The Session 2022 Day 1 Review (Ramble) #session2022 #magicconvention

Hi, welcome to Real Magic Review, my name is Steve Faulkner and this is the Session Convention Day 1. Before we do this, I'd like you to check out stevefaulknersonlinemagic.co That's my online magic course, over 600 videos, live sessions uploaded every week, guest lecturers. I talked to Craig Petty yesterday and he's going to come on and lecture for us. That's going to be great, more of that in a minute. Sorry about the lighting by the way, I can't get it right. I'm in a room in a hotel so I might look a bit orange or something, but that's alright. And I've forgotten my tripod bit, so I'm going to have to borrow one. But at the moment the camera's wedged on the table, pointing up, so I've got that weird angle. So that's why that's happening. So I've done Day 1 of the convention. I'm going to just do a very brief bit on everybody that I saw yesterday. I did manage to see everybody yesterday, which is nice. I'm old now, so I need to sit down and watch things and not drink too much, like I did on Thursday night before it started. And yesterday was more of a challenge than it should have been. So don't do that, kids. Especially if you're old, but then if you're old you're not kids, are you? Anyway, not like I enjoy a waffle, but I'm going to talk about the early... So what happened is... It's so funny because people always think I'm affiliated with Vanishing Inc. I mentioned it on the Instagram story and the last video. And I didn't help matters by the fact that I said to Damien yesterday morning... They've had a break-in. That's an interesting thing. The whole area where the convention is happening... And if you've not been to a session, everything happens in one big room, big conference room. So that's great. You haven't got to go to loads of different places. But that's where everything is. The Vanishing Inc. stand, all the cameras, really expensive stuff. The big set up, the stage. And someone had broken in on the Thursday night and vandalised. Not stolen anything, which is always weird, isn't it? I always think if you're going to... This isn't advice, by the way, but I always wonder... If you're going to take that risk of being a criminal and breaking stuff... But leaving thousands of pounds worth of stuff there... So that was a whole thing. And the Vanishing Inc. team were clearly trying to sort that out. The cameras were all over the floor, all that. So I said to Damien to join a hand. And ended up working on the registration. Which made me look even more like I was working for Vanishing Inc. But it was nice. It's nice to have a job. And I really enjoyed... It was really interesting seeing it from the other side. And seeing people come into the convention. Registering, being all excited. And saying hello to everybody was great. So I really enjoyed that. So that was the start of it. The first person was Matt Pritchard. He is a science magician. I didn't know much about Matt. And I saw Gustav Kuhn yesterday. Who wrote Experiencing the Impossible. It was lovely to see him. And I'll mention some stuff that he's told me about in a minute. But Matt's lecture... It was really professional. I don't know if he has done it a lot. But it felt like he'd done it a lot. It felt like a TED talk. Straight to time. Very clipped. Very confident. And fascinating. So I'm really interested in the science of magic. Optical illusions, as I know a lot of us are. But to see why and how they work. Was really good. And he... What's his lecture called? And what next, I think. And what else? So he... He's showing you little videos he made on YouTube. Amazing videos. That look like... He recreated the David Copperfield Bermuda Triangle illusion. With the knowledge of David Copperfield. So completely under pressure. And you watch this video. And you see a little boat appear. In a little tub. Other than a real boat. Which David Copperfield did. In a tub. And it's amazing. But it's a little video. And then he tells you how he did it. And it's the commitment. And the time and the dedication. To making this. What looks like a little toy in a tub. Was just brilliant. And he showed a picture at one point. Of his lab where he plays with all this stuff. And it was all prisms and lights and mirrors. And all this stuff. And it was just insane. It was proper mad scientist stuff. Which I really really loved. So that was fascinating. And again you look at that stuff. And go well I may not use this stuff. But it's interesting and inspiring. And that's what I get a lot of. When I see people that put all this time and dedication. Into something that on the surface. May seem quite trivial. Which of course it isn't. It's kind of what we do. So we really get serious about a lot of this stuff. And I think that's wonderful. And I think that's really important that we do that. And sometimes I come away from that a little bit. And get a little bit lazy. And watching things like that inspire me. To do the work, look at the detail. And I really loved it. So that was Matt Pritchard. And I recommend, I'm not going to say loads about it. Because there's some nice surprises in that lecture. So if you do get a chance to see any of his stuff. I really really suggest you put the effort in. So then it was the afternoon session. I really like these afternoon sessions. You get free bite sized performances. Or talks. From the lecturers and performers. So the first was Shriyash Palshikar. I'd not seen Shriyash before. Shriyash is a historian. A magic historian. Specialising in the history of Indian magic. Indian street magic. Or he was for this talk anyway. And a performer himself. And he was talking about his uncle being a performer. And the lineage and the history of Indian magicians. Which I found absolutely fascinating. A lot of talks on the history of magic. I can find a little bit dry. But this one was absolutely brilliant. And he didn't have long. So he banged through it. And he acknowledged that. But he was a really good speaker. Really dynamic. Obviously done a lot on this. And as being a street performer myself. And a Cups and Balls performer. It was really fascinating. When he was talking about the history of that. And the differences of that culture. With all the spiritual connections as well. Over the years. And the imagery he showed with that. It was absolutely brilliant. And also the differences in performance. So he showed us an amazing clip. Of an Indian street performer. Performing the Cups and Balls. Which is very different. Has a very different feel. And what I really found interesting. Was the fact that the backdrop. Of an Indian street magician. Is the floor. They're sitting on the floor. And they're not only sitting on the floor. It's not like Covent Garden. Where I used to work. Where it's a lovely picture of a big portico. Behind you in a church. And it's all very nice. This is on the floor. On a street. With traffic going past you. And the reactions. I just loved the reactions. Of the people watching it. That you could hear. You couldn't see. And this performer sitting on the floor. Using the ground rather than the back. As his backdrop. I thought it was great. Really fascinating stuff. And again something that a lot of us. Wouldn't have seen or heard before. So as I said with Matt Pritchard stuff. I really suggest if you see this. Sriyash performing or teaching. Go and watch it. Then brilliant Mike Caveney. I could listen to Mike talk for hours and hours. And actually I have listened to him talk. For quite a long time before. Because one of my first ever gigs. As a magician. Well I wasn't even really a magician. I was still doing mostly the street stuff. I wasn't really doing the Cups much then. Was when I got a gig. Which I've talked about before. And on that gig. With Luis de Matos in Portugal. Was Mike Caveney, Stan Allen and Johnny Thompson. And I didn't really know much about them at all. But I remember sitting at them. And listening to them all tell stories. And thinking then I could listen to this for hours. Which I kind of did. And yesterday as I was saying. 20 minutes of Mike talking through. The evolution of his trick. His gypsy thread for stage. Which is with toilet paper. Which I just think is brilliant. He showed us the original version of it. Which he did at a certain venue. Completely fooled me. And then when he tells you how it's done. It's just brilliant. And then the next version. And he's apparently performing his latest version. Version number 5 in the Gala show on Sunday. But he talked about his book Wonders. Not very much. He referenced it when he was talking about this. He wasn't selling it at all. But it just made me want to get it. But I can't can I? But Mike Caveney is brilliant. I love seeing him perform. I've seen him perform on stage. I'm really looking forward to seeing him in the Gala show. And seeing this trick. And what else he does. And then Hector Mancho. I was a big fan of Hector's DVD. My Silly Tricks. He's a fizzing winner. He's one of the few magicians I know. That can walk on stage. And say I like dancing. And start to dance. And not look utterly preposterous. There is a bit of that. But intentional. Because he's very funny. But he comes on. Music starts. He starts playing the harmonica. And he's dancing on stage. Looking quite cool. There's not many of us that can pull that off. And very funny. He did a brilliant harmonica card trick. If I remember rightly. Is it on that first DVD? I can't remember. Really clever. And it's great. Someone basically names any card as he's playing the harmonica. And when he stops playing. He takes the card out of his mouth. The next trick he saw. Which I thought was hilarious. He's really funny. He's got a really funny way about it. He does like the 5 card trick. Or 6 card trick. Such a lovely way of doing it. I've got 5 cards. I throw away 3 or 4. I've still got 5. And just a twist on that trick. Which is genuinely funny. Genuinely enjoyable. And shows what you can add to it. He's a clown. He's a really good physical comedian. Really good clown. And I really enjoyed it. Next up was Craig Petty. Now Craig Petty wasn't on the list. And Hector Chadwick had. For personal reasons. Not been able to come. So Craig was doing it. And I haven't seen Craig. Lecture for a very long time. Of course you've seen Craig on the socials. And doing his review show as well. Which is great. And his interviews. Really really busy guy. And I was interested to see it. I didn't know what he was going to lecture on. I was thinking is this going to be a bit of a dealer den. Because he's obviously got a lot of products out there. But it wasn't. And it was. I really really enjoyed it. And I know I enjoyed it. Because Craig did 2 card tricks at the beginning. And I really enjoyed watching them and learning them. And card tricks in those big lecture situations. I can find quite challenging. I need to learn tricks with the cards in hand. So he did 2 tricks. Based on the Cheek to Cheek deck. At the beginning. The Instant Triumphs. And really really lovely trick. Where there's a kind of competitive element. Between you and the spectator. I thought they were really commercial. Really good tricks. He is bringing out a project with Alakazam. Based on the Cheek to Cheek deck. But as he said he taught you how to make one. Which is super cheap. Super easy. There's no real gimmicks involved. Other than double backers and stuff. Really really liked it. Then he did some work on his Quantum deck. Which he's just given me. I haven't played with the Quantum deck yet. I think it's a strong effect. It's a really good effect. I'm looking forward to getting it and playing with it. But there's no doubt that when he performed it. The way he did it. It would fool anybody. I think it's a nice simple plot. That lovely thing with a blank deck of cards. I know a lot of you know this. Blank deck of cards. You say I've put a jack of clubs or whatever. At some point in the deck. Between 1 and 52. Give me a number and you deal to that number. Solid. Whether I can do it or not. It does involve a bit of maths. But very simple. So I shall report back on that. Then he did a couple of other things. That were just lovely. A sponge ball and a coin thing. I love that kind of thing. Just a sponge ball and a coin. Very commercial. Stuff you can carry around easily. Then a whole section using big ball bearing. As he says you can get from Amazon for 4 quid. Doing a load of really nice stuff. With a coin and that. That's my sort of thing. It's that sleight of hand. But not the knuckle busting side of sleight of hand. It's what got me into magic. Seeing basic objects. Disappear, vanish, get flattened. It was great. I really enjoyed the lecture. I'm looking forward to going home. And playing with some of those ideas. I do want to mention one thing. After this I ran into a friend. Gustav Kuhn. I did a few talks. A TEDx talk with Gustav. He wrote the book. Experiencing the Impossible. Which I think is still an amazing magic book. To read as a magician. I'm very excited about his upcoming project. Which I'm not sure I can mention. But I think everybody is going to be interested in that. But he did mention the Science of Magic. The SOMA. Science of Magic Association. Conference that's coming up in London. Derren Brown is going to be there doing something. He's interviewing Derren Brown. Laura London is there. Luke Jermay is doing something. Sophie Scott is a neuroscientist. It's really important to know the neuroscience of it. I was speaking to him yesterday. Talking about how since working with him. My performance of magic has become a different thing. Because if I'm worried about a certain thing. I can go no. Because I know how the brain works now. I know why that works. So I really recommend. A. Experiencing the Impossible. But checking out the Science of Magic Association conference. Just go online. Science of Magic Association website. You'll be able to find it. But there is a show the night before. A gala show. With Paul Zenon. Julius Frack. Laura London and Edward Hilsum. As I said. Four of the world's top magicians. One night in a pub. July 20th. I can't go. I've got the kids. It's my birthday. But do check that out. That is at the Amersham Arms. 388 New Cross Road. London. No affiliation. Just think it would be a very cool thing to go and watch. If you can. Now next was Tobias Dostal. Oh my gosh. How good was it? I reviewed. I love Tobias's work. I reviewed Silhouette. Love playing with it. Never performed it. And of course Optics. And both of them. I wouldn't say controversial. But there's a lot of people saying you can't do it. It's too difficult. It's not practical. Well you can clearly do it. Because he did it in front of everybody. A load of magicians effortlessly. It's such a strong effect. And it's easy to lose faith in that effect. Because it's so bold. And it is knacky. As he says. It's not easy. But to take a mobile phone from someone. Film them. And then say can you film me. Make their mobile phone vanish. You can eat it. Or just do a complete vanish of it. Showing your hands empty. And then they realise that the phone that you've vanished. As they're filming you with your phone. The phone that they're holding. Is in fact their phone. It's ridiculously strong. As is Silhouette. I played with Silhouette and I loved it. And as soon as I get home and get an hour again. Again it's beautiful. It is practical. It's not because he just got his phone out and did it there. It's brilliant. It's not practical for all situations of course. Because you have to be able to cast a shadow. But those two tricks. And a couple of other things he did. He did the sunglasses production. Which is fires a card into the air. Comes down and goes boom. And sunglasses appear on his face. And it's excellent. But he did a couple of things that really brought me back. To those first moments where I saw magic tricks. When I was a teenager. That made me want to become a magician. He did a routine with a lollipop. It's one of the best things I've seen in so long. I love all that stuff. You know that. I used to love as a kid watching the cigarette. People do that. Cigarette into the ear out of the mouth. All that kind of stuff. Just really dynamic. Really lovely. Beautiful illusion. Takes a lollipop. Takes it out and shows it. Vanishes it into the paper. And then it's back in his mouth. And that's the basic version of that. And there's various things he did with it. But within that there's an illusion. That is one of the best. It completely floored me. And I'm not going to tell you what it is. But it's to do with the top. I could see the lollipop. And apparently it wasn't a lollipop. It was just beautiful. And it made me want to go. I want to do that now. And I love that feeling. He also released this thing with peanuts. And if you read what this was. You're going to hear peanuts vanish you. Completely fooled the hell out of me. Absolutely. Peanuts appearing between his hand and someone else's hand. Juggling peanuts. I wanted it then and now. I didn't get it. And he's run out now. And I'm gutted. But I will. And then he showed us something he's working on. Which is this idea of pouring liquid in liquid. The sort of appearance of liquid. And then liquid turning into a coin. The most beautiful illusion. And sleight of hand I've seen. Without being very difficult sleight of hand. I think he is. It's an overused word. But I think he's an absolute genius. And he's one of those people. That sits and thinks and thinks and thinks. And finally gets there. And we get the benefit of that. And I think it's really. It's a mistake I've made as well. To say his stuff isn't practical. It's clearly practical. Because he did it in front of everybody. And I'm going to go back and reinvigorate it. To get Silhouette out. Get Optics out. And start playing with that again. Because I think they're real workers. It's an understatement. But different, unique and wonderful. And then again a surprise for me. I don't mean this in a bad way. But Joshua J. How Magicians Think. Now because I interviewed Josh. I did quite a lot of research. Which is very rare for me. So I thought he was just going to be talking about. A lot of the things that I'd heard him talk about. And the first part was an interview. With him and Andy. Which again even though I'd heard some of what he said. Again it inspired me to go. And read that book again. And by the way my dad is currently reading that book. My dad's loving it. And if you don't know. It's called How Magicians Think. It's a book about performing magic. Written for lay people based on the questions. That a lot of lay people will ask magicians. And because my dad's reading it. And really enjoying it. He knows what I do as a magician. But he doesn't really know. He's seen me work a little bit. But it's almost making me feel closer to him. Because he's reading that and going. Oh yeah Josh said this thing. And I've never seen it like that. And it's rather than me banging on about it. Josh is banging on about it to him. But in a more entertaining way than I could have ever done. So if you've got family members. And you want to kind of really communicate. What it is you do as a magician. I'd really suggest giving them that book. Because it's well written. It's really nicely presented. And it's very enjoyable for anybody. For a magician or a non-magician. And then there was a lovely surprise. Megan the president of the magic circle. Came on and presented him. With his. Remember the inner magic circle gold star. I think that's what it is. Which was a really lovely moment. And then he performed. A load of stuff out of Talk About Tricks. Because they did talk about that a little bit as well. Some of the tricks you would have seen. Him on the socials. If you look at the Vanishing Facebook. And Insta. You will see him performing these card tricks. From Talk About Tricks. He performed them but then explained them. Most of them. And they were great. And at one point I got the cards out. And put them in my hand and was following along. So that's a really good sign for me. It makes me want to pick up the cards. I can't wait to get into that book. And start really delving into it and learning the tricks. Because when you see him perform. You realise how good they are. And then he performed this cylinder in coins. Which I'm very excited that I have. Because I've got one at home. I haven't opened it yet. I saw him do it. And I've been on the fence with cylinder in coins really. When I see it done. I go yeah it's really lovely. But I've not ever been drawn to learn it. When I saw Josh perform it. I am drawn to learn it. I've exposed part of it. I know I have the gimmick now. So I can go and do it. But it just looks lovely. So I'm really looking forward to going and playing with that. But that was an hour and a half I think it was. And I really enjoyed the whole thing. I just let it wash over me. I sat there and felt like a lay person. Because that's what I try and do in these situations. And I had a great time. And that's kind of the point isn't it. And then the Adam Wilber lecture. So Adam. He had a hard job. It's very tough to come and do your show. That you do kind of for lay people. With the lines for lay people. And I know how tough it is because I never do it. It's something that really intimidates me. And he said at the beginning it scares the hell out of me. And it is scary. It's a different thing. Now he does have a lot to sell. And what was quite nice. Is that all the products that he performed. As he does for lay people. He then said if you scan this QR code. You'll get all the downloads and the instructions for free. And then based on that. You can choose whether you want to buy some of it. And I really really liked it. There was some good solid commercial stuff. A really nice card trick called. How, what and when. It won't be called that. If you go and check out Adam Welber's stuff. You'll see it all. Stuff that I could imagine taking on stage and doing. It's got this beautiful thing. English banknotes. Which is really important. This splitter. Splits. So this multiply money. But because it kind of makes use of the way. The UK money. It kind of merges apart. And it's really really magical. And he showed how you can make this. And he also showed how you can make it with playing cards. With business cards. Stuff you can put together for certain gigs. And I think it's really really nice. It's a really eerie looking thing. And he did a nice thing with coloured wallets. Which was fine. It was good. It was commercial. Not something that I'd really go to. And then his cups and balls. His coffee cups. Which I like it. I think close up. It's a really interesting thing. There's something really nice about normal coffee cups. Coffee beans. The fact there's a liquid production. It's great. It's not the most practical thing. It's not like you're going to do table hopping with it. So if you're doing parlour. If you're doing a stage show. It's a nice way of doing it. But for me it still needs to be fairly close up. Those coffee cups. Unless you've got a really good camera. Or really good lighting. It's a parlour thing for me. But I like it. It's great. I don't think I'd do it instead of the cups and balls. Because I'm old school. And I've been doing it for so long. But again you can look at all of it. I love the way he put it together. I love the thinking behind it. Which was inspiring. And it was a solid thing. I was gutted. I was feeling so exhausted. I left. I thought I was going to miss the last 10 minutes. And apparently he did a great thing. With a kind of. A clear box. What's the word? Prediction. I think it was a prediction. Someone told me. It might not have been a prediction. But he had Ryland up. The one thing I missed out the whole day. Is something I'd have loved to see. But I'm sure you can find out about it. From other people on the forums. And things like that. And then I hung out for a little bit. It was really nice to see people like Noel Qualter. I saw some guys that gave me a nice present. Atomic Lion. They were giving these out. These kind of very. Rustic lovely card boxes. Check them out on the socials. I think they're at Atomic Lion on Instagram. Of course no affiliation. I'm not affiliated with anyone. No one wants to be probably. And it was lovely. I went to bed quite early. I was very tired. As I said. But today we've got a load of great stuff coming up. I know this is a long thing. So thanks for watching if you've got this far. If you've got any questions at all. Put them below. And I'll answer them on tomorrow's video. I'll be doing a video tomorrow morning as well. And I think that's about it. Do check out OnlineMagic.co Any of the giveaway stuff we did. We'll obviously do that next week. Because I can't do it this Thursday. And there was something else. I was going to ask you. No I can't remember. So anyway. I might go live and do a live thing. But check out the Real Magic Review Instagram stories as well. At Real Magic Review. Alright. Like and subscribe. All that good stuff. Thanks again to Vanishing for letting me do this. And enjoy.