Josho:a thoughtful post

Yes Josh..well stated!

It's actually a Godsend that the only ones who will be using the methods in the book are the performers who put in the required study,practice and rehearsal.

Rich

Um, ok, do you even know what the book is about? Are you under the impression that this is what the book is about? Your comments are baseless, flawed, and rather embarrassing (if I were you, I would be embarrassed at least).

Please notice that I am not opposed to bad reviews, just baseless posts with no evidence and an obvious personal agenda.

NOW to the reviews...

Props to all of you who don't think the book is for you. Please exercise your sense of judgement as to what works for you and share your experiences. Here is where I have the problem. Instead of saying you don't like or it's not for you, you make comments like it is transparent or people humor you or whatever else. This is actually the very thing that the whole sour grapes story is about. The fox (or whatever) couldn't reach the grapes so he rationalizes by saying they are sour anyway. This is like you "It doesn't work for me/I can't sell it with my performance persona so it is transparent, etc.".

Aside from being logically flawed arguments, they are simply incorrect. For me, and my performance persona, this works very well. Hell, it was working very well with just the little tidbits from Wonder Words years ago. The item in question has been invaluable to me, although I keep having to go through it again to pick up on the nuances. It is absolutely no shock that some people can't pull this off (which is not a bad thing, there are many presentational ploys that I can not pull off with my character either). However, the mere fact that this works for many people negates many of the global arguments I have seen.

Again, I understand that this isn't for everybody but it works for me and many people I know. All things being equal, I am happy that many seem to recognize they can't/don't want to perform this effect. To be honest, I fail to see how many people make blanket statements based on personal opinions. I mean, I don't like lima beans but I know my mom does, so I would never say "Lima beans are horrible and anybody who likes them is lying" but many of you are. Look at why you are trying to push your opinions on others, then STOP IT.

Feel free to share opinions but to equate positive and negative reviews is sketchy at best and foolhardy in this case. I have never seen a positve review that said "This item will make every single person better in every single way". Never seen it but have seen it with negative comments.

That is really all I have to say except I am, again, happier the less people who actually put this into practice and wish you all good luck.

-C

This may have been stated before, I did not go thru the 2 pages, but it seems to me that this violates the "to perfect theory". That is to say there are no cancellations as to the possible methods employed.

Well, I just read the book. Some of you will recall in another thread that I thought the book was a joke. But then I saw it actually was for sale, so I absolutely had to satisfy my curiosity. Well, it's rather pricey for a small trade paperback, and this bothered me at first upon receiving it, but now I'm happy that it won't as easily fall into the Muggles hands. Admittedly, while first reading it, I still thought maybe it was an elaborate joke, or something that could never work in the real world. But then, after reading on, it kind of dawned on me that I like this stuff! A lot! Sure, it's not suitable for everyone, but that's as it should be. Personally, I like nature, and any excuse to do some cloud-gazing is a good thing in my book. I went outside today, the clouds happened to be the right kind to 'Bust', and I 'practiced' busting some small ones, and I was delighted to see it actually works! Of course the challenge is to do this effect for someone else, and I am looking forward to this, because I believe I have the right mind-set that will make this seem credible.
Much appreciated, Devin and Jerome. Wonder-full food for thought (and action) in this!

-Todd Shapiro

Negative. I know what the book is about. It's about busting clouds.

The sweetest thing is...even as a novice...you can have the props needed for a demo..probably more than 50% of the time[without having to be concerned with pocket space or management ]

Now...I would think that as we continue to learn about and understand the dynamics of Weather...the possibilitiy of doing some kind of entertaining demonstration..should increase to at least 75% of the time.

I'm loving it.

Rich

I didn't read the thread so I have no clue where this review will fall into everyones thoughts, or lack there of....

Title: Cloud Busting Secrets by Devin Knight and Jerome Finley
Medium: Book, paper back
Arena: Mentalism, unique
Available: Any shop, distributed by Murphys Magic Supplies


Cloud Busting is an interesting book which takes a natural event and turns it into a magical effect. The book is well written, flows nicely, and covers pretty much everything you could hope for covering magic effects with clouds, rainbows, and weather in general. I am not going to say anything about the price because I’m still angry about a pamphlet I purchased on cold reading that cost the same price and wasn’t even suitable to start a fire. At least this book has some value to it and reads well. The book is in two sections, the first part by Devin and the second by Jerome with comments by Devin tossed in. This is an interesting paring as Devin realizes he is just taking advantage of an event that is occurring all the time yet is often ignored by people while Jerome, by his own admittance, is one of those “I am magic all the time” guys who though he won’t admit it believes he may really be effecting nature. I’m not saying that Jerome is nuts or anything but he is, in my opinion, the kind of guy who wants to be the center of attention in every aspect of life so he is always ‘on’. This can get tiring on people around these types of guys but they are out there and are interesting for short periods of times. The end result is a very nice mix of philosophies and approaches to a very unusual type of magic.

Before I get into the book let us look at the subject. Clouds are interesting things which are not understood by many only because they don’t care enough to look up the information. You can’t control them, but they are cute on nice days and ominous on bad days. Everyone loves clouds at one time or another. What is ignored by many is the simple fact that certain conditions cause clouds to develop and other conditions cause them to dissipate. This happens all the time but we rarely notice. I will say that there was a point in South Africa where the hot dry air hit the cooler moist ocean air and you could watch the clouds develop at that point, it was absolutely fascinating. I’ve never seen anything that drastic anywhere else. Rainbows also have certain conditions that, if you are aware of them, you’ll know about when or where they will develop. The science as stated in the book by Devin is sound but I think he should have gone deeper into it, but this isn’t a science book. I think it should be noted that for most of my life, not now, I’ve lived within 40 miles of the Ocean and I noticed that clouds do as Devin states and his indicators are dead on. I actually saw the right type of clouds yesterday and I set up the wife, got distracted, turned to the clouds and they were already gone!

What you get in Cloud Busting is an introduction to cloud science and how they develop and how they are dissipated. What you do to be a Cloud Buster is take advantage of this knowledge and point out the cloud, claim you are going to cause it to vanish, it does, then take full credit. I admit I’ve taken advantage of things similar to this, not with clouds, but if I see a car coming far away, say a yellow sports car, I’ll claim one will appear after calculating the travel time and, viola, the car goes past. Back to the clouds, if you watch them you’ll be surprised how quickly a cloud can be there then gone. The book goes further in that you can use the clouds, or contrails, to predict a card or the simple fact clouds can appear to look like something, an animal for instance, to you benefit. Jerome is a big believer in claiming everything you can as being caused by your magical abilities. The same thing goes with rainbows. If you know that they need the sun in a certain position and the foreground to be in a certain weather condition then you can, with some safety, say “I shall cause a rainbow to appear!” and if it does, you claim credit, if it doesn’t you don’t mention it. The real secret to all of this is you must be aware of your surroundings. If you are not you’ll miss opportunity after opportunity. For example if you see a cloud that looks like a duck and you have a pack of cards with animal names on them and force the duck card and point out the duck cloud as yours then you can claim credit.

Now for the other side of the coin. I think that many more people are aware that clouds dissipate than Devin and Jerome think. If they are performing the Cloud Busting as frequently as they imply then either they are dealing with a very uneducated populace or, as I believe, many people are playing along with them. That is very common in magic, most people will not challenge you but go along with the performance for the fun of it. This doesn’t mean you cannot or shouldn’t do this type of magic, you can, but don’t let yourself be the one who is most fooled by your performance. Like all magic make your presentation, as it is, entertaining and interesting, and the spectators will enjoy it and you’ll achieve your goal. Do not just walk out and tell people at a park “look, a cloud, I shall vanish it! Look look…cloud cloud….look cloud” then the cloud is gone and you whip out a deck of cards. The right presentation at the right time to the right people will equal success. Just like drug dealers are told not to fly on their own supply don’t you start believing you have real powers.

The book was better than I expected and I think if you work outside at all or want to do something that I think is very unusual for people this is one book you may want to check out. Devin and Jerome certainly have taken a step outside of the box, and I want it known that as a business person I actually know the source and meaning of that statement, and bringing to the magic community a very interesting idea for magical presentation. I also think this book is going to be a door opener for many who read it. Hopefully it will make magicians realize that they can look around them and see magic where they never saw it before and incorporate it into their lives. Heck, I’ve noticed bugs going over the lake and declared I was going to make fish rise to the surface. They rise, I take credit but had nothing to do with it. I’ve noted articles about an event like a minor eclipse that typically is ignored and found someone who I know doesn’t watch the news or read the paper and took credit for the eclipse, works for me. Maybe it can work for you.

There you have it folks. Two good extensive reviews in which one person leans positive and one is on the more negative.

Heaven help us all if Criss Angel, Luke Jermay, or Derren Brown do this on television. Cults may be formed or people burned at the stake; but one thing is for certain a huge majority of magiciansn will either rush out to buy or perform it or burn them at the proverbial stake.

People will flame anything or everything. Some absolutely love everything. I say if something like this interests you buy it. As with anything buyer beware. I havegotten something out of everything I have bought. But Hey! I am a glass is half full type (make lemonade if youi get lemons). I will purchase this or get it for Christmas because I have floored a few friends and family using just the Orgone energy principles to erase a few clouds. So.... If I happen to get a huge multi-million dollar deal with a network because I am so good lookin and can do some decent commercial magic and then bust clouds as the finale AND that makes me an instant household phenomenon; certain people on this forum will be either shocked or apalled. Cloudbusting may be the next Balducci levitation( which in case you haven't heard is not the real thing....it's a trick -- but laymen don't care if it amazes them) if some one does it right with the right exposure and publicity.

WE're magicians on a magicians forum so lets try not to take ourselves to seriously. Magic is the art of deception in which the suspension of belief/ disbelief (take the arguement you like best) is necesssary. It's all HOOEY and we peddle it in one form or another.

I don't know where I posted it but a few weeks ago I hit the perfect everything for cloud busting. My wife came out with her friend (I was outside cloud watching) and the wife gave me an angel thing to carry and I told her that I would, as a gift, give her a cloud and that I would shrink it down until it was gone and blah blah blah. This good size cloud hit the spot I knew would vaporize it and in about ten seconds that cloud was gone....beautifully done. My wife just stared. Then she paid attention and saw many other clouds vanish and my claiming powers evaporated quicker than the clouds did.

Depending on where you are and your weather pattern you may never get a good chance at doing this or you may be able to do it every day. When everything lines up though...it kills.

I found the concepts in the book exciting, if not always easy to apply. It is obvious to me that with some effort to LEARN (something not everyone is ready to do), a bit of showmanship, and a little of the con-artist's soul, great things can be done with cloud-busting. I, for one, found the book very valuable-- not only for specific techniques -- but for an ATTITUDE toward the art of magic that every performer should find invaluable. Those who criticize the book on the basis of specific techniques are simply missing the point. The very idea of cloud-busting is fascinating. The philosophy behind it is wonderful.

Bill

I gave in and bought it.

The method was more or less what I have expected, yet I was rather pleased with myself and not disappointed - hey, I do not expect real magic . . .

It is a nice read and offers some interesting views.

Andy

In an earlier post on this I suggested that this is only for strong performers...if you think you can't make this work you are right. Others can so understand you speak for yourself.

I can't make contact mind-reading work...I have Satori's work, Banacheks, and have received personal instruction from Ford Kross. Still I am unable to make it work while I'm sure there is some eight year old kid doing contact-mind reading that wonders what the fuss is all about. Everything isn't for everybody.

I also mentioned how I had been doing cloud-busting for many varied groups, including homeless in west Dallas.

Last week I was with a group at the west end bus terminal and working up to the busting. One guy joined the group and was chanting:

Kill the baby, kill the baby.

Eat the baby, eat the baby.

Cook the baby, cook the baby.

Cause the baby taste good.

This went on over and over...it actually had quite a ring to it...a catchy little tune...

But definitely not the kind of guy I wanted to think I could bust clouds. The entire group walked away and all kept an eye on this guy.

Some can't do this...and sometimes you shouldn't. Having an effect that can be too strong is wonderful.

I learn new things about this effect every day. Thank you for writing this book.

What other kind of following would you have?

what a crowd . . . .