I tried to work up Prof Nightmare several years ago, but for somereason had an absolute mental block with the handling! After visiting my "local" magic store (5 hours away!) this weekend, I can confidently go back to it!

The storyline I have is about my first job in a spaghetti factory, making sure all the noodles came out the same length. I start with a long piece and cut it into three "similar" pieces to demonstrate my job.

Then we moved to machines, which did the job faster and better. A false count here. So my job was reduced to watching the machines, because occasionally they got out of adjustment. Here, show all three pieces.

The boss is in a tizzy because his expensive machine is out of whack, but I remind him that we used to take care of this all the time. Even out the the ropes and do another false count.

The boss calms down and leaves, and I went to go find the machine technician. "Hey, Jim" - as I pull out all three ropes - "we need an adjustment on machine number seven."

So:
-- does this have a decent flow?
-- is there enough activity in this to keep it interesting?
-- are two false counts too many?

I know this basic routine has been embellished in many different ways, but I don't think I'm ready to go much beyond this. Any comments are greatly appreciated.

Also, does anyone know of a video clip for the false count? I'm trying to follow the instructions, but I'm more of a visual learner, and sometimes the instructions make a lot more sense when I can see it in action.

Ed

As soon as I read "spaghetti factory" you had me hooked; I love spaghetti.
I think it's a great idea for a routine...I suppose I'd have to see the whole thing to know if I felt like two false counts were too many, but I applaud you for attaching a story to it. I've seen this routine a thousand times (I think we all have) and the boring "I have three ropes of different lengths, now I have three ropes of the same length" gets very old very quickly. It sounds like the patter you're using is pretty cool and will definitely make it interesting!

Sounds great to me. Do it.

Good routine. Now to add the meatballs....

I just decided that this old dog needed to learn a few new tricks, so I got Richard Sander's Fiber Optics Extended and am having a delightful time learning new skills and enticing the cats with dangling, wiggling rope ends. His DVD has a nice handling for the false count, which he calls "Slydini's False Count." I'm not sure if it really is Slydini's, but it's very good.

Get Kotah (Ron Dayton's) patter on PN, an entire book on PN patter.



And Spellbinder...
I have 4 new PN effects in my Dances with Ropes, haven't you been paying attention?

*I* was paying attentino to that, Ian! But I wanted to get the basics down first before I try adding anything more. I do plan on looking up your routine at a later date. And thank you for the book advice.

Ed

You could go from the spaghetti
to a meat ball routine (sponge balls).

Good routine Ed. I always heard it called the Chinese noodle factory.

I personally don't like "story" routines at all and without seeing it, this is no exception. Reminds me of a billion coin tricks that I don't like either. But that's just my opinion. I don't think a story trick holds an audience's attention unless it is emotionally compelling or extremely funny. I desire more interaction with the audience. Story telling to me seems more like you're performing "at" your audience instead of being with your audience. In my PN routine I am constantly interacting, joking, teasing, and reacting to my audience. They know what the goal of the routine is but the rest is just me trying to impress them with little success until the very end. I find that much more entertaining. Sorry, I'm not a story guy.

The only story trick I can think of liking is Malone's Sam the Bellhop but look how much interaction is still there. He's not just spewing words out. The other story trick, even better than Malone's Sam, is the spoof on Sam done by Elliot, The Hawk (see the youtube clip).

Back to PN. For the best I've seen on this routine, check out Daryl's Rope Routine which includes a PN phase. His explanation of the count is the best I've seen. He also has several touches that are fantastic. Some of his moves are now outdated once Fiber Optics hit the market but not the PN part. Daryl's is still the best I've seen.

As I come from an acting and stand up comedy background and basically grew up on the stage, I personally find the stories far more appealing. I see this a lot in stage illusions where someone is put into a box and then dissected for no apparent reason. I like to see motivation behind something rather than doing it just because. That's just my personal preference.

So - did anyone have a lead on a video clip for the false count? The written instructions (which I've lost, making this doubly hard!) were full of the typical "With these two fingers, grasp the ropes whle simultaneously etc etc . . ", and I'm fumbling 'way too much for this to be the way it's supposed to happen. I've seen it done and it's absolutely great and smooth - totally not like what I'm doing!! A visual would really help, if someone knows of one available.

Ed

Buy daryl's dvd and all your dreams will come true.
Come on Ed. Don't beg!

I am trying to extract a clip from my rope dvd for you. Film at 11.

I'd love to!! Along with a ton of other stuff. And someday I will have it all - and along the way will have made _another_ list of stuff I want.

At the moment, though, I am reduced to serious inquiry whilst waiting on Christmas.

Ed