ll now make use of a very crude application of the Gilbreath principle.  Cut the deck at the natural break so each half of the deck is composed of face up cards on the bottom and face down cards on the top.  You should perform this action as though you are about to give the cards another shuffle, but then reconsider and push the packets to a spectator near you, instructing them to give the deck a shuffle.  (This shuffle must be a riffle shuffle, ideally they know how to perform a dovetail shuffle and a rapid one at that, thus previously identifying their shuffle style is helpful.)

When the spectator shuffles (you hope he or she shuffles fast and doesn’t pay too much attention to the cards), because the face up cards are on the bottom of each packet, they will mostly weave together, likewise for the face down cards, leaving the deck more or less evenly divided between face up and face down.  Your only area of concern is the center of the deck, which we’ll address in a moment.  You’d be surprised how frequently a perfect weave (by which I mean the division between face up and face down is maintained, I’d surmise it is due to the effect of the natural break on the shuffle).

Thank the spectator and take the deck back.  If the shuffle was fast, the spectator will have seen both face up and face down cards during the shuffle but won’t have accurately identified their divided nature.  In a moment, we’ll deal with a more convincing treatment of the shuffle.

You are left with two concerns; you want to display the mixed nature of the cards while also correcting the current state.  To do this, we employ one of two methods depending on the distribution within the deck.  In all likelihood, you have no more than six face up cards mixed with six face down cards (if you’re lucky, the distribution is perfect and you don’t have to make any corrections).  If the distribution is perfect, you can do a more or less standard triumph display, cutting the packets onto the table face up and face down to show they are well mixed.  If you don’t have a table I don’t recommend this effect at all due to complications with spectators etc.

At this point, Marlo would perform a half pass on the bottom portion and spread the cards if there is no necessary correct.  If not, he would use the display employed by Allan Ackerman and leave the cards in their current condition.  I employ the same method if the distribution is perfect, but if it is not, I employ one of two corrections.  You’ll start by tilting the deck on its side, you can see the natural breaks in the center of the deck and thereby determine whether the distribution is perfect or not.

First, you cut to the uppermost natural break, bringing all the mixed cards to the top with a face up card on the top of the deck, mentioning, as you do, how the cards are well mixed face down (the top card of the deck) and face up (the card you just cut to).  If the distribution is more or less even, my preferred method at this point is to employ a subtle display to correct the deck.  I thumb off the top card or two (however many face up cards exist prior to the first face down card), display them, remove them and place them into the back of the deck without turning them over.  However, I place them in the upper half where all the cards are face up.  I now repeat the process for the next face down card or cards, but place these in the bottom half of the deck along with the other face down cards.  You repeat this process as many times as it takes to eliminate all the mixed cards on top of the deck at which point you’ll reach a section of purely face down cards.

Your attitude in performing this action is casual and relatively quick, you patter the whole time mentioning how the cards are very well mixed, face up and face down.  I find the display is more convincing if you push the top few cards off, thereby always demonstrating the mixed condition of the deck.  You can tell you’re at the end by paying attention to the natural breaks.

When I reach the end, I make one last comment about how the cards are face up, indicating the top card and face down, at which point I cut to my natural break in the center of the deck and bring the top half back to the top.  Under cover of this action, I perform a half pass and table the deck in the process.  More patter ensues; I point out that the spectators shuffled the deck themselves, then work the magic and spread the deck, showing all the cards are face down.  This is an ideal display, but doesn’t work well if the cards are grouped in larger groups of three and four cards at a time.

Hence, we have the second method.  In this case, you cut at the uppermost natural break again, bringing the mixed group of cards to the top, perhaps spread slightly (and only briefly), then cut again at the natural break, bringing the former top half back to the top.  Under cover of this action, you perform a half pass, which leaves the deck in the following condition from the top down: probably three quarters or more of the deck is face down, followed by a few mixed cards.  You release again at the uppermost natural break and cop those cards off, then table the deck.  Give the same spiel as before, work your magic, and spread the deck to show all the cards are face down.

If you wish to have a card selected and to make it appear face up in the center of the face down deck, you start somewhat similar.  The card is selected and returned to the center of the deck where you hold a break or jog.  Next, you cut to this point, bringing the selection (face down) to the top of the left hand packet.  You turn the right hand packet face up and spread the cards to show they are all face up and face down.

This time, when you execute your spade shuffle, you let the face down cards fall first, but hold back the top card.  At the end your situation should look, from the top down, as follows: face down selection, face up quarter of the deck, face down quarter of the deck, face up quarter of the deck, and finally the last face down quarter of the deck.  But to the natural break in the center of the deck.

I like this situation because you have a face down card on top of the one packet and a face up card showing at the top of the other.  It makes for a more clear and convincing display as you push the packets to the spectator.  They shuffle the packets together leaving you with two concerns to address, and one consideration we didn’t confront in the earlier method.

The cards are either perfectly woven or they are not.  The selection is either on top of the deck, or woven slightly beneath the surface.  Our procedure will remain roughly the same, except that we need to ensure the selection ends up in the center of the deck rather than at the bottom of the deck.

Perhaps the easiest, is to proceed as before with your correction, cutting all the cards below the first natural break to the top.  (Incidentally, using this method it is easier to cut to the natural break because that point involves back to back cards rather than face to face cards.)  Then, sorting them as described (incidentally, I like to flash just the front left corner of a few of the cards farther down in the deck as I spread the deck roughly, thereby implying the entire deck is mixed like the top is) previously displaying them and then placing them into the back.  Finally, cut the bottom half (along with the selection) back up to the top and perform Vernon’s open move for reversing the top half of the deck while displaying the condition of the cards.  This obviously works better if the selection is on the top of the deck, but even if it is buried a few cards down the method works fine and will fly without problems.  In the event that the card is buried, I liked to cut and show backs (cards back to back) twice, once higher up with the lower most being that of the selection, then deeper for the actual reversal at the natural break.

There are other possibilities to correct the cards and relocate the selection to the center.  Initially, I cut the packet to the bottom, performed a half pass, then cut the packet back up, but I tend to prefer this method since there is nothing to hide.  The audience is already well convinced by now that the cards are mixed and the process gives a final display of the cards in their mixed condition after which apparently nothing happens.  It is especially effective if the selection is on the top, which, incidentally, you could achieve either covertly or by using a similar display/sorting process used to correct the mix.

Experiment with it, you’ll find the whole procedure works rather well.

Drey

Credits

New members are the spice of every forum. They bring new ideas and fun to the community. We would like to welcome members who have made 2 or more posts this month.

The people that contributed to the making of this newsletter include:

Eric and Shadow – Technical Support.

Drey, Jerry Cestkowski – Authors