Ahh...we visit Spencer about once a year (about an hour from Parkersburg in Roane County.) Lotta missing teeth out that way....

Hello all and Merry Christmas, Happy Chanukah, and Happy Holidays,
What ever you celebrate enjoy yourself, love others and remember why you are celebrating what you are celebrating!

Anyway, I have had a busy November and December with work and home life, so I haven't been on her in a while.

Congratulations Andrew! That is Awesome!

Although I have not stuck with any regiment I have set forth I have always had something to practice within my grasp.

Since I perform mostly as a hobby, because that is what my life allows right now, most of what I do is for kids at church or for my Magic Ring. Recently, I took on the role of program chair for my Ring. So my focus this year will be organizing our members for out monthly programs. This is fun because I can somewhat orchestrate magic I would like to see.

A few things I want to tackle this New Year are:
A Definitive Sponge Ball Routine
Continue working on my table hopping repertoire
Miracle Bubbles
Reviewing some of the great stuff I got from all the 2011 lectures I attended snd glean what works for me.

Great idea Mary! I would love to see your website as well, if you can PM me.

Have a Happy New Year Everyone!

Pete

Andrew-

Thanks for a good laugh! Reminds me of the joke:

What is 42 feet long and has 8 teeth?

The front row at a Willie Nelson concert!

Pete-

Thanks for an even better laugh!!

"Anyway, I have had a busy November and December with work and home life, so I haven't been on her in a while." You get my award for "Best typo of the Year"!!!

My very best wishes to all of the Stand With Me crowd for a wonderful Holiday Season and New Year! I, for one, am looking forward to the extra time to be able to practice Stand Up Monte...

Jim

Same to you, Jim! I've been working on Stand Up Monte as well. How's your progress with it coming?

Happy holidays to everyone

OHHH,... A typo.

Thanks for explaining that Jim.

I thought Peter was being extra-specially candid.

-Mary

Happy holidays to everyone! All the best to you and your families -and to a successful year in magic.


Hudson

Mary-

I was just assuming, and you know what that can do. Perhaps you are correct...

Hudson-
Wishes of the Season to you also!!

Jim

Hi, Andrew!

Progress is good with Stand Up Monte- probably due to the fact that the sleights involved are ones I have used for a long time and can do reasonably well. The only hitch I am having is a bit of magician's guilt with the main move. Normally I prefer to do things in the open that "look" fair but this, as you know, has a move that is rather ... BOLD, shall we say.

Do you feel any of that with this routine??

Jim

I guess the move never really stood out to me until after watching the DVD and having Garrett explain it. Despite the master's degree I'm pretty easy to fool, apparently, so even though I knew what was going on when I first saw the routine, the move didn't bother me much. To be honest though I am still working on it and haven't done it in the real world yet, so I haven't been able to gauge the reactions.

Are you performing it as he does or have you added/removed phases?

Happy new year to all

Andrew-

Performing it as Garrett shows. Although I truly love to add/subtract and otherwise modify things, I know it is best to wait until I fully understand it. I find SUM to be one of those routines where you have to be on your game and alert in order to avoid disaster.

Until the end, I feel it and Skinner's version are on par- I just love the wild card ending tho so I think eventually SUM will get the nod. I will always do UM however, as I have a nice poem that takes me through it like a script.

Yes, Happy Happy to you and yours, Andrew!

Thanks Jim! After getting slammed with food poisoning earlier this week, it was nice to have some color return to my cheeks from reading your quote from me. I usually am the funniest when I am not trying and don't know it!

Happy New Year Everyone!


Pete

I'm with you, Jim...sticking to the current routine until I've got it down solid. I've done Skinner's for years so this is a departure from that, and I think I'll end up keeping them both in my repertoire. I like the Skinner version in slightly more formal situations as I use a himber wallet in order to cleanly pull out the Ace at the end, rather than just leaving it on the table. SUM is so fantastic in the hands that it will see a LOT of use from me, but it's taking some time to get it there. He makes it look so easy!

Andrew,

I just got a Himber as a gift and was planning to use it to introduce Bannon's Spin Doctor cards (a 4 ace trick with different color backs). My thought was to have the spectator cut to 4 aces, then put the aces in the Himber, "for later", do another trick and then retrieve the different aces to go into the Spin Dr routine. The appearance would be that the aces came from a regular deck and then transformed during another trick.

With your experience using the Himber to clean up, what are your comments on this? (comments from everyone are welcome)

Hudson

Pete- Fud piznin' ain't fun- glad you are feeling better. Hope I caused you no embarrassment with my comment - it was truly in good fun. And, yes, my best stuff comes as a total surprise.

Hudson- great gift to get! I think the time misdirection you will get from your idea should work fine. It is important, I think, that the wallet remain out in the open once you introduce it into the routine. For some of my card stuff, Ultimate Monte comes to mind, I generally use the deck to hide the switch. Not with different backs, tho, as I want to be able to spread the cards. Have fun!

Happy New Year everyone! I am using the Woody Guthrie NY resolutions from " Not very magical, still" (General Magic-above) AND adding "Practice regularly" for the next year. Any good resolutions out there to share??

Jim

I've been practicing Juggling regularly for about a half hour a day (hard to tell because I do it really often but only for a short time). I'm seeing an improvement.

I used to do all the same throws occasionally in shows a long time ago but I let them go because I couldn't be sure of them. I'm hoping to make them a consistent and reliable skill set.
It feels good to be as good as I was 20 years ago for a start.

I'm doing under the chin, under the leg, on top of the head and over the shoulder in short order mixed with some fancy throws like columns, holding on to one, Crossing over in the middle etc...

I can go through thew whole routine often but not even half of the time perfectly. I guess that is the next step.

Juggling is great fun! You never have to guess if you are improving.

-Mary Mowder

My God, Mary, when can we see this? A vid is in order!

I have worked off and on with my juggling, to little avail. I can do a pretty good job as long as I have, oh, say, about a 100' diameter circle of clear ground with no obstructions. Once I totally exited stage right chasing that elusive ball. My insurance said they would cancel unless I gave it up.

Now, I am wondering if ventriloquism would be a fun addition to my routine???? My SO threatens to leave me, but then I would have the dummy for company, no?

Jim

Jim , one of my goals this year is to get some Video but I haven't done any yet.

I juggle with Square Bean Bags. They are easier on the hands (and face), don't roll as far or do as much damage.

I had a Vent act in the 5th Grade. It made me instantly popular throughout the School but I got creeped out by the Vent Figure and dropped the act. Now that soft puppets are popular I may try again someday. See how your SO feels about soft figures.

-Mary Mowder

Creeped out? Spill...

Seriously I was afraid of Dolls before I started so I don't know what I was thinking.

I don't understand "Spill..." .

-Mary Mowder

Ah, colloquial, means to "spill your guts" I.e. tell me the whole story...