What better way to start a post than to talk about the weather! In fact, that's what my last one did too =P
But seriously, it's cold out. So cold that my heater has been running practically non-stop and my skin is dry af. Have you had the pleasure of working with playing cards with dry skin? It's... not the most fun.
A twist of fun with that though, I also suffer from eczema on my hands. For years -- no joke, years -- I thought that my hands were "too moist" for cards by the way they'd stick or slip on my fingers. Only a few months ago did I realize it was just the opposite, they're too dry. I don't remember the exact cause of the revelation, but yeah, it sucks. I use Aveeno lotion a few times a day, otherwise my fingers crack and then life starts to really suck and the cold winter months really don't help much.
To add to it, I just got two papercuts on my right index finger, one of which is right in the crease of one of the knuckles (ugh). And then, just yesterday, a mason jar fell from the top of a counter about five feet up and landed perfectly on my pinky. There's a fun bruise under my nail, so at least I've got that going for me... which is nice. Don't ask though, they all made sense at the time =P
I type on a keyboard for a living (as a programmer), so hand injuries do impact me but a papercut isn't going to slow me down much. However, I can't handle a deck of cards right now because the edge perfectly aligns with the papercuts and actually hurts, and the bruised pinky is amplified when I try to put any pressure on the deck. Yay, break time! But for real, it makes me feel for the professional magician who gets any kind of hand injury small or large!
In October, 2020 I ordered Marlo's Revolutionary Card Technique and it has sat on my shelf since then. Unopened. Spine uncracked. Dust jacket not once removed. Collecting dust.
I had obviously heard of Marlo plenty of times before, but I purchased the book after reading Drawing Room Deceptions by Guy Hollingworth. In the two different routines An Ambidextrous Interchange and A "One Card" Routine, Hollingworth talks about "a Miracle Change" and stated that it was Marlo's variation of an Okito move. The description of the move sounded very familiar to something I had recently come up with that utilized the Lateral Palm, but later I realized that I read it entirely wrong and it was nothing like it. Well, except for the end result of course.
I was so intrigued by the idea that yet another one of the moves I "came up with" had previously been discovered 50 or more years before I did that I broke down and looked up Marlo in detail. Wow! I bought a handful of booklets, and then learned about Revolutionary Card Technique which, ironically, contained most of those booklets. So of course I bought it too. And there it sat on my shelf for a year and a half.
Last night I kicked back on the couch with the book in my lap and started reading, sore pinky and all. I made it through the intros and everything and am neck-deep in the land of the Miracle Change! I already know I'm going to love this book and re-read sections over and over again. I've barely scratched the surface of its contents and it's already inspiring me to just be better. I can't wait to get further -- soon I'll add it to the library on the site too =]
Speaking of new(ish) things, I've added a few more items to the library! I was able to catalog a handful of videos and two or three books:
- Bertram on Sleight of Hand by Ross Bertram
- Genii - The Conjuror's Magazine
- Marvels of Mystery by John Booth
- The Brick Pass by Alex Pandrea
- Xavior's Rise by Xavior Spade
- The Pass by Xavior Spade
- Savant by Dennis Kim
- B.C. Shuffle by Jeremy Griffith
- Clip Shift by Chad Nelson
- And yes -- I actually bought this one! I... haven't watched it yet though
- Penn & Teller: Fool Us
- lol, if you're wondering why I added a TV show, just read it first =P
I'm going to try to do a lot more data-entry in the weeks to come to get as much of my inventory up as I can, and then I'll start adding some decent photos and reviews.
I was thinking about making a nice gallery for each item as I added it to the site, but that would take forever and a day. I think it'll be much more fluid to get the info up first. Since most things are more than a month (or decade) old, the reviews don't really need to be too timely. If I'm able to get my current library up then I should be able to focus on reviews of new releases closer to when they're coming out.
If you're interested in seeing anything specific though (like a deck of cards) just let me know -- I'm more than happy to put up something sooner if I know someone wants it!
Until next time <3