On 2012-04-13 11:18, David Klass wrote:
Is Gemstone Genesis really $49.95?

On 2012-04-13 04:22, caigy wrote:
I downloaded Martin's 'Gemstone Genesis' over three years ago now!...I loved it then and still love it now.
It is one of the very few effects which I always carry with me and when combined with 'Prevaricator', can give a good ten minutes of solid entertainment.
I am also a strong advocator of impromptu, or even pseudo impromptu performance, so am interested as to what 'Impromptu Mastery' has to offer.

Paul Mc.

On 2012-04-15 05:57, David Klass wrote:
Ok thanks Martin. Gemstone Genesis looks nice but it is only a 1 in 3 prediction.
I guess it could make a nice warm up though.

Do they have to poke their selection into your fist?
Thus bit just seems a bit odd.

1st Effect:
Borrow a regular deck of cards and give it a few overhand shuffles. Then fan it from one hand to the other so the faces are towards yourself. Look with interest upon them. If you don't know the name of your spectator, ask him/her. In case of this presentation let's assume she is called Mary.

“Mary, I don't know if you are aware of it, but when you play around with cards as much as I do you get a close bond to many of them. For instance this one.”

[Place the first card from the face of the deck face-up on the table and name it.]

“I remember how I always used to play cards with my grandmother. For some reason I always won when I got that card. So many memories...”

...

2nd Effect:
Borrow a regular deck of cards, place it face down on the table and seat two spectators opposite you. If you don't know their names, ask them. In case of this presentation let's assume they are called Mary and Kelly. You begin by instructing the spectators:

“Mary and Kelly, what you are about to witness is a thought-experiment. In the early sixtieth a psychologist named Arnold Weber managed to show experimental proof of telepathy. He found that, under the right conditions, electrons travel between minds in a wave-like pattern.”

[Show this by making waves in the air with your right hand.]

“He used some special cards known as ESP cards, but as we haven't got any of those available right here, your playing cards should work just fine."

On 2012-04-16 12:09, Bande wrote:
I would be extremely interested in getting a review copy. I am an amateur magician who performs for friends, colleagues and family. It has become increasingly apparant to me that I need to concentrate on more impromtu routines since when I bring out any items it autmoatically raises suspicions as to whether it is gimmicked -- this is not neccesarily the case for professionals who are constantly bringing out multiple items, but as an amateur it is harder to say "let me bring out this packet/deck of cards and show you something" vice "here hand me your deck and let me see what I can do."

The other advantage I believe by concentrating on impromptu effects is that it will force me to become better at my sleights. I currently can do a passable DL, EC, and a few forces. Clearly I will need more as I move forward so hoping this will force me to learn some new moves. FWIW with a few exceptions now that I am concentrating on impromptu effects I am getting much better reactions. I still use a few gimmicks because I love the effects, but it is becoming a much smaller set.

On 2012-04-18 10:49, lhookway wrote:
I have some of Martin's other stuff which I really like so I am looking forward to this.

I'd be happy to review Impromptu Mastery also.

"The first thing a magician needs to understand in order to progress is that he is at heart a craftsman. Nothing more, nothing less. Magic is a craft. The ability to create wonder and amazement is a craft like the ability to weave a carpet. That is essential to a magicians understanding of his work. Whether you are an amateur or working professional you are a craftsman. Depending on which kind of magic you like to perform you will have different tools at your disposal; cards, pen & paper, scene props and so on. No matter which tools you use there are certain steps you'll need to take. These are the steps every craftsman takes on his road to mastery.
First, you'll have to learn the basics of your craft. Next, you research and practice to become more skilled. You study everything about your craft and learn the more complex techniques to further develop your skill. When you find that you are qualified you begin creating with your craft. You use the things you've learned in order to create new material. To begin, you are eager to include all you've learned in your work and create one large mess. After doing this for years, slowly, you begin to realize that mastery is not about making complex and complicated creations. It's quite the contrary. A true masterpiece reveals itself in that it's simple. Amazingly, this realization takes years for the craftsman to reach because he is knee deep in all his complex research and complicated learning.
To sum up the road to mastery looks like this:

Simplicity (learning basics) → Complication (research & perfection) → Simplicity (mastery)

Now let's look closer at how we may utilize this in our craft - Magic."

-IMPROMPTU MASTERY by Martin Vetter