On 2008-01-01 21:09, Pete Biro wrote:
I won't go in to the lengthy message were Ken Brooke proved to Ricky Jay it isn't the size of the load but the CHANGE that is important. Use loads that are easy to handle and don't try for the biggest you can squeeze in.

On 2008-01-01 21:24, Bill Palmer wrote:
I don't know where the measurment of 5 inches comes from. That's totally wrong. It's not the diameter and it's not the circumference.

The ball is 7.75 inches to 8 inches in circumference. It weighs from 5 to 5.25 ounces.

A tennis ball is just a tiny bit more than 8 inches in circumference.

Congratulations on your first set of Paul Fox cups!

On 2008-01-01 21:09, Pete Biro wrote:
I won't go in to the lengthy message were Ken Brooke proved to Ricky Jay it isn't the size of the load but the CHANGE that is important. Use loads that are easy to handle and don't try for the biggest you can squeeze in.

On 2008-01-01 21:09, Pete Biro wrote:
I won't go in to the lengthy message were Ken Brooke proved to Ricky Jay it isn't the size of the load but the CHANGE that is important. Use loads that are easy to handle and don't try for the biggest you can squeeze in.

I have to disagree with you on this point. The idea is not to produce final loads that are congruent in size - the idea is to produce a series of climaxes that tops the earlier climax. Thus the audience are shocked when you reveal a bunch of lemons (after doing a series of passes with the small balls) and blown away when you reveal a huge melon. The melon has to top the lemons. It's the old dramatic idea of build, build, build...

This reminds me of the story Pete Biro tells of Ken Brooke arguing with Ricky Jay over whether it's the size of the final load that mattered or merely the change. Brooke takes Biro and Jay to a pub and does the cups and balls with some very small limes as final loads and the audience are blown away. Brooke says to Jay, "See: it's the change".

I agree that it is the change that creates the shock value. But any analysis must conclude that an audience are going to be more impressed if you produce larger incongruous objects rather than slightly larger objects. In the case of the latter it's only a small leap for the audience to say, well they weren't that much bigger and he is fast with his hands (or whatever) so he must have just slipped them in. But with HUGE lemons or grapefruits, while the audience MUST always conclude that you are skillful - they will be struck by the immense difficulty in sneaking a huge, brightly coloured object under a cup they believe they have been watching intensely. Laymen appreciate conditions - so why not maximise the impact by producing objects that they know intellectually must be difficult to sneak past a wary audience?

The problem with Brooke's 'proof' is that it can't be tested against the same audience. You can't say, "okay now - that was the small limes. Now I'm going to do the trick again with lemons!" It would also be difficult to do a controlled survey of audiences. How do you measure amazement? Not applause. Some people will applaud - but some people will gasp and others will become stony silent when their brains go into freefall. I think, though, that if you were to overhear two lay audiences discussing shows that occurred simultaneously, and one member described the cups and balls and to show how amazing it was pulled a lime out of his pocket (a souvenir) and said, "Then he produced three of these from under the cup!" - I think that a member of the other audience would say, "That's nothing - the guy we saw produced six grapefruits fom under his cup and then had a melon under his hat."

In the end, magic isn't sports. But I think it pays to really consider the way a lay audience interprets an effect...

On 2008-01-01 18:26, MickeyPainless wrote:
It can be such a drag having big balls!

On 2008-01-02 09:06, fortasse wrote:
Two questions :

1. In your experience, which final loads usually seem to get the better audience reaction, (real) fruit or balls?

2. Have you noticed much of a difference in audience reaction, depending on whether the final loads turn out to be fake fruit or real fruit?

Fortasse