On 2011-08-02 12:26, Bill Palmer wrote:

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On 2011-08-01 21:02, General_Magician wrote:
The Trick Brain definitely looks awesome. I think every magician eventually needs to create their own effects. Thanks for the recommendation Bill.

What is your favorite effect?

On 2011-08-02 15:21, BillMcCloskey wrote:
Thought I posted this but don't see it: Fitzkee Trilogy is available on Amazon for Kindle for only $10 a book. I downloaded the Trick Brain sample to my Ipad last night and it is a very good kindle version.

On 2011-08-02 14:58, General_Magician wrote:

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On 2011-08-02 12:26, Bill Palmer wrote:

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On 2011-08-01 21:02, General_Magician wrote:
The Trick Brain definitely looks awesome. I think every magician eventually needs to create their own effects. Thanks for the recommendation Bill.

What is your favorite effect?

Prohibition. I use a small 8 oz glass Diet Coke bottle (sometimes I drink diet Coke though I try to stay away from sodas) instead of a beer bottle. The 8 oz glass Diet Coke bottle is ideal for this effect in my experience.

Bill Palmer wrote:

Prohibition is not (by Fitzkee's definition) an effect. It's a trick. The effect is "a penetration." Before you take issue with this, read The Trick Brain. Also read, if you can find it, Roger Klause in Concert. For decades, budding magicians have been told by their teachers or by pedantically written books that hookers and dogs do tricks, magicians do "effects." The use of the term "effect" to describe what we do is affected.

This idea of not calling tricks tricks was used to discourage beginning magicians from using the term trick in front of laymen. However, in the world of magic, itself, effect has a very specific meaning. Klause had 7 basic effects. Fitzkee had 19. When you combine an effect with a specific object or group of objects, then it becomes a trick.

Now, this doesn't mean that you should call Prohibition a trick in front of a spectator. You can call it a piece of magic, a number, an item, an experiment or you can call it "something interesting" (hopefully, you can present it in an intersting manner! )

When you call a trick an effect (in front of a spectator), it sets up a mental disconnect that can harm the interpretation of your performance. What's an effect (to a layman)? Is it what they see exposed when ILM shows how they got certain things to happen in some of their movies?