#19 Precision

As you may have noticed, I had a holiday break and I didn't post a video last week. No worries, since we are back again and new videos are coming. I had a routine already filmed a couple of days ago but I wasn't happy with the performance, so I decided to come up with something else. I will probably try to shoot the other routine in the near future.

This one is a simple routine that is based on a well known principle. I'm sure others have done similar things in the past. I added a few touches and the end result is somewhat satisfactory. I'm not exactly sure who to credit, so I'm gonna play it safe and go with Marlo.

This is Precision.



Music by: Lumituinen

PS. Somebody suggested that the cards are all the same. They're not. This is a little bit more sophisticated.

#18 What's The Deal With The Aces?

I tried this once on a layperson a couple nights ago and she seemed to find this rather amazing. I changed a few things here and there and performed it to my magic-buddies and they seemed to find it rather funny. Personally, I think this is quite a clever combination of physical and psychological methods that make a very solid routine. But then again, I'm biased.

So, what's the deal with the aces?

#17 Ace Assembly

Here's an Ace Assembly. The handling is quite choppy and basic and the whole thing was filmed in one take. However the handling of the last ace should be something that card-people appreciate.

#16 Clip

This is just a quick funny thing. It's silly, I know. The production gag is based on "Steranko's Opener" and the Clip Vanish is an idea I came up with about six months ago.

#15 Wash Away

First I was going to make a short one-card-manipulation routine, but then I ended up doing a silly sequence of all kinds of fishy moves. The card is constantly going from one palming position to another. I think the video would actually be more impressive if it showed the exposed view...

Wash away (my sins):

#14 Fast Production

13 card production. I thought I would do this with a named suit, but I didn't have any volunteers and I was busy all week doing actual shows (and no, I wouldn't film these things on paid gigs). I'm doing five shows a week at the moment so it is a little bit challenging to get these videos done at the same time, but I'm doing my best. Here is a very quick trick for this week.

#13 Gambler's Spirit

I'm a little late with this one. I have been meaning to film this for a couple of days already but I've been busy all over. More of that later.

This is a short gambling demonstration. The method that I use in real life doesn't work on camera so I had to come up with a different climax. Card-people should appreciate it. Laypeople probably won't.

#12 imPAIRment

Kim Wist showed me a move a few years ago and I tried to come up with something utilizing it. I couldn't come up with anything worthwhile. This week I stared working on it again and still didn't come up with any satisfactory results. So I filmed what I got and decided to post it. Here's imPAIRment.

#11 The Infamous 21 Card Trick

Yes, this is my version of the "21 card trick". This is something that I've been playing with for a while and it's only reason for being is to fool magicians. This is the Infamous 21 Card Trick. Thanks to Elena Vok, Pekka Hartikainen, and Markus Tervo for appearing in the video!

#10 Sneaker's Sandwich

Woohoo, 10th video already! I'll probably make a commentary about the past videos and will answer some questions that people have had over the past 10 weeks.

This is a simple idea for a sandwich routine. I don't really know who to credit for this since I don't think I've seen this method used before. To be honest, I don't even know if it will fool anybody. Anyways, it's still a fun thing to do.

This is (a horrible title, I know) Sneaker's Sandwich:

#9 Forty-Two

Came up with the effect on the spot. I was pretty much filming this already before I even had a method in mind. I hope that doesn't show too much.

If you're wondering about the title, here's a tip: "There are 10 types of people in the world." I hope that clears everything up.

PS. And yes I know, it would've been awesome if this was the 10th video.

#8 Örömph

This week we have a special guest Jesse Örö performing his amazing triumph handling. He really fooled me with this one and I asked if he wanted to contribute it to the project and he kindly said yes. So big thanks for that! Credits to Vernon and Marlo. Here is "Örömph":

#7 Throwback

I was originally going to post a clip of my card manipulation act that I did yesterday, but when I got the footage I realized that it was over exposed and you couldn't really see anything there. I was forced to come up with something else. Luckily I had had this one fun idea in mind for some time now, so I decided to film it this week.

Basically there are two moves here. The first one was shown and taught to me by Dan or Dave Buck when they were visiting Finland - I have no idea which one it was. The second one is the Throwback move (hence the title), which is a move I came up with some time ago.

#6: The Fixx

This one is an idea by Sami Lahtinen (the one on the right). It also utilizes an original move by Pete Purho. The shady person on the left is Pasi Hyvärinen. The beautiful camera work is done by Pekka Hartikainen. Wow, that's a lot of credit. Oh, and let's also mention Dani DaOrtiz for inspiration.


Here's The Fixx:

#5 Card to Pocket

Had a really busy week so I ended up shooting this in the train when I was coming home. It's a simple card to pocket handling that I really like. All credits go to Juan Tamariz.

#4 Beta

This week's idea was to give a little kicker to a flourishy way to find the four aces. The climax is kinda magical and based on some field testing I can say that it is very surprising to the audience. With some work this could become something worthwhile, but now it's kinda in "beta-stage". It's quick and simple, so I might go for something a little bit more complex next week. Until then, here's this weeks entry: Beta.

#3 Double Tunnel

So here it is, I know a couple days later than the last two have been. But still during this week! This time we can enjoy (or just look, if you prefer) my handling of the Double Tunnel Change, which can be found in Jon Racherbaumer's fantastic book Card Finesse volume 1. There are only a few minor changes in the handling so I'm not claiming any credit here. It's an interesting idea however, so I thought I'd share it.

#2 Everywhere and Nowhere

This is the second video and I still have 50 to do. Geez. This is my impromptu version of Johann Nepomuk Hofzinser's original "Everywhere and Nowhere" plot. This handling is a little bit busy and the performance is nowhere flawless as I spent most of the week working out the choreography of the whole sequence. I'm not entirely happy with this trick, but it is still kind of fun. Here it is:

#1: Daley's Switch

I literally put this together in 30 minutes and shot it right away. The quality isn't too great but you can still see what's going on. I will try to improve to quality in the next video. Anyway, here is the first video of the 52.

52 times...

My name is Miika Pelkonen and I will post a card magic related video every week for the next 12 months. That will make a total of 52 videos - just like there is 52 cards in a deck of cards. Check back every week for a new video and see how this project is doing.  This will most likely end up with 50 or so mediocre videos of mediocre card tricks, but hopefully at the end of the year I have at least one good piece that is worth something in the real world.

I have no idea if I will be able to do this nor have I prepared myself with any possible ideas in advance. As I'm writing this, I don't even have an idea what the first video will be. Hopefully we'll see it soon.