November 2006 Newsletter

Editorial

Hi Everybody,

Many exciting things have happened since the last newsletter.

Congratulations to TheEMan for winning our 8th chip trick contest! Congratulations to Rich on his first contest entry(it is awesome)! All the results are in and 3 of the 4 videos are in: http://www.21ace.com/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=5535
Here are the videos in the Matrix: http://www.21ace.com/Trick-Contests-Videos.php (hint click on the Class column title to sort by contest number).

We've been adding videos from Ellusionist into the matrix, be sure to check them out. We're adding more card tutorials to the matrix, Dead was nice enough to prepare some videos and we're getting those in.

TheEMan went to Germany for his chip trick dvd, expect more details on that soon.

Our 21ace Chipco Chips are in the November issue of Card Player magazine, be sure to check it out: http://www.21ace.com/November-2006-Poker-Pro-Magazine-Poker-Chip-Tricks.html

We upgraded our phpBB forum to the latest version which should help us battle spam and other issues.

Be sure to enjoy the pool trick shots article by ppooler in this edition of the newsletter. If you haven't visited our http://www.21ace.com/Pool-Trick-Shots.html page recently be sure to give it a look, the Billiards News section near the top is pretty cool.

We might do the next chip and card contest sooner rather than later. Let us know what you think in the http://www.21ace.com/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=5926 thread.

I hope everyone had a nice Halloween!
Eric

Isn’t magic about living out your dreams?

This month we are going to discuss the long-term pursuit that most magicians give up or only attempt halfheartedly.

Why do people stop chasing their dreams? Is it because they are ill-equipped for the situation? Lost? Lazy? Could it be a combination of more than one impediment?

Don’t stop chasing until your dream is realized!

We are going to focus on tips to help you. May these ideas inspire you…

#1 – Create a roadmap to your dream.

Write down all thoughts of where you want to be at the apex of your magic career. You could aspire to be the premiere children’s birthday party performer. You could seek to be the most famous bar magician in all the land. Or...

You could be the next Greg Frewin with your own magic theater as the star attraction in a popular border town. Greg is the perfect example of someone living out his dream. Greg isn’t lucky, and Greg certainly isn’t lazy - Greg is quite the opposite.

He made a roadmap long ago and has been on course ever since. In his plan, he knew the level of magic he had to achieve so he constantly performed, always analyzed, and carefully adjusted. Take note of Greg’s diligence and systematic approach, it might help and motivate you while creating your roadmap.

#2 – It’s not where you are, but where you are going.

Let’s assume you aren’t where you want to be in the scheme of things. You eventually want to get from good to better. From better on to great, and then from great up to fantastic. But when creating the map to your dreams, you need to assess yourself and others, before making any adjustments.

So, what do you assess?

Start by analyzing where you are now. Look at the level of those who haven’t achieved their dream.

Then assess others who are living a dream similar to yours or one you can draw parallels from.

Once you understand where you are, it’s easier to see where you want to go. The destination is only limited by the imagination, which your roadmap expresses in detail.


#3 – Take the road less traveled.

We don’t mean to sit around and read Robert Frost poetry all day long. Get out there and perform where no one else wants to. Take shows that other magicians refuse.

This is the road where you take almost any gig, including charity work, for an opportunity to practice and perfect your art. This is the road where you put in the time.

This is not the road where you begin charging hundreds of Pounds / Euros or dollars after performing a few birthday parties. Neither is this a road where you put the time in performing numerous shows and you don’t take the time to evaluate, change, and perfect what you are performing.

Does the idea of going down this lonely path scare you? It didn’t Greg Frewin.

He spent countless years performing at regional magic conventions tightening and smoothing his act to make it perfect. From there, Greg moved up the food chain working on cruise ships. He really polished his act at sea, but not before making some adjustments in order to film for television.

All of this culminated into Greg’s ultimate dream, his very own theater. His life is everything you might imagine, and more. Think of it -- twenty plus years of experience rolled into one show, under one roof - The Greg Frewin Theater. From his plush booths with the Frewin logo to the gourmet dinners -- all a class act. And the magic ... Greg has won first place in every world magic competition. Spend an evening with Greg as he lives out his dream.

Learn from Greg and make your dream a reality. Go to http://www.gregfrewintheatre.com for more on Greg Frewin and his dream.

Reaching your dream means achieving your goals. That’s what this article is about and that’s what the whole Card Star Lifestyle is all about.

You won’t be able to achieve this all at once, if you have created a comprehensive goal. It’s a process.

Brainstorm the elements of your magic dream. Don’t forget to research and analyze every piece of information and situation you encounter. Arrange these elements until a defined plan takes shape. Then organize this plan into a logical order. Create your road map.

Along your journey expect setbacks or flat tires in the achievement process. Also, you may run out of petrol from time to time and need to refill. Adding a tune up or two might be in order when motivation lags.

Always strive to improve, and one day - you will arrive at your destination.

See you there...


Next time, we’ll delve even deeper into the Card Star Lifestyle.


Kip Pascal and Lee Asher both have their individual road maps to achieving their professional dreams. Lee works toward advancing the art of magic, and Kip works
towards progressing practical martial arts. They have practiced both art forms
for years alone and together.

They work as magic co-authors and creators, crafting some really interesting text, creating instructional DVDs, and producing some of Lee’s tricks. Take a look at the Asher Twist DVD http://www.leeasher.com and Coin Snatching: The Reputation Builder http://www.coinsnatching.com, to see examples of where their individual road maps overlap.

1. How did you learn so many trick shots? How many did you invent as opposed to picking up from books etc?
About 1/2 of the tricks on my website are picked up. The tricks in the other half are my inventions. This is what I like about trickshots – inventing yet new and new positions.

2. Most of the triangle tricks in the first video used a wooden triangle but there was a plastic triangle in at least 1 trick. How much of a difference does the type of triangle make?
The difference between wooden and plastic triangle is cardinal. Both materials have completely different attributes and that is the thing you can use when doing trickshots.

3. The Red Hot Chili Peppers song was a nice touch, any reason for that particular song?
Yes I've always liked this song. One of the reasons for choosing this song was that legendary Eddie Felson (played by Paul Newman in The Hustler) was from Oakland, California.

4. How would you advise folks to practice jump shots without hurting the felt?
Jump shots (if you want to play them with certainty) have to be practiced with a special cue made for this purpose. It is half a meter shorter than the classic cue and can be bought for about 90$.

5. How many bottles have you broken when practicing various tricks?
None. I use plastic bottles for practicing. I use glass bottles only for performance.

6. How much time do you spend practicing in a given week?
It depends. I try to practice whenever I have some free time – but that is not very often recently.

7. What are the key elements to putting such an excessive amount of spin on the cue ball?
For masse tricks it is important to have the right heavy cue (weighs more than 22 ounces) and a good quality soft leather glued on the busk. When practicing these tricks it is essential to chalk before every strike.

8. Are there any outside factors like brand of cue stick, type of tip, type of table (slate?), felt...etc, that contribute to the spin?
Yes all the above factors have some effect on the intensity of a spin. Only the material of balls and boards is missing...

9. Did you have any idea when you made these videos how popular they would become? (I saw it on yahoo's front page yesterday)
I'm surprised that so many people like the videos. I'm of course happy because of this and it motivates me to shoot much better videos with better equipment and on a 9ft table.

10. What are the dimensions of the table in the video?
The table was really small and low quality. But I had to buy a 6ft table if I wanted to shoot in the quiet of my room. Now I have a 9ft table that is in a bigger room.

11. How long have you been doing trick shots?
I played pool for the first time when I was 14. But I resolved to train solely trickshots only about 3 years ago.

12. How did you get started?
One of the reasons was seeing the World Championship in Trickshots on Eurosport. This record really fascinated me. Bogndan Wolkowski from Poland won that time.

13. Do you have an idol from the pool world? Who?
My main idol was (and still is ) the virtual characted of Eddie Felson from the movie The Hustler (an old balck and white movie with Paul Newman, also translated as "Billiard king"). But I look up to all the professional players. I have exchanged a few email with Lukasz Szywala ,Eric Youw and Jamison Neu. All of them play trickshot professinally and they are much better then me. I have much to learn from them.

14. What is your favourite meal?
Potatp croquettes with fried Hermelin (special kind of cheese)

15. Do you play poker?
Poker is the best card game. I used to play often when I was younger but now I play only sometimes on PC.

16. Have you ever tried doing card tricks?
I tried card tricks more than others when I was younger, but later it passed away. Anyways I would remember on many intereting ones even today...

17. Do you have a website in English?
No but it will change. I'm working on a new website that will be bilingual

18. Your tricks must be a cool thing for chatting up girls. Have you ever used your tricks for this purpose?
Not yet but I'm going to

19. What is your favourite movie?
As mentioned before – The Hustler with Paul Newman

20. What is your favourite trick?
I don't have one favourite. For some time I like some "more" than the others but then they are replaced by others.

21. Is there any trick you would like to learn but you haven't yet?
Yes there were some not long ago. Mostly trickshots when there are 10 and more balls going into pockets. These trick can be played very good ona new table. The felt on my previous table was damaged so these tricks didn't come out well...

New member welcome

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 and more posts this month.

- sportsfan2006 Posts: 2
- tipsywac Posts: 2
- Nishanthan Posts: 3
- kiting Posts: 2
- Cardmaster Posts: 7
- darkness280 Posts: 3
- the1towatch Posts: 2
- sathonmig Posts: 2
- fplayrurus Posts: 3

Credits

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

Eric and Shadow – Technical Support.

Fattyonadiet – Editor.

Lee Asher – Author

Also; a big thanks goes to ppooler for allowing us to interview him.