Caring Critique and Feedback
This month’s theme was for members to bring a trick to perform and we would give a critique to make the trick better. Colin Toepfer did a nice sponge ball routine where sponges would appear in a brass bowl. Shane Cohen had character names printed on index cards and he drew on a paper bag on his head what he thought the character would look like. When he took off the bag he was wearing a Jason mask from Friday the 13th. Richard Russett did a trick with the 7 Deadly Sins, Gluttony was chosen and the helper earned 11 donuts because Richard ate one! Chris York had cards shuffled and mixed up and after placing them in a bag he correctly assembled the deck in complete face down order. He also predicted that certain cards would remain face up and they were the only ones face up! Steve Davis did a coins across and a tossed out deck routine. William Rader had 4 helpers make up a random number and when totaled it equaled his prediction.
Mahdi Gilbert from Toronto passed through town and WOWED us with his card skills. He sat on the floor as we were seated around him; we all had a perfect view to watch him perform. It was unbelievable! Second deals, false shuffles, total card control, and turn over pass techniques are many of his skills. He demonstrated the Oil and Water trick that Fooled Penn and Teller. He got all of us to interlace fingers with the person next to us during that trick. Mahdi said he breaks the rule, ‘Never show a trick twice’. Even after seeing the trick the second time we still where in awe! Renee Lavand and Darren Brown were magicians’ books that inspired him to practice non-stop for 3-5 years before he showed off his card talents at a convention.